Decided to write some shorter drabbles to warm myself back up for fic writing (since I haven't written a full-length fic in a month at this point) and maaaay have gotten a little carried away because it's Abe and I love him? But pssssh it's fine! ^^
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“Whoa, whoa – hang on!” Abe staggered back, nearly tripping over someone’s discarded glove in the dugout, holding his hands up defensively. “Don’t gang up on me!”
A handful of his teammates – led by Tajima, of course – continued their advance, various devious, smiling faces staring him down playfully. Behind them, Mihashi hovered, clenching and unclenching his fists in a clear sign that he wanted to join in on what was about to happen but was still working up the courage to actually do so.
“It’s not my fault I’m having an off day getting on base,” the catcher tried, internally resigning himself once he felt the wall of the dugout against his back, stopping his retreat. He eyed Tajima and Oki and Izumi’s wiggling fingers. “T-This won’t help! Seriously!”
“Aren’t you the one who encouraged us to do this to each other when we were in a slump?” Izumi teased, grinning even wider.
Abe knew there was no getting away and no stopping them now. But he still shrunk against the wall, smiling nervously. “S-Shut up…!”
“Get him!” Tajima yelled, and suddenly the three of them descended at once, grabbing whatever ticklish spots they could find, making Abe burst into giggles and sharp squeals of laughter despite himself.
“Nohohohohohoho! Wahahahahahait!” he pleaded, trying to push them away from his worst spot while curling up and squirming against the wall, cackling helplessly. “Guhuhuhuhuys! This won’t hehehehehelp! I only hahahave one more at bahahahat anyway!”
“Then we’d better make it count!” Tajima laughed with him, turning to look over his shoulder at their pitcher. “Mihashi, get in here! You want to help Abe, don’t you?”
Abe wanted to protest, but he knew doing so now would only make Mihashi clam up against the idea of tickling him in the future, so he bit his lip and grasped at Oki’s wrist, shakily keeping it away from his worst spot.
After a few moments of coaxing, Tajima finally convinced Mihashi to join them. He and Izumi held Abe’s arms to the wall while Oki and Mihashi descended on his lower belly as a team, making Abe toss his head back with a shriek of uncontrolled laughter that nearly made him collapse to the floor of the dugout for how badly it tickled.
“GAHAHAHAHAHAHA STAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!! NOT THEHEHEHERE!!” Abe begged, his laughter coming out more freely than before. He arched away from the wall when more devious fingers joined in, tickling his sides and ribs in tandem with his worst spot. The catcher dissolved into wheezing cackles, shaking his head desperately. “Plehehehehehease, no mohohohohohore! Mehehehehercy!”
The four of them finally let up, ruffling his hair and helping to straighten his uniform as he gathered himself, and by the time Abe had recovered – still grinning and flushed from laughing – it was his turn to be in the on-deck circle.
Minutes later, in the batter’s box, the catcher who had been struggling to get a hit all day finally managed to get to first base on a line drive into left field. He looked back into his dugout to see his teammates cheering and wiggling their fingers at him. He blushed but tipped his cap anyway. He was sure he’d never hear the end of this.
Grinning to himself, he decided he didn’t mind. He couldn’t argue with results.
