Lumpy sighed with relief as he finally arrived home. It was a Friday evening, he had finished a long day of work, and best of all, he had the entirety of the weekend off until Monday. Lumpy was excited and happy that another weekend had come. He had spent the last few weekends this month watching TV, playing video games and eating his favorite foods, all of which he enjoyed doing. But this time, Lumpy was going to Sniffles' house to spend the weekend with him.
Lumpy couldn't have been more excited than he was now. He loved going to Sniffles' house, whether he wanted to hang out with him or simply ask him for some help, but he hadn't told Sniffles how much he wanted to stay there for at least one night. Luckily, Sniffles was nice enough to let Lumpy have exactly what he wanted, and announce it close to the end of the work day (Sniffles was Lumpy's boss at his job). Lumpy didn't know if his overnight stay was going to be a slumber party or a sleepover (not that he could tell the difference between the two of them), but all that mattered was that he was looking forward to a night of fun.
Lumpy took a swig of water, gargled it for a few seconds, and spat it out into the sink. He then wiped his mouth and smiled as he looked at his shining, freshly brushed teeth. He then walked out of his bathroom and headed into his bedroom, smiling excitedly.
Lumpy took out his tote bag and filled it with his favorite light blue pajamas, as blue as his fur. He had just taken them out of the dryer, so they were clean, soft and still warm. Once the PJs were in his bag, Lumpy zipped it shut, then picked it up and placed it over his shoulder. He then turned off every light in the house and headed out the front door, locking it behind him.
As Lumpy walked down the street to Sniffles' house, the moose couldn't resist humming a lullaby to himself. Maybe he was looking forward to going to sleep, but he didn't know for sure. By the time he had made it to Sniffles' house, the sky had changed from orangish-pink to a dark blue shade. A sign that the big weekend had begun. Lumpy knocked on the door and waited for his friend to respond.
After a few minutes had gone by, Sniffles opened the door.
"Hey, Sniffles!" Lumpy greeted him immediately.
"Hi, Lumpy!" Sniffles responded in happiness. "I am so happy you could make it! Come on in!"
Lumpy did as he was told, an excited smile on his face. Sniffles then shut the door behind them once they were both inside.
"How would you like to come up to my room?" Sniffles offered. "I hope you don't mind sleeping there with me."
"No, it's fine," Lumpy said politely.
The two of them climbed upstairs and stopped when they had reached the door to Sniffles' bedroom. Sniffles opened the door, let Lumpy into the room, then entered himself and closed the door behind them.
"We're gonna have lots of fun tonight!" Sniffles said. For some reason, the way he said that reminded Lumpy of Tootie's Playhouse, one of their favorite shows. It was about the same thing Tootie said something similar to that in the beginning of every episode, but maybe it was just a coincidence.
"So what do you wanna do first?" Lumpy wanted to know.
"I'll come up with something as soon as I can," Sniffles replied with a smile.
Lumpy smiled in return and went over to Sniffles' bed. He sat down on it, unzipped his bag and pulled out his pajamas.
"I hope you don't mind that I put my pajamas on," Lumpy said.
"Of course I don't," said Sniffles.
"Thanks." Lumpy inserted one of his arms into one of the sleeves of his pajama top, then the other arm into the other sleeve. He then buttoned it up afterwards. As he put his pajama bottoms on one leg at a time, Sniffles got an idea. He looked at Lumpy just as he was done getting his pajamas on.
"Hey, Lumpy?" Sniffles started. "Would you come over here for a second?"
"Sure." Lumpy got off the bed and walked over to Sniffles.
Sniffles reached behind his back and pulled out a long feather. It was a quill feather, white in color and soft to the touch. Lumpy couldn't help but smile at what he was doing.
"Wait, let me guess..." Lumpy said playfully. "Tickles?"
Sniffles nodded, and then began to wiggle the feather on the top of Lumpy's foot. Lumpy giggled and pulled his foot away.
"Hehehe!"
Sniffles then stroked the side of Lumpy's foot with the feather, causing him to laugh more.
"Hahahaha, hahahahahaha!" Lumpy curled his toes a little as he laughed. "S-Sniffles! It tickles! Hahahahaha!"
"I know." Sniffles replied with a giggle, and then pulled the feather away from Lumpy's foot. Lumpy quickly regained his breath. "Lumpy, would you please sit down?"
