More Cake for Kate

Outside, a raging snowstorm roared. Inside, the fire crackled, the embers slowly dying one by one. The room was aglow with the warmth from the fire. A woman named Kate sat in her favorite plush red couch. She wore yellow pajamas, a red heart shape proudly covering the area over her own. The pants she wore were merely shorts, the fire and cocoa having more than warmed her up. She also wore soft, fluffy slippers, especially made to warm her feet. Her fingers and toenails were covered in a pinkish-red polish. Kate sighed contentedly, finishing the last sip of her hot cocoa and setting it down on the table. Kate then sighed sadly, as if ignoring the warm drink.

She was a little upset, having her plans for the night ruined by the storm. This was an especially important night, and she didn't expect to spend it inside. Just then, she heard the faintest song coming from nowhere in particular. It lightly echoed off of the walls, more like a fond memory than a haunting wail.

"....to you......to you...."

The song was all too familiar, especially considering what tomorrow was. She sang to herself, "Happy Birthday dear-"

"KATE!" a voice in her ear yelled suddenly, the side of her tummy being poked just then. Kate jumped the distance to the far side of the couch, both out of fear and ticklishness. The voice continued,

"Happy Birthday to you. Heheheh!" The voice came from T, a mischievous, yet playful "monster" of sorts. There were no fangs or claws on this beast. No, in fact, there was nothing to his appearance at all, save for a single floating glove (or multiple gloves sometimes). "How's the birthday girl doing?"

"Just fine, thanks" Kate flatly replied, a look of annoyance on her face from the scare.

"Aww, don't be that way. I just wanted to celebrate this momentous occasion. You'll turn 25 tomorrow! You're in the prime of your life! And....I have a very special gift for yoooou!" T emphasized that last line in a cheery, singsong voice.

Just then, two more gloves appeared, carrying something in from the kitchen. It was a lovely pink birthday cake. Each layer had its own unique frosting, and the top was a cupcake with a "2" and a "5" candle on it ("It was a lot more safe than 25 candles", joked T). On the bottom layer, "Kate" was written in red frosting. It was a little lopsided in places, but it was the thought that counted ("...and the flavor", thought Kate to herself).

"This is just beautiful! Thank you so much, T!" Kate ran and hugged the first glove. This was just what she needed to cheer up.

"Anytime, my dear! HOWEVER....why not make this just a bit more...interesting?". If the glove had eyes, they would be gleaming right now. Without fanfare, the two holding the cake set it down on a table, and floated over to  the woman, grabbed a wrist each, and lifted her up, carrying her back to the sofa and setting her down in it.

"Hey, what are you-" was all she had time to say before one of the two took out a rope (from where was anyone's guess) and between the two of them, had her wrists tied within seconds. She was in the chair, her wrists behind her back, nearly defenseless.

"*sigh*...so I guess you'll tie my ankles together next?" Kate asked the main glove. This situation was not unheard of. T was a Tickle Monster, a creature who delighted in tickling his victims. He would mercilessly poke and prod, taking advantage of any sensitive areas to have their subject laughing for minutes and even hours on end.

"Nope, not this time! I can tell you're smart and you know where fleeing will get you" he said, shaking his index finger from side to side. "So, what shall we play? .....I got it! How about a pop quiz? Get the questions correct, and you'll have your cake tonight. Get it wrong, however..."

"...and it'll be a very long night!" T illustrated his point by wiggling his fingers menacingly. Kate shuddered at the thought of failing. After finishing the knots, the other two hands made their way over to her legs. One lightly grabbed her right leg from the back of the knee and lifted it into the air, causing her to slide forward in the couch a little. The other tugged at her left knee, keeping it grounded. A new glove appeared, making the count and even four. It moved over to Kate's nervous face, and used its index finger to lightly scratch under the right side of her neck. It continued to tease her in this way, embarrassing her.

"Hmmhmhm..." she tried to hold in her giggles, not wanting to give up at the start.

"Right, then!" T declared, beginning the quiz. "Question one: What's your name?"

An insultingly-easy question came with an almost-abrupt answer. "K-kahahate" she said in between giggles.

