#ler!bts

If you were being too snarky, the boys would gang up on you, tickling you to shreds until you apologized. Here and there they would surprise you with a poke to the stomach to get your attention. They would tase your sides on the daily just to tease you. 

However, you had not received any of the sort for the past couple of weeks. You weren’t even getting the bare minimum from them and it was getting to you. 

You made fun of the boys several times, hoping it would earn you punishment tickles like usual. Instead of them retaliating, they would only roll their eyes and chuckle, giving a witty remark in return. Although amusing, these interactions were not what you were looking for.

During one of the first nights that your lee mood went up in flames, you figured you had taken it too far during your desperation when Jungkook ended up storming out of the room. Feeling remorseful and ignoring the remaining boys’ pleas for you to come back, you went up to your room for the rest of the night. 

You tried bothering them in a playful manner, poking them in their sides and cheeks, but this proved unsuccessful. They only pushed you away just as playfully, oblivious to why you were making such an effort to pester them. 

Once again, you must have taken it too far at one point during a K-drama marathon, for Yoongi snapped at you after one too many pokes. Feeling like a wilted flower, you sank into the sofa cushions while hot tears began to form. You felt guilty for irritating him to the point that he lost his patience with you; but more importantly, you felt ashamed that your secret desperation for something was starting to affect the people around you. After about five minutes of trying to fight your tears away, you bid the boys goodnight and claimed that you were too tired to continue the show. Once you entered your room and shut the door, you let the tears flow.

Other times, you tried to pout subtly, hoping that the boys would fall for your frowns and tickle you to cheer you up. You were sure it would work, as tickling was a common method of theirs to get you to smile again. Yet, the boys didn’t notice your pouts nor your dramatic sighs. If they did, you only received hugs and hair ruffles. You didn’t hate those gestures at all, but it still wasn’t what you were looking for.

You couldn’t ask any of the boys for tickles because none of them knew how much you enjoyed being tickled, nor what the concept of tickling meant to you. They didn’t know how important tickling was in helping you feel closer to the ones you loved, and how carefree and happy it made you. Thus, you were too afraid to ask. Every time you saw one of them around the house, you yearned to ask them, but of course you couldn’t. 

Being unable to ask them or talk to them about how tickling consumed your mind only made you sad. As a result, you felt as though you could no longer be around any of them. You were becoming increasingly discouraged that your usual methods weren’t working. What was the point of sticking around if you weren’t getting the attention you needed? Why would you bother being in the same room as any of them if all you felt was an ache in your chest, wishing they could  just tickle you already? Why would you subject yourself to that, when you knew each interaction would end in disappointment and irrational contempt towards the boys just because they couldn’t read your mind?

You were so desperate, yet nothing was working despite your efforts. With that extra rush of dopamine missing, you began isolating yourself.

When home, you came out of your bedroom less frequently, really only letting yourself out when you had to use the bathroom or join them for meals. The eight of you frequently had movie nights, but ever since you developed the need to isolate, you never lasted long. 

You stopped participating in conversations with them while at the dinner table, having no energy to speak.

If any of the boys did speak to you—either while eating or when they ran into you somewhere in the house—most of the replies they received from you were mumbles, short phrases, or one word answers. You were sure that they were getting sick of hearing “mhm” and “nice,” over and over again. However, you couldn’t help it. You had very little energy.

You didn’t even have the energy to reply to their text messages in the groupchat, only answering hours later or not at all.

You felt foolish letting something like this take such a toll on you. You figured there were worse things to worry about aside from wondering when your next tickle attack was going to be. However, the distress was hard to contain. Something you were so used to getting just suddenly disappeared. There was no way for you to take control in getting it back, because once again, you couldn’t dare to ask. You only hoped that this depression you had fallen into would pass just like it had in the past countless times before. 

You were also afraid that your constant badgering was annoying the boys, thinking back to how Jungkook stormed away and how Yoongi snapped at you. However, you couldn’t blame them; you had been doing it more than usual to gain their tickles. You figured it was best that you leave them alone for their sake. 

Unbeknownst to you, the boys had actually noticed your appearances downstairs become less and less frequent. They tried their best to cheer you up. 

They started playing playlists that included several of your favorite songs on purpose, noticing your lack of reactions as you would usually start singing along and trying to get them to dance with you. 

They noticed how you stared into space at dinner instead of joining in the conversations like usual, despite them making your favorite meals. 

They began sending more and more things in the groupchat of memes and videos they knew you would enjoy, hoping it would elicit some reaction out of you. But of course, nothing came of it, and once again they noticed. 

They noticed how you left the room early each night, taking note that you never lasted more than thirty minutes into each film or show despite them choosing your favorites.

The boys really knew something was up when last night, you didn’t even bother joining them at all. They chose your number one comfort film, assuming it would surely cheer you up. They were shocked when you declined.

Seeing you growing sadder and sadder, they now figured it was best to give you space as that was something that worked in the past and nothing else seemed to be working. They just didn’t know that this time around, space was the last thing you needed. 

So there you were, another early evening on your bed longing for a certain touch. The last hour of daylight was illuminating your room. Your phone buzzed beside your head, and you picked it up slightly to read a text from Jungkook telling the groupchat that dinner was almost ready. You felt tears brimming your eyes. You didn’t feel like eating, let alone be around them. 

When you didn’t come down for dinner, the boys knew that they had to intervene and ask you what was going on. They were growing increasingly worried for you.

After they finished eating, they headed upstairs. As they came closer and closer to your closed door, they could make out your quiet sobs. Jungkook’s, Taehyung’s, and Hobi’s eyes were as wide as quarters. The rest of them looked around at each other, wondering how to approach the situation. How long had you been crying? Had you been crying like this every night? 

“Jimin-ah,” Namjoon said quietly. “Maybe you should go in there alone.”

“Yeah,” Yoongi agreed, putting his hand on Namjoon’s shoulder. “I think we can all agree that she finds it easier to open up to you more.”

Jimin just nodded, not denying their words.

“We’ll stay out here,” Jin whispered. 

“Just update us,” Hobi interjected.

“We wanna know what’s wrong with our baby girl,” Taehyung added.

“Can you leave the door open a crack?” Jungkook asked innocently, earning snickers from the rest of the boys. 

“What?” Jungkook pouted, trying to remain serious. “I wanna know what’s going on.” As the boys continued to chuckle, he couldn’t help smiling with them. 

“Yes, Jungkookie,” Jimin smiled assuredly, “I can do that.” 

Once they quieted down, Jimin knocked on the door and held his breath. No answer. He knocked again—louder this time—which was when your sobs paused. You weren’t expecting a sudden interruption into your crying session.

“What?” you asked sassily, not bothering to hide how upset you were.

“Can I come in, baby girl?” 

You melted at the sound of Jimin's voice. You were conflicted. You thought it was best to leave them alone and isolate yourself, but you were also in desperate need of comfort.

“Y-yeah, okay,” you replied, propping yourself up on one of your elbows. You took a deep breath to compose yourself, wiping the tears on your face away with your sleeve. 

You rubbed at your eyes briefly to clear your vision, not noticing Jimin struggling to make his way into the room without exposing the boys in the hallway. Just as he promised Jungkook, he left it open a crack so that they could hear.

He sat on the bed, and your quick glance at him caused you to see how worried he looked. Your stubbornness stopped you from believing that he was actually concerned, thus you were shocked to see his worried face.

“We’re all worried about you, baby. Can you tell me what’s going on, pretty girl?” He hoped that his gentle tone and choice of pet names would convince you, but he didn’t know that it wasn’t that simple this time. "Why're you crying?”

You shook your head and laid down. There was no way you could tell him the truth. 

“Y/N, honey, you’ve been locking yourself in your room for the majority of the day and barely talking to us.” He reached out and grazed your nose with his finger, hoping some playfulness would make you come around. “We just want to know what’s going on. We wanna help you.”

Except for a sigh, you remained silent. 

Jimin maneuvered his neck, trying to catch your eye. “I'm not leaving here until you tell me. Please, baby girl.” 

You just looked at your hands, heart rate beginning to increase. Either you had to come up with a good enough lie fast or Jimin was going to be there for a long time. 

“Whatever it is, jagiya, you can trust me,” Jimin said sweetly, wiping the remaining tears from your cheeks. “I’m not gonna be mad.”

You played with your fingers, heart beating even faster. Sure, maybe Jimin wouldn’t be mad. But, maybe he’d be judgmental. Confused. Disgusted. To tell him or not to tell him. You didn’t want to risk it. Yet his tone, the pet names, and the words of affirmation were tempting. But, you couldn’t do it. You couldn’t tell him the truth. You couldn’t bring yourself to lie either, so you decided to stay silent. 

You looked up at Jimin shyly, squinting your eyes to show him that you weren’t budging. “Make yourself comfy Jimin. It’s gonna be a long night.”

“So you're gonna tell me?”

“No.”

“But you just said—”

“I didn't say that to invite you to story time,” you snapped, immediately regretting it. You took a deep breath to compose yourself, voice now coming out small. “I just meant that you should expect to stay awhile because I’m not telling you anything. You can sit here all night, but I’m not saying a word.”

Suddenly, Jimin's concerned facial expression turned into an impish smile. He wasn't fazed by you snapping at him; he was going to use it to his advantage.

“Y/N,” Jimin said mischievously. “If you don’t tell me what’s wrong right now, I'm going to have to make you.”

Butterflies immediately erupted in your stomach. You knew that tone and threat all too well. However, you didn’t want to get too ahead of yourself. All week you had been trying to get him and the boys to tickle you; this was almost too good to be true. But the way he spoke to you, and the way he was looking at you, you knew it was going to happen. 

You bit your lip, trying to keep your composure. You had to look stubborn but flustered, knowing it would encourage him. You needed him to do this. Yet, you also couldn’t look excited, for you couldn’t let him know that this is exactly what you wanted.

Before you knew it, Jimin had straddled your hips and pinned your arms above your head. Nervous giggles fell from your lips, causing Jimin to grin. He knew this would make you tell, and he also knew that he would finally see a genuine smile on your face after too long.

“Jimihihihin…” you trailed off, trying to remain calm but obviously failing.

“Last chance, baby girl,” he teased, wiggling his fingers above your tummy tauntingly while keeping your hands secure under his free one. “You better tell me.”

With your stomach doing somersaults, you shook your head, knowing it would immediately set him off. The anticipation was killing you.

At the speed of light he dug both hands in your armpits, beginning the barrage of tickles that you had been desperately waiting for the past two weeks. Clamping your arms down from pure instinct, you burst into loud laughter. You made small efforts to push his arms away, trying to keep up the charade that you wanted to avoid his tickles but not wanting to intervene too much that he’d stop. You weren’t complaining though, as each time you tried pushing him away it allowed for him to dig his fingers in deeper. 

“JIMIHIHIHIHIHIN!” you screeched. You were squirming this way and that and screaming, but you genuinely didn’t want him to stop.

“Whahahahahat?!” he mocked, laughing at your wiggling state underneath him.

He moved onto your ribs, never letting you get used to the feeling of his fingers on a single one. Every movement caused you to let out a new hysterical giggle. 

“What’s so funny?” he teased, now targeting your sides and hips.

“NOTHIHIHING!” you squealed as he reached a particularly sensitive spot. 

“Exactly, jagiya, nothing’s funny, this is serious!” He said, with mock anger. “So you just have to tell me!” 

You couldn’t argue, as he took your hands in his own and targeted the spot right under your armpit, beside your breast. As much as it tickled, you didn’t try too hard to keep your arms down.

“HEHEHEHEHEY!” you screamed, thrashing and bucking your hips at the sensation. It was one of your worst spots—which he knew—so he had to take advantage of it to make you spill. As torturous as it was, it was also your favorite spot, so you hoped he wouldn’t move or stop too soon.

However, Jimin suddenly did stop, getting off of your hips to let you speak. “Are you gonna tell me now, baby girl?” 

He stopped the tickle attack too soon for your liking. You fought back a whine, struggling to hide your disappointment. You wanted more.

“No.”

You saw a flicker of confusion on Jimin’s face. He knew this wasn’t just you being stubborn; you flat out said no when you would usually go for the silent treatment. He saw the way you immediately frowned when he stopped tickling you. Now that he thought about it, he noticed how you barely made any efforts to fight his hands. He wasn’t too sure about what was happening, but he had a hunch.

“Alright…” he said mischievously. “I guess you leave me no choice!” 

Just as quickly as he stopped, Jimin climbed back on you and started up again, attacking your inner thighs with merciless squeezes that he knew would send you into hysterics.

“JIMIHIHIHIHIN!” you screamed, thrashing around the mattress. As much as it was almost unbearable, you were high on the feeling. This was what you wanted. You wanted him to continue with the tickles.

He leaned down, whispering in your ear in a way that even that tickled. “You better tell me, jagiya.”

“NOHOHOHO!” You fought back, managing to push him away from your face. 

“Ohohoh,” he taunted evilly. “Now you’re gonna get it.” He whipped around and grabbed your ankle, now attacking your foot. 

