#shoutout to nhasablogg

[trashyswitch]

Luigi's Secret

Chapter 22: Ler Moods on Work Days

Luigi's ler mood continues to distract him even during his work day. Meanwhile, Mario is very in-the-dark about the community, and asks Luigi for advice.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, 

Luigi groaned and slowly opened his eyes. 

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BE- *tap* 

Luigi smiled slightly as he heard his brother groan and slap the top of the alarm clock to turn the beeping off. It was Thursday morning, and Luigi was already begging to fall back asleep. 

Mario sat up and rubbed his face, clearly tired. 

“Morning, Mario.” Luigi said. 

“Morning Luigi.” Mario replied, getting out of bed. “Did you sleep well?” Mario asked. 

“Kinda…” Luigi admitted.  

“Kinda? What happened?” Mario asked. 

“Oh nothing…” Luigi mumbled. 

Mario chuckled and got out of bed. “Lee mood?” Mario asked, poking his side. 

“No…” Luigi admitted as he caught Mario’s hand. 

“Oh…” Mario said, pulling on his arm slightly. Luigi turned around and lifted Mario’s arm up above his head. “The opposite, actually.” Luigi replied, tickling up Mario’s ribs first. 

“Ohoho NOHOHOHO! Leheherrr mohohood!” Mario laughed, 

“That’s right, Mario.” Luigi poked the lowest rib. “A big…” He poked the middle ribs. “Fat...” He poked the rib right below the armpit. “Ler mood.” 

Mario shook his head and pulled on his arm. “Luihihigihihi ihihit’s 7 o’clohohock ihin the mohohornihing!” Mario told him. 

“Yeah, has that stopped me before?” Luigi teased. “Besides: I’ve been in a ler mood since late last night!” Luigi explained. 

“Okahahay, ohohokahay.” Mario opened his right eye. “Fihine, but behehe gehehentle.” Mario told him. 

“Okay.” Luigi moved his fingers to the neck. “Can I at least tickle here?” Luigi asked, fluttering his fingers right on his brother’s jawline. 

Mario tittered, curled his neck in, giggling like a little girl. “Ohohokahahayhyhyhyhy.” Mario told him. 

Luigi smiled and tickled his brother’s jawline as gently, but as cruelly as his fingers could go. He wanted Mario to be aching for a chance to really laugh, but he also wanted Mario to melt at his touch. “This is what lers like to call ‘gentle tickles’, or ‘light tickles’. They’re supposed to leave the lee giggling, but begging for more.” Luigi explained. “Ihihit’s ehehevil!” Mario told him. 

“Yeah…But it’s merciful compared to the rough tickles some lers give people.” Luigi added. “And let me tell you, they can be veeeeery rough.” Luigi warned. “But I’m not a rough tickler.” Luigi let him know. 

“Yehehes yohou ahahare! Yohou’re ahaha lihihiar!” Mario yelled back. 

Luigi chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe I am.” Luigi replied. “But only you’ll know that.” He stopped his fingers and wiped away the extra phantom tickles on Mario’s neck. “Time for us to get ready?” Luigi asked. 

Mario rubbed his own neck, quickly noticing that Luigi’s touch had made the phantom tickles go away super quickly. “It’s so weird how well that works.” Mario admitted. 

“I know, right?!” Luigi reacted. “So, am I gonna have to keep an eye out for you while we’re working?” Mario asked. 

Luigi shrugged his shoulders. “Only if we’re not with customers.” Luigi replied with a wink. 

Mario rolled his eyes and poked his side as he put his overall strap on. “You’re not the only one who can switch roles on a dime.” Mario told him. 

Luigi snorted and covered his mouth, freezing long enough for Mario to laugh at him. He sighed and smiled a bit before getting himself dressed. Luigi made them both a coffee, while Mario put together some breakfast for the two of them. Luigi gave Mario his gloves before putting his own on, while Mario organized their toolkit before letting Luigi pick it up. Leaving the house, the boys waved to the roads as they walked by. Luigi wrapped the tool bag around himself before hopping on the floating cubes in the air that led to the pipe. Mario was right behind him, hopping into the pipe right after him. 

Making it to Brooklyn, Mario and Luigi got into their car and started it. Mario turned the car around and began to drive to their first location. While he was waiting, Luigi had been reading a rather old tickle fanfic by nhasablogg about Nick & Charlie (two gay lovers from Heartstopper). This specific one was about Charlie discovering that Nick had ticklish hands while he’s drawing on his hand. It was a really cute and romantic idea, and one that Luigi kept coming back to whenever he craved some cute tickle fics. Nhasablogg had always been an amazing writer, even back when she was just nhasablog on AO3 from 2015 onward. 

