#Ticklish!Minkowski

[stray-tickles]

Command

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--

Minkowski was sure Eiffel would laugh if she ever said it out loud, but sometimes she didn’t like being the Commander.

Yes, she’d always wanted it, yes, going to space had been her dream (turned nightmare), and yes, command suited her.

But.

Honestly, always being the one who was de facto in charge could be draining. Lonely. Sometimes the distance between her and her crew felt like a gaping chasm. She’d see Eiffel goofing off and feel deeply tired because someone had to get him on task and it had to be her, even if she’d rather not. Hell, sometimes she wanted to goof off too.

He and Lovelace had been goofing off quite a lot lately. It was hard to mind with how much happier they’d been, and if a bit of childishness was what it took, well. She didn’t mind.

Okay, so maybe she’d joined in on their shenanigans once or twice. It was hard to resist when she managed to catch Eiffel reaching for something high up, knowing that a quick jab under his arms would have him folding in half, squealing and grinning like an idiot. Never mind Lovelace, who had no idea how to defend herself. It was honestly damn cute how she’d just dissolve into giggles within seconds.

It was fun messing with them. The half-hearted glares they’d send her way, trying not to smile, the playful punches in the arm. Those were moments when she felt more like their friend and less like their boss. She never went any further than a quick poke or some teasing though, that felt like a line she couldn’t cross, even if they were really annoying sometimes.

She could hear Eiffel’s shrieking long before she entered the kitchen and rolled her eyes at the sight of them. He was backed into a corner, curled up in a ball, while Lovelace towered over him, one hand squeezing his kneecap and the other scampering up and down his ribcage. “What’d he do this time?”

Lovelace looked up and smiled at her. “Oh, hey Minkowski. Does he really need to do anything to deserve punishment?”

She almost laughed. ‘Punishment’. Sure. “Hmm, you make a fair point.”

“HELP!” Eiffel squealed, twisting like a fish on a line. “Cohohommander! Help!”

“Oh yeah, good idea Eiffel!” Lovelace said. “Wanna help?”

They looked happy, and part of her wanted to join. She shook her head. “Not today.”

Lovelace shrugged, “Suit yourself.” And returned to her torment of their Communications Officer.

Minkowski made her seaweed brew slowly, listening to them laugh and roughhouse in the background. It was nice.

--

She was double checking their navigation when Eiffel caught up with her on the bridge. There was no point in asking what he was there for. ‘Causing trouble’ was the usual answer.

“Thanks for the help.” He said sarcastically.

She spared him a glance, swallowing a smirk. “You seemed to have everything under control.”

Eiffel huffed. “Well, it’s good to know you have my back.” He said, poking her in the back of the ribs.

Maybe her guard was down, maybe it had been a while since she’d been touched by another person, whatever the reason, his playful poke managed to elicit a twitch and a yelp.

Minkowski pointedly shifted a little out of reach, not looking at him. Eiffel only grinned and followed. “Something wrong?” He asked innocently, poking again, this time getting her in the ribs and making her twist out of the way, biting back a squeak.

She tried to glare at him, but it was taking real effort not to smile. There was something so easy and light to his playful attack. “Quit it.”

“Quit what?” Poke. The smile broke through, she couldn’t even say it was entirely against her will. After all, it was Eiffel, her friend, being mischievous. She’d wanted that.

She batted at his poking hands, biting her lip and smiling, knowing that if she said anything else right now, she’d break out laughing.

Eiffel was grinning at her, soft and affectionate. “Hmm? Still don’t know what the problem is here, Commander.” Poke poke poke.

His last poke found a particularly sensitive spot on her ribs, and her hands immediately snapped around his wrists, pulling him away. They stayed frozen for a moment, Eiffel’s eyes hesitant and questioning. Minkowski tried not to give anything away, but she knew she was still smiling.

She cleared her throat. “I have work to do.” She said, letting him go and floating back to the console, schooling her features.

Eiffel cocked his head, watching her curiously. Huh. “Okay!” He said, unable to resist clapping her on the shoulder and making her jump. “I’ll see you around then.”

“Sure.” She tried to sound uninterested, but once he had left, allowed that silly smile to come back.

That was… kind of fun.

--

That silly, happy feeling in her stomach was one she hung onto for the rest of the day. She had precious little time for levity, but Eiffel seemed to have made it his mission to get her to crack a smile at least once a week. She’d never tell him how much she appreciated that.

She didn’t see the others while she ate, but that wasn’t unusual, both of them tended to eat earlier than her. The common area was clear as well when she entered, so Minkowski resolved to spend the time before bed relaxing and re-reading her book.

It couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds of peaceful reading when a familiar voice shouted, “Mutiny!” and she found herself being tackled from two different directions, held in a very awkward group hug.

It took a lot of effort not to laugh. “What the hell are you two doing?”

They were both grinning, which didn’t bode well. “Well,” Lovelace started, “Officer Eiffel alerted me to a crew issue that required our immediate attention.”

Eiffel was nodding along. He looked like the cat that got the cream.

Minkowski rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah?”

“Mm-hm.”

“And what is this urgent issue?”

A pair of hands squeezed her sides, making her jolt. Lovelace’s smirk grew. “Morale was low.”

Oh no. “Don’t even think about-” Her mouth snapped shut when she felt a poke at that same weak spot on her ribs from earlier. Her head whipped around to glare at Eiffel, but he only grinned back and poked the same spot on the other side.

She tried not to smile. They were right there, and no matter how much she squirmed in their sneaky group hug, she couldn’t get away.

Did she want to?

That thought was cut short when Lovelace’s hand scratched gently at her stomach, making her jump and clasp one hand over her mouth to hide her twitchy smile, the other clamping onto her wrist and trying to push her away.

Lovelace chuckled. “Oh, nice try, lucky I’ve got two of these things.” Her other hand took up where the first left off, clawing and scratching and, generally speaking, driving her a bit crazy.

And Eiffel wouldn’t stop poking at her. It shouldn’t be this effective, it just shouldn’t! Every new poke made her jump, her shoulders now shaking with silent laughter.

“Sorry Commander.” Eiffel said, not sounding sorry in the slightest. “But Pryce and Carter five clearly states; ‘Remain positive at all times. Maintain a cheerful attitude even in the face of adversity.’ Just following procedure.”

Oh, fuck him. “Shut u- nohoho!” Goddamnit, now that she’d started laughing she couldn’t stop. And of course, they weren’t stopping. She tried to shove at Lovelace’s hands as they clawed at her sides, but then Eiffel wormed a finger under her arm and she was suddenly curled up in a ball, giggling like a little kid. She didn’t giggle, she was the Commander of a space station!

“How’s morale?” Eiffel said teasingly. “Any better?”

She cracked an eye open to glare at them, but instead of the smug grins she was expecting, found herself faced with twin smiles so full of affection and softness that she immediately closed her eyes again with a squeak, feeling her face and ears flush and shoving her hands up to hide.

“Awww.”

Minkowski tried to growl between giggles. “You- you’re both sohoho dead!”

Lovelace hummed, squeezing at her kneecap. “That doesn’t sound like good morale.”

“Fuck you!”

Eiffel laughed. “Commander! You kiss your mother with that mouth?” He slowly counted up her ribs, making her try to twist that side away, snorting.

“Kiss my ahahass!”

He tutted. “And when we’re trying so hard to cheer you up.” His hands found the twin sweet spots halfway up her ribcage, and he decided to linger there for a bit, lightening his touch. Minkowski gave an incoherent shout, and he and Lovelace shared a grin. “Cute.” He mouthed, knowing Minkowski wouldn’t notice.

Lovelace raised her eyebrows daringly. “Cute!” She said aloud, delighting in how much redder her face got beneath her hands.

Minkowski felt like her brain was melting out of her ears. Even if they stopped, she wasn’t sure she’d ever stop laughing. She felt giddy and silly and really really happy.

Not that she had to admit to that. “Ihihihi-I’m gonna have you- AH- cohohourt martialled!”

They both laughed. “I’m not military.” Eiffel said.

Lovelace shrugged. “I’m legally dead.”

“Spierdalaj!” She spat.

Lovelace laughed. “Polish? Cute.” Then, because she was curious, she let one hand drift up and gently trace and scratch around one of her flushed ears.

Oh no. “Nononono wait! Wahahahait!” It tickled, it really tickled! The feeling of fingertips ghosting over her ear made her want to crawl out of her skin, and when Lovelace’s nails came into play she shook her head back and forth in an attempt to throw her off. She was dimly aware that her giggles had gotten to a pitch best described as squeaky, and that made everything so much worse.

Eiffel was mostly just hugging her now. “Morale okay there?” He murmured, just close enough to her other ear to make her squeak and shake her head.

He smiled and pressed a kiss to her hair. It was nice to see her laugh. Minkowski really didn’t let herself go much, so he knew he’d need backup. He’d seen the hesitant way she’d pulled away from him earlier, how she’d forced the smile from her face. Seemed like sometimes, she wanted to let herself go.

God. How could she feel Eiffel smiling at her? He wasn’t even tickling now, leaving Lovelace to wreak havoc on her ears, his head resting against hers, and he was smiling at her and it felt warm like the sun. And she couldn’t stop giggling!

