Tickle

Characters: Law, Penguin, Bepo, Shachi. Rating: K. Warnings: none

Law hated them, Penguin and Shachi considered them a declaration of war and responded appropriately, and Bepo never meant to start it. What had once been a simple greeting, ingrained somewhere in the back of his mind as the Right Thing, quickly spiralled out of all control at the revelation of one particular fact.

Penguin was ticklish.

Naturally, a nervous garchu from a young Bepo shortly after they finally declared themselves a proper crew with a flag - nakama - did not go as plan the moment his soft cheek flipped up one side of Penguin's hat and rubbed against his cheek, catching the sensitive, ticklish skin of his neck in the process.

Unaccustomed to Mink etiquette and startled, Penguin had done the first thing he could think of and pushed Bepo away, only to cave at the sight of an apologetic cub who looked close to tears – could Minks even cry? Bepo seemed like he was about to.

Nothing Penguin said seemed to cheer him up so, flustered, he leaped on the poor cub and tried to tickle him back. Not ticklish, but recognising the peace offering, Bepo started to laugh and reached out with his paws.

Shachi found them like that, rolling on the floor together and laughing, and naturally jumped on top of them both to join in. He wasn't as ticklish as Penguin, but clever fingers and wandering paws found what weak spots he had, and he was definitely louder.

When Law poked his head in to see what all the shrieking was about, his face had paled and he'd attempted to beat a hasty retreat. Being the smallest in the crew, and subsequently the one with the shortest legs, he didn't get far before the three successfully pounced, dragging him into the centre with the sole aim of coercing a laugh out of him.

Law wasn't ticklish at all, and suffered through the indignity in total silence, wearing what he would later deny resembled a pout at his crew's antics. The stalemate broke when Shachi finally tried another tactic and blew a raspberry on his cheek, provoking a jump and a hurriedly-covered yelp from the younger boy, who immediately wiped the afflicted spot thoroughly with a sleeve as he tried to squirm away. Back then he was unsuccessful and was forced to suffer until the other three wore themselves out laughing before he could slip out of the tangle of limbs.

To all appearances, tickle fights were the bane of Law's life, and their decreasing occurrence over the years was noted with great relief. However, it never escaped the notice of his crew that they could always catch him, even when he grew taller with longer legs, and perfected the teleportation and Shambles techniques always used in his escape seconds later.

Bepo was apologetic for starting them, and Penguin and Shachi considered them a declaration of war and responded accordingly. Law hated being tickled, but the physical contact? Not so much.

Something short and hopefully sweet, to make up for last chapter (and also because I had almost no time tonight so I couldn't delve into the longer stories I've got planned). If Law was ticklish, I'm sure we'd have seen it in the flashbacks with Cora-san, so while it would be amusing to see him break down in laughter, I'm not sure tickling is the way to make it happen.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari