Being Ticklish
“Do you wanna go to Quicksilver tonight?” Steve asked him.
Peter was so full, he was in a food coma. He was sitting on Steve’s couch just staring off into space. Natasha had gone to her room to get ready for work and Steve had made him sit down while he finished cleaning up. Peter had offered to help, but Steve denied him.
“Oh uh...yeah, that sounds like fun,” Peter answered. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Steve yet and if they went tonight, that would just be more time spent with him.
“Great. Then you should hang out and we can carpool,” Steve said, joining him on the couch.
“Okay, what do we do in the meantime?” Peter was just willing to sit there the whole time and stare at Steve while his food digested.
“We could watch a scary movie,” Steve suggested.
“Halloween was last month,” Peter said with a chuckle.
“Halloween is forever...bitch,” Steve said, taking a remote and turning the tv on. He directly went to the horror movie genre and started scrolling down.
There was something about the way Steve called him a bitch that made Peter just deeply lust for him. He wished he would do it again.
“Anything catch your attention?” Steve asked, still scrolling.
“I don’t know,” Peter replied, rejecting the urge to tell him HE caught his attention. “Whatever is fine.” He didn’t understand Steve’s obsession with horror movies, but he knew it didn’t matter what they did, as long as they did it together. So if Steve liked watching horror, Peter would be there watching with him.
Steve put on a slasher movie and they sat there in silence watching. About halfway through, Natasha came through the room dressed in tight jeans and a leather jacket. Peter thought she looked so good, he was half tempted to ask if he could go with her. She said her goodbyes and then left to work. Peter knew he was alone in the apartment with Steve and he got a little nervous.
Peter’s thoughts wandered to all the sexual things he and Steve could do in the apartment. He grabbed a couch pillow and held it over himself in case he got a clearly visible hard-on. His thoughts felt so naughty that any sudden movements spooked him. As if at any moment Steve was going to read his thoughts and look at him as if he were crazy.
The movie itself wasn’t scary, but at one point the killer popped in out of nowhere and Peter jumped with a loud grunt. Steve laughed at that.
“You didn’t see that coming?” Steve teased.
“I mean, a jump scare is a jump scare. You’re not really supposed to see it coming,” Peter said, a little annoyed, but a little relieved that the tension was gone.
“I saw it coming,” Steve replied.
“Maybe you’ve seen this movie before.”
“Nope. I think I’m just desensitized by now.”
“Clearly. You didn’t even budge.”
“I don’t scare easily. Unlike you.” As he finished his sentence, Steve reached over and poked Peter in the rib.
Peter yelped and jumped a little again. He looked over at Steve in embarrassment. He hadn’t expected the man to do that.
Steve looked highly amused. “Are you ticklish?”
“No,” Peter said immediately. He said it in a way, not to suggest that he wasn’t ticklish, but to evoke that he was indeed ticklish and he didn’t want Steve to tickle him anymore.
“Oh, I don’t think that’s true,” Steve said, inching closer towards Peter.
“Steve…” Steve’s hands reached out toward him. “Don’t…” And then Steve attacked. Peter was sent into a fit of giggles and yelps. He couldn’t take fully deep breaths, but from the air he was able to pull in, he exhaled, “Stop! Steve! Oh my god! Please!” Despite his words, Peter was enjoying it a little. He liked that Steve had his hands all over him, just poking and prodding at him, making him laugh. He even moved in such a way that he was on his back and Steve was on top of him. He opened his legs to let Steve hang directly over him. And in watching Steve through the tears in his eyes, Peter was turned on. Visibly.
Steve stopped and looked down at Peter. His mischievous smile faded as he looked lower at Peter’s erection. Peter was worried that he had ruined the moment and Steve would ask him to leave. But then Steve looked back into Peter’s eyes and he saw a gleam. Something that told Peter he wasn’t the only one having naughty thoughts.
Peter took his chance and propped himself up on his elbows, physically getting closer to Steve. Steve instinctually got closer as well until their hips were together. They started to grind on each other as they stared into each other’s eyes. Then Steve leaned forward, nuzzling his neck into Peter’s. Peter had hoped he would kiss him, but it didn’t matter. He could feel Steve’s erection through his pants and they were still going at it. He could hear soft moans coming from Steve and it turned Peter on even more as he rose to press himself harder against Steve.
