Looking at your lee headcannons for Chief Burns, the point of him wanting to stay still for the Rescue Bots learning about humans sounds like a really cute fic idea! If you want to write about it, that'll be great!
I like how you think anon! Sorry this took so long to get back to! Bangs pots and pans RESCUE BOTS FOLKS COME GET Y’ALLS FOOD
This is an SFW tickle fic! If you don’t like it, kindly keep scrolling!
TWs: shouldn’t be any but please let me know if I need to add them!
So far, it had been a quiet day at the firehouse. Kade and Heatwave were on patrol, so there was a significant lack of bickering. Cody was at school, Graham was burying himself in his studies, and Dani was exercising on the track out back. Charlie hummed quietly to himself, and flipped a pancake.
Dani would be hungry when she was done, and Cody would be too when he was picked up from school. Unless Kade stopped by a fast food restaurant to grab both of them food, which he did have a tendency to do. Charlie set out three plates and tupperware, and flipped three pancakes onto each plate, and six into the tupperware. Then, he put the lid on the tupperware and set it to the side, and carefully picked up the three plates.
Walking to the lab first, Charlie tapped his knuckles on the door. “Graham? I’ve got some food if you’re hungry.”
“Hm? Oh yeah, come in, Dad.”
When he opened the door, Graham was bent over his desk, cross-checking his textbook with his notes. Charlie walked over to his son, and set one of the plates down next to the textbook.
“Remember to take breaks, alright? And make sure your neck isn’t hurting from staring down at that.” He punctuated his sentence by ruffling the hair at the base of Graham’s neck. His son snickered softly, and shook his head to dislodge his hand.
“Okay, Dad. Thanks for lunch.”
“You’re welcome.” Charlie smiled, and headed out of the lab. Scientist types. They were always just a little too focused. He’d had to bring food to Ezra on the regular when they were in school as well, not that he minded.
With that on his mind, Charlie took the stairs down to the back door, and looked for a solid surface he could put the second plate down on. There was picnic table not too far, and it wasn’t a windy day, so he didn’t have to worry about the plate blowing over. Dani was on the far side of the track, and waved when she saw him.
Charlie waved back at his daughter, and set the second plate down. He cupped both hands around his mouth to holler across the track. “THERE ARE PANCAKES HERE FOR WHEN YOU WANT THEM!”
Dani didn’t even slow down. “WHAT?”
“PANCAKES! FOR WHEN YOU’RE DONE!”
Charlie chuckled and gave her a wave, heading back inside. Maybe he would give the bots some company. He’d imagine it could still get boring down there, and admittedly, he liked having meals with other people. And seeing as his children were both busy, he may as well go see the bots. After a moment of consideration, Charlie decided to take the elevator instead of the fire pole. The pole was faster, but he’d taught his kids not to use it with their hands full, so he’d better mind his own lessons.
With a ding, the elevator opened into the bunker. He could hear the TV playing, and Boulder was examining the bare walls of the bunker. Maybe he was thinking of doing some redecorating? Chase was reorganizing the small library he had. It was full of code books for now, but Chief was trying to get him to broaden his horizons a bit. He hadn’t been successful so far, but he would find a genre Chase liked someday. Maybe he’d like something with ciphers…
“Good afternoon, Chief,” Chase said, straightening up. “How may we be of assistance?”
“Afternoon,” Charlie said. “And I’m just down here to have lunch and hang out. How goes organization?”
“I have been organizing by human English alphabetical order, followed by Cybertronian alphabetical order. My endeavors to create a fused alphabet of both languages based off of symbolic similarity has not been fruitful. Everyone had a different idea of what symbols look the same.”
“Sorry to hear that,” Charlie said, setting his plate down on a human sized bookshelf. “But keep trying. All standardized language needs to start somewhere.”
Chase nodded, and reached him in three strides. “May I show you?” He crouched, reaching out with a hand, but not touching until Chief gave him the nod. It was still mind-blowing sometimes, having accepted four alien robots the size of a house into his home. And all of them were so gentle and courteous, despite their massive strength difference.
