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tickle-bugs · 9 months

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Hey bugs bookanon here! I was wondering if you would be willing to do anymore Star Trek tickles, specifically the crew finding a tickle creature of some kind and wanting to keep it maybe? Or maybe a planet that focuses on tickling, likes it normal there and widely accepted as a form of bonding or something.I’ve seen that concept a few times and I think it’s so cute! If you’re not comfortable with it though it 100% okay! Thanks for taking the time read my ask and I hope you have a great day!

Can We Keep Him?

Summary: Jim saves an alien creature from a poacher's camp and decides to bring it back with him. Bones comes around...eventually.

I really wanted to do the second part of this prompt with the planet and show off some of Peebles's more feral cousins...I just might as a sequel if I find the inspiration. Feel free to enter it in the next round of prompts if anyone really wants to see it! Also thank you to @sapphicquill for helping me figure out a scientific name for Peebles!

TW: brief mentions of death/flatlining and injury in the beginning.

“Bones, would you just listen to me—“

“No! What the hell were you thinking? Risking your life for a bunch of pets?” Bones shouts from his toes. He wants to fucking throw something.

“They weren’t pets, they were crying in cages! They would’ve been sold off or worse. I couldn’t just leave them there.” Jim clutches his torso and hisses in pain, but his eyes still flare. He tries to stand off the medbay bed. Bones corners him in.

“And in the process, you almost died. How is that fair?” Bones seethes. “My best friend coded on my table. You flatlined under my care. Legally dead for one minute and thirty seven seconds over an intergalactic petting zoo, you fucking bastard.”

Medbay falls quiet. Jim opens his mouth to speak, but closes it again. Bones pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a sharp breath.

“I’m sorry. Bones, c’mere. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Jim reaches for him feebly. Bones inches closer and lets Jim pull him into a shaky hug. He rubs his back, carefully avoiding new bandages and old scars.

“I can’t—you’ve got a big heart, alright? I get it. But it can’t cost you your life. Not like this.” Bones rests his forehead against the crown of Jim’s head. Every inch of him feels raw, like a fresh burn.

“Are we good?” Jim murmurs. Bones heaves a sigh.

“I will be, long as you don’t die on me in the next five minutes. You’re staying overnight for observation.” Bones points at him threateningly. Jim smiles.

“Roger that.” Jim keeps his arms looped around Bones’s waist. Neither of them are ready to let go just yet.

A bright pink lump pops up out of the collar of Jim’s shirt, a tentacle slapping onto his shoulder, and Bones screams loud enough to wake the dead. He grabs the first thing he can reach—a bedpan, unfortunately—and brandishes it.

“Woah! Friendly! Bones, he’s friendly!” Jim holds out his hand to keep Bones at bay. The furry…thing disappears behind Jim’s shoulder. It fucking scuttles. There’s a creature in his office. He’s going to burn down the entire ship.

“You scared him.” Jim frowns.

“I scared him?!” Bones shrieks hysterically, still clutching the bedpan. Jim gestures for him to lower the bedpan. Bones does no such thing.

“It’s alright, lil guy. He won’t hurt you. Come say hi.” Jim looks over his shoulder at it and whistles.

A pink tendril smacks onto Jim’s face, then another onto his shirt, and the creature peeks over his shoulder. It’s a fuzzy, fluffy thing that’s the size of a small dog. It’s shaped like a strange starfish—one side is pink and soft, the other is bright orange and covered in an unsettling array of little nubs. It uses them to get around, it looks like, judging by the way it vacuum-clings onto Jim.

It blinks with one big eye, cartoonishly sparkly, and makes a warbly sound.

“Bones, this is Peebles. Peebles, Bones.” Jim gestures between the two of them. The creature—Peebles chirps and waves a tendril in greeting. Bones slowly waves back, dumbstruck.

“Can it understand you?”

“I have no idea,” Jim coos in a proud-parent voice, the same one Bones used to use when baby Joanna would babble nonsense at him. It disarms him.

“What…is it?” Bones puts down the bedpan and moves a bit closer. Jim offers his finger to Peebles and it wraps a tendril around it.

“I don’t know. But he’s sweet and he was so scared, Bones. I couldn’t leave him. I just couldn’t.” Jim tugs on the edge of Bones’s lab coat. Peebles makes a quiet chirping noise and folds himself into the crook of Jim’s neck.

“He likes you.”