He took an even bigger chance and reached out to Steve’s pants. He wanted to touch Steve’s dick. He wanted to see it. To feel it. To smell it. To taste it.
And then Steve stopped. “Wait,” he said. “I can’t.” He got off Peter and stood up. Peter could see the big bulge in his pants before he walked off and out of the living room. Peter sat up and stared at the tv screen as his boner shrank. It seemed that Steve did scare easily after all.
Peter continued watching the movie, not knowing whether he should leave before Steve came back or not. He felt like he had ruined everything. Like he’d gone too fast and tried taking two steps forward, but instead took two steps backwards. What if Steve didn’t want to be friends anymore? Or what if they continued being friends but always remembered this time when they dry humped each other, so the friendship wouldn’t even last that long?
Steve came back as the ending credits rolled. He looked as if he’d tried composing himself by combing his hair. Peter wasn’t going to be the first one to talk. He wanted to know what Steve was going to say. He was always going to let Steve take control of the situation.
“Who’d the killer turn out to be?” he asked. Was he just going to pretend what had happened between them just...hadn’t happened?
“Oh, it was the boyfriend,” Peter said, surprised that he had even paid enough attention to remember that part of the movie.
“Typical,” Steve said, sounding disappointed.
“I’m sorry,” Peter blurted.
“You didn’t pick the movie so…”
“No, I’m sorry about…” Peter didn’t know what to call it. Steve hadn’t acknowledged it so he didn’t know what to refer to it as. Their dry humping session? Their sexy grinding time? “Being ticklish,” he finally finished.
“No, Peter,” Steve replied, taking control of the conversation. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tickled you. And then, I shouldn’t have...I just shouldn’t have done any of it. You have no need to apologize. It’s all on me.”
Peter just nodded, still not sure where they stood. He just knew he wanted to get drunk before going to the bar that night. “Could I get another cider?” he asked.
“Yeah, get as many as you want,” Steve answered.
Peter grabbed a cider and took a few deep gulps. They still had a few hours before they needed to head to the bar for the drag show and Peter intended to clean Steve out of his hard cider. He went back to the couch and asked, “Alright, what garbage horror movie is next?”
Steve smiled at that and started scrolling through the movies again. They watched a movie about a killer clown which was slightly disturbing, though Peter didn’t pay much attention to it. He mostly focused on finishing his cider and then grabbing another. And another.
When the movie was over, Steve excused himself to get ready to go to the bar. Peter felt tipsy, but took another cider because he didn’t want the feeling to go away. He couldn’t wait to get to the bar and start dancing. He needed to distract himself from the feelings he was having towards Steve. Anger at the fact that Steve obviously felt the same attraction toward him but wouldn’t do anything about it. Anger that Steve had stopped him before they even did anything. Anger that Steve hadn’t even kissed him.
The man returned just as he finished the last bottle of cider. “You ready to go?” Steve asked.
Peter nodded, not even caring about what he was wearing to the bar. It was just a bar, not like a fancy club anyway, he thought.
They jumped into Steve’s car and drove to the bar. Peter turned on the radio and was dancing in his seat along to the music. Steve looked amused, but Peter could still tell there was something reserved about him. And Peter realized he was angry about another thing. He was angry that Steve felt so guilty about what they did. Why did he need to feel guilty? They were both adults and they both wanted to do what they did. Peter turned up the music.
When they finally got to Quicksilver, the bouncer let them in and Peter put his arm through Steve’s as if he was escorting him. He wanted to pull the man over to the dance floor, but as he turned towards it, he saw his friends. Scott, Carol, and Hope were all there dancing to the music of the DJ.
For a second he was upset that they were there enjoying themselves without him, but then he remembered he hadn’t even told them he was going to Quicksilver. He took his phone out and saw that there had been a few texts from them that he’d missed. While he was busy worrying about his friendship with Steve, he had forgotten all about his other friends.