“Of course,” he said with a smile. Chase’s fingers slipped under his arms, brushing over his ribs and closing around his torso. Charlie couldn’t help a flinch as a ticklish jolt went through his body. His rescue partner’s grip loosened immediately, optics widening in concern.
“My apologies, Chief. Are you hurt?” Though his voice never wavered into fear, Chase looked over his shoulder, most likely looking for Blades.
“Everything okay?” Boulder called over, beginning to approach.
“I’m fine,” Charlie said, placing a hand on Chase’s thumb. “Really. You just tickled me a little, that’s all.”
“Oh.” Chase blinked. His fingers closed gently again, and he lifted Charlie off the floor.
“Wait, wait,” Boulder said, reaching Chase’s side. “You guys have that too? Being ticklish, I mean?”
So the giant metal aliens could be ticklish too. Go figure. “Maybe,” Charlie said. “I guess it depends on what your definition of ticklish is versus ours.”
“You’re right!” Boulder said, excitement coloring his voice. It made a tingle run through his body. What was he signing up for? A conversation? Or an experiment?
When he glanced back at Chase, his partner had the same slightly apprehensive look on his face. Chase looked down at him, then at the shelf, and then at Boulder again. “Perhaps Blades would like to help you… explain?”
“Are you sure you don’t want to?” Boulder asked, a grin flitting across his face. “Chief Burns is your partner after all.”
Chase’s optics flicked to him again, but Charlie could already see resignation writing itself into the slight frown on his face. “I would have to put him down, and then he might not be able to see.”
“Good point,” Boulder said. He turned to call towards the other side of the base, loudly enough to drown out the TV. “Blades! Can you come here for a second?”
“Okay!” The sound of the TV abruptly cut off, and the copter-bot came trotting around the corner. “There wasn’t anything good on anyway. What’s up?”
“Humans might be ticklish, just like us,” Boulder said.
Blades’ optics narrowed immediately, and he placed one pede behind the other. “And you’re telling me this why?”
“Because I want to find out,” Boulder said. “An experiment! Nothing long.”
“You know, I think Heatwave told me to help him out with his patrol a couple minutes ago, I should probably go do that!”
Blades turned on his heel, but before he could go very far, Chase sighed.
“I will do it. Please hold Chief Burns for me, Blades.”
The copter-bot breathed a sigh of relief and trotted over, opening his hands and allowing Chase to deposit Charlie into them. They were warm, and Blades immediately cupped him to his chest nervously. Chase circled away from them, clasping his hands behind his back like he didn’t know what to do with them.
“Relax Chase, it’ll just be a minute,” Boulder said, a softer tone replacing the mischievous one.
“It seems unprofessional,” Chase murmured.
“We live in their house, I’m pretty sure we’re past professional,” Blades said. He shifted, placing Charlie on his shoulder so he had a better view.
Boulder crossed the room to Chase, patting him on the shoulder first. When the police-bot didn’t move away, his hand trailed up to Chase’s audial fins, where he began to scratch gently. Chase’s head twitched, and his shoulders jumped up protectively, but he didn’t move. Or laugh for that matter.
“On lots of us, soft touches like this can be ticklish,” Boulder explained. “It can work just about anywhere, but plenty of us have ticklish hands. The more delicate maneuvers someone can make, the more likely it is that their hands are ticklish.”
“Humans have something similar,” Charlie said. “We evolved it to… protect us from insects, I think? I’m not sure, I haven’t read up on this much.”
“Interesting! I’ll have to ask Graham more when I get the time.” Boulder stopped scribbling under Chase’s audial fins, allowing the police-bot’s shoulders to relax again. “Ready for the next part?”
The engineer’s fingers crawled up Chase’s side, latched in a seam under his windshield, and wiggled. Chase doubled over, grabbing Boulder’s forearms, but still didn’t make a sound. “He’s stubborn,” Boulder chuckled. The tease received a small sound, almost a squeak of someone trying their best not to laugh.
“Rough tickling like this works on most people,” Boulder continued. Chase twitched, burying his face in his shoulder. “Not everyone is ticklish, and some people know how to hide it. Is that pretty much the same as humans and tickling?”
“Pretty much,” Charlie said. “I think the latest theories are that we evolved it for play, but Graham would know more than me.” His son was going to have some very interesting experiments to look forward to.
Boulder’s fingers scrabbled across the underside Chase’s windshield, and Charlie heard a muffled laugh, quite different from what he’d heard from Chase before.
“Alright, we’re done.” Boulder let go of Chase’s sides, but didn’t move him off. The police-bot didn’t move for a few seconds, then straightened. There was a small smile on his face, although he seemed rather intrigued by the ground.
And that was when Charlie realized Boulder had crossed over to Blades and was looking at him. With hopeful curiosity, no less. “Could I test it out?” Boulder asked. “If it makes you uncomfortable, of course feel free to say no. But it’s just so fascinating…”
Well, if Chase could take one for the team, so could he. “Sure,” Charlie said. Boulder extended a hand, and he stepped into it. Anticipation was beginning to flutter in his stomach, and he couldn’t help but notice how warm Boulder’s hands were. And how much stronger he was. But it had only been a couple of seconds for Chase, could this really be much different?
Still, the anticipation worked its way into tingling when Boulder’s other hand descended toward him, enough so that he found himself nervously calling out for Boulder to wait. The engineer paused immediately, optics filling with concern.
“I’m alright,” Charlie reassured him. “I just figured I should give you a little more information first. You probably can’t recreate the light tickling. That’s activated by things like insects or loose strands on our clothes. For me at least, it’s more itchy than anything else. And I should tell you about common spots, unless you really want to discover all of that yourself.”
He wasn’t sure which was more flustering, the idea of telling the bots where he was ticklish or letting Boulder tirelessly search for those spots himself. Boulder tilted his head, thinking, and then nodded. “I’d like to know. And just as a precaution, are there any places I can press down on? Or should I stay with just brushing over your skin?”
“You’re really asking me to pick my own poisons,” Charlie joked. He could feel heat crawling up his face. “Pressing on my ribs should be fine, as long as it’s no harder than you would squeeze a human. Everything else, maybe not. For now at least.”
“Ribs, got it,” Boulder said. A bit of that mischievous smile crept back onto his face. “And where else are you ticklish?”
He was going to make this difficult, wasn’t he? Charlie shifted and cleared his throat, trying to push back his own embarrassment. This was a form of cultural exchange, wasn’t it? “I’m not very ticklish as far as humans go, so there are plenty of spots on others that don’t work on me. But uh-“ May as well rip the bandaid off- “I’ll feel it under my arms and on my back. And my sides and stomach are pretty bad.”
“Thank you,” Boulder said, with a nod as if committing it to memory. “Ready?”
Blades and Chase were moving closer, curiosity evident in their gaze. Charlie felt a flush creeping up his face again, as well as the usual rush of anticipatory tingling. He grabbed Boulder’s fingers, trying to secure himself from too much wiggling. “Go ahead.”
Boulder raised a finger larger than his arm and pressed it gently into the side of his ribcage. Charlie flinched, already anticipating it to tickle.
“Is that alright?” Boulder asked, gently wiggling his finger back and forth. “I’m not hurting you?”
He had halfway expected it to feel like being tickled by construction equipment, but Boulder’s touch was soft and gentle enough for it to be just as unbearable as regular tickling. A grin crawled across his face, and he tightened his grip on the engineer’s fingers to keep from squirming.
“You’re fine,” Charlie grit out, trying to hold back the chuckles that were threatening to spill over. Boulder’s thumb lowered to scratch gently at his other side, and the police chief jerked with a small snort. His smile only widened as Boulder’s fingers slid up his ribs, carefully wriggling into his underarms. Tingling shot through his body, and it was impossible to try and clamp his arms to his sides. Luckily, it didn’t seem to deter Boulder.
“Why is he not laughing?” Blades wondered aloud. “He must be like Chase. Or you, Boulder. Think you can make him laugh?”
“Oh, definitely,” Boulder said. “I just need some time to figure him out. Right Chief?”
