Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bucky had went to his cousins house for break. Just to get out of school, and they only lived thirty minutes away. He had ended up being a babysitter though. All seven of the little monsters at one house plus the baby. He had not been happy. When his aunt had invited him over he had thought she just wanted to see him since he was close now for college. Turns out she just needed a babysitter. It bugged him but he didn't mind too much because he did love his cousins. Well, loved.

One of them had a cold, she got everyone sick. Including Bucky when he picked her up and she sneezed right in his face.

He had been determined to stand strong against this cold and go on like everything was normal. His aunt didn't care he was sick, and that was that. As long he he watched her kids, all eight of them. Eight. 

He walked into his dorm that he, unfortunately, shared with Sam, ready to drop dead. His nose was runny, his throat hurt, and he he was exhausted. He has class tomorrow, homework he hasn't finished yet, but he's pretty sure if he even looked at a page in his textbook he would pass out. He didn't want to complain about anything, just sleep. Which he would be doing if Sam - the asshole - wasn't sprawled out all over his bed. He knew Sam probably hasn't been sleeping in his bed, just knew that it would annoy Bucky if he saw him there. Sam loved to be annoying.

Usually Bucky would be able to say something equally as annoying to what Sam was doing, but today he just -

"You look like shit."

Bucky only flipped him off, tossing his duffle bag onto his bed, not accidentally hitting Sam who was sitting up now. He flopped down on next to Sam on his bed, coughing, then burning his face into his blankets.

"Man, what are you doing?" He asked, poking him in the side of the head.

"Fuck off," Bucky half heartedly smacked Sam's leg, then sniffed.

"You're worse than your boyfriend when you're sick. You're all grumpy."

"I'm not sick," Bucky said despite knowing he had a cold. He just wanted Sam to shut up, his head was pounding, and Sam was not helping.

"You're not sick? Now you sound like Steve." Sam was saying, and Bucky felt the bed shift as Sam got up.

"No I don't, and shut up your voice is annoying as all hell."

"Aw, grumpy needs a nap?" Sam teased, but he was at the end of the bed, tugging at Bucky's shoes he hadn't bothered to take off. Bucky made noises of protest, but didn't do much to actually stop Sam.

"Really? Mix matched socks." Sam asked, poking at the bottom of Bucky's foot since that's what was facing up because Bucky was laying in his stomach. His left sock was gray and had red stars all over it, his right one had yellow and black stripes. Bucky's foot twitched when Sam poked at one of the stars, Sam laughed a little.

"Socks on or off?"

Bucky just grumbled, pulling his pillow over his head so he could sleep without Sam's constant talking. He shouldn't be acting like this, Sam was caring for him at the moment, but he was beyond exhausted. He probably should have cut that visit to his aunt's house short.

"Earth to Bucky? Are your feet hot or cold?"

"Hot," he mumbled into the bed, trying to use his toes to get the sock from his other foot off. Sam just grabbed the socks from the toe, and pulled them off for Bucky.

"Better?"

"Yeah, thank - hey," Bucky jerked his foot away, Sam had drug his finger up Bucky's bare foot. "You ass, what was that for."

"Just checking," Sam smiled, dragging his finger up Bucky's other foot, getting a similar reaction. "Yep, ticklish on that one too." Sam's voice was smug, and he probably had a stupid grin on his face.

"Screw you," Bucky said, trying to keep the laughter out of his voice. He rolled over to his side to bring his legs to his chest so Sam couldn't do anything. "I'm not ticklish."

"Whatever you say, man. Now go to sleep, you're sick."

"No I'm not."

"You're not anything today, are you? I'm gonna call Steve."

"Don't." Bucky said, wrapping himself in his blanket.

"Why?" Sam said, already dialing Steve's number.

"Cause then he's gonna come in here and get sick too."

"So you are sick."

"Shut up, don't call him."

He heard the small beep of Sam pressing the call button on his phone. "Are you kidding?" Sam brought the phone to his ear, "Itty bitty sickly Stevie is gonna throw a party that someone else is sick and he isn't."

