#Viktor licht | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

intheticklecloset · 2 months ago

Text

If It Ain't Broke (Fire Force)

Summary: Viktor isn't getting enough sleep while he works on a project with Vulcan. The engineer isn't having it.

A/N: I really love the dynamic of Viktor and Vulcan as the science/techy guys in Company Eight, and I'd wanted to write a fic featuring them for a while. Finally got around to it this year! Enjoy!

Word Count: 3226

Warning: Slight hurt/comfort, some angst

~~~

“Morning, Vik,” Vulcan greeted as he entered the laboratory they’d been sharing as of late.

Viktor swung around in his swivel chair with a smile. “Good morning, Vulcan. You’re actually on time.”

“I’m not that much of a night owl,” the engineer retorted playfully, stifling a yawn. “So, about those ideas you had last evening—”

“Oh, I’ve already gotten a bit of a head start on implementing them,” Viktor replied, heading to the work table across the room, where their combined invention lay. The scientist picked it up – it was about the size and shape of a watch, but with a bit more heft to it – and flipped it over to point at the new additions he’d made to the underside. “See here, this is the sparker we discussed. All they’d have to do is tap the top of their wrist and the spark will shoot out—”

“Uh…Viktor?”

“—so it can start a fire that they can then control. I’ll have to do some more fine tuning, of course, not to mention having Maki and Lieutenant Hinawa test it out—”

“Yo, Viktor.” Vulcan put a hand on his arm to stop his rambling and turned the scientist around to face him, large brown owl eyes staring up at him. “Did you…get any sleep last night? This part of the project was supposed to take hours. That’s why we saved it for today.”

Viktor blinked, then let a sheepish smile onto his features. “Oh. Uh…I slept. I definitely slept…for a little bit.”

“How long is a ‘little bit’?”

The other man glanced away – an obvious tell. Vulcan groaned.

“Not again, Viktor.”

“I’m a scientist!” Viktor replied, shuffling over to his desk to pick up his long-overused and chipped mug. “I live off of caffeine, what can I say? It’s all good – I’m confident in the work I did overnight, but you can always double-check me—”

“Vik, you’ve got to stop doing this to yourself.” Vulcan moved over to him and waited until their eyes met to continue. “This is why you had me join on this project – because it needs an engineer’s handiwork, and because you never sleep when you’re working alone. It’s not healthy.”

“I’m fine—”

“Let me finish.” Vulcan tweaked his ribs just enough to shut him up, barely aware of the giggle-snort that slipped out of his friend at the contact before he plowed on, “If you’re really going to be this bad about sticking to our agreement, then we’re going to have to take shifts instead, and I think we’d both much rather work with each other than leave each other alone with this thing until it’s done. Right?”

It was at this point that the engineer registered his companion’s wide-eyed stare and the faint pink on his cheeks, the way he still had his arm jammed down protectively over his ribs where he’d just been touched.

Vulcan hesitated. “Uh…sorry, Vik. I didn’t mean—”

“Fine! It’s fine, I’m not – it’s fine.” Viktor’s words were rushed, and the way he sidestepped his friend to inch toward the door only made the pink-haired man worry. “You’re right, of course. I probably should get some shuteye before I work on this thing any more – you can take it from here, I’m sure you’ve got it well in hand.”

“Viktor, are you okay? I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

The scientist was hovering at the door now, looking both like he wanted to stay put and like he didn’t want to be anywhere near the engineer. “You didn’t. I’m good, I’ll just…yeah.”

Then he was gone.

Vulcan blinked after him, his mind replaying the rib-tweak for anything weird. Sure, Viktor had reacted, but the engineer hadn’t thought it would hurt him…

That giggle. That snort that Viktor had let out at the tiniest contact.

Vulcan was suddenly grinning. So that’s how it was, huh?

For a few days after that, Viktor seemed jumpy around Vulcan, but the engineer pretended not to notice and to continue on their work together without making a move to touch him again, and gradually the scientist began to relax. By the next week, it was like it had never happened.

He had also gotten better about sleeping like he was supposed to so they could continue the project together…for about six days. Then he began to lapse, and when Vulcan walked into the lab one Monday morning to find Viktor already there with his mug steaming on his desk, two empty creamer packets strewn nearby, he knew he’d have to get after him again.

