This idea came to me the other day while I was at work and truth be told, I haven't yet seen a tickle story featuring Arthur and Lewis, but if there is one, someone please let me know. :)

Again, this story takes place after the events of the Mystery Skulls animated music video "Ghost".

Characters belong to MysteryBen27. The song "Ghost" belongs to the Mystery Skulls. :) I own nothing.

Mystery Skulls: Friends Once More

Vivi looked up at the mansion and smiled. "It looks a lot better now," she said.

Arthur swallowed. "Yeah, Lewis knows how to decorate," he said nervously.

Mystery stood beside Arthur as they watched a familiar pink-haired ghostly skeleton come out of the front door, smiling at them. "Lewis!" Vivi exclaimed happily and raced up to him.

Lewis chuckled as he felt her arms surround him in a hug and he returned it. "You did see me only a day ago," he pointed out in amusement.

She nodded. "I know," she said. "But I missed you a lot when you were…gone before."

Lewis looked away, but noticed Arthur flinched, shaking a bit. Vivi gently turned Lewis' head to look at her again, a forgiving look on her face. The day before, she had found the mansion again and begged Lewis to give Arthur a chance to apologize. Lewis didn't want to, but then she had asked him to do it for her.

Lewis couldn't refuse her that and so had agreed that for her, he'd give Arthur a chance.

But he could clearly see Arthur was terrified of him and he now sighed, holding Vivi's hand to his bony face. "I know," she said softly and understandingly. "You're just a softy, aren't you?"

"How do you know?" He asked curiously.

"Because I know you, you silly ghost," she said with a smile.

Arthur suddenly let out a yelp and both Vivi and Lewis saw that the blond-haired boy was trapped under about seven suitcases. The pink-haired skeleton looked at Vivi questioningly and with a knowing look and she giggled. "Girls are a whole different planet, Lewis," she said teasingly.

"So are boys," he teased in return before motioning to some of the Deadbeats, who instantly helped get the suitcases. Arthur yelped again and jumped back to put some distance between himself and the small ghosts. Even Mystery backed up a bit.

Lewis took a deep breath and sighed a little. "Vivi, Arthur is practically spooked half to death," he said. "The Deadbeats are harmless."

"Which is why you need to give him a chance and you two need to make things right," she said. "I never like two friends being at odds like you two are."

Lewis flinched hard at that and she gently placed a hand over the gold-colored heart locket on his suit, making him look at her as she smiled up at him. "I'll try, for you, Vivi," he promised her.

She nodded and went back to Arthur. "Come on, Arthur," she said.

"Vivi, what if he doesn't give me a chance?" He asked worriedly.

"Arthur, he's our friend," she said firmly and somewhat exasperatedly. "Come on. You promised."

He sighed. He had promised her he'd come with her to talk to Lewis and not run away, but he badly wanted to just run like crazy. He now followed her and Mystery stuck close to him as Lewis gestured them inside and entered behind them, closing the door securely.

Vivi noticed how the mansion was really brighter and warmer looking than before. "Lewis, you did a great job," she said.

"Well, I wouldn't be a good host if I had a sloppy home," he said, purposely trying to not bring up what had happened the last time Vivi, Arthur, and Mystery had come to the mansion.

Arthur even had to admit it looked very nice. "You do have good taste in décor," he said honestly.

"Thank you," Lewis said graciously. "The Deadbeats took the luggage up to the rooms I selected for you to stay in."

"That's wonderful," Vivi said happily. "Lewis, um, can I…explore? Please?"

He chuckled. "You, Arthur, and Mystery are free to explore," he said. "Also, I was curious what you all wanted for dinner."

"Well, I have a hankering for some Chinese food, particularly noodles and barbeque pork," Vivi admitted.

Lewis nodded and turned to Arthur. "Um, the same," the blond-haired boy said and Mystery nodded.

"Okay," said Lewis before placing a hand gently on Arthur's right shoulder, making the boy freeze, but he just gently squeezed his shoulder before heading away.

It wasn't too long before they had eaten and Lewis noticed his guests were looking tired and got them settled in the guest rooms, but noticed Arthur was looking around for more of the Deadbeats. "They won't bother you," he said, startling Arthur, who swallowed nervously while shaking a bit. "Arthur, I promised Vivi I'd give you a chance and I'm not going to go against my promise to her."