"Yeah, but -"

"Hey, Steve. You're boyfriend's back." Sam talked with him for a little before mentioning Bucky was sick, and by that time, Bucky barely even heard him. He was half asleep and just wanted Sam to shut the hell up, but didn't have enough energy to tell him. He did, however, have enough energy to throw one of his pillows at Sam. Then he sneezed a few times, and Sam laughed at him.

"Steve's on his way." Sam told him, pulling his jacket on, and shutting the door behind him as he left to go... probably to the library, Sam liked to study, he was boring. Bucky has to remember to thank him for helping him later.

-

Steve came in all worried and with a can of soup in his hand. "Are you alright?" He asked Bucky - who just wanted to sleep - as he reached into a cabinet for a bowl.

"I have a cold, I'm not dying."

"Sam said you were grumpy."

Bucky sniffed, "I watched my aunt's kids who were apparently raised by a pack of wolves because they don't know how to cover their mouths."

"That must have been fun," Steve searched the drawers for a spoon while the soup continued to warm up. Bucky's eyes started to drop, only to open again when the timer went off on the microwave.

"Steve, I wanna sleep please make that thing shut up." Bucky pull a pillow over his face again, only to take it off after a few seconds because breathing was hard with a stuffy nose.

"Your throat hurts?" Steve asked, walking over with the bowl of soup.

"Yes but that -"

"When was the last time you ate?"

Bucky stayed quiet, and stared at Steve.

"See, this is the same stuff you do to me when I get sick."

"You're probably getting sick just being in here."

Steve just raised his eyebrows in a you're-gonna-eat-this-right-now mother way, a thing Bucky had perfected when Steve had strep and didn't eat or drink for four days in a row.

"You are so over dramatic, it's just a cold." Bucky said, sitting up to accept the soup. He sneezed a few times, then started eating.

-

Bucky had went to sleep after his soup, and told Steve to please wake him up at four. That was a three hour nap, then he would do his homework for tomorrow, then go right the hell back to bed. Steve had told him that he would, then sat down next to Bucky - despite Bucky's protests that if he didn't get sick earlier, laying in his bed was not gonna help - and pulled the covers over both of them.

He woke up and Steve was still sitting up, propped against the wall by the bed, he hadn't even taken a pillow for himself. Bucky had his head in Steve's lap, and his arms wrapped around Steve's waist.

"What time is it?" He mumbled into Steve's leg, stretching and keeping his face hidden from the light.

"Five fifteen."

"Steve," Sounding slightly irritated and panicked, "I said four. I have homework." He was already going back to sit up, but Stete started talking.

"I did wake you up at four. You told me to shut up and then you rolled over."

"Oh."

"Oh," Steve said back, smiling a bit despite Bucky's grouchiness. 

"You're not going to class tomorrow." Said completely randomly into the beat of silence.

"Why?" Bucky said, and Steve could hear the protest of "oh yes, I am going to class" in his voice.

"Cause your sick. You're gonna get everyone else sick."

"Steve, c'mon -"

"Buck, do really wanna stay up late doing homework to go to class feeling even more like shit than you already do?"

"I mean -"

"No," Steve sounded exasperated, and Bucky felt bad. Steve was just trying to help him, wanted him to feel better because he knew how crap it was to be sick. And he was being board line jerk to his boyfriend who was only being caring.

Bucky stayed quiet for a few seconds, then layed down and nuzzled his face back against Steve's leg. "Sorry," he shut his eyes, "you're right."

"Of course I'm right," He could hear the smile in Steve's voice, and Steve playfully poked his side. Bucky wasn't really expecting it, he wasn't really tickled as a kid, never really thought about it. He had just assumed he wasn't ticklish. So when Steve poked his side, he squeaked and jerked away, rolling over to his side to look at Steve.

Steve had his eyebrows raised, "What was that for?" Steve poked at Bucky's sides a few time, Bucky tried to bat his hand away and fight laughter off at the same time. "Is someone a little ticklish?"

"No," Bucky insisted, "just tired." It was a poor excuse, it didn't even make any sense. And of course Steve could see right through him, with that mischievous little grin pull at his lips.

"Not even a little?" Steve asked, now using his whole hand to squeeze Bucky's side. Bucky really couldn't help the fluttery giggle that spilled out.

"N- no," He whined out in between giggles.