Finally, she snapped, hands dropping from her face to grab at Lovelace’s wrists, fully revealing that wide, giddy smile.

Lovelace grinned back at her, eyes crinkling a little at the corners. “There she is.” She said, gently poking her on the nose before Minkowski managed to grab her hand to stop her.

Minkowski heaved in a breath, still giggling. This was better, but they were still both right there, looking at her when she was a complete mess. She turned as best she could and buried her face in Eiffel’s shoulder.

Lovelace’s grin turned wolfish. Feeling a little evil, she took a deep breath, leaned closer, and blew a loud raspberry just behind her ear.

A few things happened at once. First, Minkowski screamed. Then she impulsively slapped Lovelace hard across the face, and with the force of her spasming, broke free from their trap of an embrace, weakly floating away.

Lovelace cackled, rubbing her cheek, and Eiffel wrapped a hand around her ankle. “Where are you going?”

She couldn’t stop laughing. This was so dumb, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. “Okay!” Minkowski managed to say between giggles as Eiffel reeled her back in. “Okayokayokay- okay!”

He grinned, wrapping his lanky arms around her again and letting her hide her face in his chest. “I guess morale is good now?”

She nodded weakly. It didn’t feel like she’d stop smiling for a long while.

Lovelace chuckled and rubbed calming circles on her back. “I can’t believe you slapped me.”

Minkowski grumbled at her, not trusting herself to speak.

Eiffel laughed. “I mean you kind of deserved it, that was mean.”

“Worth it.” She said, utterly unrepentant. “Still alive there, Minkowski?”

She didn’t think she could handle looking at either of them right now. Still. “You’re both dead.”

“Uh huh.”

“Of course.”

They had the gall to sound amused. “I’m serious.”

“Oh yeah.” Eiffel let one hand stroke her hair down flat. “This is a very serious situation, don’t you know.”

She turned her head just enough to glare at him. Then her breath hitched when he let one finger trail a little too close to her ear, but he went no further. Just proving a point. Proving that, even though he couldn’t see it, he knew she was still smiling. Proving that he knew how much she’d needed that.

“Shut up.” She muttered, squeezing him tightly because she couldn’t find the courage to say thank you.

His shoulders shook from quiet laughter, and he squeezed back just as tightly. “Sure thing, Commander.”

[amazingmsme]

Monster at Play

AN: If I’m still awake, it still counts as the same day. I had trouble settling on today’s prompt, but I’m glad I stuck with what I did. The plant monster is an underrated part of wolf 359 & this totally happened in canon, just trust me on this one

If Renee Minkowski set her mind to something, she wouldn't stop until she achieved her goal. That's why she was going back in the ducts to hunt down the plant monster once and for all.

She knew it was benevolent, but that didn't mean she wanted it running amuck on her ship, stealing tools and what not. It needed to be detained, or come to some kind of agreement if it was intelligent enough.

She was crawling through the vents grumbling to herself, cursing the stupid mutant plant. That's when  she felt a vine wrap around her ankle and tug. She yelped, grabbing onto the sides of the vent. She didn't have much purchase on the smooth metal and was tugged back deeper in the vents.

"Hey! Let go!" she yelled, kicking at it with her other leg. It grabbed that ankle too, dragging her deeper into the bowels of the ship. She screamed out for help, hoping one of her crew mates would come to her rescue, but unsure if they could even hear her.

Thin vines slipped inside her shoes, eliciting a surprised giggle. She scrunched her feet, kicking as much as she could to force them out. A loud squeal rang through the air when they slipped inside her socks, writhing against her soles and between her toes.

"Fuhuhuck ohohoff! W-whahahat doho you wahahant?" she growled through her laughter. As if in answer to her question, the plant monster drug her to a closed off room in the middle of the ship. She froze when she saw the plant monster looming over her. It was a large Venus flytrap type of plant and looked eerily similar to Audrey II from Little Shop. The theatre nerd in her was amazed that something so fantastical could actually exist, but the sensible part of her brain told her she needed to get the hell out of dodge.

Her pulse was racing as the green tendrils pulled her closer to the mouth of the beast.

"No! Bad plant, bad!" she yelled, fighting back as much as she could. Her efforts slowed as it drew her closer and she saw how it was almost smiling down at her. Weird.

"Look, I-I don't know if you can't understand me or what, but consider this a warning! As commander of this ship, I order you to leave us alohohone!" Her demand melted into a giggly plea as more vines wrapped around her, prodding her belly, sides and thighs. Two more wrapped around her wrists and stretched her out on the ground. Despite her best efforts, she was thoroughly trapped until the monster got bored or decided to show mercy.

"Hehehera cahahan you hehehear mehehe?" she called out to the AI. Her confused, tentative voice answered.

"Um, yeah I can hear you. Are you... okay? You look like you're really struggling but you're laughing an awful lot so like, I'm getting mixed signals."

Minkowski blushed and rolled onto her side. "Hehehera get Eihihihiffel!"

"Sure thing Commander!" she chirped, and just like that, she was alone with the plant monster once more.

It made a rumbling, almost purring noise as it shuffled closer, leaning down to inspect its prey. Minkowski breathed heavily, attempting to crawl away. It reached towards her with a large leaf and she winced, bracing herself for the worst. She was surprised when instead it patted her head as if she were a dog.

"What?" she asked, more so voicing her disbelief than actually trying to ask it a question. It cocked its head to show it was listening, much to her dismay. So she went out on a limb.

"Are- are you nice? What's your deal?" she asked between panting for breath. It looked at her and shrugged with two vines. She rolled her eyes with a huff, prompting it to wiggle a soft vine under her arm. She barked out a laugh, tugging on her trapped arm.

"Ihihi dohon't know whahat you wahahant!"

The plant monster didn't seem to care about the torture it was putting her through. Minkowski would say it went on for an hour. In actuality it was closer to ten minutes.

When it finally released her, it tapped its large leaves against the ground, making a noise akin to a fucking chuckle. She stared on in disbelief as she caught her breath.

"Are you just bored?" It nodded after a moment. She sighed, flopping her head back against the floor. "We all are buddy. But you can't be doing this anymore, okay? This is a one time deal," she said sternly. It stared at her blankly, or she assumed it did, seeing as it had no eyes. "I'll see about getting you some toys or something if your own to play with so you'll leave us alone. That sound good?" It made a gurgling sound in return, and she assumed that was good.

When she finally made it back to her quarters, Eiffel met her in the hall. He seemed nervous, but was relieved when he saw her walk up.

"Commander! There you are! We've been worried sick, are you alright?" he asked, scanning her up and down to make sure she was okay.

"Yeah, no thanks to you! I told Hera to tell you to get your ass down there! What happened?" she snapped, shoving him in the chest. He stumbled back, wrapping his arms around himself defensively.

"Well it sounded like you weren't in any real danger. And I'm a little claustrophobic and the only way there was through the vents, and honestly when Hera explained the situation, Hilbert and I really didn't wanna get involved, so we uh, decided to, um, let you ride this one out?" he trailed off, voice getting higher pitched the longer he spoke in classic Eiffel fashion.

Her jaw dropped and she slugged him on the arm, eliciting a short cry of pain. "Assholes! So you both knew and neither of you decided to fucking help?" she snapped.

"Ow! Hey, we weighed the pros and cons, and took a vote. And Hera said she'd tell us if you were in any real danger, so we were on standby!" he explained his side of the story. She didn't care to hear it.

"Oh whatever. You're lucky I don't feed you both to the plant monster," she threatened, shoving her way past him.

"All that and you didn't even give him a name?" Eiffel called out teasingly. Minkowski froze, slowly turning to look  at him. He realized his mistake and took off down the hall, Minkowski hot on his heels. It wasn't long before more laughter filled the air.

[secretblog1212]

I’m a content starved hoe, do you have any wolf 359 headcanons?

Phat mood though. And of course!!!! However you get my all mightier delerium where I’ve not had sleep for almost 20 hours where I power cleaned a lot and probably should of been able to go to bed but thought I could pull and all mightier and fix my sleep schedule (not gonna happen) enjoy my darling child.

So Eiffel is the most ticklish little bab to ever exist, only rivaled by Jacobi but let’s just focus on the main 5 (Hilbert, Minkowski, Eiffel, Hera and Lovelace)

So yeah. They are all touch starved babies who crave affection and human touch and it’s so sad. Like. They just want hugs please.

Eventually they start to get closer and Eiffel confides in Hera about how he wants to ask Minkowski for a hug but could never do that because ducking nothanks.ratherdie. And she keeps it for a while before she spills the beans. Everything starts off small, just shoulder pats when they walk past or sitting a bit closer than they used to. But Eiffel is known for his ability to rile people up.

One movie night he kept making snide comments and she just got fed up, she kept poking his chest while telling him off for being and annoying twat face. He manages not to laugh becuase her hand is too close to his ribs and fucking hell this could end very badly. But he does flinch back when her hand wanders a bit too low and grabs her wrist on instinct. She’s too shook to think of anything to say and he quickly comes up with some snide remark to cover his ass before he fucking zooms himself out of the room. Like, later skater.

