Title: Lend Me Your Laugh

Pairing: Ned Nederlander x gender neutral!Reader

Word count: 1,810

Warning(s): Slight angst, tickling, mildly suggestive themes, and fluff (No smut)

Summary: Ned spends the night at your place, which results in something... ticklish.

Author’s Note: My final Ned Nederlander fic. I thought I'd post this one before putting my obsession with him to rest for good.

Also unrelated, but I managed to finish this just in time before The Amazing Digital Circus finale premieres on YouTube. The title is a reference to the song Lend Me Your Voice from the 2021 anime film Belle.

BTW, if I wrote Ned out-of-character, I would like to apologize for that. To the Three Amigos fandom, especially to those who love Ned, let this be my parting gift to you. Au revoir ❤

***

“... And this is my room,” you announced as you opened the door to your room to show your boyfriend, Ned.

He was staying over at your house for tonight, so you figured you’d give him a tour of the place to make himself more comfortable. You stepped into your room with Ned following along, and gestured your arm as if you said “Voila!,” showing the room in all of its glory.

Granted, your bedroom wasn’t really anything fancy, but it was spacious and cozy enough to make anyone feel welcome. In the middle of your room close to the wall stood your bed, whose mattress wasn’t king-size, but big enough for two people to sleep on it, decorated with a few pillows. Ned gazed around the room in awe as you motioned toward your bed across from the door and sat on the edge of it, asking him, “What do you think?”

“It’s… nice!” Ned flashed a grin. “I really like it!”

“Is that so?” You teased with a giggle. “Wanna join me in bed tonight?” You spread out your arms, expecting Ned to hold onto your hands.

Without hesitation, he placed his hands onto yours, and you firmly pulled him onto your bed, only to be met with a surprise kiss from him. After you briefly kissed him back, he rolled off of you and collapsed next to you on the bed, all while facing you, his fingers brushing lightly against one of your cheeks. “Why, aren’t you lovely tonight?” Ned teased back, complimenting you.

“Really?” You blushed. “Even when we’re only wearing our pajamas?”

“Well, if I say so myself,” he replied with a smirk.

You laughed, “Oh, Ned, you know how much I love you.” You rested your head against the crook of his neck, much to his shock.

Ned had never slept with anyone, save for his two best friends, Lucky and Dusty, when they all shared a bed together during their visit to Santa Poco. But what made it different was that he wasn’t quite as intimate with them the same way he was with you. And considering it was his first time cuddling and sharing the same bed with you, he started breathing heavily, his body shaking nervously, which you immediately took notice of.

“Ned,” you asked while rising up from the spot you were resting on to check on him, “what’s wrong? Is everything alright?”

Ned sat up, his shaking slowly came to a stop thanks to your calm and reassuring nature, but it still didn’t make him any less nervous. After a moment of heavy breathing, he finally spoke, “I’m… okay, alright. I’m just not used to sleeping with someone.”

“But what about Lucky and Dusty?” You asked, but more in a way that was curious than accusatory. “I mean, you slept with them when you were at Santa Poco before, right?”

“Yeah, but that’s a little different,” Ned confessed.

After you waited for him, he continued, “You see, before all that happened, I never really had anyone to love, let alone sleep together with. But that eventually changed when you came along.”

Not wanting to say anything to interrupt him, you listened.

“Throughout the time we were together, I wanted to share a moment like this with you, and here we are now, except… Oh God,” Ned covered both of his eyes, which were welled up with tears, with one of his hands, and panted heavily to prevent his sobs from becoming audible. “I’m sorry, I know this is probably too much for you…”

“No, it’s okay,” you whispered, placing your hand on his back. Your touch, albeit simple, was comforting enough to calm him down, that his tear-soaked hands let go of his face. You briefly let go of his back and placed your hands on his chest, allowing him to lie back down on the bed. “If anything, you’re safe with me.”

“Y-you sure?” Ned stuttered, though mostly relieved as he placed one of his hands on your warm cheek.

“Of course I am,” you nodded. “Now I’m sorry if I made you upset or anything. I guess I shouldn’t have asked that question to begin with…”

Ned shushed, his hand jumping from your cheek to your lips and forming an index finger. “It’s okay,” he forgave, followed by a smirk, which made him attractive enough for you to giggle and blush, quickly lightening the mood again.

“Well, I suppose we should have a little fun tonight before we sleep,” you suggested. “Y’know, something that’ll help us relax.”

“And what do you mean by that?” Ned raised a brow, assuming that something too risqué was going to happen between the both of you.

However, your idea was much tamer than that. “Well, you see, I’ve been wanting to do this… thing, ever since we got together.” As you spoke, your fingers slightly dug under his buttoned shirt and lightly brushed against his skin, which resulted in a soft squeak from him, but not a giggle or straight-up laugh. “Did you feel anything?”

Without a word spoken, Ned shook his head, indicating that he didn’t feel anything that warranted a reaction.