Teasing didn’t seem fair or scientific, not that Charlie was capable of voicing that right now. Still, he tried his best to give a supportive nod, shoulders shaking with repressed laughter. Boulder withdrew his fingers, and gently flipped him over onto his stomach. “Still doing okay?”
“I’m doing fine,” Charlie replied, trying to swallow another chuckle. Boulder’s finger traced up his spine, and two sensations seized him. One, of course, being ticklish zaps running through his body. The other was the comforting feeling of having your back scratched by someone trusted. He squirmed despite his best efforts, and pressed his face into the finger supporting his chest and head. As Boulder began to gently scratch between his shoulder blades, giggles began to slip from his lips.
“There we go,” Boulder said, a smile audible in his voice. Charlie snorted, jerking slightly in his grasp. The engineer’s light scratching felt similar to someone scribbling their fingers across his back, but covering a much larger area. It was tingly, but still soothing enough that he could force himself to relax and let the Cybertronian explore. It was when he reached his flanks that Charlie snorted, trying to turn onto that side to protect himself.
To his surprise and immediate playful dread, Boulder loosened his grip and let him flip onto his side. His finger immediately wiggled into the front of his ribs on the other side, encouraging him to flip all the way over onto his back. More giggles were pouring from him now, and he had to remind himself to grab Boulder’s fingers rather than try to cover his sides. “Tha-hat’s not fair!”
“With all due respect, I simply helped you make a decision about what was most comfortable,” Boulder replied, a surprisingly cheeky grin crossing his face. His optics flicked over Chief, checking for any signs of discomfort. “You said your stomach was the worst, so prepare yourself.”
Oh boy. Charlie took a second to catch his breath once Boulder’s finger retreated, readjusting his grip on the hand below him. “I’ll try my best not to block you off, but I might not be able to do it,” he said. There was a silly grin stretched across his face. Being tickled for alien science. What a concept.
“Don’t worry,” Boulder said. “But please do tell me if I’m being too harsh in any way. This should be fun and educational!”
This had to be one of the strangest ways he had found out similarities in their species. And admittedly, one of the more fun ways as well. The tingling was wreaking havoc on his torso, and Charlie eyed Boulder while he raised his finger again. “Got it.”
The finger gently prodded into his stomach, and Charlie flinched away, grin widening. He wanted nothing more than to curl up and protect his stomach, especially as Boulder’s finger wiggled back and forth. A laugh leapt out of his throat, and he twisted in the engineer’s hand despite his best efforts not to.
“Guess you just needed to find the right spot,” Blades remarked, leaning an arm over Boulder’s shoulder so he could watch closer. “Having fun down there?”
“Yehehes,” Charlie snorted, and would have loved to ask Blades if that kind of talk got him in trouble. Unfortunately, Boulder switched from soft wiggling to more of a scribble, and a loud laugh drowned out anything he would’ve wanted to say after that. He squirmed back and forth, but there was no hiding from a fingertip the size of his ribcage.
“Thank you for being honest,” Boulder said. “This is fun, isn’t it? I’m glad you’re having fun too.”
Another loud snort was the only response Charlie could give, as Boulder lifted his finger only to press his thumb into one side and his index finger into the other. His fingertips danced up and down the chief’s sides, and his thumb kept slipping inward to scribble over his belly. Charlie was pitched into laughing fit, attempting to turn over, but his body wouldn’t comply.
“Ahahahehehe!” Charlie released the hand below himself to slap his hands over Boulder’s fingers. The urge to push them away was incredibly strong, but he tried to hold onto them as a way to bear the tickling instead. His fingers hooked into the warm metal, and Boulder’s hand twitched.
“Are you trying to get me back?” Boulder asked, slowing his scribbling on Charlie’s sides.
“Yohoho-your hands are ticklish?” Charlie asked, raising his head to meet Boulder’s eyes. His face was burning, he must be so red right now.
“They are! Most of our hands are, actually. Chase is the only one without ticklish palms. Among us, of course. It’s a bit more uncommon for our species.”
“We,” Charlie panted, lifting a finger to point at Boulder, “are testing that out nehehEXT!”
