Like Father, Like Son

It was probably the closest Heine had ever come to punching Prince Leonhard in the face — but to be fair, it was an accident.

A small chaise lounge; an exasperated gesture over the day's homework, and Prince Leonhard's gloved fingers accidentally swiped the side of Heine's face. It was such a shock that Heine yelped and almost shoved the prince right off the couch, sitting back as far as he could go. He realised he must look somewhat like a cat, with wide, wary eyes and fluffed-up hair.

'Heine!' Leonhard shielded himself from further attack and protested, 'What's your damage?!'

Heine sat up a little, and avoided the prince's furious glare. To say that he was embarrassed would be something of an understatement. '…Forgive me, Prince, you startled me. I'm afraid that I'm… somewhat…' He muttered the final word under his breath. '…Ticklish.'

Leonhard's eyebrows shot up. 'What? Truly?'

Heine looked away, and fingered his cheek. 'Yes, I'm afraid so.' Then he realised his mistake and his eyes widened. He spun back around in a panic, saying, 'Wait, no, stop — '

But it was too late; Leonhard was never one to lose the advantage and he had already crash-tackled his teacher in a flurry of throw pillows.

'You're unbelievable!' Leonhard was unable to help laughing too as Heine tried to escape — but the latter couldn't even catch his breath, let alone fend the prince off. 'Seriously — !' Leonhard said, hauling Heine back by the ribbon on his coat before he could make a dive for safety, ' — you pitch a fit whenever someone calls you a child; you can't paint to save your life; you're scared of insects, and now you're ticklish?! What next — can you not swim?!'

'Oh no, I can swim — ' Another attack and Heine tried once more to hold Leonhard at arm's length, not that it did any good when his arms were shorter than the prince's. 'My word, stop it!'

'Oh no, you've got to make me!'

'I'll make you do extra homework for this — '

Heine wracked his brain, unable to even spare the breath for a better retort. And as much as he knew the prince was merely teasing, he couldn't even think straight now and he only way out of this that he could see would result in a prince-shaped dent in the wall — and didn't know how much longer he'd be able to restrain himself from doing something he'd regret to get free —

Then something clicked. He dropped his arms and poked Leonhard in the side.

Leonhard nearly jumped out of his skin and Heine dove under the couch, rolled to the other side, and sprinted to a safe distance away. He straightened his hat and dusted off his jacket. 'Well, Prince. If we're quite done with that little diversion, can we return to your lessons — '

'W-Wait!' Leonhard tried to speak, then collapsed over the back of the sofa and fizzled out in bewilderment. 'How did you…?'

'A calculated guess.'

'Hey, Teach!'

Licht waltzed into the room with a smile — then took one look at Leonhard's frazzled appearance and burst out laughing. 'Oh my word, your face, Leonie! What happened?'

Leonhard smirked, and turned the tables by pointing at Heine. 'Apparently Heine's rather ticklish. I'm done, so good luck to you!'

'Prince Leonhard!' But much to his panic, Prince Licht was already padding over with a curious grin and Heine literally had his back to the wall.

'Well, Teach, you really shouldn't let your secrets slip so easily — '

But Heine dodged and knocked a hand against Prince Licht's side as he went, tripping the prince up and sending him to the floor.

'And you shouldn't let me win so easily, Highness.'

'Waaah, Teeeach! What?!' Licht tried not to laugh. 'No fair, literally!'

'All's fair in love and war, Prince. It seems that Your Highnesses don't handle tickling any better than I do, so consider that retribution — '

And Prince Bruno walked into the room. 'Licht, have you seen my other pair of glasses…' Then he realised that Heine was also in the room, and he lit up like someone had flicked a switch. 'Oh, Master!'

He sprinted over, but Heine was so on edge that he reacted on instinct, poking Prince Bruno in the side — who yelped and jumped a foot in the air, while still running — which sent the prince flying right over the back of the chaise lounge.

'Agh!'

'Dearest brother Bruno! Watch it!'

A moment later, Bruno popped back up again. He looked completely bewildered. 'Master? Did I do something to upset you?'

