I'm not a real bot

Biting into his sandwich, Harley didn't even dignify her question with a response. Deciding to eat in the Playtime Co. break room was a mistake he would not be making again.

Stella put her hands on her hips like a disappointed mother when she realized she was being ignored. "You're going to die soon, you know." She smiled again, "but your smile can live on forever!"

Harley swallowed the bit of sandwich he had in his mouth and put the rest of it back into the foil he had it in when he packed it.

"A smile is not living." He muttered, knowing full well what she meant. He was choosing to piss her off by being a smartass.

Harley smirked when his plan worked and Stella went quiet. She now looked throughly annoyed. Knowing he was the cause of the annoyance was a satisfying stroke to his already humongous ego.

"Oh? Don't you believe it is hypocritical to be so frustrated while preaching to me about being joyful?" Harley put his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his fist. The relaxed posture practically glowed with arrogance.

Stella's eyes narrowed to glare at Harley's shit-eating grin. She liked that he was smiling, sure, but she hated the Sawyer version of cheekiness that came with it.

Memories if the orphans filled her mind. Children were cheeky all the time, and Stella had a sure-fire way of keeping the smile while removing all mischievousness.

Harley stiffened defensively and dropped his grin when Stella tsked and moved to stand behind his chair.

"Oh Harley," Stella started, her voice much too warm for Harley's liking, considering she was glaring at him just seconds ago, "being cheeky with me only earns you one thing."

Harley, physically unable to not be a snarky jerk, chuckled mockingly at her. "And what would that be, hmm? Perhaps a time out? No dessert after dinner, maybe?"

Stella smiled and shook her head. "No, you Silly Billy! Cheeky little ones like you get," she leaned closer to Harley's ear to whisper, "tickles."

Harley quickly stood up and backed away from Stella when she said that last word. Oh, how he hated that word. It made his stomach feel fluttery and his brain go fuzzy. If he could kill a word, it would be that one.

"Don't touch me." Harley snapped while he backed up. "And I'm not a "little one" either. Do NOT talk to me like that." Then, Harley's upper thighs hit the counter, rendering him cornered.

Stella wiggled her fingers about a foot above Harley's sides. "Sass must be punished, Sawyer." She tapped his left side teasingly

Harley made a sound that could outcompete a ghost's screetch in a scare-off and went completely tense. "Get away, Stella! I'm warning you!" He used the last of what was left of his logical mind to make a threat he didn't even finish. Nice going, Harley, you've done nothing to help your situation.

Then, the pokes really started. His will to be threatening was gone in an instant and was replaced with a nervously giddy smile.

And gone was his ability to stand straight up. His knees gave up and he was left leaning back against the counter top to stay off the floor.

"There's that smile! And no more cheeky talk." Stella wiggled her fingers into Harley's ribs.

Harley lost all strength and cackled wildly. He had a very odd laugh. It sounded controlled, but changed pitch so often one could tell it most certainly wasn't.

Stella loved it. Such a pure sound coming from such a wretched man. "Aw, do the ribbies tickle tickle tickle, Harley? Do they tickle tickle tickle tickle?"

Harley grabbed her left hand and pushed it away. "Stehehella ihihi- nohoho ahaheha- YOU OVERGROWN CHILD GET AWAHAHAHHAHAHAY!" His head tilted back with a squeal when Stella grabbed his shoulders and pressed into the tissues firmly.

"Are you having fun, Harley? Your smile says you are. I should keep going then, since you're having so much fun, right?" Stella began massaging Harley's shoulders.

Harley's whole body flinched when Stella dug into the muscles, sharp pains shooting from his shoulders at the touch. His legs kicked out and his left foot collided with Stella's right hip.

Stella stumbled back, gasping with pain. For a moment, the two were still. "That wasn't very nice." She muttered, her voice gravely and low.

A cold blanket of dread settled onto Harley's chest at Stella's vengeful stare. If there had been any warmth in her intentions before, it was certainly gone now.

"I assure you- Stella wait- I had not intended for that- please no- IMSORRYIMSORRYIMSORRY!"

Stella grabbed Harley's arm, gentleness abandoned, and wrestled him to the floor. Since Harley wasn't exactly a gym bro, Stella took him down easily.

Harley was forced onto his stomach, his left cheek rested on the cold floor beneath him. Stella pinned both of his hands to his back, like she was arresting him.

"You thought you could kick me and not get punished?" Stella raked her knuckles up and down Harley's back ribs. She felt a sadistic satisfaction fill her when Harley started screaming like she was murdering him.

"PLEHEHEHEASE NOHOHO AHAHEHAH" Harley kicked his legs behind him, turning his head so he laughed and squealed into the floor. He pulled on his arms, but Stella was quite strong. She must work out.

"Begging already? I would have bet you'd last at least 20 seconds." Stella used her nails to dig into Harley's upper back, the place right between his shoulder blades. "I wonder, how long you can go before you start crying?"