Lumpy did as he was told without knowing what to expect. His feet were now sticking out. Then, however, Sniffles began to wiggle the feather up and down Lumpy's foot, causing him to laugh uncontrollably.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Sniffles smiled widely and continued to tickle Lumpy's foot with his feather. As he listened to his laughter, the anteater teased him playfully. "Tickle-tickle-too~!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAT TICKLESSSSSS!" Lumpy responded. "HAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
After a few seconds of tickling, Sniffles pulled his feather away from Lumpy's foot and let him breathe. Lumpy panted a few times, trying to catch his breath. Not long after he had recovered it, however, Sniffles inserted his feather in between Lumpy's toes and pulled it out. Lumpy smirked at first, then laughed.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAAA!" Lumpy wiggled his feet around as he laughed for a couple of seconds. "That's my tickle spot!"
"Is it?" Sniffles asked as he again brushed his feather in between Lumpy's toes.
"YEHEHEHES!" Lumpy laughed again as he wiggled his toes.
Sniffles then began to brush the side of his feather on the undersides of Lumpy's toes, as opposed to between them. Lumpy broke into a laughing fit as he did this.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Lumpy gasped briefly and kept laughing as he squirmed around, wiggling his toes and trying to keep Sniffles from tickling him.
Sniffles smiled at his reaction and kept tickling his toes, teasing him again as he did so. "Goochie-goochie~~!"
"HAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Lumpy laughed uncontrollably from the moment he heard the teasing onward.
After at least a minute and a half of tickling, Sniffles finally pulled the feather away from Lumpy's toes. Lumpy sat there, panting repeatedly as he tried to catch his breath.
"Th-Thank... you..." Lumpy said, weakly.
Sniffles giggled at him some more. But what the anteater didn't realize was that Lumpy was going to get back at him as soon as he recovered.
When Lumpy finally caught his breath, he looked up at Sniffles with a mischievous smile on his face. He raised his hands up for him to see.
"Um, Lumpy?" Sniffles raised an eyebrow.
Without warning, Lumpy placed both of his hands on Sniffles' belly and began to tickle him. Sniffles reacted immediately, giggling and squirming around.
"Eek! Hehehehehe!"
Lumpy couldn't help but smile as he heard Sniffles' adorable laughter. He quickly moved his hands to his sides and kept tickling.
"Hehehehehehe, hahahahehehehehehehehe!" Sniffles laughed as he squirmed around. He couldn't help himself; he was really ticklish, but he didn't mind being tickled most of the time.
After a few seconds, Lumpy pulled his hands away from Sniffles' sides, but then looked over at the feather Sniffles was holding.
"Hey, Sniffles, can I see that real quick?" Lumpy asked.
Sniffles nodded and gave him the feather, not knowing what he was going to do with it. Not long afterwards, Lumpy began to wiggle the feather directly on Sniffles' belly, causing him to laugh even more.
"EEEEEEK! HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!"
Lumpy smiled at his laughter and continued tickling him. He couldn't resist teasing him as he did so. "Goochie-goochie-goo~!"
"HEHEHEHEHE, LUMPYHYHYHYHY!" Sniffles manages to say through his adorable laughter. "TH-THAT TICKLESSS! HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!"
After a few seconds of tickling Sniffles' tummy, Lumpy stopped, removed the feather and giggled to himself.
"I'm sorry, Sniffles, your laughter is so cute!" said Lumpy.
"Is it?" Sniffles blushed a little. "Gee, thanks, Lumpy..." But then he saw that Lumpy's belly button was slightly exposed, despite the pajama top he was wearing. "But I don't think it's as cute as yours..." Sniffles leaned over to Lumpy's navel and tickled his belly button with his forefinger.
"Hehehehehe! Hahahahahaha!" Lumpy laughed as he squirmed around a little. He turned away from Sniffles, putting his hand over his navel and blushing.
"Oh, come on, Lumpy..." Sniffles said playfully. He held up his feather for Lumpy to see and waved it around a little. "I haven't even started tickling your tummy!"
Lumpy thought for a moment, but then decided to let him do what he wanted to do. Lumpy unbuttoned his pajama top a little and pulled it apart, revealing his belly.
"I should warn you, my tummy is really, REALLY ticklish...!" said Lumpy.
"I know!" Sniffles said in response. "But then again, where aren't you ticklish? Hehe!"
Lumpy thought for a moment, but couldn't come up with an answer for that question. This wasn't because of his low intelligence, but because of the fact that he was already ticklish everywhere. So he just shrugged, smiling sheepishly and cutely. Sniffles giggled a little more, and then began to tickle Lumpy's tummy with his feather. The moment he felt that soft feather caress his belly, Lumpy reacted instantly.
"HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Lumpy laughed loudly as he squirmed around.
"Awww~!" Sniffles continued to tickle Lumpy's tummy, teasing him playfully once again as he did so. "Goochie-goochie-goo~!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Lumpy was blushing as he continued to laugh and wiggle his body around. For some reason, hearing him being teased like that when he was tickled added to the tickling sensation. It only tickled even more when he was being tickled with a feather at the same time. "THAT- THAT TICKLESSSSSS! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Sniffles kept tickling Lumpy's belly for seconds on end. Sometimes he moved his feather to one of Lumpy's sides and wiggled it up and down several times, then moved to the other side and tickled it the same way. And sometimes he inserted the feather into Lumpy's belly button and tickled him there. But no matter where Sniffles wanted to tickle him, Lumpy was so ticklish that his laughter and twitching just kept going. Tears were coming out of his eyes due to how much he was laughing.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! *gasp* AAAHAAAHAAAA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
After three straight minutes of this, Lumpy finally decided he had had enough tickles. He managed to tell Sniffles to give him a break, despite his large amount of laughter from the tickles.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *gasp* WOULD YOU PLEASE- HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! -STOP NOW?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!"
Sniffles heard him and agreed that Lumpy couldn't take much more, so he did as he was told, pulling his feather away from Lumpy's belly. Lumpy held his tummy as he panted for quite a few minutes, trying to catch his breath. His face was covered with sweat, his eyes leaking with tears from the laughter, and he was blushing hard.
"Thank... you..." Lumpy said, with his words being punctuated by his gasps.
"You're welcome," Sniffles replied as he giggled.
Lumpy then pulled his hand away from his belly and got up from where he had been sitting. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and the tears from his eyes, sighing with near exhaustion as he did so.
"I guess those tickles have tired me out..." Lumpy stated.
Sniffles looked at the clock close to his bed. It was only 7:30 at night; it wasn't that late. Besides, they didn't have to go back to work until Monday, so they could stay up later if they wanted. Sniffles came up with another idea and looked back at Lumpy.
"Hey, Lumpy..." said Sniffles. "If you'd like to tickle me some more, you can."
"Do you want me to?" Lumpy asked. He had already caught his breath.
"Well, I did tickle you an awful lot," Sniffles acknowledged. He handed Lumpy his feather. "How would you like to return the favor?"
As soon as Lumpy heard that, he smiled and accepted the feather. "Sure!"
"Okay!" Sniffles smiled as well, and then sat down on the floor.
Lumpy eyed him for a moment, as if wondering where he should tickle him first. He then made up his mind and started tickling Sniffles' side with the feather.
"Eek! Hehehehehehe!" Sniffles started to laugh. "Hehe, hehehehehehehehe!"
Lumpy smiled and giggled to himself as he listened to Sniffles' laughter. After a few seconds of tickling his sides, he moved his feather up to Sniffles' ribs and kept tickling him.
"Hahahahahaha! Hehehehehehe!" Sniffles gasped briefly in between his laughs, but he could only do so for a fraction of a second.
Lumpy tickled one side of Sniffles' ribcage, then moved the feather up to underneath Sniffles' arm.
"EEEEEK!" Sniffles squealed and started laughing even before Lumpy started tickling him there. "HEHEHEHEHE!"
Lumpy then giggled audibly to himself and began to wiggle the feather back and forth, directly on Sniffles' underarm. "Tickle-tickle-tickle~!" said Lumpy.
"HEHEHEHE! HAHAHAHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!" Sniffles continued to laugh adorably as he squirmed around. He couldn't help himself, he was extremely ticklish under his arms.
After a few seconds of this, Lumpy finally removed the feather from Sniffles' underarms. Sniffles panted for quite a few minutes, trying to catch his breath.
"That... that was fun... heehee..." Sniffles giggled slightly, despite that Lumpy had stopped tickling him.
"Yeah." Lumpy giggled as well.
Sniffles recovered his breath, then looked up at Lumpy and tickled underneath his nose with his forefinger.
"Hehehe!" Lumpy couldn't help but giggle as he did so. "Aw, what? You wanna make me sneeze, too? Hehehehe!"
"Yes, I do. Why wouldn't I? Hehe!" Sniffles responded as he continued to tickle Lumpy's nose. After doing so with his forefinger for a few seconds, he reached his other hand over to Lumpy's nose and tickled it with both hands.
"Hahahahaha!" Lumpy laughed as he twitched his nose. "It tickles! Hahaha!"
