Lers!Gi-Hun, Jung-Bae, Dae-Ho Lee!In-Ho
A/N: Uhm, weeell⌠If the sky is grey in your area today, you should know, that itâs probably the cloud of dust that rise in the air after I brush it off this very old idea!
But I still hope youâll enjoy! And let me know if you are!
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There was so many things in Young-il which made him different from anyone else... The way how calm and prudent he was in the stressful situations, his really awkward and inappropriate jokes and of course his laugh.
It hasn't been long since Gi-Hun was familiar with this mysterious man, but he just couldn't help but notice all these little things every time (Gi-Hun himself didn't know why). Some things became clear after Gi-Hun learned the difficult story of player 001. All that remained was to admire how stoically he behaved. Even if sometimes he behaved a little unnaturally and socially awkwardly, it was still a feat.
And yet... Sincere Yong-Il, which Gi-Hun saw him that night when they talked heart to heart, the one who rejoiced at the victory of other teams in the six-legs pentathlon, the one who tried to defuse the situation with clumsy jokes... Gi-Hun liked this version of Yong-Il much more. The former winner sympathized sincerely with the player 001 and he wanted to see the real version of him more often.
Once again at dinner, their team tried their best to escape from the real atmosphere around with a friendly conversation. Jung-Bae entertained everyone with his stories from the service and when the next one of them caused a friendly flurry of laughter, Gi-Hun suddenly find himself looking at one specific person from their company. Yong-Il laughed loudly, rollingly, but, how should Gi-Hun said about that... too perfectly (?)
Unlike all the others, in whose laughter could be heard some charming flaws inherent in any person - whistling, wheezing, even grunting and snorting, Yong-Il's laughter was as if verified, perfectly rehearsed. No change in tonality, no breathing failures. He never closed his eyes, never threw his head back. Yong-Il laughed beautifully, but something in it slightly chilled everyoneâs blood, it seemed even a little sinister in its ideality.
Before Gi-Hun could be scared of how long and carefully he thought about it, Jung-Bae's hand slapped him on the back, attracting attention. Fortunately, Gi-Hun, as it turned out, was not the only one who thought about the oddities in In-Ho's laughter, because the clap was followed by a Jung-Bae remark, interrupted by residual laughter. Looking carefully with a squinted look at player 001, who, as usual, continued to laugh with his "perfect" laugh much longer than all the others, Jung-Bae turned directly to him, but he spoke loud enough for each of their team and even other players, sitting nearby, could hear that.
"Young-Il, I've wanted to tell you for a long time...".
In-Ho's laughter fell silent in one second, only once again questioning his sincerity.
"How your laugh sounds so... rich? Like you are from a aristocrats family or something like that".
"Really?", In-Ho raised an eyebrow sarcastically and accompanied this question with several rehearsed chuckles, shaking his head a little.
"Here it is!! Thatâs what I was talking about!", Jung-Bae exclaimed, pointing at him with his finger, "I'm not the only one who can hear it, guys?"
Everyone remained in tense silence for a few seconds, until Dae-Ho finally came to the rescue of his senior mate.
"Yeah, Young-Il, your laughter is cool, but how is it so perfect? Like you learned it somehowâ
"What are you talking about? It's just my laugh, it's no different from yours! Why are we even discussing this?"
"I just wanted to tell you to relax! You shouldnât control your laughter with us," Jung-Bae smiled.
"But I donât control it!"
"Actually, there is one way to check if it's real laughterâŚ", Gi-Hun finally voiced. Everyone stared at him with curiosity, "âŚIf Yong-Il doesn't laugh at jokes sincerely, maybe his real laughter can be heard as a reflex?.. Or we'll at least find out that this "rich" was the real one".
"Guys, I'm still here actually..."
"Gi-Hun, what are you up to?" Jung-Bae squinted again, not paying any attention to Yong-Il's previous remark.
Gi-Hun radiantly and childishly playfully smiled back at him, as if he were the same Gi-Hun as three years ago. He cheerfully got up from his place, putting down a bottle with a remnants of water and in two jumps he found himself on the step next to In-Ho.