“DON’T DON’T DON’T” You screamed as his fingers made contact with your arch, excited panic hitting you. You sat up, trying to grab his wrists to protect yourself. 

“Well, then TELL ME!” he laughed, listening to your pleas, but only after grazing your toes as an extra threat to show you that he meant business. 

He let go of your ankle and turned around, getting off you once more. 

You had to fight back a whine once again, not quite satisfied with the amount of tickles you had received from Jimin. Not only that, he was persistent about telling him what was wrong. Jimin immediately took notice at the sign of yet another frown forming. 

“What’s the matter?” He asked, exasperated giggles spilling from his lips. “Are you embarrassed?” He studied your face carefully. As you plopped back down on the mattress, a lightbulb went off in his head. It wasn’t embarrassment that you were feeling.

“Wait a second,” he giggled. “You wanted this didn’t you?” He started poking all over your tummy and sides. 

“Nohohoho,” you argued weakly, barely making any efforts to protect your vulnerable spots. 

“Yes!” Jimin said excitedly, a huge grin now plastered on his face. “YOU WANT THIS!” 

And with that, he was on top of you again. He stuck his hands in your neck, laughing at how you scrunched up your shoulders. Taking advantage of that reaction, he stuck his hands under your armpits and tickled you there. He laughed some more as he switched between the two, never letting you get used to the feeling of one spot or allow you to protect yourself long enough. 

“I could just do this forever,” Jimin cooed, watching your reaction closely.

“NOHOHOHO!” you argued, trying to show him that his suspicions were incorrect. 

But, it was no use. He could tell that you were barely trying to escape his touch and that the smile on your face was one of contentment and relief. This was the you that he and the boys had been missing the past couple of weeks. He knew you needed this. And he was happy to oblige. 

“Oh, my, GOHOHOD!” he cackled, taking in this new information. “This is amazing!” He slowed the tickles to pokes again, not wanting to stop but allowing you room to answer him.

“Is this what was wrong, baby girl?” He asked, no sign of judgment in his voice. “You just needed tickles?” 

His eyes sparkled and his teeth were showing. He looked genuinely happy with this new knowledge. There wasn’t any use lying to him any more. 

“You love when we tickle you, don’t you?” he asked, playfully but gently. 

You bit your lip, nodding shyly. You couldn’t believe you were admitting this.

“Is that why you’ve been extra annoying lately?” he teased, skittering his fingers across your belly, causing you to jerk.

“Maybe…” You trailed off, feeling your face heat up from embarrassment. 

“It's okay, jagiya,” he giggled, leaning down to kiss and blow into your neck. You let out uncontrollable giggles, instinctively trying to scrunch up your shoulders. 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” he growled into your ear, fueling more uncontrollable giggles from you. “Huh? Huh?” 

“BeheheCAHAHAUSE!” You squealed, actually trying to push him away now because you were beginning to feel self-conscious.

Jimin finally let up. He got off of you and rested his hands in his lap, watching you closely. “Because why, baby?”

“Because…” You repeated, face feeling like it was on fire. You covered your face with your hands, the next few words barely audible. “It’s embarrassing.”

“Awww, baby girl,” Jimin cooed, taking your wrists in his hands and managing to pull them away from your face. “Don't hide, sweetheart. It shouldn't be embarrassing, baby.”

“It’s not that simple, Jimin,” you whined. “You don’t understand.”

“Then help me to,” he replied, giving you a reassuring smile. He pulled you into his lap, making you lean back against his chest and wrapping his arms around your middle. “What’s been going on?”

You took a deep breath, hoping you could trust him fully with this information. There was no getting around it this time. It was time to come clean.

“Well, i—uh, often get these cravings. Well, it’s more like a mood.”

“A mood?” 

“Yeah, uh… a lee mood.” You had never said it out loud before. It was so foreign to you that you almost didn’t know how to continue. “Being a lee means that I like to be, uh… god… t-worded.”

“Tickled?” Jimin asked, gesturing for clarification as if it was nothing.

“I can’t say it,” you squeaked, letting out a nervous laugh. “It’s ‘t-word.’”

“You can’t say… tickle?” Jimin teased, digging all ten fingers into your sides so quickly that you could barely register it, causing you to gasp.

“Jimihihihin…” you tittered.

“Okay, okay,” he chuckled, urging you to continue explaining.

“If iI were a ler, then that would mean I like to… t-word… other people…” If it were physically possible, you swear your face would be completely engulfed in flames by now. Why were you even explaining it in depth? Did he even want to hear about this? “God, I’m sorry—"

“No no, baby,” Jimin reassured, rocking you back and forth a bit. “No apologizing. I wanna know all about this if it helps me to understand what you’ve been going through the past week.”

You took a deep breath again, taking in Jimin’s natural scent to calm yourself.

“Okay, well. Like I said, I get into these lee moods, which basically means I'm craving to be t-worded. The past couple of weeks, I've been in this huge lee mood.” You went to cover your face, but he held your hands down.

“Ah, so I was right,” Jimin giggled. “You did want us to tickle you, huh?”

“Yeah,” you whined. “You guys tend to do it a lot, which makes me very happy.”

“How can we resist?” Jimin retorted, poking you a few times to get you to squirm. “You’re just so adorable when we tickle you, baby girl.”

“Well, yeah… but you guys haven’t been doing that at all. Not even a poke.” Realizing what you were saying, you started to feel panicked. This was so stupid. This wasn’t something worth getting upset over. You didn’t want it to seem like Jimin or the others had to apologize for anything. “I’m so sorry, Jimin, this is so d—”

“Oh no, baby, no,” Jimin cooed, squeezing you a bit to initiate a hug from behind. “I get it, baby girl, I know. It’s just like needing a hug, right, baby? It’s just another form of physical touch, right?”

You let out a sigh of relief. He was understanding you completely and he wasn’t judging you at all.

“Yes, that’s exactly it,” you said, squeezing him back. “But I don’t know… wanting to be t-worded just becomes such an overwhelming feeling. I was so desperate for it. I just wanted to laugh without a care in the world and be under your guys’ control.” You couldn’t help but scoff at yourself, but Jimin was grinning behind you. 

“You're so cute,” Jimin reassured, demonstrating that it was okay to continue.

“That’s why I was annoying you guys so much. Usually when I did those things, you’d t-word me. I couldn't ask, so I was just hoping I'd set you guys off.”

“So that's why you were making those extra mean jokes… and poking me so much.”

“Exactly,” you said shyly. “But this time, I was trying extra hard, but nothing was happening. So I got sad. I just felt like I was bothering you guys. I thought it would be better to stay away. I just wanted to isolate myself because it was hard being around you guys knowing nothing would happen… it didn’t help that just simply being in the same room made the mood grow.”

“Awwww, my baby, my baby,” Jimin uttered softly. “I'm sorry you weren’t getting what you wanted, jagiya. I wish you had told us sooner, baby, but I understand why you didn’t. If you asked, we would've given you what you needed right away.”

Needed. He understood. He knew that tickling wasn’t just a random, everyday concept to you; it was something required from time to time for you to be happy. 

You patted his arms as a gesture to let you go, but not for long. You turned, straddling his lap and hugging him. “Thank you,” you said shyly, feeling the urge to cry from relief. 

“Of course, my love,” he replied kindly, engulfing you in his embrace. 

“Look at me, baby,” Jimin said softly, pulling you away and holding your face in his hands. “I don’t want you to ever think you can’t come to us about anything, okay? And I don’t want you to think you can’t come to us about this. We don't think it’s embarrassing or gross, okay? We love tickling you, and knowing this only makes us want to do it more.”

You let out nervous giggles at the last part, flattered and flustered. “How do you know that they won’t judge me, though?” You pouted, feeling uneasy. “I don’t think I can bear to come clean about this again, Minnie. At least, not for a really long time.” The thought of having to explain this all again was intimidating. Saying it to Jimin was one thing, but explaining it to the rest of the boys was something else.

Jimin tightened his arms around you slightly, afraid you’d run away. “Well, jagiya, they’ve uh… been listening the whole time.”

“What?” You looked around the room, thinking they were hiding in there somewhere. “What do you mean?”

“Hey, hey,” Jimin said tenderly. “It’s going to be okay, baby, I promise.”

Your bedroom door opened slowly, and you moaned at the sight of the other six boys. 

“Oh my god…” you groaned, throwing your head into Jimin’s shoulder. “This is so embarrassing. You've really been there listening the whole time?”

“Well yeah, baby,” Namjoon said as he walked in, the others following suit. “We wanted to know what was going on.”

“But, we didn’t want to intimidate you with all of us coming in at once,” Taehyung added, sitting on the bed beside you and Jimin. He ran his hand down your back, hoping it would reassure you.

“You guys really aren’t judging me?”

“We could never,” Yoongi said, reaching over to pat your head. 

“Yeah, jagiya,” Jungkook said, sitting next to Taehyung. “You heard Jimin hyung. This only makes us want to tickle you more.” He wiggled his fingers, earning sheepish giggles from you. 

“We love you,” Jin added. “No exceptions or conditions.”

Hobi brushed some strands of hair behind your ear and smiled. “We promise.”

“Just you wait,” Jimin said as he squeezed you. “We're gonna take advantage of this. Be prepared for lots and lots of tickles. And never be afraid to ask. Never be afraid to ask for more.”

You squirmed in his hold, wanting to hide in his neck but you knew you didn’t need to. The boys loved you for you, maybe even more now. “Thank you, guys.”

Despite the reassurance that their love for you hadn’t wavered, you had to admit that you felt a bit on edge in their presence. You couldn’t believe the seven of them learned about your secret all at once. Although it was daunting, you also felt a small sense of relief that you wouldn’t have to go through the conversation again. 

Perhaps sensing your nervousness, Yoongi asked, “You okay, baby?”

You sighed, shrugging your shoulders and giving them all a forced smile. “Yeah. Just… you know. That was scary to admit. I’ve been hiding it for a long time.” 

“We’re so proud of you for telling us,” Hobi said, eyes gentle as he nodded reassuringly. 

“I know it wasn’t easy, baby, but you were so brave,” Jimin cooed. “Even if I did force it out of you a little…”

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Yoongi added, eyebrows raised with a gentle smile to ensure that it was drilled into your head. 

“Thank you,” you squeaked, jerking as you felt Namjoon’s hand drop onto your shoulder. 

“We heard a lot of laughing earlier,” Namjoon said matter-of-factly. “But I’m not sure you got two weeks worth of tickles that you deserve just yet.”

Jungkook crawled over to you and lightly pushed you down on the mattress.

You started spluttering. “J-jungkook, what—”

“How would you feel…” He began as he straddled you and pinned your wrists beside your head, just like Jimin had done. “...if we just ganged up on you and tickled you right now?”

The mischievous look in his eye, that smirk into a lip bite… you couldn’t help but squirm under Jungkook. 

“I don't knohohohow!” you giggled nervously. 

“What do you guys think, hm?” Jungkook asked the boys. 

“I think we should,” Hobi giggled, getting on his knees and ready to pounce.

“I think Y/N would enjoy it,” Taehyung teased, earning a whimper from you.

“Shut uhuhuhp,” you said, turning your head away from him to hide from his gaze. 

“I think that would indicate a ‘yes,’” Jin stated, pouting at me with faux empathy for what was about to go down. 

“Yes?” Jungkook asked you, fixing his eyes on your own just to make sure. If you were done for the day, then he would immediately get off of you. There were other ways to emphasize to you that this part of you wasn’t strange or disturbing to them. 

When you nodded, dozens of fingers descended upon you, tickling you to shreds. For the next few minutes, you squirmed all around the bed as the boys took turns attacking you, tickling you intentionally now that they knew you loved it. You were teased beyond relief, pet names and coos being tossed at you left and right. 

They targeted areas they knew would make you laugh the most and slowed down or switched spots before you could become too overwhelmed. If one of them noticed you lifting in an arm to allow a hand to slip in, they would hold it out for another boy to tickle you there. The seven of them now understood that a lot of your movements to protect yourself were involuntary, so they made sure to give you a little help in exposing your vulnerable spots. If you rolled away from a couple hands and into the lap of another boy, they made sure to back off for several seconds to let you compose yourself. 

When your laughs were becoming silent, Namjoon gestured for them to stop their fingers. You jerked as several hands connected with your body again, but you quickly relaxed when you realized they were simply rubbing firmly to relax you. 

You flopped on your back, breathing in deeply to catch your breath. A loopy smile was plastered on your face, your hair in multiple directions. 

“Was that fun?” Taehyung asked, smiling down at you proudly.

You nodded, sitting up and allowing Hobi to remove some hair away from your flushed face. 

“Do you want dinner?” Jin asked, giving you a knowing smile. “I made your favorite.”

You blushed, remembering that you ditched them earlier due to your misery. “Yes, please.”

“Let’s go then, baby,” Jungkook said, scooping you up into his arms.

Being carried out of the room bridal style in Jungkook’s arms made you feel like a spoiled princess. But most importantly, you felt eternally grateful for your boys. They made an effort to figure out what was bothering you so much, and didn’t condemn you when you had been so secretive. They didn’t judge you when you finally revealed the truth, and instead showered you with love, care, and praises. They provided you with the special touch that you so desperately longed for, and for that, you felt utterly, unconditionally loved. 

At dinner, it was as if nothing had changed. Things weren’t awkward and nor were any of them silent now that they had learned something so unique about you. Having already eaten, the boys just focused on making sure you were fed and carrying conversations with your input in mind. They had missed your voice at the table.

Jin, however, didn’t let you speak for too long, emphasizing the importance of putting food in your stomach. The boys protested a little, but knew better than to argue with their eldest hyung. Jin watched you closely as he spoon fed you, and shook his head each time you reassured you could do it yourself. 

“Nope, I don’t want my baby lifting a finger. She’s getting spoiled with all the love in the world tonight.”

When Jin got up to clean your dishes, Namjoon stole his seat and proceeded to ask you several questions about you liking to be tickled, genuinely interested and wanting to know more about it for your sake. He and the other boys wanted to provide you with what you needed in the best way that they could. When we noticed you getting increasingly shy, he decided to pause that topic.

“Let’s talk about it more later—or maybe tomorrow, okay?” He whispered in your ear, not wanting to overwhelm you. “And if you want, it can just be you and me so that it’s not as scary. I can extend the knowledge to them if it’s too intimidating for you.”

You nodded and gave him a grateful smile, giggling a little as Jungkook, Taehyung, and Hobi shouted over one another about a totally unrelated subject. Yoongi shook his head at them, but you noticed the fond smile on his face as he watched them fool around. 

Feeling your gaze across the table, Yoongi’s eyes met yours and he wiggled his fingers. He chuckled as you squirmed a bit in your seat. 

Beside you, Jimin took your hand and held it, brushing his thumb across your skin before kissing it.

“I told you they’d be okay with it, didn’t I?” 

You turned to him and grinned, then rested your head on his shoulder and nuzzled there.

You were home alone, still deprived of your tickles. You were plotting new ways to get what you wanted, but you were drawing blanks. Well, you were until you were scrolling through a tickle blog on Tumblr and saw a picture of a girl showing off her bare tummy with a teasy caption beneath. 

The smirk on your face could’ve rivaled Namjoon’s had anyone seen it.

You took a few hundred photos of every sensitive spot. From your neck to your stomach to your socked feet. You were a bit hesitant to send them at first, but then you remembered that they were being the stubborn ones. After that, you had all the confidence needed to press that “send” button before a series of pictures were forwarded to your group chat with them.

They were in dance rehearsal so you didn’t expect to get a reply as quickly as you did. It was only from one person, Jin, someone who was pretty well-tempered when it came to your antics. However, the message conveyed anything but the typically serene Jin you knew.

It merely said: Oh you’re in for it tonight kitten.

You were buzzing with anticipation; giddy or fearful, you couldn’t quite tell yet. The text from Jin kept you on edge, especially since that was the only one you had gotten and it had seemed so definite. You questioned whether you’d taken it too far, but then you realized it meant you were getting what you wanted.

Thinking too far into the outcome of this wasn’t going to last long. You heard the jingling of keys from the front door. What put you off was how silent the men behind said door were. Usually, they’d be laughing or groaning about how exhausted they were, yet you didn’t hear anything.

The door swung open. The first person you saw was Hoseok, his eyes instantly connecting with yours. It was almost eerie how quickly he captured you with his hypnotic, dominant stance.

“Hello, princess!” He announced gleefully. “Did you enjoy your day?”

It was a trick question, you were sure of it. You weren’t sure what the trick was, but Hoseok was too cheerful to actually be that, even for Hoseok.

You didn’t get to answer before Jimin was standing beside him. He held up a photo of your thighs next to his head. “Oh, I’m sure she did, hyung. Didn’t you, princess? Putting your lers in the mood while they were working must’ve been so much fun for you, huh?”

Now you saw the trick to the question. “U-Um, well, you see-”

“What I see is a little brat who needs to be dealt with,” Jungkook made his way towards you. He picked you up by your legs, making sure to steady you over his shoulder. “And we’re not going to waste any time in doing that.”

Next to feeling totally helpless in Jungkook’s grasp, the worst part about your ascent up the stairs to your room was seeing the other six men smirking at you as they leisurely strolled after you and Jungkook. It was more flustering seeing them so calm then seeing them angry like you envisioned.

“U-Um, I’m sorry?” You whimpered to Namjoon who had been closest to you.

“Aww, it’s too late for apologies, baby girl,” You simply told you. “You made your lers unfocused during rehearsal today. For that, you need to be punished.”

Your face went bright red. The promise of your demise hung in the air, and everyone around you chuckled darkly at the wide-eyed stare you gave them when you finally realized how totally screwed you were.

You’d only ever been punished by them once, and truthfully, you couldn’t feel your diaphragm for a week. You had stayed curled in a ball for hours until Jimin and Taehyung had to coax you out of bed. It was so wonderful, yet so horrid at the same time with terribleness outweighing what was so pleasing about it.

Jungkook deposited you onto the bed. He was careful as to not hurt you but also put you down in a way that let you know he was in control.

“Arms up, baby,” He commanded. When you kept your hands firmly to your chest, he sighed. “Do you really want to play that game, darling? You know how impatient my hyungs can get, and we wouldn’t want to keep them waiting. After all, the longer they have to wait to get their hands on you, the meaner they’re going to be.”

A part of you wanted to resist, just to keep up that tough facade, but even you weren’t bratty enough to go against seven angry lets. You put your wrists together and above your head like he had instructed.

“There’s our good girl~” Taehyung cooed.

With all seven of them working together, they were able to get you out of most of your clothes save your undergarments and have your arms tied nice and tight above your head.

“Look at you all pretty and tied up~” Jin purred next to your ear.

“Where should we start?” Yoongi asked the room as he cracked his knuckles, something he knew drove you up a walk.

“I say...” Jimin started ever so softly trailing his fingers across your bare stomach. “We take this nice and slow.”

Another thing that drove you insane: when they all decided to warm you up with tickles by doing this. They were the tickles that were just barely there, the ones that weren’t enough to even get a giggle out of you. The point of this was to make you squirm, and you squirming was euphoric to them.

“P-Please, don’t t-t-tease me!”

“What’s that?” Hoseok asked mockingly. “Are you actually telling us not to tease you? After everything you’ve put us through these past few days?”

“The audacity!” Jin scoffed. He emphasized his point with a quick scribble to your side.

It came as a shock from the light tracing, forcing a squeak from your lips. “AH!”

“Making cute noises already, baby girl?” Namjoon question teasingly.

You shook your head, even though you knew it was futile. Whenever they heard a squeak or a rogue giggle that was cuter than the others, it was an incentive for them to thoroughly wreck you. You were aware of their new desire when Namjoon brought this up and they knew that you knew as well.

“Ready?” Yoongi asked you.

“No!”

“Good~”

That was when the merciless torture officially began.

It was evil, beyond that. Your nerve endings were alight with ticklish sensations as all seven of them began scratching away at your sensitive skin. Not a single pair of hands relented or slowed or even showed any sign of hesitation. Even the softest of lers had taken to make sure you were wrecked with rough tickles.

“Nohoho! I’m sohohorry!” You whined.

“Are you though?” Jungkook debated with you. He hit a very sensitive part on your hips, loving the reaction you were providing him. “Because by the smile on your face, I’d say you’re pretty proud of yourself!”

“No! Nohoho, I’m nohohot!”

Someone started leaving butterfly kisses across your neck. You squealed at the soft sensations.

“Ahhh, Jin-hyung, I think she likes that~” Yoongi drew the phrase out.

“How could she not? After all, she’s always talking about how soft my beautiful lips are!” He exclaimed before returning back to his torture against your neck.

You wanted to focus on shooing him from your neck with your chin, but you had to throw your head back in laughter when you felt Jimin and Taehyung really start to scratch away at the roles of your feet. God, Jimin even went straight for the kill with your toes on one foot while he directed Taehyung to the worst spots on your other.

“Nohoho fahahair! Plehehehease!”

“Princess, I think it’s time you stop with all this complaining and just laugh for us,” Hoseok commanded of you. “Anything that isn’t a cute little laugh? Well, you remember, don’t you?”

How could you forget? Last punishment you accidentally cried out “no!” and somehow there was a toothbrush vibrating in your belly button. The seven of them didn’t bring out tools often, but you were fearful of their unpredictability... or maybe you were also extremely in love with it. Either way, it gave you shivers just thinking about it.

You nodded and just continued laughing. That was all you could do.

Your back arched when Namjoon and Yoongi tasered your sides in perfect synchronization. They gave one another a proud grin while you bucked between them. Those assholes... those freaking amazing and ruthless assholes...

You couldn’t even process the onslaught of tickles from those two for too long before Jungkook was back with his terrible hip tickles. All the while Taehyung and Jimin were still tickling your feet with such vigor. Hoseok was tracing patterns into one underarm while Jin got with other, making sure to add his tickly neck kisses into the mix.

You were in pure bliss but experiencing pure torture all at the same time. Your laughter began to go silent. Tears were running down your face before you knew what was hitting you.

“Such pretty tears, princess~” Yoongi cooed. He leaned over and kissed your cheek, showing some affection in this time of ruthlessness.

“Noho- I- ple-hehe- You were struggling to get the words out. Thankfully there was some shred of compassion left in Namjoon.

“Here, let’s give her a break real quick,” Namjoon told the others.

They retracted their fingers from your shaking body after some time. You greedily gulped in as much air as your lungs would allow while some of the guys rubbed your skin comfortingly. Tae and Jimin cuddled up to your sides, rubbing your sides soothingly.

“Having fun?” Tae asked.

“Mehehean!” You simply told them.

“Sorry, princess,” Jimin gave you a joke-pout as he pushed your hair back. “But you deserve it after everything you did today.”

“Yeheheah, I’m sohorry about that...” You apologized genuinely when you came down from your tickle high.

Jin ruffled your hair. “It’s alright, baby. But you can’t do that kind of stuff while we’re working. Your adorable tickle spots are pretty distracting, you know. Makes us want to be mean to you, which you don’t want. Well, that’s what you say.”

“We’re about to get a lot meaner anyway,” Yoongi informed you as he got closer to your body. You could see the assortment of feathers he was twirling between his fingers as he approached. “Regardless of what you say.”

“W-Wait!” You stammered. “I-I-I thought i-it was done!”

“Oh, you thought that we were finished with you?” Namjoon asked with a quirked brow. “Baby girl, this is a punishment! Did you think you could get away with only a few minutes of tickling? And besides, I do beleive Hobi told you that you weren’t allowed to do anything other than laugh.”

“Sit tight,” Hoseok patted your stomach. “The night is still young, kitten~”

If you were being too snarky, the boys would gang up on you, tickling you to shreds until you apologized. Here and there they would surprise you with a poke to the stomach to get your attention. They would tase your sides on the daily just to tease you. 

However, you had not received any of the sort for the past couple of weeks. You weren’t even getting the bare minimum from them and it was getting to you. 

You made fun of the boys several times, hoping it would earn you punishment tickles like usual. Instead of them retaliating, they would only roll their eyes and chuckle, giving a witty remark in return. Although amusing, these interactions were not what you were looking for.

During one of the first nights that your lee mood went up in flames, you figured you had taken it too far during your desperation when Jungkook ended up storming out of the room. Feeling remorseful and ignoring the remaining boys’ pleas for you to come back, you went up to your room for the rest of the night. 

You tried bothering them in a playful manner, poking them in their sides and cheeks, but this proved unsuccessful. They only pushed you away just as playfully, oblivious to why you were making such an effort to pester them. 

Once again, you must have taken it too far at one point during a K-drama marathon, for Yoongi snapped at you after one too many pokes. Feeling like a wilted flower, you sank into the sofa cushions while hot tears began to form. You felt guilty for irritating him to the point that he lost his patience with you; but more importantly, you felt ashamed that your secret desperation for something was starting to affect the people around you. After about five minutes of trying to fight your tears away, you bid the boys goodnight and claimed that you were too tired to continue the show. Once you entered your room and shut the door, you let the tears flow.

Other times, you tried to pout subtly, hoping that the boys would fall for your frowns and tickle you to cheer you up. You were sure it would work, as tickling was a common method of theirs to get you to smile again. Yet, the boys didn’t notice your pouts nor your dramatic sighs. If they did, you only received hugs and hair ruffles. You didn’t hate those gestures at all, but it still wasn’t what you were looking for.

You couldn’t ask any of the boys for tickles because none of them knew how much you enjoyed being tickled, nor what the concept of tickling meant to you. They didn’t know how important tickling was in helping you feel closer to the ones you loved, and how carefree and happy it made you. Thus, you were too afraid to ask. Every time you saw one of them around the house, you yearned to ask them, but of course you couldn’t. 