And of course Hera asks about why he ran away and has now locked himself in his bedroom with his head in his hands and is blushing like a fucking mad man. He has to explain the whole concept of tickling and how when Minkowski kept poking him it made him feel all tingly and he COULD NOT live if she knew his weakness.

Hera, the curious bab she is, asks him if he likes it, especially since it seems like a good bonding activity and includes pleanty of the physical contact he has been wishing for for months. And he just blushes even more because “It’s not that I don’t not like it, it’s just embarrassing Hera. Like. I know she won’t do it if I told her not to, she’s not an asshole, but I can’t let her do it becuase I want her to and that would make things awkward. You understand? So you can’t tell her any of this Hera.”

This comes the biggest fucking Lee mood of his life. Like, literally. She keeps coming so close to tickling him, a hand on his arm as she scoots past him, playful pokes to the side to get him to scoot over. He is on EDGE like. Hyper aware of everything and he just wants to get rekt this has been going on for weeks and he’s fucking dying okay. So. He decides, he can get away without telling her if she just flinches and laughs a bit next time something happens. Easy, she’ll be curious and she’s demonic enough to go straight into a teasing attack.

So his plan is set in motion. He’s being told off with some more chest pokes and he flinched to the side and smiles a bit, looking down and moving to protect himself. She doesn’t ducking catch on at first though. AND MAKES HIM EXPLAIN WHY HES ACTING STRANGE LIKE DO YOU INDERSTAND THE STRUGGLE HE IS GOING THROUGH??? His one goal to not have to tell her he’s ticklish, and now she’s forcing him to say it. The word and everything. And he just kind of mumbles and everything explodes all at once cause he’s a shit liar. Just. “I- I mean, nothing. Obviously why would you think anything- NO! Don’t I’m fine, not acting weird at all, your acting weird. You keep poking me- what’s that about huh? No that doesn’t have anything to- there isn’t anything to explain. No correlation! I’m just- fine! I may be just a little bit tick- like not even enough to do anything ticklish so don’t even think about it alright and it’s just you keep poking me and- no it’s fine, it doesn’t make me uncomfortable actually I kind of wish you did it- WAIT NOT WHAT I MESNT TO SAY ignore that I’m just going to go hide in the comms room for the next couple of days bye!”

And so the next time she sees him she’s already talked to Hera about r and knows hat he has been talking to her about how much he wishes he could just go to her and act normal but his Lee mood has only jntisifies and he’s ducking dying okay. She just keeps poking him, but this time with intent and he just curls up around her arm and leans into it and it’s be cutest shit I’ve ever ducking seen okay. They both need it, they don’t realize how much they missed other human contact until they started leaning up against each other during movies and just in general being more playful with each other when nothing serious was going on (as friends, not shipping) and when Minkowski sees that Eiffel is a bit closer than usual shell have him meet up in the living room area or something and she’ll just hover and spider her hands over his stomach till he starts squirming and giggling and the anticipation is about to kill him so she goes in for he kill and destroys his ribs and he’s ducking a mess and it’s beautiful.

[stray-tickles]

Braiding

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“Why did I agree to this?”

“Beats me!” Eiffel said with a smile. “But you did!”

Minkowski groaned. “I regret it already.” It was her room. This was probably against some protocol or another, something about keeping professional relationships professional.

Eiffel chuckled, patting the space in front of him and crossing his legs. “Come on, Rapunzel.”

“Maybe I should just shave it all off.”

He laughed. “And you call me dramatic. Trust me, I’m actually not bad at this. Scout’s honour.”

She huffed, but sat in front of him.

“That’s the spirit!”

Minkowski turned to glare at him, but he only grinned back.

At least if he messed up her hair, she could do the same right back.

The first touch of his fingers untangling her hair made her jump. How long had it been since someone had touched her? It must have been longer than she’d thought.

Eiffel gently worked out the larger knots with his fingers, noting how she shivered at the touch. He understood that feeling. Instead of commenting, he grabbed the brush, carefully running it through her hair and smoothing it out.

Okay, so it felt really nice to have someone brush her hair. “You are good at this.”

Eiffel smiled. “No need to sound so surprised.” He paused. “Okay, maybe there’s a little reason.”

Minkowski smirked. She’d softened on her Communications Officer over the last few months. Started letting his jokes get to her, teasing him back on occasion. She wouldn’t say it out loud, but… they felt like friends, now.

That was a nice feeling.

He put the brush down next to them and started gathering her hair into one long strand. Unfortunately for her, doing so meant that his nails brushed the back of her neck, drawing out a twitch and a gasp and oh right, she was ticklish there.

And she’s just allowed her friend and head of mischief full access. Great.

“You okay?” Eiffel asked, his hands stilling.

Minkowski cleared her throat. “Fine, fine.”

“If you say so.” He shrugged, going back to his task.

The second time he accidentally touched her neck, Eiffel started to get suspicious. He could understand once, it was a surprise. But why did she flinch again?

The third time was a test. He let his fingers wiggle a little as they passed just above her shoulder, and yep, that was definitely a muffled squeal.

He grinned. So Commander Badass was ticklish. Cute.

Shit. He knew. He definitely knew what he was doing, because he started doing it more. Every overlapping strand of hair was accompanied with a fingertip trailing across her neck and making her squirm or hiccup or squeak, smiling wider with every attempt. She should stop him.

She should stop him.

A finger wiggled playfully just under her jaw, and she barely muffled a snort behind one hand, twitching forward instinctively and grinning like crazy.

Eiffel chuckled. “Hey, I can’t work if you’re all the way over there.” He teased, but didn’t follow. He had a feeling that if he pushed too hard she’d put a stop to this, and that was the last thing he wanted. This was fun.

It was very tempting to curl up into a ball or run away. Minkowski knew she was smiling, surprised to find how relaxed she felt beyond that giddy tension. She leaned back, fighting not to scrunch up her shoulders.

In the interest of not getting his ass kicked, Eiffel didn’t tease. Much. He sang a quick, “Thank you!” and went right back to braiding. And maybe sneaking in a quick tickle every few seconds. Hey, it wasn’t like she was stopping him.

It was really hard not to scrunch up her neck, but she managed. Just about. She wrapped one arm around her middle and scrunched her eyes closed, struggling not to laugh. This was- it was silly, and yeah, normally that was something she was categorically against, but…

Okay, fine, she was kind of having fun.

Nails scratched just under her ear, drawing out a hicuppy laugh and making her crush the other hand over her mouth. Eiffel laughed silently.

“Umm, what are you doing?”

“Oh, hey Hera.” Eiffel said, looking up at the nearest camera. “We’re having a bit of a slumber party; the Commander’s hair was getting kind of out of control.”

“No, not that, I mean-” His fingers danced over the side of her neck, and she flinched. “That! What is that?”

Minkowski cringed. Really? She couldn’t even respond without laughing right now. Did Hera seriously not get it?

Eiffel chuckled and did it again, noting that her ears had gotten flushed. “What? My hand just slipped.”

Hera groaned. “You’re doing something! Tell me!”

He winked at the camera. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m not doing aaaanything. Right, Commander?”

“Mm-hm!” She managed to squeak, face burning.

Hera huffed, and Eiffel mouthed, “Later.” At the camera. He felt a little bad for leaving her in the dark, but hey, he was almost done.

“Aaaand, done!” He neatly tied up the end of the braid, and because he might never get the chance again, playfully wiggled the end of it against her neck.

There was a loud squeak, and the next thing he knew, his commanding officer had flopped over sideways, both hands smushed over her face and her shoulders locked around her ears. Eiffel chuckled. “You okay there?”

Minkowski glowered at him between her fingers, grateful that her giddy smile was thoroughly hidden.

Hera laughed. At least they were having fun. “Seriously, what’s going on?”

Eiffel smirked. “Well-”

He was cut off by a gentle punch in the arm. Minkowski sat up, still grinning, with a sly spark in her eye and the brush in her hand. “Your turn.”

Oh crap. He laughed nervously. “You don’t have to do that, it’s all good.”

She shifted back and crossed her legs, patting the spot in front of her. “I insist.”

He was so dead.

Cautiously, Eiffel sat down, already half turtled and biting down nervous giggles. He jumped when the brush was dragged through his messy hair.

Then she dropped the brush and dug her fingers into his ribs, making him shriek loudly and fold in half like a cheap lawn chair.

Minkowski grinned, vibrating her fingers into his ribcage. “You okay there?” She asked, amused by his wild cackling.

Huh. Now that she thought of it, she wasn’t sure she’d heard him properly laugh before. Weird, for such an upbeat person. He was certainly laughing now, snorting and cackling and squealing in a way that maybe she should have found obnoxious.

Eiffel kicked his feet and squirmed frantically, trying very hard not to wriggle out of Minkowski’s evil grip while laughing his head off. It was hard; she was unsurprisingly ruthless. “Mercy!” He squealed, twisting ineffectively. “Mehehercy!”

Minkowski rolled her eyes at his dramatics, letting one hand drift to squeeze at his stomach, drawing out a series of snorts. “Weren’t you just telling Hera what’s happening?”