"Correct!" the main glove said, giving a thumbs up for approval. "Now, for question number two: "What time is it?". At this, two more gloves appeared. They both moved over to her face, one simply moving aside one of her bangs of hair, the other lifting up her left cheek with its index finger and thumb. It gently moved her cheek around, playing with her some more.

"Hmmhmhmhm! Eleheheehvehen heheheheh!" she said, taking a glance at the clock on the wall in front of her.

"That's right! My, it's getting late. Let's step it up for question three!" T replied.

As the other gloves continued to tease her, four gloves appeared. Two darted straight for her stomach. One hand on each side lifted her shirt up, fully exposing her soft belly. The other two took their places around her stomach, merely floating there. Kate knew she was in for it now!

"What's my favourite colour?" T asked.

Fearing the worst to come, she answered right away "Bluhuhue?"

"Nope, wrong!" T replied. The gloves holding her shirt up both took their index fingers under the shirt and lightly traced over her ribs.

"Heeheeheeheheheee!" Kate was giggling frantically now, as the tickling truly began. "Greheheheeeheeeheen?"

"Sorry, nope!" T said cheerfully. The two fingers floating around her stomach began to move. One darted for her side, using two fingers to trace circles into it. The other opted to explore her sensitive belly button.

"Heeeheeheeh haahaahahaahaha! Rehehehehed? Heeheheehee!!" was the woman's next answer.

"Ha ha! That's right!!" T said. "Red for those cute little cheeks!". Surely enough, Kate's face had started blushing from all the teasing. The nine fingers surrounding her never stopped, never wavered, tickling and pulling and lifting all over.

"Now the fun begins!" T said, cuing in three more gloved fingers. They floated towards her grounded left leg. One glove wasted no time in running all its fingers over her legs. It went from the top of her ankle, glided across her legs over to her knee, went over and stopped at her lap before repeating the process in reverse.

"Heheheh hahahahaahaha!"

Another glove headed underneath her slipper to reach the heel, and used its index finger to quickly trace a path up her arches, flicking off the slipper at the end.

"EEP! Hahahahahaaha! Heeheehahahaahaa!"

Kate's left foot was now exposed much to T's enjoyment, the red nail polish on her toes shining brightly. The glove now took a spot back at her heel, tickling away while holding it to keep it still. It even randomly flicked its fingers up and over her arch. Despite her struggling, she couldn't even manage to budge under the gloves' surprising strength.

"Haahaahaa! Hehehehahahaahahaa! Aaahahahahaaha!"

The third glove took advantage of the newly exposed foot and began to caress the top of her feet, occasionally flicking its fingers to tease at the tops of her toes. In retaliation, Kate scrunched her toes, hoping to soften the blow a little.

"Oh, right, the question" T began, enjoying Kate's plight far too much. After thinking for a bit, the tickling not once ceasing, he pointed to the clock on the wall and said:

"An ordinary analogue clock has two hands, with the longer hand moving faster around the face of the clock. Assuming that this clock keeps perfect time, how many times will the long and short hands pass over each other between 12 noon and 12 midnight?"

She was simply dumbstruck at the complexity of such a question. The hands tickling her all over didn't exactly make for the ideal thinking space, she realized now. All she could think was "Tickle, tickle, tickle...AAH!" as a new spot become more sensitive. Her belly had started to blush a cute pink, and the left sole was soon to follow. It took a considerable amount of concentration, but she managed to come up with:

"Tweheheehlve? Hahahahaahahaaa!" she figured once for every hour would work.

"Oops, sorry, nope!" T said, lacking any sort of remorse in his voice. The glove that had first held her left leg down now wiggled its finger along the back of her knees.

"AAAAH!!! Heeehehehee hahahahahaHAAA!!" the abrupt, unseen attack sent a sudden jolt of ticklish energy through her. Taking another go at it, she thought harder and harder, with her thought process being interrupted by the tickling more often than not. In a flash of genius, she confidently said:

"Teheheehehen! HahahaahahahaHAAA!!!"