Steve only got a few more squeezes on before Bucky started coughing and sniffing. He was sick, Steve couldn't be doing too much.

When he stopped though, Bucky was still panting, and giggle, and coughing. "Are you really that ticklish?"

"I'm not at all," Bucky whined, rolling back over, sniffing.

"You're lucky you're sick... Otherwise," Steve quickly put his hand on Bucky's side, leaving it there but not doing anything. Bucky still made a sound, and jumped a little bit.

Chapter Text

Bucky was sitting at this desk, writing quickly so he could hopefully finish and take a nap before he went back to class tomorrow. He wasn't sure if the nap would actually happen though because, looking at his homework pile, it was about the same height as Steve. He was still pretty tired too, he wasn't even better really.

His cold had started to get better two days after he got back, when Steve started taking care of him. Resting and eating actually helped a lot. However, he started getting a fever on yesterday, Steve had just told him to email his teachers for the homework, then made him go to sleep.

Right now, he was falling asleep, and it was making his head hurt to keep his eyes open and read the tiny text in his books. He knew Steve would be coming back soon to get mad at him for doing his homework instead of sleep. But it was getting hard to sleep knowing that the longer he was away from school, the more his work would pile up. He still knew that Steve would be in here later to fuss over him, and it was completely unfair if you asked him. Steve was supposed to be the one that was sick, and Bucky was supposed to be the one bring him soup, and cough medicine, and tissues, and making him sleep. But his cousin just had to sneeze in his face.

Bucky jumped when there was a clang of glass next to him, breaking his focus. He glanced back at Sam, standing behind him with an almost worried look.

"It's time for breakfast." Sam told him.

Bucky glances in the bowl, then frowned at Sam. "Spaghetti isn't breakfast."

"It's all we have besides Lucky Charms." Bucky hates Lucky Charms, and he makes it known every time Sam buys them. They usually end up being the only food they have, and Bucky has to eat them or be hungry. Sam makes sure he buys them all the time.

"I'm not hungry," Bucky told him despite feeling that pang in his stomach. He went back to writing.

"Do you know what time it is?"

"I don't know, man. Don't you have a phone -"

"Seven."

That's weird, he swears he woke up at eight thirty but -

"PM?"

"A little past breakfast, huh?"

"Don't get all smart ass. I'll eat if you let me finish first."

"You haven't eaten all day."

"So?"

"I'm calling Steve."

"Is that the only threat you can think of?" Bucky said back weakly, knowing Steve would come storming in here again with a can of soup in his hand. Maybe this time to throw at Bucky because he was being stupid.

Sam didn't say anything, but Bucky knew that probably meant he could see right through him.

-

Bucky didn't even hear the door open, so again, he jumped. Steve was talking a mile a minute when the door shut, something about Bucky being stupid and needing to take care of himself. Sam was laughing from where he sat on his bed, using his phone.

"Are you even listening?"

Bucky nodded his head even though he was still writing, and obviously not listening to Steve.

Steve was quiet, and Bucky was thankful for the quiet so he could finish his work.

Then, Steve's finger was poking at his side a few times.

"Hey, don't- damnit." He accidentally made a line across his paper when Steve did that. He wrote with pen.

Steve didn't seem to care, he kept poking until Bucky was really fighting off giggles.

"Steve, let me finish. I'm almost don- wait." He could barely speak when Steve moved up, and started poking at his ribs.

Bucky only got the sense to stop trying to write and push Steve's hands away right before he really lost it and started laughing.

"Don't do that," He grumbled, looking for the pen he dropped.

"Oh," Steve sounded surprised, "did it tickle?"

Bucky felt himself full face blush, even more when he heard Sam chuckle off somewhere behind him.

"No," he said as sharply as he could.

"Really?"

"Really." He said back as sarcastically as possible to match the amount that had been in Steve's voice too.

"Okay, whatever," Steve had an unbelieving chuckle in his voice, it made Bucky blush even harder, his ears felt hot.

It was quiet again, and Bucky picked up his pen, mostly to ignore the heat in his face. "Don't you dare start your homework again."

"Why?" He pouted a little.

"Because," Steve pulled Bucky's chair away from the desk and pushed him towards the beds, "you haven't eaten all day." The chair spun his around a bit - Sam had insisted on rolling chair so it didn't scratch the floor, Bucky had been confused at the demand because they didn't even own the place. Sam has said because he didn't want where he was living to be ugly. Bucky said something along the lines of Sam needing to remove all the mirrors so he wouldn't see his own reflection, and it would be fine. Sam had tackled him. Now, Bucky would spin around in his chair until Sam would get irritated and tell him to quit it.

Bucky didn't spin around right now, he glanced over at Sam who was still laughing at him. He made a face at Sam because he wanted to be annoying, and Sam made a face back at him because he was equally as annoying. They went on making the ugliest faces possible at each other before Steve was handing him the bowl of rewarmed spaghetti. "You two are children."

"He started it." Bucky defended, fighting back a grin at the typical childish sentence.

"No I did not."

"How do you two even survive living together?"

"Sam won't survive much longer, I'm plotting his murder as we speak."

Steve just sighed, "That's not what I - never mind, just eat."

"I'm not hungry," Bucky told him, offering him the bowl back.

"Like hell you aren't, you didn't even eat dinner last night." Sam said from his bed, an annoying smirk on his face as he kept his eyes in his phone.

"Shut up, Sam." Was yelled at the same time as Steve yelled, "Bucky, what the hell."

Sam - that complete and utter blockhead - only laughed.

"Eat." Steve said, the look on his face leaving no room to argue. Steve sat down on Bucky's bed, pulling his phone out not a second after he sat when it pinged. Steve smiled at it as Bucky took a bit of his spaghetti, and typed something out.

Then, Sam's phone pinged, he typed something. When he stopped, Steve's phone pinged, he typed something. It didn't take a genius.

"Are you two talking about me?"

"No."

"Yes."

"Sam," Steve cried.

"What? He asked, I answered."

"What are you guys saying?"

"That you need to shut up and eat," Steve said, still typing something out on his phone. Then Sam's phone pinged, and he knew they were messing with him at this point and ignored it.

Bucky had about half the bowl before he was ready to start his homework. He thinks he's eaten enough for now.

Apparently he thought wrong.

"Bucky, you need to eat."

"I got homework."

"It can wait five minutes."

"I'm full."

Sam laughed again, and if Bucky was closer to his bed, he would throw a pillow at him.

Steve stood up and dropped his phone on the bed, it pinged again, and Bucky was debating getting up to go over there and smack Sam with a pillow. He wouldn't, but he wanted to.

Steve took his bowl and turned to set it down on Bucky's nightstand. "You sure you're full?"

"Yeah." He glances over at Sam cautiously, then back to Steve. Steve set the half finished bowl down.

Bucky felt like saying yes was a mistake.

Sam came around to sit on his bed too. Bucky was about to tell him off because screw Sam, this was his bed, but Steve was talking. "You remember what I said the other day?"

"Uh? -" Steve grabbed his arm and pulled Bucky to sit next to Sam, and across from him.

"I told you that you were lucky you were sick."

"Um..." Sam looked a little confused too. “No," Bucky told him.

Steve smirked, it almost looked like that mischievous smile Bucky was so used to from when they were kids and got into all kinds of trouble.

Bucky raised his eyebrows at Steve, prompting him to continue.

"Otherwise," He said suddenly and brought his hand to grab Bucky's side.

Bucky actually jumped at that, flinching so his knees jerked up to cover his midsection. He tried to push Steve's hand away, and tried to scramble backwards away from Steve's fingers. Worst of all, he squeaked, which caused a blush to spread across his nose when he heard both of Sam and Steve laugh at him.

"You remember now?"

Bucky shrugged his shoulders, pressing his forehead against his knees to hide his face.

"Well, you aren't that sick anymore."

"Yes I am," he rushed out because Steve and Sam both knowing he's ticklish does not sound good. "I'm on the verge of death, spare meheh - hahahey." His voice was a yelp on the last word.

Sam poked him in the ribs a few times, an annoying grin on his face when Bucky looked over at him to give him his best scowl. It was kind of hard because apparently it was hard to keep a straight face when this was happening.

"You're sure you're full?"

Bucky knew the way out of getting inevitably tickled by them was to say, no, that he'll eat. But honestly?

