ic contact;

[psycholawgy]

You've reached Athena Cykes. I'm currently unavailable, but leave a message and I'll get back to you pronto. Danke! (voice/call → text → video → action)

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[sortileges]

[ Rather than dropping his arm back onto the couch, he rests it on the back, wiggling his fingers over the top of her eyes while she's clearly blinding herself. His hand drops back after, but he shakes his head while he shifts. ]

Why did you ask anyway? [ Yeah he's just brushing the rest aside for now. ]

[psycholawgy]

[ ugh, merlin!! she swats that hand away. or tries to, anyway. ]

I just wanted to know.

I talk a lot about myself sometimes, so it's just fair.

[sortileges]

[ Tries to, but then his hand is flopping down on her face. ]

Did you want me to talk about myself more? [ His hand sure is just staying there -- thankfully this isn't the point Ai walks in. ]

[psycholawgy]

[ he holds him on his wrist and to lift the hand up to stare at his palm. ]

Only if you want to. [ a beat. ] I mean, that's why you have friends. So you can talk to them about what you're going through.

[sortileges]

[ His hand kind of flip flops for a moment before he gives up, though he does keep his eyes on that. ]

It's not something I'm used to. [ He clears his throat. ] I wouldn't even know where to start.

[psycholawgy]

[ she lets go of his wrist, and shifts in her seat to sit down properly. then she looks at him, a gentle smile on her face. ]

Well, it wouldn't make sense if you just started talking. Just- [ she looks up again, and then shrugs her shoulders. ] this is more difficult than I thought.

But it does feel nice to get to know someone you trust, right?

[sortileges]

[ He sinks down on the couch a little, hand flopping onto the couch between them as he studies her for a moment. ]

Mm. I don't know about that. The more I learn... [ But a wide smile is forming and yeah, that's a lie. ]

It is nice.

[psycholawgy]

[ it's good that he agrees, because what she had just said came from her heart. she grins at him in return. ]

See what I mean? And once you think you know enough, the things you do with them become even more meaningful.

[ she leans forward and stretches both her legs and her arms forward. ]

It warms my heart when my friends do something so touching.

[sortileges]

[ He lightly picks at the pocket of his trousers, not looking at her as she stretches out, it seems better than staring anyway. ]

When do you consider knowing someone well enough?

[psycholawgy]

When you can guess what they're thinking, or if you can finish each other's sentences.

[ hm, that's not all, but it's definitely perked athena up. talking about friendship makes her happy, ok ok. ]

Or when you don't have to tell each other that there's something wrong. They just know.

[sortileges]

You have a considerable advantage on that last one... it seems rather unfair.

[ Well, he isn't lying. ]

[psycholawgy]

It's not like I'm good at hiding what I'm feeling. So my friends are lucky on that end.

[ well, she's good at lying about being sad but OTHERWISE... ]

[sortileges]

[ Well she isn't lying there. ]

Considering the amount of times you've cried now-- [ He shifts and hooks one ankle over the other, stretching his legs out. ] --I really can't disagree with that.

[psycholawgy]

[ her eyes fall into a droop, not liking where this conversation is headed. ]

I'm not the only one who's cried here.

[ not that... she actually saw him crying, but you know. details. ]

[sortileges]

You aren't. [ Well at least he's admitting it. ] But after you smiled and laughed too, so I suppose that's okay.

[ He clears his throat, voice going a little quieter. ] It's nice when you laugh, too. [ You know... other than the meaningful stuff. ]

[psycholawgy]

[ here's an idea. ]

You know what else makes me laugh?

[ she maintains eye contact while her hand slides down to grab a stick of pocky.

then she shoves a small part of it in his mouth. ]

[sortileges]

Wha-- [ He's definitely suspicious of where this is going, but really he should have expected something like this. Athena is a menace when she wants to be, but it doesn't mean he's any better.

He chews it quickly, hand reaching to the side for the bowl of popcorn he shoved there to take a few and shove them into her mouth. ] Now that isn't nearly as funny as this.

[psycholawgy]

[ christ. while her mouth is busy, widget decides to say what she's thinking for her. ]

Not again! Not again!

[ her eyes look around, and sadly, the other snacks are a bit too far for her to reach without moving. she can't be sneaky. ]

Why you...!

[ out of food to shove in his face, she proceeds to mess up his hair instead. :') ]

[sortileges]

You started it?! [ He isn't entirely sure what she plans on doing next, his hair being messed up definitely wasn't something he'd expect and instantly he tries to sink down out of the way. He isn't as vain as Arthur is with this (he doesn't look at metal trays to check his reflection after all) but he spent time on that today. ]

Stop! [ Ah... too late. His hands try to cover his head before she does too much damage... but alas.

He gives up, and instead twists to reach for her side again, intending on paying her back by tickling her again. This time is probably more embarrassing too because of the fact that this time he'll be able to see her face.

She brought this on herself. ]

[psycholawgy]

[ yeah, too bad merlin. you've decided to pick on the wrong person... it just had to be that person who has to win all the time. ]

Not until you give u— Ahahaha! [ she squirms as she tries to get away from his hold, but now that she's practically kneeling on the couch just to reach his head, it doesn't end well for her. she topples over and ends up hitting her head on his chest, and her arms fall to his shoulders as she tries to balance herself.

she can't even say anything because she tries to catch her breath and not laugh too loudly. ]

[sortileges]

[ Too bad she can't win all the time, huh?

It's easy to get caught up in the moment too, laughing along with her even if he isn't the one suffering through it right now. It is way better with her like this, even if she's close again now and he isn't sure if this is crossing too many lines--



--but it doesn't matter considering one hand keeps tickling her while the other noogies her gently, it's enough to mess up her hair too now, anyway. ]

Who's the one who should be giving up, again?

[psycholawgy]

[ she can barely breathe now, and as she gasps for air, she pulls at his shirt in an attempt to stay where she is because she'd fall off the couch otherwise. somebody help her. ]

I can't [ WHEEZE. ] breathe.

[sortileges]

[ Her hair sufficiently messed up he lets go of her head at least and instead presses his other hand against her waist to help keep her steady. He doesn't move it, and even his other hand slows a little.

It's all so he can lean down a little, and while he's trying to not laugh at the situation she's found herself in he says into her ear: ] That sounds an awful lot like surrender if you ask me.

[psycholawgy]

[ the whole tickling session's made athena dizzy, as well as breathless, so she tries to calm herself down now that merlin's stopped. inhale, exhale...

and everything seems fine for a few moments, and she thinks she can go back to normal despite how close merlin is being right now. but then she hears the sound of the door opening. she freezes.

and she does the first thing that comes to her mind.

which is push merlin down the sofa and cover his face with a pillow.

now to wait expectantly for ai (hopefully it's ai and not somebody else...) to enter...

sweats... profusely... ]

1/2

[emotive]

[The door opens and it's Ai entering inside with a yawn; it's been a long day! She's carrying bags of groceries (real food, not just snacks) and beams at her roommate.]

Hello, Athena! We're going to have rice and chicken stir fry and some vegetable soup on the side! We need to regain our strength after all and-- Oh, is someone else...