Industrial Action
Read on AO3
I finally finished a fic!! God it's been ages. This is just a straight tickle fic so if you're just here for w359 it might not be for you XD
Learning how to manage Doug Eiffel was an ongoing journey. He was often good in a crisis, he could think outside the box, and was shockingly skilled with his equipment when he wanted to be. He was there for her when she needed a friend. That one had really surprised her, though the feeling wasn’t quite as powerful as the one of relief. Knowing that if she was exhausted, if Commander Minkowski wasn’t a mask she could keep up anymore, there was someone around who would be there for Renée Minkowski.
It was letting that mask fall away every now and then that she learned more. Most notably that Doug Eiffel was a very tactile man. She’d been taken off guard when he started putting a hand on her shoulder from time to time, nudging her in the direction of her room when she was clearly exhausted, poking her in the arm if he was feeling extra obnoxious. She’d been even more surprised at how goddamn happy it seemed to make him when she returned the gesture. His smile almost split his face in two the first time, and she made note of it. It was important to keep morale up, of course.
Hanging out was another thing that they’d evolved into. Turned out, Eiffel wasn’t against crew bonding when it just involved existing in the same space and… talking. About nothing in particular.
Minkowski’s quarters were the location for that evening’s crew bonding. She, Lovelace, and Eiffel sat lazily across her bunk, trying to come up with a ranking for all the meals that had been sent up with them, with Hera reminding them of particularly obscure options.
Lovelace scoffed. “Sure, but what about the sushi?”
“Sushi?!” Three voices replied in tandem, equal measures of horrified.
She laughed and Eiffel made a disgusted noise. “No, nuh uh, you’re making that up, no way they sent you up here with raw fish!”
“It was frozen.” She snickered. “Fourier really wanted us to try it, no one could talk her out of it. Bleh.” She pulled a face at the memory.
“Turkey seems like it was a better idea.” Hera said, amused.
“Stealing it wasn’t.” Eiffel said, fixing Minkowski with a playful glare.
She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t stealit; I was trying to keep you out of the way while I cooked it.”
“Excuses.” He tutted, earning a shove.
Just as Eiffel was about to come up with another option, there was a polite chime from the speakers. “That’s eight hours from start of shift.” Hera reminded. “As requested, Commander.”
“Thanks Hera.” Minkowski stretched. “Okay, I’m calling it. Time for bed, get out of here.”
“Nooooooo.” Eiffel whined, batting his eyelashes. “Please, five more minutes?”
Lovelace snickered, but Minkowski managed to scowl. “No, Eiffel. Some of us actually work on our shifts, you know.”
“Pretty sure that’s just you.”
She turned her steely gaze on Lovelace and hissed, “Not helping.”
“Uh uh, I’m starting industrial action or whatever, this is a sit in.” And with that, Eiffel flopped across the two of them bodily, pinning them down. Or he would be doing that if there was gravity. As it was, he was just being very dramatic.
“Ugh, Eiffel!”
Lovelace chuckled, finding Eiffel’s head in her lap. “Well hey there.”
He pouted up at her. “You’re on my side, right Cap?”
“No comment.”
He huffed and crossed his arms, turning his gaze to his commanding officer. He was more than a little intimidated to see her grinning at him. Uh oh.
“Captain.” Minkowski said, with no small amount of smugness. “You remember how I said there’s no off switch on this Communications Officer?”
Lovelace raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t sure where this was going, but it sounded like it was somewhere fun. “Why yes, Commander, I do remember that.”
“Well, funny thing, I may not have found the off switch, but I do know one trick if Eiffel’s got you in a bind.”
“I’m right here!” Eiffel protested.
Minkowski’s grin widened. “Yes.” She said. “You are.”
Something about the spark in her eye gave away what she had in mind. Eiffel cringed back, already smiling nervously, his crossed arms tightening further around himself. “Wait.” He chuckled. “Wait wait wait, that’s not fair!”
Lovelace smirked. “Well now I really want to know.”
“No!” Eiffel yelped, eyes locked on a now very smug Minkowski.
She chuckled. “You could always get up and go to bed.” It was true, he could. But they both knew he wouldn’t. They’d played this game a few times, and, well, Eiffel never took an out when offered, no matter how minor the acquiescence. She might not be a genius, but she wasn’t stupid.
Sure enough. “But I don’t wanna!”
Shrug. “Eh, suit yourself.” Minkowski immediately started pinching up his sides and ribs, sending Eiffel tumbling into a fit of frantic giggles, squirming and kicking and protesting in vain.
“No!” Eiffel squeaked, grabbing at her hands, already smiling so wide he felt like he might split his face in two. “No!”
Minkowski gave him a reproachful look. As if they didn’t both know this was exactly what he’d wanted.
Lovelace smiled predatorily. “Oh. Ohohoho. Perfect.”