Being unable to ask them or talk to them about how tickling consumed your mind only made you sad. As a result, you felt as though you could no longer be around any of them. You were becoming increasingly discouraged that your usual methods weren’t working. What was the point of sticking around if you weren’t getting the attention you needed? Why would you bother being in the same room as any of them if all you felt was an ache in your chest, wishing they could  just tickle you already? Why would you subject yourself to that, when you knew each interaction would end in disappointment and irrational contempt towards the boys just because they couldn’t read your mind?

You were so desperate, yet nothing was working despite your efforts. With that extra rush of dopamine missing, you began isolating yourself.

When home, you came out of your bedroom less frequently, really only letting yourself out when you had to use the bathroom or join them for meals. The eight of you frequently had movie nights, but ever since you developed the need to isolate, you never lasted long. 

You stopped participating in conversations with them while at the dinner table, having no energy to speak.

If any of the boys did speak to you—either while eating or when they ran into you somewhere in the house—most of the replies they received from you were mumbles, short phrases, or one word answers. You were sure that they were getting sick of hearing “mhm” and “nice,” over and over again. However, you couldn’t help it. You had very little energy.

You didn’t even have the energy to reply to their text messages in the groupchat, only answering hours later or not at all.

You felt foolish letting something like this take such a toll on you. You figured there were worse things to worry about aside from wondering when your next tickle attack was going to be. However, the distress was hard to contain. Something you were so used to getting just suddenly disappeared. There was no way for you to take control in getting it back, because once again, you couldn’t dare to ask. You only hoped that this depression you had fallen into would pass just like it had in the past countless times before. 

You were also afraid that your constant badgering was annoying the boys, thinking back to how Jungkook stormed away and how Yoongi snapped at you. However, you couldn’t blame them; you had been doing it more than usual to gain their tickles. You figured it was best that you leave them alone for their sake. 

Unbeknownst to you, the boys had actually noticed your appearances downstairs become less and less frequent. They tried their best to cheer you up. 

They started playing playlists that included several of your favorite songs on purpose, noticing your lack of reactions as you would usually start singing along and trying to get them to dance with you. 

They noticed how you stared into space at dinner instead of joining in the conversations like usual, despite them making your favorite meals. 

They began sending more and more things in the groupchat of memes and videos they knew you would enjoy, hoping it would elicit some reaction out of you. But of course, nothing came of it, and once again they noticed. 

They noticed how you left the room early each night, taking note that you never lasted more than thirty minutes into each film or show despite them choosing your favorites.

The boys really knew something was up when last night, you didn’t even bother joining them at all. They chose your number one comfort film, assuming it would surely cheer you up. They were shocked when you declined.

Seeing you growing sadder and sadder, they now figured it was best to give you space as that was something that worked in the past and nothing else seemed to be working. They just didn’t know that this time around, space was the last thing you needed. 

So there you were, another early evening on your bed longing for a certain touch. The last hour of daylight was illuminating your room. Your phone buzzed beside your head, and you picked it up slightly to read a text from Jungkook telling the groupchat that dinner was almost ready. You felt tears brimming your eyes. You didn’t feel like eating, let alone be around them. 

When you didn’t come down for dinner, the boys knew that they had to intervene and ask you what was going on. They were growing increasingly worried for you.

After they finished eating, they headed upstairs. As they came closer and closer to your closed door, they could make out your quiet sobs. Jungkook’s, Taehyung’s, and Hobi’s eyes were as wide as quarters. The rest of them looked around at each other, wondering how to approach the situation. How long had you been crying? Had you been crying like this every night? 

“Jimin-ah,” Namjoon said quietly. “Maybe you should go in there alone.”

“Yeah,” Yoongi agreed, putting his hand on Namjoon’s shoulder. “I think we can all agree that she finds it easier to open up to you more.”

Jimin just nodded, not denying their words.

“We’ll just go downstairs,” Jin whispered. 

“Just update us,” Hobi interjected.

“We wanna know what’s wrong with our baby girl,” Taehyung said.

“Can you leave the door open a crack?” Jungkook asked innocently, earning snickers from the rest of the boys. 

“What?” Jungkook pouted, trying to remain serious. “I wanna know what’s going on.” As the boys continued to snicker, he couldn’t help smiling with them. 

“I’ll update you later,” Jimin smiled assuredly. “Follow everyone downstairs.”

“Aigoo…” Jungkook complained but listened nonetheless. 

Once they made their way downstairs with a scowling Jungkook, Jimin knocked on the door and held his breath. No answer. He knocked again—louder this time—which was when your sobs paused. You weren’t expecting a sudden interruption into your crying session.

“What?” You asked sassily, not bothering to hide how upset you were.

“Can I come in, baby girl?” 

You melted at the sound of Jimin's voice, lifting your head up slightly. You were conflicted. You thought it was best to leave them alone and isolate yourself, but you were also in desperate need of comfort.

“Fine,” you replied hoarsely, plopping your face back into your pillow.

“Heyyy, baby girl,” Jimin cooed after making his way into your room and sitting on the bed. The repeated pet name made you cry even more. You were sure Jimin was bound to come up with other names for you—horrible ones—if you somehow came clean to him. The thought alone upset you immensely, hence the increased sobs.

“We’re all worried about you, baby. Can you tell me what’s going on, pretty girl?” He hoped that his gentle tone and choice of pet names would convince you, but he didn’t know that it wasn’t that simple this time. "Why're you crying, my love?”

You shook your head and tucked your head further into your pillow. There was no way you could tell him the truth. 

“Y/N, honey, you’ve been locking yourself in your room for the majority of the day and barely talking to us.” He reached out and scratched your head lovingly, hoping some physical affection would make you come around. “We just wanna know what’s going on. We wanna help you.”

You just groaned, sobs failing to get quieter.  

Jimin maneuvered his neck, trying to catch your eye. “I'm not leaving here until you tell me. Please, baby girl.” 

“But I cahahan’t!” You wailed, heart rate beginning to increase. Either you had to come up with a good enough lie fast or Jimin was going to be there for a long time.

“Whatever it is, jagiya, you can trust me,” Jimin said sweetly, caressing your head. “I'm not gonna be mad.”

“You might!” You cried, heart beating even faster. Sure, maybe Jimin wouldn’t be mad. But, maybe he’d be judgmental. Confused. Disgusted. To tell him or not to tell him. You didn’t wanna risk it. Yet the tone, the pet names, and the words of affirmation were tempting. But, you couldn’t do it. You couldn’t tell him the truth. You couldn’t bring yourself to lie either, so you decided to keep it to yourself.

“Jagiyaaa,” he cooed. He scratched your head some more, desperate for answers. “My darling, why’re you crying so hard? You’re gonna make yourself sick, baby. You’re worrying me. It can't be that bad.”

You turned your head out from your pillow, beginning to have difficulty breathing from the heat radiating from your warm, tearful face. “It’s stupihihihid…” You weeped. You were starting to get exhausted from crying and from trying to fight Jimin off. He was going to make you cave.

“Come here, my baby,” Jimin uttered fondly, putting his hands under your armpits, using his strength to coax you into his lap. He held your face in his hands, wiping some tears away with his thumbs.

“Nothing you say could ever be stupid,” he said sternly but lovingly. “I promise. Okay?”

You stared at him through the tears in your eyes, bottom lip wobbling as you tried to contain yourself. 

“Okay,” you whimpered, failing to stop more tears from falling. You wrapped your arms around his neck, realizing how desperately you needed his comfort. 

At that moment, he just engulfed you in his arms and rocked the two of you back and forth. He cooed at you some more. “Awww, my love. My baby, my baby, my baby. It's okay.” 

With one arm wrapped around your waist, he used his free hand to cradle your head in his hand. He maneuvered his head to plant a few kisses to your temple, letting his lips linger to reassure more comfort. Then, he began scratching your back, hoping the feeling of his nails grazing your skin would soothe you further. 

“Shhh, shhh,” Jimin lulled into your ear after several minutes. “There’s no need to cry, baby, yeah?”

“I can't help it,” you whined, coughing as you argued. You nuzzled your face in his neck, taking in his scent. You just wanted to hide there forever. 

“Ohh I know, baby, I know,” he cooed sweetly. “But you’re gonna make yourself sick. Can you take a deep breath for me, baby girl?”

You pulled away from his neck and did as he asked, inhaling and exhaling three times for good measure. Relieved that you were calming down, he gave you a small smile. You leaned into his touch as he wiped your cheeks dry with the back of his hand.

“Good job, pretty girl,” he said softly. His voice was like honey, sweet and comforting to give you the safe space to tell him what was bothering you.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong, baby?” he asked quietly, lips pouting cutely with his eyebrows raised in concern. “Remember what I said, baby, you can trust me.”

Your heart was pounding so hard that you could hear it in your head. When you didn’t reply, Jimin pushed some more.

“What's been making you so sad, baby?” 

You let out a long, shaky sigh before responding. “Just please don’t… don’t judge me.”

“I could never, baby girl.”

“Well,” you started, letting out another long sigh. “I've been sad because… um… because you guys haven’t, really, t-tickled me in awhile.”

“We haven't tickled you in awhile?”

You couldn’t decipher his tone of voice nor read his facial expression. “Um—fuck.” You threw your head back, slapping your forehead a few times before bringing it down again.

“Jimin, look. I just, I really like being tickled. This is really embarrassing to admit, because this is something that little kids like, not someone my age, you know?”

You let out a nervous, almost hysterical laugh, not believing the confession coming out of your mouth. 

“Sweetheart—”

“H-hang on, Jimin. If I don’t say it all now it’s just gonna be harder.” You could hear your voice wavering with each word.

“I crave to be tickled daily. I don't know why, I just do. I have for as long as I can remember. And you guys always do that to me, which makes me really happy. I'll often try to provoke you guys to get you to tickle me.” You covered your face, feeling ashamed at the words you were revealing and trying hard to fight back fresh tears.

“But the past couple weeks, you guys haven’t tickled me at all. I haven't been able to get you guys to either. Each time I tried, I felt like I was bothering you. It’s not like I could ask—I was too scared and embarrassed. It’s made me really sad. I feel really silly letting it affect me like this, but when something that makes me happy and carefree doesn’t happen, I think it’s natural for me to feel upset… I guess.”

You bit your lip, not daring to look at him. Jimin didn’t speak, and you didn’t know if it was because he didn’t know when to begin talking since you cut him off, or if it was due to him judging you. The silence was smothering you.

“Please don’t be mad,” you whimpered, voice cracking. “Please, Jimin, please don’t think I’m weird.”

“Oh no, baby!” Jimin exclaimed. “You thought I'd get mad about that?” He pulled you into a hug again. You just let your hands fall limp in your lap, feeling dumbfounded at Jimin’s reaction. You were relieved but also confused. You had expected something much worse. 

Jimin pulled away and you looked down. You were too ashamed to look at him. He brushed a few strands of hair out of your face, wanting to catch your eye. “I could never judge you for that honey. Never. Why didn’t you come to us about this?”

When you didn’t answer, he put his finger under your chin and lifted it to get you to look at him. He smiled cutely without showing his teeth, trying to look as approachable as possible. “And don’t say ‘because it’s stupid.’”

You snickered shyly. “Well, it is stupid. That’s not something you should get upset over… I mean who wants that? It’s not like I can get away with asking for it; I’m not a little kid. It’s embarrassing.”

Jimin moved his hand to your ear, brushing more hair behind it and playing with it as he spoke.

“Well, I don’t think so,” he reassured softly. “I think it’s adorable.”

“It’s not that simple, Jimin,” you whined. “You don’t understand.”

“Then help me to,” he replied, giving you another reassuring smile.

“I feel like I need to start from the beginning to help you understand.”

“That’s alright, sweetheart.”

“Okay… Well, let’s get comfy then.”

You got off his lap and sat against the headboard, patting the mattress beside you to beckon him over. He crawled to you and you cuddled up next to him as he wrapped an arm around you. 

You took a deep breath, hoping you could trust him fully with the information you were about to spill. There was no getting around it this time. It was time to come clean.

“Well, I—uh, often get these cravings. Kind of like a mood.”

“A mood?” 

“Yeah, uh… a lee mood.” You had never said it out loud before. This was so foreign to you, You almost didn’t know how to continue. “Being a lee means that I like to be, uh… god… t-worded.”

“Tickled?” Jimin asked, asking for clarification as if it was nothing.

“I can't say it,” you squeaked, letting out a nervous laugh. 

“You can’t say… tickle?” Jimin teased.

“Jimihihihin…” you giggled shyly.

“Okay, okay,” he chuckled, urging you to continue explaining.

“If I were a ler, then that would mean I like to… t-word… other people…” If it were physically possible, you swear your face would be completely engulfed in flames by now. Why were you even explaining it in depth? Did he even want to hear about this? “God, I’m sorry—”

“No no, baby,” Jimin reassured, rocking you back and forth a bit. “No apologizing. I wanna know all about this if it helps me to understand what you’ve been going through the past week.”

You took a deep breath again, taking in Jimin’s natural scent to calm yourself.

“Okay, well. Like I said, I get into these lee moods, which basically means I'm craving t-words. The past couple weeks, I’ve been in this huge lee mood.” You went to cover your face, but he held your hands down.

