22, they/he 🩵tword account!! mostly sfw may reblog things from accounts that are not guaranteed 100% sfw so please bear this in mind <3 fics and general shitposting :) feel free to DM or ask me anything!! i love making friends <3 🚫no minors pls🚫
There's no better vengeance than learning to enjoy again
Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters: Ilya/Shane
Summary: Ilya won't do anything to Shane without explicit consent, which includes tickling him.
A/N: Inspired by this anon's ask about Ilya being the #consentking. Because he SO is. This is also the fic I've been posting these sneak peeks for hehe.
Words: 2.1k
[Read it on AO3]
Ilya didn’t enjoy being tickled.
The lack of control was part of it. Having grown up in a household where any emotion other than anger was seen as a weakness, he had slowly armored himself in a way to ensure he was nothing but ego and pride to the outside eye. Being tickled just didn’t mesh with that image, and would certainly not bode well if the wrong person caught sight of it. And being out of control like that was dangerous for someone like him. The world wasn’t safe enough for that.
The sensation was another part. Though he wasn’t overly sensitive, he simply didn’t enjoy the feeling of light unwanted touch or, as was usually the case, hard pokes and kneading hands intruding on his person. His body didn’t know what to do with it, and so he ventured into the lack of control territory once more. Pulling knees out of squeezes. Slapping away insisting fingertips. Gritting his teeth all the while.
The fact that the only person who ever tickled him in a way that made him feel safe was his mother - his dead, long gone, wonderful mother - was probably the biggest part of it, though he buried it deep down. It was easier to blame everything else. Easier to pretend it couldn’t be fun in the right circumstances.
Shane never tickled him. Not on purpose, anyway. Ilya had discovered his sensitivity early on, tucked between roaming hands and moans laced with a laugh which could mean anything, really, had Ilya not slowly gotten to know every inch of that body. He knew to steer clear of Shane’s feet, to use more pressure on his inner thighs, to not nuzzle into his neck for too long. He wondered if he showed him the same consideration, or if Ilya had just gotten so good at reigning in his reactions that he had no idea.
He had been tickled by him though, accidentally, when he grabbed his knees to adjust himself, or dug his fingers into Ilya’s sides when something felt good. Innocent actions. Certainly not ticklish enough for Ilya to laugh, though he did remember himself twitching in surprise. If Shane had noticed, he never brought it up. Most importantly he never used it against him.
Ilya tried not to use it against him either, only it became harder once they got closer, once they were boyfriends, and their life was littered with playfulness and domesticity and not just sex. Wrestling Shane to the bed with a deeply ingrained instinct to jam his fingers into his ribs. He was already laughing. Already relaxed and happy and trusting him fully. And the trust was the reason he didn’t. Was the reason he simply pinned his arms to the side and leaned down to kiss him. Mornings of wrapping his arms around his waist in the kitchen, with the sudden urge to curl his fingers over his belly just to make him giggle and squirm into him. A moment of safety, which Ilya could ruin in the disguise of play.
That morning was different. Shane was sprawled out on the bed, sleepy after Ilya had gone down on him twice, and each time he made a sudden movement Shane would twitch and laugh, untouched and yet.
“What is it?” Ilya finally asked, relishing in that smile. All giddiness. All because of him.
Shane pushed his hand away, even though he still hadn’t touched him. “Tickles.”
“What?”
A blush was coloring his cheeks, but Shane wasn’t clinging onto denial or pretence. “I feel really ticklish right now, so I keep thinking you’ll tickle me.”
“I have never tickled you.” Ilya crossed his arms to show he was keeping them to himself. “Wait, how do you feel ticklish?”
Shane shrugged. “Extra sensitive. Giggly. Tired. Safe. I don’t know.”
“Safe?”
He averted his gaze. “I mean, yeah.”
“But you keep thinking I will tickle you?”
He shrugged again.
“So in that case you don’t feel safe.”
“But I do.”
Ilya wet his lips. “Explain.”
“I mean, it’s fun, right? And I trust you would stop when I needed you to.” He was bright red now, but he spoke in earnest.
Ilya hummed.
Another part of why he didn’t like being tickled: it was almost always done without his consent. Ilya didn’t like not giving his consent. Didn’t like that people thought they could just take and take in the guise of fun.
He tilted his head at Shane. Maybe not everyone thought the same way as him. “Do you want me to tickle you?”
Shane let out a strangled laugh. “That sounds stupid when you put it like that.”
“I won’t do it unless you want me to.” Ilya didn’t mean to tease, but he did enjoy the way Shane’s embarrassment shifted form and turned into something sweet. Something shy.
He reached out slowly and allowed himself to touch now, cradling Shane’s cheek in the palm of his hand. He leaned into the touch and said, “We’ve never had any tickle fights.”
Ilya shifted. “We haven’t.”
“Why is that?”
