Summary: You’ve known Silco and Vander for a long time, you all go way back. They also know you’re a little shit - on purpose. Trouble makes it way back to you.
Author’s Notes: Thank you to my mutual for sending in the request for this one!! I had actually made a text post talking about writing something like this in the past. It goes to show that if you egg me on with ideas, I’ll write something for it. :^) I actually had a lot of fun writing this one too! Figuring out Vander and Silco’s dynamic as well as the Reader was really fun to put together. I didn’t write this inherently romantic but I think you can think of this one swinging either way! I hope everyone enjoys this one!! <3
Words: ~2,100 | AO3 Link
A quiet night at The Last Drop was always your preferred place to hang out and unwind. It was a Tuesday and no one else was around, despite being not that late into the evening.
It was good when the bar was empty, because you could hang out with your two mates - and owner’s of the place, Vander and Silco.
Both men have looked out for you tremendously. You were all mining buddies from way back when. You may be small, but you are undoubtedly mighty. They were quite surprised to see someone of your stature work in that kind of field. They never underestimate your skills, but they always made sure you were safe in those awful conditions.
You've never had anyone to rely on your whole life - your family was long gone. These two were the closest you've had to family, and you were grateful for it.
Music played from the jukebox and bounced across the walls as you took a sip from your glass. Straight from the bottle with a bit of ice: exactly how you like it. Vander was behind the bar cleaning up from the busy day, and Silco was writing in a book a stool away from you.
“Man, things are a lot more quiet these days, huh,” you mused aloud, taking another swig of your drink, the ice clinking gently.
“It's better that way, don't you think?” Vander replied, swiftly cleaning a glass with a piece of cloth.
“Well, yeah. I suppose. Not much to do these days other than putting your head down and working, though,” your finger circled the rim of the glass, fidgeting. “It wasn't the best, but I had a lot of fun in the mines.”
“You did?” Silco piped up, scribbling something down in the notebook with his pen, not looking away from his work.
“Yeah - getting down and dirty was fun, until the debris-filled air got caught in your lungs,” reminiscing, you went through your memories. “I remember you two bickering over something real stupid, like an old married couple, and I had to be the voice of reason and break you two up.” You giggled as you spoke.
Vander shook his head with a laugh. “I remember always saving you two from rocks falling on your heads. Yourself, in particular, were never the careful type.”
“I just had fun smashing rocks up, y'know? So what if a couple rocks fell on me?” You replied with a wave of your hand.
Silco grabbed his glass, still writing in his book, taking a swig of his drink. “I remember you always bugging Vander and I on break - on purpose.” He gave you a bit of a side eye with a smirk.
You returned his look with a smirk of your own, a glint in your eyes. “I remembered one way I used to annoy you,” you scooted over on your seat, leaning over and poking Silco in his side. He wasn't expecting that, his grip on his pen slipping on the paper. “I used to always poke and prod you while you wrote up our daily report on our break. Just so the higher ups couldn't read your handwriting.” You gave him another ticklish poke, making your point clear.
Silco’s eyebrow twitched, messing up another word he was writing. He crossed it out. “I never had a way to stop you back then. You were always so persistent. And slippery...” Silco replied, not looking up from the notebook. Vander finished cleaning up the glasses, propping his elbows up on the bar, giving his full attention to both of you.
You gave him another poke with an added scribble, making Silco drop his pen onto the floor, turning to give you an unamused look. “I always brought the fun to our break, right?” You tilted your head with a smile.
“…but now, I might just have a way to stop you.” With a swift motion, Silco closed the notebook. “Vander, if you would.”
“Wha–” you didn't have a moment to get a word in as Vander made his way around the bar, grabbing you from behind. Vander lifted you slightly off of the ground, your feet just scraping the floor, encapsulating you in an almost bear hug. His hold was strong so you wouldn’t be able to wriggle yourself away, but he was gentle.
“Hey, hey hey hey, waitwait, what are you doing?” You asked, nervousness laced in your voice. Surely Silco and Vander wouldn't do anything awful to you, right?
“Every time you bugged me, and every time I tried to get you back, you swore up and down you weren't ticklish–”
“BECAUUUUSE I'm not, obviously,” you quickly interjected with a cautious laugh.
“And every time I tried, you never gave a reaction. But thanks to our kind friend here,” Silco motioned to Vander. “He let me in on a little secret.”
You gasped in surprise, craning your neck to look at Vander, your eyes wide. “You didn't.”
Vander has a mischievous look in his eye. “Oh, I did.”
