#ticklish!jester

The next few minutes were hazy — fuzzy in the best sort of way. Jester was smiling at him, tickling and teasing him to bits. She brought out so much in him that he hadn’t expected, and she had so many silly, wonderful ideas for expressing affection. In the midst of one, she squeezed at his hips a few times, getting a yelp for her efforts.

“I can’t believe how cute you are when you’re getting tickled Fjord! Your face is so cute! I have to draw it for you some time.” 

“NOHOHOHO!” Fjord cried through his cackles.

Jester’s grin widened as she got an idea. A few more quick squeezes to Fjord’s abdomen and she pushed up, hauling herself off of his hips and running over to her sketch book. 

Fjord took a few deep breaths, some broken up with lingering laughter, and stared at the ceiling as he happily accepted the short break. “Wh- what are you planning now?” He asked — sounding a little teasing and giddy, and a lot nervous.

Jester spun around, a smirk on her face as she wiggled her eyebrows at him. In her hand, she held up her sketching pencil. 

Fjord swallowed, watching her. His giggling started back up again. 

Jester perched atop him, eyes hungry. He felt his stomach twist with anticipation, excitement, and nerves. She took the pencil in her hand as though to start a lovely drawing, except that she had the pointy end up. 

Fjord shook his head. Jester nodded encouragingly, the hand not holding her pencil grabbed at the top of his underwear and pulled the waistband down a bit. She lightly drug the back of the pencil back and forth over his hip. Fjord gasped and burst into giggles. His legs kicked out on the bed behind Jester. 

“Ahaha no- nonono!” Fjord whined. 

“Yes yes yes!” Jester chirped in response. She drew figures and circles and whimsical patterns all over the lower section of his tummy, the front of his ribs and chest, his sides, and even up into his armpits and along his neck. 

Tracing the pencil along each rib on one side as she made her way back down to his sides, Jester started wiggling and pinching along the other side of his torso with her free hand. 

Fjord’s laughter grew louder as he wriggled side to side at her two fronted assault. His smile could cause bones to melt, but his laugh was like a cannonball of delight. It was the sort of gut-deep, boisterous sound that ricocheted off the walls of the ship like thunder - and it was impossible for Jester not to grin in the middle of the storm. 

Dropping her pencil, she made a sound of delight and started scribbling up his sides. Fjord wheezed and cackled, his eyes squeezed shut with tears in the corners of them. 

Fjord was already pretty far gone, but he still reacted viscerally to the sound of Jester sucking in a deep breath. “NO- NAHAHAHA NOOO NAHAHOT THAT!” He pleaded.

“Aww, are you too ticklish?” 

“STAHAHAHOP HAHA NO- JES DON’T DO IHIHIHIT!” Fjord wailed.

“Oh alright… I’ll just give you a couple raspberries. Let me know if it tickles too much, okay Fjord?” 

Her fingers continued to scribble and crawl their way from his hips to his armpits, which would have had him in plenty of hysterics on its own. Her lips, adding poison to the dagger, pressed down softly on the middle of his belly before she let out a loud, ticklish vibration against his abs. 

Fjord pretended to ignore the shriek that fell from his lips when she started, and each additional squealing wail that followed when she continued.

“NAHA- STAH- I CAN’T AHHH HAHA AHAHAA-” His thundering cackles quickly devolved into shouts and gasps between wails of desperate laughter. 

 It wasn’t until her nails began to scratch unbearably under both of his arms and she decided to blow her next raspberry on his side that Fjord cried out “SP-SPRINKLE!” between hoarse booms of laughter. 

Jester withdrew with a grin, sitting upright over him and taking in his exasperated, ravaged state. “Wow, you did really good Fjord! I was pretty mean..” She winked. 

Fjord felt a blush rise to his cheeks in spite of his already warm face. “Heh, thanks.”

“Okay.” Jester leaned in, peppering his cheeks with kisses as she untied the silks from his wrists, leaving the restraints hooked up to the bed. “Okay, okay! Me next!!”

Blissed out smile on his face, Fjord took his jelly arms and wrapped them around Jester’s wiggling form, pulling her in close for a cuddle. “You’re too good at that.” He mumbled as he pulled her in to be the little spoon, both of them still giggling. “I’m so tired now, I need to nap first.” He sighed dramatically, closing his eyes as his legs wrapped around Jester’s. 

He pretended to start snoring, exaggerated and loud, and Jester squealed adorably. Then, “sleep-walking” fingers began to trace ticklish paths around Jester’s ribs and sides, over to her stomach, down near her hips. 

“Ah ehehe Fjord!” Jester squeaked out as she giggled harder. 

A loud snoring sound, and then Fjord mumbled. “Fjord’s sleeping.”

“Nohohoho he’s nohot! Fjord’s tickling!”

Another fake snore. “No he’s not. He’s sleeping.” Jester felt him take a deep breath, chest rising to press further into her back. A long, exaggerated snore. “But when he wakes up. He’s really gonna get you.” 

Jester could hear the others talking in the background, their voices coloured with amusement. Molly was curled up into a weak ball, twitching at her tickly assault, otherwise not resisting but to hiccup with laughter.

“You have such a good smile Molly, I should tickle you forever, then it would never stop!” Her fingers climbed to burrow into his armpits and earn a loud shriek. “Doesn’t that sound nice?”

Molly was laughing and kicking too hard to speak, but he managed a nod amidst his squirming.

Jester chuckled evilly. “Hehehe, did I find your worst spot, huh?” She continued to wriggle her now trapped fingers in his armpits, loving how dark purple he got. “Is this your tickly tickle spot?”

A soft voice just behind her made her jump. “Try his tail.”

Jester stopped in surprise, looking around to see a somewhat awkward looking Yasha, eyes fixed deliberately on the rain falling just past the edge of their little dome.

