☆ A/N: hello! I know this is my first tickle fanfic on this blog but let me know how I did! I apologize if Kinger is a bit OOC,, I found it hard to write a tickle scene with an absolute nutcase of a character 😭😭 Enjoy!
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◇ Summary: With Caine nowhere to be seen, one of the circus members decides to go check on their adored ringmaster... only to come across a sensitive discovery.
The circus has been quiet all day - almost too quiet. Usually, Caine would've been bombarding the circus members with another crazy adventure… but now? He was nowhere to be seen; so much so that it was almost suspicious.
Gangle was drawing on the stage with her pens and pencils stacked next to her, Zooble was currently hiding in case Caine did show up, Pomni and Jax were talking amongst themselves, and Ragatha was trying to sew her torn arm back after the last wild adventure they went on. And Kinger? This nutcase was where he always was - his pillow fort.
It was a rising question among the group - Where the hell was Caine?
Eventually, the question was asked out loud.
“Alright, this is ridiculous.” Pomni suddenly spoke, turning to the others who were in the vicinity. “Where is Caine? He's usually bothering us by now.”
Gangle, who was anxiously fidgeting with her ribbons, spoke up. “I-I'm not sure… It's not like him to just… disappear.”
Jax decided to lay on the couch in a relaxed form, his arms behind his head.
“I dunno why you're complaining, pompom… I could use an off day.”
Annoyed with the rabbit's antics, the jester sighed. “It's not that I'm complaining… it's just… strange. That's all.”
Pomni wasn't sure when, but at some point during the conversation, Kinger exited his pillow fort. Jax sighed. “Well, if you're so concerned, why don't you go check on him?” Turning his back on the others, he continued. “But don't cry to me when he decides to send us on another haunted adventure.”
Pomni shivered at that last sentence. “Well-” She got cut off by Kinger, surprisingly. “Oh! I could go check!” Kinger had no idea who they were even talking about. Hilarious.
Pomni glanced towards the others, then back at Kinger. Shrugging, she spoke. “Okay, if you really want to. Just - report back to us in a bit, okay?”
With a smile, Kinger responded. “Okay!” Then, he idled in his spot for a bit, until Pomni awkwardly pointed to a random hallway. Again, Kinger had no idea who he was supposed to check on, and everyone else was pretty sure he'd forget his task as soon as he left the area, but whatever.
Kinger quickly darted down the chosen hallway, wandering around until his eyes darted to a half-red, half-blue door at the end of the hallway.
On the very top of the door, it read: “Caine's Office”. It was right in front of his face, and yet he was still oblivious. He strolled towards the door, naively knocking with one of his floating hands.
After a few seconds, a muffled, yet detached voice could be heard.
Kinger spoke next, his voice still holding his obliviousness. “Oh. Hello, Caine.”
A moment of silence passed before the distressed AI sighed, the huge door that towered over Kinger, suddenly opening.
The chess piece wandered in, his sight falling on Caine, who was sitting at his desk. It was clear that something was amiss. Crumpled paper, pencils, and knocked over building blocks surrounded him. Even in Kinger's nutcase state, he could see something was bothering the AI to a point where everyone missed today's adventure.
“Caine?” Kinger walked forward, getting a better view of the AI's form.
Caine sniffled, shuffling through papers, some even falling on the floor. “You're not supposed to have access back here, Kinger.” Eventually, Kinger was standing beside Caine, kneeling down to his level.
“The others wanted me to… check on you.”
Caine scoffed, crossing his arms like a bratty child and turning his head (teeth, really).
“Tell them I'm fine. No adventure today.”
One of Kinger's floating hands began to reassemble the messy papers on Caine's desk as he responded.
“That doesn't make any sense… You love to plan and prepare these adventures. Is… something wrong?”
What an ignorant question.
Caine groaned, crossing his arms even tighter. He decided not to respond to that.
Seeing how Kinger wouldn't get anything out of his AI friend, he began to think. - I mean, as much as he could do in the light. “Hm.”
Kinger's eyes darted to Caine's desk, his sight driven to the crumbled papers with frantic handwriting on them. He intended to view one of them he found interesting, his hand reaching out… but he accidentally grazed it against Caine's side, making the AI flinch then freeze at the action.
Kinger froze, suddenly gasping. “I-i'm so sorry-!! Did that hurt? I-”
“No- no-” He got cut off by Caine. “Forget about it.” Unfortunately for Caine, he said that a little too quickly.
Kinger raised an eyebrow. “Oh..”
After a moment of silence, Kinger poked Caine's side hard. He yelped, basically jumping out his chair, gums blushing.