“Noooo!” He whined, curling up as best he could.

Short nails scratched at his neck, and he burst into giggles, shoulders scrunching. “Oh, I think you were.” She teased.

Eiffel felt like he was melting. This was so unfair; he hadn’t been even half this mean! He slapped at her hands weakly, slumping forwards and laughing helplessly.

Minkowski chuckled, worming her hands under his arms and earning a shriek. “Well?”

“Yes, I’m not entirely sure what’s so funny right now.” Hera said, sounding a little smug.

Eiffel wheezed, his smile wide and helpless. Minkowski seemed to notice his need for air and eased off a little, fingers playing gently at his ribs and keeping him jumpy. He couldn’t stop giggling. This was the most fun he’d ever had on the Hephaestus.

He was certainly taking his time catching his breath. She scratched gently at his stomach, and Eiffel yelped and flopped over onto his front. “Okay! Okahahay! It- it tickles, plehehease!”

“Ohhhh, I see!” Hera said teasingly.

Minkowski mercifully retracted her hands. “Why didn’t you say so?”

He wanted to swear at her but was too busy giggling his head off. His limbs had gone all floppy and his brain was pleasantly fuzzy from laughing so much. A hand brushed his hair back and he flinched violently.

Minkowski chuckled. “It’s okay, you’re done.” She said, going back to his hair. “But someone has to do something about this rat’s nest.”

Oh. He relaxed. Should probably get up to make this easier, but he was very comfortable in this boneless, giddy state, and Minkowski was only making it worse by gently brushing his hair. It was calming. He wasn’t going to get up unless someone made him.

It was certainly a lot faster to braid someone’s hair when you weren’t also tickling them to death, Minkowski reflected with a soft smile. Eiffel seemed to have given up on being a human being for now and decided his time was better spent as a jellyfish. It was kind of nice, seeing him this happy.

“All done!” She said, and because she was feeling evil, brushed the end of the braid around his neck, earning a giggly squeal and getting him to squirm onto his back.

Eiffel glared playfully, still grinning. “You’re ruthless.”

She shrugged. “Eh, we already knew that.”

He chuckled and sat up. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

“I have tried.” She said with a smirk. “Yet somehow you always wind up there.”

“At what point do you admit that you don’t have a good side?”

She punched him gently in the shoulder, and Eiffel grinned. He was sort of tempted to poke at her, try to figure out if she had other weak spots. Another part of him didn’t want to push the line. It was nice being able to have little hair braiding parties that left them both smiling and a little giggly. The last thing he wanted was to ruin it.

Minkowski ran her braid through her hand. Huh. “You actually did a good job.”

Eiffel put a hand over his heart. “Commander. That was almost a compliment!”

She rolled her eyes. “It took you long enough.”

“All part of the process.” He grinned. “Happy to help out any time.”

The thought had that giddy feeling in her stomach resurfacing and her lips twitching. She bit the inside of her lip. “I’ll keep you posted.”

Eiffel tried to hide his surprise, but nothing would keep the massive grin from forming. “Great.”

It was great. It really was.

Maybe next time, he’d figure out her other weak spots.

[stray-tickles]

Thank You

a.n. MORE wolf 359. Bc I am inspired.

Read on AO3

--

Eiffel had to admit, he was grateful for the R&R. It wasn’t like he could do much when he could barely see, but part of him thought that he’d be expected to do… well, something. More surprises from Commander Minkowski.

He groaned, laying back on his bed. “Hera, is there a traditional gift that says, ‘thanks for saving my dumb life’?”

“Umm, not that I’m aware of.”

“Come on, work with me, there’s gotta be something.”

Hera paused. “Flowers?”

“Oh, very funny.”

“I’ve heard chocolates are a good gift.”

“Something we have, come on!”

Hera sighed. “Have you considered simply saying thank you?”

“I did that already! It’s not- obviously that’s not gonna be enough.” He lay back on his bed, running his hands over his face. “Look no one’s… No one’s ever done something like that for me. So… I’ve gotta figure something out.”

Hera was silent, but he knew she was there. She was always there.

“Maybe a candle?” He snorted. “Oh my god she’d hate that. Objectively a terrible gift even if we weren’t in space.”

“What about a letter?” Hera suggested.

“Hmmm, nah. Hey, we got any ingredients for a cake? I can write ‘thanks for saving my ass’ in icing.”

“Sorry, no cake.”

“Damn. Eh, I can’t bake anyway. Balloons?”

“Somehow I don’t think Commander Minkowski would like balloons floating around the station.”

Eiffel laughed. “We don’t need to put helium in them!”

He could tell Hera was amused. “That’s only marginally less dangerous. Really though, consider just saying thank you. I’m sure Commander Minkowski wouldn’t mind you saying it a second time, and you can think about what you really want to say.”

He buried his face in a pillow at the thought. “Hera.” Eiffel said, muffled, “I cannot do that.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know! I just can’t! I mean, come on, she’s terrifying!”

“She’s not that bad.”

“No! Not like, bad terrifying, just… I dunno, strong? And I’m a pain in the ass, I can’t do that.” Eiffel sighed. “Maybe that’s it. I could make a voucher book of ‘Eiffel Free Days’. Cash ‘em in and enjoy the blessed silence.”

“Eh, personally I’d prefer the cake.”

“Commander!” Eiffel sat up so quickly he bumped his head, the implications hitting him slowly. “You… have been standing there. This entire time.” He groaned, pulling the pillow over his face and laying back down.

Minkowski grinned widely, stepping into his room. “No please, tell me more about this parade you’re planning.”

He groaned again, drawing it out in an attempt to erase her presence.

“I mean, balloons, cake, flowers, sounds like a good time.”

“Hera how could you do this to meeeee?” He whined into the pillow. She had to know she was there. She’d known the whole time.

Hera giggled. “I don’t know, I guess it slipped my mind.”

“You’re the worst.”

“I think fireworks would work, don’t you?”

Eiffel hurled a pillow in her direction, but it flew wide. It was probably a bit harder to aim when he couldn’t see. Minkowski retrieved the pillow and approached his mortified form. It was nice to hear him say those things. She hadn’t thought that Eiffel had much respect for her, but maybe that assessment was incomplete. She hit him over the back of the head with the pillow.

The impact drew a yelp, and Eiffel peeked out from his pillow. This close, he could just about make out the outline of someone standing there. He narrowed his eyes. “What happened to Commander Hardass?”

She snorted. “Sorry, she’s on her break, you’re stuck with me.”

The next pillow impacted on her shoulder. Eiffel glared playfully. “Careful, I’ve got plenty of ammunition here, even if I can’t see.”

“Mm-hm.” She smacked him across the face, drawing out a spluttering laugh.

“What is happening?” He said, throwing another pillow in her direction. “Are we friends now? Is that what this is?”

Minkowski rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”

Eiffel smiled. He hadn’t heard a ‘no’. In which case…

Two pillows hit Minkowski in the face in quick succession, earning a yelp and a playful growl. “You’re really gonna assault a superior officer?”

He blinked innocently. “I thought she was on break? AAH-” Within moments, Eiffel found himself pinned down, being repeatedly beaten over the head with a pillow by a snickering Minkowski.

He couldn’t have kept from laughing if he’d wanted to. “Help!” He shouted, trying in vain to shove her off. “Officer down! Officer down!”

“Um, is everything okay?” Hera asked, confused.

Minkowski laughed. “Everything is fine, Hera, nothing to worry about.”

“Call the cops!”

“Shhh.” She held the pillow just over his face, leaving enough room for him to breathe. “Stop fighting. Let it go dark.”

Eiffel shook with laughter, doing his best to mime suffocation. Where had this side of Minkowski come from? He was almost mad to find that she did know how to have fun after all. Almost.

He kicked out his legs, surprised that it actually threw her off balance. Unfortunately, the next thing he knew a hand was grabbing at his ribcage seeking purchase, and he had no chance of not squealing.

Eiffel couldn’t make out more than her rough outline, but the smug smirk was something he could feel in the air. “Oh?”

“No!” He yelped, managing to wriggle off the bed and onto the floor, “No ‘oh’, nothing! Nothing to report here!” He didn’t even get to his feet before two hands struck like lightning, lobster clawing up his ribs and drawing out immediate, shrieking laughter.

Minkowski laughed too. This was good information to have, but more importantly, it was fun. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had fun. “Sure there’s nothing to report?”

His hands latched onto her wrists, and she graciously allowed him to pull her away for a few moments. He was grinning, all teeth and ruffled hair. “You really gonna attack a blind guy?”

“Eh, only if he’s a real pain in the ass.” She teased, twisting her hands free and digging her fingers into his stomach, sending Eiffel right back to cackling. He flung one arm over his face, the other flailing around uselessly as he twisted in place, trying to escape. Her fingers massaged deep into the soft flesh of his stomach, and it was torture.

Minkowski snickered. “Wow, not a single ab.” She continued to knead at his stomach like a cat making biscuits. “Forget a six pack, you could at least have a one pack.”

“Um, Commander?” It was hard to tell if Hera was amused or concerned.

