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Jax was breathing heavily as he walked among the wildly colored walls, not even sure where. He just wanted to get away. He managed to find a rather closed off space far from the others, behind a larger block. He sat down and pulled his legs up to his chest, hugging them tight.
You’re being pathetic. STOP.
His vision was slowly dwelling up with tears, his breathing just growing more rapid by the minute.
STOP. STOP! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??
He buried his head into his knees, his whole body shaking as he tried to calm himself, doing those stupid breathing exercises he saw Pomni do when she was nervous.
All this bullshit for what? Because he was getting tired?
He huffed, realizing he was subconsciously rocking himself. Probably another frail attempt at calming himself. This was happening more and more frequently, and he hated to admit.
‘Hey, Jax’
He looked up with a flinch, his usual grinning expression contorting in anger. But upon realizing it was Ragatha, he eased up a little. Don't get me wrong, he was still tense, but the rocking stopped all together. She had no business seeing him so desperate to calm down. He turned away with a scoff.
‘What do you want?’
‘Just wanted to check in on you, you looked a little… tense’ She tried to offer him a smile, rubbing her arm nervously. Jax eyed her at first. Truth to be told, they were taking the time to understand each other, and actually try working with each other's quirks. Ragatha tried her best not to get involved with other’s problems if it weighed her down or if they just simply needed space, and tried to keep back on pretending everything was alright when it was clearly not, while Jax tried to be, well…less of an asshole. Trying to rub off on each other.
But this also meant that the two of them felt a little closer now, their arguments turning into casual bickering and banter. Nothing too harmful, and occasionally managed to have actual pleasant conversations.
‘Do you want me to sit with you? We don't have to talk if you don't want to.’
His face was completely unreadable to her, but she beamed when he finally sighed and shrugged.
‘Sure, whatever.’
Ragatha sat down in front of him, grounding him with his presence. He was trying to be slick about it, but she noticed when he slowly pushed a leg forward, so their ankles were touching. Another attempt to ground himself without touching too much.
A few minutes passed, and his breathing started to normalize. He still felt angry, but at least the panic was over. Ragatha finally felt the confidence to speak up.
‘Do you want to talk about it?’
‘No.’ He answered sharply.
Ragatha nodded, swallowing a lump in her throat. To be honest, it still hurt her when someone said no to her comfort attempts… She wanted what was best for the others, of course, but it made her feel like she was doing something wrong. It was just the worm in her brain, though, and she kept telling herself that.
‘This is…Okay though’ Jax mumbled rather quietly, slightly rubbing his leg against hers. She smiled fondly, a wave of ease washing over her.
‘Didn’t think you'd be the touchy type when it came to comforting’
Jax shot her a piercing look and her stomach dropped. She quickly started stuttering out words before he could get defensive.
‘Wait, no, I meant it in a cute way! I wasn't trying to jab at you!’
Now he was properly staring daggers into her, pupils small as ever. She shut up and face palmed herself. She knew Jax had a hard time with compliments, let alone with people figuring him out.
‘Sorry…’
Jax looked at the ground, one hand fidgeting with the pocket of his pants.
‘It's fine…’ he mumbled. Ragatha noticed a small blush on his cheeks, a very rare sight. Maybe deep down he did appreciate the compliment? And maybe she could even… Try something? She did want to get closer to him and improve their relationship, and she knew what it was like being touch starved… and she also had a specific interest that helped her in times like these.
‘Maybe I could try something to get your mind off of things? You know, I like physical comfort too, so… If that's okay with you…’ she trailed off, watching for any sign of consent. Jax did look deep in thought, it had been a long time since he was close to someone, in any way. The fear of the idea crawled under his skin again, and for a moment he contemplated saying ‘NO!’, but…
That other, tiny voice in his head longing for connection somehow conquered the fear.
“Alright… You can try”
She stared in disbelief at first. Did Jax really trust her this much?? She couldn't hide the giddiness in her as she scooted closer and sat on her knees in front of him. Jax eyed her warily, but didn't move. He only tensed when she raised her hands and started bringing them close to his sides. Oh, okay, he knows what this is.