“Ah, I see,” Jimin giggled. “You wanted us to tickle you, huh?”

“Yeah,” you whined shyly. “Like I said before, you guys tend to do it a lot, which makes me very happy. But you guys haven’t been doing that at all. Not even a poke. That's why I got so sad.” Realizing what you were saying, you started to feel panicked. This was so stupid. You didn’t want it to seem like Jimin or the others had to apologize for anything. “I’m so sorry, Jimin, this is so d—”

“Oh no, baby, no,” Jimin cooed, squeezing you a bit to initiate a hug. “I can see how much it affected you. It made you feel way more than just sad.”

You just played with your fingers, feeling a little shy knowing what he observed about you.

“I get it, baby girl, I know. It's just like needing a hug, right baby? It’s just another form of physical touch, yeah?”

You let out a sigh of relief. He was understanding you completely. He wasn't judging you at all.

“Yes, yes that’s exactly it,” you said, squeezing him back. “But I don’t know, wanting to be t-worded just becomes such an overwhelming feeling. I was so desperate for it. I just wanted to laugh uncontrollably and be under your guys’ control. It's like for just a second, I don't have to worry about things that are bothering me. And it makes me feel closer to you guys.” You couldn’t help but scoff at yourself, but Jimin was grinning beside you. 

“You're so cute,” Jimin reassured, implying that it was okay to continue.

“That’s why I was annoying you guys so much. Usually when I did those things, you’d t-word me. I couldn’t ask, so I was just hoping I'd set you guys off.”

“Right, you had said that… so that’s why you were making those extra mean jokes… and poking me so much.”

“Exactly,” you said shyly as he chuckled at the realization. “But this time I was trying extra hard, but nothing was happening. So I got sad. I just felt like I was bothering you guys. I thought it would be better to stay away. I just wanted to isolate myself because it was hard being around you guys knowing nothing would happen… it didn’t help that just simply being in the same room made the mood grow.”

“Awwww, my baby, my baby” Jimin uttered softly. “I'm sorry you weren’t getting what you wanted, jagiya. I wish you had told us sooner, baby, but I understand why you didn’t. If you asked, we would've given you what you needed right away.”

Needed. He understood. He knew that tickling wasn’t just a random, everyday concept to you; it was something required from time to time for you to be happy. 

You patted his arms as a gesture to let you go. You climbed into his lap to straddle and hug him. “Thank you,” you breathed out, suddenly feeling the urge to cry from relief. 

“Of course, my love,” he replied kindly, engulfing you in his embrace. 

“Look at me, baby,” Jimin said softly, pulling you away and holding your face in his hands. “I don’t want you to ever think you can’t come to us about anything, okay? And I don’t want you to think you can’t come to us about this. We don't think it’s embarrassing or gross, okay? We love tickling you, and knowing this only makes us want to do it more.”

You let out nervous giggles at the last part, flattered and flustered. “How do you know that they won’t judge me, though?” You pouted, feeling uneasy. “I don’t think I can bear to come clean about this again, Minnie. At least, not for a really long time.” The thought of having to explain this all again was intimidating. Saying it to Jimin was one thing, but explaining it to the rest of the boys was something else.

“I just know,” he said before kissing your cheek. “Trust me.”

You just rolled your eyes. It just seemed way too good to be true.

“Hey, I'm serious! What can I do to make you believe me?”

“I don't know,” you groaned, throwing your head into his shoulder dramatically. 

“Would it help if we started with me?”

“Huh?” You asked, lifting your head to look at him with a confused expression.

A soft smile appeared on Jimin’s face. “Would you feel better if I tickled you right now?”

“Oh—” you squirmed slightly in his lap, covering your mouth at the question. 

He giggled at your reaction, holding your hips to keep you steady. “I feel like you don’t even believe that I'm not judging you. So would tickling you help?”

“I don’t know…” you mumbled, fighting back a smile. “Maybe.”

“Well, I do owe you two weeks worth of tickles, don't I?” Jimin suggested.

The playfulness in his voice made you squirm some more. “Jimihihihin…”

“So is that a yes?” He asked, biting his lip to fight back giggles in case any sign of laughter would embarrass you. The last thing he wanted to do was make you think that he was making fun of you. “I think it would make you feel better. Yeah?"

You nodded your head in your hands, tensing up as you felt his hands creep up your sides.

“I'll go slow, baby girl,” he said reassuringly. “I promise, okay?”

Nervous giggles spilled out of your mouth as his fingers got into position. Out of instinct to protect your weak spots, your hands shot down to hold his wrists.

“I haven't even started yet,” Jimin cackled, looking at you with pure affection. You were so adorable in his eyes. 

“I knohohow, I'm sorry.”

“Don't be.” His fingers grazed exposed skin just above your hips, and your body shot forward. Your head collided into his shoulder, laughing shyly over how you reacted to him barely touching you.

Jimin grinned at that reaction and made a sound faking pain from the impact. 

“Sorry,” you said through tiny giggles.

“I said don’t be!” he replied, speeding his fingers up a little. As you were leaned over, more skin was exposed and this inspired him to go higher and over your ribs.

You squealed and collapsed against him, turning your elbows in to shield yourself. 

“You said you’d go slohohow!” You whined through more giggles, not even mad. 

“Ahh, that’s right, I did say that, didn't I?” He teased, poking you in a rapid, unpredictable pattern. 

You squirmed around in his lap, grasping at his fingers. He always managed to avoid your attempts to stop, which you secretly thanked him for. 

“Dohohon’t!” You pleaded, but you really didn’t want him to stop at all. 

Jimin paused, hands resting on your hips. "Do you need me to slow down, baby girl?"

Panting slightly through tiny giggles, you shook your head. You determined that you were warmed up now, and you were more than ready for your two weeks worth of tickles at full speed.

Without saying another word, he pushed you off him, maneuvered you onto your back, and straddled you.

“Ready?” He laughed.

You nodded excitedly in reply. 

His fingers wiggled all over your abdomen and you glued your arms to your sides to avoid blocking his hands. You squirmed as his fingers circled around your stomach and danced over your hips.

“You’re so cute,” he cooed, hands making a brief visit to your neck and collarbones.

Tiny, happy giggles streamed out of your mouth as he continued. You were enjoying yourself, and so was he. 

“I think you need to laugh more,” Jimin said after a few minutes. Without giving you time to reply, he got off you and turned you onto your stomach. You shrieked, knowing where this was going. 

He rested his hands on the bottom of your back and the uncontrollable giggles already began. 

“Waihahahait!”

You felt his fingers draw shapes around your back and up your spine in a teasing manner as he giggled behind you, waiting for your cue to go.

“Oh—” A poke to your right side.

“Hehehey! Oh—” A poke to your left side.

“Jimihihin!” A flutter into your neck. God he was such a tease. “Ohkahahay!” 

Hands shot into your armpits and hysterical laughter bubbled up from your throat. Being on your stomach, it was basically impossible to grab his hands from behind. Jimin’s tactics were unpredictable, moving down to your sides and in between your thighs before going back to your armpits. He made rounds to those spots over and over again, loving every reaction from you that resulted from it. Your genuine belly laughter was music to his ears.

After a few minutes, your breath was starting to shorten from being basically facedown in the sheets and laughing so hard. As much as you didn’t want the conflicting and torturous pleasure to end, you had to surrender.

“Alrighihihihight! I'm dohohone!”

Jimin immediately stopped and you flopped onto your back. Exhausted and with one eye open, you watched him giggle at your panting form. You covered your face with an arm, shy due to him observing you. Your way of hiding was short-lived, however, when you felt a finger poke your armpit and was forced to bring it down.

“Do you believe me now, sweetheart?”

You felt around for his hand. Finding it, you held it to your chest and nodded.

“Do you feel better?” 

You nodded again.

“Thank you,” you breathed out, smiling gratefully. Then, thinking about how the other boys might react, your smile faltered a little. Jimin had convinced you about his opinion, but you weren’t too sure about the rest of the boys.

As if reading your mind, Jimin said, "Hey. I promise you they’ll have the same reaction as me, okay?” 

You turned on your side to get a better look at him, and nodded once again into the sheets. 

“I bet Jungkookie will be the first one to take advantage of this information,” he inferred, trying to make your unease slip away. You bit your lip, fighting back giggles at how true his sneaking suspicion about Jungkook was. 

“That scares me,” you said humorously, thinking of how much of an evil tickler Jungkook could be. Jimin was right—Jungkook would have a field day when he found this out about you. 

“And Taehyungie… well… let’s just say you’ll have to watch your back.” Jimin’s statement made you squirm. You would indeed have to be on the lookout once Taehyung got hold of this information. He was so playful and mischievous, so he would certainly catch you off guard with more unexpected tickles from now on. 

Jimin's examples were doing well at convincing you. You were too busy worrying about bad reactions that you didn’t even consider positive, completely plausible scenarios that would play out after they discovered this part of you. 

“I can tell that that was pure happiness right there,” Jimin smiled, tenderly brushing strands of hair away from your face and behind your ear. “You really love that, don’t you, baby?”

“Yeah,” you said, feeling yourself blushing.

“I’m so glad you told me, baby. Not only because I now understand why you were so sad and isolating yourself, but because I can do something that makes you happy. And this makes me happy too.”

“Really?” you squeaked.

“Really.”

You sat up and kneeled to hug him, teetering slightly as the mattress shaped around your knees. He hugged you back tightly, keeping you steady and rubbing your back comfortingly. 

“Are you ready to tell them, baby girl?” He asked, watching you closely as you pulled away. “They’re all worried about you.”

“Yeah, I guess. I just…”

“What’s up, baby girl?” Jimin asked patiently. “What’re you thinking?”

“Can you do it?” You pouted, feeling uneasy. “I don’t think I can bear to come clean about this again, Minnie. At least, not for a really long time.” The thought of having to explain this all again was intimidating. Saying it to Jimin was one thing, but explaining it to the rest of the boys was something else.

“If that will make it easier for you, of course I can.” He scooted off the bed and took your hands, tugging at them a little to get you to follow him. “How about you have some dinner, and I’ll go tell them. How does that sound?”

“Sounds good,” you replied simply.

“I promise it’ll be okay,” he reassured, tugging at your arm and starting to walk to the door with a funny sway.

You giggled at him and he giggled back, satisfied that he made you smile and convinced you to follow him downstairs. 

The boys turned their heads as you entered the living room with Jimin.

Jungkook hopped up from his spot on the couch and made his way over to you. “Are you okay, jagiya?”

“Yeah,” you replied warmly, wrapping your arms around his waist to hug him. Jungkook squeezed you and kissed the top of your head before letting you go.

Namjoon piped up from his seat on the couch, saying, “We heard you crying, baby. We were so worried about you.”

“Sorry about that,” you said nervously. Namjoon shook his head and gave you a reassuring smile in return. “That’s embarrassing.”

“It's never embarrassing to cry,” Yoongi chimed in. “We just wished you weren’t alone in your sadness, baby girl.”

Taehyung came over and caressed your cheek. “It's so good to see you smiling.” You giggled and smacked his hand away half-heartedly. 

Jimin led you into the kitchen and took the leftovers out for you to heat up. “Do you want me to stay here with you, baby girl, or should I tell them now?”

You hesitated, listening to them all laugh about something in the next room. You remembered their concerned faces when you came into the living room. They deserved to get some answers as soon as possible. “You can tell them.” 

“Alright, cutie. Just eat—I don’t want you to worry about it anymore, okay?”

“Okay,” you mumbled. You crashed your body into him and hugged him tightly. You wanted to trust his word that they wouldn’t care, but you were scared that this would be the last taste of normalcy before the rest of the boys became disgusted with you. This would be the last time you would be keeping this secret all to yourself, and you hoped it would go well.

He hugged you back, chuckling at how you clung onto him. “Everything's gonna be fine, I promise. Okay?”

“Okay.” 

Jimin winked at you before going into the living room. 

You heated up some kimchi fried rice and tried to focus on your chewing instead of letting your mind wander, thinking of any possible outcome to the conversation that was going on. Would they get mad? Would they judge you? Would the tables be turned on Jimin, in which they’d get angry at him for being okay with it? 

Every now and then you would strain your ears to try and make out anything that was being said in the living room. However, you would find yourself getting too scared and turn to sipping your drink loudly, wanting to completely drown them out instead. It wasn't that hard to drown them out though, as you could only hear their hushed tones and fail to make out any coherent words. 

You were so anxious. Your leg bounced up and down in your seat. Your appetite was growing smaller after each passing minute—not because you were satiating your hunger, but because you felt nauseous. You didn’t think you could eat much more, even though you had only had a couple of bites.

You heard a few laughs from the next room, causing your heart to beat faster. What are they saying? you thought, getting up to do something about your food. Were they making fun of you? Were the laughs supposed to be a good sign?

You put your barely-touched rice in the container with the leftovers that Jimin had previously taken out, and then you brought your own bowl to the sink. Once you put it down, you started overthinking again.