"Gi-Hun, what are you doing?", In-Ho asked, hardly hiding the tense in his voice.
"I'm going to find out something... Sit still!"
Squatting down next to In-Ho, Gi-Hun put both hands right under his jacket at once and squeezed them on both sides at the level of the lower ribs.
In-Ho yelled loudly, swinging forward and immediately grabbed Gi-Hun's wrists, looking straight into his eyes with the eyes of a rabbit caught in the fox's paws.
"Guys look at this! Someone is ticklish," Jung-Bae cooed, smiling with all his teeth.
"It's childish, come on, how old are you all?..."
"Ooh, come on, Young-il, don't be shy, laugh for us!", Gi-Hun hummed, trying to snatch his hands from Yong-Il's hands, but player 001, who was actually almost a head shorter than Gi-Hun himself, turned out to be an unexpectedly strong opponent. Gi-Hun pulled his hands with all his might, but In-Ho held him even harder, obviously also fueled by adrenaline. Even if Gi-Hun managed to pull out at least one hand, it was only for a second, as Yong-Il immediately intercepted the wrist again, squeezing even tighter.
"Yeah, please, let Gi-Hun make you laugh for us! We all want to hear!â, exclaimed Jung-Bae, who was literally glowing with happiness, watching all this as if he had never seen anything better in his life.
"If you really want to, you should help me through!", Gi-Hun shouted, still fighting, "He's fighting with me, I can't free my hands!"
"You are fighting, Young-Il?", Jung-Bae asked, raising an eyebrow, as if he hadn't watched it himself for the last two minutes, "What's wrong? Do you want me to hold your hands so that you don't prevent Gi-Hun from conducting an experiment? Or you just don't want to start until you make sure THAT WE ALL are participate?"
Damn, In-Ho really screwed up...
He didn't even have time to come up with a suitable answer, request or threat that would make his teammates finally recollect and realize where they are and what they are going to do, when both former marines have already joined them on the step.
After a short struggle and incoherent requests, Yong-Il was just lying on the same step on his back, with a happy Gi-Hun hanging over him, and with his hands pressed behind his head in a strong grip of Jung-Bae. Grinning treacherously, Gi-Hun kneaded his fingers, little stiffed for real after Yong-Il held his hands tightly for a couple of minutes, but he still did it too demonstratively, making sure that Yong-Il could definitely see it and squirming nervously with anticipation.
"That's it! Everything is fine now, we can start, right?", Gi-Hun smiled, looking In-Ho straight in the eye with the appearance of a kind doctor who was going to examine the frightened boy.
In-Ho, still not finding words and unable to believe how he could even be in such a situation, muttered something like: "Guys, stop... It was funny joke, but enough, quit it!", in panic, he shook his head so hard that it seemed to be about to hit the step during the next turn, and Dae-Ho, who somehow looked embarrassed and excited at the same time, sitting on the other side of the Frontman, quickly reached the nearest bed and put a pillow under his head.
Gi-Hun quickly nodded to him with a slight grateful smile and, not wanting to waste any more time talking, instantly launched both hands under In-Ho's jacket, squeezing his sides, ribs and thighs alternately, just to try.
In-Ho trembled and quietly whined through tightly clenched teeth, shaking his head again from side to side. Since Gi-Hun did not scratch or scrape, but still just squeezed and poked different places in turn, In-Ho constantly recoiled from his hand to the left, to immediately fly on the other hand and dodge to the right, where a new electric discharge was already waiting. But he could still hold on, only slightly whined and whimpered, alternately squeezing his jaw and biting his lip.
"Still don't want to please us with your laughter? You are so stubborn, you know that? Okay, you're literally asking for it!â With these words, Gi-Hun put his hands not only under Yong-Il's jacket, but also under his T-shirt, digging with all ten fingers into the very place near the lower rib that made the poor frontman scream for the first time and began to ruthlessly drill and dig with his fingertips.