Sniffles then saw that Lumpy was still holding his feather from earlier. He pulled his hands away from his nose. "Lumpy, may I see that feather again, please?"
Lumpy touched his nose with one hand as he handed the feather back to Sniffles. "Sure, but be careful. My nose is really ticklish."
"I know, that's why I'm asking for it." Sniffles giggled over what he was going to do. He then began to tickle Lumpy's nose with the feather.
"Hahahahaha!" Lumpy's laughter resumed as his nostrils flared slightly. "S-Sniffles! That's gonna make me sneheheheeze! Hahahahahahaha!"
Sniffles heard him, but simply giggled and kept tickling his nose. It wasn't until he teased him, however, that made Lumpy feel a sneeze coming on.
"Goochie-goochie-goochie~!"
"Aaaah... Haaaaaah..." Lumpy inhaled as he tilted his neck back. For some weird reason, being teased while his nose was tickled always made him need to sneeze. His nose and nostrils continued to twitch and quiver in unison, and then he exploded. "AH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Lumpy doubled over as he released the sneeze, blowing the feather directly out of Sniffles' hand. Sniffles winced and gasped when he released the sneeze. He knew Lumpy was going to sneeze, but he didn't think it would be that strong.
Lumpy recovered from the sneeze and rubbed his nose with his forefinger. "Um, sorry," said Lumpy.
"It's okay," Sniffles responded. "Bless you."
Just after he had said that, however, he and Lumpy both saw the feather float down to them. And it landed right on the end of Lumpy's nose. His nostrils flared up again as he needed to sneeze again.
"Oh, no... *sniff* Here comes another sneeze," said Lumpy. He kept his forefinger under his nose as he inhaled. "Aaaaah... Aaaaaaaahhhhh... Haaaaaaaahhhhhhh..."
But before Lumpy could sneeze, Sniffles grabbed the feather and pulled it off of his nose. But just feeling the feather being removed tickled his nose even more. Lumpy tilted his upper body as far back as it could and then released a bigger sneeze.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Lumpy shot his upper body forwards as he sneezed again, with a good amount of spray coming out of his mouth. Lumpy then sniffled as he rubbed his nose with his forefinger again.
"Oh, my! Gesundheit!" Sniffles said.
"Thank you," Lumpy said as he continued to rub his nose. Suddenly, he gave a loud sniffle. "I think I need to blow my nose..."
With that, Sniffles pulled out a tissue and handed it to Lumpy. Lumpy smiled, took the tissue and blow his nose loudly into it.
"Are you feeling okay?" Sniffles asked in concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Lumpy said as he wiped his nose with the tissue. "Big sneezes make me need tissues." He blushed a little as that left his mouth.
Sniffles giggled at his explanation. "That makes sense.
Then the two of them looked at the clock. It was a little past 8:00. They still had some time. Sniffles got an idea, looked back at Lumpy and smiled playfully.
"Lumpy, would you like to see one of my inventions?" Sniffles asked.
"Sure," Lumpy said with a nod.
Sniffles reached to the side of him, picked something up and showed it to Lumpy.
"You see this, Lumpy? This enables me to tickle at least one part of your body - say, your nose." He pushed a green button on the object, and a small bundle of feathers emerged from one end. He then held the end of the object under Lumpy's nose and pressed another button - this one was red. The feathers began to rotate, tickling under Lumpy's nose.
"Haaaah..." Lumpy inhales as he was about to sneeze.
"But if I do this, this will happen, too." Sniffles pushed a yellow button on the machine, causing the feathers to descend into the object. Then a fluffy pompom emerged and tickled under Lumpy's nose.
"Aaah, ehhhh..." Lumpy's nostrils flared up, and then he sneezed two anticlimactic sneezes. "Eh-choo! Ah-choo!"
Sniffles giggled as he heard the sneezes. They weren't as awesome as Lumpy's larger sneezes, but they were cute, just the same.
"I didn't know pompoms could tickle, too," Lumpy said as he rubbed his nose with his forefinger.
"Yeah, this one I built into my invention is pretty fuzzy, but it doesn't tickle as much as feathers. But I can also do this." Sniffles pressed the pink button on the object, causing two tiny but long feathers to come out of either side of the end. Sniffles then held the object close to Lumpy's belly and pressed the red button, causing the feathers to rotate and tickle both sides of Lumpy's tummy. Lumpy gasped, then laughed.
"Hahahahahahahahaha!"
"Hehe!" Sniffles giggled over hearing Lumpy's laughter. "It tickles, doesn't it?"
