#ler!shimura

“Kageyama,” Lost in his own thoughts, the dark haired student didn’t realize the leader walking in his direction, the rest of the group having already moved on to the next step while Shigeo froze on the first one.

“Kageyama!” His tune naturally became more energetic, although not carrying the slightest heat on it, but being perfect to break Shigeo from his trance, body barely jumping on the same place before his attention focused on Goda.

“Y-ye-” His attention, however, didn’t come quick enough to prevent the twin pokes that attacked his underarms, a quiet, high pitched squeak leaving his lips at it while his arms fastly shot down to protect the ticklish area, wide but not alarmed eyes watching the leader attentively.

In response, he received the same enthusiastic smile and energetic shout that accompanied the whole club like a treadmark. “Don’t forget to also stretch your arms downwards, Kageyama! It will be important for your wrists and biceps!”

Now Shingeo’s eyes shone with curiosity and understanding, the student quickly followed to do what was said. “Right!”

Goda nodded, his smile tingled with something a tad playful and a tad a expression Mob couldn’t quite place still on his face, before turning back to the rest of the group. “BODY IMPROVEMENT CLUB!”

Excited shouts followed his and Mob felt a content (with drops of tickly) feeling quirk his lips upwards.

...

Such occurrence, however, wasn’t restricted to his first day. Actually, as weeks and weeks went by, Shigeo lost the count of all times that similar attacks followed him, especially during stretching time, when his mind seemed to wander most and there was too much steps, moves and body parts to be aware at once.

A quick squeeze on his stomach to remind him to pull his leg the closer he could to his chest when preparing to run with them across the city.

(”Don’t worry. You’ll know how to do those even while sleeping soon.”

“Thank you.”

Yamamura didn’t add anything to his previous observation, giving Shigeo one more glance before relaxing and nodding, going back to the comfortable silence that followed them as they continued the exercises.)

A sneaky scribble delivered by Shimura on his unprotected neck on a particular day when his muscles were too stiff and his frown too strong.

(”Don’t pull your head towards your shoulder so forcefully! Your hand should only rest on the side of your head while weighting it slightly downwards. If it hurts, it means you’re doing it wrong!”

“Really?! I understand now, thank you.”

“Don’t try to bow while doing it either!”)

Some friendly prodding in between his shoulder blades while rotating his wrists from left to right when he was too much concentrated on counting the moves to realize the tiredness was weighing his shoulders down.

(”Try to not let your posture slouch, ok? That can prevent some back pain further in the way.” Kumugawa smiled and did a thumbs up when Shigeo corrected his stance, looking at him with a wobbly grin that too fastly went back to his natural neutral face. That boy was fun.

“Alright!”)

And, as warmth, playfulness and a kind type of care followed each poke and each word in his direction, Mob couldn’t really bring himself to mind the plentiful squeaks, titters and snorts that such a friendly (and strangely effective) way to call his attention would bring.

[...]

* Quick scribbles and light squeezes when Mob is looking as if he needs some encouragement to keep going

Breath in. Breath out.

The sun was bright and hot and every patch of his skin seemed to be completely overcome by a sudden wave of fever. His legs were starting to hurt. Tiredness was beginning to bite at his ankles, the concrete under his sneakers feeling harder than ever and still his steps began to grow more and more inconsistent.

Breath. Breath in and out.

He was getting slower. Again. The sun was so bright. The rest of the club were now getting way too far. Slow. He was simply too slow.

They didn’t even get to the middle of their track.

Too slow. Too bright. Too exhausted.

Why all he was was being so w-

A couple of fingers tased his sides, not ceasing their attack even when the surprise tickling made his step falter and a mix of hiccups and giggles to flow from his lips. Little ticklish shocks spread all across his torso, bringing more and more tired titters to bounce in a giddy energy on his chest, the sensation was funny, silly and quite maddening, making the smile on his face only grow bigger.

His body tried to squirm from one side to another in an attempt of dislodging the offending, wiggling fingers, but they kept their attack, only changing to a series of pokes and a couple more of squeezes as he turned around to see who was responsible for that.

“Do not focus just on your pain, Kageyama.” Onigawara also looked tired, his breath coming as short pants and his usual half serious and half scolding (no, he wasn’t soft because the little guy here trying his best, he was not. Shut it) losing its usual sharpness at the adorable scene of the shorter one smiling and trying to duck his face to hide it on his shoulders while still keeping his running pace. “Or you won’t be able to see your goal getting close at every moment!”

A muffled snort flew from his lips, more hiccuped giggles quickly following it. It was hard to concentrate on Onigawara’s words, Shigeo came to realize, especially when the other found a rather sensitive spot way too close to his belly and not far enough from his sides and that made him sprint forward in a sudden bout of energy. A smirk took over Onigawara’s face as he too sped up to accompany his new rhythm, more pokes and prods urging the shorter to not give up.

“See? We just need to keep going on. What’s up with that frown from before, huh? We still need to catch up with them!”

And Shigeo nodded, that bright shine on his eyes again, the remaining adrenaline and phantom feeling of fingers dancing on his sides still making a silly, tiny smile paint his face.

Onigawara nodded back, ceasing his attack. “Good.”

He quickened his pace, gaze still locked with Shigeo as he went. “Do not stay behind, Kageyama.”

For a good measure, he wiggled his fingers, watching with amusement when the act made the other let out a small squeak, before also trying to run faster.

