I'm here to change the ending for us team!! You already know whats about to happen >:]
BIG SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 8 OF TADC PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
People in this: Lee!Caine, Ler!Everyone else
Tw: Talk/ideas of torture so be warned, teasing, language, a god complex, and tickles so if you don't like that please keep scrolling thank you :]
With all that being said let's get right into the show!!
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Fallback Procedure Begin
They might have pushed Caine a little too far this time. This wasn't even the worst of it, but he was still going a little crazy and they needed to find a stop to it. Fast.
Pomni's idea was to put a bucket on Kingers head for some darkness. Her and Ragatha understood, and soon, so did the others. On why this was important. It would bring him to sanity. It just took way longer than normal.
"Hey Pomni" Kinger spoke softly.
Finally!!
Said Jester filled him in and they started with phase two of the plan.
Jax was already distracting the ringmaster. The others would join him soon enough as well while Pomni haunted for a computer for now bucket Kinger. She walked through the halls of the fake exit door once again, like she did when she first arrived, before grabbing the old computer with her transporting the hefty object to the chess peice.
"Do you need help with power or anything?" Pomni asked handing the keyboard to him.
"Nah, I can use my imagination for that"
Pomni took a deep breath
"You got this?"
"...I think so" Kinger spun the bucket around to the back of it as if it was a baseball cap. Even in serious times like this Kinger always knew how to pull some humor out of things. Even if he didn't realize it himself.
Kinger took a deep breath, pressing the button as it turned on. "It sure has been a while...I might need some time to get my bearings. Try to help the others distract Caine while I figure this out. He may sense something when I really get into it"
"Oh-Okay! I-I'll do that!" Pomni got up, determined to do her best to help everyone.
She moved towards the others away from the pillow fort. Or his impenetrable fortress as he calls it. Before stopping to thank him for helping them out with this and for everything.
Kinger watches her leave with longing before getting to work on hacking into Caines code.
This distraction turned into the biggest fit of Caines life. He finally snapped and now it was everyone's problem. The man glitched out so hard his voice got glitchy and deeper and he grew four more arms. Grabbing everyone in a rage he brought them to his face.
"Im gonna put you freaks in your place!" He threw them all into a dark space torturing them with their greatest fears and biggest insecurities.
Kinger got closer and closer to getting it but the code kept fighting back. He couldn't get the right password for an admin overdrive and he was freaking out trying to get everything together in time before Caine gave up and could find him.
Caine soon ripped everyone out of there and pinned them to the wall with his new five armed form. He was shouting at them about purpose and what he does for them all. Angry. Confused. Hurt. Crazy.
Kinger found Caines file during this time and accidentally clicked a button. The fallback system had begun. Everything was resetting, he had no control.
"Wait! No! S#!t!" He scrambled to try and fix it but nothing would work. The damage was done.
Caine suddenly popped over in normal form 7 feet away from everyone. Dropping everyone in the process due to the loss of the other hands. He couldn't move. The only functions he could use were his eyes and mouth, his body was still. Everyone stared up at him frozen. Unsure of what was happening but all assuming it was Kingers doing.
"But. Wait-"
Kinger walked out bucket still on his head looking at him too.
"What did you DO!?" Caine yelled "I can't move! You–" He paused mid sentence a wobbly smile starting to grace his features.
Kinger shrugged "I'm not exactly sure...but it seems to be working, you're stuck"
Caine tried his best to hold it in but he knew he can't hold on for long. Jax was the first to notice.
"Whats up with your face?" He spoke in a curious yet sassy way.
Canie huffed "N-Nothing! STOP ASKING!" Jax rolled his eyes and shrugged. The feeling kept spreading. Like tiny electric currents running all over his system.
Kinger jumped in "Caine...?"
"MHm?" He answered trying not to giggle.
"What are you feeling, physically?" The chess peice had an idea but he wasn't sure. Was something hurting him maybe?
"N-Nohothing! Shut up!"
There it was. Pomni got it right away.
"Oh my god...Caine? Are you ticklish? Is this tickling you right now? Whatever Kinger did" she said being a bit blunt but curious.
"N-NO! I-I'm nOhot!–this isn't!–I'M not a hUman, I don't understand?!–I don't hAhave! Such–!" He paused to hold his giggles back again.
"Oh my god! Thihis is gold!" Jax laughed a little and smirked.
his body slowly floated to the floor without his control. "H-Hey! NO! No no NO!"
"Well would you look at that" Zooble crossed their arms and stared at him struggling.