“Yeah he’s a bit—“ Jim pulls Peebles off of him with a faint pop— “Clingy, but it’s cute. I don’t mind.”

“What if it’s just…suckering up to you to eat you?” Bones gestures vaguely. Peebles crawls back onto Jim’s shoulder and flops down, purring loudly. Jim raises his eyebrow.

“Don’t look at me like that! We don’t know what it is! You violated a whole chapter of regulations by bringing it on board.” Bones lowers his voice to a hiss.

“Bones, it’s purring.” Jim reaches up and tangles his fingers in the bright pink fur. Peebles scoots down and suctions to Jim’s chest, visibly vibrating.

“Don’t come crying to me when it burrows into your chest and…multiplies, or something.” Bones huffs and narrows his eyes at it.

“I’m begging you to stop watching those old movies. They were made centuries ago. This little guy isn’t a xenocron—“

“Xenomorph—“

“Whatever. He’s harmless and you’re paranoid.” Jim cradles the creature to his chest.

“I’m reporting this to Spock.” Bones sniffs indignantly.

“Narc,” Jim mutters. Bones presses his thumb slightly into one of his bruises and he yelps.

“I’m writing you up for malpractice.” Jim swats at him.

“You do that.” Bones pats his shoulder, then gently pushes him down against the bed to rest.

…

“Captain. Doctor.” Spock nods at them both. “I have found more information regarding the unidentified creature that you acquired.”

Peebles perks up shyly behind Jim’s shoulder, blinking at Spock.

“Hello.” He nods at it. Peebles chirps happily and scuttles a little further into view.

“It seems to closely resemble the pisaster genus of sea stars, commonly hailing from Earth and other planets with similar oceanic conditions. But this creature is markedly different. I could not find any Federation record of it.” Spock takes out a holopad and taps on it. With a tossing motion, he pulls an image off the screen and brings it into the air before them. Holographic images of sea stars flash in comparison with a small 3D scan of Peebles.

“This creature--”

“His name is Peebles, Spock.” Jim smirks. Spock stares blankly before turning back to the hologram.

“While it is true that it possesses venom, the creature is no more dangerous than a common housecat. It is incapable of administering enough toxin to cause significant damage to humanoids. Its barbs can be quite painful, but they are not life-threatening.”

“There you have it. Thank you, Spock.” Jim grins smugly. Bones scowls.

“Anytime, Captain. I am here to answer any additional questions as you decide on a course of action.” Spock’s face almost passes for neutral, but Bones knows his mischief too well.

“What does it eat? Living flesh?” Bones jabs, glaring at the fuzzy pink lump trying to play with the pretty lights.

“We are unsure at this time. It has a sensitive, porous dermal layer, but no mouth. I hypothesize that it uses the same protrusions to feed as it does to navigate. A full scan would be required to glean more.” Spock gazes at Peebles. Peebles blinks his big, sparkly eye up at Spock in wonder. He makes a swipe at Spock’s face, then his ear, trying to transfer hosts, but Spock quickly steps out of range. Peebles whimpers.

“So he’s harmless?” Jim cuddles Peebles back to him and soothes him like an infant.

“Negligibly. I would avoid testing that hypothesis, Captain.” Spock gives Jim a very knowing look that momentarily satisfies Bones…at least until he catches Peebles reaching for him. He scowls and scoots back.

“Still shouldn’t keep it. It could carry all kinds of diseases.”

“Thanks to Federation advancements in vaccinations, Peebles poses little risk to us by way of disease transmission. But I am sure you already knew that, doctor.” Spock’s eyebrow raises ever-so-slightly. Bones crosses his arms. Jim lights up at the use of the little guy’s name.

“Well, that’s two against one. If you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna try and figure out what this guy eats before he stabs me. C’mon, buddy.” Jim stands and scoops him up. Peebles waves at Bones, its eye curving in some approximation of joy. Flabbergasted, he waves back.

He doesn’t get paid enough for this.

…

Bones knows Jim’s scream better than he knows himself. So when he hears it in the middle of the night, it shreds something inside of him. He’s at Jim’s door in a second, medkit in hand, using his key to unlock the door. He stumbles in before it opens all the way, chest heaving--

Jim holds Peebles aloft, face-flushed, while the little devil attempts to wriggle out of its grip. Grasping tendrils curl up Jim’s arm, way too long, and wrench for purchase. Suction-cupped indents cover his bare torso, an angry pinkish-red against his already rising blush.

“So, uhm—“ Jim swallows nervously— “I figured out what he eats.”

