A Callout — Fragaria Memories
Summary: Arupek calls Chaco out on something he’s been suspecting for awhile, and after Chaco explains himself, Arupek instantly challenges him.
Warnings: Tickling!! That’s what this fics about!!
Other: Arupek x Chaco from Fragaria Memories 2k words.
A/N: EEEEEEE HAPPY BIRTHDAY @anzynai !!! I LOVE YOU SOO SO SO MUCH!! I hope you like your birthday fic from me this year, all about your current OBSESSION fragmem (and the cute silly ship that is aruchaco.) this is almost certainly out of character, but regardless I hope you enjoy reading it! OKAY I LOVE YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BESTEST FRIEND IN THE WORLD!!
Lying in bed together and relaxing on top of the covers with a thin blanket covering the two of them. Both Aru and Chaco were very comfortable, enjoying eachothers company.
Chaco was sitting up, elevated by a couple of pillows, his head buried in a skateboard magazine. Admiring all the cool boards on display and events being hosted. This, leaving him way too focused to notice how his boyfriend’s eyes were locked onto him.
However, when Aru suddenly spoke up, he immediately lost interest in what he was reading, placing the magazine on his side table. “Hey, Chaco? I’ve been wondering something..” Aru said innocently, flashing Chaco a small grin.
He returned that look with a soft smile, “Yeah? What have you been wondering?” Chaco questioned fondly, urging him to continue while he took a sip of water from a mug next to him.
Aru tilted his head, “Why do you always let me win our tickle fights?”
Chaco almost choked on his drink at his boyfriend’s sudden question, caught completely off guard by it— he coughed to try and clear his throat, a small blush rising on his cheeks that he hoped Aru wouldn’t comment on. “A-Aru.. I have no idea what you’re—”
Aru cut him off lightheartedly, sitting up and pointing an accusatory finger at him. “Oh nono, don’t deny it! Every time, without fail, our tickle fights always end with me winning. For a while, I thought it was because you love being tickled, but I don’t think that’s it…” He continued, Chaco growing more embarrassed with each word.
How was he supposed to even take this conversation? It was so out of nowhere! Not to mention, how was he talking about… that so easily? He didn’t understand Aru’s silly brain, I mean seriously.. Why was he bringing this up now, when they were trying to relax before bed?
Chaco tried to compose himself, and actually participate in this conversation for the sake of his lover.
He wasn’t sure how Arupek had caught on to it… But truth be told… yes. The thought that Chaco always lets Aru win their tickle fights was actually true, he just never thought Aru would realize it.
He took a deep breath, avoiding eye contact. “Aru, you don’t want me to tell you why I always let you win.” He warned ominously, the taller’s eyebrow raising in disbelief.
“Really? Pff, I doubt that! Come on, lay it on me!” Aru pried enthusiastically for his boyfriend's truth, sitting in front of him and narrowing his eyes.
Chaco was still flustered by the topic, but sighed and caved anyways. “Okay… Honestly, Aru, if I didn’t let you win, you would never win.”
His loose statement left Aru to tilt his head again. “Meaning…?”
“How do I put this? I'm… really athletic, right? That means I have very high stamina, abnormally high stamina— if I didn’t give up and let you win, you’d get tired and lose way before I’m even close to folding.” Chaco explained, a bit embarrassed by his choice of words. It sounded like he was hyping himself up, but it was the truth.
Aru blinked a few times, registering his words. Then, his smile dropped into a small pout, “What…? Really? That can’t be no fun for you…” He worried, even though there was no need to.
Chaco quickly waved his hands to dismiss any concerns Aru was having. They were talking about tickle fights, he didn’t need to take this so seriously! “No no, it’s still fun! I don’t mind, y’know? I mean, why would I?” He tried to reassure him, unsure of what to say.
The pout on his face lingered for a bit longer before Chaco caught his boyfriend’s eyes lighting up, a grin slowly breaking out on his face. “A-Aru? What are you doing?” Chaco's eyes darted from Aru’s face to his hands that were lifting up in the air, hovering over him tauntingly.
“We are going to have a tickle fight, right now! Where you go all out, no holding back at all!” He declared proudly, watching smugly as a nervous smile tugged at Chaco’s lips.
“W-What? Right now?!” He laughed timidly, failing to play it cool. As he looked at the darkness outside and back at a fired-up Aru, butterflies instantly began swarming in his stomach. Jeez, there was no escaping this, was there?
“Mhm~ Right now! I’m challenging you!” He said excitedly, a playful glint in his eyes that was hard to miss.
Chaco instinctively wrapped his arms around his midriff, he spoke up with one last attempt at getting Aru to drop this. “H-Hold on! It’s dark outside and it's getting really late so maybe we should just—” Aru’s fingers quickly shot down towards Chaco’s sides, working well to shut him up. Wasting no time latching onto them as he began to squeeze the spot relentlessly. “AaHAHA! Wahahait- wahahait! Ihihihim nohohot reheheady!” He gasped, curling over as he fell into a fit of laughter.
Aru snickered at his boyfriend’s frantic laughter, ripping the small blanket completely off of them before his hands darted towards Chaco’s tummy which drew even more giggles out of him. “Come on~ Aren’t you gonna fight back?” Aru teased, watching as Chaco slowly slid down the bed and onto his backside.
Despite laughing madly, his face red like a tomato, Chaco still managed to grab onto Aru’s shoulders and push him off. Completely switching their positions as he flipped Aru onto his back, looming over him with newfound motivation. “Fihihine, you ahahasked for this!” Chaco grinned, shoving his hands under Aru’s arms.
Aru squeaked before exploding with laughter, his arms tightening to his sides as his legs began to kick. “AHAhahaha! Chahahaco— Uhuhuhunfahahair!” He complained despite not meaning a single word of it.