He didn’t have to explain to him that much of their relationship had been a constant tiptoeing of lines they were afraid to cross, and once they did, a quick retreat. For much too long it had been that, until suddenly it wasn’t. It was true that most people would be eager to explore the other side, and it wasn’t that they were afraid, not more than they had to be.
But Ilya didn’t know how to approach this. How something this silly could be so serious to him. “I didn’t know you were ticklish.”
“You could’ve found out.”
“Would you have wanted me to? On my own, I mean?”
“It’s weird to have to tell you about it.”
“Hmm, I lied, actually. I knew about it.”
Shane’s head snapped to the side. “Wait, you did?”
“Yes. For a long time.” He grinned at Shane’s look. “What can I say? I am a gentleman.”
“Ilya,” he whined, giving his chest a light slap. “Why would you not have taken advantage of that?”
Ilya laughed. “It really sounds like you want me to tickle you, Hollander.”
“Don’t Hollander me, Rozanov.”
“You think you can provoke it out of me, huh?”
“That’s usually how it works.”
“I need you to ask for it.” He moved his hand from his cheek to his jaw. “I need you to tell me you will enjoy it, or at the least not mind me doing it.”
Shane’s breath caught. “Why?”
“Because-” He stroked his chin with his thumb. “-I do not want to do something to you that you don’t want me to do.”
“Oh my god, you’re serious.”
“Of course.”
“Most people don’t want to be tickled.”
“Are you most people?”
He exhaled slowly. “Some people think it’s fun.”
“And are you some people?” He smiled at him, attempting to keep it light, but Shane looked away anyway. It was cute. It was so cute Ilya nearly crossed his own boundary then and there.
“I don’t know,” he finally mumbled. “It’s been years, and it’s never been like this.”
“Like how?”
“With someone I love. Like this.”
Ilya’s heart was about to burst out of his chest.
He leaned in to press his lips to Shane’s temple. “I love you too much to do something you don’t want me to do. I am not trying to be difficult.”
Shane’s gaze softened. “I know you’re not.”
“And I don’t mean to embarrass you when I tell you I need you to ask for it.” A smile tugged at his lips. “Though I do enjoy your blush.”
“Ilya.”
Ilya hummed as he stroked Shane’s cheek with his knuckles. “Tell me.”
“I’m- not sure I would like it, but- I mean, I would like us to be like that, you know?”
“I know.”
“So.” He seemed to brace himself. Ilya found it unbearably adorable. “Could you tickle me? Please?”
Ilya grabbed his wrist. “Say it again.”
“Ilya-”
“Okay, okay.” He laughed at his impatience. “I need you to tell me when to stop, okay?”
“Jesus Christ-”
“Say ‘hockey’, okay?”
“Yes, yes, fine, hockey it is. Now can you get on with it? I hate the anticipation.”
Ilya grinned. “You love the anticipation,” and he pounced, before Shane had time to protest. Neither of them really expected it, that Ilya would straddle him, that he would take his task so seriously. He wasn’t being merciless about it, though. He didn’t pin Shane’s hands, or dig his fingers into spots that would make him twitch with laughter, twitch and jerk and lose control of his limbs. He kept it light, which, when he thought about it, which he would, many times, probably drove Shane all the more crazy.
“Wahahait,” was all he managed to say at first, a constant begging for Ilya to cut it out, to leave him alone, to stop taking advantage of his sensitivity like this. Only Ilya knew his protests didn’t mean anything, at the very least weren’t a proper call for this to end. He cradled the consent in his bare hands, holding it close as he listened to Shane’s begging, listened to him slowly falling apart without feeling like a monster for it.
“You’re so-” He wasn’t even sure what he meant to say, only knew that Shane’s laughter, which was filling the room almost entirely now, made him feel both excited and strangely powerful for being allowed this. “-fucking cute.”
“Shut up!” Shane spat back, but he had his head thrown back, his hands constantly chasing Ilya’s which skirted over his torso, side, rib, armpit, neck, and back. A chase which could drive anyone mad, but was still simply- fun. For them both.
“I didn’t know you would be so easy to break,” he said, treading somewhat unknown water. But he liked riling Shane up, and Shane and his biting mouth always enjoyed the challenge of having to deal with him.
He all but growled now, all giggly giddiness from before enveloped in something else, something determined. He dug his feet into the mattress and Ilya realized belatedly that he was trying to buck him off, that he was probably aiming to turn the tables, and while that didn’t mean he wanted this to stop, because the safe word was still nowhere near his tongue, it did mean Shane enjoyed the idea of this being mutual. Of this being bodily and competitive, and Ilya wasn’t certain if he wanted that. Ilya was about to ruin a perfectly good consensual thing because he hadn’t thought to bring himself into the equation.
Only when he found himself hesitating and Shane had the perfect opportunity to turn this around, he still remained glued to his back, knees which he had pulled up to Ilya’s sides relaxing, visibly forcing himself to take this with nothing but his shielding hands. Ilya realized it then. That Shane would never do something to him which he hadn’t consented to. That this meant as much to Shane as it did to him.