Molly wheezed for breath, feeling very warm and buzzy. “Traitor!” He shouted weakly, rolling onto his back for completely unrelated reasons.

“Oh?” That seemed to get Jester’s attention back on him. Presently, Molly wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or not. “Is she right?”

Molly swallowed nervously, that giggly anticipation swelling up in his stomach. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

She giggled. “I’m gonna find out!”

He could feel himself grinning, and made no move to get up. “Best of luck to you!”

Jester glared playfully and made a grab for his tail, which Molly smugly twitched away at the last second. He was chuckling by her third attempt to catch it, and was just about to say something mocking when he felt something that sent a shock up his spine.

Jester’s tail, which had apparently wormed its way under him to the giant weak spot that was his lower back.

His eyes locked on to hers with horror, noting her smug satisfaction. So it had all been a trick. “You little- SHIT!” Molly was interrupted by a loud shriek when Jesters tail started wriggling like a worm against his back, and also, horribly, allowing her to finally catch his tail, which she assaulted with fingers that fluttered so lightly he felt like he’d die.

And okay, Molly could admit that he loved this, loved the play and the laughing and the warmth and the touch, but that didn’t mean he could handle it.

He managed barely a moment of squealing laughter before the thrashing began, twisting and rolling around to escape her tail from poking and wriggling against his back as he cackled wildly, tugging frantically at his own tail if only for the chance to catch his breath.

Then Jester’s tail found the hem of his shirt, and the moment it touched bare skin Molly shot straight out of her grip with a scream, right out the side of the protective dome.

Jester burst out laughing, only laughing harder when Molly returned a moment later, plastered with rain and catching his breath.

“Oh, you think this is funny?” Molly asked playfully, then surprised Jester by pouncing past her, somehow tackling Yasha to the ground.

“No- Molly wait-” She managed, before clasping both hands hard over her face and giggling.

Jester cooed at Yasha’s flushed face and soft laughter, then let her eyes scan over the rest of them for her next target.

And, well. Their wizard’s ears were very red.

She grinned. “Oh Caaay-leb…”

He glanced up from his bedroll, jittery as usual. “J-ja?” Then caught the look in her eye. “Ah- no, no, nein!” He yelped, scrambling backwards away from her. “Nein!”

Jester snickered, following him and wiggling her fingers playfully. “Are you like, super ticklish or something?”

Caleb curled in on himself, locking his arms at his sides. “Nein!” Oh gods, this was bad, he could tell from Jester’s smirk this was bad.

Then a familiar clawed hand squeezed at his side and it became worse. “AHA- noplease!”

Nott snickered. “But Caleb, you just said you’re not ticklish!”

“Yeah!”

He was trapped between them, and Caleb knew, knew he was going to perish. “No- wait! The spell, I need- I cannot lose concentration!”

A lie. One he was honestly quite proud of given the circumstances, but one that they could very well see through.

Instead, Jester shrugged, a disappointed pout on her lips. “Ugh, right.” She paused. “You can recast it though…”

Nott batted her away, clearly cowed by the thought of letting the rain in, and the two backed off, leaving Caleb sitting on the soft base of the dome, watching Jester leap onto Fjords back and dig her fingers into his stomach in a way that had him cackling in seconds.

This was… good. This was what he’d wanted after all. He was not being attacked, not made to laugh like a fool, to shriek and squirm like Nott was after her attempt to get Beau backfired. He didn’t want to feel like that, even if they did look happy and close in a way that made Caleb’s heart ache. This was… better.

It wasn’t like he could bear to look any of them in the eye once they found out how godforsaken ticklish he was anyway. It had never been a trait that had felt like it fit him. Caleb was awkward and stuffy and dry, it- it didn’t suit him to drop to the ground giggling from the littlest wiggle at his stomach.

It was silly.

Besides, it had been years since anyone had felt comfortable and playful enough to tickle him, Caleb wasn’t sure it would even work, if he remembered how he was supposed to react.

He’d never known how to react to things properly. He felt his lips twitch up slightly. That had always been what felt so… easy, about being ti- touched like that. He had no choice in his reactions, no chance of saying the wrong thing when he couldn’t speak for laughing, his self-consciousness unable to bury his smile in the face of that bright sparkling silliness.

Ah, gottsverdammt. He wanted that.

He glanced over to Molly and Yasha, who had now switched places, Yasha’s fingers worrying at Molly’s ribcage enough to have him in fits of giggles, flushing dark violet and grinning so big it looked like it hurt. Caleb’s arms tightened around his sides, his sympathetic smile getting a little wider. He could almost feel it, Yasha’s fingertips softly but persistently plucking at his own ribs, melting away his resolve in a moment, turning his bones into goo.

Caleb cleared his throat in a way that he hoped was just attention-grabbing enough, and unbuckled one of his books from its holster, finding that for once he wasn’t able to concentrate on the words on the page in the way that was normally so distracting for him, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that it was normally distracting. That he couldn’t maintain concentration while reading.

They all knew that.

Which was why it was so disappointing when they were all so distracted by their playful roughhousing to notice. After a few minutes, Caleb half-faked an irritated sigh and summoned his lights. It was getting to dark to read, which would be a problem if he was trying to read. It did have three globules of light circling his head though, and that had to be enough.

It was, to his eternal chagrin, not.

Mollymauk was curled up in a giddy giggly ball by the time Caleb realised that this wasn’t working, and decided to tuck himself into his bedroll and pretend to sleep. At least this way he didn’t have to look at them.

He didn’t quite notice Fjord’s now wheezing giggles come to a halt, nor the soft footsteps creeping over to him. In fact, Caleb didn’t notice anything at all until a hand snuck under the edge of his bedroll and a nail drew a very quick, very ticklish line up his foot.

