vqler - Tumblr blog

vqler · 3 days ago

Text

Through The Looking Glass

PART 3 of my Original Series "Sons of Walter" which focuses on romance, family & found family, and tickling.

CATEGORY: M/M | RATING: T | TROPES: Childhood Friends, Forbidden Love

Profiles: Axel Michaels | Josh Walters

Art by the amazing @ppystkposts !!!

Chapter 1 (Lee!Josh) 🆕

Chapter 2 (Lee!Josh) 🆕

Chapter 3 (Lee!Josh) 🆕

NOTE: Two weeks after wrapping up part 2 and a little earlier than what I expected, I'm excited to continue my series with the love interest who's basically the opposite of Yuki Meyers: Axel Michaels. I've been excited to create his character and his backstory with Josh, who despite being his twin brother, can practically be considered James' opposite as well.

I also would like to thank everyone who sent me asks for the OC Ask Game. Part of my answers were used to expand each character profile with a little trivia section. Some more detailed than the others, but not all characters were as popular. I might update them in the future!

For those who stick around to see Josh and Axel's romance bloom, I hope you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Special thanks to @fluffandgiggles for the love and support, and for contributing your ideas to the story! The first 3 chapters can be found below!

DISCLAIMER & CONTENT WARNINGS:

This story contains mild violence, consensual and non-consensual tickling, profanity, and was written as a hobby work for fun due to my love for tickling and writing. I am not a professional author and English is not my first language.

It is a work of fiction and the names, characters, businesses and incidents are all mere products of my imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

SUMMARY: Axel has a meeting with Hank, owner of The Walters. He has some ideas to help them boost the restaurant's popularity and offers them his help.

TAGS: #Playful Tickling #Brotherly Tickling

WORDS: 5.4K

Pouring rain wasn’t ideal. Ruined hair, wet clothes, delayed traffic.

Of course Axel had an important appointment scheduled on this very rainy Friday afternoon and he did not want to be late. All he could do was leave early and move as fast as possible, and luckily that paid off.

The letters displaying ‘The Walters’ finally came into view as he rushed towards the restaurant. A trusted location already, and it wasn’t just the fact that it was warm and dry inside.

The moment he entered, a pleasant feeling immediately made him feel at ease, and the haste and stress that made his heart race already started to fade.

It wasn’t very packed for a Friday afternoon, but even then, he immediately noted the cozy atmosphere, the nice scents of hot coffee and delicious food, and the pleasant overall vibe.

He touched his blond wet hair and shook his head before slowly making his way inside.

Walking further, his eyes fell on the large group photo hanging on the wall. Axel was honored to be part of that photo, alongside the four brothers running the restaurant, together with their staff and friends.

Moving past the tables with an older couple and also something that looked like a business meeting, he made his way towards the bar where restaurant manager James Walters was talking to their blonde staff member, Dani.

Their conversation seemed serious, so Axel didn’t interrupt them right away.

He glanced at the menu board announcing the lunch special of the week: Crunchy Asian Broccoli Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing.

Yum. Axel’s stomach growled when he read it, but he wasn’t here to eat, and Dani already noticed him.

“Oh, hi Axel! I’m so sorry, he was distracting me, the pretty waitress accused James immediately.

“You’re soaking wet,” she said, grabbing a towel and walking around the bar to help him.

“It’s fine. Just some rain. No umbrella and all,” Axel said, but he still accepted the towel and helped himself.

“Good to see you, Axel. Can we get you anything? Or let me guess, you’re here to see Josh,” James said, referring to his twin brother Josh Walters.

“Wrong,” Axel told him smugly, although he would love to say hi to Josh later. “I’m here to meet with Hank actually.”

James raised his eyebrows. “Oh really?” The guy looked as charming as ever, being the social restaurant manager with a flirty vibe all over him most of the time, but that was just his nature. He could simply talk to a plant and make people think he was flirting with it, while in fact, Axel knew there was only one person James would seriously flirt with, called Yuki Meyers. James’ boyfriend.

Although Axel had been used to seeing police officer Yuki around James, he didn’t seem to be here today.

Axel studied James. His brown hair was tied in a man-bun as usual, and it looked like it had been a while since he shaved, with his usual stubble beard just slightly longer this time.

He couldn’t believe he mistook James for Josh the first time he came to this restaurant.

Seeing James and Dani here together actually brought him back to that specific day. When he first met them, on a chaotic Monday morning at the start of this year.

The family business was just getting mentioned in a news report following a New Year’s Eve fireworks incident, and Axel saw a glimpse on the TV screen at a cafe where he was getting his takeaway coffee, for on his way to a meeting.

Suddenly drawn to the screen, he stood closer to hear part of the news report, as well as the statement from one of the staff members.

“It was quite an explosion. We have no idea why our restaurant was targeted. As far as we’re concerned, there have been no quarrels, threats, intimidation and no problems whatsoever.”

Josh?! Looked like Josh and sounded like Josh. Not having seen his old friend in years, not even his picture, it wasn’t too strange that Axel thought Josh had simply changed his style; growing his hair and a little beard.

Finally he found him. Josh fucking Walters! Axel’s precious childhood friend who disappeared into thin air.

The news report included the name of the restaurant: The Walters, which seemed to be reopening after a weekend-long recovery from the miniature New Year’s explosion.

Axel entered the name in Google Maps and saw it was about 35 minutes by public transport from where he was, 50 minutes on foot, or… less than 10 minutes by car. He checked the time and realized he would be able to make it if he hurried now.

“Excuse me? What’s your name?” he asked a random girl who was waiting for her order as well. She looked up from her phone and her eyes widened.

“No way. Axel Michaels?”

Of all people, he had to approach someone who recognized him.

“My name is Robin, are you recruiting me for a tasting?” she asked, delaying him with unncessary talk. Ugh. But as an influencer who literally lived for the follows, smiles and positive attention, Axel couldn’t be rude and shake her off hastily.

“I was actually going to tell you that when they call out the name Axel, you are free to receive my drink. Post it on your social media and tag @AxelMichaels, then I will definitely invite you for the next tasting,” Axel said.

He could’ve given her the drink for free easily. But he had to do it like this. Axel wasn’t Axel if he didn’t see this chance for extra exposure.

“Ohmygod, will do! Thank you so much! Can I get your pictu-” This time Axel had been rude as he rushed off in a hurry without taking a selfie with the girl, and without his Hazelnut Bianco Latte.

Outside, he was lucky to catch a taxi within seconds. He should've brought his car today, but of course he didn't know this would happen. He preferred to be very mobile, and bringing his car and having to park it everywhere wasn't his favorite thing to do in this big city.

“The Walters, please!” He gave the driver the address and they immediately started driving. But when he made his rash decision, he forgot about two important details: Monday morning traffic, and eh, checking the opening time?

He could literally smack his own head. Usually he calculated everything really well, but in this case he was just flustered and excited. He hoped it would be his chance to finally see Josh again.

So already later than scheduled, he arrived at the restaurant to find out they were still closed. “Sir please wait!” Axel chased after his taxi again like a loser, but the taxi already disappeared into the distance. Great!

The restaurant wouldn’t open in another hour, so Axel opened his Uber app and hesitated for a moment. He then decided to change his schedule.

He could’ve decided to go check out the restaurant later, because if Josh really worked there, then he didn’t have to go right now to find out. It could be later, or tomorrow, or the day after.

Axel couldn’t wait.

Now that he thought he would be able to find Josh, he wanted to hurry. Luckily he brought his laptop. So he rescheduled his meeting to an online meeting, sat down at a nearby breakfast cafe for a low quality video call with shitty WiFi, and ordered some plain coffee because he was too hasty to check out the menu.

“I’m so sorry, bad internet,” Axel apologized to the editor.

“I can see that,” was the dry reply while Axel’s head was probably pixelating charmingly.

The woman gave him a strict look. “It’s noisy too,” she said in a bossy tone. Axel looked around the crowded place where people were eating breakfast, mostly local breakfast meetings. In person, like how his meeting was supposed to be in person.

This morning meeting was all about the draft version of an article featuring Axel in the upcoming monthly 4-FOOD magazine publication and online blog. Somehow they twisted Axel’s words sometimes during interviews and he really preferred to write his articles himself, if only they would let him.