Her question was answered rather quickly. Harley started crying the moment Stella's fingers found a little spot between his right shoulder blade and spine. Seeing how much this spot affected him, Stella decided to stay there.

"Poor Harley, too ticklish for one little finger. I'm only using one finger, Harley, did you know that?" Stella knew Harley was beyond processing words, but he could still process the mocking tone, which made him hiccup between laughs. That one finger just scratched that one spot, over and over and over.

By the time Stella finally began moving spots again, Harley was too broken, both physically and mentally, to resist. He was just forced to laugh, giggle, squeal, and scream.

Stella had pinched, scratched, and poked Harley for a good 5 minutes. He had pathetic tear trails going down his cheeks by the time she granted him mercy.

"I-*pant* ihihi-*pant* I hahad not-*pant* meheheant to kihick-*pant* you." Harley panted while Stella got off of him. Once she was off, he curled up in a fetal position, too weak to do anything else.

Stella looked down at Harley with a little bit of genuine pity. Gosh, she really did wreck him. Literally wrecked him. Maybe...maybe she felt a little bad about being so mean now. Not that he didn't deserve it, just look at what his job is, but...

Stella sighed and crouched down next to Harley, pausing when he flinched and sobbed. "Sawyer, I'm done. No more." She whispered to him.

Harley stayed tense, his body not forgetting what she had done to him. He wasn't an idiot, he wouldn't relax just because she said she was done. He couldn't trust that.

"I'll get you some water, dear." Stella stood to fill up a glass of water.

She set the glass on the floor, near Harley so it was easy for him to access. "Leith was right, you are pretty fun to tickle. Next time I'll be sure to be nicer."

Next time? Oh there will be no- wait, what was that about-?

"Oh. My. God." Leith doubled over and cackled at Harley on the floor, looking like he'd been tortured. Which, to be fair, he had.

Harley suddenly regained his physical strength and stood up, though he wasn't very balanced. He pointed at Leith acussingly. "You conniving bastard- what did you tell Stella about me!? Who else did you tell!? What could you have possibly gained from that!?"

Leith walked in and pat Harley on the shoulder, ignoring the slap on the arm he got for touching him. "You really should use this room more often, Sawyer. The stories we tell when you're not here..." He shook his head fondly.

Stella laughed happily, "oh, and don't I have a story for tomorrow. Everyone's going to love it!" She smiled at Harley, who scoffed in response.

...

Harley had told them he would rather die than be around the morons he works with. He made a big deal explaining how little he wanted to hear embarrassing stories, ones potentially with him as the subject.

He thought they'd be surprised when he showed up the next day in the break room. He thought they'd be surprised when he stayed for Stella's story (which was about him from the day before). But they weren't.

He was the only one surprised when he was asked to continue to come back. He knew he wasn't a pleasant person, he knew he was actually a bad person, so being included so willingly...was odd to say the least.

But, he had to admit, it wasn't half bad. Not that he'd ever say that. They were all still brain dead idiots to him.

Brain dead idiots that had made him smile more than once in the 20 minutes they told stupid stories.

******

Fic Request!

Stella is arguing with Harley about something (maybe because Harley is a heartless jerk who doesn't care about kids), and after arguing for about 40 minutes, Stella just says, "You know what? I think you need to laugh."

I have noticed i write...a lot of fluff. Fluff is all ive ever written

Now, this thought may be a fleeting one, but i think I'd like to try writing a fic that wasn't as fluffy as the ones I normally write. Not nsfw, no, but maybe something a little more on the hurt-comfort side. Yeah, I'd have to end it fluffy, but maybe, just MAYBE i could have some tears in there.

And i was thinking I could make it relatable to the tickle community as a whole. Like, anyone who reads it, in the fandom i write it for or not, could read it and say "yeah, I feel that."

And yes, ive read a few fanfiction like that before, this idea is not completely original, but thats exactly why i think this idea is decent. I've seen those fanfics and theyve HELPED ME. IVE been that character who feels disgusting, IVE been that character up all night wondering if im some sort of pervert, and i know there are people who have ALSO DONE THAT.

I really do hope I actually have time to get around to write this. Not only would it be good fanfiction practice, but i want it to be written in a way that really puts all the insecure thoughts one may have around the community into words.

The vision: a character (i haven't picked the fandom/person) thinking "i shouldn't like touch (tickles) the way I do. Normal people dont like this. Im a weirdo. Whats wrong with me?" And then self isolating in an attempt to "fix" their "weird" fixation on that SPECIFIC type of touch (tickles).

Then a different character realizes that character A is forcing themselves away from everyone else. They go and check up on character A, softly interrogating them, being near them, until finally, character A asks character B if theyre...normal. Is it okay to like what they do? It feels dirty. Gross.

Character A explains how they thought maybe they could kill the want, the very idea of enjoying it (tickles), by separating from people, the very things you NEED for it (tickles) to WORK.

