The Curse of Laughter - Chapter 1
Chapter Characters: Lee!Ijichi, Ler!Tickle Curse, Ler!Gojo (bc of course he's a little demon and has to make things worse.), Yuji, Nobara. Chapter Description: Yuji and Nobara are sent by Gojo on a mission to investigate strange energy signatures in an old manor, Ijichi accompanies them and falls prey to a bizarre new(?) breed of curse. Chapter Word Count: 4042 Overall Description: The world of JJK Is flipped upside when a shocking discovery is made, a sub-species of curses that was once rare has made a shocking resurgence. Curses that feed off of laughter are popping up everywhere. What is causing the uptick in these strange entities, and will our cast be able to endure them? *TickleAU*
That smell.
Cursed blood. Its unmistakable. Like rotten meat mixed with Copper. It was a scent that followed tragedy hand in hand, there was never one without the other.
“This is definitely the place.” Yuji frowned as he and Nobara stood at the gate of a manor hit by the waves of time. There was nowhere on the building that was untouched by plantation or the tests of time.
“Jeez, it looks like it's falling apart.” Nobara observed, squinting her eyes as she took in the crumbling brick and decay.
“I feel like this is a dumb question but… does anyone live here?” Yuji asked, turning to Ijichi.
“No, this manor has been vacant for twenty years. The last residents to live here moved in a hurry,” Ijichi read out of his folder. “They complained of strange occurrences but wouldn't get any further into detail.”
“Big creepy haunted and abandoned manor? Pshh, how cliche.” Nobara rolled her eyes, buckling her nail pouch. “Can't these curses get more original? I'd love a change of pace for once.”
“Change of pace, eh?” Yuji grinned, stretching as they prepared to go inside. “Like what?”
“I don't know… like a circus or a mall.”
“Pfft, a circus would be even more cliche.” Yuji teased, grinning at his best friend's complaint. “I for one don't care about location, I would just like a curse that doesn't send us through walls for once…”
“If it wasn't hostile then what would it do, tickle us?” Nobara retorted as she rolled her shoulders.
“I'm sure Megumi would love that.” Yuji snickered as he stretched his arms above his head. “I wouldn't mind it.”
“You're in the minority then.” Nobara scoffed, poking the pinkette in the side, causing him to snort and double over. “Megumi would kill you for even joking about that. Don't go manifesting some creepy tickle curse into existence!”
Yuji laughed, standing upright again. “Relax, nothing like that could ever exist. Megumi isn't even here to hear me.”
Ijichi smiled in exasperation at the two’s conversation. “I'm with Miss Kugisaki on this one… we get enough bizarre curses, I'd rather not encounter something like that either.”
“Hah! Told you you're in the minority.” Nobara grinned triumphantly, causing Itadori to roll his eyes playfully.
“You're both ridiculous… alright, let's go in.” Yuji grinned lazily, walking through the doors as Ijichi placed a curtain over the area.
“Be careful you two, please don't do anything risky.” The anxious assistant called after them.
The pink haired teen turned around to face him, giving him a wide reassuring grin and waving before heading inside.
He sighed and opened the file back up, he'd read through it several times already, but couldn't help reading it again. Something about this case was just bizarre to him.
No deaths have taken place, or disappearances, or attacks.
How unheard of. If this cursed entity wasn't attacking people… then what was it doing to survive?
Maybe a bad luck curse? They're kind of rare but do exist.
“Something just feels off… I do hope Gojo knows what he’s doing in regards to the students and their safety….” He frowned, he didn’t like the thought of the kids going in to confront an unknown entity.
His brown eyes returned to the page, reading carefully over some of the witness statements they had managed to find regarding the manor.
One statement read that they heard the sound of anguished screams coming from inside the house at all hours of the night, while another statement said they saw a figure standing in the gate doorway at night, just staring at them as they walked by.
The reports were chocked up to just some local teens playing pranks and the manor soon became an urban legend in the area. Eventually it got so bad the police would send a patrol car to make sure no one was trespassing on the vacant property at least a few times a week…
Ijichi's eyes flickered to the large rusty gate, but saw no figure standing there. Surely some reports could've been faked for attention, but in every lie there's a grain of truth. And often the truth lies somewhere between fact and fiction.
“Hey Ijichi, we aren't sensing anything here.” Yuji communicates through the watch, causing the anxious assistant to jump in surprise.