“No!” Eiffel yelped again, louder, trying to twist away, but she seized his wrist and wrestled one arm up above his head. He whined, high pitched and drawn out, but Lovelace only grinned down at him.
“What’s the matter?” She asked, even as Minkowski didn’t pause her playful assault and drew out messy giggles from him. “Something wrong, Officer Eiffel?”
Eiffel felt his face flush at the teasing, trying in vain to tug his arm free, squealing loudly when Lovelace’s other hand started scratching at his ribs and quickly melting into fits of snorty laughter. There was no chance he could speak beyond garbled pleas for mercy.
Hera chimed in, sounding incredibly amused. “Hmm, it seems to me that what’s wrong is that Eiffel’s very ticklish.”
Oh, screw her. If he wasn’t blushing before, he definitely was now. “NOHO!” He shrieked, squirming, trying to catch Minkowski’s eye to beg for mercy, but she was just watching him with a knowing, affectionate grin. Because she knew, of course she did. He could only provoke her so many times before it became obvious, and that thought was enough to send him over the edge, flopping onto his side and smushing his face in Lovelace’s shirt to hide.
He heard them all chuckle at his reaction and buried his face further into her abdomen, giggling helplessly as they continued to poke and scratch at his ticklish spots.
Minkowski grinned. “I think you might be right, Hera.”
She snickered. “Well, I am very advanced.”
Lovelace hummed in amused agreement, continuing to scratch at Eiffel’s ribs and trying to ignore the fact that he had his face pressed against her stomach as he squirmed and laughed, because it felt weird. Her muscles jumped involuntarily, the urge to push him away was strong and… she couldn’t stop smiling.
Oh crap.
She wasn’t ticklish. She could have sworn that she wasn’t, but was there another word for that feeling? Like she had to get away, like she could burst into giggles at any moment? Probably not.
Her eyes darted between the other two, still holding Eiffel’s arm up but slowing her own attack. They couldn’t find out. She’d die from embarrassment if they noticed. She just had to hold out longer than Eiffel.
Easier said than done, of course. There was something so silly and flustering about the fact that she was losing her mind entirely by accident. Eiffel’s other arm was wrapped around her back, pulling him closer into her stomach as he giggled frantically. She felt like a shaken beer can, buzzing with laughter that was getting harder and harder to hold down with every second. She kicked her feet, if only to vent some of that giddy energy, glad that smiling wasn’t suspicious right now.
Lovelace’s heart jumped when Hera hummed with the most obviously fake concern she’d ever heard in her goddamn life. “Oh, Captain Lovelace, are you okay?”
Fuck. FUCK. Hera’s words had Minkowski looking up at her, quickly taking in her flushed cheeks, rigid posture, and uncontrollable smile. And then Minkowski smirked, evil and knowing and oh god, if that didn’t make her stomach flip.
She shook her head weakly, horrified to realise that it felt like begging, but not knowing what else to do. In place of a response, Minkowski narrowed her eyes mischievously and massaged her fingertips into Eiffel’s stomach, making him hiccup with further laughter and making her jump a mile, her free hand grabbing a handful of the standard issue quilt on the bed and her eyes squeezing shut. Don’t let Eiffel notice. She tried to command herself. He was the biggest troublemaker she’d ever met.
That thought lasted her an entire ten seconds. Right up until Minkowski squeezed at his kneecap and Eiffel screeched. And Lovelace squealed, letting go of his arm in her full-body flail.
They were all very still for a long moment. Lovelace’s giddy horror grew when Eiffel chuckled and Minkowski’s smirk impossibly grew wider. “Wait!” She yelped, trying to crawl away. “Not me! Not me!”
It was too late, of course. Eiffel was remarkably quick to recover and find his target, his free arm also wrapping around her and purposefully nuzzling his face into her stomach in as ticklish a manner he could manage, drawing out yet another squeal and making her jerk backwards. “Eiffel!”
“Hmm?” He hummed against her stomach. “Something wrong, cap?”
Lovelace clenched her jaw and shook her head frantically, grinning wildly. Her self-control was hanging by a thread, but she managed to keep the laughter in. Barely.
Hera giggled. “Aww, I think someone has a ticklish tummy.” She sang, immediately turning Lovelace’s thoughts into giddy static and drawing out a garbled shriek.
A shriek which quickly gave way to frantic giggles when Eiffel took a deep breath and blew a loud raspberry against her clothed stomach. “Shit!” She yelped, folding in half as best as she could, failing to deter him from doing it again and making her laugh still harder, her face flushing red. “Fuck!”
“Language!” Hera tutted amusedly.
Lovelace gasped for air. He wasn’t stopping! “Fuck yohou!”
“Rude.”
Her thoughts were turning to complete mush in the face of Eiffel’s playful assault. Her hands tangled into his hair, forcefully pushing him away, and… nothing. He didn’t move. Her arms felt all tingly and electric and she couldn’t even overpower Doug Eiffel right now.