“Nothing to worry about, Hera!”

“SAVE MEHEHE!”

“I’m getting some mixed messages here.” Hera said, voice tinged with laughter.

Minkowski couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled this much. “Seems our Communications Officer is a bit ticklish.”

Eiffel cringed, feeling his face burn. He batted weakly at her hands, biting down on giggles. “Nohoho I’m not!”

Hera giggled. “Seems like more than a bit.”

“No!” She was poking now, drawing out squeals and making him curl up more with every jab. Eiffel could feel himself getting lightheaded and giddy from laughing so much. Just as he was considering the suicide mission of fighting for revenge, he felt a telltale itch in his throat. “Wait!” He gasped, making the sign for a time-out. “Waitwaitwait!”

Sure enough, moments later he broke into a coughing fit, shoulders shaking from the intensity. He was taking a few deep, stabilising breaths when a hand found his shoulder, which definitely didn’t make him twitch.

“You okay?”

Eiffel nodded, pushing himself into a sitting position.

Minkowski grimaced. “Sorry.” She muttered. “I shouldn’t have…”

He was still smiling, he knew. He was a bit sore and out of breath, but he felt… good. Better than he had in a while. “No, it’s okay. Fun’s in short supply on this ship. In fact, I thought you’d jettisoned it to make space for… I dunno, more protocol?”

“Careful.” She smirked. “I know how to shut you up now.”

Eiffel shrank back mockingly, holding his hands up. “Oh no, Commander please have mercy!” He whined, grinning when she laughed. He let out a sigh. “Seriously, I… thank you, for saving my life.”

Minkowski shrugged. “That’s my job.”

“No, no, that was above and beyond, and you know it.”

She looked away. “It’s my job to keep my crew safe. You don’t owe me anything, okay?”

Eiffel groaned. “You’re making this really hard, you know that?”

She sighed deeply. “Fine. When we get back to Earth, you can make me a damn cake.”

“I’ll do you one better.” He grinned. “I will buy you a damn cake.”

“Fine.”

“A goddamn cake.”

Silence.

“A motherfucking goddamn cake.”

He wasn’t going to crack her just by swearing about cake. She refused.

“A motherfucking goddamn cocksucking cake.”

Shit. She couldn’t keep from laughing at that, noting his proud little grin as she got herself under control. “I-” She giggled. “I have serious questions about the icing on this cake.”

Eiffel laughed too. “Commander! Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“Fuck off.”

“Language!”

She would never admit it to him, but his dumb jokes were worth flying out into a solar storm to save.

[amazingmsme]

5 F for the obscure media asks?!

Im intrigued 👀

Thanks for this, it was so cute & fun to write! Eiffel is my most specialist boy in the universe, hope you enjoy!

After the attempted coup, Eiffel and Minkowski were on edge pretty much constantly. Sure they had tied Hilbert up and threw him in their makeshift brig, but storage closets weren't all that hard to bust out of if you're determined enough. And Hilbert was plenty determined, it seemed.

Minkowski had come to the decision that they needed to stick together at all times and even went as far as to wait outside of the bathroom door for Eiffel, and making him do the same for her. Instead of splitting tasks like normal, they worked in the same room one task at a time, always keeping an eye on the other and checking over their shoulder.

On the Hephaestus, there is no "night and day," only the preconceived notion of it. Out here in the vast array of stars seven light years away from earth, they were completely and utterly alone. If Hilbert went rogue again, there'd be no chance of saving them.

At first they tried sleeping in shifts, but that quickly fizzled out when they both started falling asleep during their shifts. It just made sense to share Minkowski's admittedly already crammed bunk. Sleeping so close was surprisingly comforting for Eiffel, offering some much needed peace of mind. She'd protect him if anything were  to happen. The weight of her body kept him from drifting too far away from the bed, and it was nice to wake up with his head still on his pillow in the morning.

As it turns out, Eiffel talks in his sleep. It startled Minkowski at first, hearing a mumbling voice in the dark loud enough to wake her. It only took her a second to realize it was just Eiffel, muttering incoherently as he dreamed.

"Give it here, you're doin' it wrong."

Minkowski settled down, resting her head on his chest. As she fell back asleep, he would periodically spout off some nonsense.

"Hmm, purple tiger's gonna pounce..."

She stifled a giggle behind her hand, deciding to stay awake for a while and see what else he'd say. The next day, she decided to bring it up.

"So you're a sleep talker, huh?" she asked casually as she rummaged through the pantry. Eiffel was pouring a cup of lukewarm seaweed coffee and froze.

"Uh, yeah sorry. Hope it didn't bother you too much," he said, rubbing the back of his neck shyly.

"Not at all, it was actually pretty funny," she teased.

"Oh shut up."

And that was that. Neither of them dwelled on the subject, and if he happened to wake her up, she'd just fall back asleep.

About a week later, Eiffel was pulled from his slumber when he felt a soft tingling sensation on his side. He tried to brush it off in his dream, but the feeling only got stronger. He woke himself up with soft giggles spilling from his lips, utterly confused and sleepy. Another flutter on his waist drew forth a quiet snort, eyes finally shooting open.

Minkowski was hugging him in her sleep like usual; that wasn't the problem. But he noticed her hands twitching restlessly in her sleep, fingers curling and tapping against his skin. He contemplated waking her, but he didn't want to face her wrath for ruining her sleep over such a silly matter. Not to mention, he really didn't want her having that kind of knowledge to use against him. He'd never be able to slack off or sass mouth her ever again, not without severe ticklish punishment.

So he just laid there, trying his best to fall asleep as her nails grazed over his sensitive skin in the most agonizing way imaginable. He squirmed but not too much, afraid of disturbing her peaceful rest. And really, it wasn't the worst thing in the world.

He could get used to this, he told himself. He would live, even though he felt like he'd die from suppressed laughter.

All in all, he really didn't mind. And Minkowski never had to know.

[amazingmsme]

Lesson Learned

AN: This one’s late ‘cause I’m a bit busy with school right now, but I got it done nonetheless! The “punishment” prompt just screamed Eiffel to me. He’s rotten & deserves to get wrecked. Enjoy!

Minkowski should've known something was up just by the way Eiffel was looking at her. He was more smug than usual, he kept glancing at her, and to make him look all the more incriminating, he would occasionally giggle to himself. She poured herself a steaming cup of the hot seaweed water that replaced their coffee months ago. She was still getting used to it.

She grabbed a few creamer packets, ripping them open with her teeth. After dumping them in, she added a few dashes of sugar. She saw the way Eiffel turned away and fucking snickered to himself and she snapped.

"Mind telling me what's so damn funny?" she asked, stirring her drink with vigor.

"Oh nothing. My mind's just wandering, and I crack myself up," he answered smoothly. She was still skeptical.

"Mmhmmm," he hummed with a glare, taking a sip from her mug. She froze.

It was far worse than usual. In fact, it was downright God awful. She stifled a sputtering cough, holding a fist up to her mouth. Eiffel was grinning like the cat that ate the canary.

She had to pretend everything was fine.

"When you're done with your daily log can you meet me in the engine room? Just need some help with minor repairs," she said nonchalantly. Eiffel seemed slightly taken aback by her lack of reaction but quickly recovered to maintain appearances.

"Uh yeah, sure thing."

Minkowski nodded and left the room, taking another sip of her ruined coffee substitute, gagging as soon as she was out of earshot.

Eiffel was perplexed. Did his trick fall flat? Did she have no tastebuds? Did she just really enjoy salt? He shrugged it off, going about his work normally. By the time he made it to the engine room, Minkowski was already waiting for him.

He clapped his hands together as he walked up. He slapped the engine's hull and leaned against it casually.

"Alright, what's wrong with her this time?" he asked, breathing out a heavy sigh.

"Oh nothing, that was a lie to get you to come down here."

"Wha-?"

"Hera, lock the doors."

"Sure thing Commander!" came the AI's chipper voice followed by the ominous click of the locks.

"Uuuh... Is everything alright?" he chanced asking that dreaded questions. Minkowski shook her head and chuckled evilly.

"I thought it was. But then you decided to try and pull a fast one on me," she said in a cool, calculating tone. He gulped.

"So you did notice. Wasn't sure with the way you actually drank it," he sassed, feeling himself become more relaxed. "You didn't really mind though, so how's about we call it even?"

She couldn't believe her ears. He couldn't actually be serious right now, could he?

"Oh we can call it even. As soon as I have my revenge," she said evenly. Eiffel gave a nervous chuckle, shifting back and forth on his feet.

"Is that really necessary? I-I mean, it was just a joke. No harm, no fowl."

She shook her head. "Sorry Eiffel, but I can't let you keep getting away with pulling stunts like this. I'm gonna have to punish you." He winced at her cold tone.

"You really don't have to do that," he said, sounding deflated.

"Oh but I want to. See, I don't know if you know this Eiffel, but you're too cocky for your own good. And I don't want it to come back to bite you in the ass when it matters, so I'm gonna do it for you."

"I'm not following," he deadpanned. She rolled her eyes.

"What else is new. Just- get over here," she motioned  for him to come closer, and again when he didn't listen. She gave him a once over and sighed. He was completely stiff.