What fun is that?

"Yep."

"Man-" Sam said, a chuckle in his voice. And seriously, was the balloon head always laughing?

"Whatever you say."

Then both Steve and Sam were tackling him to the bed.

Bucky - despite wanting to know how this would turn out - put up a good fight. He pushed away and grabbed the hands that were trying to get him to stop moving. He made sure to land a good kick to Sam's chest too. In his defense, Sam had a grip on one of his ankles, and was threatening to tickle his foot for real this time. Considering how it had felt the other day when he barely ran a finger up the bottom of Bucky's foot, Bucky didn't want that to happen. It was self defense, but kicking Sam had still been fun too. He tried to be gentler with Steve because he loved him and all, but mostly because that boy was so tiny. He knew Steve could take a hit, but there was no reason at the moment.

In the end, it was two against one. Sam was strong, and Steve had experience in fighting someone stronger than him. It also wasn't a real fight. And Bucky half wanted to lose.

Steve had tackled him so he was laying down, he rolled over to get Steve off of him, but made the mistake of turning his back to Sam. He easily got pushed face first into the bed, and Sam was trying to hold down his back and arms at the same time. He only managed with Steve's help because Bucky knew he was about to get tickled. There was no way that he was just going to let them -

"Just sit on his back." Steve suggested casually.

"You sure?"

"No," Bucky all but yelled, "he'll crush me, flatten my lungs, break my ribs, snap my sp- ahaha, holy shit." His last word got cut off in to some kind of scream when Steve squeezed his sides. He yanked against Sam's grip in his arms, and tried to roll away from Steve fingers

Again, he wasn't really tickled as a kid, so he had no idea that being tickled could... could tickle so much. Steve squeezing his side once made him feel... he's not even sure. It was terrible. He couldn't even describe it because who could actually describe tickling other than actual torture? It made him want to roll off the bed, then right down the stairs. As far away from Steve's and Sam's evil fingers as he could be.

He pulled against Sam's hold on his arms again, trying to roll away. Steve squeezes his sides again, easily making him in incapable of doing anything up but gasping, and then slamming his face in the bed when Steve did it again.

He kept fighting against Sam, but it was mostly doing nothing because Steve kept tickling at his sides. He heard them talking, but he was not listening to what those knuckleheads were saying. He was busy trying to escape.

Then the pressure of Sam half leaning on his back to keep him still was gone for a second. Bucky was going to use that opportunity to get up and away from Steve's fingers, but then Sam actually sat on him. And how dare he? Bucky would have been dramatic about it, but all he could do was grunt when Sam's full weight was on top of him.

He could hear Steve laughing at him. Bucky really wanted to be able to roll over so Sam would fall on the floor because this dummy's ass was on his back.

Then Steve was tickling him again. He could barely move, and Steve was pressing his fingers harder each time. Bucky was laughing so hard, gasping too because Sam was sitting on him. It wasn't hurting him, but it was sure as hell making everything worse, he could barely ever try to move away.

Sam laughed at him, "I thought you weren't ticklish."

"I'm nahahahot so plhehehse stahahap."

"If it doesn't tickle then why should we stop?"

"Pl- plhehe- Steve, no whahahait, wait," He had cut himself off, and yelled Steve's name because had moved his hands just a bit lower, and it was so much sensitive there.

Bucky thought that it was either you were ticklish somewhere or you weren't. He didn't realize that Steve moving his fingers an inch down towards his hips could make something that was already bad even more awful. Bucky thinks the shock of how ticklish this was, was making it even more intense. Bucky was laughing so hard, and he had his face shoved into the bed as if that would help anything.

Bucky heard the two talking again, and he tried to listen because last time he tuned them out, Sam ended up sitting on him. It was hard to focus, all he could pay attention to was Steve's endless squeezes on his sides.

He got the sense to at least try, and make Sam lose his balance and push him off. All he needed was to get himself propped up on one elbow, and that would be enough to tip Sam to the floor. Except that was harder than it sounded because he was pretty sure he was not in control of his body at the moment. He was squirming around as much as Sam's weight would allow. He was really trying to stop moving so much, but it was hard, it tickled like hell. He's pretty sure they only thing he could do at the moment was laugh until he stopped breathing and just died from this.

