Heartstopper Nick and Charlie oneshots

Predetermined tickle session

Summary: Charlie's too ticklish to let Nick tickle him, even though he wants him to, so they come up with a solution.

It started because both Charlie and Tao were too ticklish to dare venture onto that road with each other, and so they rarely had those proper tickle fights that teenagers tend to have. Only a poke and the occasional squeeze, barely enough to get either of them giggling. All of this, naturally, Nick had found out after much (gentle) coaxing and many a conversation upon noticing their lack of participation with the rest of the group, who would often launch tickle attacks on each other, leading to frequent chaos and lots of laughter.
Nick had found it marvelous, maybe because his own circle had never really been this touchy feely giggly type of group and more the rugby kind, where you wrestled until it nearly hurt and made fun rather than playfully teased. Nick had to admit he preferred this way of showing affection, even if it meant that Tara eventually discovered the spots he'd kept for only Charlie's knowledge which in turn resulted in him being pulled into said tickle fights despite his rather weak protests. Maybe watching Nick get obliterated was what made Charlie up his own levels of tickle attacks, a territory which he'd been teetering into ever since meeting him, and Nick was suddenly finding himself giggling more often than not. He couldn't say he hated it, but he was always happy to launch his own revenge, breaking through Charlie's grip on his thigh and aiming for soft flesh or bony limbs.
Only Charlie never really let him get any proper revenge; always quick to squirm away, always panicked hands shoving Nick's off, always a shell covering his skin, metaphorically speaking. Nick wondered if he'd gone too far, stepped out of line, even though he wasn't really doing anything different to what Charlie had been doing.
"I'm sorry," Charlie said one day, probably having seen the concern on Nick's face. "You've done nothing wrong, I just-" He flushed, as he often did, but Nick found no pleasure in it that day. Hated to see him so vulnerable when he clearly would've preferred to hide.
"You don't have to tell me right now," he said, kissing the side of Charlie's head, just beneath his temple. "I'm sorry, I'll stop tickling you."
"You-" Charlie's flush intensified, which Nick had thought impossible. "I don't want you to stop."
"Oh?" Nick wasn't teasing. Nick was genuinely surprised. "But you keep fighting for your life each time I do." Okay, maybe a little teasing.
"It's instinct, I just-" He shook his head. "You know how I told you about Tao and I? How we never really tickle each other because we're both really bad? I think because of it it's turned into something I don't know how to handle. Because no one really forces us into it I think we both just freak out when it happens."
"That makes sense."
Charlie ran a hand through his hair, eyes on Nick, the wall, the floor, and back to Nick. "While I can appreciate not getting pulled into the group tickling, because frankly that looks intimidating, I don't want to not- ever experience it, you know? It's okay when you do it."
Nick tilted his head. "So you want to have tickle fights with me, but your body won't let you because it starts freaking out?"
Charlie shrugged, so obviously aiming for a nonchalance which didn't come naturally to him at that moment. "Something like that."
"We can ease into it then." Nick ran his fingertip down Charlie's arm. "I could tickle you a little, somewhere that's not as bad."
"Would you do that for me?"
"Of course, Char," Nick said, breathing out a laugh. "Anything for you."
"It's not. I don't know. Weird?"
"I get to hear your adorable giggle. How would that be weird?"
"Shut up," Charlie laughed, his face still pink, his eyes still everywhere but on Nick's face.
Nick couldn't bear it anymore and grabbed for Charlie's hands, pulling him closer so that he could press his lips to his cheek, the corner of his mouth, straight on his lips. Charlie was giggling into the kiss, and Nick imagined one day kissing the area beneath his ear to the same giggles, hands trying and failing to push him off. He didn't even know if Charlie was ticklish there. He didn't really know much of his sensitivity to begin with, other than what gentle, straying hands could discover while you were entirely preoccupied.
Nick wondered if it would feel strange to have "planned" tickle fights, but found he was looking forward to the couple of minutes a day he would get to prod at a pre-chosen spot and hear Charlie giggle. The first day, the day after the decision because Charlie got too nervous to let Nick do it after their conversation (and maybe they got a little distracted), Charlie sat in front of him and held out his arm. "The inside of my elbow's ticklish," he said, and Nick didn't say anything about how adorable that was and simply just nodded with a smile.
He reached out a hand, index finger extended, and slowly brought it closer. "Tell me when to stop."
Charlie squirmed in his seat, but kept his arm straight. "Oh my god, stop stalling and get it over with."
Nick let out a laugh. "So impatient."
"I can feel the tickling already."
"Is it ticklish?"
"Yes, I- oh."
Nick had touched skin and was making his way back and forth over the area, gentle and slow and with his gaze always stuck on Charlie's face. He wasn't laughing, but the ghost of a smile could be found on his lips. Anticipation. Some sort of tension. Nick wasn't disappointed per se, but he'd longed to hear Charlie giggle, but just because a spot was sensitive it didn't always equal laughter if touched. He tried to keep his touch as light as he could, although he could admit he wasn't really tickling, moving his hand like that. But he knew from experience that a light touch to a ticklish spot tickled despite your technique or intention. He curled his fingers, which made Charlie snatch his arm away and rub at the skin with a whine, and Nick laughed and didn't try to grab for him again.