Character B is nothing but horrified. Forcing yourself into solitary confinement over something that they dont see as disgusting or gross at all, but adorable and fun? What made them do that!?

Turns out, its a life long insecurity of character A and just happened to struggle with it entra hard then.

To soothe character A's mind, character B cuddles and softly tickles character A, trying to gently guide them out of their self imposed prison (wherever character A had been isolating)

It ends kinda with time skips, like character A doing it again and again, never really shaking the insecurity. But in the time skips, they isolate for much shorter periods of time (like 12 hours at most) because character B is still there, gently pulling them back out.

It never really ends, but it gets easier.

Maybe im being a little extra cheesy because its midnight and ive been up since 5 am, but im crying a little just thinking about us all in the community. We're all a little weird and maybe we sometimes just wanna hide and hope it leaves, but we all deserve to be guided out.

Leith glared at the back of Harley's head, assuming the other wasn't listening to him, which would not surprise him in the slightest, but he had principal to hold up. "Sawyer, look at me when I'm talking to you." He walked towards Harley and poked the nape of his neck in an attempt to get his attention.

It definitely got his attention. Harley yelped, his hands moved up to protect his neck, and he turned around to yell at Leith. "OUT! GET OUT! LEAVE, OR ILL PUT YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS INTO A DOORMAT!"

Leith pulled his hand back as if he was afraid Harley would bite it. "What the fuck was that? I didn't even do anything." Harley scowled when Leith began chuckling.

"I'll tear you open and use your insides as mattress stuffing!"

Leith put a hand on his thigh to keep himself from lowering to the floor laughing. "Sahawyer, what's wrohong with you? Too ticklish? Does wittle Harwey have a ticklwish neck?" His head fell as he continued to laugh at Harley's threats.

After a good 30 seconds of laughing, Leith took a breath a stood straight again, a wobbly smile on his face from more barely contained laughter. "Your threat game seems off today. More amusing than scary." He moved closer to the neurosurgeon, who took a step back for every step he took forward.

"Whahahat!? I'm not doing anything!" Leith grinned "Sawyer, you're beheing stupid. You're a smart man, use that brain and think for a minute. What would I actually do to you?"

"I'm smart enough to know you're a child in a man's body! No, n- noNONOHO!" Harley screeched when Leith grabbed him and dug into the back of his neck.

Leith smirked and pinned Harley to his chest. "What are you gonna do to me now, Sawyer? You can't even stand right." Leith laughed as he had to physically hold Harley up. "God, Sawyer, at least TRY to stay up!"

Harley shook his head wildly while the nape of his neck got assaulted by tickly pokes. "GEHET OHOFF!" He let his head fall forward to hide the "terrible" sounds of his laughter in his own chest.

Leith's fingers moved down Harley's side, tweaking his ribs, and settling at the hip bone, digging and squeezing.

Harley bucked, weakening Leith's hold which made him fall to the floor in giggles.

"Yohou ASSHOLE! You lehet me fall!" Harley curled up on his side, glaring up at Leith. Though, in all honesty, it was a pretty weak glare, with him giggling and all.

A chuckle left the standing man, who crouched down to follow Harley to the floor.

Leith slipped his hands under Harley's lab coat, pinning the latter on his back. "Name calling, now, huh? That's pretty rude, Sawyer." Harley cackled and stomped his feet on the floor when Leith began to vibrate his fingers between his ribs.

"Nohohot that, plehease, Pierre, hahahahave mercy." Harley relaxed and panted as Leith's fingers lifted off of his ribs.

His relief didn't last long, because he tensed right back up when he saw Leith wiggling his fingers above him. Not touching, just wiggling in the air above the sides of his neck.

"Tohohouch me and I'll use yohour skin as a wahash cloth"

Leith clicked his tongue in mock disappointment and shook his head. "You just refuse to learn, don't you?" He lowered his fingers down to Harley's neck, softly wiggling them under his jaw joints on both sides of his face. He smiled, almost endeared by Harley's attempts to not giggle like a five year old, which failed. Horribly.

It was humiliating, being able to be taken down by a few wiggling fingers.

So why, oh WHY, did Harley feel like he had a whole swarm of insects in his stomach? This was terrible, so why did he feel so happy it was happening!?

Had he wanted this? He didn't think he had. Or... maybe he did know and just wouldn't let himself admit it. Maybe it felt safer to be confused than to admit he wanted something so personal.

I guess we'll never know.

Leith stopped shortly after starting. He then stood up and crossed his arms, putting his serious face back on. "Alright, Sawyer, I'll drag you there myself if I must, but you WILL be apologizing to Stella."

As soon as Harley had the strength, he stood up. He rolled his eyes at Leith's demand, but complied anyway. "Of course. Should I make her an "I'm sorry" letter too?" He asked sarcastically while follwing Leith out of the office.

Harley was normally pretty subtle about things. He was abnormally good at making sure his actions never conveyed his true feelings.