Sadly that wasn’t the case. He was merely featured, and he wasn’t one of their writers, so they just translated the interviews with him into articles of their own, which was fine if they didn’t make weird errors and little changes here and there, such as the statement that Axel preferred his pasta soft.

No. He liked it soft while most people were like al dente this al dente that. He just once said during an interview that in certain recipes, with certain sorts of pasta, soft pasta had its charms! It wasn’t bad! Al dente wasn’t always the way to go!

However, they phrased it as ‘prefers’ instead of writing he liked or tolerated it, so naturally ‘Axel Michaels the soft pasta preferrer’ got caught by some other food influencers who thought they were funny, and they jointly grilled him online, something that naturally escalated into the Italian YouTube landscapes as well. He even became a temporary meme. Oh well.

Luckily, that was already quite some time ago and the internet got over it, but some idiots still made jokes about it, even though Axel was sure that many people actually agreed with him.

Their editor never apologized for the slight mix-up. For her, liking or preferring something were the same thing, while Axel clearly disagreed.

Their current draft was actually quite fine apart from a few minor details he preferred them to change.

“I apologize. Is it alright if I send you my feedback by e-mail? It’s not much. I will make it up to you next time,” Axel said.

Karen, yes her name was Karen, stared at him for a moment, but Axel gave her his friendliest, most charming smile ever, and it worked.

“Of course. Send it by e-mail, if anything is unclear I will call you later.”

Preferably not, but Axel approved.

“Deal!”

He could finally end the awkward online meeting, paid for his unfinished coffee – he didn’t like it – and left in a hurry.

Secretly he was relieved that this was the outcome. From a physical meeting to a shitty online meeting to just… dealing with it through e-mail, which was fine for everything that could be dealt with by sending a simple e-mail.

If more of his partners saw that convenience, his days would be scheduled way more practically with less time spent on traveling around the city for exchanging some unnecessary yes’es and no’s.

The magazine 4-FOOD / FOR FOOD wasn’t even his favorite collaboration, but he needed them for more exposure, and they needed him for content and for approval of the content featuring him, so yes, it really had to work both ways.

Karen would have to deal with her deadlines and finding replacement without Axel, and without Karen, Axel would’ve put time and effort in this interview and collaboration for nothing.

Besides, this was already his 9th time getting featured in their magazine and online blog, which would always include a mention on their socials and helped improve his reputation, so he just wanted to keep working together for now.

Longlasting collaborations required effort to uphold them, but finding new partners was always going to be harder.

That was just his life as a writer and influencer in the world of food.

As 11 AM approached, he sprinted back towards The Walters and literally barged in. Breathless, sweaty, like a fool.

��S-sorry. I came – as soon as you were open! Geez, I should work out more!”

His irregular games of tennis were not enough to keep him in shape. If only he had more time and motivation to go to the gym!

“Can I help you sir?” the blonde waitress asked.

That was when he first met Dani, but more importantly… “Oh my god Josh!” Axel had been too excited and exhausted, he took one look at James and hugged him. While being all sweaty and gross. While hugging the wrong person.

“Missed you man!”

“Uh, uhm… You’ve got the wrong guy, dude.”

Oh. Well, that was embarrassing.

Axel often recalled the derpy mix-up whenever he saw James, like right now on this rainy day, months after their first meeting.

Or well, their first meeting was actually a reunion, but James didn’t really seem to remember him from the past. Which wasn’t too surprising. Axel would only hang out with Josh, and not with his twin brother James.

For today’s appointment at The Walters, Axel again didn’t show up at his best either. Wet and rained on, but at least he wasn’t sweaty and out of breath. He returned the towel to Dani and subtly sniffed his own armpit. Nope, not sweaty.

“Hank told me to meet him in his office, is it alright if I go up?” Axel asked James.

James shrugged. “Sure. If Boss said that, I won’t stop you. You know the way, right?”

Axel sure did know the way. He went into the door and up the stairs to where the brothers’ apartment was hidden.

Four adult men, living together the way they did. Miraculous. Axel loved that about them. Two floors with bedrooms, bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen, and an office where Hank Walters was currently working. The eldest brother and owner of the place.

“Come in,” Hank said after Axel knocked his door. Entering the small office, Axel saw the large man squeezed behind his desk, surrounded by paperwork. This office was even messier than Axel’s.

“Sorry I’m late,” Axel apologized.

“Just three minutes late, so that doesn’t count,” Hank said gently. “Drink?” he offered, but Axel shook his head.

“I’m fine,” he said, and he sat down in the chair Hank was gesturing at. Sitting down opposite him as if he came here for some kind of job interview, Axel made himself comfortable. It was anything but a job interview, although the two came quite close in comparison.

“Thank you for making time to visit at such short notice, I really appreciate it,” Hank said with a kind smile.

Axel nodded. “Of course, always happy to help,” he said. He didn’t bring his laptop, but he did have his phone with some notes in it.

A week ago when Josh and his twin brother James celebrated their 26th birthdays with a casual party at The Walters, Axel had visited them. The party was combined with a celebration for Theo, who turned 24 a few days before the twins’ birthdays.

Strange. When they were kids, Axel always saw Theodore as the tiny baby brother, but right now they were the same age. Not for long, hehe. Axel's own birthday awaited him this summer, and he looked forward to celebrating it. He thought 25 was a beautiful age, and that it was totally going to be his year.

So at the party, as usual he hung out with Josh, but somehow with all the social gatherings going on that day, he also ended up talking to Hank Walters. During a brief talk about doing business, the restaurant owner admitted that their restaurant wasn’t in the best shape business-wise.

Having been involved personally, Axel knew all too well it was mostly because of the student party that had taken place about two months ago. The party had escalated into a fatal stabbing incident, which cost the life of the security guard who worked that night.

Axel himself attended to take some videos and photos, so he had experienced the tragedy first-hand.

More than that, he also saw the effect it had on their business. Within weeks, The Walters changed from a highly popular hotspot into a simple and quiet restaurant with lots of free tables, quiet afternoons and even quieter nights.

It was a relief when the topic came up during the birthday party, because it had definitely been on Axel’s mind. The restaurant before the party and after the party – the difference was too big, and too painful.

However, he had also been too hesitant to simply confront Hank or even Josh and James, about the visible decreasing success of their beloved family restaurant. He wanted to help them, really, but how to say ‘oh by the way, I noticed your restaurant isn’t doing so well,’ or something like that, and offer them his advice? Right, it would’ve been a little harsh and arrogant if they didn’t ask him about it in the first place.

Besides, Axel was slowly trying to catch up with Josh again, little by little. That included building trust between them, and he figured Josh wouldn’t confide in him yet about their business struggles either.

So when Hank brought up the topic by himself in a casual setting like last week’s birthday celebration, Axel could finally carefully share some thoughts he had, and even offered to come by sometime to have a chat in which he could share his advice for helping them boost the restaurant’s success again.

Now that he sat here, with his long list of notes in his phone and Hank’s gentle eyes focusing on him, he felt a little nervous and restless.

But he wanted to help Josh, he wanted to help the restaurant he and his brothers cared so much for, and sharing the ideas and thoughts he had from his own knowledge and experience in the food industry seemed like a great start.

“Before I start talking about my suggestions, I was wondering if maybe you could tell me a little bit more about your restaurant?” he asked.

Hank Walters nodded. “Oh, of course. Well… The Walters, this place has already been in business for decades. Before us, our uncle ran it together with his wife and a small team. He took over from his father. It was the family’s passion, and gradually grew to be mine as well,” he explained fondly.

He held up his hand and started counting. “Vegetarian menu with international inspirations, a small but dedicated team to connect with our customers, open every day of the week in the year – with the exception of Thanksgiving, well… Those used to be our main USP.”

Axel nodded. He already heard this part from Josh, but it was still an impressive story. In his field, he had visited many restaurants and had never encountered any place like theirs. A family business with their passion, dedication and values was unlike anything else he had seen so far.

Not to mention, his surprise to find Josh Walters there, but he shook his head to get rid of that thought. He was here for a talk with Hank, not with Josh.

“It’s incredible,” Axel said. “I think these are still your strengths.”

Hank shrugged. “The bad publicity changed some things, of course. I’ve been trying to find a way to attract more customers again, but we’ve never had to invest this much in marketing. Our true investments have always been our staff members and the quality of our products.”

Axel heard that from Josh as well. Their staff earned some serious money for the work they did. On top of that, they had a warm and loving team to work with, so he could understand why it was always such good vibes here.