“Scheisse!” He sat bolt upright, feet curling up to him and a hot flush laying claim to his face. It only grew hotter when he saw the mischievous grin levelled at him.

Jester giggled, hopping onto his knees. “Hiiiii Caleb.”

He swallowed. “Uh- H-hallo, Jester.” Oh dear.

She leaned closer, grin widening, and actually this might have been a mistake.

“So, you like, totally need to focus so the dome stays up, right?”

Caleb cleared his throat. “I-ah… Ja.” He barely resisted the urge to push himself backwards.

Jester pretended to think. “Is it super hard to concentrate when you’re sleeping?”

The question spurred a smug snicker from Molly, who was still giggly and floppy, snuggled up to Yasha.

“U-uh… ja.” Oh dear, he was getting jittery.

Fjord snorted an exhausted laugh. “Quit messing with him and get to it.”

“Ja!” Caleb blurted, then flushed red. “I-I mean nein, no!”

Jester laughed delightedly. She loved the game. “Sooooo… don’t stop messing with you?”

“Jester bitte!”

She grinned widely. “Maybe I should just let you go…”

By the way her eyes glinted, Caleb knew she had noticed his hesitation, his startled silence at her words, his lack of real protests. She knew that he wanted this, and the thought had him shrinking back and squeezing his eyes shut.

Jester held back a giggle. Well, if he was going to leave himself open like that…

Soft hands latched onto Caleb’s sides, followed by surprisingly gentle claws scratching at the fabric of his shirt and skin and he let out a loud squeak, flopping onto his side. He was already smiling, he could feel it, trying desperately to muffle further squeaks and giggles that the niggling, playful feeling elicited, shit.

Jester’s smile grew bigger. “Aww, Caleb you have such a sweet smile!” She cooed. Caleb’s hands came up to cover his reddening face, and her fingers shot up under his arms, getting a loud snort and breaking through what little control he had.

Caleb’s elbows snapped down too late, only trapping Jester’s hands in what was, apparently, a very ticklish spot, though he didn’t have the time to think about that given he was trying and failing to control his stuttering laughter. One eye cracked open and he immediately wished he hadn’t, when he saw the fond, knowing grin that Nott was giving him from her bedroll. She knew, of course she knew, and the thought had him burrowing into his own bedroll.

That playful laugh melded with his own squeaky giggles for a moment. “Where do you think you’re going?” Jester teased, even as Caleb burrowed deeper, away from her delightfully horrible claws. Not to escape, even in his growingly delirious state he didn’t want to get away. But there was nothing quite so delightful as being chased.

Fingertips vibrating under his arms already had Caleb cackling helplessly and writhing like a fish on a line, but when Jester’s littlest fingers started delicately scratching at his top ribs at the same time he screeched.

On the edges of sanity, a chuckle broke through. “Oh, this I gotta see.”

Schiesse.

Caleb wasn’t sure it would be possible to curl up into a tighter ball than the one he was in, but he tried his best, as he heard the footsteps coming closer.

It was a mercy that Mollymauk only moved the blanket aside enough to whisper in his ear. “Doing okay there, Widogast?”

Even his breath tickled, Caleb lamented, keeping his helplessly laughing face as hidden as he possibly could.

Molly laughed quietly. At a guess, none present had seen Caleb laugh before, or smile beyond that wry smirk he sported once in a blue moon. And this, this was something else. Who would have thought their wizard could get so melty? A quick glance to Jester confirmed it, they were definitely doing this again. Regularly, if he had any say in it at all.

He let his claws trace down Caleb’s neck experimentally, eyes widening at the full body shiver that ran through the wizard. Oh. This was too good.

Caleb… wasn’t sure if he was capable of thought, anymore. Jester’s hands had migrated to poking and squeezing at his abominably sensitive ribcage, and Molly, damn him, was tracing and scratching at his ears and neck, laughing just close enough that his warm breath brushed Caleb’s skin as well, and everything was tingles and static and tickles.

He hiccupped. “Please- ehe- ohno please!”

Jester’s hands slowed, Caleb could just about make out her disappointed pout. Mollymauk’s teasing claws only continued to trace and skitter around his neck and ears, wiggling teasingly under his chin as he leaned closer. “Please what?”

Jester caught on quickly. “Oooh, please keep tickling you?” She started gently kneading his stomach, getting wheezing laughter and a fiery blush in response. “Oh my gosh, Caleb, you’re ticklish, like, everywhere.”

Caleb whined, past the point of doing much other than curling up into an utterly ineffective ball. “J-Jehester please, Molly!”

Molly’s claws had migrated to wriggle under his arms. He leaned closer, amid the wizard’s incoherent begging. “Do you want us to stop?” He murmured, to quietly for any but Jester to hear.

Caleb knew the answer to that question. “Nein!” He squealed. “Nein!”

Molly pressed a long kiss to his cheek, smiling. “I thought not.” He grinned, then with a parting pat on the head, leapt away to wrestle one of Caleb’s legs from the blanket.

Knowing now that he was safe to, Caleb kicked playfully, as if he had any chance of deterring Mollymauk whatsoever.

He squeaked unexpectedly when Jester wormed her fingers around him to scratch at his lower back. She laughed. “Molly he’s almost as bad as you here!”

He grinned in return, getting a good grip on Caleb’s ankle. “If he were any worse, I think he’d die.”

Caleb cackled his agreement.

“Now, I hear humans have more toes than we do.”

What?

Caleb looked over at him in confusion, panting for breath. “Nein, I do not think-” Then he caught the evil smirk and flushed bright red.

Molly chuckled. “Well, I should count to be sure.”

Caleb mumbled incoherently into his hands, reaching to pull his pillow over his face and shrieking when Jester made as if to dart her fingers under his arms. She snickered. “Aw, I think he’s almost done, Molly!”