God knew how Ilya didn’t cry right there and then.
He leaned down and wrapped his arms around him, taking in his surprised exhale and relishing in how he started squirming the minute he realized that Ilya was still tickling him even now. Fingers curling over his upper ribs, with Shane trapped between him and the bed and giggling into his neck, which tickled him a bit and he found that he didn’t care. He was safe here.
“You’re so ticklish,” he mumbled into Shane’s hair, which had Shane slapping his back and laughingly telling him to shut up. “What? Is true. You cannot deny it.”
“You don’t have to be so mean about it,” he said, whining when Ilya hit a particularly bad spot. “Fuck, this tickles so much, Ilya, get off.”
“Hmm, do you really want me to?”
“I- ah! I need you to allow me to squirm.”
Ilya sat up reluctantly. “Fine. Thank you for telling me. I can continue, yes?”
Shane covered his face with his hands. “Yes, god, please continue.”
“Can I tickle your knees?”
“This is gonna be the death of me- yes, you can tickle my knees.”
“Good. I think they will be very bad.”
“I will kick you.”
“Ah, maybe, but as long as you don’t say hockey I will continue.” He poked his belly. “Until we are both satisfied.”
“Domestic life is so weird,” Shane said, very obviously trying to redirect his embarrassment.
Ilya decided to bite. “This can’t be normal domestic life, though, can it?”
“Maybe not.”
“We’re so much less boring. Even you.”
“Oh, ha ha, please tickle me so I will laugh.”
“Oh, I will.” Ilya beamed at him. “Until you ask me to stop.”
New years resolution: Start instablocking anyone on here who implies (jokingly or not) that people who claim to be into tickling in a sfw way are "in denial" or "secretly kinky" or insist they're lying to themselves because they're anti-sex puritans or whatever the fuck 👍
Content warning: so much tickling
Also I stole this post's title from @otomiya-tickles because I literally could not think of a better one. 😆
"Give it up, Monkey Boy!" Kiri laughed as she chased Spider around the room.
Metal tables clanged, tossed aside by the ongoing wrestling match. Kiri's right foot stomped down hard into Miles' spine...with her size and weight, even that was enough to pin him to the icy floor of the Omatikaya research lab. He could never beat her.
Bending down on her left knee, all the better to hold him still, Kiri giggled with excitement and viciously grabbed the human boy’s sides and belly with firm, squeezing movements. Her fingertips applied just the right amount of rubbing pressure. And that was it. He cracked.
“HEH! GKKHN...Heh-Hng…Rrrraaaahhh!! Heheh Ha-Ha!” Spider tried to choke down his laughter with angry tribal roars. Kiri's fingernails dug hard into his gut.
"Say you give up," she taunted him.
"N-HA...N-never-her!!"
"How long do you think they can keep this up?" Lo'ak wondered aloud, arms folded.
“Beats me, dude,” chuckled Neteyam, chomping on a juicy purple tìhawnuwll fruit. “I don’t think these two can go a single day without wrestling each other.”
"Should we help?"
The two Sully brothers, having sat back and watched this entire spectacle, glanced down at the wriggling mass of blue and tan limbs splayed across the floor. Spider was clasping at Kiri's bony wrists in a mad struggle to push her away, but he couldn't stave off the tickle torture for long. Kiri meanwhile was teasing the boy mercilessly, nearly slipping into baby talk as she giggled and prodded all over his torso.
"Eh...sure, why not."
The brothers fist-bumped one another, then charged. Beakers clinked and shattered. And instantly, Kiri was was flat on her back, her arms spread apart and held to the ground by rough hands.
“Get her back!” Neteyam encouraged Spider.
“Yeah, we got you, bro!” laughed Lo’ak.
“You traitors!”
Spider caught his breath and slipped as he tried to stand. He could always count on his bros. His dopey grin, the grin of a triumphant thanator about to gorge on prey, sent a chill down Kiri's shoulder blades. He crawled over to her, slowly, arms outstretched, and wiggled his malicious fingers in her direction. Payback was coming.
“No,” Kiri spoke sternly, seemingly unaware that Spider was not in fact a disobedient puppy. “NO. You will die. Ikran will feast on your corpse.”
Like that was going to stop him. She barely had time to finish her sentence before she felt those undersized human hands clawing at her stomach, drawing down her abs and twisting in her belly button.
“HO-Ho…Nnn! …Nnnhoho-ho, Ha-Ha Ha-Ha!” Kiri threw her head back and broke into peals of soft, carefree belly-laughs. Her brothers’ hands prodded her slender tummy in concert with Spider and aggressively rubbed into all of her tenderest spots as she flailed and thrashed on the floor. Neteyam and Lo'ak were smart…if they ever tried to hold Kiri down and tickle her on their own, her righteous vengeance would rain down fast and brutal. But with Spider doing the real tickle-torture, the brothers knew they could chip in and make their sister laugh without hesitation...no fear of weathering a coming storm. Spider would quell it…or take the brunt of it.