They all stood over their ringmaster as he burst out laughing on the floor. Unable to do anything about it.
Nobody knew how to feel. They all just looked as he laughed his head off and kept himself stuck in a t-pose.
"TUHuhurN IhIhihIT OHoHoff!!" He closed his eyes as Kinger looked at the computer sitting still, comfortably, inside his fortress. The loading bar read 66% complete. No wonder he was feeling it more now. But this was only 66% was Caine really that sensitive?
"I'm sorry Caine, I can't do anything until it loads completely. The fallback system is at 66%"
"Look at how the tables have turned!" Jax spoke up, the smirk in his tone more prominent then ever.
"Its kinda cute" Gangle spoke with a little giggle.
Ragatha smiled with her "a little yeah, its a complete switch up from what we were just experiencing..."
Caine groaned through his laughter in frustration "I AM NoHOT CUTE! I AHaM sTihihiLL GOD!!"
Pomni smirked "a pretty weak God if you're this ticklish at only 66%"
Caine tried to put on a mad face but its hard when a lot of your attention is being taken up by little ticklish jolts that keep increasing by the second.
"78% now" Kinger smiled
"You're moving up in numbers Caine! Maybe if we help you out it'll go by faster~" Jax smirked wiggling his fingers stepping closer to where Caine lay. The others catching on fast and all loving the idea.
"A chance for some well deserved revenge!" Zooble stepped up to him as well.
"This does seem like a fair trade for torturing us before" Gangle spoke joining them to where Caine was.
The other two, Pomni and Ragatha smirked at each other then at Caine as they walked to him as well. Kinger joined them too but kept an eye on the computer mostly.
"N-No...g-G-Guhuys WAhahait! I'm Sorry! I was Juhust alittle mAhahad! No neheed to Doho! This!" Caine tried to defend his case but it was too late.
"A little mad?" Pomni replied sarcastically
"Okay a lohot mad! But–"
"No but's! You had this coming!" Ragatha smirked again
"C-Cohome On! I–"
"85%"
With that, everyone began. All 60 wiggling fingers targeted every single spot on Caines body that could potentially be ticklish. It was a sensory overload. Caines AI couldn't process what was happening fast enough so his systems were getting weaker making it only tickle more.
"NOHOHO" Caines voice started getting glitchy again but in a more silly way this time.
"Awwww! Is our ringmaster a little ticklish?~" Jax teased.
"I bet it tickles so much huh Caine?~" Pomni joined in.
"STOHOHOHOP SHUHUT UHUHUP!"
"You're so adorable like this! I like this giggly version much better!" Ragatha smiled and continued.
"Tickle Tickle Tickle~" Gangle joined in on the teasing. Her tone light but teasy.
"You deserve this Caine, serves you right for thinking we'd let you get away with what you did" Zooble added to it.
"90%" Kinger called out with a smirk. His floating hands of tickly doom for Caine where under and on top of his left knee.
Gangle got under his right knee and thigh, her ribbons feeling like feathers to those areas.
Zooble and Ragatha got his underarms.
Pomni was on his ribs.
And Jax got his stomach.
No spot was left untickled. Caine was short circuiting. He didn't know if he loved it or hated it. It was all very confusing, but he couldn't think about it. He couldn't process anything but the tickles.
"It looks like I was right again Caine, our tickles are helping the system move faster~" Jax wiggled into his stomach a little harder at faster. Caine snorted and the area around him like the couch and a peice of the wall started glitching.
"You're almost there Caine, you can handle a bit more of this right?~" Pomni teased and moved her fingers down his ribs.
"STOHOHOHOP IHIHHIT! TUHUHURN IT OHOHOHOFF!" He squeaked as Kinger pinched his thigh too. Everyone still tickling him all at once.
"I already told ya buddy I can't, not until the systems finished resetting"
Zooble smirked "For now you're just gonna have to deal with this" they dragged a claw down his arm before going back to his underarm on the right.
"STOHOHOHOP!"
"Sorry Caine! But if it helps you look adorable" Ragatha smirked "Tickletickletickletickle!" She giggled herself and continued to tickle his left underarm.
Caine blushed through his laughter.
"Awwww!" Ragatha and Gangle said at the same time.
"Theres that smile~" Gangle teased as he moved faster under his right knee making him snort again.
"Like a little piggy" Jax joked as Ragatha scolded him
"Jax!"
"What?"
"NAHAHAHA!" His laughter was so loud. It was adorable, but if they weren't all due for some revenge majority of them would've needed to plug their ears.
