the pros of becoming friends with shou: having friends.
the cons: being friends with shou.
ritsu needs so many headache medicines.
“oh, ritsu,” coos shou in that damn voice of his, and ritsu tries to pretend it doesn’t affect him—like it doesn’t send heat rushing to the tips of his ears.
“give me a break,” he says, forcing himself to sound level.
he can practically feel shou’s pout. “i haven’t seen you much lately! i should make up for lost time, shouldn’t i?”
no, ritsu wants to say, you definitely shouldn’t, but he made a mistake by not running the second he sensed a change in shou’s mood, since now the redhead is pinning him down, ritsu’s hands under his friend’s knees.
he always does this, every single time; leaves enough room for ritsu to get away, only to tease him relentlessly when he doesn’t.
“suzuki,” he tries to negotiate, but it proves to be futile when shou vibrates his fingers into ritsu’s ribs.
“w-wahahahahait—it tihickles—!” he gasps, squirming frantically to no avail.
he can just barely hear shou’s crooning over his own laughter. “your laugh is so cute, how am i ever supposed to stop?”
and it’s so much worse, because ritsu is a stranger to tickling—ever since his parents stopped as he got older, and shigeo was never the touchy type in the first place—but he’s even less accustomed to teasing.
ritsu doesn’t like being helpless. he hates it. so why, he yearns to know, isn’t he fighting back? because he can. he’s perfectly capable of it, considering shou knows his boundaries and always leaves him a way out, it’s just that ritsu never takes it.
he manages to free one of his hands from underneath shou, and then he promptly realises that he doesn’t know what to do with it (doesn’t want to do anything with it). shou only laughs, and when ritsu just leaves it there for a few moments longer, he takes it back in his grasp.
ritsu is having fun, and he has no idea why.
he thinks it might be because he’s, at the very least, given an escape route. he isn’t completely helpless. he thinks it could be because it’s shou, who he trusts, and something about it feels natural. he thinks a lot of things, but he forgets them all in favour of focusing on shou’s wiggling, electrifying, torturous fingers.
“poor ritsu,” coos shou. mockingly. “you’re just too ticklish, aren’t you?”
“st—ahahaha! dahahamn yohou!”
shou’s fingers curl around his waist, pressing into his sides. “you could get out of this so easily, you know. you are a psychic.”
ritsu makes a noise of protest. “cahaha—cahan’t focus,” he weakly defends himself, making shou grin.
“i never get to hear you laugh,” shou sighs, massaging his thumbs into ritsu’s hips and acting casual, as if ritsu isn’t squealing under him. “you should do it more often!”
“ahaha—absolutely nohohohot!” ritsu cries, and for his own sake he ignores the warmth spreading over his cheeks. it’s not like shou is wrong. he doesn’t properly laugh very often. that doesn’t mean shou has to torment him like this, though. maybe he should try being funnier or something.
(ritsu voiced this to his friend, once, only to end up in a fit of laughter—and it was not because shou took his advice.)
ritsu knows the main reason shou does this is because he finds it amusing when he gets flustered. which isn’t fair, because it’s even easier to embarrass shou; ritsu once thanked him and he’d turned bright red, although it could just be that ritsu is hardly ever nice to him.
“gohod dahahamn it!” ritsu groans, trying not to look like he’s enjoying this, which is a difficult task, considering the uncontrollable laughter spilling out of him.
“you’re sensitive everywhere, huh?” shou giggles, scribbling all ten fingers on ritsu’s stomach.
ritsu snorts, making shou gasp in excitement and causing his face to feel hot. “i’m nohohot! ihi—stohop! i hahate yohou!”
shou shows no signs of mercy. “it’s your own fault for being so ticklish, really,” he shrugs, dead set on breaking ritsu down into a pile of giggles. which he has already succeeded in doing, so there’s no reason to keep going.
ritsu is a mess by now, he wouldn’t be able to stop laughing if he tried. he’s sure his hair is a wreck, too, and he has the urge to fix it but shou always tells him that it’s cute.
he’s too caught up in his own embarrassment to notice shou reaching back—until he scratches behind his knee, and ritsu completely shuts down.
“s-suhuhu—suhuzukihihi!” he gasps. “stohohop thahat! i’ll—k-kihill yohohou!”
“oh?” says shou, in a voice that sends chills down ritsu’s back. “don’t tell me you’ve been hiding this spot from me?”
“n-nohoho, no,” ritsu tries to bargain. “just—nohot there, nohohot thehere!”
shou curls his fingers into the skin. “not where, huh? not here?”
“f-fuhuhucking mohove!” ritsu snarls, and he tries to sound threatening but he can’t. it apparently has the exact opposite effect, judging by how shou smirks and pointedly does not move. he’d been so desperately hoping that shou never found out about that spot, because he knew that he’d never know a moment of peace after that. he was right, it seems, as proven by the absolute torture he’s going through now.
and then it stops.
ritsu catches his breath, taking a moment before he blinks open his eyes, only to see shou hovering above him.
they stare at each other for a second before shou bursts out laughing. “was—was it so bad i forced you into using your powers?” he giggles.
ritsu grumbles in embarrassment, then releases his powers (he cringes at the sound of something else falling on the ground—it seems shou wasn’t the only thing he accidentally lifted) and lets shou land on top of him. he wastes no time wrapping his arms around the boy, trapping him while squeezing at the sides of his stomach. because, while the chance to exploit it doesn’t come often, shou is nearly as ticklish as ritsu himself is.
for a while after that, the room is filled with laughter that ritsu definitely doesn’t find endearing, and for as much as shou teased him, he really didn’t fight back at all.