Work Text:
Kai had pondered over the fruits of crafting shell necklaces for more than himself, chasing Reko down with a pendant and a claim that it was washed ashore by a ushi-oni. He had a feeling Gonbee would be quite jealous, however, so he must be the first to receive one, Kai supposed.
Still, tiresome as it would be, if it were ire for anyone else’s teasing it would be amusing…
“Kaaaai!!!” Sou called out. Kai’s train of thought was thereby adjourned. It wasn’t as if he minded the company, but…
“Sou I see you’ve come to make your demands again.” Kai smirked.
“Don’t be cruel to me, Kai!”
“I am doing you a kindness,” Kai retorted, “Sou Soup is meant to be consumed medically, not for recreational large helpings… Side effects could include drowsiness, difficulties breathing, bowel blockage…”
Sou’s wicked gleam did not waver, not even when Kai kept on with more horrible symptoms. Lest his silliness be trampled, Sou did not listen to a word. He laughed menacingly.
“More soup, doc! More! At least tell me what you spiked it with, you—!”
Kai politely froze, willing himself not to knock the insistent Sou unconscious out of reflex. “Please stop assaulting me, Sou!”
“I’m not—Bwahaha! Kai, what? I’m tickling you! You’re ticklish, aren’t you?” Sou hurriedly squeezed between Kai’s ribs until his hand was trapped by the huffing homemaker’s grab.
“U—Unbearably!” Kai had endured many torments that made his knees weak and his body spasm painfully, but this? He could not recall ever being tickled so!
The world of affection and playful skinship was only introduced to him at a troubling age, but nothing was so comparably soft yet intense! He laughed under his breath as Sou tried to reclaim his wrist.
“Aha! Can’t dismiss questions now, huh?” Jiggling Kai’s flank with his free fingertips, Sou felt stricken by a premonition. Swiftly, he dodged Kai’s seeking hand. “Oops! So close! Could be just me, but it looks like you’re losing coordination!”
Kai, though skilled in self-defense, hadn’t the heart to reject an assailant that was so defenseless himself. Still, despite being defenseless, Sou was slippery! Kai was getting punished for underestimating the effectiveness of keen mischief.
“Sou, unha—snrrk—unhand me!”
“Tell me your recipe, Kai!” Sou couldn’t help but bark out a laugh of his own, adoring the upper hand and Kai’s lively sounds. Who knew he could make any sound so gruff and boyish? Sou already was in a good mood, but this was giving him an entirely fresh wave of joy. He was not the only one, however strange it was for Kai to hear himself snort.
Kai didn’t protest the insistent touches, but didn’t relinquish any ingredients either. He was unsuccessfully attempting to hide his stretching grimace and reddening cheeks. Another stream of laughter fled that pained filter, but he endured it with surprising gladness.
Sou hesitated, his nerve suddenly wavering at Kai’s increased volume. He felt safe with Kai enough to mess around to an extent, but he rarely enjoyed the aftermath of not thinking his impulses through.
What if I went too far and ticked him off?
That sudden breach in self-confidence was enough of an opening for Kai to secure both of Sou’s hands. Spluttering and clearing his throat, Kai couldn’t stop his painful grin. Knees bending forward, Kai proceeded to pull the lanky man over his back.
“W—Wait a second! Kai, what’re you—!” Sou yawped as the balmy wind rushed through his hair. Kai flipped him over his shoulders, swiftly but delicately plopping him tailbone-first into the sand.
Kai regarded Sou fondly. Sou felt those dead eyes on him, but he couldn’t meet them. He couldn’t stop himself from staring at Kai’s ruddied face. Then, as he hung his aghast mouth open, Kai chuckled at him flippantly.
“I will procure more nutritious ingredients for you, but… Sou Soup will be served only in moderation,” Kai broke the silence, “it seems your body has responded favorably. I am glad you are not miserable.”
“Thanks?” Sou’s bemused manner turned meek, but he swallowed it down. “I mean… Thanks. I appreciate all your help. Whatever you did, I don’t feel so anxious and ill anymore.”
“One can’t be too certain with this island’s peculiarities, but I believe when used with caution, it can calm the mind and body from panic attacks. It may be a poor substitute, but it is perhaps the best we have…”
“Yeah…” Sou didn’t have it in him to accuse the other man of playing dumb.
“Now, Sou,” Kai said, despite the butterflies still in his belly. “I do not believe I have thanked you…”
“H—Huh?” Sou’s voice cracked.
“…I have this truly painful medical issue. I have been remiss to admit it, but it is true. I have lived a suppressed life.”
A pause. A beat.
“Medical?” Sou was at a loss. There’s no way he could help with something like that. Absolutely not. Is this leading up to another one of his jokes?
“Don’t look so shocked…!” Kai frowned, but there was a youthful current bursting from his murmur. “Sou, in your company, my face is rather a clam weekend than a wet one.”
“That’s—that’s not much different is it? What does that even ultimately mean…?” Sou stage whispered, a frail sigh pushing out the words like the wind to a boat’s sails.
Somewhat abashed, Kai hid his expression again. Had he any place to say so simply, being the traitor he was? “Er… I am so gruntled. I’m a lonely person, but you’ve been such clammy company…!”
“I’m slimy to be around?” Sou stood and dusted the sand from his bottom, imitating Kai’s very own forgetful front.
“Slippery.” Kai corrected as if he agreed, sneaking a squish of Sou’s unprotected belly.
“Oo—Whoaaaagh!!!” He belted out a terse howl, doubling down as if his gut were punched. Caught completely unawares, Sou couldn’t even fake nonchalance. Kai followed him down, uncaring of the sand.