"God, just relax. You're not in trouble-"

"Whew, that's a relief."

"But I am pissed off. Damnit Eiffel, you know how nasty that stuff is on its own, did you really feel the need to swap the sugar for the salt?" she asked exasperated. He had to hide behind his hand to muffle his giggles.

"You think that's funny?" she asked, crossing her arms. He gave a shy nod, a rather proud grin on his face as his shoulders shook with silent laughter.

"In that case, let me give you something to really laugh about," she growled. Before Eiffel could know what hit him, Minkowski rammed into him and immediately began scribbling her fingers over his ribs.

"Ahahaha whahahat thehe hehehell?" he cried, doubled over in laughter.

"You love pulling pranks and being such a jokester, so I just thought I'd help you get a few laughs," she said, fake sweetness dripping from her voice.

"Whahahat dohoho you wahahant from mehehe?" he screeched, glueing his arms to his sides as a feeble attempt at protection.

"Oh nothing, just revenge for making my life a three ring circus," she teased, and even he chuckled harder at that. Encouraged, she crawled her fingers up to his armpits, earning a loud shriek of laughter. He stumbled back and she followed, hands raised with wiggling fingers.

Nervous giggles bubbled up his throat before she could even touch him again, but once she did, he was in hysterics.

Eiffel learned an important lesson that day. And he intended to learn it again.

[amazingmsme]

Trying to plan for tickletober, & my list is lookin’ real sparse. I’m mostly looking for prompts for the following fandoms:

Epic (even tho I already have a few planned)

Hatchetfield

Critical Role

Blood of Zeus

My Adventures with Superman

Slay the Princess

Villainous

Dungeon Meshi

The Amazing Digital Circus

The Magnus Archives

D&D: Honor Among Thieves

Game of Thrones (EARLY SEASONS, NO SPOILERS)

House of the Dragon

Deadpool & Wolverine

& some obscure ones that would really make my day

Wolf 359

Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas

Night Film

The Last Days of Jack Sparks

Stoked

Prompt list under the cut

1. Anticipation- Fjord & Jester (critical role)

2. Chase- Heron, Hermes, & Apollo (blood of Zeus)

3. Prank- Elpenor & Polites (epic)

4. Hide & Seek- Pomni & Gummigoo (tadc)

5. Boo!- Bill & Ted ft. Paul (tgwdlm)

6. Cuddles- Steph & Pete (npmd)

7. Fidget- Hera & Eiffel (wolf 359)

8. Nuzzles-

9. Wake up- Eiffel & Minkowski

10. Spidering-

11. Hug- Ruth & Richie (npmd)

12. Mischief- Asterios, Elpenor, Odysseus, Polites & Eurylochus (epic)

13. Win-

14. Lose-

15. “Are you ticklish?”- Mark & Karen (Hatchetfield)

16. Cackle- Tinky & Ted (Hatchetfield)

17. Raspberries- Pomni & Jax (tadc)

18. Tickle fight- lords in black (Hatchetfield)

19. Secret-

20. Tease- Narrator, voice of the hero, & voice of the cold (slay the princess)

21. Costume-

22. Role reversal-

23. Sweet-

24. Joke-

25. New discovery- mermaid!odysseus & Penelope (epic au)

26. Ticklish kiss- Lois & Clark (maws)

27. Non-human parts- Asterios & Elpenor (epic)

28. Spooked- ghost!polites & Odysseus (epic au)

29. Magic-

30. Trick-or-Treat-

31. Aftercare-

[stray-tickles]

Revenge

Read on AO3

Eiffel doesn't really mind the tickle fights, but it's a little unfair that he can't get revenge.

--

Doug Eiffel had plenty of vices. Many had been left behind on Earth, one or two he’d brought with him. He liked to indulge, sue him. He liked things that made him feel good, tasty food, quality movies, calming cigarettes, and he liked good company.

He was honest enough with himself to admit that he kinda sorta didn’t mind Lovelace finding out that he was ticklish. Or that she’d told Minkowski. They were his friends, his only friends really, so what, was he supposed to complain? Like, oh no, woe is me, my friends keep making me laugh until my thoughts go fuzzy and I feel like I’m on a cloud. Yeah, terrible.

They had to know he was at least okay with it. It was kind of hard to hide when he was all giddy and melted, and he wasn’t being any less annoying despite this supposed comeuppance.

It was a little disappointing that he couldn’t get them back. Lovelace was very certain and smug about how non-ticklish she was, and trying to launch an attack on Minkowski was doomed to failure. The one time he’d managed to sneak up on her, he wound up getting punched in the face.

Yeah, it was fine that he couldn’t get them back. Even if Lovelace got really smug sometimes, and Minkowski couldn’t relax without being forced to at gunpoint.

He’d really like to be able to threaten revenge right now, though.

Lovelace’s laugh followed him down the corridor. “You know I’ll catch you eventually!”

Eiffel knew that, but it didn’t make the chase any less fun. He ducked around a corner, short of breath and smiling. “Hera?”

Hera laughed. “Do you want me to open an airlock? Suck her into space?”

“Not just yet, I’ll keep you posted.”

“I don’t know why you’re even running. I mean, it’s not like you don’t-”

“Shut up!”

“Eiffel you’re running into a…”

He turned another corner and froze. Oh no. Dead end.

The footsteps following accelerated, causing panic to seize Eiffel as he turned around.

Lovelace laughed evilly. “Gotcha!” She cried, stalking towards him like he was a prey animal.

Eiffel squealed, shrinking back until he was up against the wall. “Nooooo!” He whined, squeezing his eyes shut, and despite knowing the futility of it, his arms still shot forwards to counterattack.

His eyes shot open when there was an unexpected and loud shriek.

They both stared for a moment, wide-eyed and frozen. Then, a slow smile spread across Eiffel’s face. “I thought you said you weren’t…”

“I’m not!” Lovelace protested, feeling her face flush. She wasn’t ticklish, she’d never been ticklish, so what the hell?

Eiffel took a step forwards. Had he always been that tall? “Oh, so if you’re not ticklish then you won’t mind-”

She bolted in the other direction before he could finish speaking. Nothing good would come of standing around. While she was familiar with the steps of this game, it wasn’t like she’d been on this side before. Was it normal to feel this… smiley?

Eiffel laughed and took chase. Oh, this was good, this was sweet. “You know I’ll catch you eventually!”

Lovelace almost called him out for not coming up with his own taunts, but between the nervous giddiness in her stomach and running, she decided not to waste her breath. She swung around a corner, grateful that she was faster than Eiffel, and flew into the broom closet, silently closing the door behind her.

Loud footsteps came to a stop not far from the door, and she held her breath.

“Heraaa?”

Lovelace’s eyes widened. “Hera don’t you dare!” She hissed.

She could hear Hera having a conversation with Eiffel outside. It was a little disconcerting when she also heard Hera whisper, “And why not?”

“I’ll kill you.”

“Hmm, you’re not exactly selling me on taking your side here…”

She was teasing her. Hera was teasing and she couldn’t do anything about it. “Fine! I-I won’t kill you.”

“There you go!” Lovelace felt her face warming from the anticipation and how flustered she was getting. Hera continued. “Honestly though, why are you even hiding?”

“I-I…” The question pulled her up short. What else was she supposed to do here?

“I mean, you said you weren’t ticklish, right?”

She cringed back against the wall, “I wasn’t!”

Hera paused. Oh. So that was it. She giggled. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid.”

“No!” She wasn’t afraid, not of Eiffel of all people! Not of…

“You wouldn’t be scared of a few tickles, would you?”

Fuck. She was grinning now, full of nerves and embarrassment. What was is about the word? She sank to the ground, blushing heavily and struggling to keep the nervous laughter in.

Then the worst thing happened. The door opened.

“No!” Lovelace whined, covering her face with her arms.

Eiffel stood in the doorway for a moment, frozen. Then, unbearably, he stopped being frozen.

He gasped. “Oh my goodness! Look at you!”

“Go away!”

He sank to his knees, sliding over to her curled-up form. She recoiled, giggling nervously, and he grinned. “You’ve gotta stop being so cute, my heart can’t handle it.”

“I’m not!”

“Oh yes you are!” He sang, hovering his hands over her teasingly, increasing the giggles and making her squeeze her eyes shut. Why, how could she feel it when he wasn’t even touching her, when she couldn’t even see?

Hera tutted in false concern. “Careful Eiffel, you’re scaring her!”

“Noho he’s not!” Fuck, these two were evil together.

“Hmm, fair point, she did run away real fast.”

Lovelace shoved a hand in his face to shut him up. “It’s reflex!”

He faked a grab at her and the hand was retracted with a squeal, getting a laugh out of Hera and Eiffel.

She groaned, burying her face in her hands. “Just do it already, it can’t be worse than this.”

Eiffel chuckled. “I mean, if you insist.” He said, one hand latching onto her side and wiggling his fingers mischievously.

He was prepared to duck to avoid getting punched. He was not prepared to see Isabel Lovelace, badass space marine, burst into giggles and go completely boneless. It felt like his heart had exploded in his chest. “Awww!”