“Comparing different strategies, I haven’t been able to think of a solution that works well for everyone. For both our restaurant and our people. And also…” Hank said, and he sighed.

“Ever since New Year’s, we haven’t been open everyday anymore. Obviously we needed to take some breaks.”

Axel listened carefully and nodded again. “Is that really a bad thing? In my opinion, the quality of your restaurant and your staff is not determined by your business hours. To be frank, I don’t know of any other restaurants your size with such business hours. Of course that is what would make yours unique, but the question is if it’s what you actually need to be successful.”

“So in other words, shorter days, hmm?”

“And a day off, possibly. It’s common, and I don’t think it will decrease the quality you have to offer. In fact, taking a day off might do you some good. I know continuing a legacy is hard, and changing the concept might be difficult too, but think about it,” Axel suggested. “Sometimes change isn’t so bad. Times are changing too.”

Hank nodded slowly. “Maybe you’re right.”

“But that wasn’t the most important thing I wanted to discuss,” Axel said. He didn’t need his notes, actually. He remembered everything he wanted to say.

“I’m all ears,” Hank said gently.

“Hiring specialized staff for marketing campaigns to attract more customers, longlasting and effective advertisements, hiring external promotional services, teaching your brothers how to run social media accounts~”

Summing up some of the options, Axel expected those exact facial expressions from Hank he was currently making, and he smirked.

“They’re not ideal, right?”

Hank shook his head. “Preferably not,” he said. “But I also realize, a time will come when beggars can’t be choosers.”

“Well, you’re not beggars yet, and let’s make sure that won’t ever happen, right? Actually I have an idea and would like to help you with it, if I may,” Axel said.

Hank made a face. “Really? I wouldn’t dare to accept your help again, especially after you already helped us so much,” he said.

“What if it’s not just my help, but a collaboration? I would benefit from it too,” Axel offered.

“Well…” Hank didn’t seem fully convinced yet. “I would like to hear about your idea.”

Axel told him in detail. Hank listened and nodded, and sometimes asked a question, but mostly Axel was talking. He knew from Josh and James that Hank could be critical at times, and maybe a little old-fashioned, so he was nervous about his response to the ideas he came up with.

At the same time, he knew that Hank treasured the restaurant more than anything. If he had such a strong sense of responsibility towards his business, staff and family, he wouldn’t turn down Axel’s suggestions immediately.

Indeed he didn’t. Convinced by Axel’s initial proposal, he was mildly positive and suggested to ask the people who would potentially be involved in such a plan, if they went through with it.

Theodore Walters, or the person Axel had actually in mind: Josh Walters.

Without at least one of them agreeing to do it, this idea would get nowhere and Axel may have to turn to one of his other alternatives. But this one really was the best idea he had.

Hank invited the two to come up. The youngest came in first: Theodore Walters, short brown hair and green eyes. Axel knew him the least well of all brothers, but he seemed very nice although a little timid. Axel especially saw Theo come out of his shell when Luca was around, Theo’s boyfriend.

After Theo, Josh came in, and Axel immediately smiled. There he was. Josh Walters, his childhood friend. It was a crime that Axel thought James was Josh back then. No offense to James. But despite being twins, Josh was just so much different.

Shorter hair, same face but his vibe was completely different. James radiated arrogance and confidence. Josh… Axel wasn’t sure. He seemed less timid than Theodore, but he always had an attitude as if he was hiding things. A mysterious aura and a shield that kept his real feelings and emotions protected. More than before, there was something mysterious about him.

Axel grinned. He was determined to unfold that mystery. He used to be Josh’s best and only friend, he was sure he could do it again. With time, and effort.

They all sat together in the kitchen where Hank gave them a brief summary of the idea, with help from Axel. Both Theo and Josh nodded as they listened to them.

“That sounds… wonderful, actually. But I don’t think I could do it,” Theo said. “I’m sorry.”

Axel expected such a response and turned to Josh. “Josh, we’ve known each other since we were kids. We used to make videos all the time, remember? I can help you through it,” he said.

Josh hesitated. If he would accept, that would include stepping into the spotlight. Something Axel knew was going to be hard for a person like Josh who didn’t even use any social media.

But he also knew how much Josh valued their restaurant, and he might do anything to help them improve their reputation.

Axel’s idea was quite a good shot at a win-win for both of them, and besides, they were friends.

“I’m not sure,” Josh said shyly. “I don’t think I can do it either. It’s not that I don’t want to. But I don’t think I can.”

“With my help, trust me, you’ll be a star in no time. Look what happened to Sora,” Axel said proudly, even though that had mostly been his younger sister Mia’s work. Sora, part-time waitress at The Walters, was featured in one of her vlogs and the two went seriously viral.

Long story, but not important now. Axel wiggled his eyebrows at Josh.

“I’ll help you in every way I can. That is a promise,” he said.

“….But what if I ruin it? Won’t I make our reputation even worse? And drag you along with it?” Josh asked. Hank looked like he wanted to say something, but Axel held up his hand.

“Now that won’t be possible Joshy. You know what? Why don’t we see right now?” He took out his phone and aimed the camera at Josh.

“Test, test. Josh, tell me about yourself.”

Josh stared at him. “Huh? Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

Hesitating for a moment, Josh awkwardly gazed at Hank and Theo. He seemed to be shy to do it in front of them, but didn’t appear willing to send them away either.

“Well, uh…. My name is Josh Walters. I’m 25, no, 26. Since last week. You uh, you were there, at my birthday. I cook. I’m a cook. I like to cook. And, hm…”

Hank and Theodore stared at Josh in horror. Axel stopped filming and lowered his phone.

“I told you I wouldn’t be able to do it,” Josh told them, blushing. Hank shook his head.

“I actually think you can, Josh. You just need to loosen up a little. Get more comfortable.”

“Maybe we’re with too many people here. I think I’d mess up too,” Theo admitted.

“You’re right, if it’s just Josh and I, maybe he can get used to it? I’ll help him,” Axel said. Hank nodded.

“Sounds good. So, Theo and I will go down. But before that…”

Axel watched in surprise how Hank walked up to Josh, and without warning… “HAh-Hahahank! W-w-whahat ahare you- nohoho!”

Bright, loud laughter filled the room. Axel was astonished to see Hank Walters tickle his younger brother to help him loosen up.

“Just making you relax a little, it’ll help,” Hank reassured.

“I d-don’t think it- oh no, Theheo d-don’t you dahahare!” Josh giggled when Theodore also stepped closer and helped Hank tickle him. Their fingers attacked Josh expertly, tickling his sides and tummy without giving him any chance to escape.

Axel couldn’t remember the last time he heard or saw Josh like this. His eyes were squeezed shut, and the smile on his face huge.

As if in a trance, Axel found himself holding up his phone again and started recording. It wasn’t even a fully conscious decision. Smiling at the playful display, he just continued to film how Josh was forced to laugh and giggle at his brothers’ mercy.

Axel felt himself blush a little but didn’t say a word. He wasn’t sure what was so flustering about this. Maybe just seeing Josh laugh like that when he barely ever made such a loud voice.

Or perhaps because Axel was quite ticklish himself, and not only that. It reminded him of the tickle fights they used to have when they were young. He loved tickle fights and controlled himself not to interrupt the brotherly moment. It would be too random to join them now, but secretly, he would love to be in Josh’s place and get tickled mercilessly as well.

“H-Hank! Hehe- t-thahat’s- plehease stop! Ahahaxel is still- ehehehe!”

“Don’t worry. You two have known each other for years. I’m sure he’s seen you getting tickled before,” Hank said.

Indeed, the two of them shared plenty of tickly memories from their childhood, but as far as he knew, those memories stopped after high school. Unfortunately.

“Ahahalright! I’m relahahaxed! G-guhuhuys!”

Hank and Theo finally stopped their joint tickle attack, and Josh dramatically sank on his knees.

“Unfair,” he mumbled tiredly, still smiling. Axel chuckled and quickly put away his phone.

“So, we’ll leave Josh to you. If somehow it still doesn’t work out, I’ll gladly discuss Plan B or any of the other plans you briefly mentioned, alright?” Hank said.

Axel nodded, excitement filling him once again. “Yes, Hank. I won’t disappoint you!”