"99%" Kinger exclaimed as they all got faster, their tickling and teasing becoming more and more intense.
"I'm gonna getcha!"
"Look at you~ so weak, so ticklish~"
"We should've done this to you ages ago"
"Tickle Tickle Tickle~"
...pop...
Caine disappeared and reappeared outside of the circle. Fully in control of his body again. The tickling and teasing came to an abrupt halt. They all looked over at him as Caine looked down in embarrassment and regret.
"No...I was awful to you all...and I know you can't forgive me, at least not yet! But I promise I'll be a better host. I'll try to be from here on out..." He spoke sincerely.
Jax shrugged and put his hands behind his head acting like he doesn't care. "Whatever"
"Thats a start" Zooble said
It would take awhile for things to change for good. But, this was a good start.
"And if you don't change at all well...we might just have to give you another system reset~" Pomni smirked wiggling her fingers at him making him gasp and fly away at the speed of light.
Everyone laughed before heading separate ways to try and rest.
Between Us Two || The Amazing Digital Circus Tickle Fic ||
A/N: their dynamic is so interesting i just had to. this is platonic funnybunny but it can be romantic if you want it to be whatevs. the point is that they need each other.
Summary: A friendly game between Pomni and Jax turns into an entirely different kind of game.
Word count: 3,277
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With eternity stretching out ahead of you into the disorienting expanse of the unknown, you had to find ways to preoccupy yourself. If this Circus was all they were going to know for the rest of their existence, they had better start getting comfortable.
Each member had their own ways of doing so. Ragatha had her friends to fill the suffocating silence and keep her tethered to what mattered. Zooble and Gangle had their art, something new and fresh that spit in the face of the automated creation, reinventing their universe into something beautiful and real. Kinger had his memories, his dark, pillow fortress acting as his safe haven from the harsh light that threatened to take away from him all that he had left. Pomni, still quite inexperienced in the ways of the unique depression the Circus gave, had not found her pastime yet. She was still grappling with the reality that she would never see Earth again.
Jax had his mischief. No matter what dreadfully dull situation he found himself in, he had his sharp wit and playful spirit to keep him entertained. Though he was starting to find that his hijinks were much more enjoyable when shared with someone else.
Pomni was his favorite someone else, even if he would never admit it. She accepted him in a way that no one else in this Circus had, except Ribbit. She didn't try to change him or make him into something that he wasn't. She indulged in his chaotic nature without losing her own sense of character, which made her the perfect "straight-man" to bounce off of.
Today, the two had found themselves in a game of... whatever this was. There hadn't been an establishing of rules of any kind, and neither one was keeping score (a score of nothing in particular, hence the lack of rules), but it was fun. And it kept them busy.
The game consisted mostly of ducking behind obstacles and throwing colorful balls at each other, a much less uncomfortable snowball fight. The balls had come from the latest addition to the Circus: a ball pit room that, while fun on paper, was horrifyingly claustrophobic in practice. So neither one felt particularly bad about taking the balls from it. It wasn't like they'd be missed.
Pomni had created quite a bit of distance between herself and Jax and was catching her breath behind a giant red cube. Clutched in her hands were the only two balls she had left. The rest were lost to bad aim brought on by panic at Jax's approaching. If she could just steady her mind and keep her cool, these balls could meet their target.
She jumped at the sound of Jax's voice echoing off of the Circus walls.
"Come on out, Pom Pom! You know you can't hide from me forever! Why don't you come out here and face me like a man?"
"That's awfully sexist of you!" she shouted back.
"Point taken. But you're still being a wuss!"
With each word, his voice grew incrementally louder and louder, and Pomni knew that she didn't have long before she was found. She had to ready herself.
Maybe a distraction could buy her some time.
She took one of the balls, reeled her arm back, and vaulted it as hard as she could away from her hiding spot.
She heard the sharp clap of the ball hitting the floor. The muttering thuds as it bounced away. The stillness that followed.
For what felt like hours, nothing happened. She waited.
A voice. "You know I saw where you threw that from, right?"
Crap.
Pomni needed to run, and fast.
Pushing off of the cube behind her, she threw herself forward and moved her feet out in front to catch her. It was less of a run and more of a perpetual stumble, but it got her away from where she was, and that was enough.
Pomni counted about four strides before she heard the horrifying sound of an approaching tap tap tap tap tap and was yanked backwards by the devilish rabbit.