“Hmm.” Molly cocked his head at the blushing, giggling lump known as Caleb Widogast. He did seem pretty far gone. But he also seemed happier than Molly had ever seen him, tickle drunk and all.

Always nice to end these things gradually. “Guess I’ll have to take this slow then.”

He noted that Caleb didn’t protest.

He did giggle uncontrollably with every toe that Molly caught between his fingers, wiggling teasingly and scratching a nail up each. Cute.

Caleb was well past the point of doing even as little as curling up in a ball. His mind had become giggly mush, and all his body could do now was shiver and laugh, burying his face in his thin pillow to hide from the world, from anything that would end this sooner than it absolutely had to.

“Hm, you know, I think I’ve actually forgotten how many toes tieflings have.” Molly said, pretending to think, only to quickly knock Jester onto her back and grab her leg too. He smiled wickedly. “Let me check!”

Jester squealed delightedly, already laughing. “Molly!”

He only grinned back, swiping a nail up her sole and getting a loud laugh and sending Jester flopping back onto the ground, right next to a still giggly Caleb.

Molly quickly sat atop both legs, keeping them both pinned and laughing. “Okay, now count with me, you two!”

Jester snorted and burst into loud laughter the moment Molly started wiggling her toes, as much from the silliness as from the tickles. Caleb wasn’t much better, hiccupping with giggles and unable to even try hiding his wide grin from the world. Cuuute.

His eyes cracked open for a moment, squeezing shut again when he noticed Jester’s affectionate gaze on him, arms coming up to cover that smile again.

Oh, no, definitely not, Jester decided, and rolled as close to him as she could with Molly still tickling her like that. Caleb flinched with a loud laugh when she reached for him, only to melt completely into her embrace once he realised what she was doing, burying his face into her shoulder, unable to get rid of the smile for anything.

Molly stopped a moment later, grinning up at the two of them and barely needing Jester’s grabby motion to convince him to join the cuddle pile.

Then, Caleb shrieks again at the feeling of her tail trying to wriggle its way underneath the back of his shirt. “Nein! Bitte!” He tries to make a desperate grab for her tail. She pushes into the shirt and wiggles against the small of his back, gently, teasing. Caleb does his best attempt to curl backwards into a ball. “Ahahaha- plehehease!” 

Jester giggles at the mirthful cackles of the wizard. He’s so squirmy. She wonders if he’s comparable to Mollymauk when it comes to how ticklish he is there. Her hands pinch one of his toes between her fingers, having mostly stopped tickling there to focus her attention on her tail’s antics. Caleb makes another desperate grab for the prehensile limb, trying to kick and wiggle his way to freedom. Jester moves quickly enough to keep it out of his reach. He attempts a few more times, even gets a bit close once. 

“Okay, okay, fine.” Jester eventually sighs, grinning. “I’ll just tickle your feet.” 

“Nein!”

—

Caleb thought he would spend the evening studying, reading, working on the arcane. Mollymauk had other plans for him. 

Caleb is gathered up in Molly’s arms, a ticklish hug that is shuffling him over to the lounge chair Molly often likes to drape himself across while waiting impatiently for the wizard to pay him some attention.

He tosses Caleb onto the cushions, eliciting an “oof, hey!” from him. “Wait-” Unable to hide his grin, Caleb implores and reaches a hand up defensively as Mollymauk crawls into his lap and starts pinching at his sides. He’s already starting to giggle. 

Molly’s fingers pinch up along his sides and pluck at his ribs. He makes quick work of Caleb’s holsters - though they’re still partially attached around his shoulders and back, just no longer blocking the delectable ribs beneath. They lay, discarded and useless for protection, against the soft material of the lounge chair. 

Molly leans in, smiling triumphantly as Caleb squirms under him, and plants a kiss on his cheek. He starts low then, near his hips, and tickles his way up Caleb’s sides while trailing a line of kisses to his jaw and the side of his neck. 

“Mmpf- Moll- Mollyhehe!” Caleb whines, his body betraying him by opening his neck up a bit more. Mollymauk takes the invitation and kisses and nips along Caleb’s neck. 

“Oh, you’re in trouble now, hmm?” Molly smirks into his warm, pink skin. His fingers reach the lowest of Caleb’s ribs and begin their steadfast march up to the usually protected area of his ribs. Then, he starts growling playfully into Caleb’s neck.

Caleb shrieks, his eyes already starting to well up with laughter as he squirms uselessly underneath the lithe purple body. He’s trying to say something, but it sounds like Zemnian anyway so Molly focuses on everything else going on. He wiggles his fingers into Caleb’s ribs and gets an echoing cascade of desperate laughter for his efforts.

Caleb, enraptured in the three devastating points of contact on his upper body, kicks wildly, when all of the sudden he feels a fourth point of contact - a sharp point dragging along the top of his foot. “No! No- ah! Ihihit’s- it’s too muhuhuhuch! Please! Ahhhahaha-” Caleb pleads, his arms working uselessly to push and grab and block instinctively in any way he can. It’s a shame the little strength he has has already been sapped away.

“Oh, come now,” Molly chides with a coo of faux sympathy, “it can’t be that bad if you’re still talking.”

And then Caleb feels the tail coil around his ankle and begin wriggling around anywhere it can reach along his foot. He tries to kick, but just ends up drumming his free leg into the cushion. 

Caleb pushes weakly at Molly’s head, hands full of hair and horns, as he cackles into the library that just a few minutes earlier was silent with study.

—

They’re milling about town a few days later, and decide to treat themselves to an evening at the pub. Jester, Beau, Fjord, Caleb, and Nott slide into seats at a table in the back while Mollymauk goes to fetch a round of drinks. 