You leaned over the sink and put your head in your hands. How did you finally get into this position? You had kept this secret locked away in your mind for years, and now suddenly seven people had learned about it in one day. How much longer were they going to take? The anticipation of knowing what they thought about this secret was killing you. 

Suddenly, you jerked as you felt a hand briefly tickle your side—just under your ribs—which pulled you out of your thoughts. You turned to see Jungkook smiling at you mischievously. 

“Hi,” he giggled, nose scrunched. 

“Hi…?” You repeated back nervously. 

You turned some more and saw six more boys staring at you. Yoongi had a smug smile on his face. Jin had his eyebrows furrowed and Namjoon had his lips pursed, both faking seriousness with hands under their chins as if they were up to something. Hobi was leaning against the kitchen table, trying not to laugh. Taehyung was trying to hold in his own laughter, the boxy smile making his eyes disappear.

You glanced at Jimin for support, wondering if you should be worried. He had a proud smile on his face, so you figured you could relax. 

“What…?” You whined, nervous by how they were looking at you.

“Oh, nothing,” Jungkook replied. “Just found out some really valuable information.”

“Oh—well… how do you guys feel about that information?” You asked, trying to play along. “You aren’t judging me?” As you asked the latter, your voice got small. Your hands were shaking. 

Both Jin and Namjoon’s gazes softened. Hobi and Taehyung’s stifled laughter completely stopped as they took your evident concern seriously. 

“Oh baby, no!” Jungkook exclaimed. “Of course not, baby.”

“We could never judge you, baby,” Namjoon added with sincerity.

“Jimin told you that, right?” Yoongi nodded with that cute pursed smile of his. 

“There's nothing to be ashamed of,” Hobi chimed in. “It makes you happy, right?”

“Well yeah, but—“

“No but’s!” Jin interrupted, putting his hands up. “That's all that matters.”

“Come here, jagiya,” Taehyung said in a sweet voice, hugging you tightly with his arms around your shoulders. He rubbed your back a few times and you melted into his body.   

“Thank you, guys,” you mumbled in his chest, inhaling a shaky breath. Noticing, the boys immediately joined Taehyung in a group hug. You felt a couple hands patting your head, one caressing your cheek, and a few rubbing your arms. 

Each touch showed that their love for you was unconditional. You didn’t need to feel afraid to share this part of you with them anymore. 

“Do you want to eat now?” Jin asked, eyeing the container of leftover fried rice on the table before giving you a knowing smile. 

You blushed, realizing that he could tell that you had barely eaten a thing. With this weight lifted off of your shoulders, you could finally eat without feeling nauseous. “Yes, please.”

“Let’s go then, baby,” Jungkook said, scooping you up into his arms. You yelped, not expecting to be picked up but endeared that Jungkook wanted to carry you to a seat only a few feet away. 

Being carried bridal style in Jungkook’s arms made you feel like a spoiled princess. But most importantly, you felt eternally grateful for your boys. They made an effort to figure out what was bothering you so much, and didn’t condemn you when you had been so secretive. They didn’t judge you when you finally revealed the truth, and instead showered you with love, care, and praises. They provided you with the special touch that you so desperately longed for, and for that, you felt utterly, unconditionally loved. 

As you ate your dinner, it was as if nothing had changed. Things weren’t awkward and nor were any of them silent now that they had learned something so unique about you. Having already eaten, the boys just focused on making sure you were fed and carrying conversations with your input in mind. They had missed your voice at the table.

Jin, however, didn’t let you speak for too long, emphasizing the importance of putting food in your stomach. The boys protested a little, but knew better than to argue with their eldest hyung. Jin watched you closely as he spoon fed you, and shook his head each time you reassured you could do it yourself. 

“Nope, I don’t want my baby lifting a finger. She’s getting spoiled with all the love in the world tonight.”

When Jin got up to clean your dishes, Namjoon stole his seat and proceeded to ask you several questions about you liking to be tickled, genuinely interested and wanting to know more about it for your sake. He and the other boys wanted to provide you with what you needed in the best way that they could. When he noticed you getting increasingly shy, he decided to pause that topic.

“Let’s talk about it more later—or maybe tomorrow, okay?” He whispered in your ear, not wanting to overwhelm you. “And if you want, it can just be you and me so that it’s not as scary. I can extend the knowledge to them if it’s too intimidating for you.”

You nodded and gave him a grateful smile, giggling a little as Jungkook, Taehyung, and Hobi shouted over one another about a totally unrelated subject. Yoongi shook his head at them, but you noticed the fond smile on his face as he watched them fool around. 

Feeling your gaze across the table, Yoongi’s eyes met yours and he wiggled his fingers. He chuckled as you squirmed a bit in your seat. 

Beside you, Jimin took your hand and held it, brushing his thumb across your skin before kissing it.

“I told you they’d be okay with it, didn’t I?” 

You turned to him and grinned, then rested your head on his shoulder and nuzzled there.

Maybe it was because you hadn’t exactly approached them when the time to tell them came. You hadn’t come to them on your own accord; the admittance was rather coerced out of you after the boys noticed something was bothering you. You didn’t hate them or blame them for it, however. 

If they hadn’t heard you crying that night and Jimin never came in to console you, you weren’t sure when you would have ever told them. The prospect of telling them never crossed your mind throughout those two weeks; you were certain you could’ve ridden out the depression you faced due the lack of tickles you had received, just like you had always done. 

You had received tickles from them each day since that night—the night where you finally broke down and told them—and you weren’t exactly complaining. You loved the constant barrage of pokes to your tummy, tases to your sides, feathery fingers to your neck, and tickly kisses to your face. Those were acts of affection you had always welcomed from them, and it seemed that it was being multiplied now that they discovered how much you truly loved it. 

However, something was nagging you deep down, like a dull splinter at the bottom of your foot.  Each time they tickled you, you felt a pang of discomfort—a mix of shyness, embarrassment, and shame. Due to these feelings, your lee mood was nonexistent. It wasn’t exactly because they were tickling you so much that it didn’t leave room for the desire for tickles, it was because you felt exposed now that they knew. 

Almost a week had passed since that night, and the boys—especially Namjoon—kept asking you when you would like to sit down and talk about why you enjoyed tickling in depth. 

“Let’s talk about it more later—or maybe tomorrow, okay?” He whispered in your ear, not wanting to overwhelm you. “And if you want, it can just be you and me so that it’s not as scary. I can extend the knowledge to them if it’s too intimidating for you.”

You had been putting it off, and you were certain that you’d run out of excuses by tomorrow. The first couple days were understandable. The boys had a lot more work to catch up on than they realized and Namjoon thought it was best to set aside time to truly be intentional with the conversation, rather than squeezing it in between schedules. It was important to him, as well as to the rest of the boys; it wasn’t a discussion to be rushed. He had asked you if the next day would work, and you agreed. 

However, the next day—wanting to avoid it still—you spent the majority of the day shopping and eating out with a few friends. You came back so late that the conversation wasn’t worth having. Thus, the boys had asked you if you could have the conversation the following day. You agreed, but you were already planning something to delay it. When you woke up that morning—yesterday—you claimed that you weren’t feeling good. Luckily for you, the boys bought it, and in turn they thought it was best to push the conversation to the next day when your head wasn’t feeling so cloudy. Today, you didn’t know what you could tell them to put it off again. 

Sitting down to talk about it would make it real. It would emphasize that the boys knew. It would make your fantasies of being tickled by the people you loved the most a reality. You would have to admit certain details out loud, things you barely even repeated to yourself. There was also the underlying fear that if you went into those details, the boys would judge you. They would be finding out more than just surface level I highly enjoy being tickled information. 

You had always thought that you would feel happy and relieved after telling them. You truly were at first. You assumed your lee mood would be off the charts. Yet, now that you had settled with it, you felt uncomfortable. 

They now had access to a side of you that you had kept hidden for as long as you could remember, and that reality was daunting. Furthermore, you felt as if you had given them a chore rather than another form of affection to work with. You didn’t want them to feel like they had to tickle you. But you wanted it so badly. The conflicting messages in your head were eating at your brain. 

Waking up on day five, you rubbed your eyes with your palms as if the action would scrub away the jitters you were experiencing. You felt on edge. Would any of the boys tickle you today? Would they ask you if you could finally sit down and have the conversation? Maybe if you didn’t bring it up, it would slip from their minds.

At the sound of your phone vibrating on your nightstand, you opened your eyes and reached for your phone.

10:32am. A calendar alert. A few Instagram notifications. A text from Namjoon. 

Joonie: You up?

You sighed, debating whether you should go back to sleep and pretend to be sick for another day. But you knew the boys weren’t stupid; they’d notice that you were faking, and they would realize that you were stalling the conversation if they hadn’t already. 

Suddenly, you heard footsteps approaching your room. Quickly sliding your phone under your pillow, you tugged your bedsheets up so high that they nearly covered your nose. If you pretended to be asleep, you could delay your dilemma a little longer. 

You groaned internally as you heard your bedroom door open, praying that whoever was at the door would see you cuddled up in your sheets and go away. But, the footsteps came closer, and a hand was shaking your shoulder with the intention of waking you up.

So much for pretending to sleep, you thought. 

“Babyyy,” Taehyung said softly. “Wake up, darling.”

You whined. To Taehyung, it seemed as though you were annoyed with being ripped out of your slumber. But in reality, you were bothered by the fact that you’d have to get up and face the day. 

You turned to face Taehyung, and he giggled at your pout. “Good morning, sleepy girl.”

You squeaked at his affection, tucking yourself deeper into the blankets and making him coo. “Are you feeling better today?” He put his hand to your forehead. Obviously, you didn’t have a fever the day before, but Taehyung wanted to make sure your health wasn’t declining. As far as you knew, all of the boys fell for you not feeling well yesterday and were under the impression that it wasn’t serious. 

When you didn’t respond, Taehyung removed his hand from your forehead and switched to running his fingers through your hair instead. “Well, you don’t feel warm. You okay, darling?”

You inhaled deeply, reluctantly rolling away from Taehyung’s touch as you stretched. “Just tired.”

Taehyung hummed. “I can see that. You’re sleeping in kind of late, huh? We were worried you weren’t feeling good still so I wanted to come check on you.” He cupped your cheek in his hand and caressed it with his thumb. You resisted the urge to melt into it and fall back asleep right there. 

“I’m okay, baby,” you reassured, not only trying to convince him. 

“Okay, darling. Jin hyung and Jeongukkie are making breakfast, so come down when you’re ready.” He pinched your cheek affectionately and got up, but not before playfully sticking a finger in your ear. Your heart plummeted into your stomach as you squealed from the ticklish sensation. 

Taehyung practically skipped to the door, amused by your reaction. “Oh, and Namjoon hyung wants to know if we could talk to you later. I’ll let him know that you’re awake.”

Your heart sunk further into your stomach, nagging at your intestines. It must have shown on your face, because Taehyung was quick to console you.

“It’s nothing bad, darling! It’s just about the t-words, that’s all.” He shot you a reassuring smile before exiting the room.

Oh, but that was bad, and Taehyung had no idea. None of them knew how much having this conversation was bothering you. There was no escaping it today. You couldn’t prolong it any longer.

Reluctantly, you got out of bed and dragged yourself to the en suite bathroom to do your morning routine. You took longer than usual, putting off having to face the boys as much as possible. Then, you made your way to your closet. You chose a pair of black lounge shorts that had seen better days due to you from wearing them so much, and then an over-sized black t-shirt you stole from Jungkook. If you were going to be uncomfortable you might as well dress comfortable. Deeming yourself acceptable in the mirror, you made your way downstairs. 

As you entered the kitchen, you noticed Jungkook and Jin at the stove while the rest of the boys were sitting at the table. You made your way over to the empty seat at the end which was beside Yoongi, who was sitting at the head of the table; you decided in a split second that he would be the least likely to find a way to potentially tickle you right now. At the same time, you were definitely setting yourself up, because Jimin was right beside you and Namjoon was across from you. 

Sensing your presence, Yoongi looked up from his phone and gave you a small, warm smile. You forced one back. 

“Morning, sunshine,” Hobi said cheerfully from across the table. 

“Morning,” you breathed out, taking advantage of you needing to scoot your chair in to avoid looking at him.

“How are you feeling, baby?” Jimin asked. You tensed up as he massaged the back of your neck, the action unintentionally tickling you. You didn’t want to give into the reaction, partly out of embarrassment and partly to not bring attention to the t-wording topic. 

“I’m better today,” you replied, trying with immense difficulty to not make your voice sound strained.

“Good.” You relaxed when his hand left your neck. 

“Let us know if that changes,” Taehyung chimed in from beside Jimin. 

You responded with a chipper hum, wishing deep down that they would stop talking to you. You were on edge, every sound and every touch bothering you. You wanted your seat to swallow you whole as Namjoon spoke. 

“Should we talk about it after breakfast?” 

You couldn’t bear to look at him, opting to stare at his shoulder instead. You were slightly annoyed by his question, finding it quite rude that he didn’t at least say “hello” or “good morning” first. You took a deep breath, beginning to fidget with your fingers in your lap as your mind raced to come up with another excuse. 