Eiffel laughed, nosing around her belly button and delighting in her giggles. “I think you might be onto something, Hera.” He said, earning a weak shove and another curse.
Lovelace’s brain was quickly giving up on forming coherent thought. Her eyes turned to Minkowski, still smug, with a flicker of affection in her eye. “He-” She hiccupped. “Help!”
She raised her eyebrows in response, inching closer. “Well, if you insist.”
There was a moment, the barest moment of hope, before the crushing betrayal when Minkowski poked experimentally at the back of her ribs, earning a yelp or curse with every one. Minkowski chuckled, continuing her playful assault as Lovelace swore at her between laughter, trying to twist away or shove her. “What?” She said innocently. “You said help.”
She shouted something. It probably wasn’t coherent.
Eiffel laughed into her stomach. “I think you’re doing a wonderful job, Commander.” He said teasingly, continuing to nuzzle and blow raspberries. It was embarrassingly effective.
“Why thank you, Eiffel.”
Screw both of them! She kicked some more, trying to jostle Eiffel off to no avail. Squirming back to get away from him only brought her closer to Minkowski’s blunt nails, scratching maddeningly between her shoulder blades, and trying to get away from that only had her pressing her abdomen into Eiffel’s goddamn raspberries! She felt like her brain was melting out of her ears.
Eiffel took a moment to stop and lean back, taking in Lovelace’s flushed face and wide, silly smile. He grinned. “You are so cute!”
She whined in between breathless giggles and buried her face in her hands, her arms clamping down when Minkowski started plucking gently at her ribs.
He chuckled, “Ooh, I could just eat you up.” And, because he probably wouldn’t get the chance again, hugged tightly and pressed his face back into her abdomen, playfully growling and nipping and nomming at her stomach.
Lovelace jumped backwards with a snorty shriek, only to squirm forwards to escape Minkowski’s chuckle and fingers now tracing up her spine, trying to suck her stomach in to avoid Eiffel. “Dork!” She screeched. It tickled like hell, and the playfulness was even worse. She couldn’t think.
Eiffel laughed between growls. “Cutiepie!” He shot back, over-enunciating the word and earning a squeal and a trying to be firm shove.
Lovelace could feel herself getting dizzy from laughing so hard, even in her giddy, addled brain. “Okay!” She managed, “Guys! Guhuhuhys! Stop!”
They did, almost immediately, and she flopped backwards onto the bunk, breathing deeply and trying to get a lid on her residual giggles.
Minkowski looked down at her, trying not to seem too amused. “You okay?”
She couldn’t stop smiling, but flipped her off anyway, managing a small nod. Eiffel flopped down beside her, giving her an affectionate grin. She glared at him.
Eiffel chuckled. “After all that wasted time, we finally found Captain Lovelace’s weakness. Washboard abs.” He poked her gently in the stomach for emphasis and she burst into giggles, batting at him. The joke should make her groan, but everything felt silly and funny right now.
“Ohoho my god.” She breathed, forcing slow and steady breaths.
Minkowski chuckled. “You sure you’re okay?” She hoped they hadn’t gone too far. It was nice to see her laugh like that.
The giggles were starting to die down. “I’m fine.” She wrapped one arm protectively around her stomach, and snorted. “One hell of a core workout.” She narrowed her eyes. “But you three better watch your backs.”
Hera laughed. “Three? I think you might be forgetting something.”
Lovelace directed her glare at the nearest camera. “I think you’re forgetting how resourceful I can be.”
“I’d like to see you try.” Hera said daringly.
“Okay, okay.” Minkowski interrupted. “Enough of that, thanks.”
Lovelace turned her playful glare to their commander but was stopped from speaking by another chime. “That’s seven hours until start of shift.” Hera said pointedly.
Eiffel laughed and Minkowski gave him a dour look. “Not a bad result for industrial action.” Lovelace joked, still feeling very fuzzy in the head.
Minkowski groaned. “Ugh, don’t start.” She grabbed Eiffel’s arm and floated him off her bunk towards the door. “Bed, now.”
He snickered, not making any move to right his position. “Yessir.”
She raised an eyebrow at the dishevelled Lovelace, who chuckled. “Okay okay, I was just caught in the middle, you know.” She said, pushing herself up and trying not to think about how brain meltingly horrible being stuck between their tickle attacks was.
Or was it wonderful?
Agh, she was far too tired to think about that right now. “Night.” She said, propelling herself off the bunk and towards the door.
“Goodnight Commander!” Eiffel called just before she closed the door.
Lovelace gave the closed door an appraising look. Hmm. “Eiffel.” She said, thinking.
“Captain.”
She turned to him and grinned wolfishly. “Have you ever considered unionising?”
