#ler!chris

Chris had himself sat on top of Leon. Leon was currently face down on the bed, wriggling as he muffled sounds into the pillow beneath him. Chris had his knees pinning Leon's arms down to his sides, most of his weight settled on his husband's lower back. The younger man kept shaking his head a little and rolling his shoulders back every single time Chris laid his hands on his back. To be fair, Chris had started this whole thing out as a massage and transitioned into making it tickle. He had been holding still for a bit which got Leon all on edge.

The BSAA agent chuckled softly, tazing his fingers into the backs of Leon's ribs. "Yohohohou fuhuhuhuhucker!' Leon immediately choked out, trying to arch his back to no avail, dropping deadweight back down into the bed and cackling into the pillow. It took about five seconds before he decided the fabric made it hard to breathe, so he turned his head to the side and let his laughs fill the room. He honestly questioned that decision because his husband had the great idea to coo about it.

'There's those laughs! Knew you'd come out of hiding eventually, Kennedy. Isn't that right?' Chris shoved his hands between Leon's pinned arms and his waist, starting to wiggle his fingers. Leon yelped, swore at Chris, then his movements got frantic once he realized he wasn't able to move all that well. He kicked as well as he could, feet and legs furiously hitting the mattress. 'Fuhuhhuck, fuck, shihihiht, fuhuhhuck!'

'Language,' Chris hummed softly, taking one hand out to ruffle Leon's hair, earning a giggly yet irritated growl.

'I try tohohhoho keheheheep thahahat neheheahahat!'

'And how's that going for you?'

Leon snarled, which turned into a squeal as his husband's calloused fingers started to rub and massage quite ticklishly into his shoulder blades. He chuckled and had to tighten his hold on Leon's arms, because beneath the side of his thigh he could feel Leon trying to pull an arm out. 'Okay, that's it, you little shit.'

Chris leaned his head down, freeing both his hands now. One came up, brushing the back of Leon's neck and pushing his dirty blonde, almost brunette hair out of the way. Leon inhaled sharply, realizing rather quickly what was coming to him. 'Chrihihis,' he warned, squeezing his blue eyes shut as he held back the urge to start giggling. He couldn't even imagine how holding the odd position on top of him was like for Chris, considering he was being pinned yet tormented all at the same time.

'Yes?' Chris asked sweetly, kissing the back of Leon's neck softly and half snorting at the startled squeak that escaped the man.

'Fuhuck off."

'Nah.'

Leon shifted a little, trying to shake his head in order to dislodge Chris' positioning, but the hand holding his hair out of the way was also holding his head down just enough to the point he couldn't get away. He was all too aware of how badly Chris' stubbly, facial hair covered face tickled him. Usually it was more nibbly tickles on his waist or stomach, not on his neck. He was almost afraid of what was to come. Another kiss, this time Chris nuzzled a little more just to get him to snicker.

'God, you're so fucking adorable when you make those noises,' Chris gushed, using the hand not holding Leon's head down to tickle up the side of his neck. Leon whined softly, trying to hide his quickly reddening face. The older man squeezed Leon's shoulder just to get another cute noise from him, then decided he'd stop teasing the poor guy under him.

Without a single word of warning, Chris leaned his stupid face--well, that's what Leon was calling it right now--right up against the back of his bare neck and blew a raspberry. Leon squealed and his entire body jolted. He despised the way Chris chuckled against his skin, but it seemed that wasn't even the worst of it. Leon felt stubble drag against the back of his neck then move to the side, now turning into playful nibbles.

'Stahahahahap ihihhihihit!' Leon screeched, legs kicking as he tried to roll, but the sheer amount of weight Chris had against him proved it nearly impossible. Under normal circumstances, when he was able to focus fully, he could've thrown Chris off and tackled him down. However, his focus and coordination had flown out the window once this whole thing had started. He knew it was over the moment the fucker decided to make fake eating noises while nibbling on Leon's neck.

'I'm nahahahahat fohohohhood!!' Leon cackled out, subconsciously tilting his head up to give Chris just a little more access. He honestly didn't even realize he was doing it, and Chris made the decision not to point it out in case Leon was insecure about it. Leon's laughs went a whole octave higher when Chris got to the spot where his neck turned into the top of his shoulder. 'God, you're just a ticklish little rookie, aren'tcha? Still just a ticklish little officer, yes you are!'

“Guys! I’m home!” William yelled as he put his bag down at the door. He took off his jacket and his work shoes, before walking past the living room into the kitchen. He looked around the house, and noticed that the house was practically empty. “...Hello?” He looked in the kitchen some more, and checked the bathroom. “Hellooooo?” He called. 

He walked up the stairs to the bedrooms, wondering if anybody was napping, or playing in their room. But when he looked in the kids’ rooms, he found them messy, but completely empty. He looked in the room he shared with his wife, and found it was vacant as well. Weird…

He went down the stairs, and called for them one more time. “Hellooooo?” He yelled. “MICHAEL? ELIZABETH?! CHRIS?!” He called. But he stopped as he stood in the middle of the kitchen. He couldn’t find his family anywhere! And it made no sense! Their second car was here! How could the car be here, but his family be completely gone?!

Suddenly, someone grabbed him underneath the arms and pulled him away. 

“AH! LET ME GO!” William shouted. Someone else wrapped a tie around his eyes and upper nose. “HEY-” he reacted, trying to remove the eye cover. But as he struggled strong and hard within the arms of the stranger, William felt someone…tickling his sides and ribs?! “ST-STOHOP- WHOHO IHIHIS THIHIHIHIS!?” he asked, trying to feel around for anyone who might’ve been standing there nearby. He could quickly tell that the tickling fingers were small, nimble fingers…almost from a little kid!

“Don’t worry, Dad. It’s us.” Michael told him, poking his fingers in his belly button.  