Chaco rolled his eyes fondly, “unfair? I’m just going all out like you told me to! Don’t tell me you’re giving up already.” He teased, happy in how it managed to make Aru squeak again.
He shook his head profusely, “OHohohof cohohourse noHOHohot!” Aru fought back, trying to raise his arms to reach for Chaco’s sides. Though… all it did was expose his underarms more, Chaco took the chance to curl his fingers closer to the spot, now able to flutter his fingers right against his hollows.
Aru’s arms shot down again, his attempt failing miserably and only working to make it all tickle more. “PFFAHAHAHA! NOHohoho!”
Chaco tried not to laugh at his reaction, tickling him rather gently, it didn’t take a lot to be honest… Aru was that ticklish. “A good attempt, I’ll give you that!” He giggled proudly.
Their position was rather unlucky for Aru, he couldn’t lift his arms, or try to sit up and turn the tables, but surely there was something he could do?
When he felt Chaco’s knees tighten around his hips, straddling his waist… did an idea finally pop in his head as he quickly reached for his knees. He couldn’t even remember if Chaco was ticklish here, but he squeezed at them anyway.
Luckily for him, it seemed like his boyfriend was ticklish here. Very, ticklish.
“aaAHAHAHA! D-DOHOHOhohon’t— AHAhaharu!” Chaco squealed, slipping his hands out from under his arms and grabbing at his boyfriend’s hands, trying to pry them away from him.
Aru though was stuck to him like glue. He had gotten the upper hand at last and he not gonna let him off so easily, no matter how hard Chaco tried to pull his hands away, he wasn’t budging.
It didn’t help that Chaco was literally sitting on his knees, there was no point trying to kick them away. Aru moved the squeezes up towards his thighs, a sweet spot right above his knees, and Chaco folded over like a lawn chair with more uncontrollable laughter spilling past his lips.
Chaco amongst his hysterical laughter debated just collapsing on top of his boyfriend because of how much it tickled, then maybe it’d get Aru away from his thighs. Before he could even attempt something though, Aru shoved him onto his side with one hand, throwing his boyfriend off of him.
His hands dove back towards Chaco’s thighs, hovering over him again. He was pretty exhausted from the tickling he endured, but he was having too much fun to care. He watched happily as Chaco kicked his legs, his head thrown back with laughter.
Relishing in his cute reactions, helped him notice something. Chaco… unlike Aru, did not look tired at all, not in the slightest. Even while he was having the shit tickled out of him like this, he looked like he hadn’t even broken a sweat. “Haahh… I gehehet it now… the stamina thing!” Aru giggled, his fingers spidering behind his knees.
Chaco suddenly lunged at Aru, pulling the taller down with him which momentarily dislodged his tickling fingers. He grabbed his hip, massaging the bone and bringing Aru back into bright giggles. Aru on the other hand tweaked his ribs, starting at the lower ones and slowly making his way up.
“Gihihihihive uhuhup!” Chaco urged between his own giggles, using one hand to grab Aru’s wrist while the other continued tickling him.
“No wahahahay!” He fought back, wrapping one arm around his tummy which was getting sore from all the tickling. He was reaching his limit, he knew that well. Though.. for some strange reason, a small part of him wanted to prove Chaco wrong, even if he didn’t mind it being true. The whole “Aru can’t genuinely win against him in tickle fights.”
Maybe he felt a bit competitive, but it was all good fun in the end, so there’s no harm. Still, it led to this playful stubbornness that Chaco managed to read even amongst the chaos.
“Okahahahay, thahahat’s it!” Chaco called out before he sat up slightly, wrapping Aru in a hug as he buried his face into the crook of his neck. Those arms that had wrapped around Aru quickly began to explore his frame, tickling wherever he could reach.
Aru completely lost it, hopelessly weak to the feeling of Chaco’s lips brushing against his skin. He scrunched up his shoulders as hiccups became laced within his laughter, wrapping his arms around his waist and curling up defeatedly.
“CHAHAHahahaco!” He screamed out his name, feeling way too ticklish. Chaco giggled at the sound of it, the vibrations making Aru squeal.
“Do you gihihive up?” The knight questioned in a sweet tone, as if he wasn’t making his lover scream with laughter underneath him.
Kisses travelled up to his ear which was enough for Aru to finally accept this loss. “YOHOhou wihihin! I gihihive, I gIHIHIVE!”
At the sound of his compliance, Chaco quickly stopped tickling him, sitting up and looking at the giggly, tuckered-out mess he had happily created. Aru curled up in a ball to catch his breath, tears of mirth still lingering on his pretty eyelashes.
Chaco reached down to brush some hair out of his face, his hand cupping the side of his cheek, before it travelled down towards his back, rubbing comforting circles to hopefully soothe him a bit. “Are you okay? I know you told me not to hold back but—”
Aru was a mess, but he still cut him off because there was no way in hell Chaco was gonna stress about taking it too far. “Haahh… mmm fihihine..” He reassured, relaxing under Chaco’s touch.
“Pff… okay, that’s good. I’ll go get you some fresh water.” The knight offered kindly, his hand leaving Aru’s back as he slipped off the bed and made his way towards the kitchen.
After Chaco returned with water and made sure to rehydrate his boyfriend, Aru was quick to tell him how much fun that was, and how he wants all their tickle fights to be like that. He doesn’t mind losing if it means Chaco gives it his 100% just like Aru will, and Chaco accepted that without restraint.
Aru will just have to train more, perhaps? He had a new goal now, to win against Chaco in a tickle fight. It was a silly thing to work for, but that’s just who Aru is. And well clearly… Chaco doesn’t mind it at all.
