#lee!mash

"Why do you need my help anyway? Can't you lift way more than this?" Dot asked, settling onto Mash's back as he began doing pushups. 

After all of the inhuman feats he'd seen from Mash, Dot's one hundred and sixty pounds, if he was being generous, didn't seem like much in comparison. 

"This is still good for endurance training," Mash answered, not breaking a sweat despite the steady speed of his exercise.

"I guess," he shrugged, propping his arms above his head and laying down on Mash. If his strength was anything to go by, they'd probably be here for a while before Mash got tired. Not that he was complaining; he enjoyed any time he got to spend with his friend.

Okay, maybe he was complaining just a little bit. But they'd been out here forever! And Mash wasn't even showing any signs of fatigue yet, how much longer was this supposed to go on?

There wasn't even anything to do, except for bang his head against Mash's rock hard back and hope he'd hit it hard enough to pass out, because at least then he'd finally be done with it.

"This is totally boring."

Mash stilled his movements, "Do you want to go?"

"Depends. You done working out yet?"

"No."

Damn it! Curse him for being such a good friend.

Dot sighed, "Then no."

"Okay," Mash said, resuming his workout. "After this, we can go eat cream puffs together."

Dot had a feeling Mash would be eating cream puffs with or without him, but at least he'd get something after this torture  

In an attempt to alleviate his boredom, he began tapping his hands against Mash's back, drumming along to the beat of his workout. That quickly got tiring though, and he shifted on his side with another sigh, propping his head up with the palm of his hand, his other hand beginning to trace random shapes on Mash's back.

There was an odd sound, a weirdly high-pitched choking noise, oddly like a squeal, that made Dot spring up, patting Mash's back. "You okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. That just tickled."

"Did it?" He asked, a smirk growing across his face. Now this was a surefire way to entertain himself. 

Mash only nodded, oblivious, and returned to his workout. The unsuspecting fool.

Dot waited as long as he could, whistling to himself and trying to contain his mischievous glee so Mash wouldn't see it coming. 

Then, he began. Perched cross-legged on Mash's lower back, he decided to start easy. Slowly, he took a single finger, dragging it down Mash's spine, making him sputter once more, but he continued with his exercise. 

Dot bit back a laugh, continuing his gentle motion as repeatedly drew his nail up and down Mash's spine. He didn't even know someone could be ticklish beneath all these muscles, but it proved surprisingly effective. 

"Dohohot," Mash giggled, "you're tihickling me again."

"Really?" His smirk grew, "This'll be good for you. It can help with endurance, right?"

"I dohon't see how thihihis helps."

"Come on, don't be like that," Dot did laugh that time, scribbling his hands across the back of Mash's neck.

Dot laughed again at Mash's squeak before he burst into rapid giggles, surprisingly high-pitched for him. Despite the ticklish sensations, Mash took his training seriously and remained undeterred. Boring.

"I'll stop when you stop training," he announced, hoping to speed up the end of this. 

"Now… where else are you ticklish?" Dot asked, lightly raking his hands along his back, searching for anywhere that elicited a reaction.

Scratching at his shoulder blades made his giggles louder and his arms ever-so-lightly trembled, becoming a minuscule slower in their repetitions.

It wasn't enough to make Mash give up, but when Dot poked his back in a certain spot, in between his shoulder blades and at the back of his ribs, it produced the same surprising noise from earlier as an uncharacteristic squeal came from him. His arms, trembling, gave out as Dot poked the same spot again, sending them both crashing to the ground.

If it were anyone else, Dot would be worried he'd crushed someone after falling on them like that, but Mash wasn't exactly normal, so he didn't let it phase him.

Instead, he monopolized on this momentary weakness, using one hand to wiggle against that spot while the other dug into Mash's side. "Done yet?"

Mash resisted the urge to turn onto his back, both from fear of hurting Dot and of exposing more of his tickle spots. 

His laughter grew louder as he begrudgingly nodded, giving into Dot demands with a loud "Yehehes."

He'd have to come back to finish his workout later, but a cream puff break never hurt, and he didn't think he could accomplish much more when he was getting tickled like this. He'd always been too sensitive to that kinda stuff.

Dot stopped, rolling off of Mash and into the grass next to him, pumping his fist in the air as he cheered, "Yes!"

After Dot finished gloating and Mash caught his breath, they helped each other off and headed back towards the kitchen at Mash's request.

"I didn't know you were ticklish."

"I didn't know you'd hate training that much."

"Hey, who said anything about hating it?" He shook his head, knocking his shoulder into Mash's impossibly muscular one. "Just gets boring and seems stupid when a rock could do the same job."

He paused, mid-step, realizing Mash had never answered his earlier question. "Why did you want my help?"

Mash was a stoic guy, but there was something about his expression that suddenly seemed a bit shy. "I like spending time with you.

Dot blinked, a faint flush rising to his cheeks as he looked away from Mash. "Yeah? Well, I could always help you again."

Somehow, despite the missing laugh and smile from when Dot was tickling him, Mash seemed to look like the happiest he had in years.