Kinger chuckled, standing up from his kneeling position. “You're ticklish?” I suppose even in Kinger's state of dissociation, naivete had a limit.
“What. No!! That's- A-Ai's can't be-” Caine stopped talking once he realized Kinger's floating hands were getting closer and closer to him. This was one perk of having no arms. Having bluetooth hands!
“Kinger! I'm so serious-” Caine whined, instinctively floating back, trying to cover his midriff even though he wasn't being tickled yet. Kinger, on the other hand, smiled. “I heard this is a good cheer up method!” He said happily, his gloved hands moving closer to Caine's sides. Finally - Kinger struck, his hands gently scribbling across Caine's sides.
A glitchy squeal could be heard, making the AI immediately fall mid-air.
Fall damage is basically nonexistent in this colorful world, but Kinger still managed to catch Caine before he hit the ground. Did he stop tickling him though? No.
Kinger doesn't have a mouth, but if he did, he'd be smiling ear to ear.
“KihihiInGER-!” Caine shrieked, his arms flailing around, legs kicking. It turns out that it's really hard to teleport himself out of this while getting tickled silly.
“Yes, Caine?” Kinger responded, his fingers still moving against Caine's red suit jacket. The funny part is that he was barely tickling the AI… it's almost like his extensive code made him more ticklish. Poor thing.
Caine continued to flail, barely missing Kinger's head. With a chuckle, Kinger decided to use one of his hands to grip Caine's wrists, holding them above his head. “Careful where you're aiming those things, will you?”
With Caine's hands restrained, Kinger's other hand went to town, now tickling a little more frantically than it was before, which made Caine go crazy. The poor AI could barely speak. It was a mix of glitches, delightful squeals, and overall hysterical laughter. It was adorable, and overall out-of-character to hear the all-powerful ringmaster tickled to pieces like this.
Eventually, Kinger grew a bit concerned - he didn't want to break Caine, of course- so he slowed down a bit.
“Is this better?” Kinger suddenly had the audacity to ask as Caine was still laughing extremely hard, his blush marks only growing redder.
“N-nohoOh!! It’s horriiHIBLE-!!” He squealed. He could hear his own glitches in his laughter, which made this all more ridiculous than it was. Kinger, a bit oblivious, raised an eyebrow.
“Oh.” His hands moved to Caine’s stomach, digging in. “How about here?”
For a second, behind the manic, hysterical laughter that left Caine, he was almost convinced that Kinger knew what the hell he was doing. Because how do you look at the laughing, heaping mess in Kinger’s arms and think ‘he’s enjoying this’?
In truth, Caine was enjoying it somewhat, but not enough to not protest, of course.
“I-IHIHILL TAHALK-” Caine suddenly blurted out amongst his hysterical giggles, which made Kinger's hands halt in their action. “Oh. Well then.” Kinger's hands moved from Caine's stomach to his sides, gently putting him back in his chair so he could stabilize himself. He gripped the chair handle, and even though he didn't need to breathe in this digital world, he took a big gulp of air. Kinger stood idly by, waiting for the explanation he was promised he'd get. After a moment of gathering his bearings, the AI began to speak.
“I..” He paused, “I keep trying to make the perfect adventure for everyone… but it seems like no matter how hard I try, they never…” His gaze drifted to the paper on his desk, filled with intense scribbling of random, creative ideas. “They never like it… I-it's like they don't even like me!” His voice got more urgent as he continued talking. Kinger walked forward, glancing at the scrambled papers on the AI's desk, picking one of them up. On it, different character names with likes and dislikes listed for each person.
“It looks like you have a good idea about what everyone does and doesn't like.” Kinger stated, putting the paper he was holding down on the desk.
Caine stared at the paper, a heavy sigh escaping his lips.
“I.. do. I just… don't know how to make them all happy at once.” Caine then felt a hand on his back. Soothing
He turned a bit, and his expression softened when he saw it was Kinger - i mean who else would it be? Absolute dumba-
His teeth smiled, and even though he didn't have a heart, his code felt a tinge of warmth at the action. “Thank you, Kinger..” His body turned back around to face his desk.
“Maybe… I need to incorporate something that will make them all happy.” Caine then paused, a lightbulb sparking in his head.
“Wait. I got it!” He soared upwards in a panic as that cheery, bubbly attitude came right back to him.
Without waiting for a response, Caine flew right out of his office, probably to the drawing board to make the perfect adventure.
Kinger stared - his eyes drifting towards the fangy, smiley bubble near him.
“A-AH-. O-oh! Ah. You startled me.”
