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“...So you're telling me that the fight that ended in you throwing literal shit at Zanka started because you tried to smile at him?”
Enjin asked slowly, as serious and sincere as ever.
“Yes! I wasn't trying to be an asshole, I just wanted to—”
Rudo jumps in to defend himself, only to cut himself off in confusion at the sound of…laughter?
He looks up to see a slightly hysterical looking Enjin. And Rudo's expression only makes Enjin fall into harder laughter. By the time he's mostly composed, Rudo's crossed his arms with an annoyed huff.
“Kid–”
Enjin manages, still fighting off chuckles.
“The hell kinda face did you pull at Zanka to immediately make him want to fight? He's fussy, yeah, but not usually the type to go in all violent. Was your smile seriously awkward enough to be offensive?”
“I guess,”
Rudo shrugs, frowning.
“I don't really know what I did wrong. Regto said a good smile can make people see you in a whole new light…but I'm just bad at it.”
“Aww, kid. I'm sure it can't be that bad. Show me what you're working with! Maybe I can help you out, huh?”
Enjin reassured in a way that sounded halfway patronizing and halfway genuine, ruffling Rudo's hair.
“I'll just creep you out! Or you'll laugh…”
The kid sulks, averting eye contact.
“Well…I might.”
Enjin chuckles to Rudo's bafflement.
“But at the end of the day it's just a face, twerp. Doesn't say anything about your character. That said…your dad was right in that a smile can be a powerful tool. It's a way to communicate with people. Show them how you're feeling, y'know? Send a message.”
Rudo scrunches up his brows in thought, eyes falling to his gloves.
“I didn't really think about it like that, but I guess that makes sense.”
“And, I'm just saying,”
The older man adds, leaning over towards Rudo with a lopsided grin.
“Chicks love a good smile.”
“Ugh, shut up!”
Rudo groans, gently shoving Enjin away.
“You sound just like Regto…”
“Hey, your dad was right about a lot of things kid! That's just another one of them.”
Enjin leans back in the
“And to be frank, there's plenty of people that would be pretty damn stoked to see you smile at them. I mean, can you imagine Zanka's face if he saw a real smile from you? Or Riyo?”
Enjin knows he’s laying it on thick, but the kid not being able to smile is just so depressing.
“So are you really totally sure you don’t want help from someone as handsome and charming as myself?”
Rudo scowls at his lap. He’s so tense it almost looks more like he’s trying to explode his legs with his mind.
“...Fine. But if you can’t fix my face you owe me.”
“Awesome. So, now you gotta show me the current situation. I won’t get all creeped out like Zanka, I swear.”
“Sure, whatever…”
Rudo mumbles, unconvinced. He sighs, as if resigning himself to his suffering. He looks up at Enjin and.
Oh Wow.
Rudo looks like an actual maniac. His face and neck are strained like he’s about to pop a blood vessel. If Enjin saw this expression on Rudo in the field he would assume Jabber had attacked the kid with some kind of toxin–his eyes are wide and his pupils restricted, nostrils flared, and mouth pulled up into some kind of grossly over-exaggerated, tight lipped grin. No wonder Zanka flipped his shit.
Enjin throws his head back and howls with laughter. His fucking vision is blurry and if he wasn’t sitting on a couch he’d fall over he’s laughing so hard. And when he finally recovers he sees the little twerps pissed off, pouty face and loses it again.
“Okay, okay, I’m good now, I promise I’m done.”
Enjin chuckles, still catching his breath.
“You said you wouldn’t freak out, asshole!”
Rudo gripes, actually crossing his arms as he pouts and looks away. It’s appallingly cute and ridiculous on Rudo, which Enjin is going to pretend he doesn’t notice.
“I didn’t freak out. I just laughed.”
Enjin chuckles with a shrug.
“But anyways I have good news kid–you definitely don’t have a bad smile! Because whatever face you just made at me one hundred percent does not count as one.”
“What does that even mean?”
Rudo asks, equal parts flummoxed and offended.
“It means I think you have a much nicer smile hiding in there somewhere! We just need to get it out. The biggest problem with that face you made was that you were way, way too tense. You seriously need to relax.”