Can’t, I have to leave and meet up with so and so right away.

Can’t, I actually don’t feel good. I’m going to go back upstairs and lay down for a bit.

Can’t, I have an appointment with my therapist at 12 o’clock so I really have to rush out of here.

Glancing at Namjoon’s face, you realized he was waiting for a response.

“Sure.” 

You shrank in your chair, crossing and uncrossing your legs as you felt Namjoon’s eyes lingering on you.

“Do you… do you want to have that conversation with all of us or just me?” His voice became quieter as if he sensed how uncomfortable you were. He treaded carefully, not wanting to scare you away or offend the other boys if you wanted to have a one-on-one conversation. 

I don’t want to have that conversation at all, you thought to yourself. 

“All of you is fine,” you said, voice unnaturally high.

“Okay, baby.” Namjoon gave you a soft smile, but you couldn’t return it. 

“Here you go, darling,” Jin said softly from behind you, maneuvering his arm between you and Jimin to place a bowl of heukmi bap in front of you. Jungkook came around the table to set several plates of banchan down, making sure to place a kiss to the top of your head when he passed you.

You split the fried egg Jin had topped it with using your spoon, watching the yolk trickle onto the purple rice. Your jitters were causing you to feel queasy, so the idea of eating was not very appealing to you.

Everyone was being so gentle with you, so you felt bad for being irritated and short with them. It was as if you convinced yourself that the anger festering inside you would protect you from what felt like impending doom. You played with your food, mixing the bits of egg and rice around in your bowl rather than putting a spoonful in your mouth. You were stubborn—not eating was an act of resistance against the boys for simply checking up on you. It was easier to be angry than to break down your walls and be vulnerable with them. It was easier to blame them for a misdeed that you irrationally made up than to admit your insecurities and shame for wanting to be tickled. 

“Sorry for bringing it up right away, baby girl,” Namjoon spoke up, as if he read your mind. “I just wanted to finally talk to you about it because it kept getting pushed back. I didn’t want you to think we didn’t want to learn more about it, otherwise I feared you would feel judged by us. I can tell it’s been bothering you and I think you’d feel better if you finally got it all out in the open, yeah?”

You nodded, then hung your head in shame, feeling slightly guilty for your irritation toward him before. “I understand, Joon.”

He placed his hand on the table palm-up, offering it for you to hold. “There’s nothing to be afraid of, jagi. I promise.”

“Okay,” you said quietly, accepting his hand. You wanted to believe him. It just seemed too good to be true.

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

After breakfast, the eight of you filed into the living room. You plopped down on one of the couches, sinking into the corner as you brought your knees up to your chest. Namjoon sat next to you, with Jimin beside him. Hobi and Jin sat on the other couch with Taehyung in tow—before he changed his mind and snuggled up to Jimin instead. Yoongi made himself comfortable on an arm chair while Jungkook plopped himself on the floor in front of you. 

Namjoon spoke up before the silence became smothering. “Before we start, jagi, I just want to put it out there that no one is judging you here. Anything you say will be heard and acknowledged with an open mind.” When you nodded, Namjoon continued. “It’s natural to feel nervous, baby. I can tell that you are. But it’s alright, baby. You’re safe here. We have a few questions—purely from curiosity—but we’re not going to judge you no matter the response.”

Your eyes seared into your knees, wanting to focus on anything but the attention being put on you. The situation was so overwhelming. You knew you were dreading it, but you didn’t expect to cry in front of them, especially when you had been feeling so angry during breakfast. You had already told them bits and pieces, so why was it so difficult to tell them more? None of the boys made you feel judged thus far, so you couldn’t pinpoint as to why you thought any of them would now.  

“I’m scared,” you trembled, wiping a tear away. 

“Oh, baby,” Jungkook cooed from the floor, reaching up to rub your ankle. 

“Hey, hey,” Jimin soothed from beside Namjoon. “Don’t cry, baby girl. It’s okay. You’re okay.” The inflection after each of Jimin’s reassurances comforted you, demonstrating his unbounded patience. 

“What are you scared of?” Namjoon asked, putting a steady hand on your thigh. He caressed his thumb across your skin as he waited for a response.

“I’m scared you’ll think of me differently. I don’t want you to think I’m weird once you know more. Obviously I haven’t told you everything so you just don’t understand how deep this goes.” Your breath hitched as you tried to compose yourself between words. 

“Baby, look at me,” Namjoon directed gently. “I need you to know that we love you so much. Nothing you do or say will ever change that. Nothing.”

“I’m sorry,” you replied, wiping a couple more tears away and sniffling. You didn’t want the boys to think that you were doubting their love and affection for you. You wanted to trust them, but that trust couldn’t be built over night when you spent years believing that you had to be ashamed and that anyone you told would turn you away. 

“You don’t need to be,” Hobi reassured softly.

Resting your hands on your knees, you took a deep breath. “I don’t really know how to start, so, what would you like to know?”

The boys looked around at each other, wondering who should speak first. Namjoon however, knew that he should take the reins. He was the one who suggested you sit down and discuss the topic in the first place, and he determined that having one person do most of the talking would overwhelm you the least.

“When did you first realize that you liked being tickled? Or t-worded, I should say. Do you want us to say ‘t-word,’ baby?”

You giggled shyly, making all of the boys relax. That was the first glimpse of joy they had seen from you all morning. It gave them hope that you would break your walls down and be vulnerable with them.

“You can say the word. I personally can’t. I’ll get to that later.”

Namjoon smiled at you, fond of your predicament and happy that you were being transparent and honest. 

“For as long as I can remember, t-wording has always been a focus in my mind. When I was little, I would often ask for someone to t-word me. Of course, when you’re a child, you can get away with those questions and little me didn’t think much of it.”

A few of the boys hummed.

“Looking back, I can see how much I enjoyed it more than most kids,” you continued. “I started noticing when my family members would t-word me beyond the usual times when they would do so simply from playfulness or as part of a game. For example, if I nuzzled into my uncle’s side a certain way, he would keep me trapped against him and t-word me until I rolled away. I would keep doing that until he didn’t do it anymore and just let me sit against him. I remember getting disappointed every time he stopped.”

You let out a pitiful laugh for your younger self. “Obviously, being so young, I didn’t realize the significance of it. I just knew I wanted someone to t-word me. When I got older, I realized that me wanting to be t-worded so much wasn’t exactly common. I started getting curious. Curiosity turned into shame. I started getting—I don’t know—secretive.

“I remember being so fixated on just the word. I would look up the word in dictionaries and just read it over and over.” You groaned, realizing how strange you must have sounded. “I would get incredibly paranoid, feeling like that someone was watching me and I would get in trouble. I felt like I was doing something bad.”

“Why did you think it was bad, baby?” Taehyung asked, genuinely astounded that younger you would develop a fear over something so innocent. 

“Because, I started…” You didn’t know if you wanted them to know this. “It went beyond just looking it up in the dictionary. I started looking up t-wording scenes in movies and TV shows. It’s weird, I know.”

“Well, I think I understand why you were doing that though, baby,” Namjoon sympathized. “Like you said, you were fixated on it. You weren’t getting it as much and you wanted to see it. You were in puberty, and just like all adolescents, you were curious with somewhat unrestricted internet access. Watching it was the closest thing you could get to experiencing it.”

You bit back a smile, thankful that he was connecting the dots. It didn’t feel like you had to rationalize to save yourself. Namjoon was truly understanding and searching for realistic explanations and comparisons to your experiences. 

“I don’t know, it was more than that. I thought it was bad because when I would watch a friend get t-worded, they would get so defensive and annoyed and plead for the other person to stop. Even though I was shy and would tense up, I would enjoy watching it. I remember wishing that it was me being tickled or that they would attack me next. If they didn’t, I would get disappointed. I started thinking that if my friend hated it so much—if everyone hated it so much—why did I want it so badly? Was I a freak? Was I a bad person for wanting to be t-worded and being obsessed with watching it?”

Several of the boys cooed, disagreeing with the view you had of yourself. 

“Sweetheart, you’re not a bad person for that, okay? You never were.” Jin lifted his eyebrows, showing you that he meant business but his eyes had a softness to them. “Everyone has their own interests, and yours just happened to be tickling. There are millions of people out there with unique interests. Are all of those people bad just because they’re different?”

“No,” you mumbled. 

 “There you go, darling,” Jin said. “You’re not a bad person just because you’re different. Society convinces us that everything that’s different is bad, but that’s not the case. Does that make sense? 

“Yes, Jinnie,” you agreed sheepishly. 

“What else?” Namjoon asked, his thumb on your thigh still moving.

“My paranoia didn’t just come from the fear of being seen as bad. It goes back to the shame of wanting something that kids ask for. I thought that I was childish and immature and I didn’t want people thinking I couldn’t grow up.”

“Which you’re not,” Hobi interrupted, wanting to shut down any further negative perceptions you had of yourself. “And tickling isn’t just a thing for kids, baby. Young adults, and even partners well into their adulthood tickle each other as a form of affection, right?”

You nodded, thankful for the reminder. “Besides those fears of being viewed a certain way, I was just so scared of people knowing that I liked it in general. I remember getting scared that if I watched my friend getting tickled for too long or even looked away then they would figure me out. It was hard to act natural, to give nonchalant glances. The same went for t-wording scenes. If I was watching a movie and someone was getting t-worded on screen, I would just freeze and get so scared that the person I was watching it with would notice.”

“If it helps, we never noticed,” Namjoon assured. “I don’t think you realize how much of an effect your paranoia really had on you, baby. Your shame made you believe that people were perceiving you much closer than they actually were.”

You shifted in your spot on the couch. You had never thought about it that way.

“That’s about the time that I realized that I couldn’t bear to hear the word out loud. That’s also when I realized that I couldn’t bring myself to say the word out loud. It just made me feel so uneasy. But it also just depends on who’s saying it, how it’s said, and when it’s said. Hearing it come from a family member makes me want to shrivel up. But hearing it from you guys, I’m not as shaken up. Unless you tease me when saying it, then I get all squirmy… in a good way.”

“That’s so cute,” Jungkook giggled. Namjoon shot him a look, fearing I would retreat. But, Jungkook only giggled more when I started giggling with him.

“You really think so?”

“I know so.”

“What else do you want to know?” You could feel yourself blushing as you asked, cheeks and ears heating up at Jungkook’s affection. You had to move on, or else Jungkook could sit there cooing at you all day. 

“How did you deal with not being tickled?” Hobi asked. “I mean, as a kid, you could kind of get it when you wanted, right? But like you said, when you got older, it didn’t come as easy.”

“I didn’t always cope with it well. At least not fully. It was so hard. Last week is the perfect example. I would get so depressed and irritable. It’s like being touch-starved. I wasn’t getting the connection that I needed to feel loved and cared for. The best I could do was look up videos, like scenes in movies or TV shows. Then, as I got a little older…” 

“It’s okay, baby girl,” Taehyung piped up. “This is a safe space, remember? We’re not going to judge you for how you dealt with it.”

“Well, I started needing something more immersive, if that makes sense. I discovered fanfiction. I would read t-wording fanfics of my favorite characters t-wording me…”

You scoffed, putting your head between your knees to hide from their eyes. To admit the kind of fanfiction you read was almost as embarrassing as admitting that you enjoyed being tickled. 

“Sweetheart, look at me,” Yoongi said gently, but slightly firm. Yoongi being across the room made facing him a little easier. So, when your eyes peeked out from your knees, Yoongi continued. “That’s nothing to be ashamed of. You used any resources that you could find to substitute what you were missing. I think that’s a healthy way of dealing with it, especially considering how low your mood would get if you didn’t get tickled for a while. You could have turned that anger, irritation, and sadness into violence. You could have lashed out on people, but you didn’t. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say fanfiction was a catalyst for journaling, which is a revered coping mechanism, wouldn’t you think?”

“Yeah,” you agreed softly, feeling comforted by his perspective. “It was so hard dealing with it. I honestly don’t know how I functioned before I met you guys. You guys t-word me a lot.” The boys chuckled around you, making butterflies erupt in your stomach. “I think it was easier to deal with back then because I got used to not being tickled for so long. I kind of forgot how it felt and how nice it was to be t-worded. I think when I met you guys, the desire to be t-worded grew because I got the feeling back. And I was being t-worded properly and for extended periods of time. I just wanted more of it. I already said this to you guys, but I think that’s why I got so depressed last week. I was so used to getting something I enjoyed, but when it was taken from me, it took a toll on me.”

“Can we ask you something else, baby?” Namjoon shifted his body so that he faced you better, then placed a soothing hand to the back of your neck. He began threading his fingers through your hair, as if he knew extra affection would help ground you for the next question. “What is the best way for us to provide you with what you need?”

“To me, t-wording is another form of physical affection. I need that physical touch. I know I've already said this, but it’s like needing a hug. If I’m not getting t-worded, I feel touch-starved. You’re probably saying to yourself, ‘Y/N, how can you feel touch-starved if you’re receiving hugs and kisses and hand holds?’ Imagine I just stopped kissing you. That would probably make you feel confused and make you feel unwanted. That’s kind of how it feels to me. So, I guess… I guess I just need you guys to keep t-wording me from time to time. But, I don’t want you to feel like it’s a chore.”