And then In-Ho broke downâŚ
"HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAA!!!â
"Aaaaaw, just look at you!!!", Gi-Hun admired, while continuing to tickling all over the ribcage and trying to dodge In-Ho's knees, who tried to kick him from behind, "Your real laugh is so adorable! Why did you hide it? Maybe you just provoked us to tickle you?â
"I did NOHOHOOOHOOOOT," In-Ho cried in a high-pitched voice, still kicking his feet desperately and squirming with his whole body as much as Jung-Bae's hands, holding tightly, allowed him to do it.
"You didnât? Strange, I think you definitely are... It's not kind to trick your friends for your own amusementâ, Jung-Bae remarked with obvious pleasure in his voice, quickly removed one of his hands to scratch on In-Ho's neck, which he immediately tried to pull back, like a turtle, forgetting to catch the moment for a successful attempt to pull out his hands and before Jung-Bae returned the grip back.
"So, would you tell us where your worst spot is?", Gi-Hun continued to mock, sitting on In-Ho's hips, giving him a light respite, ceasing to tickle intensely, but continuing to pinch different points on his torso, making In-Ho laughing with the pure bubble laughter but with a slight hoarseness.
"Iiiihihihiiii don't knohohohoooow pleahahahase I sweahahahar," the frontman whimpered, sacrificing a lost chance to regain his breath at least a little, for the sake of these words.
"Poor thing, no one has tickled you for a long time, right? Weâll fix it and definitely will find where you are the most ticklish, don't worry!â Gi-Hun cooed in a childish voice, returning to a quick tickle again.
Until this day, In-Ho never even thought that someone's teasing could almost physically tickle almost as much as someoneâs hands. It was completely unclear how it worked at all, but all their conversations among themselves, as if he had not been here (like they did it before this all started) and this stupid innocent Gi-Hunâs tone, addressed to him with this terrible threat, multiplied the sensations several times in some way. It seems that In-Ho was terribly unfair to his brother once and now he gets twice for it.
Gi-Hun finally pulled his evil hands out from under his T-shirt, but only to roll it up enough to open a pale tremoring belly. It seemed that Gi-Hun even rolled up the T-shirt with an unnecessary movement of his fingers on In-Hoâs sides, sending electric discharges all over his body and tearing out of his throat hoarse laughter and snorts. How could such an innocent person fit so much toughness?
In-Ho had no opportunity to think about this thought for a long time, as Gi-Hun chuckled again, forcing the frontman to raise his head and see with horror his fingers writhing a few millimeters from bare skin. In-Ho immediately pulled in his stomach with a loud trembling breath.
"You should stop to hold your stomach, Young-il, cause it's not make it less sensitive! Just relax!"
"Oh, of course! Maybe we should say very-very ticklish instead?â
Gi-Hun SLOWLY traced his nails on both sides of the navel, parallel to the sides, and began to display the patterns with his nails lazily.
"Not the naHAHAAILS PLEASE", In-Ho sobbed and his voice cracked, despite the fact that Gi-Hun was still barely touching, as if accidentally touching the skin with his nails, not lowering his hands on In-Hoâs stomach properly, but not ceasing teasing.
"Not the na-ha-ils?â, Gi-Hun cooed and he even couldn't pronounce these words clearly because of his own chuckle. It was the WORST of all, "Why the nails touching is worst? Too tickles for you could stand it?â
"You're lying again! Probably we should teach you not only to laugh sincerely, but also how to stop lying and how to admit the obvious things!â, having said this, Gi-Hun fixed his fingers right under the navel, resting his nails on In-Hoâs stomach and began to bring them to one point and then spread in different directions, climbing into the navel with the index finger of the other hand.
In-Ho was absolutely going crazy and probably he wouldn't be lying if he said he had NEVER felt so ticklish! Well, he would have thought differently if he could look into the future for a few minutes...
Through the unbearably lightly sensitive agony, In-Ho barely understood the moment when Gi-Hun gently stroked his stomach with both palms, erasing the feeling of this torture.