Fingers poked and wiggled in the hollows between Kiri’s ribs, treading the paths through the rivers of blue stripes on her skin. Spider scratched the full length of her belly with monstrous talons over and over again, as if he was digging for grubs in the forest floor. He was grinning almost as wide as she was. Her armpits weren’t safe either, with little crab-pincer movements scurrying up to dance beneath them.
“Ha-Ha Ha-Ha Ha-Ha Ha-Ha Ha! *wheeze* Hn, Heh-Heh Ha-Ha Ha!! Y-hoo are dead! You are so dea-heh-head! It tick-hles!”
Soon, Kiri was all worn out. Breathless and sweating, she slumped weakly to the ground, accompanied by a blazing fire in her ears and cheeks. Her chest heaved with short, breathy little tremors, the last of the chuckles that wheezed out of her lungs.
“Heheh…Kiriiiii…” The name dripped with mockery as it hissed through Spider's teeth, but Grace's daughter was too giggly and exhausted to respond. So he tried to get her attention again.
“Kirikirikiri…” Like his namesake, he playfully skittered his sharp fingertips along the periwinkle-blue sole of Kiri’s left foot. The Na’vi teen’s whole leg twitched, and Spider had to hold her ankle still to keep her from kicking.
“Heh-Hn; Heheh-Haha! Hee! Skxaw-hng; Hng-Hng Hng! *gasp* Whaaaat, whaaa-hut?! Leave me aloooone," Kiri whined. Spider patted her cheek.
"Never start a war when you're the only soldier."
🌊🌊🌊🌊
Breath training was a struggle for Lo’ak. His nerves never settled around Tsireya, no matter how much he practiced. She knew he was the weakest student, and the the thought of her judgmental gaze made him queasy.
“Your breaths are too shallow. Hold steady,” she instructed him. Her hands reached out toward Lo’ak.
Not again…He hated when she touched him. It always made his pulse pound like a war drum.
“Breathe from down here.” Those long aquamarine fingers pressed firmly into Lo’ak’s abdomen, just under his diaphragm, until he could feel his breath rolling against them like a steady wave.
Ok...calm down. Just then, the Sully boy’s whole body jittered nervously. “Gngh!” Lo’ak grunted and shut his eyes tight. His spine stiffened upright; his stomach muscles contracted. Something felt...funny.
Oh no. Not this.
“Oh, what’s wrong?”
Lo'ak's cheeks simmered. Even through his shuttered eyelids, he could feel Tsireya grinning ear-to-ear at him.
“Heh…just relax,” she giggled. “Now breathe in, slowly.”
He obeyed....it tickled.
Damn, she’s enjoying this, isn’t she? Reya’s fingertips surfed along his stomach, only barely, gently grazing his skin…caressing beneath his ribcage and toward his liver…over every inch of him...
“Your heartbeat is fast.”
“S-sorry…”
“Feel the air in your chest. Moving dooowwn…”
“Nnnnah!” Lo’ak shuddered. His breaths were shallow and trembling. His belly quivered. No, no; not there!! Please, Eywa!!
“I’m sorry; are you a little ticklish right there?” Reya chirped as innocently as she could. “Heehee! I will be more careful.” Oh, she was just blatantly flirting with him now. This was purposeful. Strategic.
He could hear the others snorting all around him. Tuk and Kiri exchanged jubilant, knowing glances with one another, gossiping with their eyes…they sensed the impending disaster...
“Sh! Stop it,” Neteyam hissed at the sisters under his breath, but everyone could see that he was snickering to himself too.
Lo’ak couldn’t take this anymore. He was dying inside. One more touch against the wrong nerve, and he'd…
“Geh…KkkkkHAAA! D-don’t!” he wailed loudly and jumped back in a burst of panic, arms waving haphazardly.
There was nothing. A void swallowed him. Before he knew it, he felt the wet stone slipping away underneath his foot. His sight returned to him just as he was engulfed by the cold, teeming bubbles of the ocean.
Submerged.
After a few moments, coughing and sputtering on the salty ocean water, Lo’ak clumsily managed to heave himself back up onto the rock. The laughter that he heard from the other Na’vi kids was even more painful than his own.
“Th-that was…that was not funny!” Lo’ak fumed with embarrassment and tried vainly to brush the wet braids out of his face. His cheeks had gone a hazy purple. But the others didn't stop. They just kept laughing. Mocking him. Even Tsireya.
Humiliated, Lo'ak let out a furious roar and turned tail back to the water.
Reya caught herself and looked up just in time to see him swim away, leaving a defiant splash behind. Clouds gathered behind her glassy blue eyes. Now she’d done it.
“No, Lo’ak, wait!” she called to him.
The others were left alone on the rock to compose themselves. Brief pangs of guilt quickly gave way to more giggling.