“Oh, my. So violent. You must be horribly ticklish.” Kai observed, easily moving Sou’s arms away from defending his twitching tummy.
“Nngrrrrrhh!” Sou’s pitiful growl had tapered into what sounded most like a whimper. The subject was so loaded, the only way he could gain any upper hand was to tell a desperate half-truth. “It’s barely—!”
“Barely?” Kai felt Sou’s belly jolt beneath his hand. His wandering fingers scooped ripples and rubbed into his shirt deliberately. He watched a smile twist up Sou’s blushing face.
“I’m ba—barely ti—kssshhh—ah, nooo…! Nonono, pfffft!” Sou’s claim pitifully shattered to pieces. Kai wasn’t the most experienced tickler, but he was unbearably gentle and flustering. He tried to risk a stiff jerk at Kai’s arm to stop his hand, but Kai pressed forward. Someone as high-strung as Sou was excessively receptive.
“Hmm, is that so? I am barely touching you.”
“Wait, wait! Kaaaai!” Sou couldn’t believe it. A wild, unkempt fury overcame him for a moment and he thrashed himself back into the sand none too gently. He’d miraculously heard a murmur that went like, yes, I am Kai, and kicked his feet in dire need to explode.
He couldn’t take himself seriously, the homemaker was stretching over him and Sou was growling in cute-aggression. Any self-consciousness ruffling him as Kai slid his hands up his shirt couldn’t suppress Sou’s bubbly giggles. Worse yet, it was a much more pleasant sensation than he’d imagined.
“Sou, do you not enjoy this? I would stop tickling at your word…!” Kai teased.
“Oi, is—isn’t that—! Heeheeheeheehee… Ahahahaha! Thahahahahat’s so personal!” Sou snickered and shimmied, managing to find purchase on Kai’s arm, but too weak to resist the tickling. Kai was getting the hang of it, guided by the squeaks from the scrawnier man’s mouth.
“Sou, you’re going to rip off my arm,” Kai jested, his fingernail teasing the rim of Sou’s quivering bellybutton. “Do you want that?”
Sou gritted his teeth to stop himself from squealing in delight. “N—No! Th—Thah—Hah—Ahhh! Hahahathattt… T—Tickles…! Heeehee…! Ohohohoo!”
Kai puts his hand on Sou's tummy and laughs softly, then leans in closer to whisper in Sou's ear: "For a liar, you’re actually a sweet person, aren’t you?”
Sou pulls down his beanie over his reddening face, laughter cracking through his lips. Kai’s fingers glided down Sou’s side, then he traced back around that soft bellybutton with one finger.
Sou didn’t know what to say. He could get angry, but what fun was that? He couldn’t deliberate, bluff, or strategize, though. Especially not when that one teasing finger proceeded to wiggle inside his vulnerable navel. If Kai kept going like this, Sou was going to melt and that lonely boy he killed—Shin Tsukimi, would… He would…!
“N—Nohoho… Ohoho…! Ahahaha! Heeheehee! Nohohottt…! Not there!” Sou begged, tossing his head back into the sand and getting his fluffy hair dirty. “I’m—I’m too tihihihi…! Ticklish!”
Kai smiled and leaned closer towards him, making sure that he got a close look at Sou’s face when he did. “Tickle, tickle, tickle, Sou. You cannot deny the giggles. Tiiickle, tiiickle.”
Sou peeked up at Kai with wide, bashful eyes. The prodding inside his bellybutton was joined by the sensation of more fingers running along his tummy like feathers to water. Sou couldn’t believe he was getting tickled like this!
His belly was shaking hard, so much so he couldn’t tell if it was the laughter or the tickles. An outpour of excited shrieks were more than enough to get his message across: Shin was too ticklish for words!
Sou swore he saw Kai sparkle through his ticklish beaded tears. “D—Dohohohon’t! Ohooohoo…! Heehee…! Don’t say thahahahat! Pleeeease! Kaiii!”
“Goodness, yes. I am Kai.”
Sou howled and wailed, even after Kai’s fingers stopped. One lingered inside that tickly cleft, but didn’t wiggle. “Gehehehet off!”
“I dare say that is entirely inappropriate and would be foul. Why then, in good faith, should I? Is it so unbearable? I am no longer giving your tummy tickle, tickle, tickles…”
“Kaaaaiiiiii!” Sou giggled and panted. “Ta… Talking like tha… Hahaha… Like that is embarrassiiiiing!”
Kai chuckled, admittedly endeared by the other’s whinging. “Ufufu… You were right you know. It does seem you have gained a great ball of joy… Right here…”
“Not my bellybutton! Kaiii!!! Heeheeheehee! Quuuuiiit it!” Sou was pushing at his hands and curling away. Kai allowed him, satisfied.
“Though, all of that tickling might have burned those precious calories…” He muttered.
Sou was busy catching his breath and dusting his hair. It seemed he enjoyed Kai’s acknowledgement as well. It was about more than laughter. Sou needed to feel secure in his body. “…Kai?”
“Yes, Sou?”
“Can you tell me more about your hobbies?” It was about more than laughter. Sou wasn’t the only lonesome one, yet… “I feel like I’ve been… Um, always asking for things… Only concerned about me. Giving you a hard time…”
He wanted to listen and know Kai better… Be involved, but could he? Friendship and trust, during a suspicious kidnapping? Sou felt Kai’s warm hand clasp his hunched back.
“Think nothing of it. To see to the needs of sumptuous cravings is a fine art to me. To nourish you and satisfy your challenge was an honor.”
You had a fun time with Sou.