Gosh…2015…that was way back when Luigi had just been a little snooper on the internet. No one even knew who he was that early on. He was just a sly snooper with a heavy lee mood and nothing else to do but go to school, and then go home to read fanfics all day and watch tickle scenes uploaded on youtube by unassuming people. He didn’t have a name, a profile, or even a voice on the internet back then. He just existed. And he always made sure to get back to this AO3-turned-Tumblr writer known as Nhasablog(g) and see what they’re doing these days. And maybe reread one or two of their newer fanfics again… 

*Poke* 

“eeEEK!” Luigi jumped, dropping his phone and quickly attempting to catch it. 

“We’re here.” Mario told him with a smile. 

Luigi finally caught the phone, and looked at Mario. “Sorry…I didn’t know the car stopped.” Luigi admitted. 

“You didn’t feel the car stop at all?” Mario asked. 

“No…” Luigi admitted. 

Mario chuckled and opened his own car door. “Phone away, focus on work. Okay?” Mario asked. 

Luigi nodded and opened the car door, before hopping out and closing the door. He followed Mario to the door of the customer’s house while carrying the toolkit. 

Later:

Luigi and Mario stopped at a restaurant and parked the van. They had set up their next appointment for 1:15, which meant they had an hour and a half to kill. 

Luigi and Mario were seated at a 2-person table, and started to look at the menus. “So…What are you gonna get?” Mario asked. 

“I don’t know.” Luigi replied. 

“Okay.” Mario closed his menu and looked at Luigi. “So what were you reading earlier?” Mario asked. 

Luigi slowly put the menu down as he developed a wobbly smile. “Uuuhhhhehehe…” Luigi mumbled. 

“Tee-kay fanfic?” Mario asked, enunciating the T and the K for the short form Luigi usually uses. 

Luigi nodded his head subtly, but noticeable enough for Mario to see it. “Yeah…By a writer named Nhasablog.” Luigi told him. 

“Who’s that?” Mario asked. 

“Another fanfic writer. They’ve been in the community for ages now.” Luigi admitted. “Since…2015, I think.” he replied. 

“Geez…” Mario muttered. “How many stories have they written?” Mario asked. 

“As of August 8…two hundred and twenty two.” Luigi replied. 

“And…Does this person have a real name? Or are they only known by their nickname?” Mario asked. 

“The Nhasablog person goes by just the letter N.” Luigi replied. 

“Okay. So N…Jin…Pocket…Who else is there?” Mario asked. 

“Oh! So many, it’s exhausting to keep track.” Luigi replied. “There’s also Nico, Kanene, Joker, Drew…It’s a lot. But my main people are Pocket, Drew, and Jin.” Luigi replied. 

Mario chuckled. “It’s hard for me to keep track without a visual context.” Mario admitted. 

Luigi nodded. “I know…” He muttered, before remembering something helpful. “Actually…Me and Pocket chatted a couple days ago.” Luigi admitted as he pulled out his phone and pulled up the Tumblr chain, before giving it to Mario. 

Mario took the phone and read the chain. 

{trashyswitch asked: [*sneaks up and pokes your sides* BOO!] 

weegee-the-lee answered: [*Screeches* Pocket!] }

Mario looked up at Luigi. “You’re just…going along with this?” Mario asked. “You’re not questioning this stranger?!” He asked. 

Luigi chuckled. “I don’t need to. The fact that she sent ME a message for the first time is huge.” Luigi admitted. 

Mario narrowed his eyes before shrugging his shoulders and going back to reading. 

{trashyswitch: [Yeeees? ;) What would the special green bean like? I’m all ears!👂🏻]

weegee-the-lee: [For you to not scare me like that! I was scared enough in the darklands!]

trashyswitch: [*widens eyes* Oh…did I bring back bad memories? *grows worried*]

weegee-the-lee: [*snickers* No, I’m just more paranoid.]

trashyswitch: [Oh…Alright. *skitters fingers on ribs* Is this better, Lee-uigi?] }

Mario chuckled again. “Everyone on here just calls you Lee-uigi?” Mario asked. 

Luigi nodded his head almost proudly. “Yup.” He replied, popping the P. 

Mario rolled his eyes and went back to reading. 

{weegee-the-lee: [*yelps* Pohohocket! Cuhut ihihit ohout!]

trashyswitch: [And why shall I stop? Why shall the evil Pocket stop tickling Weegee?]

weegee-the-lee: [*whines* shuhut uhuhup! Yohou’re thehe wohohorst!]

trashyswitch: [Am I? Am I really? *lessens tickles slightly*]

weegee-the-lee: [W-wehell... Mahaybe nohot…] }

Mario looked at Luigi. “So…It’s completely normal for lees to subtly admit to their lers that they like being tickled? Or were you just being cute?” Mario asked. 