“Be right back, dear.” Molly smirks at Caleb, who is sitting between Nott and Molly’s would-be seat. Caleb gives him a confused but suspicious look before he feels an unmistakably familiar prod at his back. He barely tampers the sound of the yelp that forms in his throat. His eyes scan the rest of the group, they’re all still chatting, oblivious. He swats Molly’s tail away from the back of his chair, turning to respond to something Fjord is talking about.

When Molly comes back, Nott and Caleb have switched seats. He rolls his eyes with a smile, as though that’s the end of it, and sets down the drinks. He slides into his seat and jumps into the chatter. 

Caleb is halfway through a sentence when his voice cracks on a word. He goes silent just as quickly as he turns red. He fixes Molly with a glare. 

“What was that, Caleb?” Jester teases. “I didn’t quite get that.” 

Caleb’s narrowed eyes flick to her. He scoots forward in his seat. Nott peeks behind her shoulder at the purple tail stretching easily past her chair to Caleb. She chuckles and goes to continue the conversation. 

Caleb is so wary of an attack from behind that it throws him completely off kilter when Jester - never one to not jump in at any chance to tease - snakes her tail up the side of his knee and thigh under the table. Caleb shouts and throws himself backwards in his seat. “No!” The chair legs squeak at an irritating pitch, scraping against the floor. 

Jester can’t help but burst out into laughter. Fjord looks quite amused as well, though not as much as Mollymauk.

“Hey, leave the poor kid alone.” Nott scolds, waggling a finger at Jester and drinking her beer. “I don’t want him like, laughing too hard and then beer shoots out of his nose, gross!”

This sets the rest of the group laughing even more.

“Yeah Jes, you’re being mean to poor Caleb,” Beau reprimands, “it’s not his fault he’s so ticklish.” She punctuates her statement with a poke to his ribs that sends him careening into Nott. 

He’s flushed, chest heaving with each nervous breath. “If you do not stop, I am going to find myself another table to sit at.” Caleb says, as serious as he can with his face red. “And new company to drink with.”

“Alright, alright. Enjoy your drink.” Beau claps him on the shoulder, laughing when he flinches at the contact.

“Aww. No. You love us.” Jester teases at the same time. “We just wanted to see you smile, Caleb.” Jester assures him, smiling innocently.

“Cheers to that!” Molly laughs. 

“Aww, cheers to Caleb’s smile? Or cheers to making Caleb smile?” Jester giggles. 

Caleb groans, dropping his head into his hands on the table.

“Cheers to both!” Molly agrees, raising his glass. Fjord and Beau join him as Jester picks up her drink from the table.

“Hey, I think you’d better drink to that, Caleb, or they’re going to start poking around again to make sure you’re alright.” Nott informs the side of Caleb’s head. He lets out a quiet, defeated noise. 

“I hate you.” Caleb mumbles when he sits up and everyone has their glass raised. He sighs and lifts his glass. “Fucking, Prost.” He only clinks Nott’s glass as he avoids looking at anyone in particular by staring down into the glass, blushing to the tips of his ears. 

The attention and subject of the hour swiftly evolves into something else, much to Caleb’s relief. 

It’s not until a few rounds later, when Jester gets up to dance with Fjord, that Caleb feels another little prod at his side. He’s a few drinks deeper, and just wriggles a bit away with a smile when she walks past. This time, that smile continues to linger long into the evening. Maybe Mollymauk helps a bit with a prod or squeeze to the knees every so often, too.

—

Another typical ending to another typical day in this cozy home they’ve built together - Caleb is shriek-laughing on the floor, Jester is draped over his legs facing his feet. She fumbles with the wizard’s toes and tries to keep his feet boxed in under her as he squirms. 

Mollymauk tries not to run too excitedly toward the sound of Caleb’s frantic laughter, sliding around the corner and entering the room in a way he hopes appears very casual. “Hm, what are you two up to?” He grins.

“I’m trying to give Caleb a nice pedicure- I told him! I’m so good at them!” Jester gripes. “But he’s so squirmy!” She digs a few fingers in under his toes and Caleb yelps. “We haven’t even picked out a color for his toes yet!” 

“I think he looks rather good in pink.” Molly teases. “Or bright red.” He tries to meet Caleb’s eyes but the wizard mostly has them squeezed shut or (briefly) focused on Jester. “Want some help?” 

“No! Nohohohoho- Mollymahahauk! Don’t!” Caleb cries. Jester rakes her fingers over his soles, making him shout through his laughter. 

“Well, he might not want any help, but I for sure do!” Jester grins, twisting his answer. She takes the hand off his feet and pats the ground beside her. 

Caleb blushes further. “Thahahahat’s not- oh no! No! Ahaha! Nohohohot whahat I meant-” Jester pokes her fingers between his toes and scratches a few spots along his soles.

Molly hums, pleased, as he saunters over to Caleb’s prone form. He gestures to Jester and she rolls off of Caleb’s legs, only for Molly to take her place lounging over his thighs. He leans forward, away from Caleb’s face, and lets out an evil little laugh to tease further. He grabs Caleb’s toes, pulling them back. He can feel Caleb trying to kick weakly, not that it does much. 

Jester scoots up real close and goes to work, her nails trace, delicate but deliberate across his soles, she gets up under his held toes and scribbles. Caleb’s shrieking laughter starts back up, intermixed with pleas they can only understand half of. Molly watches Jester’s wide smile as she plays with the squirmy wizard’s feet, scratching at the balls of his feet and making him pound his fists into the ground. 

Molly is happy to help, but it’s hard not to join in the fun. Jester seems to have his feet handled, so without looking back, he bites at his lip thoughtfully as he maneuvers his tail over, prodding at Caleb’s middle behind him. He feels the twitches and hears the little surprised “ah-”’s  as the tip of his tail makes contact, poking and wiggling against Caleb’s stomach and sides through his shirt. 

