#switch!steven

“If I have to tell you this again, then I will—it won’t work on me as much anymore, bro!” Mike exclaimed, crossing his arms as he walked to the living room with his brother.

His smug attitude had gotten Steven feeling suspicious of his words, and whether it was true or not, he knew that not everyone randomly stops being ticklish. Despite this, Mike still attempted to convince him.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t easily buy it.

“Sure, feel free to prove it whenever you want… by flailing like a Magikarp once I get close to a real bad spot of yours.” Steven snickers at the memory he mentioned.

The older brother dramatically gasps. “How dare you! I don’t do that anymore either, you doofus!” He replied in a jokingly insulted tone, giving his younger brother a poke on the side.

“Ay! Yohou’re the doofus.” The long-haired man returns the favor.

“I am nohot!”

“Whatever you say, Mikey.”

Once the two came near the soft crimson red couch in front of them, Steven looks down at the brown-haired trainer with a smirk as if he predicted he would begin hesitating, knowing whatever his brother has in store might unveil his lies.

Mike glances at him before lying down, his head now resting on the left arm. “So what’re we doing, exactly?”

“Just a question before we start,” he stares with a hidden mischievous look as he walks over to where Mike’s head laid, “you remember when we were like… young or somethin’, we used to play this game when one of us tells a lie and has to face ‘punishment’ if they don’t admit it?”

The memory was vague, but he did recall the one time when he ate some of Steven’s food from the refrigerator without realizing it belonged to him, and tried to make up a lie after he found out. However, that only resulted in being tickled during a game as said ‘punishment’.

A blush covered Mike’s face as he became embarrassed by the reminiscence, but he quickly shook it off to look determined. “Oh yeah, I think I do. You were soho mean for no reason when I only took a bite of the sandwich that… proobably belonged to you.” He chuckled.

“I was mean for a reason, and you’d know peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were my favorite!” The long-haired man booped his nose.

“No booping! Also, maybe you should’ve thought about putting a label on the bag to keep me reminded.” The short-haired explained, swatting away the finger before Steven booped his nose again just for the laughs.

…Okay, maybe he was right about that. Still shouldn’t have eaten his sandwich, though.

“Enough talk,” the brief sound of cracking fingers emits, “let’s get this started.”

Mike takes a small breath in and out as he prepares himself for the big challenge. If he wants to trick Steven into believing his false words, he’ll have to put in more effort to his plan than normal.

“But first, just in case you forgot; the rules are to keep your arms up for 2 minutes while I tickle you. If you tell the truth, I’ll stop.” Steven explained.

The brown-haired man scoffed. “Easy enough for me. I can take it.”

“There’s a twist, however…”

Mike raises his eyebrow. Since when was there a twist to the game rules?

“This time, you have to hold your laughter in until time runs out. If you fail to do that… well, you‘ll see.” The long-haired chuckled with a playful glint in his eye.

“…O-oh,” the brown-haired stutters. At this point, he regrets expressing his overconfidence.

“Alright, arms up.” Steven told.

Mike nods before raising his arms above his head, waiting for the inevitable as his brother sets the timer on his phone. Once he pushed the Start button, Steven now begins with gentle tickling, tracing shapes on the armpits.

Even though it wasn’t much, the flinching boy could feel giggles bubbling in his chest. Gentle tickles have never failed to make him let out a storm of giggles with a possible side of snorting, and this made it difficult for him to keep a straight face like nothing had any effect.

“What’s with the look on your face? You think even smiling can make you lose?” Steven chuckled, his fingers now scratching. “C’moon, lemme’ see it~!”

Mike’s breath hitched as he struggled to hold in the laughter like keeping a dam from bursting. If only his brother wasn’t so good at seeing through lies would he be able to get revenge without him tickling back.

But not everyone is also given the title of a lying master.

“D’aww~! Too ticklish for you, Mikey?” The long-haired champion teased.

Mike shook his head, his eyes shut tight as he resisted the sensation—he couldn’t let himself show any signs of nearly breaking, but the scribbling fingers had him show a squiggly smile for a split-second before reverting back to the face of desperation. “I think I saw a smile~”

The brown-haired shook his head in disagreement, but quivering movement from his arms say otherwise.

“You’re doing pretty well, Mike. You’ve only got…” He thinks before stopping his tickling to check the ongoing timer, allowing Mike to take the opportunity to catch a few breaths. A faint *click* sounded as the long-haired turned on his phone, watching the screen instantly change from pitch-black. “…One and twenty-two minutes.”

It didn’t sound too bad, but the brown-haired felt unsure if he was going to last that long enough to win, seeing that his brother might have a few tricks up his sleeve. His mouth opens to say something, until…

“Sneak attack!”

Those were the two words he heard before hysterical laughter suddenly came flowing out of his mouth as ticklish shocks went through his nerves. “Wh- EEEYAHahAHaHAHaA-! STEHEVEN, YOhoU *snort* TRihiHICKSTAHAHAHA!”

“‘Trickstah’? Is that a new Pokémon or something? Cause’ I ain’t one.” The long-haired champion snickered, his fingers clawing at his brother’s armpits before moving down to the ribs.

“THaHaT DOhOSEN’T- EYAHAHAHAHAA!” The brown-haired kicked his legs as he cackled, now unable to say anything else other than just laugh. Steven usually doesn’t check the timer because, well, that would give Mike a slight chance of succeeding.