The older man gestures loosely at Rudo’s tense, eternally agitated demeanor, holding back a snicker.
“Even right now you look uh, pretty intense bud.”
“Okay…uhh, how about this?”
Rudo takes a slow breath. His shoulders drop a fraction, and his brows relax slightly.
“That's…a little better. Try the smile again?”
Rudo rolls his eyes, but tries again. It's…not much better. At least his eyes are a little less bulge-y.
Enjin laughs again, shaking his head.
“Okay, no, you still look like you're gonna pop a blood vessel. C'mere.”
He goes to grab the kids shoulders, push them down into a more relaxed position. But the minute he touches the kid he jumps nearly a mile high, flinching away.
“Woah, hey, are you hurt? By now you know even if it's just a bruise, you're supposed to let us know and go to Eisha—”
Enjin is about to start a lecture when he notices something. Why is Rudo turning red? He gets annoyed at fuss over injuries, but usually doesn't get embarrassed. At least, not this much.
“I'm not hurt!”
Rudo blurts, immediately wrenching away from Enjin's hands.
“I just, uh, you surprised me! I'm fine. What were you even doing?! You shouldn't need to grab me to fix my smile!”
Enjin grins. The kid is hiding something. And he's a terrible liar. And Enjin has a certain theory.
“You saw me walk right over, Rudo. I don't know why you'd be surprised. C'mon, let me check your injury! Unless you're hiding something…?”
“I'm not hiding anything!!”
Rudo squawks defensively.
“You just—”
The kid scowls, making a sound close to a growl.
“...fine. You can look, see I'm fine, then leave me alone.”
He huffs, crossing his arms.
“Sounds good to me. Just gotta make super sure.”
Enjin says slyly. Bingo.
He takes great care in pulling up the back of Rudo's shirt, examining his back and shoulders. The whole time Rudo is stiff as a board, shoulders creeping up towards his ears.
“Hmm. Everything looks in order.”
He hums, and Rudo sighs with relief, relaxing significantly.
“Now we just have to do the internal injury check.”
“The wha—aah!”
Rudo lets out a squeaky shriek as Enjin gently pinches the back of his ribs.
“Oh, hey Rudo! I just thought of the best way to help you practice your smile!”
“Hey! You were tricking me!”
Rudo cries out in offense, trying to twist around and shove away Enjin's hands while simultaneously swallowing down the urge to giggle.
“Go away you—ahahsshole!”
“Rude. But this wouldn't bother you unless…”
He hums dramatically as if in thought, wrapping an arm around the kids front to hold him in place. The kid looks ridiculous trying to hold back laughter. Like he's sucking on a lemon.
“Rudo. You wouldn't happen to be ticklish, would you?”
“I'm n-nohot!”
Rudo cries shrilly, already squirming like a worm on a hook. Memories come rushing back of Regto doing this when Rudo was being overly agitated or stubborn, or just to be annoying. He never once successfully escaped or won any of those tickle ‘fights’.
Rudo is so totally screwed.
“Hmm, okay. Gonna be honest I'm not feeling super convinced kid.”
Enjin says before shoving a handful in Rudo's armpit and scribbling ruthlessly.
Rudo tenses and shakes with the effort of holding it all in for a few pitiful seconds. Then he bursts into scratchy, squeaky laughter. Clumsy and unpracticed, but damn.
Why does this borderline feral brat have to be so goddamn cute sometimes?
“Jeez, kid. We should've just started with this! Now lemme see the smile.”
He teases as Rudo desperately tries to hide his wobbly smile in his shoulder.
“Nononohoho! Fuhuhuck ohohoff!”
“Nah. Well, I can't see your smile, but the laugh's pretty cute. Girls will love it.”
Enjin kneads into the kids hips and he squeals, going limp and throwing his head back in squeaky cackles. His ears are turning bright red, the teasing making the tickles feel so much worse somehow.
But now, Enjin's gotten a glimpse of Rudo's face. And. Wow.