Grace tilted his head out of the pillow to look up at Adrian, trying with all his puny human strength to roll away. "Plehehehease, Adri let me gohohoho! Mhm need to breheathe!"

Adrian let up, both claws now in Grace's hair.

Grace relaxed, his chuckles dwindling down to contented hums at the gentle petting.

"How Grace feel now, question?" Adrian pulled their claws back, settling onto the floor near Grace's bed. Being as large as they were, Grace was still able to see most of their upper carapace.

"Not as good as I would feel if you'd just gave me a normal massage." Grace sat up to twist his torso to assess the condition of his back. He had to admit, he was, somehow, a bit more relaxed than he was before the "massage."

Adrian chuckled and leaned forward until their xenonite suit hit Grace's bedframe, "Grace complain much, much, much. Adrian see why Rocky Grace get along so well. Rocky Grace complain much all the time."

Grace scoffed, sitting up and crossing his arms. "You'd complain too if you got tickles instead of a well-deserved massage, so don't even give me that "you complain too much" speech."

Adrian's voice rose a bit in amusement to Grace's "annoyance." "Adrian not ticklish. Could not be tickled, even if Grace try."

Not ticklish, they say. Rocky said the same thing, but he was probably the most ticklish Eridian alive. Surely Adrian must be lying.

It was like Adrian could read Grace's mind, because they stood up and stepped back from the bed. "Grace want to try, question?" An amused trill came from them when Grace's mind visibly reset itself.

"Wait- What? You're gonna let me?" Grace tilted his head, "you're not gonna fight at all? Not even try to run?"

Adrian shook their carapace. "Adrian not fight, not run. Grace try to tickle Adrian."

It took a second for Grace to process this, Adrian actually was letting him try to tickle them, but once he did, he was up out of the bed and standing before Adrian.

"Okay... but I'm warning you, I'm a great tickle monster." Grace smirked and wiggled his fingers in Adrian's direction. Unlike Rocky, Adrian didn't even flinch, which did give Grace some doubt, but not enough to stop him from trying.

Grace first tried his joints. If Rocky were in Adrian's position, he'd be wiggling around and screeching. Adrian, however, didn't make a single sound.

Grace hummed, a little confused. Okay, so their not ticklish on their joints.

He then tried Adrian's vents. This would have practically killed Rocky, but it did absolutely nothing to Adrian.

"Are you for real? You're not ticklish!? How is that fair at all? You can tickle me, but I can't even get you back?" Grace's frustrated rambles were silenced when Adrian suddenly tensed, their legs moving closer to their carapace.

"Back! Back! Rocky back!" Rocky called, letting himself into the room. His toolbelt was still on from working, he must have just got off shift (or whatever Eridian's called working hours.) "What Grace Adrian doing, question?"

Before Grace could answer, Adrian moved and pushed Rocky back towards the door. "Grace Adrian no need Rocky. Rocky have much work do. Adrian watch Grace more, Rocky finish work."

Rocky scuttled away from their pushing, trilling in confusion. "Rocky done work! Rocky can stay. Adrian not want Rocky to stay, question?" Rocky's upset tone made Adrian move forward and wrap themselves around their mate.

"Adrian love, love, love Rocky. Always want Rocky to stay." They assured Rocky with a loving pat to the top of his carapace when Rocky leaned into their hold.

"Then why Adrian try to push Rocky out, question?" Rocky asked, tilting his carapace up at Adrian.

Adrian went quiet, just holding Rocky for a moment, then they trilled an answer so quiet that Grace could barely hear it be said. "Scared Rocky tell Grace tickle spot. Ruin joke."

Grace gasped. "Wait, so you ARE ticklish!?" He moved forward, a grin making its way onto his face.

Rocky "looked" from Adrian to Grace, then back to Adrian with a cheeky trill. "Adrian trick Grace, question? Mean of Adrian. Rocky help Grace because Adrian mean, mean, mean." Rocky wiggled out of Adrian's hold and stood by Grace.

Grace grinned, watching as Adrian shook with nervous anticipation. "Where are they ticklish? I tried the normal spots, and nothing happened."

"Adrian very rare case. Only ticklish in one spot. Not normal Eridian tickle spots." Rocky fidgeted excitedly and approached his mate gleefully.

Adrian tensed up again, his legs held as close to their carapace as possible when Rocky extended a claw and tapped firmly on the underside of Adrian's carapace.

Grace jumped back in surprise when Adrian completely collapsed, falling onto their side. This move seemed detrimental, because this only gave Rocky better access to the bottom of their carapace.

"Spot very ticklish. Adrian like." Rocky paused and held a claw out to Grace. "Grace try. Very intimate spot. Gentle. No touch middle."

Grace walked closer, being mindful of the large limbs that could probably end him with a single wack. He crouched down to let Rocky guide his hands to the right spots to target.

"They're not gonna hate me for this... right?" Grace asked, half joking, half not. He tapped the rim of the bottom of Adrian's carapace with a little less force than he would tickle Rocky. Gentle, to Eridian standards.