“Please, ahahahah bitte- Jester! Mollyheheheheheheheh! Ohohoho please I ahaha! I c-can’t!” Caleb wails desperately while Jester tickles under and between his toes on both feet. Caleb scrambles to push away the tail quickly prodding at his midriff, looking for any degree of relief as he had no hope for his feet. 

Molly dances his tail around, out-maneuvering him easily.

“Ooh, Caleb, your toes are starting to get a little pink! It’s working! I’m so good at pedicures, see I told you!” Jester giggles. “Look, Molly!” She beams. 

“Matches his lovely face.” Mollymauk adds, smiling over his shoulder at the flailing puddle of wizard. 

Caleb doesn’t quite give them an answer, but he laughs a little harder as Jester dives back in with determined fingers just under his toes, while Molly’s tail pokes and prods every sensitive spot it can reach.

—

“Would you knock it off?” Caleb asks - definitely does not whine - when he jumps again as Jester walks past him, her tail prodding gently at his side. 

“Knock what off?” Jester replies sweetly. 

Caleb groans, sighs, wipes a hand over his face. 

— 

It’s not an unusual evening. Caleb is kicking for his life, trying to wriggle himself out of Jester’s tangled limbs before she really gets a hold of him. He’s already laughing as she leaps over his thighs and starts squeezing around the back of his knee. 

She starts tickling down his calves, pinching and squeezing along her descent. Caleb cackles into the floor.

“No- Jester! Nonono-” Caleb squeals, trying to grab onto any part of her he can and tug her away from his feet. He reaches back frantically and gets a grip on her swishing tail, which flicks and whips about in his hand. “Jester!” He protests as he pulls weakly on her tail.

“Hey, give that back!” Jester laughs, reaching back with one hand to tug on her tail.

They pull back and forth a little, both laughing, when Jester starts squeezing at his knees again. Caleb gasps, and with nothing else to do, tries desperately to scribble along the captured tail, the only part of Jester he has any leverage over. He doesn’t expect the squeal as Jester darts forward, pitching over his prone body and plowing into the floor just beyond Caleb’s feet as she whips her tail out of his grasp. Her cheeks are a little dark as she gathers herself and gets up onto her elbows. 

“Well..that was interesting.” Caleb announces as he catches his breath, curling his legs inward and away from the tiefling. 

Jester pouts at him, rolls onto her side, and springs forward to continue her ticklish attack on the wizard. Caleb doesn’t exactly scream, per say, but he certainly makes a high pitched noise of surprised terror as she launches at him. 

Before blue fingers start to curl along his sides, Caleb frantically grabs for her tail, hoping perhaps to save himself and turn the tables for once, to not always end up the one disheveled and grinning on the floor catching their breath. 

“Ohohoho no! You’re gonna try and tickle me back?” Jester gasps exaggeratedly, squeezing his sides a few times. 

Caleb jumps under her and gets a hand up under her stomach. He squeezes a few times and she shivers, laughing and squirming back and forth without moving to get away. She’s still tickling him quite dexterously, pinching up close to his ribs. Caleb cries out with a laugh as he gets a hand on the lashing tail behind Jester. “Y-You deserve it!” Caleb laughs. “After- ahah- after all you put mehehehe through!” 

Jester considers this while he starts to scratch at the bottom of her tail. She feels the tingling, sparkling, ticklish feeling shoot up her nervous system in a way she hadn’t been a victim of in some time. She loves tickling. She loves tickle fights. She is usually the instigator, her more mischievous qualities setting her up well to be the tickle monster of the group. She loves being tickled too - but most of their friends are not quite as mean / wonderful at tickling as she is, so she did not often find herself feeling desperately ticklish. She was one to sometimes antagonize the others into tickling her, or just walk over to Fjord or Caduceus or Molly’s lap and lay down, arms up. 

This sparkle of nerves at the end of her tail quickly reminds her why some people (like Caleb) can’t help but flail and scream and try to get away. It’s fun. It’s overwhelming. She tries to keep tickling Caleb, but soon finds herself scrambling away with ticklish laughter, pulling her tail from his grasp. 

“Ahaha, oh gohohods- I- I..” Jester giggles, heart fluttering in her chest. 

“Good. Makes things a little more fair.” Caleb squints at her, tamping down his own laughter. He lays back, catching his breath.

“Aww, do you wish you had a ticklish tickly tail that you could use to get us back?” Jester teases, reaching an arm out to Caleb, fingers wiggling. 

He pushes her hand away with a laugh, cheeks growing more red. “At least I have a fighting chance now.”

—

The first time Caleb wins a tickle fight against Jester, the whole party watches on in disbelief. 

She had snuck over to his seat while everyone was talking and jumped over the back of the couch at him, hands honing in on his ribs as they both tumbled to the floor. Beau and Fjord watched fondly as the wizard was tickled into a familiar, laughing ball of red hair and skin. Caleb’s arm flailed out wildly, opening him up a bit to a bit more tickling with a squeak. It took him a few seconds, but he had gotten a hold of the middle of Jester’s tail. With what almost sounds like a battle cry, Caleb fought every instinct to shoot out his other hand and tickle along the sides of her tail, towing it in toward himself. 

“Caleb! Wahahahait- ehehe! No!” Jester had squealed.

A few minutes later saw Caleb half-kneeling over Jester’s waist, her face buried into the floor laughing. He’d held her tail and started tickling quickly along the length and spade and underside. 

Jester was persistent, enduring, and tough. Caleb was curious, thorough, and stubborn. 

After a few unsuccessful attempts to free herself, crawl away, or free her tail, Jester actually starts begging. “Nohohoho- Caleb, na-nahahahahot there! Ahh- nohoho! Plehehehease!”