You remembered when Vander found out you were ticklish…
Silco had gone home early, but Vander and yourself were getting some equipment cleaned up. You had come to him after a rough day at the mines. You had hurt your shoulder from hauling material around, and Vander offered to try to massage your shoulder to make it feel better.
You accepted his offer, and it was fine at first, under he squeezed in just the right way. You let out a squeak, Vander had thought he had hurt you at first and was worried. You denied that he hurt you, which relieved him, but he asked why that happened. You had to tentatively explain that it tickled.
Vander had replied with something similar to “You know, he’s going to use that against you if he finds out about this?” with a smirk on his face. You practically begged Vander to not tell Silco a word of this, and he told you he wouldn't tell a soul…
Silco let out a dark chuckle as he could almost see the cogs turning in your brain.
“Vander, you traitor!” You started to thrash about, but Vander held you tight. “You said you wouldn't tell him!” You weren’t really angry at either of them - you could definitely feel the sweat collecting on your palms, though.
“I figured I might as well. If you're reacting this awfully about it, then maybe it'd be a useful tactic to knock you down a few pegs whenever you're being a right little shit.” Vander let out a laugh at your demise. Your squirming was no match for his grip, you didn't even sway him in the slightest. Of course you couldn’t, his frame was a whole lot bigger than yours.
Silco took a step forward, the grin on his face all too evil. “It’s what you deserve for messing with the wrong person.” He was having way too much fun with this. Your heart skipped a beat with a bit of fear. Oh, shit!
“Noooo, no no, Silco, no, we can t-talk about this, right? We’re buddies?” Your smile was lopsided and wobbly, nervous giggles already teetering out from your throat. “Surely you can forgive me? It was all in good fun! Right??”
“You can’t worm your way out this time,” he inched his face closer, a sweat drop rolled down from your forehead. Your eyes darted to his hands as he flexed his fingers. “I’ll send the message across and make sure you think twice about trying to annoy me for your own amusement.”
Before you could sputter out anymore protests, Silco dug in.
He was terrifyingly gentle, was your first thought. His fingers skittered up and down your sides. You instinctively bit down on your lip hard to silence yourself. They both noticed this.
“Surely you know I won’t be satisfied until I get what I want?” Silco moved his gentle yet dexterous touch upwards, skittering into your unprotected underarms. He got a fair bit of extra thrashing from that, making him chuckle. Vander had to hold you a little tighter. “There’s no use holding it in, you understand?”
You shook your head back and forth, determined to hold your laughter at bay. You were not going to let them win this.
Silco tsked, shaking his head. “Your stubbornness will be your downfall.”
You felt another, bigger hand poking around - uh oh, Vander was joining in. His touch was a bit rougher, his fingers scribbling around your stomach. Vander joining in along with Silco is what caused the dam to shatter into pieces.
“WaitwaitWAIT— AHAHA!!” You finally let it all out, laughing your head off with a big, goofy smile on your face. Silco and Vander leaned their heads back away from your face a little - they weren’t expecting your laugh to be so shrill and loud, it hurt their ears.
“Awfully loud, this one,” Vander commented, your cheeks turning red. “Though, they squeaked last time; wonder if we can draw that noise outta ‘em?”
“NohohoHO! D-Don’t you DAREEE!” You threatened with a whine, though not serious about it at all.
“You were never intimidating to begin with, let alone in this state,” Silco observed, moving his hands to trail down to your stomach, trading places with Vander who started squeezing at your ribs. You let out a squeak, exactly what they wanted. “Especially like this.”
“HAHAHA— no, nohohoho!! It tickles!!” You couldn’t hold back anymore, the feeling overwhelmed every nerve in your body.
“That’s the point.” Silco couldn’t help laughing at your silliness. Tears were budding in the corners of your eyes.
“Think the lesson stuck?” Vander piped up, his scribbling slowing to a stop. He still kept a grip on you, although you had stopped fighting back to save what little energy you had left.
“Yes... I believe so.” Silco gave you a couple more tweaks and pokes to your sides and ribs, and finally let up. He moved his arms away from your body, crossing them over his chest instead with a grin on his face. Vander loosened his grip on you. You nearly tumbled to the floor but managed to stay up right, your head hanging down to the floor. Your body felt like lead.
You greedily sucked in air, your chest rising and falling. You raised your head, eyeing Silco. “Has… has anyone ever t-told you that you can be scary if y-you could set your mind to it?”