Now that was fearless to say, but Axel cared about Josh, which meant he cared about his brothers and about the restaurant they worked at. So that would mean he would give it his all to help them make their restaurant back into the success it was, and hopefully, even better.

Hank and Theo both left to go downstairs and work in the restaurant, leaving the two of them alone in the small kitchen.

“Did that loosen you up?” Axel asked playfully as he helped Josh back on his feet. Josh nodded.

“Sorry you had to see that. But I guess it worked,” he admitted, stretching his arms for a moment.

“Should we try again?” he asked. “Just a test I mean, not actually film anything. My hair’s still…”

“Your hair looks great, Josh,” Axel said genuinely, and he ruffled Josh’s hair, making him cry out.

“Hey!”

Still laughing, Axel finally stepped back and grabbed his phone again, but he placed it on the kitchen table.

“But you’re right. We’ll practice again, I won’t film it. Just talk to me. Tell me about yourself, as if I’m meeting you for the first time. Don’t think of any camera recording you, because there won’t be.”

Josh seemed confused at first, but then he nodded.

“Alright, I think I can do that.”

To make things even easier, Axel invited Josh to sit down. They both sat at the kitchen table again, Axel opposite Josh.

“Well Joshy, the floor is yours,” he said. Josh smiled and started again.

“Hi, I’m Josh. I’m 26 and I work as a chef at The Walters.”

That already sounded a lot better and way more natural. Smiling, Axel listened while Josh continued to practice his introduction. And besides the practice for the video project, Axel actually really liked to get to know him all over again.

After all, he had missed a couple of important years in Josh’s life, and during this upcoming project, he looked forward to spending more time together. It could help them pick up their friendship again, better than ever, and also… Axel hoped to find out where they went wrong in the first place.

SUMMARY: Josh gets involved in this new project with Axel. They get some alone time to practice…

TAGS: #Playful Tickling #Brotherly Tickling #Non-consensual tickling #Intense Tickling

WORDS: 4K

No. Fucking. Way.

That had been Josh’s first thought. Axel was a great guy, but he was also a crazy guy. An influencer. One of those people who put their entire lives online. Blegh!

Basically from his morning coffee to his favorite lunch spot, the deodorant he’d use, the clothes he was wearing, what he ate for dinner and dessert, which parties he attended, which supermarket he would shop at, what kind of date he went on with his girlfriend, and so on, and so on.

Of course Josh didn’t know all this accurately, since he didn’t use any social media. But it was a guess based on his assumptions and what he heard from others who checked out Axel’s current insta-celebrity status, like Luca, Sora, and James.

Even Dani had stalked Axel’s profile already while Josh always got the impression that she took zero interest in anyone but Hank.

Axel was one of those online figures, and as much as Josh disliked people like that, he just couldn’t dislike Axel Michaels. They used to be friends for a good reason.

Right now he again thought how crazy yet amazing Axel was while he blurted out his idea to help them improve their restaurant image.

“A series,” Josh repeated, confirming he understood him well. Axel nodded.

“A vlog series, following a chef in his daily activities, his cooking techniques, his life behind the scenes, and so on. The alternative would be that I boost your restaurant in a short video and hope it goes viral by asking some people to share it. But for the long term, a personal adventure and giving your restaurant a face – now that could really change things.”

Axel could connect the vlog series to his name and channel and use it to promote their cooking and restaurant in multiple ways, for a longer period with multiple episodes.

Although Axel would invest a lot of hours in it, this time it wouldn’t just be a charity-act out of friendship. They didn’t need to feel guilty about that.

He wouldn’t charge them for it either, since Axel claimed this would be helpful for him too. The Walters would get a better name, and he as a food vlogger, would also get a better name. Win-win.

It sounded ambitious and creative, but Josh wasn’t thrilled, and neither was Theodore.

“I’m sure James would do it perfectly,” Josh said, but Axel shook his head.

“It will work if it’s a chef.”

“I’m just a cook.”

“You work with the two of you and make your own recipes too, I say you’re a chef.”

“…..”

Cook, chef, whatever.

Josh had listened to the whole idea and tried to not be too critical. For Hank to invite him and Theo to join the conversation instead of immediately declining Axel’s suggestions would mean that he was positive about the idea. Which said a lot. If anyone was critical about such things, that would be Hank.

To reassure them, Hank indeed spoke up: “I know this doesn't sound like our thing and it's definitely out of our comfort zone, but I think this could work. Axel is right. We have relied too much on our ‘brand’ name, The Walters, and also on our history and reputation. Without those, we’re just a restaurant in a pool of many. We might need something extra people feel connected to.”

“Or someone,” said Axel with a smile. “Getting to know one of your chefs, your values, menu and more, and benefit from our long term collaboration, I think it’d be the best shot at some good promotion with little costs. The Mad Party gave you a bad name, but you’ve still got the same great food and services as always. All you need to do is shift the focus, and this vlog series could definitely help.”

Josh nodded. It did sound like a good shot, and not anyone could say they had a popular influencer friend to just offer this to them. A service like that was usually something you’d try to hire someone for, after searching for the right match.

In their case, the right match just fell on their doorstep and proposed such an idea by himself, for free. Axel Michaels was really something else.

“But what about you, Axel. You’re sure about this?” Josh asked.

“Of course. Like I said, it’s a win-win. I’ve been looking for a collaboration like this for a while now to improve my content. There’s nothing like really showing people around behind the scenes in a chef’s life. It’s just difficult to find the right person.”

He grinned at Josh and somehow that made Josh blush a little.

The right person.

Josh awkwardly looked away and swallowed. The right person, he didn’t actually expect it to be him or Theo.

As expected, Theo already said so with honesty: “That sounds… wonderful, actually. But I don’t think I could do it… I’m sorry.”

Theodore was the most introvert in their family so Josh indeed couldn’t see him do it. He himself also wasn’t cut out for this though.

“Josh, we’ve known each other since we were kids. We used to make videos all the time, remember? I can help you through it,” Axel said, pulling Josh into a flashback full of childhood memories.

Yes, they loved to make silly videos with Axel’s cheap camera. Pretending to be cringy action figures, playing weird and stupid challenges, competing in tickle tournaments… They also made silly parody videos and filmed some wannabe cooking tutorials too.

Perhaps that was where Josh’s love for cooking and Axel’s love for vlogging got a kickstart without them even realizing it. But they were just silly boys. That was entirely different.

Josh really thought about it, but he couldn’t lie to his brothers and his friend. As much as he would love to help them, he just thought this really wasn’t something for him.

“I’m not sure. I don’t think I can do it either. It’s not that I don’t want to. But I don’t think I can.”

“With my help, trust me, you’ll be a star in no time. Look what happened to Sora!” Axel said. Josh glared at him. That was different too, Axe!

“I’ll help you in every way I can. That is a promise,” he added. Why did he have to sound so convincing? Why wasn’t Hank saying anything against the idea? Those other alternatives had to be better than this?

But… Josh also imagined working together with Axel. Even if that would include appearing in vlogs, presenting his face online to a world of judgemental strangers, becoming one of those online figures…. Josh also couldn’t help but feel excited.

Spending more time with Axel, doing something he thought he wouldn’t be able to do, becoming the ‘face’ of their restaurant while in fact, he thought that had always been James in first place, Hank closely second…

In fact, Josh somehow always saw himself as the least decent brother of all, and why, he wasn’t sure. It was just a feeling. This was no popularity contest, but he could still feel this way.

“But what if I ruin it? Won’t I make our reputation even worse? And drag you along with it?” he asked, still concerned despite the feelings of excitement.

That backfired. Axel said they could try right now, and he took out his phone and aimed the camera at Josh. No way!

Axel suggested to start with a simple introduction, but he really overestimated him if he thought Josh could just pull out a random self-introduction while getting filmed, with Hank and Theo watching them too!

So as expected, he did it poorly and Axel stopped filming.

“I told you I wouldn’t be able to do it.”

He wanted to, but this just wasn’t meant to be his job to do. However, Josh could barely process his insecurities. All of a sudden, Hank was there. Right beside him. Tickling him. Theodore was there, tickling him too. To help him ‘loosen up’.

What the…!

“H-Hank! Hehe- t-thahat’s- plehease stop! Ahahaxel is still- ehehehe!”

“Don’t worry. You two have known each other for years. I’m sure he’s seen you getting tickled before.”