Adrian squealed, their legs twitching, but other than that, they seemed almost paralyzed.

Rocky trilled, happy to see his mate get a taste of their own medicine, as humans would say. "No, no, no. Adrian never hate Grace. Adrian love Grace."

Grace accidentally stopped tickling to just let that resonate. Adrian loved him. He probably already knew that, deep down, but hearing it out loud made it feel real. Which, it was. Adrian did love Grace.

Grace felt a large claw on his back, a small pat from Adrian, who was still giggling and shaking. He yelped when they pinched his ribs. "Alright, that's it." Grace went back to tapping and scratching at Adrian's carapace, causing the claw on his back to fall to the floor and twitch with ticklish energy.

Rocky tapped the floor, trying to get a better look at Adrian. He loved his mate so FREKING much and it made him so happy to see them all giggly.

Adrian let one of their legs kick, being careful to keep it away from Grace and Rocky. "Grahahace Rohocky mean, mean, meheheehhean to Adrian." They accused, knowing what it would lead to. Honestly, though, they wouldn't have it any other way.

Rocky's claws joined Grace's hands, making Adrian's laughter go up an octave.

"Grace Rocky not mean, love."

"We're very nice. In fact, I'd say we're down right delightful."

"Rocky agree."

About 20 seconds went by before Adrian willed one of their legs to gently push Grace and Rocky away. Both took that as a sign to stop, backing up.

Adrian let their giggles die down and got up on shaky legs. They moved closer to the two, pulling them both into a tickle drunk embrace. "Adrian very happy. Love, love, love Rocky Grace." They trilled contentedly.

Rocky snuggled closer while Grace closed his eyes, both bodies thoroughly cuddled.

"C4 plants only open their stomata at night to fix carbon dioxide and store it as malic acid to be used during the day." Grace explained with full confidence in his knowledge. Why wouldn't he? He knew what he was talking about. "CAM plants separate the Calvin Cycle with two different cell types within the chloroplast. Those plants are more efficient in photosynthesis than C3 plants, which don't separate the carbon dioxide fixation process at all and end up wasting more energy fixing oxygen, which is called photorespiration, or-"

Grace's happy rambling was cut off when Rocky tapped his back leg in annoyance. As much as he loved to learn from Grace, the human needed sleep. "Grace go sleep now! Rocky learn, now Grace sleep."

Grace grumbled, mocking Rocky with a talking hand motion, but pulled the covers up to his chin anyway. Before closing his eyes, Grace started the documentary again for Rocky to watch while he watched him sleep.

"Night Rocky."

"Goodnight Grace."

...

"sdfkjfwof Grace thfajais sjfwj wrong, question?"

Grace's eyes weren't even all the way open, so absolutely none of that sentence was processed by his still sleepy mind.

"mmm-whatcha say bud?" Grace sat up slowly and called for Armando to get him a coffee.

"Why Grace teach Rocky wrong, question?" Rocky repeated and held out the thinking machine to Grace with the screen facing towards him.

Grace paused mid sip of coffee when he finally processed what Rocky asked. He pulled the cup away from his mouth and squinted his eyes at the screen, which showed a page about the different types of photosynthetic processes.

"What do you mean "why did I teach you wrong?" I didn't, this is what I taught you." Grace scrolled on the page, skimming the writing.

Rocky took the thinking machine back and shook his carapace, mimicking a head shake. "Grace teach Rocky C4 and CAM plants wrong. Grace make Rocky stupid! Rocky no want be stupid!"

"I- wait, did I teach you wrong?" Grace grabbed the computer and looked at the two processes. CAM separates by time, C4 by cell types. In his sleep deprived state, he... must have mixed the two up.

"How did I mess up photosynthesis!?" Grace put the computer down on Rocky's ball (what a bitch, statement) and put his face into his free hand.

Rocky trilled in what Grace assumed was an "I told you so" tone. "Rocky told Grace that Grace get stupid when not sleep. Grace sleep when Rocky say."

Maybe it was the grogginess of just waking up, but Grace was pretty upset that he taught something, something he found so simple, wrong. He nodded and rubbed his face self soothingly. "It isn't a hard topic." He muttered to himself before he went unnaturally quiet.

Rocky ceased his teasing trills, going quiet too, though his was more of a focused silence.

"...Grace quiet. Why Grace quiet, question?" Rocky knocked the thinking machine off his ball to roll closer to Grace's feet.

"It's nothing, Rocky, just thinking." Grace muttered quietly through his fingers, which covered his mouth and chin.

Rocky shifted his weight back and forth a few times in worry. "Grace upset, question? Did Rocky make Grace upset, question?" Rocky pressed his ball up against Graces leg.

A sigh left Grace and he shook his head again. "No, Rocky, I'm just...thinking back to make sure I haven't taught you any other false information." He set down his coffee on the floor of the dormitory.