Jax lifted her up by the lappets of her hat. "God, you are slow" he scoffed.
Pomni pouted at him. "You just have freakishly fast rabbit legs, that's not my fault."
"No, but you alerting me to your hiding spot is."
"I thought I was being clever" Pomni smiled defeatedly.
"Guess there really is no beating the fastest rabbit in the West!" Jax cheered with a phony western accent. "Any last words before your humiliating defeat?"
He had an inkling that Pomni would say something snarky, or make a bid for a rematch.
He hadn't expected her to pelt him point-blank in the face with her remaining ball. The impact caused him to drop Pomni in shock.
Jax stood dumbly as he processed what just happened and came back to his sense to find the tiny jester laughing at him.
"Your- your face!" she gasped.
Through peals of laughter, Pomni started to get to her knees, but Jax stepped forward and pinned her down with one hand, chuckling evilly as he grinned down at her.
"Ohoho no no no" he said. "I want an apology. For the ball to the face, and the vicious mockery." He batted his eyelashes as if he were about to cry, but the humorous way the corners of his lips turned up was unmistakable.
Pomni took this as a challenge and began struggling to wriggle herself out from underneath him. Though a valiant effort, the size difference between them substantially hindered any attempts at escape. Instead of it looking like a mutual wrestle for dominance, it looked more like a kitten held down by a Doberman.
Jax laughed at the pitiful sight. "Yeah, you're not getting out of this one, Shorty. I'd start cooking up that apology if I were you."
He hadn't meant to, but while he was talking, his gloved fingers shifted against Pomni's belly due to all of her squirming.
Pomni's knees hitched up a tiny bit as she gave an involuntary squeak.
Jax blinked. What was that reaction for? He hadn't done anything to hurt her, at least not to his knowledge. It sure as hell wasn't a sound of fear, that much he knew for certain. Pomni was too tough to be intimidated by him.
He watched her, trying to piece together what he just heard, and noticed the way her eyes kept darting back to his hand on her torso. Her smile stretched outward in a nervous manner, and the pale skin of her face was beginning to bloom with pink.
He looked down at his hand. And then it clicked.
Once Pomni had realized that Jax hadn't meant to tickle her on purpose, she tried to straighten herself like nothing had happened and hoped that he hadn't caught on.
That hope was shattered as she looked up to meet Jax's eyes, only to find that they were almost entirely black with how his pupils had grown, his Cheshire smile gleaming down at her.
"Oh, this is rich" Jax said.
"C'mon, Jax..."
"I'm getting that apology, Pomni" he threatened darkly. "Better save yourself the trouble and give it to me now."
To accentuate his point, he tensed his fingers just a smidge. He was rewarded by the feeling of her belly clenching beneath his touch.
Pomni looked up into the face of certain doom, her inglorious defeat looming over her, and smirked.
"Make me" she dared.
And oh, that was just the answer Jax had hoped for. Better even.
She had granted him permission, and he would ride that permission to the end of the line.
Jax replied with a deep rumble. "My pleasure."
His hand began to claw swiftly into her belly, his fingers pressing as deep into the artificial muscle as he could.
The resulting sensation was insane.
Pomni screamed for a second before dissolving into manic cackles. She clutched her stomach where Jax's hand clung onto, but hadn't the strength to push him away. Her head fell back and her legs kicked wildly.
Her unrestrained laughter was infectious, and Jax began to chuckle along with her. "I mean, this could not have gone any better for me. All these weeks of you egging me on and now I find out you're ticklish? Oh, I am going to have so much fun with this, Pomni. Just you wait and see."
Pomni, through her mania, called out. "Nohoho!"
"Yehehehes!" Jax mocked. "I'll use this to win every game, every argument. I can just squeeze up and down your little belly and get anything I want. And right now, I am going to get an apology. So how about it, Pom? You ready to give in yet?"
Pomni weighed her options. There really was no hope for her if she tried to brute-strength her way out, and pleads for mercy were like catnip for Jax. Her only solution was to give in to Jax's demands. But her pride was just too damn strong.
"Nehehever!" she shouted.
"Alright, suit yourself."
While keeping his palm against her belly, he moved his pointer finger up into the hollow of her underarm and began to worm around there, which earned him hiccupy giggles from his victim.
Jax was loving every second of it.
"God," he chortled, "how am I supposed to take you seriously now that I know you can laugh like this? You sound like a rubber duck."
"Doho nohohot! Yohohou duhumb je-jerk!" Pomni shot back indignantly.