Of course he did, but not in a very long time! Josh felt shame and embarrassment taking him over. Getting tickled by his brothers wasn’t anything new. Josh hated his own laugh, that was his biggest problem, but other than that, he didn’t mind some of the tickle fun they sometimes had. In fact, Josh was one of the main provokers when it came to tickling Theo, a lot.

So he didn't mind tickling that much. What he did mind a lot right now, was Axel witnessing it. Hank and Theo were cruel to do this in front of him!

But when Josh turned his head and saw Axel’s face, he saw nothing but fondness and kindness. Wait, was he filming?

“Ahahalright! I’m relahahaxed! G-guhuhuys!”

His brothers really had to be this mean, but Josh couldn’t deny that after laughing like that, the tense feeling kind of faded. Sure he still felt humiliated and embarrassed to death, but he also felt physically and mentally relaxed and a little more warmed up to the idea.

He could always try. If it didn’t work out, they could always do something different, right?

“So, we’ll leave Josh to you. If somehow it still doesn’t work out, I’ll gladly discuss Plan B or any of the other plans you briefly mentioned, alright?” Hank said, expressing that exact same thought.

Axel agreed cheerfully and finally, Hank and Theo left the kitchen, leaving them by themselves.

Now, as suggested by Axel, they were practicing by just having a normal conversation. No video recordings, just talking. Like some kind of rehearsal, but more comfortable than that.

Although Josh and Axel already had multiple conversations ever since reuniting at the start of this year, it did feel like reconnecting with a long lost friend.

“Hi, I’m Josh. I’m 26 and I work as a chef at The Walters.”

He wanted to say ‘cook’, but after Axel called him a ‘chef’, he couldn’t help but enjoy the sound of that.

“Hi Josh. I’m Axel. I run my own blog, and I love food and traveling,” Axel said. It would be strange after all to have a one way introduction, even though that was what they were trying to practice.

“You’ve been quite a successful chef for years now. What is it that got you into cooking, Josh?” Axel asked, interview-style.

“That’s a good question. It all started when my brothers and I moved into this restaurant, right after our uncle Walter Walters passed away. He and his wife ran the place together with their staff, Hank already worked here quite a lot and even lived here, and I… well, I was only 15 - almost 16 - when I also moved in.”

Axel raised his eyebrows but didn’t ask more. Yeah, Josh and Axel were still friends at that age. Josh just never told him he basically moved in with his brothers and that their parents abandoned them to go to London.

Despite their close friendship, Josh never told him much about his home situation anyway, and rarely invited Axel to hang out at their place. They mostly went to Axel’s house, or outside. Axel always had such loving parents, unlike Josh.

“I see!” Axel said without asking him more about that. “So you moved into the restaurant and voilá, you thought this is where I’d like to become a chef?”

Josh smiled. “Not exactly.”

He remembered the restaurant in its state back then. Both his uncle and aunt were gone, the previous owners. Hank was 24 years old, Axel’s current age, and became the new owner. The older staff members, including the chef, already knew Hank back then, and they easily accepted him as the restaurant’s new dedicated leader.

Hank made a fine young boss quite instantly, and he guided their staff further without losing any customers, and he even improved it.

When James and Josh first enjoyed a week of freedom – no classes, no parents to yell at them for skipping school, free food, lazing around like the stupid teenagers they were, Hank actually let them.

He gave them one week, and they were spoiled for that week. They literally lived at a restaurant! They could eat and drink what they wanted, their parents weren’t even in the country to care about sending them back to school, and they could do whatever they wanted and live freely at the restaurant while getting spoiled by their older brother and the lovely staff members.

But then, after a week, Hank sat down with them. He had lured them into the first floor kitchen with some lovely strawberries and cream cake from Bake & Baker, also a family business where their restaurant got their deliveries of sweets and desserts. Josh and James were just digging in when Hank startled them with a serious confrontation.

“So, how are you two enjoying your lives? Is it fun?”

For a 24-year old, Hank already seemed like such a dad in this position, probably partially because of his big size, but still.

James and Josh merely had their mouths full and couldn’t really talk back.

“Let’s just say this week was to help you warm up to your new home,” Hank said. “But you’re old and wise enough to understand that this isn’t the lifestyle you can commit to. Not for free. Not forever.”

“Forevah~” James had laughed while he childishly smeared cream on his own nose. Josh snorted at the immature behavior but he took Hank more seriously.

"So, I've got a proposition for you two," Hank said. "One. You continue living here, but not for free. You go back to school, you will finish it, and you get part-time jobs to earn your money for food and drinks, and other things you may need. Otherwise you can say goodbye to your cellphones, new clothes, and everything else."

“Bluh. Pass,” James said, and he burped.

“Two. You continue living here for free, we'll take care of you, but you’ll go back to school, and in your free time, you’ll start working at the restaurant. Waiters, dishwashers, bartenders, become the next head chef? I don’t care. You can learn to do anything here. But we won’t tolerate freeloaders.”

Ugh. They still hadn't officially dropped out of school. They just didn't show up to classes for that week, but even though Josh knew Axel waited for him, he didn't look that much forward to going back after this week of freedom.

Josh shrugged. “Hm… What’s three?” he asked, and James nodded.

“You’ll stop living here and I’ll send you to London, to mom and dad. No, I’m not kidding,” Hank said. To this day, Josh could still remember the look on Hank’s face when he said that. He was serious, but he also looked torn. Of course he hoped they wouldn’t make him decide on such a thing.

“What about Theo?” James snapped, still without giving an answer, and still with cream on his nose.

“He’s still going to school and he’s already working. You don’t get to talk about Theo. He’s staying,” Hank warned James in a strict tone. That shut the jerk up.

“So, what will it be?”

Josh had never expected that this was the choice life, or an older brother called Hank Walters, would present him at the age of 15 years old. But things just turned out that way, and he made his decision.

“Option two,” Josh said. “I’ll work here.”

“Loser!” James cried, but one look from Hank was all it took to make him bow his head like a beaten puppy.

“Option two,” he said.

“Promise?” Hank asked them, and they both nodded.

“Promise.”

Little did Hank know that they would still drop out of school before graduating anyway, breaking their promise. But there wasn’t much he could do about it.

“Good. And just so you know, when I say work, I mean work. We’ll treat you like any other staff member. If I catch you slacking off, just know that I won’t hesitate and will kick you out of here.”

“Got it,” both Josh and James said, surrendering to their brother’s rules. Not just his rules. His kindness. He had been strict, but he offered them a choice, and they respected him for it.

Their bond hadn’t been the strongest at the time when they moved in, but from that moment they respected Hank, took him seriously and even worked hard to support him. When doing so, they came to realize it wasn’t too bad.

They were still young and could learn many things, and if they thought about working at The Walters or following their jerk-parents to London – and then what? – working here definitely didn’t seem so bad.

Bartending, serving customers, dishwashing, cooking. Together with his brothers, and the older staff members who worked with them at the time, Josh tried everything.

“And so you liked cooking the most?” Axel asked after Josh gave him a short version of their history. He wasn’t sure how much of all this he would actually say in front of the camera, but it felt good to talk about it to Axel.

Josh nodded. “The chef back then, Elian, he was such a nice person and he took me under his wing when he realized that I took interest in cooking. I started off as a mere assistant, but the more I practiced, the more I started enjoying it.”

He smiled fondly. “That passion only grew and grew, and never went away. To this day, I just love cooking.”

“That’s great,” Axel said. He then changed his tone, clearly going from professional interview-mode to more friendly and private. More personal.

“If I knew back then you were becoming a chef, I would’ve been so thrilled,” Axel said, his smile looking a bit sad.

“Yeah, I know. Sorry,” Josh said. His feelings about Axel and their past were still complicated. He wasn’t going to dive back into that now.

“What else would you like to hear?” Josh asked.

“Right! Right, hmm… What do you like the most about being a chef?”

Josh hummed. “Making good food. Is that too simple?”

Axel shook his head. “Straight to the point.” He laughed and checked the time on his phone.

“That actually went pretty well, hm? What do you think, would it be that bad if you said the same things, but with a camera recording you? Know that you can make as many mistakes as you want. It’s not as if we’re streaming live. I’ll just edit the clips into short episodes,” Axel said.

Josh felt reassured and nodded. “That doesn’t sound so bad. We can always try, right? I can’t promise anything, but the idea is great. If this encourages more people to come to our restaurant, that would be perfect,” Josh said.

