Work Text:
Group Chat Created: Photog; Immovable Object; MasterChef
Photog 10:32pm: Hey anyone awake?
Immovable Object 10:42pm: I am now…. what’s up squirt?
Photog 10:43pm: I need help with something…
MasterChef 10:44pm: Prompto… we will not be getting a cat, we discussed this already.
Photog 10:44pm: noooooooo it’s not that!! I really want one but… I need help getting away from Noct.
Immovable Object 10:45pm: A cat?? When did you talk about that? What color would it be if we got one?
MasterChef 10:48pm: Gladio you are not helping… I believe our friend is being tormented by the prince in some fashion.
Immovable Object 10:52pm: I gathered that already… you missed dinner three times this week with some lame excuse so something must have happened. What did prince charmless do this time?
Photog 10:54pm: He keeps trying to tickle me.
MasterChef 10:55pm: I did warn you.
Photog 10:58pm: Yeah but I didn’t think he would seriously try after that!!! I need help to figure out what to do. He won’t stop.
Immovable Object 10:59pm: When does he attempt these efforts?
Photog 11:01pm: So far when no one’s looking but he’s getting bolder he’s gonna make me lose my shit!
Immoveable Object 11:03pm: I can always break his legs in training and then he wouldn’t bother you anymore….
MasterChef 11:06pm: Gladio that won’t help, he would recover and try again. He’s persistent when it comes to matters he deems of importance. Unlike everything else he needs to do in life. - _ -
Photog 11:07pm: So can you help me?
Immoveable Object 11:09pm: Iggy’s the planner, but I’m game. You know I wouldn’t turn down a chance to pick on Noct.
MasterChef 11:10pm: Let me think of some options. Come over for dinner tomorrow and we can discuss. Noct has a meeting with his father at the end of the day so we will have time.
Photog 11:11pm: THANKS GUYS!!!! :)
Group chat ended.
Prompto wondered what Ignis’ plan would be to get Noct to stop trying to tickle him as he rode the elevator up to the prince’s apartment. Thankfully Noct wouldn’t be there for another hour so he could talk with Gladio and Ignis about his options.
Noct had tickled him before when they roughhoused but he had taken it to a new level recently. Prompto figured he was just feeling empowered by the recent tickle war that had started with Gladio and Ignis. Noct had spent the last week trying in vain for Prompto to accept any kind of bet he could think of. He knew better than to agree based off the past months events.
Noct had instigated the whole mess by losing a bet to Gladio and then getting tickle tortured. He had been around when that happened and even joined in for a minute. However, it was really Gladio and Ignis that reduced his royal friend to laughing teary mess. It was unnerving to see Noct trussed up and unable to fight back, but that was part of the bet.
Noct being Noct, decided he needed to get Gladio back and had Ignis help him. Prompto had missed that session but he heard about it plenty the next day. Noct was wide eyed as he relayed his tale of almost tapping out his shield during tickle torture. The blonde hoped the story had been exaggerated for entertainment reasons because it sounded intense.
Prompto was able to see the aftermath of Gladio and Noct teaming up to tickle Ignis. He had been given money and was instructed to get takeout and show up at a certain time. Once he had arrived at Noct’s the advisor was passed out cold on the couch. Prompto had never seen Ignis nap. Ever. He was sure he did because Noct would mention it sometimes, but of course Noct would get to see those things they were practically family.
Still, the sight of Ignis completely undone had rattled Prompto. He always struggled with feeling like the odd man out and this tickle war was not helping. Half of him wanted to join in and get ambushed and tickle tortured just to be part of the group. The other half of him was terrified of being tied up and tickled. He wasn’t sure he would be able to express that to Ignis and Gladio tonight but he wanted to try.
He let himself into the apartment and slipped out of his shoes. It was eerily quiet and he suddenly had a knot in his stomach. What if this was all a trick and they were hiding and about to tackle him. “Hello?” He called out swallowing the lump in his throat.
“We are in the kitchen!” Ignis yelled “Come have a seat at the bar and let’s talk.”
Prompto took a deep breath and wandered further into the apartment but didn’t fully relax until he saw Gladio sitting at the bar and Ignis in the kitchen working on dinner.