“Nonono- shut up!” Lovelace squealed, kicking her feet weakly. She’d definitely never felt this before. It was like vertigo or electricity emanating from that one spot and balling up in her stomach, teasing out laughter. She felt the impulse to squirm away, but found that her bones had turned to jelly. “Eiffel!”

“Hmm?” He was grinning at her. Somehow that made it worse. “Problem, Captain?”

His other hand joined, both now scratching at her ribcage. “I cahahan’t- plehease! It-”

“Tickles?” Eiffel supplied.

She snorted. “Fuck! I guhehess!”

“How’s the whole ‘not being ticklish’ thing working out for you?”

She batted at his hands, although it felt like she had all the strength of a kitten right now. All the laughing was going to her head, making her feel loopy. “I’m not!”

Eiffel snorted, squeezing at the fleshy parts of her sides and drawing a loud shriek. “You may want to reassess that.” He teased.

“I have a theory.” Hera said, amused.

Lovelace tried to turn and bury her face in… something.

“Uh, yeah Hera, it’s called ‘Captain Lovelace lied to us!’” Eiffel said sarcastically, one hand moving to scratch at her neck and send her giggles into a higher pitch than she’d thought herself capable of.

“Hmm, no, I don’t know if she did.” Hera mused. “I think she was telling the truth.”

“Ah yes, this is the very picture of ‘not ticklish’.” Eiffel chuckled, deeply enamoured with the blushing, giggly remains of Isabel Lovelace.

“Shut up!”

“Make me, giggles!” He taunted, clawing at her stomach and earning a loud snort and further kicking.

Hera laughed. “What she said to me was that she wasn’t. As in, wasn’t before. My theory is that this is a new development. Let’s say, from when her craft first docked with us.”

Fuck. That actually made sense. Lovelace didn’t have any evidence but… it felt right. People had tried tickling her growing up, partners had tried as she got older, roughhousing and sex, nothing had had an effect on her like Eiffel’s evil hand vibrating into her stomach. “Yohohou fucker!”

“Oh my gosh, that makes so much sense!” Eiffel exclaimed. He scratched under her chin teasingly. “Of course the Dear Listeners couldn’t resist that smile.”

Lovelace squashed her head down, only succeeding in learning that apparently her ears were also ticklish. “Eiffel shut uhuhup!”

“I’ll have to thank them on my next broadcast.” He said. “Dear Listeners, thank you so so so much for this adorable gift.”

“Gonna kill yohohou!”

“Aww, but I’m having fun!” A finger tried to find her belly button through her shirt, earning an incoherent shriek. “Aren’t you?”

The question had her pulling her arms over her head again, giggles pitching higher. It was stupid, Eiffel was being dumb and silly and… Yeah, she kind of was having fun with this. Between the laughing and the playing and how goddamn teasing they were being, this was just… fun. She felt giddy and giggly in a way she hadn’t in a very long time, and she couldn’t even stop it because someone was doing it to her. Someone she trusted and cared for.

Eiffel noted the fiery blush spreading to her ears. “Oh? Oh my god you are having fun, aren’t you?”

“Fuck off!”

“That’s not a no!”

“Screw you!”

He wormed a finger under her arm. “Tell me to stop then, Captain giggles.”

“Eiffel!” She shrieked, jolting when his other hand started poking around her stomach and sides. She couldn’t catch her breath, she couldn’t- “Hic!”

Eiffel chuckled, relenting. “Okay okay, hiccups are definitely a sign to stop.”

Lovelace hiccupped again, trying and failing to glare. “Yohou’re the- hic- worst.”

He grinned, resisting the urge to ruffle her hair. “So? First tickle attack, how do you feel?”

Like I’m floating. Like that was overwhelming and the best cheer up I’ve ever had. Like I’m never going to stop smiling. “Like you’d better- hic- count your days.”

“Yeah, you’re very scary right now.”

“Sleep with one- hic- eye open.”

“Of course.”

Another voice joined, making them both jump out of their skin. “You know, there’s protocol on what to do if you find two crewmates in the broom closet.” Eiffel turned to see a smirking Minkowski. “But I’m not sure if that applies.”

He huffed a laugh, standing up. “Hey Commander.”

She crossed her arms, looking between them. “Do I want to know?”

Lovelace considered her options. She could not handle any more people knowing about this than already did, Hera and Eiffel were already too much, let alone Minkowski. Maybe Eiffel wouldn’t say anything?

Then she remembered that she had sold him out to Minkowski at the first opportunity, and that hope went up in smoke.

Eiffel chuckled. “Well, you see…”

“We were making out!” Lovelace blurted. It was the first lie that came to mind, unfortunately not a believable one, based on their expressions.

“Anyway, as I was saying-” Eiffel said.

“No!” She flew at him, clamping a hand over his mouth. She felt his grin widen, and only had the amusement in his eyes as a warning before his fingers dug into her sides, making her shriek with laughter and double over, failing to wriggle out of his grip for a few seconds.

When she did, she darted behind Minkowski, glaring at an innocent looking Eiffel.

Minkowski glanced over her shoulder at her, failing to hide her amusement. “Thought you weren’t ticklish.”

“I wasn’t!” Lovelace protested.

“Seems it was a correction from our Dear Listeners.”

“Ah, I see.” Her grin widened. “How unfortunate for you.”

Lovelace felt herself flush. How was she supposed to live like this? She fixed them with her best scowl. “Never again.” She growled and turned to walk away.

Eiffel and Minkowski exchanged a smile. He held up a finger, waited a moment, then faked running after her.

Lovelace span around, fists raised. “Don’t you fucking dare!”

They both laughed, and maddeningly, she could feel herself smile too.

“Bit jumpy there.” Eiffel teased, winking at her.

“You-” She pointed at him. “You’ll pay.”

He grinned. “Okay.” Sounds like fun.

She backed away, glaring at them both until she was out of sight. Then, since they couldn’t see, she let the smile she’d been suppressing spread across her face. Okay, that was horrendously embarrassing and she kind of wanted to crawl into a hole, but… It was fun.

Besides, she could always get revenge.

[amazingmsme]

First Contact

This is a fic for the podcast Wolf 359 because there is not NEAR enough content for it, and these characters deserve to be happy!

"Hello Dear Listeners, today's topic on the Hellship Enterprise Podcast is bitching and moaning. Something very under appreciated in my opinion. I mean, people should be able to gripe about minor inconveniences to their heart's content! At least it distracts from the bigger problemse in life like war or starvation. But I'm not here to talk about the big things, am I? Nope, so if you're listening, I hope your prepared for an undetermined amount of time of hearing me do nothing but complain." He leaned back, resting his hands behind his head as he felt himself float upwards, weightless in the small comms room.

"Really Eiffel?" Hera asked, her voice drenched in sarcasm.

"Hey, if anyone has a right to bitch it's me! I was taken from my shitty but otherwise pretty comfortable life to sit up here in space on this death trap! And I've been rocketed out into space twice now, who knows how many more times that'll happen, and Dr. Frankenstein injected me with a death virus, so I think I'll continue with our scheduled programming of The Bitching Hour." When Hera didn't respond, he nodded and moved towards the receiver, "Thank you." When she still didn't answer he sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. "I'm sorry for snapping Hera, I'm just so fed up, and I need to get stuff off my chest."

"Why don't you just t-talk to m-me?" she asked, a slight glitch in her voice. Eiffel shrugged, "I don't know, it's just easier when you don't really know if anyone's listening. And I don't really want to burden you."

"E-Eiffel you're my friend, not a burden. Just tell me."

"It's real stupid."

"So is a lot of the things you complain about. Besides you said it yourself, sometimes you just need to bitch about the little things."

Eiffel took a deep breath. He'd usually just broadcast his feelings into dead space after making sure none of the crew was eavesdropping, or just burry them down all together. He knew he was more than a little bit of a screw up so he didn't want to bother the others with his personal problems, but this one in particular was so minor compared to the others he figured he could share. Just this once.

"Alright. I guess."

"So?"

"It's just- I miss having a lot of physical contact. I mean, you have no idea how bad I wish you had a tangible form so I could give you a hug."

"Maybe you could describe it to me. Tell me what it feels like."

"Sure thing Hera. It's warm. When it's with someone you really like, neither of you let go for the longest time and you just... hold one another. You just feel so close to each other, and you just feel so loved. Like everything will be okay." He huffed out a short laugh, "We could both use one of those after everything."

"It sounds nice. You know I would give you a hug if I could, but the most I can do is turn the heat up a little above normal for you." When it got warmer in the comms room, Eiffel smiled, then began to chuckle. "Oh Hera, I love you."

"I love you too Eiffel." There was a pause, and then, "Why don't you reach out to Minkowski or Lovelace? I'm sure they'd understand and be more than willing to show you more affection."

Eiffel's voice rose in pitch as he spoke, "Are you kidding? I could never do that!"

"Why?"

"Well for one do you even know who you're talking about? The two most badass people in the world who are in charge of this ship, and you tell me to ask them to 'give me a hug because I feel a little lonely'? Are you insane? I could never do that! And besides, do you know how embarrassing it is? I mean it took so much courage to tell you, and you're my best friend! I can't do it I think I'd quite literally die of embarrassment."