He could feel his fears slowly diminishing. Though he was thankful this was his family, he was still left incredibly confused by their actions. Why was someone tickling him?! Who was holding onto him? And WHY?! Suddenly, his legs were picked up by someone. “Whahait- Whahahat ahare yohohohou dohohohoihihing?” William asked, waving his hands around. 

“Taking you to the living room.” His wife told him. “We’re creating a new Christmas tradition that I think you’ll love too.” She told him. 

“Whahahat ihihis ihihihit?” William asked. 

“You’ll find out in a few minutes.” Elizabeth told her father before grabbing the lights from the decoration bin. 

William felt as his body was wrapped in rope that sounded suspiciously like Christmas lights. His gelled hair was ruined with what felt like a Santa hat followed by a…headband??? And weirdly enough, his shirt was unbuttoned followed by his socks being taken off. 

The confusion that filled Afton’s mind was overwhelming. NOW what was his family up to?! Why were they tying him up?! Why was he wearing a Christmas hat?! And how was a Christmas tradition that involved him being tied up, supposed to be fun for him?! 

“Not close to his face, Chris.” Mrs. Afton told someone. 

He could feel something being sprinkled onto him. He couldn’t for the life of him, figure out what it was! It felt strange on his belly. Whatever it was, it sounded like it came out of a pepper shaker of some sort. Were they dumping sprinkles onto him?! No, wait…sprinkles would be slightly heavier than this. This stuff felt completely weightless. What is it?! 

“Okay. Take off the blindfold, Liz.” His wife said. 

Elizabeth nodded and removed it from his face. “There!” 

William squeezed his eyes shut as the bright light filled his eyes. Squinting, he looked in front of him, and found his 4 members of his family standing in his field of vision and stretching their arms out excitedly. 

“SURPRISE!” They all said in unison to William. 

William widened his eyes and looked down at his body. Right away, he got all his answers. He was right! He really WAS wrapped in Christmas lights! And he did have a Santa hat, with a headband! Only…this headband had a yellow, glittery star hanging down in front of his face. And if there weren’t lights covering his shirt and pants, then there was most definitely glitter. Wait…the sprinkly things he felt were glitter?! A bit of yellow glitter that came from the felt star on his head, and bright green glitter absolutely everywhere else. 

William was mortified. “What in the- Why is there so much glitter?!” William asked, more shocked than angry by this point. 

Elizabeth giggled as she held 5 empty glitter bottles in her hands. “Oh…No reason, papa.” Elizabeth said with a shit-eating grin on her face. William groaned in annoyance. Elizabeth only ever called him ‘papa’ when she was in a mischievous mood. Who the heck thought it would be a good idea to give Elizabeth the glitter?! 

And then to make matters worse, Chris was giggling right beside him and STILL shaking the rest of the green glitter onto his lower leg. 

“Okay, okay…I think it’s empty, Chris.” Mrs. Afton told her youngest. 

Chris nodded and pulled the other empty glitter bottles out of his pockets. Chris had 5 glitter bottles as well! His two youngest children had managed to use 10 separate 16 oz. bottles of glitter on their father!! 

That was- like- 20 cups of glitter!!

“Oh……my god…” William muttered aloud. 

Elizabeth giggled. “Did we overdo it?” She asked. 

Michael laughed. “Nope. In my opinion, he needs more.” Michael joked, pulling yet ANOTHER 16 oz. glitter bottle of his own out of his pocket. 

“NO-” Mrs. Afton took Michael’s bottle. “10 full bottles is plenty enough.” She said, placing it aside. 

William looked at the glitter, and blew a puff of air…and the extra layers of glitter blew with the air, over to his crazy family! Mrs. Afton and Elizabeth squealed and covered up their faces to prevent themselves from getting covered. Chris opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue to catch the glitter on his tongue like they were snowflakes, while Michael closed his brother’s mouth and gave him a stern look. “Don’t eat the glitter.” He ordered his brother. 

“You are all gonna clean this whole mess afterwards. And I am NOT. HELPING.” William warned, shooting his wife a hairy eyeball expression. 

Mrs. Afton was unphased by his threatening look. She was almost awaiting the look, just so she could say her wonderful comeback. “Oh, don’t worry. We’ll clean it up while watching the video recordings of you laughing your head off on the TV.” his wife told him, hinting at his demise. 

Laughing his head off- What?! 

“What do you mean ‘laughing your-’?!” William widened his eyes as he saw their youngest child, holding feathers in his hand. William widened his eyes and quickly remembered that his shirt was unbuttoned. “...Oh no…” he muttered. He quickly remembered that his socks were off too! “OH NO!” He curled his toes, suddenly fearful. 

“Now do you understand what we’re cooking?” Mrs. Afton asked with a smirk. 

William stuttered in shock for a second, before narrowing his eyes at his wife and kids. “Don’t you dare…Don’t you ffffff-” He quickly changed his word. “-Ffffffreaking dare…” He warned. 

“Ooooh, you’re lucky.” Mrs. Afton reacted, before bringing her fingers closer to his belly. “Cause if you swore…we would’ve made sure you REALLY regretted it.” She told him. 

William yelped and wiggled around, trying to get his belly away from her fingers. “D-Don’t! Why are you doing this?!” He asked, a small wobbly smile building on his face. 

“Because it’s fun!” She told him before touching his belly. Just her little nails’ touch was enough to make the hairs on his arms stand on edge. “Plus, I know you’re gonna like this~” She told him, before dancing her fingers all over his belly. 

William jumped and winced, trying not to laugh right away. If they were going to make him laugh, he was going to make it a challenge. His family was going to have to work hard to get him to laugh like they want. If they were planning on playing games with him, he was going to play too. 

“Ooooh, holding out on us?” His wife asked before looking at Michael. “Get your hands ready. We might need you to help break your father’s walls down.” She told her eldest son. 

Michael nodded his head and readied his fingers on his upper ribs. “Ready, Mom.” Michael replied. 

“You’re not gonna go for his armpits?” She asked. 