"....are we done for today?" asked Tuk.
🌊🌊🌊🌊
“I don’t want to talk,” Kiri pouted.
The teen leaned back against the stretched-cloth bulb that formed the finned walls of her family's marui. Night had fallen, and the stars above slowly sputtered awake. Embers crackled and fizzed in the central fire pit. Kiri stared, forlorn, at the ten shadows that blocked its warm light from reaching her face.
Ten. Not eight.
She looked down at her toes. Ankles crossed over each other. Ten, not eight.
"Was Aonung attacking you again?" Neytiri broached the subject...indelicately. She wasn't good with the mushy side of parenting.
"I said I'm fine," Kiri raised her voice and folded her arms.
Neytiri no longer knew what to do with her daughter. Every attempt to comfort her was rebuffed. Pondering this, she sat down. Pop…pop…there were the sparks again.
"Kiri,” Neytiri began, “Do you know why Na'vi have hands?" Gingerly she held her daughter's right wrist out and touched her open palm.
Kiri rolled her eyes. Ugh. Was Neytiri going to try saying something "profound" again?
"Our ears are to hear Eywa's voice. The bond is to feel Eywa's heart. But our fingers...those are to touch Eywa herself. To feel her in the trees around us, and the ground beneath us." Kiri glanced up as Neytiri continued. "Each of our fingers is one more connection that we have to her. For most of us, eight of them are enough. But you? Kiri, you have ten. You are closer to Eywa than any of us. That is a gift."
In a strange way, that did make Kiri less blue. There was a sly smile on her mother's lips. Her hands were pulled back, close to her face. Neytiri was up to something. Her long fingers slowly bent into skittery insect legs, drumming rhythmically in the air.
"What? What are you doing?" Kiri asked, trying to stay sour.
Without warning, Neytiri reached down to Kiri’s outstretched feet and slowly, playfully, began to tickle.
“Heehee-Hee! Hee! M-ha…ma-hom, st-hop it!” Kiri giggled happily through a cheek-splitting grin. Her toes wiggled wildly like an excited bundle of snakes. “Hehn-Nghaheh! Hee!”
“And our feet…” Neytiri laughed, pretending to be oblivious, still gently shuffling her fingertips along the bottoms of her daughter’s soles. “…to feel the path that Eywa laid for us in the ground, and to follow it with strong steps…” Neytiri could barely get the words out from chuckling herself.
Kiri tried as hard as she could to sit still, for as long as she could, but soon gave up and yanked her ticklish feet to safety behind her. Her ankles slid on the rough woven canvas, but the pain didn't bother her. She and her mom were both too busy laughing.
"I know you are worried now. But give it time. Our family are all strangers here. They will learn to accept us soon."
"Mom...they don't treat me and Lo'ak like they treat the rest of us." And neither do you. She didn't say it, but Neytiri could sense it, and it made her heart sink.
“You and Lo’ak are Omatikaya. You will always be the same as us…the same part of the People. Your hands do not change that. Nor does anything else.”
Kiri bit her lip to stop her jaw from trembling. Charging suddenly, she threw her arms around her mother’s neck and held on tighter than she had in a long, long time. The hug was so tight it threatened to squeeze tears out of her. Why couldn't they go home? Why couldn't she confide in anyone else now that Spider was gone? She felt a soothing kiss press against her forehead, and fingers running through the back of her messy hair.
Wait...what? Instantly, Kiri perked up and held her mom at arm’s length. Her mouth hung open in faux offense.
“Hold on…. I’m ‘grumpy?’” she demanded. She was about two seconds away from cracking up.
"Yes, you're grumpy. So grumpy." Neytiri's big smile both teased and comforted. A gentle swat sent Kiri's wrist away.
"I'm grumpy now? Huh?" Kiri laughed. The rambunctious girl thrust her arm out like a spear, her fingers poised to stab directly into Neytiri's gut. Instantly, her mother crumpled to the floor of the tent, screaming with childlike laughter.
“K-HEE!! K-Kiri-Hee-Hee! HA-HA HA-HA HA! N-hoho more! No more!” Neytiri cried. "Hhhho...H-h-okay, I gihive uhup!!!"
Growing up, Kiri and her little sis knew exactly how to persuade their mom to do anything. She giggled happily and tickled Neytiri’s tummy until the Omatikaya matriarch was completely out of breath and had tears in her eyes.
Since moving across the ocean, they'd had to grow up faster and faster...become responsible. Kiri rarely felt like a kid anymore.
But this helped.
🌊🌊🌊🌊
“Why do the forest people have hair on their tails?”
Just the latest in a string of awkward questions Tsireya felt compelled to ask the Sully sisters. She didn’t want to seem like she was teasing them, but for all she knew, the Omatikaya hung from trees upside-down to eat and sleep. Everything about the darker-skinned Na'vi fascinated her, and she couldn't help but take Kiri's wriggling tail in her hand to examine it. Several times she curiously stroked the appendage, an action which made the elder Sully slightly uncomfortable.