Fjord and Beau both watch with surprised but proud smiles. Caleb is watching each flicker of the tail, mapping out every spot that forces a twitch or ticklish shiver, which is all of them. Jester beats her fists into the floor as she pleads, “Hehehe- help me!” She glances around frantically for Fjord, Mollymauk.

“Do you give up, little menace?” Caleb asks, scribbling pointedly.

Jester screams into the floor as the tickling picks up when she doesn’t answer.

“I can do this all day…” Caleb informs her, fingers never fully leaving the very sensitive skin. He doesn’t appear to be bluffing as he works over what is certainly her most ticklish spot for the next few minutes.

Her laughter goes silent, and when no one gets up to help shove Caleb off of her, probably due to her having thoroughly tickled each and everyone one of them to tears many times before, she slaps at Caleb’s knee and then the ground and caves. “Okay! Okay! Aahhh- no! Please!” She’s mouthing desperately. Caleb lightens his touch a bit, making her wiggle and shiver helplessly. “Cahahahahaleb I’m gonna diehehehehehe- stahahahop! Oh plehehehease- not thehehehere! You wihihihhin! Cahahahaleb!”

A pleased smile graces his lips. “I suggest you keep that tail to yourself.” Caleb advises, finally stopping the tickling. 

Jester scrambles over to Fjord when Caleb finally lets her go. She’s giggling and blushing and curling her tail in close to her body. When he goes to sit down nearby, Beau slaps Caleb on the shoulder, congratulatory, at which he only startles a little.

Mollymauk is watching Jester in sympathy, his own tail twitching nervously behind him. He pointedly does not look at Caleb, and hopes that neither he nor any of the others notice the darkening tint on his cheeks.

—

Prior to his game-changing discovery, Caleb had noticed a pattern beginning to form. Whenever Jester and Molly had pinned and tickled him and had him in their clutches, whether together or alone, they loved teasing and catching him off guard and tickling him in as many places as possible. Their hands, their nails, their mouths were bad enough, but add in an extra instrument of tickling, they could get him in all his worst spots at once.

But, after publicly thwarting a tickle attack by Jester - and possibly taking the temporary crown as most dangerous tickler of the Nein - Caleb notices a new pattern forming.

Mollymauk’s tail, usually a key instrument in his lighthearted torture, is soon no where to be found during any of his attacks. Not that it has any impact on the frequency of them.

Jester still manages to get him pretty bad, but at least he can give her some comeuppance for it. Mollymauk still gets him pretty bad as well, but Caleb’s curious. He has started keeping his body between Caleb and his tail at all times. 

Caleb is cackling when the idea floats briefly through his mind, Mollymauk squeezing his sides from above him. Molly only brings his tail into play, now, if he’s up near Caleb’s arms, where he can keep an eye on them. And he only uses it, sparingly, to poke and tickle along his feet.

Caleb is usually quite flimsy, floppy, and uncoordinated when tickled, especially once it’s been going on for a while. He focuses on the thought of getting a little revenge, on the curiosity of whether it would work, and, in a moment where Molly starts to shift so he can attack a different sensitive area of Caleb’s, the wizard lurches up, shouldering a surprised Mollymauk off of him with a giggly shout.

They lock eyes. 

Hands start scrambling as Caleb makes to grab at him while Molly does the same.

After a bit of a tussle with a few laughs from them both, Caleb manages to get ahold of Molly’s tail, clenching it like a prize in his fist. He holds it in front of Molly’s face, grinning. His other hand, fingers wiggling, makes to scrabble up the underside of it, heading in with a flourish near the flailing spade. Molly yelps before his fingers even make contact, then he stumbles backwards, landing on the floor on his back. Caleb lets him fall as he goes, watching him with a smirk. Molly leans up on his elbows, tail tucked safely behind him. He breathes out slowly, eyes flicking between Caleb’s expression and his hands. “Caleb…”

Caleb assesses, his eyes twinkling. “You’re nervous.” 

“I’m never nervous.” Molly scoffs.

“Oh, really?” Caleb looks pointedly behind him at Mollymauk’s flickering tail. “You’re not worried that your tail is as ticklish as Jester’s? Maybe worse?”

Molly swallows, a chill running up his spine. “Or, maybe n-not at all.” He tries.

Caleb lets out an amused laugh. “Well, let’s find out, hmm?” He leans in closer, bending his knees.

“No-” Molly crawls backwards away from Caleb. 

Caleb encroaches further. And Molly turns, scrambles to his feet, and runs. He has his tail in hand, keeping it close to his chest for dear life as he bolts.

Caleb’s eyes widen. Molly doesn’t… he doesn’t run like that even when he’s on the receiving end of some well-earned revenge. He tends a bit more shameless in his indulgences. His little analysis gives Molly a little bit of a head start before he’s after him, running.

Caleb lifted one foot, wincing though he was along, and thought out the command to trace a line down his foot. He shuddered, foot twitching and toes curling, when he felt a finger slide down his foot. 

“Ah- shit. Heh-” Caleb was full on smiling now. Oh yes. This was going to give him an edge. He went through a few checks of more dexterous moves - grabbing a toe, poking, the sensation of wiggling fingers - Caleb pulled one arm up to cover his mouth as he started to snicker outright. 

Soon enough, he called off the little guy who wasn’t a guy- ‘Schmidt’ he thought fondly. He didn’t, after all, want to laugh loud enough to attract any curious tieflings. 

Caleb Widogast was a patient man, disciplined, but he was giddy at the thought of stumbling upon a good time to try to utilize his little friend. He hoped to have a bit of fun with the others before they figured it out. 