Heine grimaced, and bowed in apology. 'I'm sorry, your brothers were being quite the nuisance and when you ran over, I reacted instinctively. You have my apologies.'

Bruno's rage was so tangible that it nearly set the chaise lounge on fire. 'WHAAAT?! You were harassing Master?! You filthy degenerates — on your knees and apologise, and then write a ten-page apology letter outlining your penitence for everything you did that caused this altercation! Now!'

When Leonhard didn't comply fast enough, Bruno pushed him over the sofa in a bow and kicked Prince Licht into a formal bowing position while he was at it. 'My apologies on their behalf as well, Master. To think that people would take up your time with relentless harassment and immature theatrics, and be unable to even take so much as a hint — who even does that?!

'I thought that was typical apprentice behaviour — I mean I couldn't possibly imagine who else could fit that description…'

Bruno nodded. 'Exactly, quite so.' He looked down at Leonhard and Licht in confusion. 'What on earth was even going on here prior to my arrival, anyway?

'Heine's a devil…' Leonhard sulked.

'Apparently your beloved master is susceptible to tickling, Brunie,' Licht said. 'Care to try? We both failed miserably.'

'I didn't!'

Bruno blinked, then shook Licht by the collar so hard that he nearly dislocated his brother's cervical vertebrae. 'Whatever is this nonsense?! Shame on both of you!'

Licht completely ignored it and rolled his eyes at Heine. 'He's actually the most ticklish of us all, so he just doesn't want to get involved.'

Heine circled Bruno, much to the prince's confusion. 'Oh, really?'

'Yeah, you should try going for — '

Heine waved him away, glanced up at Bruno, then lightly tapped him on the side.

Bruno yelped and jumped three feet in the air. 'Master!'

Heine raised his eyebrows. 'Dear me, it actually works. I mean, my apologies, Prince — '

But Bruno seized him by one hand, saying, 'Is that some secret technique you learned in a monastery in the Tibetian Mountains, Master? A genius in all fields, even martial arts!'

'I've not even left Glanzreich once — '

'Can you teach us?' Licht and Bruno both said simultaneously. Then they both realised realised that their intended victim had just asked for instruction as well, and the situation dissolved into a glaring match. But it only lasted a second, because Prince Licht glanced at Heine and narrowed his eyes. 'Wait,' he said. 'How exactly did you know that we all…'

And on hearing the racket, Prince Kai showed up to round out the party. 'Teacher? …Brothers? What's going o— '

Approaching Heine from his blindspot was never a good idea, and in the blink of an eye Heine had one hand over his shoulder and under Prince Kai's jacket with the skill of a pickpocket — which he was, after all — tripping the prince up with a mere touch. Kai flailed for balance, and finally settled for landing on the carpet in an awkward sitting position.

Heine sighed. 'My apologies again, Prince Kai. Your brothers have been putting me through the wringer and it's been all I can do to defend myself, to the extent that it became habit.'

Licht finally dropped his pointing finger. 'Okay, everyone stop. Hold up — Heine, how did you… know?!' he protested. 'You took all four of us down instantly!'

And at that moment Viktor walked into the room.

Heine shrugged. Then took his leave, passing Viktor on the way to the door.

Viktor turned to catch him. 'Oh, Heine, about the — '

And like Leonhard on a fencing match, Heine darted past and scored a swipe on the king's side as he went.

Viktor gasped and jumped like a startled cat, nearly going facedown on the carpet. 'Heine!' He crossed his arms tightly and began to complain —

And then it clicked.

The princes' wails of outrage were simply hilarious.

'No fair! Heineee!'

'Father…'

'Daaad!'

Viktor stepped back, positively crestfallen. 'W-Whatever did I do?'

Bruno grimaced, flicking a hand down his side. 'Nothing. Well, indirectly, yes — intentionally, no.'

Heine caught Prince Licht's eye and answered the prince's earlier question — how did you know — with a smirk over his shoulder as he walked out the door. 'Yes, Prince, I wonder how...'

The End

A/N: Reviews welcome, and thanks for reading!