"Well, it was unexpectedly fun! Let's see what noises you can make else", he said affectionately, lowering his hands on his hip bones and alternating pinching for them with a quick and strong tickling on the lower ribs. Through the sensations that pierced every cell of his body, In-Ho didnât even notice how Jung-Bae squirmed behind him, intercepting both of his wrists into one of his hands and pressing it by his knee for reliability. The free hand devilishly slowly (which, in contrast to the now madly jumping on the lower ribs and sides of Gi-Hun's fingers gave an even more crazy effect) crawled down his chest already from the upper ribs.
In-Ho fought in sensitive agony and screamed so that it seemed that not only the whole room, but also the whole island could hear him... What a shame! When he agreed to become a player at these games and gave his pink soldiers instructions about it, he couldnât imagine that they would have to see him in such a situation and such a state. If he knew, he would have thought about participating in the games twice...
Jung-Bae also had to scream at the top of his voice to cover up all this noise that they forced In-Ho to make.
"Dae-Ho! What are you daydreaming about? Come on, don't be shy, join us! Every person is important! Just look how Mr. Player 001 likes to finally laugh for real! I think heâll be very happy if you also contribute!"
Actually, Dae-Ho had long wanted to join, but an inexplicable sense of embarrassment was almost as strong in him as this desire to help his mates. A direct invitation from his mentor made his cheeks fill up a little with blush, but still he looked up at Jung-Bae smiling timidly with the corner of his mouth.
"I think you can try to follow his knees, soldier!", Jung-Bae replied, nodding his head at them, "They seem to be too restless! I'm sure Yon-Il specifically draws so much attention to them to remind us that we forgot about it"
Dae-Ho didn't have to be repeated twice. Trying not to waste time thinking, he saluted with a joyful smile and sat down behind Gi-Hun, saddleding In-Ho's ankles and cutting off his last way to retreat. If how much In-Ho kicked with his feet could be called âthe way to retreatâ. Even if he was going somewhere, he was locked up now.
Gi-Hun turned over his shoulder and nodded cheeringly to Dae-Ho.
"Come on, Dae-Ho, don't waste your time, Young-Il can't wait anymore, right, Young-Il?"
âNooohohooo!!! It tiihihiicklehehes", In-Ho's laughter became quieter and full of sobs, as Jung-Bae's hands scratched his tender neck at that time, making him shudder and snort every time the fingertips ran behind his ears, and Gi-Hunâs hand slowed down, distracted by a conversation with Dae-Ho.
"It's supposed to be tickles, silly! Be patient!â, Gi-Hun smiled warmly.
In-Ho howled helplessly and dropped his head back on the pillow.
"Look, Dae-Ho, it's not difficult, try it just like this!", one of Gi-Hun's hands broke away from the ribs and stretched back to squeeze the knee. A surprised scream broke through the quiet hoarse giggles.
"Wow! How well it works for him!", Gi-Hun hummed thoughtfully, "It's your turn now!" And turned back, scraping, scratching and pinching the sides and belly of their prisoner again.
Dae-Ho leaned to the right, trying to see In-Ho's face from behind Gi-Hun's back, but he didnât meet him with a pleading or threatening look, as he was too busy with hysterics. But Dae-Ho met his gaze with Jung-Bae instead and the elder marine playfully winked to him, continuing to drawing patterns under In-Ho's chin with his nails. Having gathered determination, Dae-Ho finally followed the example of Gi-Hun and scratched his nails right around one of In-Ho's kneecap. It seemed that now, attacked by SIX ruthless hands, In-Ho couldnât feel the serious difference, but the way his legs jerked madly, trying to throw off both Gi-Hun and Dae-Ho from them and how loudly he squealed, made it clear that the difference between the four and the six hands was colossal. This inspired Dae-Ho and he began to squeeze and scratch both his knees and above a little.