“Nah. His armpits kinda stink.” Michael replied rather bluntly with a chuckle, waving his hand close to his nose for extra humorous effect. 

“Sh-Shutup!” William spat through his teeth. 

She laughed at her kid’s bluntness. “It’s not gonna get any better, Michael.” She teased playfully to her son. “But, you do whatever you want.” She said, before winking at him.

Michael smirked at the wink. That was his cue to start. “Yeah. I will.” He replied proudly, before  immediately starting to skitter and scratch at his father’s upper-to-middle ribs. 

“NonONO-” William squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head as the biggest wobbly smile they had ever seen on the father and husband had filled his face. He was visibly straining to not laugh. Apparently, it wasn’t just his armpits and belly that were ticklish. It actually looked like his upper ribs were just as bad, if not more ticklish than his armpits! And it appeared that Michael knew this all too well. 

“I wanna tickle his stinky feet!” Elizabeth teased as she ran up and picked up her Dad’s foot. 

“NO! Leavemyfeeheetalooone!” He grunted and protested through his teeth. 

Mrs. Afton laughed. “Sure, go ahead!” She replied. “Hey Chris?” She said, looking over at her youngest. “You sure you don’t want to join?” She asked. “You can prop up the camera and join in, if you want.” She encouraged him. 

But Chris shook his head and walked the camera closer to his Dad. “Mhm! I’m recording Daddy’s girl laugh!” He told his Mom. 

She laughed at her youngest’s reply. “Just keep the camera steady, alright?” She told him. 

“Yup!” He replied, popping the P. 

William could feel his lungs starting to fail him a lot faster than he was expecting. He knew growing older usually affected one's body…but his lungs too!? What a terrible time to figure this out! 

Soon, little titters and hisses started to exit through his wobbly grin. Mrs. Afton lit up upon hearing that. “We’re close! Liz, go for his toes!” She told her daughter. 

Elizabeth quickly separated the big toe and 2nd toe, before sliding the feather back and forth in between his toes. “Coochy coochy coo, Daddy!” She declared. 

William finally broke out in strong, high-pitched laughter. His laughter was so unlike his body frame! And his family was well aware of this fact. “BWAHAHAHAHA! AAAHAHAHAHAHA! PLEHEHEASE STOHOHOHOHOP!” He pleaded. 

“Okay, stop!” She ordered her tickling kids. Michael and Elizabeth removed their hands from their respective spots, while Mrs. Afton did the same thing. No one was tickling him, yet his laughter was still quite heavy and strong. But just as fast as it broke out, the laughter seemed to calm down into giggles, before turning into breathlessness mixed with chuckles. 

“Yohohou guhuhuys…” He muttered a little bit. 

“Okay…” Mrs. Afton made a signal…and with this signal, came an eruption of squeals and laughter. 

“eeEEHEEK! WAHAIT- NOHoho! Lihihiz!” William yelled and laughed. 

Elizabeth smiled and opened his toes with her index and middle finger, before fluttering the feather very gently into his toe crevice. “Tickle tickle!” She teased. 

“How did you learn to do that?” Mrs. Afton asked her daughter. 

“Michael! He taught me!” Liz told her Mom. 

Michael chuckled awkwardly. “Well…I may have tried it on her a few times…” He admitted. 

“I see~” She replied. “And where did you learn it, Michael?” She asked next. 

“.....Dad.” Michael replied with a laugh. 

Mrs. Afton bursted out in laughter. “Is that so?!” She reacted. “Having any regrets yet, Will?” She asked her husband. 

William nodded his head “YEHEhehehes!” He replied. 

“Alright. Liz, let’s give your brother a turn to tickle.” She told Elizabeth.

Elizabeth nodded her head and removed the feather, earning her a high-pitched squeak. 

William’s eyes widened the moment the feather flew out of his toes. It tickled SO MUCH MORE than Liz’s see-sawing EVER did! “eEEHEEK!” He went limp in the chair. “Ohoh gohosh…” He muttered, shaking his head.

Michael skittered his fingers on his ribs. “Tell me, Dad:” He started tickling in between the ribs for a bit. “How bad does this tickle?” Michael asked. 

William jumped and snorted, leaning his head back and giggling in a somewhat girly way. “EEheeheeheehee! Prehehehetty bahahad!” William admitted. 

“Okay…” He quickly switched to tickling each and every individual rib. “What about this? Is this better? Or worse?” Michael asked curiously.

William gasped and cackled, shaking his head left and right and throwing the bouncing felt star all over the place. “aAAHAHAHA! NOHOT THAT! IHIHIT’S WOHOHORRRSE!” He shouted. 

“Oh god!” Michael reacted. “It’s really that bad?!” He asked, tickling the individual middle ribs.  

“YEHESYESYEHEHEHESS! PLEHEHEASE STOHOHOHOHOP!” William pleaded. 

“Alright, alright.” Michael switched to tickling between the middle ribs once more. “I’ll do this instead.” He told him. 

William snorted and started giggling in the high-pitched voice all over again. “Ohohohokahahay, thahahahanks.” William told him. 

“Would it be too much for you if I joined back in?” Mrs. Afton asked. 

William shook his head. “Nohoho, ihihit wohouldn’t nohohohow.” He replied. 

Mrs. Afton smiled and started gently tickling the soft of his small beer belly. “I’ll be gentle.” She told him. 

William jumped and sunk his stomach in slightly, but to no avail. Not only did sinking in his stomach fail as a preventive strategy, but it also ruined his ability to breathe. So he breathed in as much as he could, before falling into an endless stream of high-pitched giggles. 

“Thihihihihis ihihihihis weheheird.” William told him. 

“Oh, hush your mouth and laugh, our 6ft Tickle Tree.” She teased. 

“Wh-Whahahat?!” William asked. 

“There’s a reason you’re covered in green glitter.” Mrs. Afton explained. “Can you tell him why?” She asked Chris and Elizabeth. 

