CharliesBigLee

“NO!—“

[ Before he could protest further, a painful jolt lanced across his body. His head felt as if it would explode, and he collapsed near the roots of the oak tree he was standing under. He felt the control of his body slipping, the pain in his head easing slightly to make way for The King’s vast consciousness. ]

“I WAS NOT LYING WHEN I SAID YOU WERE PATHETIC.. YOUR BODY HAS GROWN WEAKER, DEREK.”

“Shut up. Give me my body back.”

“I DON’T THINK I WILL. YOUR FORM MAY HAVE ‘NERFED’ MY FULL CAPABILITIES, BUT THAT WILL NOT NEGATE MY GOALS.”

“…”

“SILENT AGAIN? DEREK, DEREK, DEREK… YOU NEVER LEARN, DO YOU? I THINK I’LL PAY A VISIT TO YOUR FRIEND. AVERY, IS IT?”

“WH—.. STAY AWAY FROM HIM!!!”

“HAHAH! DEFENSIVE, ARE WE? THAT ONLY CONVINCES ME FURTHER.”

[ D3rLord3 could only watch as his own body moved without his command. He tried fighting back with all he could, but all it did was cause a slight stutter in The King’s steps as he approached the house where he and Avery lived. He knew what was going to happen wasn’t gonna be pleasant, so he pleaded internally that Avery would catch onto what was happening before The King was able to do anything. ]

———

[ Avery was milling about the house, sorting through different chests and such before he heard footsteps approaching. He suddenly felt a small sense of impending doom as he turned around. The wooden oak door creaked open, and in came D3rLord3. ]

[ Something was wrong. He was moving stiffer than usual, he had this weird air about him, and the eyes.. the eyes. They weren’t the usual warm and golden brown of his Derek’s eyes. They were wide. Yellow. ]

[ The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. The King in Yellow was in control of him, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. At least, it seemed like that… ]

“aVERy.”

[ Said ‘D3rLord3’, stepping forward with a sort of inhuman confidence. The door slammed shut behind him without him even turning towards it… his voice sounded off, too. It sounded normal—but there was just something that unnerved Avery. ]

“U-Uh… Derek-?”

“CoME HErE.”

[ ‘D3rLord3’ commanded. Avery stepped back—but as soon as he blinked, ‘D3rLord3’ was right in front of him. He jolted and stumbled backwards against the wooden counter. He fumbled to grab something, but ‘D3rLord3’ had already pinned his left hand against the kitchen counter. ]

“YOUr LittLE FRIENd seeMS to HOLd yOU DEAR.”

“Wh—..king??”

“YES. I aM SUrpRISEd it toOK you thIS LoNG to NOTicE.”

[ Avery gulped as his mind raced through several possible solutions. He couldn’t just push him away—The King’s brute strength was too much for that. He couldn’t outsmart him either.. there was nothing he could do! ]

[ Then one thing came to mind. It was utterly stupid and admittedly a bit embarrassing, but it was worth a try. It wasn’t like he could do anything else, anyway… ]

“noW.. I beLIEve I willAAHAHA—?!”

[ ‘D3rLord3’ was caught off guard. Just as he went to grab Avery, the slime boy’s hands shot out and scribbled relentlessly at the spots on his sides where his armor had failed to cover. ]

“HA! Still as ticklish as the real D3rLord3!”

”stoAHAHAP THIHIS!!! YOUHU FEHEIND!!”

[ ‘D3rLord3’’s voice glitched out a bit, and the yellow of his eyes flickered from that sickly pale yellow to those familiar golden brown eyes. ]

[ It took a few more minutes of struggling on both sides for Avery to successfully ‘tickle’ The King out of control, but he did it nonetheless. He caught D3rLord3 as he nearly fell to the ground after he regained control. ]

———

[ D3rLord3 felt as if he was liberated as soon as he fell. He felt an extreme amount of relief—so much so that tears began to sting at the edges of his eyes. ‘He’ was so close to hurting Avery.. so close to doing something that he would never forgive himself for had it actually happened. ]

[ He clung to Avery tightly as the slime hybrid held him close, the both of them sliding to the floor in a makeshift heap, Avery holding the fallen knight in his arms. He refused to meet Avery’s gaze, the shame of nearly hurting the person he held most dear to him hurting his heart in a way he couldn’t explain. ]

“Derek.. it’s alright. He’s gone. He isn’t in control anymore. You’re here. I’m here. You’re real.”

“…”

[ D3rLord3 couldn’t bring himself to dignify Avery with a response. The most he could do was just bury his head into the crook of Avery’s neck as he withheld noises that might have been considered undignified to some people. ]

“…”

[ poke. ]

[ D3rLord3 jumped as he felt a poke to his side, immediately catching onto what was happening. Why wouldn’t he? He always knew. ]

“A..Avery—“

[ Poke. Poke. Poke. ]

“Ehaha—Ahavery!!”

[ Avery smiled as he continued poking the knight, the slime boy’s fingers morphing slightly to get under Derek’s armor properly. Despite it just being poking, D3rLord3 couldn’t handle it!! ]

“Oh boy.. sounds like my piano is out of tune! I should fix that…”

“NOHOHO!!!”