“Okay, how about here?” Your fingers quickly spidered from his side to his abdomen, which elicited a brief giggle from his grinning lips, much to your surprise and delight. “Oh, now we’re getting somewhere, aren’t we?” Your hand quickly let go of his body before he could notice.

“Y/N, did you just… tickle me?” Ned blushed at the realization, his heart briefly fluttering at the idea of being tickled by someone—in this case, you.

“Uh, surprise?” You laughed followed by an awkward grin.

Despite how embarrassed you felt about this activity, all that quickly diminished when you noticed Ned unbuttoning his shirt in a slow and sultry way, revealing his bare chest. “Y’know, Y/N, that felt pretty nice, actually.” Without removing his shirt, he exposed his chest, allowing you to touch him there. “Care to continue?”

Staring and blushing at your boyfriend as if he had done something that turned you on, suggestive thoughts entered your mind. Damn, Ned, you thought to yourself. At the very least, you could’ve taken off your shirt, and it would have been a lot better. Without a word or hesitation, your fingers willingly brushed against the skin of his chest once again, at this time, the tickling brought him to laughter, much to your pleasure.

“Aww, you’re so cute,” you playfully teased as you continued, drawing random shapes and patterns on his midriff with both of your index fingers, which brought you to laughter as well. Eventually, your tickling came to a halt, just to allow your boyfriend to breathe. “So, was that fun or what?”

“Oh, c’mon, Y/N!” Ned jokingly grunted, disappointed that he wasn’t tickled enough. “I like what we’re doing so far.”

“Well, is there any part of you that wants to be tickled? Like…” You eventually directed your attention (and fingers) to his underarms, much to his laughter. “Here?”

“Yes!” Ned blurted out as he felt the tickly sensation in both of his armpits.

While wiggling your fingers against his underarms and sides of his thorax, you suddenly had an idea. You stopped tickling him and hopped off the bed, saying, “I’ve got an idea!”

“And where do you think you’re going?” Ned asked despite struggling to speak between giggles.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got something that can make this even better!” You headed over to your drawer that wasn’t very far from the bed and opened it, pulling out a pen-sized feather from the drawer. After closing it, you turned around, facing Ned on your bed, and slowly walked over before revealing the tickler in front of him. “How’s this?” You flashed a seductive grin.

“That’s a feather, is it?” Ned blushed at the mere sight of the object in your hand, knowing very well what you were going to do with it.

“Oh, it is,” you smirked as you climbed back on the bed. “But don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt you with it. In fact, I’m just gonna…” You lightly dragged the feather over his neck, then down toward his chest and abdomen, resulting in him giggling once more. The sight of your boyfriend being tickled on your bed was so appealing, it was something you could watch all night. Alas, your tickling came to a stop, indicating that you had enough for tonight. After waiting for Ned to recover from his laughter, you asked, “Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Ned panted, his voice tired and hoarse from what happened. “But you know, I’d really like to tease you back.”

“Really?” Your eyes widened, curious to know where this was going. “How?”

Without a response, Ned quickly pinned you onto the bed so he was on top of you, with your wrists restrained to the mattress by his hands. You fully expected him to lean down and give you a kiss on the lips, but instead, he got back at you by giving you the same ticklish sensations on your chest and abdomen with his fingers, which brought to you a bout of squeaky giggling.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who’s ticklish,” Ned smirked. 

He sighed in enjoyment as he kept tickling you, and he lightly kissed your neck and stomach at intervals. To him, your laugh was music to his ears, and rightfully so.

Despite the surprise revenge from Ned, you couldn’t help but light up in pleasure over his titillating touches. Even during pauses, you were a giggling mess in front of him until you were able to bring yourself together as he stopped.

“Was that better or what?” Ned asked, the tone in his voice sounding endearing.

“Not without this,” you said before flipping him over so you were on top of him, leaning down to kiss him.

Not wanting to fight back, Ned kissed you back, and you both caressed each other’s bodies during that time. Afterward, you parted from the kiss and collapsed on the bed, your head resting against his chest.

“Y/N,” Ned whispered, finding himself falling asleep, “what we did tonight was…amazing. Like, I feel relaxed now more than ever.”

“You really think so?” You whispered back, your eyelids feeling droopy as a result of sleepiness despite your tired smile.

Ned nodded. “I was wondering if we could do that more often.”

“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it,” you agreed, taking his suggestion. “And of course. Maybe next time, we’ll make it a little… spicy,” you finished as you fell asleep.

“I’d love that very much,” Ned whispered back as he gave a gentle kiss on your head. “Goodnight, Y/N.”

With the absolute trainwreck which is my complicated crush on Ned Nederlander for over the past year, I think I'm going to write one more X reader fanfic of him.

I feel like doing this will give me some closure about it. But it won't be easy, in fact it's going to take a while for me to write the fic and post it here on Tumblr and AO3 before I can put my obsession with him to rest.

To the Three Amigos fandom, especially those who love Ned... I am ready.