“Uh…I guess I don’t really know. Why do your forearms look like a sturmbeest sat on them?” To Kiri's surprise, her sarcasm just made Tsireya laugh. (And to her complete lack of surprise, Tuk did the same.)
“I’m serious!” Reya insisted, smiling. She played with the dark wisps of hair as they danced around her fingers. “For what purpose are they useful?”
All of a sudden, Tuk gleefully chimed in: “They’re for this!” The youngest Na’vi whipped around and wagged her tail like a dog, letting its small blossom of hair dust back and forth on Reya’s seafoam blue-green tummy.
"AHHH!!!" The Metkayina girl shrieked at the top of her lungs, her eyes twinkling with delighted surprise, and quickly bounded away. Flax netting creaked underneath her. The foreign tail dropped from her fingers, which then swooped upward to cover her own giddy smile. She was a lot more sensitive than Tuk was expecting!
“See?”
“Oh, is that what they’re for? Hm?” As Tuk watched her, Reya reached behind her back...as if she were hiding something. Her hand emerged, and Tuk saw that it was clasped around the business end of her own braided ponytail. Smiling, Tsireya wiggled the hair menacingly in Tuk's direction.
Tuk let out an ecstatic scream and began to run in bouncy circles around the village walkway, overcome with giggly anticipation. (This was her favorite part!) She ran and ran, with springy steps, repeatedly looking back over her shoulder to see how close Reya was to catching her.
The younger Sully was always vying for Tsireya's attention, always pulling on her skirt and trying to play with her. But this was one of the first times Tuk really felt like she had a new big sister...and nothing could've made her happier.
The two ran around tickling each other til both agreed to a truce...and, much to Kiri's annoyance, didn't forget to include her in the fun.
🌊🌊🌊🌊
Dewdrops. Right on the end of her twitching pink nose. A large arm...her brother's...brushing past her forehead. Bright veridian beams poking their way under her eyelids.
Morning. Tuktirey was ready to greet the new day.
The rest of her family untangled itself from the communal knot of limbs, stretching and cracking joints. Neytiri pet Tuk's head and pulled her to her feet. Kiri, always the heavy sleeper, snored loudly until Neteyam kicked her her shoulder. She sat up and blinked heavily, beset by a wild nest of bedhead.
"Come on, guys! The ikran are migrating today!" Tuk cried excitedly. "Dad, wake up!"
Jake groaned. His dreadlocks were strewn in every direction. Sleep still tugged at his face...there were many days when he missed the burn of oily black RDA coffee in the mornings. He was the only one in the family still lying flat, facedown in their hammock, joints bent so that his hands were underneath his chin. He looked like a horse, Tuk's little mind told her. But no matter. She knew she could get him up!
Up her dad’s back, the little mountaineer climbed...his skin was cold from the nighttime fog...until she had a firm grip on his ponytail. Neytiri tried to admonish her, but both of them were giggling. Tuk fluttered the end of his ponytail in his face, which almost made him sneeze. She slipped only for a moment, when her right foot and hand slid down Jake’s side...and suddenly, her mountain trembled.
“HNG, Hn-Hn Hng!” A sharp, throaty chuckle forced its way out from between Jake’s teeth. He was grinning, and his arms instinctively nestled themselves underneath him.
In an instant Tuk had made her new favorite discovery…she didn’t know that grown-ups could be ticklish too! The curious girl hissed like a kitten and continued her climb, squeezing and scratching the length of her dad’s ribs.
“Wake! Up! Wake! Up!” she squeaked emphatically. She kicked his sides with her toes as if it would make him gallop off toward the sunrise.
"Uh-oh, Tuk's got you now," Neytiri smiled.
“Heh-Hn Ha…Hey, what are you d-hooin’? Heh-Heh!” Laughter swirled around deep inside Jake’s stomach...he could feel it coming up. He kept wiggling and snickering, trying to hold it in, and the more he stirred, the more the rest of his family noticed.
"Heheh! Time to get up, dad!" Neteyam laughed. The eldest son was propped up and sitting on his elbows nearby. Thinking quickly, he grabbed a long blade of grass, accidentally carried in on one of their ankles the night before, and flicked the bottom of Jake's foot with its sharp edges.
“N-HA; No…c-hut that out,” his dad laughed. His leg twitched. That was one of the few traits Jake disliked about his "new" avatar body...even after 15 years of hide-leathering wilderness life, his big feet were still ticklish.
Suddenly animated, the Omatikaya chief spun over onto his back...surely that would send Tuk tumbling away...but she merely yelped a happy sound and held onto his swinging hair. The rest of his family (except Lo'ak, who was clearly uncomfortable and hanging back) were closing in on him. Meanwhile, his littlest continued scribbling all over his stomach and armpits with her bent claws, as if fingerpainting a messy canvas.
“Heehee-Hee! Hold stiiill!” Tuk giggled.
