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“Yoo-hoo! Earth to (Y/N), are you listening?”
The snapping of metal fingers brought you back to reality, for you had gotten lost in your thoughts. So lost, in fact, that you completely forgot you were playing a game of Monopoly in the living room with Sam, Bucky, and, at your request, Loki.
Loki had taken interest in you a month or so ago; you practically dragged him out of his bedroom, demanding that he stop isolating himself and join the others for team bonding activities. The gall you possessed stood out to him. A mere mortal willingly challenging a god was something Loki couldn’t overlook. Since then, the two of you started spending more and more time together, and you had become pretty good friends.
“Oh, sorry!” You leaned over the game board to assess your next move. Loki was currently winning, of course. Sam and Bucky were neck and neck. You were dead last, only owning one property. After rolling the dice you ended up landing on one of Loki’s properties and owing him a ridiculous amount of money. Despite your attempt to scrounge up your dues, you were forced to declare bankruptcy. This earned a victorious smirk from the Asgardian as he took your property card and cash to add to his own supply.
You felt your mind wander once more, feeling a familiar electric surge in your core. You tried your hardest to take your mind off it, but nothing you did could distract your body from the fact that, in that moment, you wanted nothing more than to be tickled.
These cravings happened very often, and they were usually fulfilled swiftly. Tickling wasn’t a rare occurrence in the compound; the team was a pretty playful bunch outside of work. Hardly a day went by where someone wasn’t being threatened with or receiving a ticklish onslaught.
That is, until recently.
There was still plenty of playfulness happening in the compound, but it was as if there was a new “no tickling” law in effect. You had spent the last week trying to provoke various Avengers into tickling you, but to no avail. You had no choice but to accept that you were stuck with no way to satisfy these cravings.
Unless…
You could feel yourself blushing at the thought. But…it wasn’t an awful idea, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt to try. You needed it, and this was the only way to get it without attempting to burden someone with the task.
“Are you alright?”
Loki’s sudden voice in your ear made you jump.
“You’ve been unusually quiet, is everything alright?” He didn’t break eye contact when taking the $200 Bucky begrudgingly stretched across the table.
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine.” You shook your head, attempting to clear it. “Excuse me.”
Loki watched as you rose from your seat and exited the room. Something was off; it was unlike you to retreat from a group activity without explanation. Standing up to follow you, he shoved all his winnings toward Sam, who whooped in excitement as he rubbed his inevitable victory in Bucky’s scowling face.
.:.:.
Once you stepped into your room, you locked the door and triple checked to make sure it was truly locked. The idea of someone catching you…indulging yourself like this sent shivers down your spine.
Only when you were positive the door was locked did you climb onto your bed. You sat straight up with your back against the headboard and your legs carefully stretched in front of you. A sigh of amusement left your mouth as you realized how stiff and nervous you were. Scooting down to lay flat on your back, you reminded yourself that it was just you. No one was in the room with you watching or judging. It was only you.
Chuckling to yourself about the absurdity of the situation, you slowly pulled your shirt up to the top of your stomach. You placed a hand on your belly and chuckled again, this time in anticipation. Your fingers curled gently, causing you to involuntarily suck in. A smile played at your lips as you dragged your fingers around your midsection. Soft giggles escaped you as you brought the action a bit further up to your ribs.
God, this is ridiculous, you thought, not at all considering stopping.
Suddenly becoming dissatisfied with your single hand, you added the other. They wrapped around your exposed waist as if they were giving you a hug, and you slowly scribbled your fingers up and down your sides. You let out a panicked squeak, not expecting it to tickle as much as it did. You found it strange, yet fascinating, that you were so ticklish that your nerves responded to your own touch. It wasn’t quite the same as feeling someone else’s touch, but it was better than no touch at all.
Your torso grew accustomed to your touch too soon, so you sat up straight and gazed at your feet. You watched as you excitedly wiggled and curled your toes. You pulled your legs into a crisscross position and pulled one of your socks off. A finger ran down the length of your sole, and you let out an audible gasp. You allowed your finger to travel all around the bottom of your foot for a while, until it found itself joined by three others at the ball of your foot.
“Ohohohoh my god!” The laughter building up in your chest bubbled over as you began to scratch at the area. The sensation was almost unbearable, but you didn’t dare stop. You continued for as long as your body would let you, and once it no longer allowed you to react to your touch, you started over on the other foot.
Soon after, your fingers made their way to the tops of your feet. They danced and skittered all over, eliciting squeaks from you. They found themselves moving up to your shins, then your knees, your thighs, hips, sides and ribs again, armpits, forearms. You couldn’t get enough of this; it had been so long since you’d last been tickled and this was working surprisingly well. You were laughing. Blushing. Writhing. Having fun. There was nothing that could run this moment.
Knock, knock.
Except that.
“Just a second!” You scrambled to your feet, fixing your clothes and trying to make yourself seem like you weren’t just doing what you were doing.
You unlocked and opened your door to find Loki standing in the doorway.
“Hi!” You spoke too quickly and too enthusiastically. Loki quirked an eyebrow at your overly excited greeting.
“Er, hello.” The two of you stood awkwardly in silence for a moment until Loki spoke once more. “May I come in?”
You nodded, quickly turning on your heels to fix the disheveled bed dressings. Your cheeks burned as you hoped with all your might that he didn’t wonder why your sheets were askew. Once your bed was put together, you sat and motioned for Loki to do the same.