“For sure, I already know it,” Axel said with beaming confidence. “You’re really handsome too, Josh, so people will get hooked for sure.”

Axel winked at him, and Josh once again blushed. How could he say that…!

“Right… Speaking of that… Just three things,” Josh said, and he leaned forward a little.

“It’s important for me to put the focus on my food and cooking. Less on me. Will that be possible? I want people to come for our restaurant, not to see me.”

Axel smirked. “Already getting cocky, aren’t we Joshy?”

Josh blushed and chuckled, shaking his head. “You know what I mean,” he said, and Axel nodded.

“The second thing is, I don’t want James to know. Not until the project is fully launched and I’m 100% onboard, because right now, that isn’t the case yet. So please, let's keep it quiet for now?”

“Understood,” Axel said, thankfully not asking him why he wouldn’t tell his own twin brother.

“Lastly…” Josh said, and he took a breath. “I trust you, Axel.”

Axel blinked. “That’s..?”

“I just wanted to say that I trust you. I’ll trust that you won’t publish anything we wouldn’t approve of, that you will not let us down, and that you’ll support me in any way you can. So, I’ll try my best too.”

Axel’s confident smile twitched a bit, and he laughed a little nervously. “You’re getting so serious! Of course you can trust me!” He reached over the table and poked him, right in the stomach.

“Wah!”

Josh jolted and backed away, pushing his chair backwards, its movement making a nasty squeaking noise on the floor. An awkward silence followed.

“Did that tickle?” Axel asked calmly.

“….No.”

They stared at each other for a brief moment. Then all of a sudden they noisily started to move. Axel charged at Josh with terrifying speed, and Josh couldn’t even make it out of the tiny kitchen.

“Hwah! Ahahaxel! D-don’t you dare, don’t you dahahare, whahaha!” he howled when Axel tickled him excitedly. Josh quickly fell to the floor with Axel attacking him ruthlessly.

“Hehehe, gotcha now! It’s been way too long since we did this. Seeing your brothers tickling you just now really made me think: Josh is still this ticklish, hm?” Axel rambled while his fingers attacked Josh’s sides and tummy relentlessly.

“N-nohoho! Ahahaaxel- gehehet ohohoff meheheh!” He squirmed and struggled on the floor, but to no avail.

Axel smirked and continued to make him laugh. For some reason, looking up at his face while he released this deadly tickle attack on him with remarkable strength, Josh ended up remembering what James said back when he and Axel finally reunited.

“Who’s the golden retriever, Joshy?“

No…. Josh had thought it back then, and he thought it right now. James couldn’t have known it since he barely knew him, but he was so wrong. Axel wasn’t like a golden retriever. Maybe at first glance, but their bubbly part-timer Chris Danvers would fit that description more. Not Axel.

He was like a big bear.

Bears were fluffy and looked rather cute, but they were dangerous. Axel was like that. He was a cunning and dangerous bear, and right now that bear was devouring him, or well yes, tickling him to death.

“Ahahaxe! Dohohon’t!” Josh curled up and squirmed helplessly. Getting tickled like this, twice in a row?! Hello darkness, old friend! He shook his head and gasped for air.

He tried to say something, anything, but Axel tickled him with strength and determination Josh could barely remember from their childhood tickle wars.

“Ahahahaxel! Stohohop!” Josh protested.

When the attack finally paused, with Axel’s fingers still resting against Josh’s ribs, he looked up at him again, at the smirk on Axel’s face.

“You know there’s a way to stop me right?” Axel said, making Josh frown.

“Huh?” he said.

Axel shrugged. “Tickle me back. We used to have the best tickle fights.”

No way… It had been ages since their last tickle fight. Josh shook his head.

“We’re not having a tickle fight,” he said breathlessly.

The meanie shrugged and continued to tickle him before Josh could say another thing.

“Suit yourself~”

Axel was relentless and Josh couldn’t breathe.

He would make sassy remarks if he could – about doubting their collaboration after all if Axel was behaving like this, about taking back that he trusted him, but there was really nothing he could say.

“Ahahahaxel! I gihihive- stahahap!”

Wasn’t he listening? He couldn’t breathe!

“Plehehease! Aahahaxel, what the fuhuhuck!”

Then when Axel finally granted him a moment of peace to catch his breath and he laughed down at him, the bastard had the nerve to say:

“You do forgive me for this one, won’t you Joshy?”

Josh felt his cursed heart flutter. Axel really pulled off a jerk move, and his heart fluttered.

“No wahay! I w-won’t fohorgive you,” he giggled, but he knew – and he feared that Axel already knew as well, that he actually meant to say: yes.

SUMMARY: Axel has his weekly quality time with his parents and sister. He then prepares himself for his project with Josh and oh boy, he's getting excited!

TAGS: #Playful Tickling #Brotherly Tickling

WORDS: 4.1K

Josh forgave him. Thankfully.

Axel really needed to get himself back in control. It wasn’t his intention to tickle Josh, not at all. But… it just happened. Entranced by his sweet laughter, the childhood memories it awakened, and most of all, that bright smile on his face, he tickled Josh to death.

Although Josh forgave him and his stupid grabby fingers, Axel couldn’t quite forgive himself for doing something like that. He really went too far…

What was he thinking? Clearly he wasn’t thinking at all. For him calculating things and using his head to think were important to get through life, and today’s little brain short circuit was a reminder of that. If Axel didn’t think, he did the most stupid things.

He had promised himself to slowly build up his friendship with Josh again. They weren’t kids anymore. They weren’t teenagers, they were adults. With different lives, and he would love to make Josh part of his life again. Slowly.

So… pouncing on him and tickling him to tears clearly wasn’t a way to do it. Or it actually was? Hmm. He had been surprised when Josh forgave him so easily.

Finally snapping out of whatever that was and realizing what he just did, Axel was no longer smug and apologized profusely, but it didn’t turn things awkward.

“I’m so sorry, Josh. I really am sorry, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable and I just did. Please don’t report me to Yuki for assault, forgive me.”

"Huh? What are you saying? You were being totally weird, but of course I won't report you. My brothers tickle me all the time, as you've probably noticed," was what Josh merely said with a cute blush on his face.

That afternoon, they talked some more while it was as if Josh’s bright laughter still lingered in the small kitchen. During their casual conversations about everyday things, Axel tried to detect whether Josh’s behavior had changed, but he didn’t seem to be angry or upset about the intense random tickle attack, and he didn't kick him out either.

Such a relief.

Eventually they both needed to get back to their jobs. Axel apologized one more time and promised to work out the vlog-plan in more detail. Then in a few days, he would come to visit again, with his camera, ready to start filming.

Although he had booked his appointment at The Walters quite flexibly, because of his long talks with Josh and the random tickle thing, it got a little later than planned.

He actually still had some plans for writing and editing stuff at home, but he also promised his parents to eat dinner at their place, together with his sister Mia. He would’ve preferred to go home and pick up his laptop first, but he decided to go straight to his parents’ place instead. Otherwise it would’ve been too much of a hassle. If he was lucky, he could borrow Mia’s laptop, she always brought it.

When he came in, he already got attacked by an excited Dalmatian dog. His sister Mia was indeed already here, and as always she brought her dog.

“Hi Snack,” he greeted the friendly dog, petting it. Snack the Dalmatian, his sister was such a little weirdo. But Snack was adorable.

“Hi, Axe!” she chirped from the living room. Axel found her on the couch, stretched comfortably with a bowl of popcorn in her lap, her blonde hair in a small ponytail, wearing comfy shorts and pink socks with cute foxes on them. On the TV, the Netflix menu showed.

“Hi sis,” he said, and he grabbed his phone to check Instagram. As expected, he saw she posted a new update literally seconds ago.

@MiaMiVlogs: Nothing like some Netflix and solo-chill on a Friday afternoon!

There was a cute picture of her legs with the popcorn on top of them, the fox-socks, and Netflix showing in the background.

Axel snorted. “Smooth,” he said, sitting next to her and scooping some popcorn from the bowl.

“Hey!” she laughed, but she allowed him when he went for a second time. Yum.

“My followers love posts like this. Look, they’re recommending all sorts of movies and TV shows already. I never asked them, right? But there’s always some good recommendations,” Mia said.

Besides movie and show recommendations, Axel saw some different types of comments as well. Some weirdos who would love to be Mia's +1 for her Netflix and Chill date, but she didn't say anything about it, and Axel kept quiet too. His sister wasn't bothered by them, so he shouldn't be either.