[ D3rLord3 yelped out as Avery’s fingers lightly dug into his ribs, the gentle wiggling into each tender gap between them driving the poor knight up a wall as he tried to arch away. Avery continued with his act, even humming as he tweaked at D3rLord3’s ribs with the careful intensity only the most experienced skywars player would have. ]

“Seems like my piano is particularly squeaky today.. I can’t play my songs if it’s like this! Time for some heavy duty tuning..”

“AVERY WAAIT—“

[ Before D3rLord3 could plead further, Avery had taken a huge breath (as big as a slime could take) and blew a raspberry on his stomach. He practically screeched, all thoughts about The King or other struggles completely wiped from his mind as the dual assault on his ribs and stomach continued. ]

“naaAAHAHAHAHA!! AVEHEREEHEHEY!!! STOHOHOP!! IHI’M FINE NOHOHOW!! EEEHEHEEK-“

“Pianos don’t talk!!”

[ Avery teased, keeping up his barrage of raspberries. Each one tore a peal of surprisingly charming laughter from the knight, Avery’s heart almost melting at the sound. While he kept up the assault on D3rLord3’s stomach, one hand crawled up to D3r’s underarms.. ]

[ D3r practically screamed as soon as the spot was even grazed. That caused Avery to pause, taken aback a bit by the noise… then grinned. Oh no. ]

“Bad spot, is it?”

“Avery… aHAHAVERY WAIT!! AVERY!!”

[ Avery had quickly pulled d3rLord3 up from his lying position on the slime boy’s lap, now pinning the knight’s back against his chest while one hand grabbed d3rLord3’s wrists and held them above his head. The man could practically hear the smug grin on Avery’s face as the other leaned in and whispered; ]

“I dunno.. I have to be super careful! What if something’s wrong with my dear piano? I can’t have that!!”

“NOO!!!-“

[ D3rLord3 attempted to escape before Avery could do anything, but it was already far too late… Avery’s fingers had dug in where no armor covered. There was only a thin layer of chainmail—and under that, black cloth. Avery had no problem making do with that as he gently clawed D3rLord3’s underarms as if they were chord strings made to be strummed. ]

[ It was safe to say that D3rLord3 was laughing uncontrollably now. He was grateful for his helm hiding his rather flustered expression, but Avery seemed to see through it. The slime hybrid just kept teasing him in ways that made him flustered beyond belief. ]

“AAAHHHAHAHHAHA!!! HGHAHA—AHAHAVERY!!”

“You say my name a lot, don’t you? I’m right here, silly!!”

“GHHHAEHHAHAHA!-“

“Woah, looks like I found a sweet spot! Epic!”

[ Avery giggled as he found a tender point amongst D3r’s ribs and underarms. It was that soft point just below the underarm, but above where the ribs were. You get it. ]

[ Avery continued at that spot for a while more until D3rLord3 was a squeaking mess, the poor knight a dazed puddle in Avery’s arms. ]

“Looks like my dear piano is finally tuned.. now for the grand finale!! I’ll play my song!”

“NHAHAHA—“

[ D3rLord3 was laughing before Avery even started, the poor lad. ]

[ Avery shifted D3rLord3 so that the latter was across his lap, the poor sap’s arms still strewn high above his head. Avery lightly patted D3r’s stomach before he said; ]

“Ready..? This will be intense!”

“JUHUST GET IT OHOVER WIHITH!!”

“if you insist, D3r!”

[ And the ‘grand finale’ finally began. ]

[ It started with poking on his ribs. Then a couple stomach pokes, both of which are getting a fair amount of giggles from the Spartan-knight. ]

“Hmm.. I feel like I’m forgetting something…”

[ And then the REAL finale began. Relentless scribbling on his ribs with one hand, the other gently drilling into the poor man’s hips with a sort of gentleness that drove D3r up a wall. While his hands did that, Avery just watched D3rLord3 shrieking in uncharacteristic laughter with a sort of warm sense in his eyes. ]

[ He liked this. Liked seeing DerLord3 laugh. Liked seeing him smile. Liked seeing him happy.. and this time, it was all because of him. It was the first time in a while he’d managed to do something like this and be successful with it. ]

“HGAHAHAHAHA—AHAHAVERY!! PLEAHAHASE—I CAHAHAHAN’T!! NAAHAHAHA-“

[ D3r’s laughter brought Avery back down to earth, the slime hybrid smirking a little bit as he momentarily slowed the whole thing down. He stopped the tickling around a minute later, resigning to pulling D3rLord3 close in a tight hug. The knight’s red cape served as a makeshift blanket for them both, D3r resting his head on the crook of his neck. ]

“Feelin’ better?”

“Yeah... Thanks, Aves.”

“…”

“You’re welcome, Derek.”

[ Avery felt particularly warm upon hearing the nickname. Maybe it was love. Maybe it was something else altogether. But one thing was clear.. he was happy. And in that moment, that was all he could ask for. The house was peacefully quiet now; the previously overstimulating sounds for D3r providing rather calming background noise as the two remained cuddled up together on the floor. ]

———

“THIS ‘TICKLING’ SEEMS EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE ON YOU. MAYBE I SHOULD USE IT WHEN YOU’RE NOT RESPONDING TO ME.”

“Shut up. Don’t ruin this for me.”

“OH BUT I WILL. I’M SURE AVERY WOULD LIKE TO KNOW YOUR WORST SPOT—“

“SHUT UP!!”