But this time, he approached it differently.

“Morning,” he said as he strode inside.

“Good morning,” Viktor replied, fingers flying across the keyboard, not glancing at him at all.

Vulcan did his best to sound casual as he asked, “Been up long?”

“A bit,” the scientist replied. The engineer’s eyes flicked to the creamer packets and bit back a snort. This was easily his second mug, if not third or fourth.

“So…all night,” he said.

Finally Viktor stopped typing and glanced at the evidence as well, realizing he had given himself away by not discarding them before Vulcan’s arrival.

“Viktor…”

“I know, I know.” The scientist sighed heavily, flopping back against his chair dejectedly. “I’m doing it again.”

A part of Vulcan knew his friend wasn’t entirely doing this on purpose, so he gentled his tone as he asked, “What can I do to help you with this? Is there something we can adjust in our approach to this project so you’re not so wired all the time?”

“I don’t know,” Viktor groaned, running both hands through his hair in agitation. “My brain just…never shuts off. I’m always thinking about everything, and when I get an idea I just have to start working on it; it’s like I’ll lose it if I don’t.”

Vulcan was quiet for a long moment. He knew what he’d intended to do from the moment he saw the other man sitting here with that mug, but at this point he wasn’t sure it would help in the way he wanted it to. Still, a plan was a plan.

“Listen, Vik.” He thanked his lucky stars that the scientist’s chair had no arms as he reached his own around to trap him against the back of it in a bear hug, fingers wiggling into his ribs without warning. “We gotta do something about this.”

As predicted, Viktor spasmed and let out a surprised shriek, a few snorting cackles escaping his lips before he thought to try and cover up, one hand over his mouth to muffle his giggles and the other clawing desperately at Vulcan’s arms around his chest. “No, nohohohoho, wahahahait—!”

“Last time all I did was poke you and you fell in line. Not that that’s what I was going for, but hey, if it ain’t broke, right?”

“Plehehehehease, don’t – AIIIEEE!!” Viktor tried to arch his back, and failing that brought his leg up to kick the air, catching his foot on the underside of his desk, making the whole thing shake. It was a miracle the coffee didn’t spill. “Owww! Dohohohohon’t tihihihihihickle me! Not thehehehehehere, please! Vulcahahahahan, stohohohohohop!”

The engineer smirked as he pressed tiny circles into Viktor’s middle ribs, a simple move that seemed to drive the other man up the wall, snorting laughter and squeaks and wheezes spilling out of him like a fountain of mirth.

“Heh, pretty ticklish, huh?” Vulcan teased gently, feeling victorious when the brunette finally brought his other hand down to try and push him away with all his sapped strength, laughter building into a crescendo the more he focused on that tiny spot on either side of his ribcage.

“Plehehehehehehease! Stohohohohohoooooop!” Viktor snorted again, the tips of his ears turning pink with embarrassment as he struggled and laughed. “Vuhuhuhuhuhuhulcan! Plehehehehease, you win! You wihihihihihihihin!”

At last the engineer let up, rubbing the scientist’s shoulders as he hunched over and giggled out some leftovers, gasping for breath. “There, doesn’t that feel better?”

Viktor groaned, taking a few moments before glancing up at his companion with a halfhearted glare. “You’re a menace.”

“Seriously, though…this late-night stuff has got to stop. You’ll make yourself sick, and then where would Company Eight be?”

“Tickling me isn’t going to solve the problem,” the scientist grumbled, getting to his feet and grabbing his mug.

“I know that, but it’s fun. I couldn’t help it.” Vulcan grinned, but his smile wavered when the scientist was quiet, moving to the sink to dump his freshly-poured coffee down the drain. He rinsed the drinkware, put in in the strainer, and started to move to the door. At that point, the engineer intercepted him. “Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. What’s up, Vik? This is the second time you’ve gone all quiet after I’ve…”

Viktor didn’t say anything for a moment, just keeping his gaze averted.

Vulcan felt awful. “Shit, I’m sorry…I just now realized I should have made sure it was okay…”

“It’s fine,” the scientist said quietly.

“It’s obviously not—”

“It is.” Viktor finally lifted his eyes to meet Vulcan’s. He sighed. “I’m just…so tired. I didn’t realize. Plus my laugh is stupid, so I’m embarrassed about that, too.”

Vulcan felt the words like a punch to the gut. “Hold on – stupid? Your laugh isn’t stupid! Where the hell did you get that from?”

“I know how it sounds.”

“But it’s just your natural reaction, isn’t it? You can’t beat yourself up over that.”