He wasn't sure if Sam was a mind reader, but Sam grabbed both his arms and pinned them to the bed. No way he was getting up now.

"Christ, Bucky," Steve said, stopping his squeezes in favor of gently rubbing a hand on his back. Bucky gasped out a few more laughs, then sighed into the bed. He was breathing heavily from laughing so much.

"You good there Buck?" Steve asked a hint of mischief in his voice.

"No," He said in a pant, still giggling a bit, "Sam's crushing me, and you're killing me."

"Oh, you're fine." Sam chuckled.

"You're sitting on me. Sitting."

"You're comfy."

Bucky squirmed when Steve stubbly pressed his fingers harder while rubbing his back.

"So, how come I've never heard that you're ticklish before?"

"I don't know."

"I mean, we've been together for a while, and I have to hear that you're ticklish for your roommate?"

"It's not my fault."

"How?" Steve's fingers started pressing again, and Sam still had a tight hold when Bucky squirmed to try to get away.

"I didn't know," he rushed out.

There was a silence. "What do you mean you didn't know?" Sam asked, that annoying tone in his voice.

"I never..."

"What? Never been tickled? Everyone's been tickled, c'mon, Buck, don't try that with me."

Bucky was quiet, maybe he had been tickled before. Probably. He really doesn't remember, didn't even know he was ticklish until like, just right now. In his defense, he hadn't really thought about it much. But now here Steve and Sam were, and him being ticklish was the only thing they could think about.

"I don't think he's lying, Steve."

"Huh," Steve said, then he was digging his fingers into Bucky's sides again. Bucky would deny it, but he screamed.

After having that break, it feels like he forgot how being tickled felt in the span of a few minutes.

"Whahahahit, wait, Steve, Steve, Sthehehehve, sthahahahap."

"But Bucky, you've never been tickled. There's a lot to make up for."

Bucky was howling something akin to "no" but he could barely understand himself. Then he buried his face in the covers again.

"Oh, poor Bucky," Sam teased, giving a few experimental pokes to what was exposed of his ribs. Bucky's arms were above his head, but Sam sitting on him blocked most of his ribs. Bucky flinched away from it as best he could, hoping that if he flinched hard enough that Sam would fall off of him.

He didn't. He just kept poking at Bucky's ribs. It was not good, it had Bucky wanting to cry of laughter.

When he picked up his head for air, he realized that he did have tears in the corners of his eyes.

Sam fully dug his fingers into Bucky's ribs, up near his underarms. Bucky didn't even know what to do. His brain was short circuiting, lost all thoughts except ones of Steve and Sam tickling him.

It went on for far too long in Bucky's opinion. He wasn't ready to stop, he thinks, just... air. He was laughing too much.

"Sthehehve," he tried to sound serious, but that was hard when he was laughing. "Five seconds, please, just... break, oh my god,” he gasped.

Steve slowed to a stop, and started rubbing his lower back again. "Breathe." Steve was laughing at something after that, and so was Sam.

Then Sam was sliding off his back. There was a weight off his legs too, and he hadn't realized that Steve had been sitting on his them until he was getting off.

Bucky felt a small swoop of disappointment in his stomach because he had asked for a break, not for them to be done. He hadn't realized how fun this was. But Sam was still holding his arms. Despite that, he rolled over easily.

"Jesus," Sam said.

"How many times have I told you not to call me that." Bucky joked, knowing he looked a mess. He could feel his hair sticking to his face, and there were definitely tears welling in the corner of his eyes. His face was probably red too.

Bucky laughed at himself.

"You okay?" Steve asked, touching his face, and pushing away his slightly sweaty hair.

More than okay. This was a lot of fun, even if it was awful. It also got his mind off his mountain of homework and everything that he missed with his time off. He didn't want them to stop yet, but he was not going to tell them that. Tell his boyfriend, and the most annoying roommate ever that he liked something every one was supposed to dislike? No thank you. He would get made fun of to no end. He'd just take what he could get without asking.

"I'm okay."

"Good." Steve grinned, and it was the same look he saw before Steve did something that got him into a lot of trouble, but was usually hilarious.

