Just a little story I wrote for erinioannucci. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy!

I only own Rachel. Spiderman and Beast belong to Marvel.


Playfulness Helps The Brain

Beast was busy in his laboratory at home when he heard loud giggles and turned to see Rachel and Spiderman in his lab. The young girl was dodging behind lab tables carefully and ducking down to avoid Spiderman's grabs.

The wall-crawler was trying to catch her, but she too quick and he couldn't do much with all the equipment around. "Okay, you win, kid," said Spiderman.

Rachel laughed. "Say it again!" she said. "I beat you fair and square."

"I don't know if a lab is fair," said the masked hero.

"What are you two doing?" asked Beast.

Rachel laughed. "Playing," she said. "Spidey's been chasing me and I've been trying to outsmart him."

Beast looked confused. "Why?"

Rachel shrugged. "No reason, other than the fact Spidey's a sore loser," she said.

Spiderman tackled her and pinned her down. "I'm not a sore loser," he said, but his chuckles told her he knew she didn't mean it.

Suddenly, Rachel rolled to the side and surprised the masked hero to where he let her go and she hid behind Beast, peeking out to grin at Spidey, who just chuckled.

The blue mutant was confused. "Is it a training exercise you're both doing?" he asked.

"No, Beast," said Rachel. "We're just having fun. Wanna join us?"

He shook his head. "I'm working on some formulas," he said.

"Aw, come on, Beast," she said, giving him a 'puppy pout' face.

He gently shook his head and turned back to his lab table. Rachel frowned at that and Spiderman fell into deep thought before coming up with an idea.

Beast was about to start on mixing some chemicals when he was suddenly tackled by both Rachel and Spiderman. "I've got him, Spidey!" the girl said, using both her arms and legs to hold down Beast's muscular arms.

"Can you hold him?" the red and blue clothed hero asked her.

"Yup!" she said. "For a bit anyway."

"What are you two doing?" asked Beast as he tried to get his senses back.

"Tickle him, Spidey!"

Beast was about to protest, but Spiderman was too fast and was tickling his stomach and sides. The blue mutant burst into such loud laughter that the test tubes were shaking. Rachel hoped none of them would crack, although each lab table had an area around them that would let any mess fall into the cleaning tubes in the floor. This was so none of the chemicals would cause a reaction on the other tables.

Now, she used all her strength to keep Beast from getting up while Spiderman tickled their friend, who was squirming hard.

"Looks like you should have joined us, Beast," the web-slinger teased him.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Beast roared with laughter. Rachel was now having a hard time holding onto his arms and tightened her hold, but she felt her grip slipping.

"Spidey!" she called out.

But that was all the warning she got out when Beast got free of her and grabbed Spiderman, holding him in a firm hug before giving the masked hero a taste of his own medicine.

Rachel's jaw dropped when she saw Beast tickling Spiderman and she couldn't help laughing her head off as Spidey laughed hard. Beast was laughing too. Their combined laughter made some of the empty test tubes shatter, which snapped them out of their playfulness with a start.

"Oh, dear," said Rachel.

"What was in those test tubes?" asked Beast worriedly.

Spiderman checked and then sighed in relief. "Nothing. They were empty test tubes," he said.

"The liquid in the others must have saved them from exploding," said the teenage girl. "Plus, they don't have stoppers in them, so the sound flowed freely." She then turned to Beast. "Sorry about this."

Beast smiled. "Don't worry," he said. "As long as they were empty, they're easily replaced."

"But they're expensive," said Spidey. He knew this as he had purchased a few chemistry sets during high school and knew that replacement tubes alone were very pricey.

Beast smiled and opened a nearby closet, which had twenty cases of glass tubes and each case held a hundred of them. Rachel's jaw dropped and she was certain she heard Spiderman's jaw drop too. Beast chuckled.

"How many test tubes do you think I've had to replace because I dropped them and they broke?" he asked with a smile.

"Uh, maybe two?" Rachel guessed.

Beast chuckled a bit louder. "Try a hundred. Every week," he said.

"No way, you're pulling our legs," she said with a smile.

"Oh, it's true," he said. "Although, maybe a hundred every few months instead of every week."

The three friends enjoyed a laugh and helped the blue mutant with his work and he wrote something down. "What's that?" asked Spiderman.

"I'm going to do a survey on how playfulness helps the brain," said Beast. "Would you care to participate?"

Rachel giggled. "If I can see you tickle Spidey again, I'm so in!" she said.

Spiderman caught her and tickled her stomach briefly before giving her a noogie and then they both endured a noogie from Beast, all of them laughing hard.


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GoldGuardian2418