"Why did…you promise her?" The boy asked.

Lewis sighed gently. "Because she makes it hard to argue with her and…she reminded me of something that I didn't realize I miss until the other day," he said.

Arthur looked at him curiously. "What…do you miss?" He asked, having a feeling the skeleton wasn't talking about being human.

Lewis looked at him. "Something I hope we can regain soon," he said and then left the room, making Arthur wonder what he was talking about.

Arthur woke up a few hours later and groaned. He couldn't sleep, but just as he went to turn onto his side, he felt something on his wrist and opened his eyes to see he was bound to the bed and he whimpered a bit, having a feeling Lewis had done this to him.

"Yes, I did," Lewis said, making Arthur cringe fearfully as the ghostly skeleton stood near the bed. "I remember how you had trouble sleeping in new surroundings before."

Arthur then remembered what would happen back then. Lewis would comfort him then and had promised not to tell Vivi. He now shook as Lewis sat down beside him. "Arthur, relax," he said, his voice taking a more soothing tone. "Relax."

The boy couldn't stop shaking and Lewis sighed. "The reason you're tied down is not because I'm going to hurt you," he said.

Arthur looked at him. "Then why am I tied down?" He asked, still shaking.

"Because I want you to give me a chance as I am giving you a chance," said the skeleton. "Vivi told me her suspicions about what happened before and I know she wouldn't lie. Besides, you didn't have a metal arm before."

Arthur cringed at the memory and Lewis sighed. "For so long, I was foolish to throw away our friendship because I wrongfully blamed you," he said. "And I miss our friendship, Arthur."

The blond-haired boy looked away in shame, but felt a gloved hand turn his face gently back to look at Lewis. "Do you miss our friendship, short-stack?" He asked.

Arthur picked up the note of teasing in Lewis' voice and felt more shame, and a few tears, which the skeleton gently wiped away, reminding Arthur of another memory.

One case they had solved involved a frightening ghost that had scared Arthur so bad that he was a blubbering mess when Lewis rescued him and the nightmares had been just as worse, but Lewis had helped him by letting his friend cry for as long as he needed to.

He now sniffled and looked at the skeleton, who looked at him with a friendly smile. "You do, don't you?" He asked.

Arthur nodded. "Lewis, I…,"

The skeleton held up a hand. "Arthur…I forgive you," he said. "Can you…forgive me?"

The blond-haired boy looked at the skeleton and then began crying again, to which Lewis patiently wiped away his tears again and noticed the boy looked relieved. "Bro?" He asked softly, making the skeleton look at him before Arthur looked towards his left arm. Lewis followed his gaze and saw Arthur trying to reach forward with his left hand. Recognizing the gesture, Lewis chuckled and placed his left hand in Arthur's left hand and squeezing it lightly. Arthur did the same before looking at Lewis again. "Okay, how about untying me?"

Lewis suddenly grinned spookily. "We need to further cement our friendship, Arthur," he said. "And I have just the idea in mind."

Arthur would have asked what when skeletal fingers began poking his underarms gently, making him laugh suddenly. "Ah, still sensitive," Lewis said with another chuckle. "Remember how Vivi nearly caught us in a tickle fight one time?"

Arthur remembered and also remembered that Lewis had made a cover story up quickly and promised that he wouldn't tell Vivi. "Yeah," he said. "Embarrassing."

"Very, but also fun, if I remember correctly," Lewis said as he started tickling his friend. Arthur laughed as the ghostly skeleton tickled his underarms, fingers dancing down to his ribs and sides.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOHOHOHOHOHOHO! LEWIS!"

Lewis chuckled again before tickling the blond boy's ticklish stomach, laughing when he heard Arthur's voice go very high as he laughed. "Still got that squeak, huh?" He asked in amusement.

Arthur's face grew redder at that. Whenever Lewis had tickled his stomach before, as it was one of his most ticklish spots, Arthur's laugh would come out in squeaks, something that had amused Lewis long ago and from the sounds of it, still did even now.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Arthur laughed and then his voice became squeaky.