“We are sending that thing back where it came from, end of discussion.” Bones seethes.

“Sit.” Jim narrows his eyes.

“Jim—“

“Sit, Bones.” Jim risks letting go of Peebles with one hand to pat the space next to him.

Bones does as he’s told. His eyes rove over Jim’s bare torso, checking for injuries. He doesn’t like the faint red marks smattering Jim’s skin, ones that the creature has clearly left in its wake, but…he’s unharmed. Visibly, anyhow. That brings Bones some measure of relief.

“Watch. And don’t…just keep your mouth shut, alright?”

“I’ll do what I damn well please with my mouth,” Bones snaps, his filter waning with his stress and lack of sleep. Jim blushes a pretty pink. Some devilish urge in Bones wants to chase that expression further, but he opts to maintain his dignity.

“Listen. Something tells me you’re already fed, you little shit--” Jim levels a finger at Peebles and it's immediately wrapped in a tendril-- “but I’ll let you have dessert. You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Peebles chirps and starts shimmying again. Jim heaves one long, belabored sigh, and lowers Peebles to his stomach. He lays on his back, shifts to get comfortable, then spreads his arms.

“Alright, have at it.”

Peebles launches with ferocity and Jim screams. Bones screams and leaps for him, but he pauses when he hears…a snort?

Bones shifts on the bed for a better angle. Jim is twitching like a man possessed, his hand hovering over the mass of Peebles on his stomach. Jim breaks out into giggles that leap with each twist, until he finally curls up and laughs in earnest.

Oh. Oh.

“Is it...tickling you?” Bones breaks out in a grin that he’s grateful Jim can’t see. Peebles scuttles over his side and Jim yelps, rolling over onto his stomach. He tries to answer, but all that escapes him are broken syllables and the sweetest of smiles.

Bones can’t help but smile wider. He has a certain quota of ridiculousness that he can tolerate, alright, and Jim accidentally bringing a tickle monster on board takes the cake but...it's nice to see him like this. Smiling. Jim's true joy is a rare luxury, these days.

Peebles crawls up Jim’s back, dodging his flailing hands and making soft, bouncy, strange little noises. Breathy, almost, and uncanny--

Peebles wriggles down into the space between Jim’s shoulderblades and the hypothesis is confirmed--Jim’s resulting screech echoes twice. Peebles is mimicking him.

“Want help?” Bones has to shout over Jim’s shrieking. The whole wing must be awake by now, but Bones can’t bring himself to care about anything but that damned smile of his.

Jim nods frantically, reaching for Bones.

“Let him go, you greedy brat.” Bones worms his fingers under Peebles and gets another giggly shriek in return. Bones pats Jim’s arm in apology.

Peebles dislodges with a pop and a contented purr. Jim flops over, throwing a hand over his face. Peebles slips from Bones’s fingers and nestles into Jim’s chest, just over his heartbeat. Both of them exhale together.

“See? Harmless?” Jim hums, beaming. Bones is too busy committing the expression to memory to argue with him.

…

When Peebles gets his own personnel file, Bones knows the fight is lost. He’s listed in the records as a captain’s aide, the ridiculousness of which sparks amused chatter for days. People salute Peebles as he scuttles around, and he chirps and does the same. It is…admittedly cute. A little.

They set up little heated nests for him in nearly every corner, desperately trying to keep him out of the vents and maintenance tunnels. Eventually, Chekhov fashions him a collar with a tag on it—just to keep an eye on his whereabouts. A few scrapes with heavy machinery and slamming auto doors lead Bones to set up a med file for him too. Pisaster Tremulus--Spock’s approximation of a designation based on Peebles’s pheromone diet--gets filed under Jim. Bones starts to worry that he might need a veterinary license.

The crew tours Peebles around the ship enough that he learns to navigate it on his own without more door mishaps. Turns out that he doesn’t need a human guide, but he prefers it. He seems to like being up high.

His love for being up high seems to peak with Bones, who he’s imprinted on for some reason. Bones can’t go a minute without little chirps or clicks from some corner of his office It’s better than peeling him out of a doorframe, wailing a little too much like a human child. Bones has gotten used to tentacles gripping needily on his back.

Like now, for example, when Peebles has decided that his shoulder is the only place he can sit while Bones finalizes paperwork for the crew’s physicals. Everyone but Jim is done. Saving the best for last, he thinks wryly. Peebles chirps at him, then whines.