Bucky was definitely laughing. With him on his back now, Steve had access to many more evidently ticklish places. Steve had his fingers wiggling and pressing on Bucky's stomach. It was so sensitive there that Bucky was giggling right away, pulling away from Sam's hold, and trying to get away from Steve's hands. It was definitely easier to try and escape like this, all he had to do was dig his heels in the bed and turn his body one way.

He didn't get that far because Steve grabbed him at his hips and pushed him back onto the bed. Then, Steve was sitting on his legs so he couldn't try again. It's not like he would actually get far because Sam was holding his arms tight. It still stopped him from trying again.

He was almost exhausted at this point, his fight to get away not as strong. He was still twisting and squirming around, but now he knew he wasn't going anywhere. Sam apparently knew that too because he was only holding Bucky's arms with one hand now, and it was just as effective as two hands. Bucky really wasn't going anywhere.

Sam seemed to know that too. He started giving experimental pokes to his ribs, and that's when what Bucky could only describe as ticklish hell started.

"Shahaham, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, sthahahahahap," Every time he said stop, his voice raised in pitch, the last one was almost a scream interrupted by laughter.

"Oh my god, man," Sam was full on laughing at him, and how rude of him, "How does your voice go so high?"

"Shut up," Bucky said sharply, and could feel his face heating up. He still couldn't stop giggles from coming out.

"No way, that was hilarious."

"I hate yohuhuh-" Sam gave up with the experimental pokes, and figured out that wiggling his fingers between Bucky's ribs was so, so much worse.

Bucky might have been tired, but now he was trying with everything to get away. Sam was tickling his ribs and Steve was tickling that sensitive area under his belly button, and there was nothing he could do about it. Bucky turned his head into the side of one of his arms that was being held above his head to try to hide his face like that would help with the overwhelming laughter.

Bucky has no clue how long he was there for, but eventually Steve said, "Wow Buck," Steve paused his squeezing fingers, and Bucky could almost have a second to breathe, but Sam didn’t stop. "I didn't even know you were ticklish, let alone that it was this bad."

"I'm nhohohohot. I'm nhohot.”

"You're not?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Had me fooled." Sam said still wiggling his fingers and making Bucky laugh with no stop. Bucky could see that stupid smirk without looking.

”No - Nohoho." The first no was somewhat normal, and the second one was a high pitched scream when Steve started squeezing his sides again. It was so much more awful than his stomach.

Steve made shocked eye contact with Sam for a second, then both of them smiled. Steve gave another squeeze to Bucky's side, making sure to have his fingers pressed hard.

"Whahahait, Stheheve, no, no, sthohohop. Not thehehre. Sam, plehehehease," Bucky tugged on his arm once, then was leaning forward again to try and protect his side. Being held down and having two people tickle him when he had nowhere to go was terrible. He still twisted, and tugged at Sams hold to try and get away.

It didn't work, obviously, but he still tried. Sam was strong, and both of them were tickling him with no mercy.

"You gonna eat now?" Steve asked, giving another squeeze to his side. Bucky knew the way to get him to stop was to answer that he would eat.

"I'm not- I'm nhohot hungry." He was barely in the state to talk, Steve and Sam tickling him at the same time was too much.

"Are you sure?" Steve squeezes his side more, and Bucky barked something out that sounded like 'please' hidden under giggles. "You still feel hungry,"

Steve was squeezing at Bucky's sides more, until Bucky was panting, and his pleas were far beyond recognizable words.

Bucky tugged his arm against Sam's grip one more time, and that only made Sam tickle his fingers faster. Then, gave up. "Okhahahay,” He panted our, “okhahahay, sthohop - I'll eheh- I'll eat."

Steve smiled, big and innocent as if he hadn't been basically torturing Bucky. Then he turned to reach the bowl of spaghetti. Sam kept tickling his underarm until Steve turned back around. Once he finally let go, Bucky clambered away so quickly. He pressed his arms to his sides, and pulled his knees up to protect his stomach before accepting the bowl of probably cold spaghetti.

Sam grinned at him as he stood up and went back to his own bed as if he hadn't been helping Bucky get the life tickled out of him. Steve stayed sitting next to him, both of them propped up against pillows. Bucky yawned, and couldn't help himself, he slumped himself heavily against Steve. He had his head on Steve's shoulder, and his eyes on Steve's hands just in case the blonde got any more of his evil ideas.