Viktor’s eyes widened a fraction. For a moment they just stood there, silently staring at each other. Then the scientist glanced away and gave a tiny smile. “You’re not the first person to say that to me. So I guess it could be true.”

Vulcan offered a smile of his own. “I thought it was fun. The way you were kicking and screaming was fun, too—”

“I was hardly screaming,” Viktor retorted, but he seemed more at ease as he brushed past his friend. “Let’s get back to this later, maybe? I want to lie down.”

Still mildly concerned but mostly relieved, Vulcan nodded. “Good call. I’ll tell the captain we’re taking the day off.”

Viktor was much better about getting to sleep consistently every night after that. He was never in the lab for more than an hour earlier that Vulcan in the mornings, which was a marked improvement over the 3 AM start times he’d been averaging before that. Part of the engineer suspected his friend was mostly doing it to avoid another tickle attack, and he felt mixed emotions on that front, but whatever was keeping him motivated was working, so he didn’t want to rock the boat too much.

Still, he was hesitant to do it again.

Nearly a month later and after their invention was in its final stages, Vulcan decided Viktor was good to handle most of the rest on his own, so he went back to a different task he’d been working on before then – fixing up the Matchbox. The poor thing had been through a lot lately with the uprising of the White Clad and the climbing number of Infernals they had to put to rest; it was beyond time for a tune-up.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been under the car when he heard the door to the garage open, but he called out, “Yo, whoever just walked in – grab my wrench for me, would you? It’s just out of my reach on my left.”

There was no verbal reply, but footsteps treaded around to where he lay with just his legs poking out from under the Matchbox. A moment later a clattering sound was heard, and Vulcan glanced down to see the wrench was now within his reach. Whoever had walked in wore brown shoes. So, it didn’t narrow things down much. The only thing he knew for sure at this point was it wasn’t Shinra – the kid almost never wore shoes, for obvious reasons.

“You just gonna stand there like a phantom or do I get to know who’s joined me?”

After a moment, Viktor said, “It’s done.”

“The Sparker? Really?” They’d decided to call it a Sparker because it was designed to spark and create a small flame on command that second-gens could wear in combat to be even more powerful and not have to rely on others to start fires for them to control. “That was quick.”

“Well…I am used to working alone.”

“Guess you’re finally glad to be rid of me then, huh?” Vulcan teased good-naturedly.

There was silence again for a minute. Then the scientist cleared his throat and asked, “Have you been in here since you left the lab?”

“Yeah.”

“You know that was ten hours ago?”

Vulcan had not known that. “Oh, shit, seriously?” At that moment, his stomach growled. He hadn’t even realized he was so hungry. “Damn. I’d better wrap up, then.”

Viktor’s voice was more lighthearted now, which put the engineer at ease. “How do you work up the nerve to get after me for pulling long hours when you’re in here doing the exact same thing?”

“I guess you got me there. To be fair, Lisa usually drags me out of here at dinnertime, but she’s, uh…”

“Yeah.” Their resident former White Clad still had bad days sometimes. “How long until you finish?”

“Should only take a few more minutes. I’m basically done, anyway. I’ll have to do final touches on it tomorrow morning is all.”

“I can wait. I haven’t eaten either, so we can raid the kitchen together. Lieutenant Hinawa would be scary to face alone.”

Vulcan chuckled, then fell silent as he got back to work.

Exactly five minutes later, he suddenly felt a strong tingling sensation in his hips that forced a laugh out of him, followed by a swift kick that only caught air. He dropped his tool and tried to slide out from under the Matchbox with the pallet, but Viktor – because obviously it was Viktor – had knelt in front of it so it couldn’t move anywhere but further under the car.

“Hey!” he yelped, unable to even bring his arms down to protect himself like this without hurting either himself or his work. “Lihihihihihicht, you sneheheheheaky son of a gun!”

“It seemed only fair,” his friend replied with a light tilt to his voice that was rare to hear from him. “You did this to me when I had been sitting in the lab for seven hours before you got there.”

“Seheheheheheheven?!”

“…oops.”

“Ehehehehehahahahahahaha! Shit, stohohohohohohop!” Vulcan cried, the light tracing along his hips switching to digging that had him physically fighting himself to keep from twisting something to escape. “Lihihihihihihihict!”

