Chapter Text
Chapter 1
A brief massage from Pinky instills an addiction in Brain and causes him to stumble upon why it is that he likes them so much. Does he merely love the relief, or perhaps the mouse giving it?
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Pinky was sitting down, his eyes glued to the television screen. His hands held his feet as they moved back and forth. He was enjoying the tune of the commercial he was watching. He kept hearing this strange grunting noise, which wasn’t coming from the television. He knows. He checked, pressing his ear against the screen every now and again. He scratched the top of his head a few times. Then he heard it again and his shoulders bunched. He whipped around and realized it was coming from the cage. Those were Brain’s grumbly groany sounds. His brows downturned and he got up from his spot, going to see him.
"Ohhhh. Its your back again, isnt it Brain?" Pinky assumed, reaching out to him in concern. Brain ignored him, continuing to go about his business. Pinky frowned. He didn’t like to see his best friend so hurt. "You remember what the doctor said."
"We didnt see a doctor, Pinky. We are mice." Brain replied, rotating his shoulder briefly.
"Now you see. That is exactly my point. You cannot take over the world if you dont take care of yourself first!" His hands were on his hips and then he slid in front of his cagemate as he tried to walk away. "Or at least let me help you." He clasped his hands together. “What is the point of being your assistant if I don’t assist you once in a while?”
Brain paused and gave his friend a look. “That is something I ask myself every single day…” He moved on, knowing the comment would easily go over Pinky’s head, and tried to downplay his need for concern. "Pinky. I am only a little tense. Besides, I don't see how you could possibly help ease that. You do nothing but make me more tense!"
"Oh, please, Brain. I really do want to help. I'll make you feel all better. I promise." He gave Brain a puppy look, complete with big eyes and whining sounds.
Brain was weak. He rolled his eyes and then faced him again. "Fine. I shall humor you...but only so that you get off my back."
"But I'm not on your back. Im over here. Troz!" Pinky said, getting a laugh. It sounded like Brain was confused! That was just why Pinky needed to fix him up.
Brain looked unamused. "Just tell me how you propose to 'help'" He used airquotes and then folded his arms again.
Pinky's face grew with excitement. He jumped in his spot. "With these!" Pinky wriggled his fingers. Brain looked cautious and took one step back. "Oh, don't worry, Brain. I'm actually quite good. Narf!"
"Forgive me if I dont take your word for it.." Brain mumbled and then he stretched carefully to try and fool his friend. He laughed a bit “Actually...Oh, what do you know..? I think I’m feeling much better. So, why don’t I just--Nyaaa!” Pinky had grabbed him by the shoulders just then, clearly not buying his farce. So, he gave up on it. “Pinky! You are just going to make it worse!” Brain protested as Pinky just began to rub his shoulders. “Stop this insta---” Brain stopped mid-sentence, his glare slowly transitioning to a look of relief, ”ooh...that’s actually nice…” He relaxed his muscles and leaned into it. “I guess a few minutes won’t hurt.” Brain told him, making it seem like this was more for Pinky’s benefit than his own. He didn’t like it or anything..He closed his eyes and his ever present frown began to melt into a grin that his friend couldn’t see. He hummed despite himself.
Pinky was smiling. If Brain truly disapproved, he surely would have sent him away with a bop on the head. That meant he was doing a good job! Brain liked it. It made him feel giddy inside to know he was being useful to Brain. He always wanted to be a great help and he did try his best everyday. Though, he knew he wasn’t always successful. So, hearing Brain’s happy sounds made him happy, too. He had been correct. Brain was so very tense. He squeezed and kneaded his muscles to the best of his ability. He lowered to his knees to get better positioning. He was tall and Brain was small. He giggled to himself about it.
“Is it good, Brain?”
Brain didn’t answer for several seconds. He had been getting lost in the sensations of Pinky’s firm fingertip sliding through his fur as he massaged. Pinky was often touching him and showing his overt displays of affection, but nothing was as pampering as this was. He found himself enjoying it immensely.
Suddenly, he registered that Pinky was talking to him and he needed to respond.
“It’s not...completely unpleasant..” Brain managed before giving Pinky a small direction, to which he gave a “Right-o!” and immediately complied. Brain’s ears lowered, unable to conceal the heavenly look on his face. Pinky couldn’t see it, so he was in no rush to fix it.
Brain stretched once he had finished and he had to admit he was impressed. He felt great. Pinky had done wonders for him and he only felt it right to thank him for his efforts, despite his earlier reluctance. There was something nagging in the back of his mind, though. A feeling of disappointment. Not in what he’d done, but the fact that it was...over. He tapped his fingers together, eyes turning down briefly before he decided to forget it. He had plans to work on, after all! The massage had served its purpose.
Brain ushered Pinky away to go amuse himself as he continued working on tonight’s plot. Pinky was satisfied he had done a good job, so he gave him a tight hug and left him for the television. With a good distance between them, Brain could finally focus.