He sighed softly, closing the folder. “Yes, I don't sense anything eith--”
“Wait a minute, Itadori…” Nobara put her hand on his arm to stop him. “Do you feel that? It's coming from further in…”
Yuji's eyes widened a bit. “Whoa, where did that come from?? Nevermind, it's definitely here. It must be hiding its signatures… or trying to. We're gonna go further in.”
Ijichi tensed a bit, he really didn't like the idea of them doing that… but he couldn't say anything. He knew the teens would likely ignore him.
He sighed softly, shaking his head as he resumed reading over the reports.
After a while, he realized he hadn't heard from the two in a bit. He was about to check in on them when he heard a scream come from inside the manor.
“What the?!” He looked over with wide eyes.
Okay. That's not great… but maybe it's like being in the woods when a mountain lion makes sounds similar to a baby to lure its prey in… wait, does that even happen around here? (No, It doesn’t, incase anyone was curious.)
Okay, breathe. It was a scream. It could have been any number of things… Nobara could have gotten something in her hair, or Yuji could've seen a spider. Yeah. That's plausible…
“IJICHI HELP!”
Welp.
Ijichi dropped the folder and went running towards the sound of the screaming, it was coming from a shed in the back garden. He threw the door open and spotted a staircase leading down. “Itadori?? Kugisaki??” He called out to them, hearing the faint echo of their voices coming from the stairs.
“Ijichi help! We're trapped!” Nobara called out, followed by the sound of banging against a wall.
The assistant hurried down the stairs and looked around, there were at least eight doors in the corridor he found himself in. “Which one?” He called out, his eyes darting around from door to door.
One of the doors started to rattle. “We’re in here!” Yuji’s voice came from the other side of the door.
The doors were old, like… OLD old. They looked like something out of a medieval movie and… now that he looks around, he realized the corridor looked old too. It was giving off dungeon vibes.
He felt around the barred wooden door, finding the opening to remove the wooden beam keeping the door locked. “Okay, I got it…”
He pulled the door open, expecting for the two to come running out but he was met with an eerie silence instead.
“Itadori…? Kugisaki?”
Damn. There it is.
He was just a second too slow in detecting it.
He jumped back, narrowly avoiding a large appendage reaching for him. But as he thought he avoided being grabbed, he found himself surrounded by a black mist.
He staggered back, throwing an arm over his mouth and nose to block the mist.
“W-What the?!”
But again, he was just a second too late. His head began to spin, the world around him shifting and rippling like disturbed water.
He tried to throw up a barrier to shield himself, but found his cursed energy was fizzling out.
He began to cough, his lungs tingling and burning. He stumbled backwards, leaning back against the wall behind him as his sight blurred. ‘N-Not good… I can't see where it went.’
His eyes darted around looking for the curse, but his vision began to fade out completely. He found he also couldn't sense it either.
He felt his body growing weaker, trembling as he slowly slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. ‘I'm going to… pass out… this mist is so dense.’
He felt a hand lock around his ankle and began to drag him away from the wall, he tried to will his body to fight back or get away but… he couldn't. It's like his brain had disconnected from his body.
Next thing he knew, he was opening his eyes after having passed out.
His vision slowly cleared as he blinked. He tried to move but found he couldn't, his arms were tied behind his back and his ankles locked in a set of stocks in front of him.
He struggled, and tried to use his cursed energy to free himself but it didn't even bubble beneath the surface. ‘Something is cancelling out my cursed energy… the bindings?’
He tried to squirm a bit, trying to loosen the bindings on his wrists, but was interrupted by a laugh coming from the corner of the room.
“Try all you like, little sorcerer… but you aren't getting away that easily~”
The figure slowly emerged from the corner, stalking towards Ijichi like a predator hunting its prey.
“Who are you? And what do you want with me?” He demanded, struggling to try to free himself.
“Ah, where are my manners… My name is Kumori.” The curse greeted, it sounded like his voice was coming from all around Ijichi, but he was standing directly in front of him.
His figure was vaguely human in shape, but he resembled a shadow with no discernable features.
“As for what I want from you… I want your energy, but worry not, little sorcerer…” he leaned down closer to his face, a sharp toothy grin forming on his face. “I don't intend to cause you any harm~”
Somehow that wasn't reassuring to Ijichi in the slightest. In fact that may have unnerved him a bit more.
“Then what are you going to do…?” He asked quietly, part of him not wanting to know.