"Still not hearing an apology. You know, you're only making this harder for yourself."
Pomni didn't grace that with a response.
Jax continued. "Phew, all of this horsing around really works up an appetite. If only I had something here I could eat..."
Pomni struggled harder. "No! No no no!" she squealed.
"Tickle monsters get very hungry, Pomni, be considerate" Jax scolded. "I guess since you're here, you'll have to do."
Pomni felt a blend of dread and joy flood her veins. "Plehehehease nohohohooo!"
Jax faltered for a moment, caught off his guard by how unrelenting adorable Pomni had the nerve of being. Regaining himself, he reared up his head, gnashing yellow sharp teeth.
With a mighty hiss, Jax brought down his jaws to the jester's stomach and chewed gently.
Pomni shrieked in ticklish agony, head thrown back once more as her arms went limp against her chest. She gave one hearty kick as she felt Jax began to shake his head back and forth.
Rarely ever had Pomni felt this emotionally confused. Part of her felt the need to get out of this somehow, but the other part of her was just having too much fun. It felt good to play with Jax like this, and she knew better than to wonder whether he would respect her wishes enough to let her go if she really demanded.
In this moment, nothing else existed. No suffering, no heartache, no ever-present despair.
Just laughter.
Jax picked up his head to catch his breath and admire his handywork.
Pomni was still laughing herself crazy and lying limp on the floor. She seemed to be almost done now. One more big gnaw should do the trick.
Jax leaned back again, relishing the way Pomni groaned with fear, and brought his teeth back to her belly.
Sure enough, Pomni waved the white flag a few seconds later.
"OKAHAY OKAHAHAY! I'M SORRYHYHY!" she laughed.
True to his word, Jax stopped his onslaught and released her. As Pomni caught her breath, Jax sat back on his heels. "Aaaah, what a delicious feast. Meals are so much tastier when they're squealing for mercy, eh Pomni?"
Without even raising her head, she lifted her middle finger to him.
Jax chuckled to himself. "That was the funniest freaking thing I've seen all week. Ah, I needed that." He noticed Pomni hadn't said anything yet. "You dead down there, Pom Pom?"
Not a word.
"Pomni?" Jax repeated, slightly concerned.
He leaned forward to get a better look at her and make sure she was alright. They couldn't asphyxiate in this world, but that didn't mean you couldn't torture them half to death.
Jax leaned a little closer.
Suddenly, he felt the wind get knocked out of him as his back collided with the hard Circus floor.
Pomni was straddled atop him with a devious toothy grin on her face.
"I believe I am owed an apology now, don't you think?" she asked.
Jax couldn't believe it. That dirty cheater had tricked him. He had to admit, he was kind of proud.
"For what?" Jax replied. "You're the one who started it."
"No, actually, that was you when you started throwing your balls at me!" Pomni argued.
She scowled at the stupid grin on his face.
"Shut up, you know what I mean" she huffed. "Now, apologize for tickling me half to death."
"I will never apologize for a good bit."
"Never?"
"What are you gonna do about it?"
Pomni quirked up an eyebrow, turning her lip to make a smirk as she raised her gloved claws.
At that moment, Jax felt his stomach drop to his feet.
"Ha! Nice try" he bluffed. "That doesn't work on me. I'm not ticklish."
"You really think I'm gonna fall for that one?"
Jax smiled. "Is it working?"
Pomni shook her head fondly. She was going to enjoy this.
Unlike Jax's sudden and forceful approach, Pomni slooowwwly descended her wiggling fingers towards Jax's middle.
The rabbit's eyes widened. "Wait- alright, alright, hang on- you- c'mon now, let me up- this is childihish."
Pomni said nothing. No cunning remarks for Jax to bounce off of. No taunts, no banter. Just her knowing smile.
The lack of responsiveness drove Jax mad.
He felt the pit in his stomach yawn wider the closer Pomni's hands got. They were almost to him.
He braced himself and held his breath just as her fingers finally touched down and started to tickle.
Already this was much harder than Jax had anticipated. He wasn't an extremely ticklish person, but he had gotten so unused to the feeling since being here in the Circus. He had lost whatever resilience he had built up to it.
He exhaled hard through his nose and breathed back in, careful not to let one of those breaths deform into a laugh. Not here. Not in front of her.
As the prickling sensation traveled through his nervous system and throughout his torso, Jax's twitching got more erratic. His laughter could be controlled, but his squirming could not, which wasn't really helping his "not ticklish" case.