He smiled when he scrolled through some of her latest posts and tapped like on the posts he had missed.

Mia was the example of an influencer who could do whatever she pleased. Her followers would like it anyway.

MiaMiVlogs. She had once started as a mere vlog channel but nowadays did so many other things. The headline and bio she used were simply the text:

I don’t know what I’m doing.

That while she had over 3 million subscribers on YouTube. Axel didn’t even have one million yet, and although she was behind Axel with 906K followers on Instagram compared to his one million, she still had way more engagement.

Instagram wasn’t even her main platform. Axel smiled and hit like on her post.

“You’re amazing as always,” he told her.

“Not as amazing as you are, Axe. Would you mind if we eat chicken and rice later? Dad actually proposed to eat pasta, but I’m really craving some chicken and rice now,” she said while she continued to scroll through the Netflix categories.

“I’m fine with anything you want to eat,” Axel said.

They ate dinner at their parents’ place, usually every Friday, with some exceptions if one of them couldn’t make it. Both Axel and Mia lived comfortably in their own apartments, not far from each other.

“Are you joining me for a movie? Or we could watch another episode of Stranger Things,” she said. They’d been rewatching the show together whenever they had time.

“Sorry, I gotta do some work. Can I borrow your laptop though?”

“Sure!”

Relieved that he could still do some work, Axel moved to the kitchen table so he could still vaguely hear some of the sounds from the TV. With Mia’s laptop, which was decorated with a bunch of stickers, he managed to do some writing and e-mail work.

Already soon, the sounds of the TV died down and Mia joined him at the table, with her almost-empty popcorn bowl.

Axel immediately snacked some more of the last crumbs.

“Did you already finish?” he asked her. She smirked.

“Changed my mind. How was your day? Today was your appointment at The Walters right? How did it go?”

Axel nodded. He had told her earlier about it, and besides, she was also there when the twins and Theodore were celebrating their birthdays, so she saw Axel talk to Hank while she chatted with others.

“It went well,” he said. Josh had asked him to keep it a secret from James. Now… James and Mia weren’t besties, but they did share a group chat after their joint project to expose The Red Thieves.

The Red Thieves used to be a gang of thieves, and the main culprits of the hardships at The Walters. Threats, intimidation, vandalism, even kidnapping Luca Valley – staff member at the restaurant and also Theodore’s boyfriend, and on top of it all, the gruesome stabbing incident was their doing too.

Because the media and internet were only putting focus on The Walters, and how unlucky, unsafe and untrustworthy their venue had become, with zero mention of those who actually did it, James Walters came with the idea to expose them online. Not in relation to the incidents, but to put a bright spotlight on the gang, hoping to put an end to them.

Well, that succeeded. Through Josh’s introduction, Axel got involved, together with Mia, and his best friend Mary. Well, girlfriend to the public. But best friend Mary.

Together with Josh, James, their part-time staff member Yoon So-Ra, and also James’ boyfriend Officer Yuki Meyers, they joined hands to create an item that would expose the thieves online, with a video that was disguised as an innocent beauty vlog. That was all they needed to do for the internet to open up their own little hunt on the gang.

Long story short, with Mia leading the project, she successfully made them go viral, and to this day, The Red Thieves were still getting memed and joked about, but besides just some stupid internet-humor it actually also resulted in the exposure and attention that was needed for the police to pull off some more successful arrests.

Axel smiled proudly. They still felt victorious whenever they heard another little success-update from police officer Yuki Meyers.

The group chat they used back then, called The Revengers – hehe – remained active and they exchanged messages in it on a regular basis. Axel could not risk Mia running her excited mouth there since James was in that same group, or any other time she might visit them, so he merely smiled at her.

“It went well,” he repeated, noticing her expression that obviously said she hoped to hear more.

“Secret talk huh,” she said. Axel shrugged.

“I’ll tell you more when the time is there,” he said.

“That’s a relief. I’ll be waiting then,” Mia replied with a gentle smile. Axel shook his head fondly. His sister was such a sweetheart.

How a girl like her survived underneath all the attention and exposure she got with her internet-fame was still a big question mark to him. She handled it all so normally.

She was creative, and her vlogs could really be about literally anything. A gaming session (of The Sims, mostly, or Animal Crossing), beauty vlogs, anything about food, a day in her life, unboxing, movie reactions, whatever – she literally did. them. all.

And people loved her for it. Axel did too, even though it stung a little when Mia started off as a YouTuber later than he did, and rose to much bigger successes while Axel struggled for years to grow his videos from thousands to tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands views.

“It’s because I don’t have a niche. I’m just doing whatever,” she always said. She claimed she wasn’t that special, and the amount of subscribers she had was because she had such a wide range.

Axel only focused on food, but he did not want to shift his focus to anything else.

On top of that, he didn’t agree with Mia. She was just amazing. Like how she was amazing at anything. A natural. School, piano, tennis, everything Axel did, somehow she did it better.

Not even with the intention to beat him, she was just naturally good.

Something that could be very frustrating, but with how sweet Mia was with zero arrogance, it was very hard to dislike her.

Despite beating her older brother at everything, she remained genuinely kind and modest. She often said she had to be lucky, if something went well for her again. Like how she got approached by multiple companies for partnerships? Lucky. That tennis game she won, with Axel sweating for his dear life? She got lucky again. Literally 100K new followers in just a week? The absolute luckiest.

Sometimes her modesty was the most irritating thing. Mia could still not see and accept that she was just awesome. She rocked.

But luckily they had each other for praises and compliments, because that was what always landed better than the thousands of praises from their dedicated followers.

“We’re home!”

Axel and Mia both looked up when their parents came home.

“Your mother made me wait for ages again, as usual, right Nance?” their father Harry sighed, which was followed by their mother Nancy’s noise of complaint.

“Hey, not my fault. You just stood at the wrong side, again.”

Their banter got interrupted when they both gave Axel and Mia a kiss on the head each. Axel chuckled. Their mother worked for the famous sports nutrition company called Fit Food 24/7, as a marketing director.

The company recently moved their headquarters to a new office building. Their father usually picked her up on Fridays, and it seemed there was some difficulty with the new office location.

One time he went to the former office and their mother took a taxi back, which resulted in some playful banter at home. Not angry, thankfully. Their parents weren’t like that.

Today it seemed Harry went to the wrong side of the right building, and not for the first time. Axel and Mia both giggled.

“So, did any of you start on dinner already?” Harry asked them with a smile. Axel and Mia shook their heads.

“Lazy children,” their father joked, and Axel could see his judgemental look when he noticed the empty popcorn bowl with some little crumbs remaining.

“Shall we do it then, honey?” he said teasingly to his wife. After thirty one years of marriage, they were still like newlyweds sometimes.

That evening they had a comfortable dinner as usual. While Axel usually shared a lot about his work, he couldn’t say much about today’s meeting, so he focused on his upcoming meeting.

He was in early talks about becoming a company’s brand ambassador, something that would be a huge deal for Axel and only became possible after he hit the one million followers on Instagram.

Somehow that made him applicable for brand ambassadorships, or partnerships, with some companies he was interested in, and although the competition was enormous, his talks with this huge BBQ company called BiBiQ were going quite well so far.

The company sold the best barbecue brands, BBQ recipe books varying from American to Korean BBQ and they held several events, and despite their success they were still relatively new. Axel wanted that partnership. He needed it.

He wanted to be their first brand ambassador and start a strong collaboration. He didn’t have any other brand partnerships yet either and he wasn’t famous enough to get recruited.

From some people in the same field, he heard that approaching a company with an account of less than 1mln followers was just not done, bound to fail.

So now that Axel hit one million just at the end of last year, and celebrated this extravagantly with his parents, sister and Mary, he was ready for that next step. He had hoped to have grown until 1.1 million followers at least in the weeks since then, but it wasn’t that easy.

Besides his usual work, Axel made it his mission to find a company to connect his name to. Took him quite some time and some failed interviews, but he was pleased to have set his eyes on BiBiQ. They didn’t turn down his request for a meeting, and that first meeting already went well.

On Monday right after the weekend he would have his second meeting with another person involved. He hoped this would go the way he wanted!

His parents and sister were excited to hear more about the successful progress, and they continued to chat and laugh over dinner.