Eyes scrunched up in laughter, bright red flush on his cheeks, and the wide, toothy grin—he looks straight up adorable. It's undeniable. He looks so young, too.
Enjin shakes off his fondness because, Ew, he's not a sap.
“There it is! Now that's a smile! And it's a great one too. This is great practice for you—we should make it part of your training regiment, right? Zanka would probably love that.”
Imagining Zanka seeing this makes the kids' eyes go all wide and flustered. Rudo shakes his head frantically and goes tomato red, starting to sink to the floor either in overwhelm or hopes of an escape. Enjin just easily follows him, and now Rudo's even more fucked. Great.
“M'g—ahahahah! Gonna kihihihihill you!”
He manages to growl through laughter.
“Rude. No wonder you were trying to hide this though, seems like you're pretty damn ticklish, Rudo.”
Enjin decides to explore a little. This kid definitely needs a laugh anyway, why not satiate his curiosity? He gently claws into the kids tummy and he falls into hiccupy giggles, twitching upwards like he's being shocked.
“Ribs, hips, and your tummy is this bad? Kid, I was joking earlier but we might actually have to work on this a little. What if the raiders find out, huh? Or a trash beast gets you with it's claws!”
Okay, maybe Enjin can't help but be a little sappy. He squeezes and scribbles all over Rudo's tummy in time with his threat, making the kid shriek like a squeaky toy.
“You'd be done for! Toast!”
He bemoans dramatically. Christ, if Semiu saw him right now he'd never hear the end of it.
“Youhohou—tu–hahaha! Turdface! Gohoho die Ahah—Nonononohohoho!!!”
“Man, when are you gonna stop callin’ people turdface? It's never gonna catch on, kid. Oh, hey, does this tickle? I kinda forgot this spot.”
He lightly skitters his fingertips over the kids shoulders, where he first reacted. Rudo wasn't doing an amazing job of fighting back before, but this seems to turn him into an actual useless puddle of soft giggles.
“You're sohoho mean!”
He whines, clearly flustered and foggy-headed from all the laughter. Enjin chuckles, exploring the kids ears and neck with wiggling fingers—you know, for posterity. He scrunches up like a little turtle, grabbing at Enjin's wrists but doing fuck all to push him away.
“Hey, you wanted help smiling! Here I am, helping, and that makes me mean? That's harsh, kid. What, would you rather have Zanka? Is he cooler than me or something?”
He suddenly reaches down and squeezes a knee, laughing fondly at the resounding shriek.
“Is there anywhere you aren't ticklish? This is a security risk, kid. Do we need to have August add some extra padding to your uniform?”
“I hahahahate you!”
He giggles frantically, weakly batting at Enjin's hands, trying to curl up like a pill bug.
“Hold on kid, I gotta check something down here.”
He grabs a flailing ankle, scribbling over the kids socked feet. Rudo falls backwards, laughing heartily enough that his stomach hurts. His cheeks hurt from smiling, and he's actually tearing up.
“STOPSTOP STAHAH—HAHA—”
Enjin realizes he might be accidentally murdering the kid. So he stops. And he notices…did the kid ever actually tell him to stop before now?
Hm.
Rudo catches his breath, still giggling weakly. Curling up like he still expects a tickle attack.
“You…ss–suhuhuck…”
He manages, too exhausted to focus on his embarrassment.
“Think what you want. But hey—you're still smiling.”
Rudo perks up at that, noticing the soreness of his cheeks. He is still smiling.
“Does it—is it normal?”
He asks timidly, wary. As if he can't imagine his happy face looking normal.
“It looks great, kid. Picture perfect stuff. You learn to do that on command and I'm sure you'll get all the sweets you want.”
He sighs, ruffling the kid's hair.
Rudo flushes again, ducking his head, but still smiling. And Enjin isn't even exaggerating. He may have created a terrible weapon here.
Rudo sits there, shocked for a moment. Then he sits up with a furrowed brow and extremely serious look on his face.
“...I gotta go try that out right now.”
Of course that's what he got out of it.
“Go get ‘em, brat.”
Enjin chuckles, giving the kid a hand as he gets back on his feet.