His short-lasting suspicion was seemingly correct, but making an attempt to speak was not what he meant to do. But that’s what Steven probably expected to happen—he waited for him to drop his guard.

The former champion ceases his tickling, letting Mike breathe for a few minutes. “You alright?”

He nods, some leftover giggles still remaining due to the phantom tickles. “Ihi guess nohot everyone cahan be a good liar in one try or two.”

“So, you admit it?” Steven asked, stepping to the front of the couch. His older brother—hesitant on answering—stretches his arms for a second before moving his legs off to leave more room for him to sit.

The room went quiet as the long-haired trainer patiently awaited for a response. Mike wasn’t sure if he should say ‘yes’ or not, but the realization of what he said earlier made him reconsider his choice before he could screw something up again.

“…Yes,” he answers, “but I only lied because I thought pretending to not be ticklish would give me a chance to get you back.”

Oh, so that’s why! From all the times he’s won against his brother in tickle fights, he’s been planning his revenge by putting in effort into resisting his attacks—but alas, he had forgotten about his sneaky tricks that finally cracked him up.

An idea comes to mind when Steven had begun thinking of ways to make up for it as an apology.

“Tell you what,” he began, “I’ll let you have your little revenge for once.”

“Waitwait, huh?!” This caught the brown-haired brother by surprise. Was he actually giving him a chance, or did he hear him wrong? If his hearing wasn’t so good, then maybe so—but he wasn’t expecting this moment to occur.

Steven wheezed at his reaction. “Ihi mean, people sometimes have to be victorious at least once, and I’ve forgotten about that till now. Sorry if I was being unfair, Mikey.”

“No, it’s alright! You were just that good is all—plus, I even almost had you a few times.” He grinned, prodding at his younger brother’s side with his elbow.

“Whoahahaho, hehey! Well, yohohou’ve got mehe now,” he laughs before striking back with a clawed hand to Mike’s stomach, “but that doesn’t mean you’re free to get away without punishment!”

“*snort* SteheHEEvehen, nOhoho!” Mike squealed as he gets caught off guard by the sudden tickling.

“Steven, yeHEhehes-! Ohohoh, noho you dOHOHON’T-!” The feeling of ticklish vibration took over the nerves of his ribs when the brown-haired brother took the chance to strike, causing him to nearly collapse onto the cushions.

Without a second to waste, Mike continues his revenge, digging into his younger brother’s lower ribcage with a victorious grin on his face. “Mwahahahaa!” He evilly laughed. “Gotcha’ now, lil’ bro~!”

“Ahahahalright, ahalrihihight, IHI gihive- MIHIHIKE!” Steven yelped.

The former champion grabs Mike’s arms in an attempt to move his hands away—however, this resulted in leaving his underarms unprotected for him to go for next.

Noticing this, the brown haired smirked, letting Steven do his thing as if he listened to his pleas before swiftly lunging his hands at the underarms the second he let go to begin scribbling. “You give? Oh, but Steven, I’ve only just started~!”

The long-haired threw his head back as he howled with laughter, slowly becoming incapable of saying any more begs. It almost seemed like his skills were brought over to Mike, because he was surprisingly good at this already!

…Or perhaps it’s just his mischievous side finally showing itself once he decided to let him tickle him as an apology.

Actually, at this point, it’s more than just an apology gift.

It’s a gift of brotherly love—letting Mike get his deserved revenge made things a bit more fair for him. Steven didn’t really see how playful he could be anyway.

The ticklish sensation comes to a halt as Mike stopped to let his taller brother breathe for air, thinking he’s had enough for now. Steven hugs his own sides while his residual giggling took the time to eventually stop.

“You okay, Steven? I must’ve gotten you real good.” Mike asked, chuckling before helping Steven back up from the cushions.

“Mhm. I ain’t dead.” He nods, ensuring him that he didn’t go overboard. “Didn’t expect you to go all out though.”

“You should’ve, because when I see an opportunity, I take it and don’t hold back on it! Kinda like what happened with me and Gold,” the short-haired explains.

The long-haired could only imagine whatever sneaky surprises he pulled on Gold that day, but they’d be somewhat embarrassing to think about due to Mike having to be so teasy.

“..Sooo, wanna watch some TV?” His thoughts were interrupted once Mike spoke as he grabbed the remote that was next to the lamp and his phone on the tall stool table.

Steven moves back up from the cushions. “Sure, but I’m choosing what we’re watching since you still lost the game.”

Mike’s face went from nothing but a blank expression to a flabbergasted look upon hearing those words, his head slowly turning to the former champion before exclaiming: “You never mentioned anything about that!”

The long-haired wheezes at the reaction before reaching for the held remote. But Mike moves it farther enough to where he couldn’t snatch it whilst complaining about his suspected lie.

“I can’t believe you have the gall to say that you’re choosing what to watch after I lose, even though you said I’d be punished if I didn’t tell the truth!”

“Ihihi’m sohorry, buhut we’ve both had enough tickles for today! I promise I’ll give it back, though!”

Mike takes a moment to think about what he said before coming to his decision. “…I guess I’ll believe you. We do need a small break anyway,” he says, giving the remote to the former champion.

With a push on the red power button, the TV turned on. Steven begins going through different sorts of channels to find the one he’s looking for with the old shows while his arm was put around Mike, who—with a mischievous smile—looked like he was gonna be getting it back one way or another.

Brothers will be brothers, like always.

~