“Hey, lil fella.” Bones reaches up and gives Peebles a fond scritch. When he goes to pull his hand away, Peebles latches on and pulls it back—like a cat, demanding to be pet. Bones chuckles and obliges with one hand, but he calls Jim with the other.

“Jim, did you feed your son today?”

“Why?”

“He’s beeping at me.” Bones tries to pull away. Peebles does not allow it.

“I think he just likes ya, Bones.”

“Sure. Your physical is in five. Do not be late.” Bones holds up his file. Jim rolls his eyes.

“Aye aye, doctor.”

The line disconnects. Bones collapses into his seat and starts sifting through the files, attempting to make a pass at organizing them. Is this his job? No. Will it drive him up the wall if he doesn’t do it himself? Absolutely.

He gets to the ‘C’s in relative peace, but by the time he hits Chekhov’s file, Peebles gets restless again. He starts shifting and making soft noises, passing feathery-soft fur just past Bones’s ears in maddening patterns.

Bones shivers.

The touch returns, more purposeful this time. It occurs to him that Jim did not answer his question earlier.

“Alright, you little bathmat.” Bones tugs at Peebles. “Off ya hop.”

Peebles does not hop. Instead, he nuzzles into the crook of Bones’s neck. One appendage slaps across his throat, curving just below his Adam’s Apple. The others splay across his collarbones, chest, and back. Were they always that long? No, right…?

A smile pries its way onto his lips. He stifles a chuckle into his fist, but the intrigued chitter at his shoulder does not bode well for him.

Bones jams his shoulders up to his ears. He reaches up to pry Peebles away again, losing his strength to laughter and caution (alright, he doesn’t want to hurt the little guy, sue him). Peebles seems to take this as an invitation to scuttle under his lab coat.

Wiggling nubs make contact with his ribcage and Bones’s knees fully give out. He curls up at his desk, muffling his laughter into the surface of it.

“I’m here early, I want a lollipop—“

“Fetch your beast.” Bones looks up from his desk, regrettably smiling, and Jim stops right in his tracks. A mischievous smirk crosses his features.

“No, I don’t think I will.” Jim crosses his arms and leans against the counter. Bones opens his mouth to chastise him and all that comes out is a squeak. He wants to curse him out, to throw a pen at him, to do anything, but then wiggling touches find the back of his ribcage and he’s toast.

Peebles is covered in small, tube-like protrusions on one side that are nightmarish to both the eye and skin, apparently. They move gently, independently, like a flock of curious pokes directly to his nervous system.

He writhes like a madman in his chair, torn between hiding his face and defending himself. He reaches for Peebles and the crafty little thing skitters right across his torso. He cackles, burying his face in his hands.

“Alright, buddy. That’s enough. Let him go.” Jim pulls Peebles off of Bones. The lump of fuzz hangs in his arms like a cat that’s been scruffed before using its limbs to scuttle up Jim’s arms.

“I forgot you could still do that.” Jim pokes Bones in the ribs with his pen. He jumps and snatches it back.

“What?”

“Smile.” Jim darts a hand out and squeezes Bones’s thigh. Bones cackles and falls out of his chair. Jim doubles over and wheezes into a hiccuping giggle fit.

“Laugh it up, you ass. Provoke me before your physical.” Bones cracks his knuckles. Jim stills.

“Bones, have mercy.” Jim holds his hands out in immediate surrender.

“No, I don’t think I will,” Bones says in a nasal mockery of Jim’s voice. Jim splutters in offense, then laughter as Bones shoves his hands under his arms. Peebles settles on Jim’s stomach and his voice spikes desperately.

“Oh, look, I’ve got an assistant! On a scale of one to ten, how much do you regret being a little shit?” Bones scratches ruthlessly at Jim’s top rib. Jim clamps his arms down like it’ll help. Like Bones hasn’t done this dance with him for years.

“T-Two and a half!” Jim giggles violently, more at the narrowing of Bones’s eyes than the dance of his fingers.

“Hmm, condition could be improved. Don’t worry, I’ll fix that.” Bones grins evilly, his fingers crawling rapidly towards Jim’s back.

“Bones!”

#my fics #star trek #ticklish!jim kirk #ticklish!bones #jim kirk #bones mccoy #feel free to tag as ship btw i cant help but write mckirk as having a lil je ne se quois #please meet my son peebles i love him so much #creature of all time #hes so SHAPED i love him #also hi bookanon its so good to see you!! missed you!! <3

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