In-Ho went absolutely crazy. Neither in childhood, nor in adolescence, especially in adulthood, he has never experienced anything like this. Especially since he became the Frontman, he, as Gi-Hun said, when he was mocking, in fact wasnât being tickled for a long time and he almost forgot even how a light harmless tickle feels, not to mention the TORTURE that his so-called friends gave him.
He couldn't move, couldn't scream, couldn't think of anything, except that he was tickled absolutely everywhere. He could hardly breathe, laughing hysterically, screaming and crying, when Jung-Bae's hands played with his neck and made their way into his defenseless armpits, Gi-Hun's fingers explored every centimeter of the torso with jumps and runs, and his knees were squeezed, pinched and scraped by Dae-Ho's thin fingers.
Between bouts of hysterical laughter, in an attempt to get more air into the burning lungs, In-Ho began to burst into sobbing. He would have died of shame if now he could feel anything other than the desire for this torment to finally stop.
Jung-Bae didn't miss the chance to notice his sobs out loud; his hands, however, was slowed down a little.
"Whatâs wrong, âMr The Rich Laugh Is My Only Laughâ? You don't need to cry!! It's just our hands!â, he cooed.
"AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAAA OHOHOHOOO MY GOHOHOOOOD... PLEAHAHAHAHAHAAASE GUHUHUUUUYS LET ME GOHOHOHOOOO LET ME GOHOHOOO LEHEHET ME GOOOOOHOHOOOOO", speaking (or rather, shouting these words through laughter in a high, completely alien voice) was an incredible effort for In-Ho, but there was no choice left.
"Oh, Gi-Hun, look at him! Heâs really crying!â, Dae-Ho said anxiously, removing his hands from In-Hoâs knees and patting player 456 on the shoulder. He remembered what it was like to lose to all his sisters in a tickle-fights and suddenly began to fear that his friends gone too far.
Gi-Hun, however, knew that nothing terrible was happening and decided to win the last few seconds of such a sweet piece of cake as the loud helpless laughter of the usually stoic player 001.
"Aaaaw, Young-il, come on, don't cry!", Gi-Hun comforted with his sympathetic puppy look and voice full of absolutely pretend pity, which for some unknown reason only launched more cold shivers down In-Ho's spine, "Maybe you didn't understand the rules? We wanted to hear your laugh! Not your tears! And there is nothing to cry about! It's just a little tickle!â
"PLEEEEEEEEEEE... PLEAHAHAHAAASE ITS TOO MUHUHUHUHUHAHAHAAACH STOHOHOHOP STOPSTOPSTOHOHOHOHOHOP"
"So, do you promise not to hide this beautiful laugh from us anymore?"
"YEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA... YES IHIHIHIHIII... I PROMISE AHAHAHAHAHAA EVERYTHININIG YOU WA-AHAHAHANT"
The tickling stopped, although it began to seem that it would never happen. Gi-Hun lowered T-shirt with the number 001 and began to rub and pat In-Hoâs torso with his hands, trying to erase the sensations (again) that still made the wet and red-faced Frontman laughing nervously from the residual laughter. At the same time, Jung-Bae patated the poor menâs hair in a paternal way and clumsily tried to smooth out the disheveled strands. Dae-Ho got up and handed to In-Ho his bottle of water, looking with a sympathetic smile.
"There, there, breathe deeply, Young-il, we've done here. Calm down!â, Gi-Hun confirmed with the soft voice, leaning forward and rubbing In-Hoâs hands from the wrist to the shoulder now, "So sorry if it was too much! You laugh is just so sweet... And didn't you enjoy it? Even just a little bit?â
"I hate you all", In-Ho exhaled tiredly, closing his eyes and twisting his numbed wrists.
"Nooo, you are not!", Gi-Hun laughed.
It supposed to be true that the Frontman hates this too self-confident players⌠But right here and right now, lying on this step, tickled to death, with a soft pillow under his head, soothing hands of people who considered him a friend, feeling with his fingers the cold glass of someone else's bottle of water, he clearly felt something absolutely opposite to hatred...
