#caeluka

“W-why not?” Luka pouted and Caelus could swear he was about to cry at that moment. 

“I, ahm, I don’t want you to get hurt and-”

“You… think I’m not strong enough? You don’t want to fight me because I’m too weak, Caelus?”

Caelus’s jaw dropped, that was totally not what he meant! “N-no! I mean, w-we will end up hurt and I don’t want that to happen!”

“B-but then we can ask Nat to patch us up!” Luka insisted, holding Caelus’s hands as he took a step forward, standing barely inches away from him. “Just one fight! I won’t bother you ever again!”

Caelus sighed, getting in a fight just to ask for medical treatment later? Not only Natasha, but maybe the whole Astral Express crew would scold him if he did that. Besides… “d-don’t you have plenty of fights? Can’t we… do something else?”

“But you’re the strongest! Belobog’s hero! The savior from outer space!” Luka whined, frowning slightly as he noticed Caelus was probably trying to shift the topic and, consequently, refuse his request. “No one would fight like you! …well, maybe Seele, but- t-that’s not important!”

“Sigh, do you want to punch me that badly?” Caelus joked, already feeling hopeless about changing the other’s mind. Maybe he should’ve listened to Himeko and thought twice before flirting with people he recently met…

Much to his surprise, Luka nodded to that question, grinning with sheer, unstoppable hype. “And then you punch me back! Like in a fight, hehe.”

This wasn’t going to do it, Caelus thought. There was no way Luka would let him go without a proper fight, but fighting him sounded so painful, for both of them. Besides, he didn’t really get the idea of fighting someone you liked. 

That was when an idea popped up in Caelus head. There was, indeed, a way to fight Luka without harming him.

Without much room to think twice before putting his plan into practice, Caelus pulled his hands out of Luka’s grip and switched places with him, pinning Luka against the wall. “Fine,” Caelus sighed, a serious, cold expression taking place in his face, “let’s fight, then.”

“R-really?” Luka smiled in a way that made Caelus almost go back on his word - almost being the key word here. “Then, I will go ask for them to put our names next in the ring’s list and-”

“No need to,” Caelus interrupted, closing his fingers around Luka’s regular wrist and pulling it, pinning it on the wall above his head.

“C-Caelus? What do you-”

“I’m fighting you right here and now.”

Luka blushed, half because of how close Caelus was to him, half because of how cool he sounded saying that. So manly, so fierce, so powerful. Aeons, his heart was racing as fast as the gears of his prosthetic arm. “W-wohoah,” Luka gasped, trying to free his pinned hand, “t-then, are we fighting now?”

“Yes,” Caelus smirked, “we are.”

Before Luka could make some sense of Caelus’s nonsense, the redheaded squealed seconds after Caelus moved his free hand.

While fighting people, Luka was used to feeling pain. Punches, kicking, headbutts, cuts, all types of wounds. Of course, that also meant he got used to landing a hit or two - usually that’s all it took him to knock his opponent out - but this was new.

Caelus’s fingers quickly scribbled over his stretched out side, pinching over his waist and prodding at his lower ribs. Each and every touch sent an electric, funny feeling through his nerves, straight to his brain, that made him want to… laugh.

“H-hehey! AhaHAh, w-what ahare- ahAHah, C-Caelus! That tihihickles!” Luka cried out, his metallic hand tugging at Caelus’s clothes, trying to push him away.

Caelus let out a small sigh of relief - Luka was ticklish. He didn’t have enough time to come up with a back up plan in case he wasn’t, but it seemed that luck was on his side tonight. “Whaaat? Are you giving up already? I just started!” Caelus smirked, clawing at Luka’s side.

“I t-thought we wehehere going to f-fihihight!” So why are you tickling me, Luka whined inside his head, biting his lower lip and stiffening his muscles in a vain hope to make Caelus’s fingers feel less tickly.

The confused look on the redhead’s face was priceless. He was trying so bad to not laugh and Caelus was definitely in for that challenge. “We are fighting, but I guess you’re too ticklish to fight back,” he teased, wiggling his fingers against Luka’s side, unable to move his hand further up thanks to the other’s free limb.

It was, indeed, a tough spot for Luka. If he let go of Caelus’s hand, he knew where he was going to get tickled - and if that happened, he was going to lose - but if he didn’t try to fight back, it was a matter of time for his body to give in.

“T-thahat’s- ahaha, n-not fahair!” Luka pressed his eyes shut while a wide grin spread over his lips. He scrunched up his shoulders, looking away as he tried to think up a solution and ignore the ticklish feeling at the same time. “I wahahasn’t reahahady!”

“Excuses, excuses, that's what I'm hearing. You didn’t sound like a sore loser when we met,” Caelus hummed. Seeing his plan working so amazingly rubbed his pride just right, but he knew he couldn’t just stop if he wanted a flawless victory. “Time to finish you, buddy ~”

“C-Cahaelus, wahAHA- AHAhah, n-nOHO!!”

Managing to break free from Luka’s metallic grip, Caelus quickly shot his hand up, tickling that awfully ticklish spot under the redhead’s arm. His reward was no other than Luka’s bright, yet panicked laughter.

“Oho, I think I got you now,” Caelus giggled along, noticing how Luka pressed his back into the wall behind it to now fall, nearly hanging in Caelus’ grip. “Is it bad? Does it tickle a lot? Heheh ~”

“I-it dohOHOhes!! AHAHA!”

“Soo…” Caelus grinned, “do you surrender, champion? Do you admit defeat?”

Those words ringed inside Luka’s head, making butterflies flutter in his stomach. Part of him wanted him to say ‘yes’, make the tickling stop and allow him to catch a break. The other - the stubborn, competitive one… “N-nehEHEHever! AhahAHAH, I c-caHAHahan still fihIHIHight!”