"Yes! Yes! That's right!" T was so pleased with her solving it, he used the glove still holding her bangs up to move to move towards the main glove and clap a little. The other glove moved back to its spot then, after seeing how bothersome the hair was moving around from all the laughter and getting in Kate's face.

"One...last.....QUESTION!!" T exclaimed in that singsong voice again. Three more gloves arrived to play with the right foot. One had repeated the flicking away of her slippers, but the difference is that it made a point of running all over her soles, instead of just the arches. The second glove took its place at the top of her foot and began to scratch all around it. The third glove was rather different. In its fingers was a fluffy, pink feather, a memento of last year's birthday fun.

"I remember you were so relieved when the feather on the cake turned out to be frosting. Of course, that all changed when I showed you the real one to match it right after!" T recalled, chuckling. This 'armed' glove placed itself at her toes, tickling and tickling at the base of those helpless toes.

"HAAAAH!! HAHAHAHAHAAHA AHAHAAH heeheehe hahaahAAAAH HAHAHAHA!" Kate was in hysterics now, squirming and shaking as much as the gloves would allow. Without warning, the glove lifting up her leg joined in, tickling away at the back of her right knee. She was now completely at the mercy of T's fiendish gloves, much more than he'd normally use. It was an onslaught of 15 gloves, all teasing and poking and prodding. Including the main glove, there was a total of 16.

"So, the question is: ...do you LIKE being tickled?" T asked.

Kate replied, "Whahahahaaht!? I nehever ahahahask to behe tihihickled!"

"I know, but you've endured many of my games over the time I've stayed here. Still, do you actually enjoy it? Is this actually any fun for you?" he continued with a sense of regret in his voice, his gloved 'hand' facing downward.

This was a side to T that Kate had never seen before. He seemed almost...sympathetic. Sure, they were friends and all, but he had never stopped to ask her what she thought of the matter until it was all said and done. She often looked annoyed, even agitated as part of their game. Now, she felt it was time to tell him the honest truth.

"HAHAAHAH! YEHEHEHESS TIHIHI!  I LIHIKE BEHEING TIHIHIHKLED BY YOUHOUHOU! AHAHAAHAAAHAAAA~!!!!" she said with an increasingly blushed face. It embarrassed her to no end admitting this to him, especially since part of the woman's reasoning behind claiming to hate the tickling was merely to prod him to tickle her further. It was fun, if not incredibly exhausting for her to be tickled all over. There were times when it was more of a nuisance than fun (like right after waking up as per their first encounter), but overall it was something she came to enjoy.

T couldn't believe his non-existent ears. With a girlish squeal, he exclaimed "Thankyouthankyou THANK YOU!!". The main glove sweetly poked her in her non-pulled cheek, the closest he could manage to a kiss. "You have no idea how happy this makes me!"

Running...er, floating away for a moment, he went into the kitchen to fetch a glass of water. Upon returning, he waited a few minutes to allow his other gloves some more time with their favorite target. Kate was near tears now, letting herself laugh freely. Abruptly, the fingers prodding and poking and pulling and tickling all stopped. They switched to kneading and rubbing and massaging and caressing. The main glove of T offered her some water, which she graciously gulped down. It was a gradual process, with Kate still giggling for some time after, but her laughs soon turned to contented sighs.

"Mmmmm...." she cooed softly, being relaxed by the 15 hands.

"Thanks again, Kate. You've been the best tickle target...no, the best FRIEND I've ever had, and my favourite by far" T continued, ruffling her hair playfully. She had to admit that all the attention was worth the struggle.

The bell rung; it was midnight and now officially her birthday.

"Happy birthday Kate!!" cheered T. After the obligatory blowing out of the candles (assisted by the gloves floating the cake over to her) and the terribly cheesy Birthday Song, T had a little chat with his 'victim'.

"You're a quarter of a century old now. How does it feel?"

"Trrng, ctlly (Tiring, actually)" she said in between bites of her cake, which were being hand-fed to her.  She couldn't help but feel a bit spoiled by it all.

"Well then, have your rest, my friend" T concluded, poke-kissing her cheek again. After retrieving a blanket from the bedroom for her, the main glove continued to join all the others, soothing and relaxing Kate until she fell asleep.