"Hold still Nii-san you've got some lint on you."
"So?"
"So it's going to keep bothering me now that I've thought about it and it won't stop unless I un-lint you."
"You're weird Al." Ed sighed. "But go ahead and un-lint me if it'll make you feel better."
Ed squirmed as Al un-linted his shoulders and jumped when he got to his sides.
"Hold still Nii-san!"
"Forget it! I'll un-lint myself!"
"You didn't un-lint yourself, you just got crumbs on your side! Now I have to brush those off!"
"No you don't!"
"Yes I do!"
"No you don't! A little lint never hurt anyone!"
"I told you if I don't it'd keep bugging me!"
"Then I'll just un-lint myself!"
'It'd be easier if you'd just let me do it."
"No it wouldn't!"
"At this rate I'm starting to think you're right." Al muttered under his breath. "Come on! It's just un-linting! What's the problem?"
Al picked off some lint near the back of his ribs making Ed make an 'ack!' sound and jumping backwards again pulling Al down with him this time.
"Geez!" said Al. This time he sat near Ed's hips- careful not to put too much weight on him- and somehow managed to pick and brush off the lint and crumbs off of Ed even with all his squirming and jerking and wriggling around.
"What is your problem Nii-san? Are you hurt on your side somewhere?"
"No." Ed said sounding as if he was trying very hard not to laugh but Al didn't seem to notice this or he just ignored it if he did.
"Well what is the matter with you then?" Al gave his sides one more brush but stopped when Ed started laughing. Hard.
"Wha-? What's so funny?" Al asked.
"N-…Nothing!" Ed was trying hard to stop laughing. "If you're done un-linting me then you can get off me now you know."
Al didn't really want to get off now that he had something figured out. "Nii-san, are you…still ticklish?"
"No I'm not!" Ed insisted.
Al somehow managed to hide his smirk. "You are still ticklish aren't you? You're still very ticklish aren't you?"
"No I'm not and just what is that look?"
"What look?" Al asked innocently.
"That look you're hiding behind that blank expression that says 'I-think-you-need-this-and-I-don't-care-if-you-think-so-too-because-this-is-fun-and-I'm-the-suicidal-idiot-who's-temporarily-in-charge-here'."
"I'm temporarily in charge? Cool!" said Al. And with that he slid his hands under Ed's shirt and began his merciless assault randomly switching tickle spots and randomly alternating between tickling hard and soft, prodding, poking, stroking, tapping, wiggling, and kneading. This caused the wriggling to come back, Ed reacting to every swipe of his fingers and Al returned to his sides and stomach at regular intervals because they seemed to be some of the worst spots.
Ed often looked as if he was going to protest but most of what he could get out was "Al-! You-!" or "Stop-!" before dissolving into helpless laughs again.
Al finally stopped his assault when the older boy started coughing from lack of oxygen. "Al! –Pant! – You really are a suicidal idiot you know that?" Ed wheezed.
"Yeah, I know." Al was extremely pleased. "But it's worth it."