‘I hate to break it to you, Doll, but I’m not ticklish.’ there's that usual smug smile. It made Ragatha unsure for a moment.
‘Can I still try? This stupid body might surprise you.’ she chuckled.
‘I doubt that it works here either way, but knock yourself out.’ he shrugged, leaning back against the wall completely. She smirked a little, feeling confident in proving him wrong, then placed her hands back on his sides.
She gave it a few experimental squeezes, up and down, going up to his lower ribs, and he jerked. Not too visibly, but he definitely did. Ragatha grinned, continuing to prod and squeeze his sides, then targeted his stomach.
‘H-Hey!’ he gritted his teeth, his mouth wobbling as giggles threatened to spill. He kept squirming under her touch, trying to curl up into a ball.
‘You can laugh Jax, it's okay’ she giggled.
‘N.. No-gAH’ one of her hands suddenly slid under his knee, scratching at it rapidly and he kicked the air with his legs, his body shaking as he couldn't hold himself back anymore and started giggling. ‘Sh(Honk!)-ihit!”
Ragatha chuckled as Jax started drumming his feet against the floor, the back of his legs seemed to be a pretty bad spot, so she made sure to gently exploit it. Her other hand fluttered over his other knee, and he squealed(squealed!).
‘Okahay! Okay, what the hell??’ He suddenly grabbed her wrists. Ragatha couldn't help but laugh. ‘Why? And how? I mean, we can feel pain here, but I was never ticklish! It’s so…’ he shivered slightly, rubbing his side where he could still feel the tingles. ‘...weird.’
She chuckled sheepishly ‘Yeah, maybe… I wouldn't have thought it would work either, but Kinger was willing to cheer me up with it, so I figured I could try it on you’
The rabbit grinned ‘Oh? So it's something that you enjoy?’
Ragatha went red in the face, then quickly broke her other hand-that he was still holding- free and started clawing at his stomach. He immediately burst into cackles.
‘This isn't about me!!’ she shouted. Jax tried to spat out some curses and threats, but it didn't have half the bite when his laugh sounded so high pitched and cute. She kept switching between tickling his sides and stomach, even trying out his hips where he seemed to squeal a lot. His face was red from the embarrassment, but didn't make an actual effort to push Ragatha away.
He held onto her upper arms, maybe a bit tightly, but surprisingly he could keep his hands away pretty well. Couldn't stop squirming though.
‘Ihi’m so going to kihill you!’ He managed to say between hiccupy giggles. Ragatha just rolled her eyes fondly.
‘Not when I do this!’ she quickly stuck her hands under his arms and he let out a snort. Ragatha gasped, and he just slid down completely against the floor, defeated, as she didn't relent with the tickling. ‘That was adorable!’
‘Shuhut uhup!’ He managed to say between wheezes. She would've kept gushing about him, but decided that he had enough and took her hands back. She leaned above him.
‘Are you alright?’
‘I…Will definitely… Get you back’ he huffed, trying to steady his breathing. She took it as a yes.
‘Then I won't hold back on this!’ Ragatha threateningly raised her hands towards his underarms and he flinched, arms immediately shooting up to protect them. She only laughed, then cleared her throat. ‘No, but, erm, seriously, I won't ever do it if you don't want to, because…There's no fun in that’ she looked to the side, mumbling ‘I just hope it helped a little.’
Jax was quiet for a moment. It did manage to chase away his thoughts, since he was too busy fighting against that tingling feeling. And before those thoughts could come back, he nudged her with his leg.
‘Just don't mention it to the others, or I will expose your little secret’
There, her face turned as red as her hair. ‘Jax!! You know I won't tell anyone!!’
He put his arms up defensively, smirking. ‘Just sayin!’ Ragatha scoffed, but decided to leave the topic. She could only trust that Jax trusted her, and to be honest…It seemed very much likely. She finally shared something important to her with someone else, and he let her close.
‘Okay, I’m beat. I’m going back.’ he suddenly sat up, stretching his limbs. She did the same and dusted off her skirt. Jax waited for her, then they walked back, side by side. Something that started happening a lot more.
‘You know what, maybe I’ll take back the centipede I left in your room. A sign of gratitude.’
‘Jax!!’