“You know, I must admit I’m a tad worried about you.” Loki took a seat next to you, a strange look gracing his features. His face was concerned, but his eyes gleamed with mischief. “You left the common room in quite a rush earlier. Is something bothering you?”
“Not at all!” A bit less quickly this time.
“Oh dear, I’m not sure if I believe you. I can’t help but notice you’ve got a habit of disappearing when you’re upset.” He scooted a bit closer to you and uncharacteristically threw his arm around your shoulders.
What is he doing? You shuffled in place a bit, not knowing what to say.
“Naturally, I came to check on you like the wonderful friend I am. When I got close to your door, I heard the faintest sound coming from it. I believed it to be crying.”
“I…I was crying a bit. I’m sure that’s what you heard!” That was a lie and you both knew it.
“That’s the thing, though. I asked Stark’s AI system to tell me what was going on, only because I truly thought you were in distress.”
You swallowed hard. He knew.
“It told me the most interesting thing…I found it rather amusing.” His hand moved down to your back, rubbing gently and straying a bit too close to your side. You felt your pulse quicken and your face heat. “I guess you could say I was tickled to hear it.”
Loki dug his fingers into your side, clawing madly. You let out a panicked cackle and jumped up from your seat, finding your eyes locked with those of the Trickster God.
“I didn’t believe the damned thing at first, so I came back to assess the situation for myself.” He rose from his seat on your bed. “I was convinced you were having an absolute fit in here, but the crying I believed I’d heard turned into laughter. Unrestrained, bubbly laughter. Now, tell me, why did you leave our game in such a hurry?”
“I…uh…”
“Come on, out with it. Or else I may be forced to resort to making you talk.”
Loki approached you slowly, as if he were a predator stalking his prey. His hands were outstretched ever so slightly, ready to attack at a moment’s notice.
This is what you wanted, right? You thought back on the all the cravings you’d had for the past week, some of which were so intense that you felt as if you were going to cry if they weren’t satisfied. The opportunity to have what you had practically been begging the universe for was right in front of you.
So why did you feel so overwhelmed?
“Loki, st-STOP! Please!” There was a level of desperation in your voice that was foreign to even you. Loki retreated immediately, and a look of genuine concern had taken over his features.
You could hear your heart pounding in your ears as you sank to the floor. The sting of tears was present in your eyes as you pulled your knees to your chest, hugging them and rocking slightly. Loki fought with himself for a moment, debating whether to console you or give you space. Ultimately, he decided to join you on the floor.
“My dear, scaring you wasn’t my intention.” The god sheepishly clasped his hands in his lap. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not scared, Loki. I’m embarrassed.” You laughed dryly, knowing that nothing was funny. Loki looked at you, wondering what you meant.
“What do you have to be embarrassed about?”
Either Loki was being an asshole, or he truly didn’t understand why you were worked up. You knew that he knew this wasn’t the right time to fool around, but you didn’t want to believe it. Not only did he catch you tickling yourself, but you also had to explain that his catching you made you want to bury yourself in a hole.
You found no point in keeping secrets any longer, so you started from the beginning. From you realizing how happy being tickled made you in your youth and the shame you felt for liking such a thing, to the tickle-induced contentment you normally felt nowadays and your desperation after suddenly being deprived for so long. Loki listened intently, nodding and vocally acknowledging the words you were saying.
“Well, there you go.” You stood up after finishing your story. “You know my biggest secret now. I’ve been hiding this from everyone I’ve ever known for my whole life.”
“But I already knew this about you, love.”
“W-What?”
“You’re not exactly subtle.” Loki smirked, rising from his seat on the floor. “I’ve seen how you tease and torment the others, knowing full well their ideal method of punishment. I’ve also noticed how you never, ever seem to protest when it happens. For something that’s your biggest secret, you’re rather bad at hiding it. I figured this out long ago.”
“So…you don’t think I’m a freak?”
“We wouldn’t be friends if I thought you were a freak.”
You felt the familiar sting of tears once again, but this time they were tears of relief. Loki knew your secret and he didn’t think it was absurd. Your heart fluttered at the unexpected acceptance.
Without warning, you threw your arms around the god’s slim waist, hugging him tightly. Loki was a bit taken aback but returned your hug regardless. The two of you had never hugged before. Sure, there had been a few friendly pats and reassuring squeezes, but never an embrace like this. You rested against his frame, taking in his warmth and relishing in the sense of safety you got from being wrapped in his arms.
“By the way, darling,” Loki squeezed you a bit tighter, trapping you in the hug. “If you wanted to be tickled, you simply had to ask. No more of this self-tickling nonsense.”
“W-Wait, Lohohohoki!” You couldn’t control your giggling with the threat of being tickled looming over you.
“You’ve done quite enough waiting, have you not?” Loki moved his head to meet your eyes. He spoke softly, not breaking eye contact with you as he spoke. “Allow me to fulfill your desires.”
You gave your permission with an eager nodding of your head and a pleading, almost desperate look.
Telling Loki the truth was hard, but it was so worth it when you felt his fingers wiggling madly all over your torso. You threw your head back and let out that same unrestrained, bubbly laughter that got you into this wonderful mess. Except this time, it was more blissful than ever before.