"Oho Eiffel, it's really not as big of a deal as you're making it out to be." Eiffel rolled his eyes, making sure she saw it in her monitor, "No, you're downplaying it trying to get me to downplay it so that I'll go talk to them and I can't do it!"

"It's okay Eiffel, you don't have to. But I think things will start going your way." Eiffel gave a gentle smile and drifted over to one of her sensors and pressed up against the wall, giving her a makeshift hug. "Thanks Hera." ~~~~ The next morning when Eiffel was making himself a cup of warm seaweed water, the last thing he expected was for Minkowski to walk up behind him and place a gentle hand on his back. "Morning Eiffel," she greeted with a warm smile, and it took him a moment to gather his senses.

"Er, hey Commander. You, uh, you feeling okay?"

She nodded, pouring her own cup of the coffee substitute. "Yeah why?" she asked. Eiffel shook his head. "Never mind, it's nothing." He thought it was a bit odd that she had patted his back the day after his talk with Hera, but he decided not to dwell on it. I mean, she'll sometimes give him a pat on the shoulder when hanging out or a lingering touch, but he did think it was a little strange.

When they settled in for a game night, Eiffel was taken aback when Lovelace told him to sit in the middle of the couch, sandwiched between her and Minkowski.

Something was definitely up. He just knew it. But he didn't really want to stop it just yet. It's been years since he got to really hug someone or curl into the side of a friend. Hell he'd be content if they just held his hand for a bit. He longed for comfort, to be close to someone, but didn't know how to ask for it. So he just sat there between them, content in watching Lovelace completely bomb at charades. ~~~~ A month passed and Eiffel was the happiest he'd been in months, probably even years. He felt closer to his friends than ever and he found himself in the comms room gushing to Hera.

"I don't know what it is, but I think Minkowski and Lovelace have both warmed up to me a lot. I mean, they both do their best to be patient when I screw up and not call me names. I feel closer to them, y'know?"

"That's great E-Eiffel!"

"And yet I can't shake the feeling that you had something to do with it," he said with a smirk, pointing his finger at the ceiling.

"Whaaaaat? Nooo, where did you come up with something like that?" Sometimes Hera was a terrible liar.

"You're lucky things worked out," he chastised playfully, knowing that the attitude shift was due to her.

"I knew they would." Eiffel shook his head fondly at her, "Guess I better watch what secrets I tell you. Don't want you spilling any of my beans to the Commander."

"What kind of beans are we talking?" a third voice sounded from the doorway. Eiffel jumped and spun around abruptly, relaxing at the sight of the Captain. "Lovelace, what can I do for you?"

She let go of the door frame, allowing herself to drift in. "Oh nothing. I'm just bored, so I came to the most entertaining person on the ship." Eiffel put a hand over his heart and batted his eyelashes excessively. "Aw you think I'm the funnest one here?" She rolled her eyes and shoved him gently, "Don't flatter yourself too much, there's not exactly a wide variety to choose from," she said, trying her best to suppress her smile but ultimately failing. Eiffel gave her a smile of his own, "Even if we were still on earth, I'd be the most fun person you know."

She looked at him from the corner of her eye, not verbally confirming that what he said was true, but not actively denying it. She didn't have to.

"Well since I'm so fun and cool, would you like to do a broadcast with me?" She was slightly taken aback by the question, but answered, "Uh, sure?"

Eiffel smiled wide, "Great!" He spun in the air towards the comms panel, and grabbed the mic. "Hello Dear Listeners! Do I have a treat in store for you, because today we are joined by our very own Captain Isabell Lovelace! Say hi Captain." Lovelace shook her head fondly, a bit embarrassed by how big a deal he was making it out to be when she was pretty sure no one would ever hear this.

"Hello. So what do you usually say or do when you record these?" she asked, curious to know what he sends out into deep space. Eiffel shrugged, "I usually just talk about stuff that happens on the ship. Sometimes I talk about home. And sometimes I just make shit up off the top of my head. And other times I just geek out about my favorite things or-" he cut himself off.

Lovelace was intrigued now. "Or what?" she asked. He looked at her sheepishly, "Or I talk about you guys." Okay she was definitely interested. "Like what?"

"Oh no, that's between me and my Dear Listeners. Don't worry, all good things though!" He made sure to assure her, then mumbled under his breath, "Mostly." She tilted her head, "What was that?"

"Nothing!" he said, trying to cover for himself. She only raised an eyebrow at him, smirking, "Uh huh." He cleared his throat before continuing.

"Because we have a special guest joining us, I thought maybe we can do something special."

"Like what?" Hera piped up. Eiffel paused, thinking for a moment, "Uuuuuuuuuh, I don't know. Lovelace, you have any ideas?" He kicked back, resting his arms behind his head as the mic floated above him. She rolled her eyes, "What kind of host makes their guest come up with the ideas?"

He peeked one eye open at her and grinned, "Me."

"You're ridiculous," she poked his side to emphasize her words, but what she didn't expect was for him to let out a yelp and curl into a tight ball. A wide grin stretched over her face as she pieced it all together. "Eiffel, are you-"

"No."

"You don't even know what I was going to ask!"

"Yes I do and the answer is no I'm not!"

"That's exactly what someone who's ticklish would say. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I- just because!" She found this all extremely amusing. "That's not an answer."

While they were talking, Eiffel didn't seem to realize the closing distance between the two of them until he felt a hand squeeze his side, causing him to let out a short laugh.

"How about you make it easier on yourself and tell me your worst spots, and I'll consider going easy on you," she said, cutting him a deal that was very generous in her eyes. To Eiffel, it did not.

"No!" She let out an exaggerated sigh, "Your funeral." She didn't give him a chance to react before she pounced, and Eiffel's fate was sealed. She immediately set to work, skittering her fingers over any place she could. He tried his best to escape, but it was no use. Instead he just let himself succumb to the unbearable sensation rather than waste his energy. She reached a hand up and scratched the base of his neck behind his ears, and neither of them expected the high pitched, bubbly giggles that fell from his lips.

"Aw Eiffel, is this a bad spot? 'Cause it seems like it's a bad spot," she teased, scratching right behind his ear and making him squeal and scrunch up his neck. She decided to switch spots to give him a break and worked her way down, shoving her hands underneath his arms. Eiffel hugged his arms tight against his chest to try and protect himself, but it didn't work too well seeing as he was still laughing. "Which is worse? Here, or here?" she asked, alternating between under his arms and his ribs, effectively leaving him in stitches. "Shuhuhut uhup! You're mahaking it worse!"

She nodded thoughtfully, "Good to know." She then formed her hand into a claw and lowered it onto his belly, vibrating into the muscle. He let out a loud scream before falling back into frantic laughter, curling into a ball to try and stop her evil fingers. They both were laughing, though Lovelace wasn't near as loud as Eiffel was, for obvious reasons. Neither of them have had this much fun in ages, and the laughter was welcomed. Truth be told, Eiffel was slightly grateful. He missed being this close to someone, and missed being this happy.

"Is everyone okay, I heard screaming!" Minkowski yelled, bursting into the comms room. She didn't know what she had been expecting, but it wasn't... this. Still, she couldn't help but smile at what she saw and leaned against the doorway. It took a second before Lovelace noticed her presence. "Oh, hi Commander! You'll never guess what I just learned," she spoke nonchalantly, as though she wasn't tormenting Eiffel. He, on the other hand, was not so calm.

"Commander! Hehehelp me!" he pleaded through his laughter. She rolled her eyes, but nevertheless came to the rescue, "As much as I'd like to join the fun I think you should let up. I'm not sure he's supposed to be that color," she said smirking, remarking on the crimson shade his face had become. Lovelace complied, but not before giving him one last poke, letting him recover. He was grateful, "Thanks Commander. She was to-" he was interrupted by a loud hiccup and shot them both a playful glare when they laughed. "Torturing me."

"Oh I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Minkowski said, flashing Lovelace a wink, to which she replied with a silent thumbs up. "But now I know how to make you follow orders," she said, flashing him a grin. "Now both of you, get back to work."

"Yes Commander," he said, a large smile still stretched across his face. ~~~~ A few days later Eiffel was floating around Minkowski as she tried to work. He wouldn't leave her alone, claiming he had nothing else to do. She did her best to tune him out, but it was quite difficult, and it didn't help that she herself wanted to discard the task at hand. With a huffed out breath, she pushed herself away from the control panel and turned towards Eiffel.

"Hera, you have controls, got it?" she asked, waiting for confirmation. "Yes Commander."

"Good. Eiffel, now that you have my attention, what is so damn important?" she asked, catching him off guard.

"Oh, um, I was bored and wanted to hang out," he explained, already feeling nervous giddiness build up inside him. She tilted her head, "Well lucky for you I think I know the perfect way to entertain you." Eiffel backed up slowly, a few chuckles already leaving his lips, "Now Commander, wait a sec," he started, but he knew what was about to happen. And when Lovelace heard loud laughter ringing throughout the ship, well, she figured they'd all have to get used to the sound.