“We wanted you to look like a christmas tree!” Chris told his father. 

“That’s why you’re also covered in Christmas lights with a star on your head.” Elizabeth told him. 

“HAhahahaha- Whahahahat?!” He reacted, unsure how else to react to this information. 

Michael chuckled. “I didn’t want to join in originally…” Michael looked at his Mom. “But then Mom mentioned ‘tickling’, and I quickly changed my mind.” Michael admitted bluntly. 

Mrs. Afton smirked. “Trying to throw your own mother under the bus, I see?” She asked. 

“What?! No!” Michael put his right hand up. “Honest!” He pointed his index finger at his Mom. “But I may be throwing myself under the bus.” Michael admitted. 

“Alright, alright.” Mrs. Afton replied, double-checking to make sure Chris and the recorder were doing okay. 

“Wait…How does the song ‘Oh Christmas Tree’ go again?” Michael asked. 

Elizabeth's eyes brightened. “Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree, how lovely are your branches!” She declared, saying the lyrics instead of singing it.

“You’re very close. It’s ‘How lovely are ‘thy’ branches’.” Mrs. Afton corrected. 

“Okay. So…what if we sang ‘oh christmas tree’, but we changed the word ‘branches’ to ‘laughter’?” Michael asked. 

Elizabeth gasped. “YEAH!” She shouted excitedly, stopping her tickle attack. “🎵Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree, how lovely are thy laughter!🎵” She sang. 

Michael hummed. “I think ‘your laughter’ would sound better in this situation.” He admitted. 

“I think I have to agree with you, Michael.” Mrs. Afton replied. 

“🎵Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree, how lovely are your laughter🎵” Mrs. Afton sang. 

The kids joined in with their mother. “🎵Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree, how lovely are your laughter🎵” 

Mrs. Afton continued the song. “🎵Your precious giggles fill the air, and warm our hearts with tender care,🎵” She sang in her gorgeous singing voice. 

“🎵Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree, how lovely are your laughter🎵” The kids sang. 

Michael stopped his tickling and sang the next verse. “🎵Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree, of all the laughs most joyful. Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree, of all the laughs most joyful🎵” Michael sang. 

“Not bad!” Mrs. Afton reacted. “🎵Each year you bring us delight, with every shining grin so bright,🎵” She sang. “🎵Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree, of all the laughs most joyful🎵” She finished. 

“My turn, My turn!” Elizabeth declared. “🎵Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree, we learn from all your gigglees. Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree, we learn from all your gigglees🎵” She sang. 

The other Aftons bursted out laughing. Did Elizabeth just come up with a word to make the verse work?! 

“🎵Your high-pitched squeals of festive cheer, give hope and happiness all year,🎵” She sang. “🎵Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree-🎵 

They all sang together. “🎵We learn from all your giggleeeees.🎵” They all sang. 

William chuckled and nodded his head with a smile. “I would clap, but…My hands are kinda tied.” He told them. 

Everyone burst out laughing at this. Mrs. Afton walked up and unplugged the Christmas lights. “Let’s get this off you.” She said, removing the Christmas lights from around him. 

“Thank you, love.” William said, leaning in for a kiss. She wiped a few green glitter pieces from his mouth and kissed his lips. 

“Eugh…Gross…” Michael muttered aloud. 

“Awwwww!” Elizabeth reacted, holding her hand on her chest. 

Chris giggled, zooming in on his Mom and Dad’s kiss. 

“🎵I saw Mommy kiss the tickle tree, underneath the christmas star last night🎵” Chris started singing. 

Mrs. Afton and William both broke their kiss and looked at Chris, laughing at Chris’s lyrics. 

“🎵She didn’t see me creep, down the stairs to have a peek,🎵” Elizabeth sang. 

“🎵She thought that I was tucked up in my bedroom, fast asleep🎵” Michael sang. 

“He wasn’t!” Chris declared. “🎵I saw mommy kiss the tickle tree, Every little giggle filled the night!🎵” Chris sang. 

“🎵Oh what a laugh it would’ve been-🎵” Liz sang. 

“🎵If Daddy had only seen-🎵” Michael sang. 

Today was a horrible day to be Chris Kratt.

Everything that could go wrong today did go wrong, except for the appearance of one or more of the villains. But would that have been any worse than falling into a pile of rotten apples, nearly being dive bombed by a Purple Martin (multiple times in fact), finding an American Pine Marten, having an American Red Squirrel steal your Creature Power Suit, getting tickled by said squirrel and your brother at the same time, and falling into a body of water, in that order, all on the same day? All while your brother teases you relentlessly the whole time? Chris would argue that this is worse than anything the villains could throw at him and the rest of the Tortuga crew.

He tried to combat his bad luck by calling it a day early to try and think of animals that shared his name, but there was one problem with this plan: he can’t think of a single animal that has “Chris” in its name. Not a single one.

“Come on, there’s gotta be one animal out there with the name Chris that isn’t me…! There has to be…!” he thought as he laid in a bed in the basement of the Tortuga. He had intended to lie in one of the hammocks that was in the central room of the ship, but remembered that none of those were his. They belonged, from top to bottom, to Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy Z, and as much as he would have liked to be in a hammock right now, he didn’t want to risk being scolded for taking a hammock that wasn’t his. That, and he was already feeling irritated by the events of the day and didn’t want to be angered any further, so he chose to isolate himself to try and calm down.

This worked for some time, but eventually, the peace was disturbed by the appearance of someone else.

The moment he heard those footsteps, he knew who it was. And he groaned.

“Oh no…” He should have known that there was no way he would be able to go the rest of the day without seeing the one who was responsible for half of the troubles he faced today, and yet somehow, he thought he would be left alone.

The door to the basement opened, and in came the reason he was even lying here in the first place: his older, mischievous, and sometimes annoying brother, Martin Kratt.