Rocky tapped his legs on the floor of his ball anxiously when Grace covered the rest of his face with his now free hand when the coffee was set down. "Rocky not mad. Rocky make joke. Grace not stupid. Grace sleep, now Grace do big science!"

"Rocky, just let me think." Grace uncovered his face to rub his temples.

Rocky knew better than to listen to him.

"No. Grace no think now. Grace smart, not teach Rocky wrong. Grace teach Rocky many things right." Rocky pressed his ball into Grace's legs harder as if to emphasize his point. "Rocky give example."

A smile forced its way onto graces face when he felt Rocky's claws squeeze his knees through the mesh of his ball.

"Grace teach Rocky much about tickle." Rocky trilled happily when Grace began to squeak at each squeeze. "Grace teach Rocky no wrong when comes to tickle."

Grace quickly pulled his legs up into the bed, tucking his knees safely to his chest and out of Rocky's reach.

Oookay... Rocky couldn't get onto the bed. What the frick...

"Grace. Grace. Friend Grace. Rocky no tickle when Grace on bed! Come to floor so Rocky tickle!" Rocky held up two arms to Grace with grabby claws.

Grace tucked himself closer for protection. "Go on the- you want me to WILLINGLY put myself in the way of tickles?" Grace couldn't keep the smile off his face now, thoroughly distracted from his earlier insecurity.

"Yes. Come to floor!" Rocky demanded and patted the floor of his ball.

Grace knew he could just tell Rocky he didn't want tickles and he would be able to get out of the bed without getting tickled. The idea crossed his mind maybe once before he found himself getting out of the bed and laying on the floor.

"You're very bossy, you know that?" Grace squirmed prematurely when Rocky lifted two claws in his direction.

"Grace smart, smart, smart. Grace good teacher!" Rocky rolled up to Graces face and traced the side of his neck, down to his shoulder. "Rocky show Grace how much Rocky learn."

Grace held back a light snicker at the teasing traces and scrunched his shoulders up to his neck for protection. It did very little to protect him, though, because Rocky just rubbed the shell of Grace's ear instead.

"Rohohocky." Grace whined when Rocky began to tease under his chin.

"Rocky know tickle because of Grace. Grace very very very good teacher." Rocky then moved down to Grace's tummy, squishing the softness of it.

Grace's hands went to cover his face as he giggled loudly. He found himself watching Rocky's claws, despite being flustered by their movements.

"Rohohocky, nohot the tummy, NOT THE TUHUHUMMY!" Grace's hands flew from his face down to his tummy to grab at Rocky's offending claws. "ihihit tihickles! Hehahaeh."

A snort left Grace when Rocky began to vibrate his claws around the pudge of Grace's lower belly. His grabbing hands did nothing to deter the determined claws.

"Grace good good good teacher." Rocky reiterated for the hundredth time "Teach Rocky how tickle Grace! Very happy, happy, happy."

Grace tried to curl his legs up to his chest, but Rocky would just push them back straight and keep tickling.

"Nohohoho eheheheheheahaheh ROCKY!" Grace squealed and flailed like a fish out of water when his bellybutton was poked. Rocky trilled teasingly in response to the pebble-like sounds coming from his favorite human (Rocky good, good, good joke).

"Rocky Grace make deal, statement. Grace say Grace good teacher and very very very smart. Rocky keep tickle until Grace say. Deal, question?" Rocky poked the pudge around his belly button repeatedly, waiting for Grace to answer.

Grace couldn't do anything other than kick his feet wildly and laugh. He shook his head, giggling too hard to verbally respond.

Why was Grace being so stubborn? It wasn't because he liked all the praise he was getting and didn't want it to stop, if you were thinking that.

Rocky paused his poking and made some confused notes. "Why Grace not say nice things to Grace, question?" He stomped his back foot. "Rocky tickle Grace until Grace say nice things to Grace."

Upon Rocky's declaration, Grace began to giggle again in anticipation of the wrecking he was about to get.

Rocky rolled up to Grace's ribs and began to squeeze up and down them, wiggling his digits under his arm every so often.

Grace screamed, flopping onto his side in an attempt to keep Rocky from his ribs. "Geheheehet out of thehehere! Nohohoho hahaeheha!'

"Grace say nice things and Rocky stop." Rocky then began pinching the, now exposed, other side, which got Grace kicking his feet like a pebble. "Grace smart, Grace good teacher, Grace very good."

Grace pressed his face against Rocky's ball, a deep flush covering his face at the wonderful praise Rocky was just giving out.

Rocky happily continued the praise, seeing the flustered reactions they caused. "Grace admit Grace good teacher now?" Rocky asked, slowing his squeezes now to let him get a chance to talk.

It took a minute for the giggles to end, but when they did... Grace STILL didn't say what Rocky wanted.

"Why won't Grace say what Rocky want, question!? Rocky want Grace to do simple, simple, simple task! Not hard!" Rocky yelled.