“It's simple. I'm going to syphon your energy fields.” Kumori answered him casually, slowly circling around to stand out of his line of sight.
Before he could ask the question he also didn't want the answer to, the curse leaned down and asked a question.
One he hadn't been asked in ages, and still terrified him…
“Tell me, sorcerer… are you ticklish~?”
Oh shit.
Goddammit Yuji, you just had to manifest it didn't you??
“I… what did you just ask me?” Ijichi asked quietly, surely he hadn't heard him correctly… right?
“You heard me~” fuck. “And judging by the fact you lost all color for a moment… I'd say the answer is yes.” Kumori smirked.
Before the assistant could argue or try to reason with the curse, he felt fingers prodding his sides gingerly, methodically poking around to find his vulnerable spots.
The big problem is that Ijichi has a lot of those. Like, a TON. It would be easier to find a spot on the man that isn't ticklish, bestie.
He barely lasted five seconds before he started squirming around and giggling. ‘W-What is this?! Have I gotten even more sensitive?!’
“S-Stop it thihihis instant!” He tittered, squirming and writhing around trying to avoid the gentle prodding.
“Oh my, you're quite ticklish~” Kumori cooed, giving his sides a gentle squeeze. “Oh, you're going to be the perfect energy pick-me-up.”
Ijichi tried to fight his reactions, but he just couldn't. It tickled soooo badly! It felt like his sensitivity had been upped by several notches. He jerked forward trying to evade the teasy squeezes to his sides, but the curse followed.
“N-Nohohoho! Stahahahahap it! Ahahahahaha!” He laughed helplessly. He blushed brightly at the squeal that escaped him when two index fingers began teasingly tracing his rib bones individually. “G-Gehehehehet away! Dahahahahammit, stop tihihickling me!”
Kumori didn't listen to his attempts at being authoritative, instead unbuttoning his dress shirt to stroke, pinch and squeeze bare sides and ribs.
This is bad, this is REALLY REALLY bad. He has no defenses against the tickling, he can't stop the laughter that's flowing freely from him. And by laughing, he's only making the curse stronger and more motivated.
“Nahahahahah! I sahahahahaid stop!” Though his command being interrupted by a snort took all the power out of his words.
“Such an adorable little sorcerer… so ticklish too~ I'm already feeling much stronger and I haven't even gotten started for real yet~” Kumori teased.
‘W-What? He's not even being serious yet?! How much worse is this going to get??’ he panicked internally, arching his back when he felt two blunt claws tracing along his sides slowly.
“Ohohohoho gohohohohod! Ahahahahahahaha!!” He thrashed, trying to free himself.
Try as he might he couldn’t break free or slow down his laughter, he was completely at this unorthodox curse’s mercy. And If it was to be believed, every laugh was refueling it and making it stronger.
‘What the hell am I supposed to do?! I can’t break free and its… it’s maddening!’
‘Come on… Think… Ah! I got it!’
Ijichi, thanks to his arms being tied behind his back, was able to discreetly use the communicator on his wrist. Thanks to an amazing memory and just being more tech inclined in general… He managed to turn the dial out of sight, and from memory he paged one of his contacts with an sos message setting.
He wasn’t 100% confident who he pinged, but he thought It was Yaga, since he was saved as a favorite due to how often he has to contact him.
The tickling went on for a few more minutes before finally halting. Ijichi slumped back in his seat as he panted heavily. He honestly wasn’t sure how much more he could take of the tickling.
“That was a good warmup, don’t you think?” Kumori taunted as he walked out of sight for a moment.
Ijichi was silent, no longer engaging with the curse in hopes he grow bored…
kind of like when dealing with Gojo while he’s being annoying.
Nanami would be so proud.
“Oh? Not speaking to me anymore?” The curse came back into view, leaning casually on the stocks. “Do you think I’m some silly figment of your imagination that’ll just disappear if you don’t acknowledge me?”
Nothing.
He wasn’t even looking at him anymore.
If he was, he’d have seen that sharp toothy grin.
“Very well, ignore me all you’d like… you won’t be able to for much longer…”
Well, unfortunately in the same vein as ignoring Gojo, ignoring Kumori also did not work. In fact it only really succeeded in encouraging the curse to up the ante… just like Gojo.