“Hey bro!” he greeted before noticing the look on Chris’s face. He’s seen him direct that face at the villains and sometimes him a couple of times, but something about that expression in this moment seemed… off.

“What? Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“After everything you put me through today? No, absolutely not.”

That upsetted Martin a little bit, but he did understand why he’d feel that way. It didn’t stop him from teasing him a little bit more, however.

“Awww, come on, Chris! You got to see animals that share a name with your bro! Does that not make you happy? Not even a little bit?” he teased, putting his hand on his shoulder and leaning towards his face.

Chris rolled his eyes at his brother’s actions, “Remember when I said that purple martins didn’t annoy me anymore, but this one-” Chris put a finger on Martin’s chest, “-not so much? I meant it.”

“Awww, you’re no fun, bro. I was just messing with you! I wanted you to enjoy The Day of the Martins!”

“Your teasing didn’t help me get my Creature Power Suit back from that red squirrel.”

“But I still got it back!”

Chris sighed and poked his brother again, “You don’t get it, do you?” He was about to lecture his older brother before he heard what sounded like a mix of a giggle and a squeak, “You’re still laughing at my luck, aren’t you?”

“N-no, just watch where you’re poking me!” Martin explained, grabbing Chris’s wrist and pulling it away from him. Chris looked down to see where he had poked him, thinking he had poked him in the chest again, only to realize that he had accidentally poked his brother in the stomach.

Suddenly, he got an idea. An idea on how he could get back at his brother for his merciless teasing.

If he couldn’t think of any animals with Chris in their name, then he’ll have to invent one. One that can give him the power to take revenge on his brother.

“...Chris?” Martin’s concerned voice pulled him out of his thoughts, “You alright?”

A malicious grin formed on Chris’s face, “Chris isn’t here right now.”

Martin raised a brow at his younger brother’s statement, “Huh? What are you talking about, bro? You’re right here! What do you mean you aren’t-”

“Chris. Isn’t. Here. Right now.” The green brother grabbed Martin by his wrists and swiftly pinned him down onto the bed. “Only his alter-ego~”

Upon hearing that teasy tone in his voice, Martin immediately knew what was about to happen. “C-Chris? Can we talk about this…?!”

Chris let out a sinister-sounding chuckle, “I already told you, Chris isn’t here~ Only…” he brought his hands into Martin’s vision and wiggled his fingers.

“W-wait, nohoho! Don’t-!”

“The TICKLE MONSTER!” The younger brother drilled a finger into the other’s armpits, “But right now, you can call me the ‘Other Chris’~”

To Chris’s slight shock, Martin had already burst into a fit of giggles with a few laughs mixed in for good measure.

“Nohohohoho, Chrihihihihs! W-We can tahahahalk about thihihis!”

“Laughing already? And from a single finger in the armpits, no less~? This will be easy~”

The blue brother was already squirming under the ticklish touch, trying and failing to throw Chris off of him.

“Trying to throw me off, are we~? I think that warrants a punishment, wouldn’t you agree~?” Chris ignored the unintentional rhyme and snuck a second wiggling finger into Martin’s armpits, causing his giggles to rise in volume and his squirming to become a little more violent.

“C-Chrihihis nohohohoho! That t-tihihihihihickles!” Martin cried out, his arms coming down in an attempt to protect his armpits, but unfortunately for him, that only served to trap his brother’s fingers in there.

“I told you, I’m not Chris! I am the Other Chris!” The “Other Chris” protested as he broke through the blue Kratt’s defenses to slip a third finger under his arms.

“Chrihihihihis, I knohohohow you’re in thehehehehre!”

“Nope, Chris is nowhere to be found right now, but I promise, he’ll come back once I give him what he wants~”

“Whahahahahahat? What d-dohohohoes he wahahahant?”

Chris gave him the most evil smirk he could muster. “Revenge~” With that, he skipped the fourth step and slipped the last two fingers under Martin’s arms. With all ten fingers tickling him, Martin went from squirming to thrashing uncontrollably, nearly throwing Chris off of him a few times. He’d also started kicking his legs, desperately trying to distract himself from the tingly sensation under his arms.

“NOHOHOHOHO, BROHOHOHOHOHO! C-CUT IT OHOHOHOHOUT!” Martin seemed to nearly scream out as he kept kicking and thrashing for a few more seconds, only stopping when he felt a hand on his ankle.

“Are you trying to kick me~? How rude~!” Chris teased. He was about to stick a hand back under his brother’s arm before he was hit with another idea. Martin, who had squeezed his eyes shut during his laughing fit, opened them and giggled in anticipation. “C-Chrihihihihs?”

The evil grin his brother had on his face nearly made him burst into laughter again.

“You know, Martin… I’m pretty sure it’s not a good idea to kick another person, and yet you tried to kick me anyway. I think it’s time for me to switch spots and teach you another lesson~” 

“Whahahahat?” Martin questioned through his giggles before he felt his shoelaces coming undone. “Whahahaha- hehehehehey! Don’t remove my shoes, plehehehehehese! Chrihihihihis!”

“It’s too late to beg for mercy now, Martin~” Chris slowly pulled both shoes off before slipping a finger into the blue brother’s socks.

“Nononononono dohohohohohon’t! Dohohohon’t do ihihihihit!”

“Do what~?” Chris asked him, pulling one sock off of his foot, “Take your shoes and socks off? Well too bad, I will not stop until you apologize to me… and to Chris~”

“But yohohohou are Chrihihih- NOHOHOHOHOHOHO!” Martin burst into laughter upon feeling a hand on his bare left foot.

“Laughing already~? This will be easy~” With that, Chris dug in, scribbling his fingers all over the other’s feet. Martin absolutely lost it in response.

“NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO, CHRIHIHIHIHIHIHIS! S-STAHAHAHAHAHP!”

“Begging for mercy again are we~? I don’t remember you giving Chris mercy when he told you to stop, so why should I~?” Chris ribbed, leaning in closer to Martin’s face in an attempt to make the teasing worse for his older brother. Needless to say, it worked like a charm.