Grace gave him a sheepish smile, shrugging. "I don't want to."

Oh that little shit.

Rocky made a grumbly noise and raised his claws again, "then Grace get tickle until do want to." Rocky dug his claws into Grace's lower tummy and hips mercilessly.

Grace squealed and cackled, his hands slapping the floor instead of trying to push him away. His hips bucked and legs kicked to get that nervous ticklish energy out of him.

Rocky would switch from pinching to scribbling to scratching to vibrating to keep Grace on his toes. He trilled a happy note when Grace stopped fighting his giggles and just let his head lay back to let the laughs out.

The tickles went on for a good minute until Grace tried to gently tap Rocky's ball to show he would comply, but he ended up slapping the side of the ball rather hard in his giggly madness.

Rocky stopped his tickling immediately, following with a quick check in, being the very, very good friend he is (how egotistical... but he's right). "Grace okay, question?"

Grace gave Rocky a large smile "Ihihi'm gohood bud." Grace assured, giving Rocky a thumbs up.

Rocky tapped the floor happily then leaned closer to Grace's face. "Grace say what Rocky want now." He demanded.

Grace glanced away, a small smile still plastered on his face as he muttered the magic words that Rocky wanted to hear. "I'm a very good teacher."

Rocky tilted his carapace in a way that looked like a nod at Grace's admission. "Good Grace. Grace feel better, question?" Rocky parked his ball next to Grace's head to pet his hair soothingly

"Yeah, I'm doing better. Thanks." Grace leaned into the petting with a soft hum.

"Grace no teach when tired again."

"You can't stop me."

"Grace need more tickle, question?"

"...should I run?"

Despite the time and thought that had been put into the design of the body, there were still some major flaws that would need to be fixed. For Rocky, it was the sensitivity of the body. All light was either too bright or not bright enough, the temperature was either too hot or too cold, things were either too exciting or not exciting enough, and it was always tired! It was overwhelming sometimes, but it was a price he was willing to pay. 

For Grace, it was the height of the body. 6 feet 3 inches. That was three inches taller than himself. It wasn’t fair. The only somewhat human thing around for 11 lightyears was TALLER THAN HIM. 

Grace tried to pout about the height difference, standing beside Rocky, but he was unable to keep the silly smile off his face when Rocky screeched in excitement. Rocky didn’t know how to work the vocal cords of the body yet, so any sounds that came from him were entirely uncontrollable and accidental. 

Honestly, Rocky would have found it humiliating to be acting like a pebble if he weren’t so gosh darn distracted by all the human things he could do. He was jumping happily around, giggling and squealing at just about everything, even tackling Grace into the sand to curl up on his chest in a cuddle.

The happy noises that came from Rocky were enough to make Grace start tearing up. Rocky smiled widely with his head on Grace’s chest, listening to his heartbeat. He could hear so much less but the things he could hear were just…amazing. When he heard Grace sniffle, he looked up at him with concern. Grace leaking! Why Grace leaking, question? 

Rocky hummed, moving his sandy fingers up to Grace’s cheeks to wipe away the tears. Grace giggled and pushed his hand away gently. “I’m fine buddy. It’s just…great to see you enjoying yourself.” Grace ran a hand through Rocky’s hair, chuckling as the Eridian (man?) nuzzled the side of his head into his fingers.

When Grace pulled his hand back, Rocky couldn’t help the saddened noise that came from his throat. He tried to grab Grace's hand to put it back, but he was shoved into the sand before he could do anything. He wiggled around in the sand, sitting up to give Grace a finger waggle. No Grace, bad bad bad. Push Rocky off, statement, not nice.

Grace laughed at the disappointed look on Rocky’s face, finding this to be the peak of entertainment. “Whahat’s up buddy? Having fun over there?” He teased, poking Rocky in the forehead. Something about being able to survive in the same atmosphere made Grace quite playful. He figured it was the pack instinct humans had that made him want to connect…or he just wanted to royally screw with his buddy now that he was physically able to. Either way, Grace was giving in to the playfulness.

Rocky swatted at his poking hand, a sound close to a growl coming from him. Grace pulled back, holding in another laughing fit at the noises that Rocky was making. The more Grace looked ready to laugh, the more grumbly sounds Rocky would make. 

When a little snicker left Grace’s mouth, Rocky threw some sand onto him angrily. Of course, it was playful anger, which Grace could see by looking at the smirk on his face, but he still had to make a point. Grace sputtered, sitting up with his stern teacher face on. “No throwing sand Rocky.” 

Rocky rolled his eyes and did it again, this time making sure to get some in Grace’s shirt just to piss him off more. He squeaked when Grace got him back by poking him quickly up and down his side. 

Grace paused at Rocky’s reaction to his poking. Was the artificial body…

“Rocky, are you ticklish?” Grace giggled and stood up to loom over Rocky. “I mean, I knew you were ticklish, but I didn’t know that…this body was.” 