Lewis chuckled. "Yup, you still have that cute squeak," he said and noticed Arthur was starting to gasp for air. "Need a break, buddy?"

The blonde-haired boy nodded and the ghostly skeleton stopped the tickle torture, allowing his friend to catch his breath. Arthur looked at Lewis. "I forgot…how unmerciful…you could be…at tickle tortures," he gasped out.

Lewis chuckled again. "Good to see I haven't lost my touch," he said teasingly. "And I mean that in a good way."

Arthur nodded. "Yeah," he said in agreement.

"You still need a moment, Arthur?" Lewis asked.

Arthur looked at him in confusion and his eyes widened. "Lewis, I really don't…," he began to say, but skeletal fingers pressed against his mouth to stop his sentence.

"I'm not done tickling you yet," he said with a smile before he lifted one hand and showed the blonde-haired boy a long feather that was pink in color. "There's something I learned one day when the Deadbeats grew rather mischievous and decided to tickle me."

"They did?" Arthur asked.

Lewis chuckled. "Yes, but I got my revenge on them with these ghost feathers," he said, holding up the feather in his hand. "I found them that same day and the Deadbeats were giggling messes by the time I got my revenge for the tickle torture they gave me."

"They're ticklish?"

"Very," said the ghostly skeleton with an evil chuckle as he got up and went over to Arthur's bare feet. "Possibly moreso than you, Arthur."

The bound boy instantly began struggling as he realized what Lewis was going to do. "Ghost feathers are very torturous because they not only tickle one spot. They send tickling sensations to your other tickle spots too," Lewis explained.

Arthur looked at him. "Lewis," he whimpered.

"Don't worry, it'll just be for a few minutes," the taller one promised as he then stroked the pink ghost feather over Arthur's feet.

The blond quickly found out that Lewis hadn't been kidding. The feather was only stroking his feet, but it felt like it was tickling him like crazy all over. He squirmed his hardest, making his friend chuckle. "It really tickles, hmm?" He teased.

"YEHEHEHEHEHEHES! IT'S THE WORST EVER! AHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Actually, what's worse is ghost feathers and Deadbeats tickling you at the same time," Lewis admitted as he pulled the pink feather away from Arthur's feet, keeping his promise about not tickling the boy's feet long with the feather. "That's absolute torture."

Arthur was laying still as he took deep breaths and Lewis untied him before sitting on the bed and leaning back against the headboard, pulling Arthur to sit in his lap and lean back against his chest. The blond boy felt skeletal fingers gently squeezing his shoulders and he didn't flinch. "Lewis…I forgive you," he said. "I do miss our friendship too."

Lewis nodded, wrapping his arms around Arthur's stomach and Arthur felt his shoulder get wet and turned to find the skeleton crying. "Bro, it's okay," he said, hugging the ghostly skeleton who hugged him back. "Guess it's my turn to comfort you, huh, big guy?"

"You did say that you would one day," Lewis said as he began calming down as they pulled away from each other and Lewis held up his right hand as if he was going to arm wrestle. Arthur smiled and clasped Lewis hand with his right hand in a sign of friendship.

Just then, both were shocked when they were suddenly tackled to the bed by Vivi, who was laughing happily. "I knew it! I knew you guys could do it!" She said happily as she gave Arthur a sisterly kiss on the cheek and went to do the same to Lewis, but he turned his head a little to look at her and the part of his skull where his mouth would be gently crashed against her lips. She was surprised, but then deepened the kiss and he did the same before they broke away.

"I think anything is possible when we have a blue-haired girl who is hard to say 'no' to," Lewis said teasingly.

"Yeah," Arthur agreed.

Vivi giggled. "Snuggle pile! Come on, Mystery!"

The boys were surprised when Mystery jumped up on the bed too, knocking Lewis down to fully lie on his back, his left arm instantly wrapping protectively around Vivi while Arthur was safely wrapped in Lewis' right arm as they fell back with him. Mystery made himself comfortable while the three friends burst out laughing again before settling down, holding each other in a group hug and relishing their revived friendship.

Please leave a review, but no flames! Constructive criticism however is welcomed. :)

GoldGuardian2418