“PLEAHAHAHAHAHAHASE STAHAHAHAHAHAP TEHEHEHEASING MEHEHEHE!”

“And why should I do that~?” the younger brother asked, focusing the tickling on Martin’s arches, a spot he knew was unbearably sensitive to any kind of touch, “Does it tickle more when I tease you~? Does it make you lose all of your strength so you can’t fight back~? Tell me, Martin, does teasing make you weak to tickles~? Even more so than you already are~?” 

Martin’s only response was to throw his head back in uncontrollable laughter before immediately rushing to cover his face with a pillow to muffle himself.

“That was not a response, but I’ll take it anyway~” Chris reacted with a giggle, far too amused by how much his brother was laughing.  “Besides, now that you’re covering your face, you won’t be able to see what I’m doing~”

To prove his point, the younger Kratt suddenly switched from scribbling Martin’s arches to scratching under his toes. Just as he predicted, Martin’s laughter increased in both pitch and volume, though it was muffled a little by the pillow.

“CRIHIHIHIHS NOHOHO-MMMPH!” The older Kratt had lifted the pillow a little to plead for Chris to have mercy on him, but he had to cut himself off by pulling the pillow back over his face because he was afraid his laughter would alert someone upstairs.

“You brought this on yourself, Martin~ All you had to do was get Chris’s vest back without tickling him, but nope, you couldn’t resist~”

Chris looked down to return his focus to Martin’s feet when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a bright green disc in one of Martin’s shoes. For the third time that day, he was hit with an evil idea. He slowed the tickling under Martin’s toes to a stop and waited for him to catch his breath.

“Hey Martin~”

“A-are you fihihihinally going to have mercy on mehehehe…?” Martin let out his after-giggles and slowly lifted the pillow off of his face. Chris grinned a little at seeing the bright pink blush on his brother’s face, a clear indication that this was a job well done so far. He nearly laughed when he saw his eyes widen in horror.

“T-that’s…!”

Chris let out the most malicious laugh he could muster. “The Pine Marten Power Disc~” He then leaned in towards Martin again. “I think you know what I’m going to do with this, but first, I need to find a pine marten~”

The other Martin tried to snatch the Power Disc out of his brother’s hands, but Chris just dodged each attempt effortlessly.

“Now… how am I going to keep you from escaping…?” Chris pondered, realizing that he had not considered the possibility of using an animal’s Creature Powers to tickle Martin. At that moment, both brothers heard the door to the basement open.

“What’s going on down here? I thought I heard someone laughing…” Aviva walked into the room and spotted the brothers. Martin’s blush deepened into a dark shade of red while Chris’s face turned a bright pink, just like his brother’s face was a few seconds ago. The blush quickly faded from the green brother’s face when he realized that the answer to his question had just caught them in the act.

“Aviva, keep him pinned down for me, will you?”

“Huh…?” Aviva was very confused, but upon seeing the tears of mirth in the corners of Martin’s eyes combined with the blush and residual giggles, she quickly caught on to what was going on, “Ohhh, I see~ Sure thing, Chris~”

“I’m not Chris, I’m the Other Chris!”

Aviva couldn’t help but roll her eyes at that, “Whatever you say, ‘Other Chris’~”

Chris elected to ignore the sudden embarrassment that welled up within him upon hearing Aviva’s teasing words and walked out of the basement to go find his “partner” in crime. As soon as he left, Aviva turned to face the flustered mess of a Kratt brother on the bed.

“Hehehehey Avivahahaha…!”

She couldn’t help but giggle at him, “Chris got you good, didn’t he~?”

“Yeahahaha, and he’s not even dohohohne yet!” Martin answered as the remaining after giggles slowly subsided. “You’ll get me out of here, rihihight…?”

“Hmm…” The inventor pretended to ponder his question before she pinned him down, just as Chris asked her to, “Nope~ Don’t want to get on Chris’s- sorry, ‘Other Chris’s’- bad side~”

Martin’s giggles quickly returned as he realized there was no hope of escape, “Nohohohoho! I mehehehehehean, I geheheht it, but nohohohoho!”

“No what, Martin~? Do you want me to get on your brother’s bad side~? On ‘Other Chris’s’ bad side~? After everything he did to you~?” Aviva smirked at the blue Kratt’s sudden laughing fit, “No way~! If you can’t handle his tickle skills, how do you expect me to handle them~?”

Before Martin could respond (if he would’ve been able to answer at all given how hard he was laughing), both he and Aviva heard the sound of a Creature Power Suit being activated upstairs, followed by the sound of quiet footsteps approaching the door to the basement.

Aviva couldn’t help but let out an evil chuckle as she saw her pinned victim’s eyes widen in horror, “Looks like your time is running out, Martin~”

“NOHOHOHOHO!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The whole time Aviva was teasing his brother, Chris had entered the main room of the Tortuga to find a pine marten. As soon as the door opened and he stepped inside, he finally allowed himself to break character.

“Phew… keeping up a fake persona is tiring… but oh is it worth it~” Chris thought to himself, “Let’s see… is there a pine marten in here…?”

Chris looked around the room and noticed that two certain crew members were nowhere to be found. “Koki and Jimmy aren’t here…? That’s a little odd…”

Before he could further question their whereabouts, his eyes landed on a pine marten that was sitting in Aviva’s desk chair. Chris grinned, “But right now, I need the help of my ‘partner’ in crime~”

He made sure to carefully approach the pine marten so as not to scare it away before he put on his Creature Power Suit and took Martin’s Pine Marten Power Disc out of his left pocket.

“Hey there! Li’l Marty, was it?” Chris asked the little creature as it turned to look at him, “Well I’ll need your help to get revenge on Big Marty~”

He put his gloves on. He was finally ready to enact the last part of his plan.

“Insert Pine Marten Power Disc!”

He put one gloved finger on the pine marten.