“Baby, we don’t see it that way at all,” Namjoon corrected. “What if you told us that you felt like you needed to be kissed more, or hugged more? What if you asked us to take you out on dates more? Those aren’t chores, those are things people utilize in relationships to show love and to experience love. Wanting to be tickled by us, asking for tickles—however you want to say it—is no different than needing a hug, a kiss, sex, or whatever it might be to feel loved and to connect with someone. You reiterated that when we asked you what we can do to provide you with what you need.”

“Okay,” you mumbled.

“Well, we’ll definitely be tickling you more than time to time, baby girl,” Jimin teased. 

“Yes please,” you agreed, albeit timidly. “It makes me feel loved. It makes me feel like the person wants to touch me and be playful with me.”

“I get that,” Yoongi chimed in. “It’s like it’s reassuring to you that this person wants to connect with you and see you happy.”

“Exactly, Yoongs. And I don’t know, to me it just feels good. It helps me clear my mind; I can just focus on that feeling and that feeling only. I can laugh and experience genuine happiness. It’s like I'm giving you guys the control. Sometimes I don’t want control, because that means I don’t have to worry about anything else; I don’t have to worry about certain responsibilities or things that are bothering me for a period of time. When I give you guys the control, I feel safe. I feel cared for. I feel like I’m allowed to feel true happiness and I’m allowed to let go.”

“That’s so sweet, baby girl,” Jimin said sincerely. “I really, really, love that for you. I want to continue doing that for you. We all do.”

“What else do you like, baby?” Taehyung questioned. “What can we do more of?”

“I love when you guys hug me and when I least expect it, trap me against you and t-word my sides. I love when you scoop me up and kiss my face and neck all over until I’m a laughing mess. I love when you walk past me and casually tase my ribs. I love when you massage my shoulders and the back of my neck in a certain way that makes me scrunch up. I love when you lightly t-word my stomach when I’m sad or grumpy to cheer me up. I love how you find every opportunity to t-word my armpits when my arms are raised. I love the soft t-words and the rough ones. I love the surprise ones, and I love the ones that you build up to.”

As you described those moments, the boys’ faces grew softer as they imagined all the times that they had shown you the type of affection and playful bond you needed without them even realizing it. They realized that each shy reaction to every tickle you received wasn’t solely from embarrassment—it was due to you wanting them to continue but never finding the courage to tell them. It made sense that you became extra mischievous at times, just to get them to retaliate and tickle you. 

“What do you not like, baby?” Jin asked. “I want to make sure you’re always enjoying yourself and that we don’t risk making you uncomfortable.”

“When I say stop or no, I don’t mean it most of the time. So you can keep going. But I feel like it doesn’t hurt to check in once in a while if I ever use those words. It makes me feel good knowing you want to pause and make sure I’m able to breathe and that I’m having fun. But, I also feel like I need to come up with a word to show you that I seriously can’t take anymore.”

“How about we use our safewords, jagi?” Namjoon suggested. “When you say ‘red’ everything stops. Or, if you say ‘yellow,’ we’ll know that we need to slow down or something needs to change.”

“Sounds good, Joon,” you agreed, hiding a smile from behind your knees.

“What else, baby?” 

“Mmm… If we’re around my family, don’t say that word, ever. Don’t even mention it. And honestly, around my friends, too. I’ll feel utterly humiliated. I think it goes into me freezing up when I hear it out loud. But I think it also has to do with the fact that t-wording is such an intimate thing for me. It’s like telling your family member about your sex life. Obviously it’s not the same thing, but that’s the best thing I can compare it to. Does that make sense?”

“It makes perfect sense, baby,” Namjoon replied. “We’ll remember not to do that.” 

The boys hummed in agreement. After that, it was quiet. You bit the inside of your cheek, not knowing what to say to fill the silence.

“Is there anything else we should know, jagiya?” Yoongi asked, saving you from further embarrassment. Talking about it was scary as is, but sitting quietly knowing that they were mulling the topic over in their heads was just as terrifying. 

“I think that just about covers it,” you breathed out, stretching your legs. “You already found out a good chunk of it the other day. If I remember more, I’ll tell you guys. Talk amongst yourselves if you must. Just know that it's not going to be easy for me to ask. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the shyness or completely free myself from the embarrassment no matter how much reassurance you give me.”

“I’m sure we’ll learn more naturally,” Namjoon posited. “I think a lot of your habits make sense now, and I’m certain we’ll pick up on signs and signals that will let us know what you need. And even if the shyness never goes away, we’ll never stop reminding you that this isn’t disturbing or weird to us. Plus, it’s cute watching you ask us in your own way.”

You nodded, smiling sheepishly and bringing your knees back up to your chest. 

“We’re so proud of you, love,” Jimin said softly, not wanting to intimidate you even though the sit-down was coming to a close. “You did so well, baby.”

“I know you were so scared baby, but I’m so glad that you opened up,” Namjoon praised, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. “You articulated yourself very well, so I think it helped us all understand it better, wouldn’t you think?” He beckoned for the boys’ responses.

“Absolutely,” Hobi hummed, speaking for everyone. 

“This doesn’t change our opinion on you, darling,” Jin chimed in. “If anything, I think it makes us more fond of you.”

“Really?” You squeaked.

“Really,” Hobi agreed. “You have no idea.”

“Hyung, can we tell her?” Taehyung asked, eyes wide as he looked to Namjoon for permission.

“Tell me what?” You questioned, heart beginning to race as a weary look painted Namjoon’s face. You braced for impact when he gestured for Taehyung to talk.

“We didn’t know if we should tell you this,” Taehyung said carefully. “Because we didn’t want you to think we’re having discussions about our relationship without you, but we felt that what had happened was a big deal and a significant—how do I say this—incident, in our relationship. We all had our own talk that night after Jimin talked to you… after you had dinner and went to sleep. But I think you need the reassurance.” 

“What?”

“After you went to sleep, we thought we should discuss what had happened further,” Namjoon explained. “When you were distancing yourself from us, we were afraid that you were thinking that you didn’t want to be with us anymore. We wondered if you weren’t interested in us anymore, that you didn’t love us. The thought of losing you terrified us.

“That fear was a reality check. We knew we had to be completely open with each other and share our honest opinions about how we felt about you having such a strong connection with tickling. It was clear that it was a big part of you, thus it was also clear that it would become a big aspect of our relationship. We knew that if it was going to be a problem for any of us, then that person would have to leave. Because you know why, baby? We all agreed that you’re more important than any of us. This relationship is nothing without you. Us guys would rather lose each other than lose you.” 

“You guys—please—I’m not that important—” You argued, perplexed at their thought process. 

“No, baby, you are,” Namjoon interjected, practically pleading. 

“B-but you’ve got a whole history book worth of memories a-and experiences with each other before I came along. You guys have been together for like, forever, I’m not—”

“Baby, please,” Jungkook whined. The tremble in his voice made you stop in your tracks. “You’re our everything. Hearing you cry that night and not knowing why broke us. You have no idea how relieving it was finally getting any answer, and discovering that it wasn’t that big of a deal. That sounds wrong—I know—but what I mean is that we were relieved to know that it wasn’t something worse, like you wanting to leave us. To find out that you were just scared to tell us something so cute about yourself was the best feeling in the world.”

“Wanting to be tickled is a huge part of you,” Namjoon repeated, rubbing your shoulder. “We wouldn’t want you to suppress that need just to make us comfortable. We find this part of you to be so endearing, truly.”

“It makes us happy that you want to be playful with us,” Taehyung grinned.

“We love watching you wiggle around like an adorable little worm when we tickle you,” Hobi laughed, moving his body in a way that imitated the way you squirm. 

“It’s reassuring to us that we have a way that’s guaranteed to cheer you up if things like hugs or jokes don’t work,” Jimin added. “Knowing that your smiles and laughs are genuine—and aren’t forced just because it’s an instinctive reaction—makes it even better.”

“We love hearing how you laugh,” Jungkook giggled with a hint of mischief in his eyes. “There’s a certain laugh we get from you when we tickle you. We rarely hear it in other situations so it just makes us want to tickle you even more.”

“It makes us feel good that you trust us enough to be under our control,” Yoongi said. “It shows us that we make you feel safe, which is all we could ever want.”

“Going off of Jeongukkie and Yoongi-ah,” Jin chimed in, “We get to see a new, vulnerable side of you when we tickle you. You can get pretty shy and reserved, darling, but tickling you allows you to let loose. Even though you get pretty shy when you’re tickled, somehow it feels like you become more expressive. It’s really heart-warming to see. It reassures us that we give you the space to feel at your most comfortable.”

“See baby?” Namjoon smiled. “You don’t have to feel ashamed—not around us. We love this part of you. We want to make sure we’re trying our absolute hardest at making sure you feel loved and accepted. Whatever you need from us, baby, we’re here for you. We’ll tickle you every single day if it means our girl is happy.”

As each of them spoke, your eyes had filled with fresh tears. With Namjoon’s last remark, the dam burst from your eyes. You threw yourself onto Namjoon and began sobbing into his shoulder. He caught you as if he had been expecting you, wrapping his strong arms around your middle tightly. 

“I love you so much,” you cried. “All of you.” Your shoulders shook as you wailed, the volume slightly muffled by the fabric of his shirt. The conversation was done, and you were overwhelmed with relief. The boys had provided you with all of the reassurance you needed to ease all the anxiety you had kept bottled inside of you. Even though last week had gone so right, you still feared that the deeper conversation would have gone so wrong. You didn’t know how you had gotten so lucky. 

“I spent so long h-hiding this,” you whimpered.

“Oh, baby, I know,” Jimin sympathized, running a comforting hand over your head. 

“I-I never thought I would find anyone who I could tell this to and who would accept me for it.”

Jungkook stood up from the floor and hugged you from behind, maneuvering his head into the side of your neck that wasn’t squished against Namjoon.

“We’re so glad we can be your safe space, baby,” Jungkook said, voice slightly strained as he squeezed you. “You can tell us anything. We’ll always be here for you.”

Your tears slowed as you focused on Namjoon and Jungkook sandwiching you in a hug, combined with the feeling of Jimin’s fingers in your hair. 

Upon feeling you loosen your grip on Namjoon, Jungkook leaned off of you. 

“Do you feel better?” Namjoon asked as he thumbed your face dry.

“Loads.”

“Good,” Hobi said, getting up from the couch with Jin following suit. “No more tears today, okay?” He was only teasing, but there was some truth behind it.

“They were happy tears,” you whined, but not without a smile peeking out. 

“Regardless, we don’t like to see our baby girl crying, now do we?” Jin teased. 

“Fine, I’ll just never cry again,” you said, playing along with sarcasm. You turned in Namjoon’s lap to face Jin, crossing your arms and to add onto your stubborn charade. 

“Well, if you do, I’ll just have to do this,” Jungkook took your face in his hands and pressed several kisses to your face. Each kiss was followed by a whooshing sound as Jungkook mimicked a vacuum sucking up your hypothetical tears. 

You half-heartedly tried shaking Jungkook away, but you were weakened by hysterical giggles. Then, unexpectedly, Jungkook’s lips were leaving rapid kisses under your jaw. You squealed, collapsing onto Namjoon as you tried curling away from Jungkook’s mini tickle attack. But, there wasn’t much you could do, as you sandwiched between them once more and Namjoon somehow found a way to slip his hands into your armpits. 

“You’re gonna kill her,” Yoongi deadpanned, as your squeals turned into shrieks. But, a fond smile quickly formed on his face as his shoulders shook in amusement. Namjoon eased his attack, but Jungkook didn’t end the barrage of tickly pecks until you slipped off the couch, landing with a soft thump as you tried to catch your breath. 

“Sorry, baby girl.” Jungkook threw his head back, falling victim to his own giggles. You could only giggle in reply, feeling flushed.

“Come here, baby,” Jimin laughed, standing up from the couch to help you off the floor. You grasped them gratefully, grunting as you combined your strengths to lift you up.

“Do you wanna play League of Legends, Y/N?” Taehyung asked, giving your bum a playful pat when your feet were steady on the floor. “Jin hyung and Jeongukkie and I planned on it earlier.”

“I’d love to,” you grinned. 

“Awesome!” Taehyung pecked your lips and bounded out of the room, with Jungkook and Jin following close behind. 

“I’ll watch,” Hobi said, and Yoongi nodded, most likely to do the same.

“I’d watch your back,” Jimin said mysteriously. “They might tickle you if you do better than them.”

“Shut uhuhup,” you tittered before he disappeared into the hallway, cackling like a hyena.

“Do you regret telling us now?” Namjoon joked, sneaking his hand into yours as you walked out of the room together. 

“Not one bit.” You beamed, swinging your arms. Your lee mood was already returning, and you almost wanted to distract the boys from the game just to get a taste of revenge tickles.