“I’ve got him, Tuk; I’ve got him,” reassured Neytiri with dulcet, playful tones. The queen hopped over to the familial cluster on both knees and held her husband’s wrists firmly behind his head, not letting him squirm away or cover himself...Jake's whole torso was bared. Oh, you're gonna get it, his mirthful eyes growled at her.
“Heh...this looks fun...” Grinning, Kiri stole a bird feather from a decorative piece of her mom’s clothing, and swiped it gleefully up and down Jake’s abdomen. The feather’s bristles were rigid and stiff…they tickled when they scraped along his ribcage. Every little twitch of his made Kiri giggle.
“HEH! KKKKKKK; Hng-Hn Hn-Hn!” Jake was struggling. Woven flax burned the skin on his back…twisting around did him no favors. He could fend off an entire pack of viperwolves with his bare hands and never get bitten...child's play. Mowing down legions of RDA soldiers from atop a moving train...easy. But even the mighty Toruk Makto couldn't fight back against a whole eight-armed Pandoran Tickle Monster all on his own…one of the most vicious and hungry beasts to prowl the moon’s jungles! “Heh-Heh Ha-Heh Hng! H-Heh! Quit it!”
Suddenly, his arms were free. His elbows snapped in to his sides, hoping to pin Tuk's hands still. But something stopped him. He could feel it in his left foot…eight long fingers, squeezing him from behind…Neytiri’s…holding him still and scuttling roughly against his bare sole. His blue toes clenched up. He heard his wife’s airy giggle.
“Heh…hey…Hey! T-t...t-hake it easy, Heh-Heh Ha-Heh Hng-Hng! Heh-Heh Ha-Ha!” Jake was getting exhausted…his throat sore...he didn’t know how much more he could handle, not this early in the morning. Kiri and Neteyam had left him alone, finally, but Tuk’s impish little claws still scratched up and down his quivering stomach.
"Tuk...Heehee! Tuk, sweetie, I think your father has had enough," Neytiri laughed, still holding Jake's foot in place with one hand while lovingly tickling with the other.
Though both were excited, they gradually eased up, and Jake was able to pause for air. But no one in the family was able to stop smiling at one another. Tuk bounced up and down on Jake, her head framed by a halo from the sun, until her gradually sat up straight. The wood straps creaked below them. And his waist, it turns out, was a sharp incline.
Shrieking with laughter, Tuk plopped and rolled down her father’s midsection until she was flat in his lap, staring up at him, a ray of pure sunshine.
“Morning, squirt,” Jake laughed tussled her hair. “You’re up early. Why you foolin’ around so much?”
"Tickle me! Tickle me!" Tuk giggled hysterically and threw her arms out. There was that toothy smile again…the one that could make her parents do anything. Jake and Neytiri smirked at each other for one brief moment, before diving in to oblige her with playful hisses.
If Jake ever doubted his decision to leave humanity behind, moments like this washed that homesickness away. Holding his children in his arms…being tickled awake by his girls…hunting with his sons…hearing the music of the ikran in the shade of Hometree as they shared a breakfast…
This family...this is why he stayed.
🌊🌊🌊🌊
Some swam to hunt. Some swam to catch fish. Some did it for athleticism, some did it to show off. But Tsireya's favorite thing to do, deep in the glistening reef pools that barricaded her village from the outside world, was simply to see.
Oel ngati kameie...Eywa. She poked a bulbous rainbow fish, and smiled when it opened its mouth like a purse and symbiotic shrimp sneezed their way out. Leafy undergrowths of seaweed enveloped her legs and arms. Life exploded in a spiral above her. Absorbed in the kaleidoscopic schools of coral and fish, Tsireya didn't even notice the graceful feather star dancing at her heels.
It was an elegant zebra-patterned bouquet of plumes, launched off the ocean floor to suck up nearby microplankton. They were rare and beautiful creatures, even on the alien moon of Pandora, but remarkably similar to earth variants. And one was swimming right underneath her.
The rays of the oblivious invertebrate wiggled and waved happily…closer and closer…very close now...until its fluttering, soft pinnules gently whisked across her arches.
Bubbles shot out of the princess' nose. She squealed and giggled and wriggled upwards to the surface like a hooked eel...Tsireya’s feet were very, very ticklish, and the delicate star had snuck up on her. But she wasn't bothered. She was bursting with glee. That was one of the things that delighted her most about the ocean...those constant, tactile brushes with Eywa's glory.
Smiling, she swam eagerly back down to the little creature...hopefully, she thought, it would play with her some more.
🌊🌊🌊🌊
Warm water sloshed into Kiri’s eyeballs. Schools of fish spiraled around her. She was in serious trouble.
Damn it! Why is he so annoying?!
Picking fights with Aonung never went well. She’d thrown a massive wad of sand and mud into his face to stop him from fighting with Lo’ak...again...and painted a target on herself in the process. Now he was homing in on her like a hunting banshee.