Bucky finished the spaghetti quickly enough, making sure to finish every bite before handing the bowl off to Steve. His eyes dropped quickly, shifting to lay his head down in Steve’s lap, and he distantly heard Steve and Sam's phones pinging back and forth.

Chapter Text

12:31

Thursday, December 12

Notifications

Messages             just now

Sam

BIG NEWS BIG NEWS

Messages             just now

Sam

well big if you didn’t alre...

Sam

Today 12:31 pm

BIG NEWS BIG NEWS

well big if you didn’t already know

What?

that grumpy boyfriend of yours is ticklish 

12:32 PM

Sam

○ slide to answer

9:13

Sunday, December 14

Notifications

Messages              14m ago 

Sam

youre boyfriend is stressin...

Sam

Today 8:59 am

youre boyfriend is stressing himself out again

Today 9:13 am

What is he doing?

Wait no lemme guess

Homework

WE GOT A WINNER 

He is too much

Tell him to stop 

Please

he seems pretty in the zone though man

Are you kidding me

no

typing. . .

he hasn’t done homework all week 

maybe let him do some so he isn’t freaking out all day 

You’re right

i mean you do the same thing when youve been sick for a week

I said you’re right

Bucky

Today 1:40

You better have eaten lunch

Sam

Today 2:34

Has he eaten?

Today 4:40

sorry 

doubt it you know how he is

but im not there so

Just

When you get back throw some food his way?

okay

You’re the best babysitter thanks Sam

should i let bucky know you said that

Lmao no

7:12 PM

Sam

○ slide to answer

Sam

Today 7:14 pm

i have an idea

I’m on my way

Whatever this idea is it better not involve murder

it doesn’t 

well 

Wait what 

maybe it does

it depends how ticklish that boyfriend of yours is

Are you kidding

no 

i don’t think he’s gonna listen when you tell him to eat

just tickle the shit out of him until he agrees that eating sounds like a good idea

Huh

Hate to say it Sam but he’s way stronger than me

ill help you

man i’m looking at a way to get him back for all the annoying shit he does

typing. . .

Okay

Ill be there in like 5 mins

Today 7:49 pm

you gonna tickle him???? 

If he doesn’t listen then totally

would you need help? 

If you want

alright

_________________________

"Are you two talking about me?"

"No."

"Yes.”

"Sam," Steve cried.

"What? He asked, I answered."

"What are you guys saying?"

"That you need to shut up and eat.”

_________________________

Sam

i wanna f with him just answer back

Why are you so mean to my boyfriend?

because it’s fun

I see why he thinks you’re annoying

he loves me

He’s always texting me about you being an asshole

nah

he said you glued his shampoo shut

it could have been replaced with hair dye

What color?

blonde

You are mean

he wouldve matched you

I don’t dye my hair

it wouldve been funny

Today 10:04 pm

did he really fall asleep?

I’m guessing he’s tired

hes tired??

excuse me

man my arms are gonna be killing me tomorrow hes strong as hell

He goes to the gym

i couldn’t tell

He fell asleep right away

Like five minutes ago

damn

I didn’t even know some one could be that ticklish

ive never heard him laugh that much 

I wish I knew he was ticklish sooner

He likes to stress himself out a lot

i know right i could have had so many opportunities to get him back for the stupid shit he says to me

and ik he does i live with the asshole

You’re so mean to my boyfriend

(Sam’s phone)

8:45

Monday, January 13

Notifications 

Messages             1:37 am

buchanan

steve says i haveto sya t...

buchanan

Today 1:37 am

steve says i haveto sya thanks you but im not gonna cause you were a jerk

Today 8:38 am

man you text like youre drunk

and say thank you for what?

Today 3:19pm

h me the other day wglhen i was sic

spelling dude

helping me the other day when i was sick

that was almost a month ago

and?

why does the time matter i told you i wasn’t saying thank you

hoe come

youre a hoe

screw you

because you tackled me

?

tickled

omg you got to be kidding me

dont be such a child

im not???

you are???

this is why i’m not thanking u

youre welcome

no