“Interesting that you call me by my surname in this situation. Is it because you’re frustrated?”

Vulcan kicked empty air again. “It’s behehehehecause I’m tihihihihihihicklish, you ahahahahahass! And I’m stuhuhuhuhuhuhuck down hehehehehehere! Lemme gohohohohoho!”

“Such language. I wonder why tickling brings that out of you?”

“It’s my nahahahahahatural reahahahahaction! Just lihihihihike your snohohohohorts and stuhuhuhuhuhuff!”

Viktor faltered in his attack, and it was just enough that Vulcan plowed his way out from under the Matchbox, barely catching sight of the scientist’s lab coat as he hauled ass around the front of the car toward the garage door. “Licht!” he yelled, pleasantly surprised to hear his friend let out a panicked shriek followed by a slew of unstoppable, giddy giggles.

Oh? Oh. Oh, it was on.

By the time Vulcan caught up to Viktor – back in the lab, obviously, the place he felt safest – the scientist had set a perfect trap for him that he fell into easily. He tripped on his way over the threshold and sprawled face-first on the ground, still greasy and sweaty and shirtless from his time under the Matchbox.

Then Viktor was on his back, scribbling and tickling up and down his ribs and sides and shoulders, making Vulcan squeal and giggle into the floor.

“Ehehehehehehehe! You ahahahahahahasshole! Stohohohohohohohop it, it tihihihihihihickles!”

“I believe that’s the point,” Viktor replied, sounding breathless and high on adrenaline, and when Vulcan twisted his head to look at him he saw an eager smile on his face to match.

“Juhuhuhuhuhust wait till I gehehehehehet out of this—!” Vulcan brought his arms under him as though he were about to do a push-up, but at that moment his friend darted his fingers into his open armpits, making him fall back down again and screech with laughter. “Shihihihihihihihihit!”

“Interesting,” Viktor mused. “Is this your worst spot? I got the sense it was here…” He trailed his fingers down to squeeze the pink-haired man’s hips.

That was a mistake.

Vulcan shrieked out a laugh and bucked on pure instinct. Poor Viktor, who had no sense of balance on a good day, was easily thrown off like a cowboy from a bucking bronco. The engineer shot up to his hands and knees and whirled, grinning wickedly. Viktor was already giggling, eyes wide and hands raised in hopeless defense.

“W-Wait, wait—!” he tried, but Vulcan had strength and speed to spare, and he was on his friend in seconds, snatching up his wrists and shoving them above his head, wiggling teasing fingers with his free hand just above his ribs. Viktor shrieked and squirmed, but he wasn’t going anywhere now. “Ehehehehe, wahahahahait!”

“Wait for what? You started it, Licht,” Vulcan teased.

Viktor let out a scream as the engineer’s fingers plunged into his ribs, quickly and easily finding that spot that had worked so well last time. The poor man cackled and snorted and rolled back and forth on the ground uselessly, his face lit up with laughter that seemed much more genuine this time than it had the first time around.

“How’s it feel, Vik? Having fun yet?”

Viktor arched his back and wheezed when Vulcan dug mercilessly into that special spot, barely managing to gasp out, “Dohohohohohoes this mehehehehehean you’ll stohohohohohohop being weheheheheird around mehehehehehe now?”

Vulcan paused, frowning in confusion. “Being weird? I got the feeling I’d made you uncomfortable, so I was just trying to be careful…”

“Y-You stopped being yourself…after I told you I thought my laugh was stupid.” Viktor’s ticklish smile faded a bit as he recalled their last couple of weeks together. “I thought you didn’t want to hear it anymore.”

The engineer stared at him. “Are you serious? You must have missed the part where I told you I’d thought it was fun.”

“But then…why didn’t you…?” Viktor suddenly clamped his mouth shut, as if he’d said too much. His cheeks turned that same shade of pink as before.

Vulcan’s grin was back in an instant. “Vik…were you hoping I’d tickle you again?”

Viktor squeaked, tugging at his trapped arms even as a wobbly smile appeared on his face. “N-No…of course not! Why would I?”

“You liar,” Vulcan laughed, immediately launching back into his earlier assault, beyond pleased to hear Viktor’s initial screech cut short by a snort and even more helpless giggling as he writhed on the ground beneath him. “If you’d wanted me to tickle you again, all you had to do was ask, silly!”

After that, Viktor laughed more freely than Vulcan had ever heard before.

And he swore he’d hear it again and again and again.

#fanfiction #tickle fic #fire force #enn enn no shouboutai #viktor licht #vulcan joseph #platonic #friends #slight hurt/comfort #tickling #ticklish #tickle

20 notes · View notes