Charlie didn't hold anything out the next day but simply lied down beside him so that Nick had access to his lower back, a spot which he'd known was sensitive for a while now and always tried to avoid whenever he gave Charlie back tickles. The first time he'd done it, not knowing Charlie's body yet, he'd ventured so low he'd thought he'd crossed a boundary before realizing Charlie was simply ticklish. It felt alien to him to deliberately steer his hand in that direction now, moving over Charlie's spine just because he liked the way he shivered and tensed beneath his touch, face buried in a pillow and arms not at all relaxed beside him. They were quiet, Charlie due to anticipation and Nick so that he wouldn't miss the safe word in case it was thrown at him. Outside, rain.
Charlie did giggle this time, although it came out in the form of panicked sounds in between squeals, evidently not knowing what to do with himself as Nick wiggled his fingers over the small of his back. His body kept twitching, arms flailing uselessly, and Nick allowed himself a solid minute of the sound before backing off and kissing Charlie until it got dark and he had to go home.
The first time Charlie stopped him was when Nick was digging lightly into his stomach. A strip of skin being revealed the more Charlie squirmed, his laughter panicked, louder than usual, and hands which nearly knocked into Nick before finally, desperately, pushing him off. Nick became uncertain, pausing with his fingers hovering over Charlie and wondering if the lack of their safe word meant he should dive back in or not.
"Don't stop," he said, as if he could read his thoughts. "I couldn't help it. I didn't mean to."
"You don't have to explain," Nick said and dove back in, earning the lovely sound of Charlie yelping.
A few days later, Charlie said, "Could we-" before his voice broke, and he had Nick's attention immediately, but he seemed shy more than anything else, and so Nick felt himself relax. "Go on."
Charlie averted his gaze. "Could we maybe- do it for longer? Have it turn into an actual tickle fight?"
"Are you sure?" It didn't necessarily surprise him, but he'd only tickled him for a minute at a time up until then. The words 'tickle fight' felt quite extreme in comparison.
But Charlie nodded. Charlie seemed excited.
Nick, on the other hand, felt strangely nervous as he approached him, set on going for his ribs first and seeing where that led him. He wasn't sure if Charlie was supposed to be still at first until he couldn't or if he would immediately start fighting back, and he didn't ask. He simply reached out, fingers curling over skin as Charlie instantly jerked away more out of instinct than anything else. But then he laughed, something loud and panicked and lovely, and Nick decided to follow and keep tickling, trusting that Charlie would use the safe word if he needed to. Trusting that Charlie wasn't asking this of him to please him, but because he wanted him to do it.
Charlie was ticklish. He was so beautifully ticklish. Nick found himself laughing along as he evaded each flying hand and kept prodding at his ribs, one hand straying to the side just to hear the way he shrieked when he squeezed. This was usually the point where he would back off, or where Charlie would call out the safe word or, in some cases, manage to escape, but as he nearly rolled his body off the bed he grabbed Nick's wrist and choked out a hoarse, "Don't let me go," and Nick did as he was told, finally, finally, letting himself relax.
Nick hadn't expected Charlie to get revenge, maybe because he'd been so focused on testing out his spots that he forgot that Charlie knew most of his too. How a squeeze to his thigh made Nick curl up. How a poke to his lower ribs made him whine, a tickle to his neck made him giggle ("You so giggle." "I do not."). But Charlie went for his belly, which would turn Nick into an incoherent mess on a normal day, but made him positively scream out in surprise now. He'd been leaning over Charlie, but flew off of him immediately, and maybe it was proof of how Charlie was getting more used to this, used to Nick making him squirm, because he followed instantly, fingers on Nick's stomach again and this time not letting him escape them. Nick's body was pressed against the wall, hands useless, head thrown back as he was laughing, which Charlie would take advantage of in approximately two minutes by going for his neck, but until then he remained at his belly, lightly scratching, lightly teasing, as if he hadn't been in Nick's place a moment ago.
Nick imagined himself turning the tables, throwing Charlie against the mattress and going for his hips, pinning his body down so that all he could do was squirm and laugh, curls becoming unruly, smile so wide it nearly blinded him. But Nick remained pinned against the wall instead, laughing helplessly, screaming when Charlie went for both throat and belly simultaneously. Not much of a tickle fight when Nick couldn't fight back.
He got his revenge later that day, finding that Charlie let him tackle him to the bed with only ticklish protests rather than panicked protests, and Nick had already gotten used to it by that point that he couldn't really remember a life without this, even as Charlie got him back. Nick would turn the tables, and Charlie would do it too, and they would lay side by side as residual giggles poured into the room and it would be as if this was always the norm for them, even if Nick knew it wasn't and was proud of Charlie for daring to give it a chance.
It was funny, Nick thought the next day as he was watching Elle stick her hand beneath Tao's chin to his hysterical laughter, even if it lasted for only a moment. Both Tao and Charlie seemed to be going through some changes nowadays.

Hey guys, hope you like this one.
~Josh 2126 Words