“BODY IMPROVEMENT CLUB!”

With the shout breaking his concentration, Onigawara saluted the smaller, turning back to the group and trying to catch up with them.

Time to overcome his own challenges as well.

[...]

* Group tickles when he reaches a goal or overcomes a challenge!! :D

He did it.

He did it.

His face was relaxed, his shoulders seemed free of any weight to pull them down and a tiny smile was plastered on his face, clear to anyone who wanted to see, his chest going up and down with each erratic breath that steadily came back to a much slow rhythm.

Kumugawa’s face appeared on his vision field. “Are you ok there, Kageyama?”

With all the strength he could muster, Shigeo lifted a thumbs up, not taking too long before his arm fell back to accompany the rest of his body on the grass, but he could care less about how much dirt was getting on his clothes.

He did it.

It was already evening, now. The sun setting bringing a nice breeze to play around the space, making relief to flood across his entire body. The blond snickered, replying him with his own thumbs up before going back to the rest of the club, who was enjoying their contentment for finishing a good and challenging day of exercise. Water was being distributed and chatters were filling the entire scenario with the typical exhausted excitement that always fell like a blanket on them after their routine.

Shigeo closed his eyes and breathed in, letting the conversation and peace dancing freely in the air surround him in a rare moment of calmness. A moment when power, spirits, fears, love and insecurities didn’t matter. A moment when his mind was finally quiet. A moment when the only important thing in the world was the knowledge that he did it.

He finally finished the track. Without passing out even once.

He did it.

He was really glad.

The Kageyama had no idea of how much time he spent like this, but when he opened his eyes it was to find a cold water bottle a few inches from his face and a hand on his shoulder pulling him to a sitting position. With a satisfied hum and a hoarse “Thank you” he realized that his body’s ache had subdued a lot in the meantime.

“Come on, Kageyama!” The hand patted his shoulder with an enthusiasm and force that made him bend slightly to the left. Shigeo looked at the leader with a question in his gaze. “Just the final stretching and then we can get our things!”

“Ok.” He agreed, already pulling himself to stand and following them through the steps that, indeed, were becoming easier and easier to remember with each day.

At the end, Sagawa was the one who broke the silence.

“Today was the first day you stuck with us until the end without passing out, right?” His usual neutral face checked the shorter, as if being sure he wasn’t about to fall and prove him wrong at any moment.

“It was.” Shigeo looked at his own hand, as if he could visualize just with that how much different, stronger he got since the beginning of his training. “I also kept you in my sight all the time.” A shy proudness tip toed in his words.

“Congrats.” Sagawa completed and Yamamura nodded in agreement. The training was working out.

“YES! This is a very important moment! We should CELEBRATE!!” Goda flexed, more energy sparking from him at the prospect of seeing someone conquer their challenges. Enthusiastic screams of affirmation were fast to follow his words, Kumagawa and Shimura punching the air while Onigawara lifted his water bottle with a ‘yeah’.

Blink. And suddenly everyone was much closer. Blink. Shigeo was being lifted and thrown in the air multiple times, their congratulations shouts being mingled by the momentarily sensation of him floating on the air before falling onto their hands only to be thrown again.

It reminded him of the times he and Ritsu were kids taking turns to be thrown and catched by their dad, senseless laughter flooding the space.

Shigeo relaxed. It was fun.

And then it didn’t take long before he was jolted back to stand on his feets, legs wobbling for a second, but firmly locking himself in place when a wave of reassuring and excited pats washed over him, on his shoulders, on his back, even his head wasn’t forgotten, his hair probably sticking at every possible direction from how much it was ruffled.

He had seen this before, when Onigawara managed to accompany them for a whole day or Goda created and succeeded at his own new intense exercise routine.

He had seen it all before, even partaking at the (ritual? Party? Celebration?) with his own shy and careful pats once or twice.

That is why he knew exactly what would happen when the first scribble hit his neck.

He didn’t try to hold or stop the hands that began attacking him, only hugging his own sides and ducking his head downwards as his cheeks puffed out in a poor attempt of containing his laughter.

It wasn’t very effective, though, not when there were fingers worming their way under his arms so they could scratch freely across his ribs, drumming on the horribly ticklish space right in between them that made a series of muffled yelps to escape from his mouth.

Or when someone - probably Onigawara, his mind unhelpfully supplied - found, again, that spot that connected his sides and stomach, carefully and attentively pinching every single inch of it over and over again until stray titters were floating in the space.

Or when a curious poke to his belly finally broke his barrier and brought all the kind of snorts, squeaks and unashamed laughter that made his face hot all over again, redness running from his cheeks to the tip of his ears as he curled even more on himself, shoulders shaking and beaming at the tickly shocks running across his spine, filling his nerves and making him feel like electricity followed every touch, leaving trails of tingling behind.

All of this, of course, only seemed to encourage his peers, more squeezes and scribbles being delivered on his sides, ribs, belly and even his ears (which fished a high pitched wheeze from him and some amused snickers and happy chatter from the group), however as fast the attack started, it ended, the last pokes and remanent giggles dancing together and keeping the content, relaxed  smile on his face.

With his eyes still shining with mirth (and a few non-shed tears) he stared at the group, almost ducking his head again at the pride and happiness that was greatly and unashamedly reflected right back at him.

He did it. 

Shigeo really did it.