That weekend, both on Saturday and Sunday, Axel stayed mostly at his own apartment to work on many things at once. Not his healthiest weekend, with merely instant food, soda drinks and some fast food deliveries that kept him fed and active, but there was just so much to do.

Catching up on his social media engagement; he got some very good YouTube comments lately and did not reply to them yet, he hoped they would forgive him for the late answers.

He also updated his own blog, and wrote some more articles in advance since he would have less time after starting the vlog project with Josh.

Of course he also scheduled some Instagram posts and most importantly, recorded some scenes for one of his next videos, and most importantly, he worked on his plan for the vlog series with Josh.

A full Saturday and Sunday just weren’t enough to finish everything he wanted to do.

On Monday he needed to get up early and be fresh and sharp for his meeting with BiBiQ. Very important. So! Naturally Axel-Idiot-Michaels stayed up until 3 AM that Sunday night, instead of sleeping early like he planned to.

It was just… he got so many ideas for his new vlog series with Josh! And they kept on coming!

COOKING WITH JOSH

That was it. Clear, simple and catchy. First a teaser, bam. Giving his audience a preview of what was coming and get them hooked before it even started. This was also what he agreed with Josh. They would first release a teaser, then later on the first episode.

The episodes shouldn’t be longer than 7 minutes each, 10 minutes at max, and he longed for some variation between scenes at The Walters, outdoors, and at his own studio, so he would need to talk to Josh and Hank about dragging Josh away for some shoots.

Episode 1: Introduction – Meeting Josh, a short introduction, some shots of Josh at work in the restaurant kitchen, a little glimpse into the restaurant of The Walters. Bingo. Tease people to come back for more.

Episode 2: Favorite Recipe – Josh talking about his favorite recipe, some shots of him working in the restaurant, but also preferably some studio shots. With some nice close-ups of his cooking, with voice-overs of Josh’s explanation about his step-by-step work on this favorite recipe, and why he liked it so much.

Episode 3: Throwback – More about the history of how Josh became a chef at a young age and his advice for young people aspiring to cook. Although Josh’s situation with the family restaurant may have been unique, Axel was still sure his story could be inspiring and help motivate young future chefs to follow their dreams.

Episode 4…. Full outlines were taking some more work, and the screen was tiring his eyes out, so Axel switched to his notebook and quickly continued with loosely listing his other ideas now that they were all fresh in his head.

Cooking class/tutorial? Trying to cook along with Josh?

Why vegetarian? More focus on their menu and why Josh is the only brother who literally has a vegetarian diet.

What Josh himself eats in a week, and what he cooks for himself.

Some cooking challenge? Mysterybox? TBD

Food party: maybe invite Mary and Mia and have Josh cook up a feast. Additional exposure from two popular vloggers!

Smiling, he continued to scribble down more. This was going great. The ideas kept on coming!

BBQ: what would Josh make if he had a BBQ?

Visiting a food market to shop for ingredients!!!

Camping? Cooking in the wild + campfire? (hyyype)

New recipe? Creating something new and following him through the process?

What would Josh cook for Axel Michaels?

…..Axel stared at that last one. That sounded a little… He blinked his eyes tiredly.

What would Josh cook for him?

It sounded so weird and self-centered. What was he even thinking? He shook his head and crossed it out. It was getting way too late and he felt sleepy. He normally wasn’t a night person at all. It made him lose focus.

To conclude, he sent Josh a late night text message to announce he got the plan finished and if it was alright to start filming tomorrow – Axel was that excited.

He then realized he had been working on the vlog series for way longer than planned, while he didn’t spend much time preparing for his meeting with BiBiQ. He needed to be well-prepared.

Of course he wasn’t well-prepared.

Cooking with Josh already lived in his head now. The next morning he needed to be fully focused for his BiBiQ meeting with Rachel Wood, the person who was going to make Axel their brand ambassador or not, and it started off chaotically due to Axel’s short night’s rest and morning haste to get to the meeting.

But! Despite Axel’s shitty preparation and lack of sleep, resulting in some unhealthy nerves and doubts, the meeting actually went quite well. Phew.

“We’ve seen some more of your work now. Really nicely done,” Rachel complimented him. She looked like she was in her forties and although she was friendly, she had quite a strict vibe as well. Not as bad as Karen, but still.

“Is there anything else you’re currently working on? Like, getting other partnerships, or…”

Axel shook his head. “No, at least no brand partnerships. Although I am currently working on a new vlog series, a collaboration with a restaurant chef,” he said, and he wished he could stop his mouth from running.

Josh hadn’t said 100% yes. The vlog series wasn’t launched. But he didn’t expect Rachel to ask him such a question, and he wanted to appear interesting. A vlog series with a restaurant chef was interesting.

“It’s a series where I will follow a chef in his daily life in the kitchen, and so on. If all goes well, it’ll launch by the end of this month.”

Rachel raised her eyebrows. “Sounds interesting! I take it that you cannot share the name of the restaurant just yet,” she said.

Axel shook his head. “No, sorry. That is still confidential, but I promise it’ll be amazing.”

He was genuine, but it also felt a little like boasting, so he crossed his fingers. It worked, though. Rachel made some notes and seemed impressed.

“Well, we’ll discus some things internally and I’ll contact you next week. Meanwhile, good luck on the vlog series. I look forward to it.”

No pressure at all.

“Thank you so much!”

Josh had responded to his text that it was indeed fine to come over for filming the first scenes – Mondays weren’t packed anyway, especially lately.

So after his meeting, Axel continued his way to The Walters, carrying everything he needed. His vlog camera, his laptop, his notebook, and especially: loads of inspiration and motivation to get started.

He entered the restaurant and noticed James was fully distracted by his favorite visitor, Yuki Meyers, who sat at the bar. Despite being a loveydovey couple, they seemed to be caught up in some sort of argument now.

“They were just some flowers for my dearest, why are you making a scene?” James asked Yuki, while shamelessly making a scene himself. It wasn’t that crowded, so Axel could hear them clearly.

“Not with that name, James! How dare you pull that off again! They won’t stop talking about it, and they were just forgetting the previous one!

“Well, glad I reminded them.”

“Don’t be glad about that, you jerk!”

Axel had no idea what that was all about, but it made sure James didn’t notice him coming in.

He walked past Dani who was taking orders at a table.

“Hi Axel! I’ll be with you in a sec,” she greeted.

“Don’t worry, I can find my way to Josh,” Axel chirped. She didn’t stop him when he continued walking towards the kitchen. He did this regularly anyway and from now on, expected to do it even more.

Opening the door to the kitchen, he was immediately rewarded with the joyful sound of laughter.

“Nohoho! Theheo- cuhuhut it ouhout!”

Josh giggled. For some reason, Theodore was tickling Josh again, making him laugh brightly.

“J-just you wahahait!”

Axel stared fondly and just stood there without notifying them of his arrival.

While at first Josh’s hands had been occupied with the sandwich he was preparing, making it difficult for him to fight off Theo’s tickles, he immediately turned around as soon as he was finished and punished his younger brother in return.

“Eeeheheheep! J-Johohosh!”

“How are you liking it hm?”

“Ahahahack! You ahahasked for ihihit!”

“How did I ask for it? Theodore, you are messing with the wrong person~”

Axel stared at them in awe. He wished Josh would tickle him like that. Seeing it happen made him feel weird and funny.

For a little while longer, Axel continued to watch how Josh tickled Theo, but he got startled when the door opened behind him and James appeared.

“Oh! Axel, you’re here? I came to get Yuki’s lunch order guys, he’s getting hangry~”

Josh immediately stopped tickling Theo, and Theo quickly grabbed the sandwich Josh had been making just now and gave it to James.

“Good to see you Axel,” James greeted casually before he left again. Josh greeted Axel with a friendly smile.

“You’re here,” he said, looking a little nervous.

“Yup!” Axel held up his bag and took out the vlog camera.

“Ready for action?”

Josh nodded. “Sure, but did you eat lunch? I can make you something,” he said. Oh… Axel felt his stomach growl and he nodded excitedly.

“Oh my god, yes please.”

Food first, filming later. Let’s go!

To be continued soon on my site. Thnx for reading!

#tickling #tickle fic #oc tickles #sons of walter #through the looking glass #axel michaels #josh walters #one day i'll catch up with them and become the happiest person in the world

48 notes · View notes