…

They were sitting together, talking after a meal - spread in a semi-circle of seats on furniture and the cushions on the floor. Jester was suggesting some games they could play or stories they could tell. Fjord sat right next to her, their thighs pressing together every time she wheedled back and forth in her spot as she spoke. Beau was on the floor, back pressed against the chair where Yasha’s legs came down to wrap around either side of her. Yasha carded her hand through and played with Beau’s hair. 

“Ah- Jester!” Fjord yelped out of the blue, flinching away from her and from a poking, ticklish touch on his side.

She looked at him curiously. His eyes were wide, a little nervous, smiling. “What, Fjord?” She asked. 

Fjord, watching her nervously, felt a scribble of what felt like fingers - though he could see all of hers - down his side and scrambled backward in shock. He put distance between them with a gasp. “No, no tickling- what did you do?” He asked with a squirm, trying to fight the nervous smile on his lip. 

“Who’s tickling? I’m not tickling.” Jester asked, looking more pleased and confused the more Fjord said. 

“What the fuck is- ahaha- what did you, who- who? Ahahah- shit!” Fjord’s speech broke down into giggles and snorts of laughter as the pokes and scribbles suddenly switched to his ribs. He swatted at the source, but felt nothing in the space. “Hehe no- ahh! Stahahap-” He gave up and collapsed back on the floor, wrapping his arms around his middle. 

Mercifully the feeling ebbed away, leaving Fjord grinning like a fool on his back. Jester came more directly into his line of sight, leaning in. “Ooh, what was that all about?” 

He didn’t quite believe just yet, knowing Jester, that she wasn’t involved in what had just happened. “What did you- is this some kind of, of- trickster spell?” 

“Fjord!” She batted at his arm playfully. “I promise I didn’t tickle you!” Jester laughed. “If I did… I’d do it like this.” 

“Shit- no!” Fjord got out as she lobbed herself down over him.

Caleb chuckled as she started taking Fjord apart right in the middle of the den - not unusual for the little trickster. He allowed himself a small smile in pride at his successful instigation. He would definitely be using this more often, he thought as he heard Fjord’s laughter ring out louder.

…

The next time he conjured Schmidt, he had first excused himself to the bathroom - it would only last for an hour at a time, and he couldn’t exactly cast it right in front of everyone. Even if he tried to be subtle, they could be quite perceptive. 

He came back in and made himself comfortable within their circle, sipping some more of the tea from Caduceus. 

Jester was giving a long-winded explanation of a book she had picked up recently when she cut herself off with a shriek. She jumped up in her seat, her eyes scanning between Fjord on one side and Beau on the other. “Hey! Who did that?” Then she grinned. “Are we having another tickle fight?” 

Fjord looked pale as she spoke. He held his hands up, waving them at her defensively. “No, no- it- it wasn’t me!” 

Beau snorted at his reaction, causing Jester to pounce on her. Fjord scrambled away from Jester’s wild tickling, leaving Beau on her own.

…

Their basic shopping and supply run had gone terribly wrong in Beauregard’s eyes. She, Caleb, Caduceus, and Nott wandered the halls of the general store, looking for anything odd or interesting, when something… started happening. 

Beauregard barely held in a gasp at a sudden flicker of sensation, a poke along her side. She spun defensively, drawing in her fists. Nothing. Hmm.

She was talking to the shopkeep, trying to negotiate a deal when a- a feeling- something- pinched along the back of her hips. She cut her words short, barely holding in a laugh. She turned around fast, batted at the air and scowled.

When she turned back around, finding nothing behind her, the gnomish man behind the counter had fixed her with a strange look. “A-Are you alright, miss?”

“I’m fucking great. Anyway-” She took a deep breath. “Is that really the best you can do for us?” 

…

When it happened again at the next shop, she couldn’t even see any of her friends in her line of sight. What the fuck was this. Was their house haunted by some. Weird ass ghost that kept tickling them? Was this some elaborate prank from Jester? Was it the Traveler? Some fucking spell? Whatever it was, Beau was already over it. 

She kept her arms down along her sides as she finished grabbing what she needed from the shop. Checking out, she felt the same wiggling, tickling skitter again, this time over her neck. Almost letting out a squeak, she looked frantically around the room, scanning for anyone else acting strange - or, feeling strange, or looking strange… or-

Caduceus was standing nearby, giving her a slightly concerned frown. Caleb was behind her in another row. Her eyes just caught the shift of Caleb’s lip, the aversion of his eyes; when he saw her look his way, he had immediately schooled his features and pretended to be interested in something else. That fucker must have figured out some, annoying ass spell. The little shit. He’d been doing this at the house. At the tavern. For weeks. How had no one noticed? Well, now Beau noticed. 

Beau scowled at the back of Caleb’s head as they walked back to the tavern, scheming. He definitely had some answering to do for this. 

…

Caleb, satisfied with the progress of his weeks-long ruse, started to make his way out of the room after the rest of them had started to head to bed. He made it a step before something pulled him to a halt by the back of his shirt. 

Caleb spun frantically, trying to face the assailant. He met eyes with Beauregard - who was.. happy? angry? - whatever it was she looked downright dangerous. He took a nervous breath before clearing his throat. He tried to sound casual, maybe a little annoyed - definitely not nervous. “And just what do you think you’re doing, Beauregard?” 

“What am I doing?” Beau scoffed. Caleb heard a little disbelieving laugh as she started dragging him backwards, toward her room. Caleb stumbled back, following her but unable to turn around. 

“Hey!” He argued, as she tossed him ahead of her into the room.

She closed the door, and then spun on her heels to face him. “I saw you.” Beau growled, pointing at him in accusation. “Your little fucking smirk at the shop. I know it’s been you fucking with us, you little shit.” 

Caleb felt his cheeks heating up and couldn’t do anything to stop it. He smiled placatingly, holding up his hands. “Surely, I- heh, I don’t know what you mean-”