“Oh my… you’re white as a ghost what happened?” Ignis asked concerned as the blonde sat down.
“Nothing I’m fine.” He murmured.
Gladio picked up on the real reason for his distress instantly. Perhaps having a little sister to care for tipped him off to the look of anxiety in Prompto’s face. “Bullshit! You’re scared of us ambushing you!”
“Nah… uh… I just..”
The shield cut him off. “Prompto, we only mercilessly pick on Noct, we wouldn’t do anything to you that wasn’t uncalled for.”
“Gladio is right, we don’t want you to feel uncomfortable. That’s why we are meeting so we can figure out what to do that won’t be an issue for you.” Ignis offered kindly.
Prompto relaxed. “Thanks guys, I just don’t know what to think of this whole situation. If it’s all supposed to be fun, then why am I so freaked out?”
“I’m not gonna lie, being tied up and tickled is weird but aside from ‘stick in the mud Noct’ you do laugh. We even got Iggy to take a nap. That in of itself is epic.” Gladio added with a smirk.
“Don’t worry, we will think of something.” Ignis added.
Once Noct had arrived the three of them had hatched a plan. Hopefully the prince wouldn’t figure out they were all working together. Prompto at least felt more comfortable knowing that Ignis and Gladio would stand up for him if he needed it.
Noct strode into the living room looking tired but when he noticed Prompto sitting on the couch with a game controller he instantly perked up. “Hey buddy, I didn’t realize you would be here today.”
“Yeah, I missed Ignis’ cooking too much, I gotta make up for it.” He smiled.
Noct ditched his bag and they both got lost in a game a few minutes later. Prompto had almost forgotten about Noct’s other mission in life when he suddenly felt fingers digging into his left side. He couldn’t help but let loose a high pitched squeal. The assault continued until he was able to shove Noct off the couch and make a run for the kitchen. Noct chased after him almost immediately.
Prompto rounded the corner in the kitchen and ran straight for Ignis quickly inserting himself between the advisor’s side and the counter. Noct didn’t even falter he ran right up to the two and reached out again to continue. Right before he made contact Ignis reached out and tickled Noct on his neck.
“Hey! That’s not fair!” He scowled at Ignis as he quickly backed away. “I thought we were even!”
“We are even.” Ignis replied as he turned around again to continue chopping vegetables.
“Then why are you defending Prompto?” He huffed.
“Trying to make sure the playing field is fair Noctis, now if you don’t mind I would like to continue with dinner. If you could both go back to gaming that would be ideal.”
“Fine!” Noct sighed as he reached forward and grabbed Prompto’s arm dragging him away.
Prompto had to run into the kitchen three more times before dinner was ready. The last time Gladio was helping Ignis with something and he ended up sandwiching himself between the two. Noct didn’t even try that time.
Dinner went without incident and Prompto survived one more day. The next day was Friday and he was certain it would be a repeat of most every day that week. He was right. Carefully dodging Noct at school he was able to avoid any embarrassing moments and only had to worry about what the evening would entail. They were all having pizza at Noct’s apartment and it seemed like a good time to try their plan. He only hoped that once Noct got this bug out of his system he would leave him alone.
When Prompto arrived that evening he couldn’t help feeling nervous. Trying to hide that from Noct wasn’t going to be easy and he knew that Ignis and Gladio could tell. They were killing time in the living room while Ignis was preparing the pizza dough. Prompto almost had a panic attack when Noct suggested the three of them play cards. A card game had been part of the initial plan and it took more than a few minutes for Prompto to realize that Noct had asked of his own accord.
The day before Ignis had told Prompto that he had two choices regarding Noct. He could honestly tell the prince he was uncomfortable with the whole idea of getting tickle tortured. Or he could agree to a bet with specific terms and that would most likely satiate Noct. Prompto had almost immediately agreed to the second choice. He wasn’t sure if he could handle the end result but he was sure he would regret not being a part of this bizarre tickle hazing moment.
They had since moved to the dining room table and Noct had dealt the cards out and put on his most innocent face turning to Prompto. “So might you finally be interested in making a bet with me?”