“Touch pine marten!”

He pressed the central button on his vest, and…

“Activate pine marten powers!"

The suit activated, and within seconds, he had become a pine marten.

“Haha, I finally got the chance to use pine marten powers! But I’ll have to test out the pine marten’s hunting tricks some other time. I have a more important prey to devour downstairs~”

Chris ran out the door and down the steps to the basement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He made it to the bottom of the stairs, but waited a moment before entering the basement to listen to the pure terror that found its way into Martin’s laughter.

“Did he hear me activate my Creature Power Suit?” Chris wondered before smirking, “Good.”

He finally entered the room to see Aviva holding down a hysterical Martin, but while they did hear the sound of the door opening and looked to see if he was there, they failed to look down towards the floor, where he actually was.

“Look down here~”

Aviva looked down and giggled upon both seeing him and hearing Martin shriek out a “AVIHIHIHIVA, LET ME GOHOHOHOHO!” She just ignored him and greeted Chris.

“There you are Ch- Other Chris!” she corrected herself.

“You see what my plan is now, Aviva~?”

“Sure do~ Want me to stay here, or do you want me to leave you to it?”

Chris tried to think about his response, but couldn’t hear his own thoughts over the sound of his brother’s uncontrollable laughter. Out of playful spite, he decided, “Leave him to me~”

Aviva nodded, “Okay then~ Sorry Martin, but it looks like you’ll be stuck with him for a bit longer~ See you later… if you’re still alive that is~” She released said Kratt from her grasp before walking out of the door and heading back upstairs. The whole time she was walking away, Martin was pleading for her to reconsider and help him escape, but it was futile. She and Chris had already made their decisions.

Martin’s laughter had subsided a little after the inventor left, but he still had a hard time controlling himself, especially when he looked at his younger brother sitting on the floor. Watching. Waiting there. Menacingly.

“C-Chrihihihihihs? Hellohohohoho?”

Chris leered at him, “Are you ready for the grand finale, Martin~?”

“Nohohohohoho, nohohot at ahahahahahahall!”

“Well too bad~”

The green pine marten ran over to one of the legs near the foot of the bed, climbed up it, and ran across Martin’s body to get to his neck. The whole time he ran across his brother’s torso and ribs, he dragged his tail behind him, intentionally tickling him and sending him into another fit of laughter.

“H-hehehehehehey, wahahahahahatch the taihihihihihil!”

“What do you mean? I was watching my tail!” Chris snuck up to Martin’s ear before he spoke again, “I was watching it tickle you~”

He could feel Martin shiver as he brought his now-free hands up to his ears to cover them up. Unfortunately for him, the ears were the last spot his brother had in mind.

While his hands were up and covering his ears, Chris made his way to his neck and stood dangerously close to the collar of his shirt.

He could practically feel the heat radiating off his brother’s skin as he took note of the blush that had managed to spread from Martin’s face to his neck. He saw the tips of his ears through his fingers and noticed that they even had a tinge of red on them. He didn’t know his older brother could get this flustered!

“You ready~?” He asked teasingly, knowing full well what Martin’s answer was going to be.

“N-nohohohoho! Chrihihihis, d-dohohohon’t do ihihit!”

Chris couldn’t help the smug grin that made its way onto his face, though he didn’t turn to show it to his brother, “Too bad~ Here we go~!”

He stuck his head into the collar of Martin’s shirt, slowly inching his way in. He was only a few inches in when he suddenly pulled himself out and began sniffing at the blue Kratt’s neck. Martin was in no way prepared for this sudden change and nearly let out a squeal as he desperately tried to move his head from side to side to get his brother’s face away from his neck.

“H-hehehehehehey, don’t sniff my nehehehehck!” I-I dohohohon’t smehehehell!”

“That’s not what I’m going for, Martin~ I’m just here to make you laugh, and unless you apologize for what you did to Chris today…” Chris moved down to where Martin’s blush ended on his neck and went right back to sniffing, “You better prepare yourself~”

“I-I cahahahahahahn’t!”

“You can’t apologize? And here I thought you knew basic manners~”

The green pine marten stayed at Martin’s neck for a few more seconds before the sniffing came to an end. However, while his brother had his guard down, Chris quickly zipped into his shirt and ran across his stomach over and over again.

Martin’s only response to the sneak attack was a squeal so loud that it nearly stunned Chris. While he knew that the walls of the Tortuga are rather thick, he highly doubted that Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy were unable to hear that squeal, even if they were outside of the ship.

“CHRIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIS, NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! I-I CAN’T- AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Huh? What was that, Martin~? I can’t understand you, you’re laughing too hard~” Chris taunted as he kept up the pace and continued to race around on his brother’s torso. He dragged his tail behind him once again, swishing it back and forth to make it tickle even more, and even stopped running a few times to pretend to use it like a paintbrush on Martin’s navel, which nearly resulted in him getting pushed out of his shirt by his hands. It didn’t take long for Chris to notice that Martin’s squirming and pushing was gradually fading, a tell-tale sign that he was nearly at his limit.

“Ready to say sorry yet~?”

“Y-YEHEHEHEHES! YEHEHEHEHEEHS! I’M SOHOHOHOHOHORY! CHRIHIHIHIHIS, PLEAHAHAHAHAHAHASE!”

The moment Martin said sorry, Chris brought the tickles to a halt and carefully climbed out of his sibling’s shirt, doing his best to not make any of his steps tickle him any further.

“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it~?” Chris teased him one last time before he hopped off of him and onto the floor, waiting for his giggly mess of a brother to catch his breath and calm down.

“T-thahahahaht… that wahahahahs evihihihihil…!”

“Good~ That’s what I was going for~ So next time, when you try to bully your brother for an entire day, remember… I will be here to tickle you until you apologize to him for your behavior~” With that, Chris stood up, said, “Deactivate!” and reverted back to his normal appearance and personality.