‘All you have to do is survive until Yaga gets here and exorcises this cuURSE--’
Ijichi’s moment of peaceful thinking and strategizing was cut short all thanks to special guest stars the audacity, and Ryan Seacrest. Just kidding… It was a claw. A REALLY tickly claw, trailing a slow deliberate line along his foot.
Ijichi shrieked at the feeling. He threw his head back in hysterics. He was horrified. Surviving until Yaga got here just became a LOT more difficult, because this smarmy bastard just found his worst spot.
“Still don’t want to talk to me~?” Kumori cooed teasingly, now trailing several claws along his foot, causing his laughter to worsen.
‘Goddammit goddammit goddammit!! I can’t… It’s too much! Ughh! Just think of something else… anything else! Something scarier than this thing!’
‘L-Like… making Nanami mad, yeah… okay that helped a little. Or the time you walked in on Gojo getting yelled at by Yaga… alright. I feel a little--’
This interruption of Ijichi’s dissociation was brought to you by our partners over at the audacity, I see you’re back again, and will continue to popup throughout our lovely fic.
He felt something foreign, something soft, brush against his foot… and he broke. A fucking feather. Literally nothing could’ve been worse for this poor overworked ball of anxiety.
Any progress he may have made in blocking it out? Out the window. We don’t know peace here. We only know panic now.
“N-No, you mustn't!” Ijichi whimpered, struggling desperately in his bonds as his eyes locked onto the feather. “D-Dont do this…!”
He tried to pull his feet away, nervously watching as the feather was brought closer to them.
“Oh, so now you wish to talk to me~?” Kumori cooed, slowly stroking the feather along his right sole. The reaction was immediate, he threw his head back with laughter, unable to hold back for even a moment. “Silly little sorcerer… you have no authority here~”
“Nohohoho! Ahahahahahah! Nohohohot that!” He pleaded, wriggling his foot around to try to avoid the feather, but the curse merely followed his movements with a wide grin.
“Oh my, someone is quite ticklish here~ I wonder what would happen if I…”
Ijichi shrieked, his laughter growing louder as the curse began to teasingly skate it's claws along his left foot while teasing the right with that stiff feather.
“Oh~ such a ticklish little sorcerer~” the curse purred, grinning sadistically as it continued. “Aww, is this a bad spot?” He cooed, teasing his instep with his sharp nails.
“NAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAH! NAHAHAHAT THERE! OHOHO GOD!!” Pure panicked hysterics fell from his lips as his feet were expertly tickled, the curse seemed to find his worst spots immediately and exploit them without mercy. He wanted so desperately to curl his toes to try to lessen the ticklish shocks flooding his system, but was unable to.
“Listen to that laughter… I could tickle these sensitive feet for hours~ such a cute, ticklish little thing…” the curse teased, skittering his claws across his instep while brushing the feather across the underside of his toes.
“STAHAHAHAHAP! PLEHEHEHEASE I CAHAHAHAHANT!” Ijichi was beside himself with laughter, he was completely defenseless. Those damn bonds nullified his cursed energy, making it impossible to escape. He was completely at the mercy of this curse, and he hated it… he's never been tickled this mercilessly before, he was faaaar too ticklish to withstand it.
“That's it, keep laughing little sorcerer~ your laughter is giving me strength.” The curse cooed, sawing the feather between his toes while tracing a singular claw back and forth along a sweet spot where his sole connected to his instep.
“BAHAHAHAHAHA!!! OHOHOHOHO GAHAHAHAHAD! TOOMUHUHUHUCH! IHIHITS TOO MUHUHUHUCH!!” Ijichi cackled, his eyes squeezed tightly shut, tears rolling down his cheeks from laughing so hard.
He was convinced he was going to laugh himself to death in the next couple of minutes, and then he’d die a second time of embarrassment. He could already hear Gojo mocking him.
“Mind getting your hands off my friend?”
Wait, did he actually hear Gojo?
Once he managed to spot the white haired sorcerer, he felt an avalanche of emotions, he could have sobbed in relief had he not been laughing so hard.
The curse quickly dodged Satoru's attack, jumping back with an annoyed hiss. He didn't appreciate being interrupted.
Gojo prepared an attack, but the curse teleported away before he could use it.
He clicked his tongue in disapproval, slowly releasing his cursed energy again as he relaxed his stance. “Damn. That wasn't a grade two… either the elders were wrong, or it's getting stronger.”
He turned his attention to the exhausted assistant, walking over and crouching down next to him as he untied his wrists. “Are you hurt?” He asked carefully, his eyes scanning him for any injuries from behind his blindfold.
