@blushy-tigerrr responded to this post for a vaguefic!!!
one that i love can be either romantic or platonic!! i love the scenario where person A pokes person B in the side in a joking manner (usually after person B makes a bad joke or something like that) and person B unexpectedly FLINCHES, and that causes person A to worry they hurt them only for person B to sheepishly respond that it actually just tickled. cue tickle attacks >:)
He likes this, sitting with B on the couch. As it happens, B's flat doesn't actually contain any other chairs, so their seating options are rather limited, but this is nice. He's reading an article, B is doing his crossword, and every now and then, one of them will murmur something. B a clue he's stuck on, or a word he likes, or A some particularly interesting nugget of research, or an amusing phrase.
They've begun to do this quite often, lately, in the evenings. Tonight, though, B is a little more talkative than he usually is. A isn't sure whether it's because he's had a boring day, or if he's just in that sort of mood, but each time A says something, B will murmur a cheeky little rejoinder. He's got this wonderfully quick, clever sense of humour, but he so rarely lets it out, except in these dry little murmured comments. Somehow, he's making an article about the prevalence of infectious disease in mice funny.
B is sat quite close, today. It seems like they sit closer to one another every day, excitingly. He glances over at the article A is reading. "I'd posit the author is a mouse, with the size of that diagram."
A snorts, distracted from the paragraph he's reading. "What've you got against this author, B?" he laughs, nudging B in the side with his elbow.
To his surprise, B flinches, hard.
Immediately, A feels horribly guilty. "Oh, I'm sorry! Are you injured?" It's not unheard of for B to be hiding injuries at any given time. With time, A hopes he might persuade B to be a little more open about those, to come to him and admit to being hurt rather than trying to pretend he isn't until it causes a problem. But this closeness between the two of them is new, and that makes it fragile. Trying to convince B of something like that at this point might just make him retreat.
But B shakes his head. "No, no..."
He could be lying. "Are you sure?" A asks, tilting his head. "You flinched... I must've hurt you."
Strangely, B's cheeks are beginning to look a little pink. He doesn't say anything, just shakes his head.
"B?" A asks, growing more confused by the second. If he's hurt B... all he wants to do is apologise. Why should that make him blush?
"It didn't hurt... I'm not hurt." B's blush has darkened. "It just... it tickled a bit."
Oh. Oh. That makes more sense. Slowly, a smile starts to spread across A's face.
B finally looks at him again, but the moment he sees A's grin, his eyes widen in fear.
"Ticklish, are you?" A asks.
"No... no, no, not really..." B starts to say, looking away now, eyes darting everywhere but A.
"No?" A echoes, unable to stop grinning. This is brilliant.
"Well... maybe a bit. Just a bit..." B hedges, clearly trying to find an answer that is least likely to provoke A's curiosity.
B stares at him, uncertain, frozen. "...Yes?"
A reaches out and pokes him in the side. B flinches again with a little gasp.
Delightful. Before B can move, A's hands dart out and latch onto his sides, and begin to tickle. Immediately, B dissolves into giggles and near-collapses, yanking his legs up onto the couch and folding himself back against the couch cushions.
"No, nonono!" B giggles, trying to push himself backwards away from A's tickling fingers. A follows him, bringing one knee up to pursue B across the couch, still wriggling his fingers into B's sides where he can just about reach.
"Oh, yes," A grins. "I had no idea you were so ticklish!" He catches a particularly sensitive spot right under B's ribs that suddenly makes him jerk and yelp. "Oooh, right there, hmm? Is it bad right there?"
"No!" B giggles, but when A targets that spot again, he starts to squirm more desperately, laughter rising in pitch and volume. "Nohoho! Please!"
"No? What about here, then?" A skitters his fingers across his belly, which earns him a squeak and another jerk backwards.
B is nearly fully on his back now, pink-cheeked and giggling endlessly as he tries to shield himself with his arms and his legs. A knocks one leg out of the way and crawls half-over him, then targets that extra ticklish spot under his ribs to stop B from changing position to defend himself. Not just a brief tickle there either; A really goes for it, squeezing and poking and scribbling until B is shrieking with laughter, twitching and squirming helplessly. "Please!" he begs.
A takes pity, but only a little. He switches back to squeezing B's sides, which still renders him a helpless, giggly mess, of course. B twists, trying to find a way to escape, but A has him somewhat caged now, his weight half resting on him. "Hmm, so where else are you ticklish?"
"Something tells me you might be lying. Alright, then. Let's see." He trains his eyes on B's face. "What about... hands. Forearms. Shoulders. Underarms." The twitch of B's eyebrows gives him the answer he needs. "Aha," he grins. "Underarms is right, then."
"Ohhhh, dohohon't!" B immediately hugs himself, trying to press his arms as tightly to his body as he can, but A worms his fingers in there, and scratches lightly at B's armpits. That's all it takes to break him. Poor B shrieks again and wriggles violently, letting out a mostly incoherent stream of pleading interspersed with giggles. Not wanting to torture him too much, A slips his hands down, leaving his armpits alone and tickling his belly instead. That turns B's laughter somehow cuter still. His nose scrunches and begins trying to twist again, obviously wanting to curl up in a ball.
Entranced by B's laughter and the way he's grabbing helplessly at A's hands, A finally stops, giving B a chance to breathe.
"Oh!" B sighs, dropping his head back in relief, eyes shiny with tears of laughter and smile lingering sweetly on his face. "Oh, I can't believe you just did that to me." Adorably, there's still something of a breathless laugh to his voice.
"If I'd known this would get you to smile so much, I'd have done it much sooner!" A grins. "I don't think I've ever heard you laugh so much."
B covers his face with embarrassment, but a little poke to his ribs quickly gets him to yank his hands down with a gasp. He giggles and grabs hold of A's hand. "I don't think I ever have laughed so much."
"It was cute," A says, squeezing B's hand. "And I'm definitely going to do it again."
B makes a show of scowling and sighing and trying to pretend he wants to forget about the whole experience, but for the rest of the evening, a soft smile lingers on his face. A isn't fooled for a moment by his huffing and scowling. Besides, now he knows just how to deal with that sort of mood.
if you haven't met me before, hi, i'm cordie, i write fic with my obscure fave characters in mind and then change the names and make the details vague so that others can imagine their own faves instead! if you want a version of this fic but with different pronouns or diff names, pls drop me a request and i'm happy to edit and post!
romaincrisis
areudirty
prguitarman
kianamaiart
izzy806
germansingergirl
theartofmadeline