Shit shit shit shit! Go away!
Bony fingers brushed her ankle. He had her.
No! A shout slipped out of Kiri’s mouth before she quickly snapped it shut again. She whipped around to face him. But what she did next happened so fast a viperwolf couldn’t have seen it. Pure instinct seized her, and she swung wildly.
Her toes cracked square into Aonung’s jaw. He tumbled head over heels in the current. Kiri threw her arms out, unsure of what she was even reaching for, and a bioluminescent flower bud unfurled beside her. In an instant, the nearby anemone became her toy.
Its blossom drunkenly swiveled side to side. Its feeding tendrils spiraled outward. Icy water sucked in between Kiri’s fangs. She held her breath, and with a mighty push, the anemone lashed out and snapped up Aonung into its maw.
Oh shit! Oh shit! What do I do now?!
Watching Aonung's body pulled into a star shape, pulling and fighting to tear through the rubbery lashes that bound him, Kiri fidgeted nervously. Her hands pressed up against her chest and her fingers wiggled amongst themselves. Was this going to hurt him? Could she instruct it to set him free? But then she noticed something odd...
The anemone was mimicking her. Its body vibrated. The tips of the arms followed their puppeteer’s noodly hands almost perfectly. Tap-dancing tentacles jabbed all over Aonung’s chest and belly, sending a current of prickly venom up and down the bully’s body. He thrashed and punched and kicked, grimacing in...pain? No...not pain. Something else.
Aonung’s face might have been twisted into a scowl of rage on the surface, all creased and crinkled, but those gurgling trumpet blasts that came out of his mouth couldn’t fool Kiri…he was laughing, fighting desperately not to, and not enjoying it.
Aonung was ticklish.
No way. Kiri couldn’t believe her luck. An early birthday present had dropped straight into her lap. Now this was strategy she could use.
Giggling, Kiri slowly wiggled her fingers again. Then wiggled them some more. And more. Aonung was a helpless fly in her web of tickle-torturing tentacles. She'd never seen him so angry...or so clearly embarrassed.
Oh, Eywa, this is amaaaaaaazing...cootchie cootchie! I wonder if he's ticklish here...ooo, and there...
Aonung groaned through clenched teeth. Metkayina could carry barrel-fulls of air in their lungs, but even they had limits. The boy was rapidly losing oxygen. A final, desperate surge of energy managed to rip Aonung's body through the floral creature, and the sticky wormy appendages snapped free. Aonung propelled up to the surface on a mighty current, his chest bursting with agony, until he…at last!…gulped down liters of summer air.
Ok, get ready. Down below, Kiri waited. Any second know, she knew, Aonung would charge back down to her, and she’d have to run against. But the moment never came. Aonung’s shadow simply darted away, back to the village, quick as his fins would carry him.
Quiet. Still. The ocean no longer pounded against Kiri. Light drizzled down through the lapping waves above. Her brain was bursting with so many exciting ideas that she almost forgot to breathe.
This wasn’t just a strategy…it was perfect. She had more than a new weapon against Aonung; she could bully him, blackmail him, make him sorry he ever even thought about picking on them. Delicious.
You think you're so tough? If only he could hear her thoughts.
the real horror of being ticklish isn’t the tickling, it’s the fucking smug SMIRK people give you once they find out. like hello, why are you looking at me like you’ve just discovered the nuclear launch codes??
Yknow something I also love? Not necessarily tickling. But someone just getting a major case of the giggles and laughing their ass off at something stupid and everyone else is highly amused by it. Like the others are not laughing at whatever they’re laughing at, they’re chuckling and looking in disbelief at one person just losing their shit. It’s silly! It’s fun! Their joy is contagious! People laugh along with the one person helplessly cracking up. It’s so adorable and fun and makes my heart soar.
i have been thinking so much about how unusual the tickle community seems to people who just don’t Get It. Like yeah hey everyone i’m really into tickling and i love to……… think about it. I love to conceptualize it in my brain. I love to make up scenarios in my head and fluster myself with them. No i don’t do anything else. Yes this is the most fun i’ve ever had
Are your knees ticklish? Because I'm going to find out. I'm going to clamp a big, scary hand over your poor little kneecap, and firmly yet gently dig my fingers into all the little seams and crevices of the joint. It's going to feel like I'm trying to disassemble it into its component parts, and that primordial panic response is going to hit you like a ton of bricks. Head back, mouth open, flailing blindly at my hand like you've lost your mind... All while trying to scream and giggle the intrusive sensation away.
But I'm not gonna let go. Maybe you should try asking nicely. 😏
The joy it would be to have a partner who loves tickling just as much as you do. Could you imagine laying together in bed each night and turning to your partner and saying, “Hey. Could you maybe… *nudge nudge* do the thing…” 🦋 And your partner immediately knowing what you want and giving you all the gentle tickles while you snuggle together and fall asleep! 🦋