“You okay, bro?” he asked and held out his hand, worried that he might have taken his tickly punishment a bit too far.

“Y-yeah…” Martin breathed out, taking his younger brother’s hand and letting himself be pulled up into a sitting position. “Just give me a few more seconds to breathe…”

After two deep breaths, he got up off of the bed and stood next to his brother, “Do you think the crew heard me squeal…?”

“Only one way to find out! Come on, let’s see if they’re upstairs!”

A light pink blush returned to Martin’s face, but nonetheless, he went upstairs with Chris into the main room of the Tortuga. When the door opened, they were greeted with the sight of Aviva waiting in front of the big computer, while Koki and Jimmy were at their desks, having turned to face the brothers.

“So…” Aviva started with a smirk, “Who’s going to explain that loud squeal we heard downstairs~?”

Martin’s blush turned a dark red, while Chris just stood there, trying to look as though he had no idea what she was talking about.

“I’m not an expert on human noises, but I don’t think that squeal belonged to any of us.”

“Certainly didn’t come from me! I’d know my own squeals anywhere!” Jimmy responded to Koki’s comment, completely unaware of the engineer creeping up behind him until he heard a, “Boo!”

“AAAAAAH!” Jimmy didn’t squeal, but he did indeed scream and bolted behind Koki and her chair. Everyone couldn’t help but laugh at his panicked reaction.

“Hehehe, I think that’s enough to prove that it wasn’t him~” She then turned her attention back to the brothers, “Sooooooo~?”

The light pink blush Martin had the entire time turned a dark red again as his embarrassment grew, and even Chris couldn’t fight the faint pink blush on his cheeks as he tried his best to play it cool and pretend that he didn’t understand her.

No one said anything for a few seconds, then the blue Kratt finally spoke up, “I-It was me… and I’ve got to admit, Chris is a surprisingly good tickler if he got me to squeal that loud!” Martin quickly regained his usual energy and peered at his brother, who just looked at him with a confused expression.

“Huh? What are you talking about, bro? I didn’t tickle you!”

Martin gave him a “you’re really doing this?” look and decided to play along, “No, that was totally you, Chris, I swear!”

“No way! I’m not as good at tickling people as you are!”

“I think I remember hearing your voice teasing me into oblivion! I’d know your voice anywhere, bro!”

“I’m not good at teasing, either! Martin, I swear, you’re confusing me with someone else!”

For a moment, Koki and Jimmy thought that they were having a genuine argument over a supposed tickle attack, but when Aviva gave them a knowing grin, they immediately caught on to what was really happening.

“Nope, that was totally you! And you know what~?” Martin’s voice turned teasy out of nowhere as he brought his hands up into Chris’s view, wiggling his fingers, “I was lying when I said I was sorry~”

“Huh? Wha-” The younger brother was initially confused before spotting the wiggly fingers that were slowing approaching him, “W-wait, Martin noooOOOOHOHOHOHO DOHHOHOHOHON’T!” He immediately cracked when he felt his older brother’s fingers on his sides, ribs, and belly. It didn’t take for him to try to fall to the floor to escape the ticklish hell that was unleashed upon him, but unfortunately, Martin had followed him down, never stopping his assault.

“Haha, revenge sure is sweet!” Martin cheered, “Okay, I was sort of lying when I said I wasn’t sorry, I did feel bad for you, but right now, I care more about getting my revenge~”

Chris could only laugh and try to curl up as he felt Martin’s hand close in on the center of his stomach, but he managed to trap his hands there instead, sealing his tickly fate.

Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy couldn’t help but laugh along as they watched the chaos unfold in front of them.

“Rookie!” Chris called “I have a bone to pick with you!”. Leon turned to him “What Chris?” he asked as he took another bite of his sandwich “You got my sister to embarrass me in front of the whole damn S.T.A.R.S unit!” Chris snapped, Leon chuckled “You deserved it. The look on your face was priceless, you were as red as a tomato!”. Leon almost fell backwards from laughing so hard “Wanna laugh rookie? You won’t be laughing once I humiliate you!” Chris yelled.

Chris grabbed onto Leon and pulled him into a tight hold “W-Wha-? Let go of me!” he yelped “Or what?” teased Chris as he poked Leon’s ribs in an extra teasing manner. Leon squirmed in Chris’ grip “S-St-Stop! Stop!” he cried “It tickles, stop!” “Oh, the rookie’s ticklish, is he?” chuckled Chris as he starts tickling harder.

Leon shrieks and kicks his legs frantically, this was nothing like Claire’s gentle tickles, these were rough and slightly painful “Stahahap it!” he cries “Ihihit hurts!” “Hurts? It hurt me when my sister pulled my ear, this seems like the perfect revenge if you ask me” Chris teased as he made his way to Leon’s belly. “NOHOHOT THEHEHERE!” Leon laughs “Oh, tickle spot?” Chris laughs as he continues to tickle his belly “Tickle, tickle~”

The teases cause Leon’s face to go red and his laughter to turn silent and he can only let out a faint “Stop”. Chris finally decides that he’s gotten enough revenge and lets Leon go. Leon stumbles a bit before leaning against the wall and trying to catch his breath “s-shihit…” Leon whispers “I think you bruised my ribs…” “Good” says Chris with a smirk.

“Chris!” Yells Claire “I heard about what you did to Leon” “What did you do?” Asked Jill “Got revenge for him having Claire pull my ear” Chris said “You did leave faint bruises on his stomach and ribs” said Claire with her arms crossed “Maybe I should get revenge for him in a similar manner”. Chris turned bright red “C-Claire! No!” he yelps “What’s going on here?” asked Jill “The bruises were because of how roughly Chris was tickling Leon, he seems to forget that as his little sister I know where he’s ticklish” Claire explains. Chris turns even redder as Jill turns to him with a smirk “So, big bad Redfield is ticklish?” she teases “Very” said Claire “Especially his armpits” Chris covered his armpits the second she said that.