Boulder scratched lightly at the center of his stomach, smiling. “Okay! But we have to finish this experiment first!”
“AhahahAHAHAH!” Charlie gripped his fingers tighter, throwing himself from side to side to try and dislodge them. The experience was truly making him appreciate how gentle the bots were. It was no worse than having someone knead his belly with both hands, but it was impossible to budge Boulder’s fingers.
And then Boulder readjusted his grip, digging into his sides gently with the fingers on the hand he was holding Charlie in. Carefully, he switched from wiggling a finger into his stomach to gently clawing at it. Charlie cackled, and his strength failed him, leaving him to squirm weakly.
“GAHAHAHA! AHahare yohohou ahahalmost dohoHOHONE?”
“Almost,” Boulder hummed, smiling. “Thank you for furthering science, Chief.”
His face burned. “EHEHEHAHAHA NOT HEHEHELPING!”
“Really?” Boulder asked, a teasing tone creeping back into his voice. “The others say it makes it worse when I compliment them too. I wonder why that is? And why it bridges both of our species? This needs even more research, I’d say.”
Between the teasing tone and the relentless tickling up and down his sides and belly, Charlie could only shake his head and laugh hysterically.
“No? Hmm, maybe I’ll ask Graham then.”
Charlie couldn’t tell if he felt bad or a bit smug about the tickle monster he had apparently just unleashed on his son. And goodness, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been tickled this much. Maybe the last time his kids had ganged up on him. Or maybe when he was younger, and Woodrow had wrestled him down and tickled him.
Boulder changed tactics yet again, pattering his fingertips across Charlie’s belly and sides. The sensation was maddening, covering his entire torso. Charlie tossed his head back, laughter abruptly turning wheezy and near silent.
“I assume that means enough?” Boulder said. He stopped squeezing Charlie’s sides with the hand below him, shifting to cupping him closer to his chest. His other fingers merely rested on Charlie’s belly, unmoving. Even so, the proximity alone pitched Charlie into a giggling fit. “When you catch your breath, may I ask why you use a familial term as a cut off point?”
“What are you guys doing,” a new voice cut through the air.
Boulder turned, and through his haze of catching his breath, Charlie saw Heatwave standing by the entrance to the bunker, a disbelieving look on his face. Kade was at his partner’s pedes, with a nearly matching look of confusion.
“Testing some hypotheses!” Boulder said. Charlie blinked as he was shifted away from the scientist’s body, and then gently dumped into another set of large hands. Chase held him up to eye level, blinking with a concerned frown. He gave the police bot a breathless thumbs up.
“Are you tickling my dad?” Kade asked. And then without waiting for an answer, “Has he told you his stomach is his worst spot?”
“Kade!” Charlie gasped. His own son, immediately trying to betray him. Unbelievable. Although really, he wasn’t all that surprised. Kade was strolling over to the bookshelf he’d put his plate down on, inspecting his pancakes.
“Yes, actually,” Boulder said, sounding rather amused. “If you want to tell us anything else though…”
“Humans can be ticklish?” Heatwave asked, sounding almost as flabbergasted as he had when he walked in.
Kade swallowed a piece of pancake he’d picked up off the plate. “…well, I’ll leave you guys to it. Have fun!” He started walking towards the elevator.
“They can be! Just as much as us if not more so! I’d need to run more experiments to test that theory though,” Boulder said to Heatwave, smiling excitedly.
“Yeah?” Heatwave rubbed his jaw, watching Kade speedily press the close door buttons of the elevator. “I can help with that. If you want.”
“Thank you, Heatwave,” Boulder beamed. “I really appreciate it.”
A soft touch on Charlie’s shoulder pulled him out of the conversation and back to where he was seated in Chase’s hands. “Your breathing has regulated back to normal,” Chase said. “Are you feeling well?”
“I’m fine,” Charlie said, patting his friend’s fingertip. “Just haven’t laughed like that in a while.”
Chase nodded, and turned his gaze back to the other Rescue Bots. “It appears we may have a… war of sorts, on the horizon.”
Charlie laughed. “Well, partner, I won’t attack you if you don’t attack me.”