Pomni watched as her delicate dance of fingers slowly drove Jax insane. She figured that he would try and hold in his laughter, but that wasn't going to deter her. No, it only fueled her determination.
She decided to play a little dirty.
"Jax?" she said. "You feeling alright? You look a little tense."
Jax's eyes bugged out at her at the audacity, but she kept on.
"You're not fooling me, Jax. I can tell you're trying not to laugh. I think you just might be... just a tiny bit... ticklish."
With eyes now shut tight from the strain, Jax shook his head stubbornly. Whether that was to deny her statement or to try and shake the tickles away, Pomni wasn't sure.
"Jaaaax" Pomni sang. "I know you wanna laugh. I know you wanna."
God f%$# dammit, Jax swore. She was right.
His earlier confidence was wearing down. She had him right where she wanted him and there were little places for him to run to. If he didn't think of something fast, he might... actually have to laugh.
Pomni could practically hear the thoughts tunneling through his brain. Her hands slowly migrated to the bunny's sides and gently spidered up and down their lengths.
It tickled so f%$# bad. Every nerve ending was screaming.
A quiet little whimper caught in his throat before he could stop it. His ears drooped as his smile grew sillier. Oh no.
Taking in the sight of her prisoner, Pomni dealt the final blow. The ultimate weapon.
Tickling faster, she drew in a deep breath and began to sing. "Tktktktktktktktktktktktktktk!"
Jax couldn't hold it in any longer. That stupid sound!
Like a bursting dam, high-pitched giggles started to spill from his mouth, growing louder with each passing second. He felt a rosy warmth spread across his face as he heard what humiliating noises he was making. He buried himself inside his hands as the giggles overtook him.
He was so focused on his own reaction that he couldn't see Pomni's face.
A face that was now glowing in awe.
She had never heard him laugh like this before.
He laughed all the time: snorting with derision, chuckling at his own quips, cackling at others' misfortune. But he had never giggled.
Especially not like he was the most vulnerable, most happy soul in the world.
Her heart melted inside her chest. It took everything within her not to coo, for she feared that if she did, Jax would tuck back into his shell and never reemerge ever again.
Instead, she spoke to him in his language. The language of teasing.
"Are you sure you're not ticklish?" she asked.
Jax found just enough strength to say "F%$# yohohou!"
"Old Jaxxy boy can't handle his tickles? Hm? Does it tickle too much?"
"SHUHUT UP!" Jax shrieked from behind his hands.
Smiling, Pomni ignored him and shoved both hands into Jax's underarms, tickling every inch she could reach. "Kitchee kitchee coo! Kitchee kitchee kitchee coooo!"
He absolutely howled with laughter, taking his hands away from his face to try and pry Pomni's wicked hands away from his pits.
In doing so, Jax inadvertently allowed Pomni a look at his face. His watery eyes, rosy cheeks, and bright smile just about took Pomni's breath away.
She almost wanted to keep this going forever, until she realized that she was supposed to be extracting something from him.
"If you don't apologize, I'll just have to keep tickling" Pomni threatened. "Maybe I'll have to move on down to your hips-"
Jax sprang to life. "OKAHAY! Alrihight, alrihihight, I give! I give!"
"And?" Pomni prompted.
"I'm sohohoryhyhy!"
"Thank you." And with that, Pomni slowed her torture to a stop, regrettably. She climbed off of Jax so that he would have room to breath and get his bearings. He kept giggling for a surprising amount of time. He just couldn't seem to get himself under control.
Eventually, his chest did stop trembling, and his laughter died down.
As his mindfulness returned and he realized what had just happened, he turned to Pomni sharply. "If you tell anyone about this, I'm throwing you off a bridge. And tickling you until you have a heart attack."
Pomni glanced away doubtfully. "Not possible, but don't worry. This stays between us. Besides, I don't want anyone finding out I lost to you in our game either."
That last part wasn't true at all, but it was an easier pill for Jax to swallow than I won't betray your trust.
Jax read her face for a moment, and then softened; a thank you behind his eyes.
With his anxiety relieved, Jax pushed himself to his feet. "Weeellpp, guess we've gotta clean up this mess." His smile had returned to its usual impishness, and his carefree charisma seeped into the air like it had never left.
Pomni looked around at the sea of colorful balls littering the floor.
"Oh. Yeah."
Pomni glanced up at Jax with a smirk. "Whoever collects the most balls gets the other's dessert."
"Oh, you're on."
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this was so much more fun to write than I ever imagined ☺