No no no, bad bad bad!!! Rocky quickly shook his head, starting to giggle at the sight of Grace standing above him. Since he wasn’t able to protest verbally, he tried to tickle him first. Yes, that would work! Both of his hands flew to Grace’s tummy, a well known tickle spot of his, but that just gave Grace an easy way to pin both of his hands at the same time. Despite being physically bigger than him, Rocky’s body wasn’t all that strong.

“No, no, no, none of that Rocky.” Grace scolded playfully while he pinned Rocky’s arms to his chest with one hand while the other went to his side with little pokes.

Rocky squealed and pulled on his arms, but the man above him had that stupid upper body strength that held him still. Human tickling was so weird! It felt like being attacked by soft electric currents that wanted nothing more than to hug you. It wasn’t nearly as buzzy as Eridian tickling was. Human tickling was more like soft kisses and Eridian tickling was like being shaken so much you get dizzy and stupid happy. 

Well, at least now Rocky can honestly say that both versions drive him crazy.

Grace couldn’t help but tease Rocky, using the teases he would normally receive if he were in Rocky’s position.

“Why are you giggling so much, Rocky? I’m hardly touching you!” He dug his nails into Rocky’s armpits, making him cackle. “So loud, Rocky, you’re so loud.” He pretended to be annoyed at the fact that Rocky was now screaming with laughter, the same way Rocky would pretend to act annoyed when Grace was laughing under the attack of tickles. 

“Neheh AHAAHA pfhfhfhft eheeheehehe” Rocky let his head fall back in the sand, unable to really do anything about the tickles in this weird and unfamiliar body. 

“You okahay? Goodness, you’re giggling a lot. How ticklish are you? You really are just so tickly tickly ticklish!” Grace snickered to himself when Rocky’s face began to turn a dark shade of pink from both the intense tickles and the flustering teases. 

In a random fit of strength (gotta love adrenaline) Rocky pulled his arms free to push at Grace’s face. No, not his hand, his FACE. STUPID HUMAN BODY! NO HIT GRACE FACE! HIT WIGGLY FINGERS! 

Grace fell back dramatically at the push, acting like he was fatally injured. “Ow! Oh no…Rocky, I see the light…” Rocky rolled his eyes at the display, poking Grace’s exposed tummy with a smirk. 

The poke made the teacher grunt and end the act of dying. He sat up with a wide, goofy smile. “Poking the tickle monster isn't such a good idea buddy.” 

Rocky’s smile fell at the name Grace gave himself while Grace stood up with a growly chuckle. 

“Running would be a wise decision." 

Rocky didn’t need to be told twice. He sprinted down the cost, giggling softly with nervous excitement. He could feel Grace catching up to him.

“Rocky! The tickle monster wants to eat your nummy giggles!” Grace yelled, “and it's gonna TICKLE!” Grace’s arms finally wrapped around Rocky in a tickly hug, sending them both to the ground giggling. 

“ehAHAH eheh mmhmhmmhm.” Rocky fell onto his belly, giggling into the sand below him. He squealed when he felt Grace spider his fingers up and down his back. 

“What delicious giggles you have Rocky.” Grace purred into Rocky’s ear, snickering at the sounds coming from him when he pinched his shoulder blades. “The tickle monster loves hearing it.”

“AK eheha AHAHAHAH” Rocky smacked the ground with his hands as he cackled. Grace's fingers moved quickly around his back, trying their best to elicit the sweet, sweet giggles Grace’s pack instincts craved. 

While Grace was having the time of his life, Rocky seemed to be getting quite tired. His hands stopped flailing and he stopped fighting the laughter. Grace, fortunately for Rocky, took this as a sign that he needed to let him breathe. 

Grace stopped tickling, his tickly fingers switching to gently massage Rocky’s lower back. 

Rocky’s laughter slowly diminished into gentle giggles and hums at the massaging sensation. He turned his head to look up at Grace, a wide smile on his face. 

After a moment of enjoying the massage and the feeling of Grace cuddling him, Rocky stood up, waving Grace to come with him.

The two friends walked to the body’s sleep station (a xenonite box with a bed and some feeding tubes) to let the body get the well deserved rest it needed. 

Once the body was safely hooked up to the feeding tube and laying on the bed, the signal from Rocky’s actual brain ended so it was just an empty shell of living cells. 

Rocky came back into the biodome with his xenonite suit surrounding his rocky figure, tapping his back leg in mock annoyance.

“Grace make Rocky tickle! What wrong with Grace, question!? Grace very mean mean mean.”

Grace stuck his tongue out playfully at the Eridian. “Yeah, and? What are you gonna do about it? Hmm?” Grace knew EXACTLY what he was doing. His students would have called it something like “ragebaiting.”

Rocky lowered his carapace, looking like a house cat getting ready to pounce on some string. “Grace asking for it, statement.” 

"Oh? This? No, this is a very necessary scene! Without it, the movie wouldnt be good!" Yeah yeah, we know what you are