Ijichi shook his head tiredly. “Only my dignity…” he mumbled, still blushing from embarrassment.
“Good… then I won't feel bad for this,” Gojo grinned mischievously, reaching down and skittering his fingertips along his foot.
Ijichi yelped, throwing his head back laughing again. “Nohohoho! Gojo plehehehease!”
“How have I never thought to tickle you before? Of course you'd be super ticklish~” He teased, skittering his blunt nails along his soles.
“Ahahahahahaha!! N-Not my feet! Plehehease!” The assistant begged, unable to do anything but laugh.
“Aww~ looks like you might be the new record holder for most ticklish feet.” He teased with a grin, slowly stilling his fingers.
Deciding to have mercy (sort of. and we're just as shocked as you are-), Gojo moved to begin undoing the bindings around his ankles.
Ijichi immediately pulled away, curling up into a ball as he breathed heavily and slowly recovered.
“That was… uncalled for.” He complained quietly, practically pouting as he slowly recovered.
Gojo chuckled, reaching down and patting his shoulder. “You're fine, you're strong enough to handle some tickling.”
Ijichi mumbled quietly to himself, then slowly sat back up once he caught his breath. After a moment he spoke again, still embarrassed but a bit less so. “G-Gojo? How did you know I was here…? Did Yaga send you?”
“Eh? No, I came here because I got your sos.” Gojo tilted his head curiously.
Ijichi looked at his wrist watch, finding that Gojo had somehow been programmed to the top of his favorites list. He sighed, and before he could say anything Satoru chimed in with his shit eating grin.
“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, I put myself at the top of your contacts list, I am the best, afterall. To be beneath Nanami and Yaga was a little insulting.” He announced his little prank smugly.
As much as he wanted to scold Satoru, he just couldn’t find the energy to. So he just let it go. “Well… at any rate… thank you. I’m not sure how much longer I would’ve lasted.”
Satoru grinned, reaching over and ruffling his hair affectionately. “Of course.”
Once Ijichi was put back together, the two headed back outside. “I got some bad news for you though… you're gonna have to join our meeting and give us insight about what happened to you…”
Ijichi sighed as his shoulders slumped in defeat, his face turning red again. “I'm well aware… I just don't want to.”
“Hey, there you guys are!” Itadori and Nobara came running up to the two.
“We looked everywhere, but we couldn't find a curse.” Nobara explained. “There was definitely cursed energy in there… but no curse to be seen.”
“Yeah, it was really weird. We tried to come back outside but then we'd pick up on its cursed energy deeper in the manor.” Yuji added.
Gojo frowned at that. “Damn, this definitely isn't your everyday curse…” he mumbled quietly to himself, then looked back up at the two students with a grin.
“You both did good. Come on, let's go get some dinner. You guys can pick where.” The two students lit up excitedly, rambling quickly to each other as they debated what they wanted.
Gojo turned his attention back to Ijichi. “It's smart enough to cast its energy elsewhere to act as a lure… just to get you alone. That's cause for concern.”
Ijichi nodded in agreement. “Most curses aren't that intelligent…”
“We've decided! We want to try that new place that sells those unique soba combos.” Nobara grinned decidedly.
“Ooo, Soba? Geto sensei is gonna pout for days when he finds out we went without him~” Gojo teased, ruffling their hair affectionately. “Alright, let's go my little gremlins.”
As the two students started walking ahead excitedly, Gojo turned to Ijichi again. “You wanna come with us? Help me keep those two in line?” He asked playfully.
The assistant smiled at the offer. “Thank you, but I'm going to pass… I'm going to head back to the school and rest.”
“Make sure you have Shoko check you. It's smart, I have no clue what other secrets it could be hiding.”
“Are you coming or not??”
Gojo grinned in amusement then turned back towards the two excited students. “Oh you know us old people… we move much slower than you younguns…” he purposely slowed his walk down, causing Nobara to grab him and start pulling him along while Yuji began pushing him.
“Gojo! That's not funny!” Yuji complained, pushing him along towards the restaurant.
“Yeah, we're starving!! You rushed us out to this mission right before lunch!” Nobara added.
Ijichi smiled and shook his head at their antics, letting out a small sigh. This curse… he's never seen anything like it… just what is it? Could a curse like this really exist or is there something much more sinister at play…? The meeting should reveal more.