Silco stretched his hand out in a truce, and you grabbed on with your own. “While Vander has his size and his raw strength, I have my words. We’ve scared plenty off before.” Silco spoke with a laugh. Both men led you to sit down - Silco by the hand, Vander with a hand on your back - back on your stool at the bar.
Vander rounded the bar, refilling your forgotten and watered down drink with a new beverage and piece of ice. You grabbed your glass, raising it in thanks as you took a sip. Silco took his own seat back at the bar, drinking from his own glass.
“Didn’t overdo it, did we?” Vander questioned, reaching out to ruffle your hair. You giggled as you pushed his hand away.
“No, no, it was fine…” You could admit… you thought you liked that little exchange. You were quiet for a moment, lost in thought.
Until you felt a poke in your side from Silco. “What’s wrong? Can’t handle a taste of your own medicine?” He teases.
“It’s not that…” you took a deep breath, resting your hand over your face. You could feel the subtle heat coming off of your cheeks. “Actually… I think I liked it…”
Both men paused for a moment in silence at your words. Vander was the first to speak, with a smile and a teasing lilt in this voice. “Isn’t that something?” He couldn’t stop himself from laughing, making you groan in response.
“That’s positively adorable of you.” Silco smirked, placing a hand on your shoulder with a wide grin. Your face only got more red as you covered it with your hands.
“Ughhhh, s-shut up…” your voice was muffled from your hands. “It just made me feel safe… and happy…”
“Looks like we’ll have to put you in your place more often, don’t you agree?” Vander asked, looking over to Silco who nodded a little bit too enthusiastically for your liking.
“Ugh,” you pulled your hands away from your face, throwing your head back. “I’m never going to live this down, am I?”
Your face only grew more crimson during the night as you got relentlessly teased and prodded at by your two favourite people. You wouldn’t ever admit it again, but deep down, you enjoyed it.
Music, dancing, loud cheers. Tonight was definitely a good night.
But....
Vander watched Ekko and Powder in the distance. Powder was like herself, even more lively than before, but something was off about Ekko.
He caught himself staring at the guy until Silco stood next to him and patted his shoulder.
"Hey. Don't worry. He's just tense about the competition," he said, as if reading his mind. Vander nodded. Yeah that might be the case. Still, his comment just now had been a little sudden and rude.
"I liked your answer though," Vander said, putting down the glass he just dried before heading off to the storage to fetch some more booze. Silco chuckled and followed him.
"Hm? What answer?" he asked, even though Vander was sure he remembered it correctly. He just wanted to hear him repeat it.
"Greatest thing we can do in life... is find the power to forgive."
Vander stood in the storage while Silco stood by the door. "I don't think I ever thanked you properly. For forgiving me."
Silco hummed. "Many times, Vander. You did thank me. You also tried to kill me multiple times, remember?" he said. Vander frowned. Multiple times?
He then suddenly felt Silco's hands latching onto his sides in an attempt to tickle him. In a swift move, Vander turned around and pinned him against the wall - a little too enthusiastically as they knocked over a few bottles of which at least one broke.
"Wow wow, easy thehere!" Silco laughed. Vander now understood.
"You mean this?" He tickled both Silco's sides and laughed right along with him. The cheerful sounds coming from Silco were such a delight after all.
"R-rihihight! You're so slohohow!"
Vander smirked. He had indeed tickled him to death many times before. And man, it never got old. If Silco didn't dislike it, he wouldn't provoke him like this.
He looked over his shoulder and when he didn't hear Benzo or any impatient customers calling for him, he quickly clawed up Silco's ribs until he slid to the floor. There Vander bent over him and tickled him mercilessly.
The music and loud voices at the party were enough to give them a little moment of privacy. Enough privacy for him to make Silco laugh until he thought it fit the definition of 'getting tickled to death'.
"Vahahaander okahahay - mahahade your pohohoint!" Silco cackled tiredly. Vander chuckled and patted his back.
"My point? I think I made yours. You forgive me everytime I do this. Must really enjoy it that much, huh?" Vander gave Silco one last poke, got back up and finally picked up the stuff he came to grab.
Silco breathed tiredly and shrugged. "F-fair enough," he answered. "To be honest, there's nothing else that can make me laugh anyway."
Vander glared at him. "You're saying my jokes are bad?"
"The worst."
They both stared at each other before Vander laughed. If he wasn't careful, they were going to be stuck here for the remainder of the night.
"Remind me to punish you for that one later," he said, and he finally went back to work.
Funny thing: he knew Silco would remind him one way or another.
And even if he didn't, well... Vander would surely not forget to tickle him to death again.