Luigi looked down. “Uhhhh…It’s fairly normal…” Luigi replied awkwardly. 

Mario chuckled and looked back at the messages. 

{trashyswitch: [Okay. 🙂 *squeezes sides a couple times before stopping*]

weegee-the-lee: [*sits down, panting*]

trashyswitch: [*sits down beside him* Was that too much?] 

weegee-the-lee: [*shakes head, smiling*] 

trashyswitch: [*smiles and baps the bill of your hat*]

weegee-the-lee: [*giggles* that reminds me. *brings out a purple hat similar to his own, with “TS” on the front, and slaps it onto your head*]

trashyswitch: [*gasps loudly and fixes the hat on my head* OH MY GOSH- *hugs Weegee tightly* THANK YOU!! I love it! *tries not to tear up*]

weegee-the-lee: whOA- *giggles* You’re welcome!} 

Mario laughed and handed him back the phone. “You guys are nerds, I swear.” Mario reacted. 

Luigi took back the phone and pulled up something else. “You don’t need to worry about stranger-danger, Mario. I know what I’m doing.” Luigi said. “Unlike her, I didn’t post my face online and then link all the face reveals in the masterpost.” Luigi added. 

Mario blinked and sat back in his chair. “Say that again…but slower.” 

Luigi cleared his throat. “Nah. I’ll just show you.” Luigi showed Mario a picture on the website. It was of a female in a black shirt that said ‘Tumblr’ in pink cursive on the shirt. 

Mario widened his eyes and stared at the photo. “....Wow.” He handed Luigi his phone back. 

Luigi took his phone and closed it before putting it in his pocket. 

Mario bit his lip. “So…Do any of your other online friends have…face reveals?” Mario asked. 

“Nope. Just Pocket.” Luigi replied. 

“Okay.” Mario replied. “Well, that makes me feel a small bit better.” He admitted. “But one more thing:” Mario leaned back and bit his lip. “Would you recommend I get Tumblr?” Mario asked. 

Luigi widened and gasped. “G-Get Tumblr?! To-To what?” He asked. 

“To…meet these people and learn more about the tickle community.” Mario admitted. 

Luigi widened his eyes and covered his mouth. There was no way…this had to be a joke, or some sort of prank. “You want to…start up a Tumblr account…to learn more about the community?” Luigi asked. 

Mario shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. It’s only an idea right now.” he admitted. “You’ve talked so much about it and I feel so out-of-the-dark half the time. Maybe if I joined Tumblr and saw some of the things you see, then…I may be able to understand you better.” Mario admitted. 

Luigi was smiling brightly and looking down a small bit, blushing slightly. 

“And…I’m scared that these people you talk to won't really like me because I’m not traditionally part of the community?” Mario asked next. 

Luigi shook his head. “I already told you: We are in desperate need of allies.” Luigi told him. 

Mario smiled and looked over at the waitress as she walked up. 

“Are you ready to order?” The waitress asked. 

Mario nodded. “I think so. Can I get a-”

After Work: 

Mario and Luigi headed to the big green tube and hopped out of the car. “So what are some other teases people in the community use?” Mario asked. 

“Oh boy…” Luigi sighed and closed the door. “Verbal teases, tools, there’s a lot. Some people come up with games and challenges.” Luigi explained. 

“Like what?” Mario asked. 

Luigi smiled. “One of them is ‘Arms up’. The lee keeps their arms up above their head, while the ler tickles the armpits. Keep it up for a certain amount of time, then you win. If the lee drops their arms down, then the ler gets to do something to ‘punish’ or discipline’ the lee.” Luigi replied. 

Mario laughed. “Wow…Evil, but fun.” Mario admitted. 

Luigi bit his lip. “Yeah…That’s one of the things we look for in games like that.” Luigi admitted. 

“Evil, but fun?” Mario asked. 

“Yup. Evil, but fun…for both the ler and the lee.” Luigi replied. 

Mario nodded before hopping into the pipe. “See you there!” Mario shouted. 

Luigi hopped into the tube and flew through the tube right behind his brother. He held onto the plumbing toolkit that was around his shoulder, making sure that none of the tools fell out. As he flew through the invisible part of the pipe, Luigi admired the sunset and the rays that covered the white clouds in a mix of dull purple, light pink mixed in with the endless shades of orange, and yellow down to where the sun had hidden under the horizon. It was awe-inspiring, and it made time slow down for a moment or two…

Nothing…

Nothing beats seeing this beautiful sight every evening.