“Depends on what you are betting Noct.” The blonde shot back.
“Well since you seem to be getting a little ruffled by all my tickle attempts why don’t we have a bet for one final tickle session and then I’ll leave you alone.”
Prompto couldn’t believe what he was hearing; Noct had been playing him the whole week. Apparently some of Ignis’ diplomatic training had rubbed off because that was most manipulative move he had ever seen the prince pull. “Fine, but I get to make the terms.”
“Well I have to agree to them, mind you.” Noct returned smoothly.
It was like he was talking to a clone of Ignis. Blinking stupidly for a moment he collected himself and remembered what Ignis had told him to say. He was so thankful he enlisted help; Noct would have bowled right over him at this point without it. “Of course buddy, but I won’t agree to them either if I don’t like it. Then you’ll be left having to figure out how to get past Ignis and Gladio to tickle me.”
“Only when you are here, that doesn’t save you from school.” He said with a raised eyebrow that looked so much like Ignis it was uncanny.
“I’ll figure out how to avoid you at school, I’m smarter than I look.”
“So your terms are…?” The prince inquired quietly.
Prompto took a deep breath and launched into what he thought he could handle without having a panic attack. “Only you can tickle me, no tag teaming. Since I got sucked into this mess unwillingly I think I should only be subjected to ten minutes of tickling.”
Noct cut him off. “That all sounds reasonable so when do we start.”
“I wasn’t finished yet Noct.” Prompto sighed looking at Noct’s blue eyes and holding his gaze. Ignis told him to stand his ground should the prince get pushy. “I get to pick how you tie me up.”
Noct waved a hand dismissively. “It’s not that complicated Prompto, it’s just hands and feet.”
“Hands in front only, I’m not comfortable with them behind my back.” He could feel himself turning a little pink but he kept going. “And one last thing…”
“Yeah?” Noct looked bored at this point.
“Once you’re done, I get to tie you up the same way and tickle you for five minutes.”
“Whoa! Wait a minute; I already had my turn last month. I’m not doing that again.” He huffed.
“I don’t see how that concerns me, I only got to participate in that for a few seconds and I want to try make you laugh too.” He leaned back from the table and crossed his arms to look a little tougher. Gladio had suggested that, he didn’t really think it would make a difference but what could it hurt.
Noct didn’t say anything for a few minutes until he nodded his head a little. “Fine, but you can only tickle me for 3 minutes, and same rules as you, no tag teaming and hands in front.”
“Shake on it?” Prompto asked as he extended his hand over the center of the table. Noct accepted and they started the game. Prompto had to work surprisingly hard to not win.
The gleeful expression that Noct had on his face when Prompto officially lost was something to behold. If the blonde had brought his camera he would have taken a photo. Noct was up from the table in a split second and running to his room. “Socks off and sit on the couch!” He yelled from his room.
Prompto looked over at Gladio and smiled weakly. “Think I’ll be ok?”
“You’ll be fine blondie, just let me know if you get freaked out and I’ll get Noct to stop.”
Ignis had walked out of the kitchen and had stopped behind Gladio’s chair. “You did great.” He whispered just before Noct came back out of his room.
“Ok enough chit chat… socks… couch… now!” Noct ordered.
Prompto looked at him worriedly. “Um… you will follow our rules right?”
“Yeah of course, I just like getting to order people around every now and then. I never get to do that.” He said pouting. “Come on… let me have some fun.” He whined pointing to the couch.
Prompto obliged and sat down removing his socks next. Noct still had the climbing rope he had used to wrangle Gladio a couple weeks ago and Prompto watched him unravel some and tie his ankles together.
He could feel his heart hammering away in his chest. He knew that Gladio would cut him loose if he asked but being at someone else’s mercy was not settling well with the blonde. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. He looked over to where Ignis was standing and the advisor smiled at him. This was going to be fine, he didn’t have anything to worry about just relax and laugh.