"Of course it tickles! Hahahahahaha!" Lumpy replied.
Sniffles then pushed the pink button again, and the feathers not only stopped tickling Lumpy, but ascended back into the object as well. Lumpy held his sides as he panted a few times.
"And Lumpy, may I find out where else the pompom can tickle you?" Sniffles asked.
"I guess..." Lumpy replied.
Sniffles smiled and pushed the yellow button, causing the pompom to come back out from the machine. Sniffles held the object close to Lumpy's belly and pressed the red button, causing the pompom to tickle his belly. Lumpy couldn't help but giggle as it did so. Presumably, it really didn't tickle as much as a feather did.
Sniffles took his time tickling Lumpy. After a few seconds, he tickled one of Lumpy's sides, then the other side. More giggles emerged. Then he moved the rotating pompom up to Lumpy's ribs and tickled them for fifteen seconds. Lumpy continued to giggle. Sniffles then tried tickling his underarms, but Lumpy kept giggling.
"Hmm, I guess I have no other choice!" Sniffles said, playfully.
He pulled the pompom away from Lumpy's underarm, but then held it against his feet. Lumpy tried as hard as he could to resist his laughter, but he just couldn't. He finally exploded with the laugh Sniffles wanted to hear.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
But after less than five seconds of being tickled, Lumpy pulled his feet away from Sniffles' object. Lumpy panted several times, trying to catch his breath.
"You didn't like it?" Sniffles asked.
"I'm... so sorry..." Lumpy apologized in between his gasps. "I prefer... being tickled... with a feather... or your hand..."
"Well, I didn't make it so that hand-tickling would be possible, but I can do this!" Sniffles pushed the green button, replacing the pompom with the bundle of feathers, and then began to tickle Lumpy's feet with the feathers.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Lumpy laughed again as he squirmed around, wiggling his toes constantly, but he felt much better. "TH-THANK YOU! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Sniffles smiled in pleasure as he continued to tickle Lumpy's feet. He occasionally moved the object up to Lumpy's toes, making him laugh even more. The tickles felt great, and Lumpy absolutely adored them.
After a while, however, Sniffles switched off the device, watched the feathers retreat back into it, and pulled it away from Lumpy. Lumpy panted constantly as he held his toes, looking very happy.
"Why'd you... stop...?" Lumpy asked, trying his best to make it sound polite.
"Actually, Lumpy..." Sniffles put down the device and yawned audibly. "It's pretty late. I think we should go to bed soon..."
Lumpy suddenly yawned as well, into his hand. "Yeah, you're right."
Sniffles went over to the light switch and flipped it off, filling the room with darkness. The only light in the entire room came from the moonlight from the window. Sniffles went over to his bed and crawled into it, then looked at Lumpy.
"You can sleep in my bed with me if you want," said Sniffles.
Lumpy smiled at just the idea. "Thank you so much."
Lumpy walked over to the other side of Sniffles' bed, stepped in, got under the covers and sighed.
"This has to have been the best night we've ever spent together," Lumpy said.
"Yeah," Sniffles said with a nod. "It was so much fun. I can only imagine how much more fun we'll have tomorrow, though."
"Me too."
As the two of them waited to fall asleep, Lumpy came up with a great idea.
"Hey, Sniffles?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think someday, we should call all our friends over so we can have a big tickle fight?"
Sniffles couldn't help but blush and giggle over the idea. "Oh, Lumpy! That already sounds like a wonderful idea! How do you think we should play it?"
"Like, every time someone gets tickled, the one who's tickling them gets a point. I think that since we're the ones who get tickled a lot, we could start by tickling one of our friends or even each other. And whoever gets tickled has to go and tickle the others wherever they want, as much as they can take it. And whoever tickles the others the most number of times before the end of the day could be the winner. It'd be so much fun."
"I can't believe I didn't come up with that myself..." Sniffles sighed. He removed his glasses and put them on the end table close to him.
"I bet I'd always be the one to either get tickled first, or get tickled the most," Lumpy went on. "Or both. Not that I'd mind, of course. I wonder when we should have that happen..."
Lumpy listened for a response, but all he heard was the soft snores of Sniffles. He had fallen asleep. But Lumpy smiled at him and tucked him in, despite that he already had his covers over him.
"Nighty-night, Sniffles," Lumpy said softly. "See you in the morning."
Lumpy then lay down in the bed and slowly closed his eyes. And before long, he, too, had fallen asleep, with his best friend by his side. They were both looking forward to the morning, where their fun would continue.