Noct finished tying the rope at his feet and then grabbed his hands to bind his wrists together in front like they agreed. “Prompto… are you shaking?” The prince suddenly stopped and looked up into his best friends face. “Oh my gods, you’re freaking out aren’t you… I’m so sorry.” Noct didn’t know what to do, he quickly looked to Ignis and then back to Prompto. “Shit uh… we can stop. I didn’t realize…. I feel like a total asshole for not noticing.”
Prompto cut in before Noct could continue in his downward spiral. “It’s okay Noct. Really. I already talked with Ignis and Gladio about this and I’m okay. I wanna do this so we can all talk about it years down the road and laugh about how silly we acted.”
“Are you sure?” Noct still looked worried.
“Yeah let’s do this; I’m getting hungry we shouldn’t wait any longer.” He managed a smile and held his hands out for Noct to continue.
“Okay but say something if you need a break, Specs can you set the timer for five minutes I don’t think we need to do ten.”
Prompto was relieved to hear that, he was fairly certain he could handle five minutes of tickle torture. Ignis was by his side a moment later with a timer. Noct had finished securing his wrists and he was looking at Prompto waiting for consent to start. The blonde nodded and Ignis started the timer and backed away to give them space.
Noct gave him one last chance to back out but he told him it was okay and the prince attacked his neck. Prompto wasn’t expecting that figuring Noct would try his ribs or feet first. He squealed at first which settled into a loud bubbly giggle. It took him a minute to realize that Gladio was laughing too.
“Prompto, you have the best laugh!” Gladio had taken up residence on the coffee table just in case he needed to step in quickly. The shield was howling with laughter at this point and dangerously close to falling off the table. “Iggy, how can you not laugh at this?”
Unable to pay attention to Gladio’s conversation due to his own predicament Prompto struggled to breathe as Noct moved from his neck down to his ribs. He couldn’t remember having laughed so much in a short period of time. Even his face hurt. He felt every rib that Noct poked and wiggled his finger around, it was setting his nerves on fire. All of his rational thinking ceased at the onslaught of a thousand little messages to his brain screaming at him to move away. He couldn’t go anywhere and that just made him laugh harder. “Hngnn... Noct… break please…” He managed to spit out in between giggles a few minutes later.
The tickling ceased and he worked on filling his lungs with air. During this short respite he looked over to Ignis who was wiping tears away from his eyes. He must have had a confused look on his face because the advisor smiled at him and told him he was fine.
“I’m just laughing Prompto, nothing is wrong. You have a very bubbly laugh it’s highly contagious. Gladio can’t even sit up from laughing so much.” He said nodding his head over to the shield who was flaked out on the coffee table breathing heavily with a giant grin on his face.
“Only one minute left, ready?” Noct asked before he started a second time.
Prompto nodded and this time the prince squeezed his knees and tickled his feet at the same time. It was pure torture. He couldn’t get away and he couldn’t stop giggling. Before he had a chance to wonder if he would make it until the end the tickling stopped. The timer had rung and his adventure was over.
Gladio drug himself upright and started to untie Prompto’s feet while Noct was simultaneously working on his wrists. “I survived.” He gasped out finally.
“Will you be tickling his highness next Prompto?” Ignis asked from side of the room.
“Let me catch my breath and then if he’s still up for I want to.”
“Is fifteen minutes enough time to complete this silliness? I wish to put the pizza in the oven.”
Noct sighed but nodded his head. “Yeah, it shouldn’t take that long. Gladio can string me up while you relax.”
Prompto didn’t realize how tired getting tickle tortured would make a person but it was downright exhausting. He went somewhat easy on Noct but actually got him to laugh. Gladio seemed impressed since he was only really able to get the prince to yell a lot during his tickle torture.
Ignis surprised them all by setting the coffee table up for dinner. Prompto was able to sit next to Noct on the couch and eat slice after slice until they were stuffed. A movie was selected at some point and all four of them were curled up on the couch watching. Prompto had no regrets, this was turning out to be a pretty good weekend.
“Iggy, we might have to tickle him again to get him to giggle. He has the best fucking laugh I’ve ever heard.” Gladio not so quietly whispered to the advisor.
Prompto instantly perked his head up from where he was lounging and gave the shield a wary look. “Just don’t tie me up!”
Gladio smiled. “No worries, I think you would laugh the same either way.”