In theory.
Brain, in actuality, could not stop thinking about Pinky and his hands. It was a silly thing, really. Pinky touched him all the time. He knew too well the feel of his crushing grip. So what if this time it was more…gentle. More desirabl–Nope. He was ending the thought there. He had work to do. He didn’t even spare a glance at his friend at the television.
Okay…maybe he did. Once. And it was only because he was loud.
The night’s plan came and went, as it usually does; another failure to log away. Another grumpy Brain to go back to the drawing board. But also...another opportunity. He thought again of the massage from earlier. He’d never quite got the moment to leave his head. It had been very pleasant… He couldn’t help but want a recreation of that comfort. It had been a very trying night, after all..
Once returning to the lab and heading for their cage, Brain watched Pinky, and that was how it started. Another plan of sorts began to form but this one had nothing to do with taking over the world.
Brain stood in the middle of their cage and waited until Pinky was looking his way and then proceeded to show off body language of discomfort, hoping to garner his interest; which he did.
Pinky raised a finger and slowly padded towards him. “Something wrong, Brain…?”
“Oh, no...It’s nothing..” Brain said, in a tone that would scream bad acting if you were anyone except Pinky. “It must have been the….” He paused as he tried to remember a believable detail from tonight’s failure. “...um, explosion. Gee. Guess it sure did a number on me..”
Pinky clasped his hands together in concern. “Oh, my poor Brain.” Pinky picked him up, which he hadn’t been expecting. “You shouldn’t be on your feet. You need your rest to get rid of all those owwies.”
Brain’s facade fell. He had not been quite prepared for how it would feel to be cradled in Pinky’s arms, which was silly because this isn’t the first time he’d done it. It surprised him, regardless. Pinky was giving him this… precious look and their noses were so close together, almost touching and Brain’s heart felt liable to explode as his cheeks colored. What was this feeling? All he wanted was a massage. Not this.
No, surely not…
Hmm...maybe this...No!
He shook his head to break the trance he was in, which had lasted thirty seconds longer than it should have, and wriggled until he could jump down.
“I won’t be held like an infant.” Brain complained, dusting himself off (even though he secretly loved the feeling of warmth) The separation aided in lowering his heart rate. He found the entire situation peculiar, but refused to put much thought into it.
“Poit.” Pinky commented, frowning and feeling bad for doing something wrong, but also not knowing what. He followed his movements towards their bed and watched him sit. He tilted his head, hands hanging in front of him. He was only going to carry him there. He blinked a few times before walking around to the other side, so he wouldn’t bother him any further. His ears perked, however when he heard Brain speak up again.
Brain was kicking his feet lightly off the edge, his hands together as he tried to string together his words. “I wouldn’t be opposed...if you did that thing, however…”
“What thing?”
Brain rolled his wrists, “You know. The thing. The thing you did earlier” He seemed a little too awkward to ask in a straightforward manner. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. Even doing so in his head made him feel squirmy. He had no clue why expressing himself to Pinky made him so…nervous…
But once Pinky eventually caught on, he happily did as asked, leaving Brain thankful that his nerves were unwarranted.
“Sure thing, Brain.” Pinky said, before getting into position. He smiled and set his hands upon Brain’s shoulders.
Brain was looking downward, his eyes shifting every few seconds. He was the picture of awkwardness despite his relief. He knew he really didn’t require this sort of attention. Brain was suddenly tempted to retract and tell Pinky he no longer needed his assistance, but once the kneading started, all thoughts of it left his head.
“Ooh, you are so tense. Is that why you’re so grumpy all the time?” Pinky commented as he squeezed his shoulders.
Brain rolled his eyes, though his friend wouldn’t see it. “There are a number of reasons for that, Pinky.” He said without elaborating. Pinky wasn’t entirely wrong in his assessment. He was in a constant state of stress. Having this kind of relief, he had to admit, was comforting. It was soft, and firm when it needed to be. Maybe he did need this after all.
Well...not need, he quickly corrected himself. It was just...pleasant.
Very pleasant.
Brain was smiling again. It was always a surprise when he came across any of Pinky’s hidden talents. This was certainly one of them, which is why he had been so keen on experiencing it again. Pinky’s affection had a tendency of being far too overbearing for his liking. He’d had no idea he could be so slow and gentle and soothing. He leaned forward and Pinky took the opportunity to focus his touches on the lower area of his back.
“Oh!” Brain suddenly called out and slapped a hand over his mouth almost instantly in horror. His face went bright red and he felt terribly embarrassed. His ears lowered and he shuddered thinking about the response he would get from his cagemate. He cautiously moved his head to see Pinky in his peripherals, unwilling to fully turn around..
“Did that hurt? I can stop” Pinky questioned, looking unsure.
Brain, for once, thanked the heavens for Pinky’s lack of awareness. But he did scold himself for his lack of control. Why had he had that sort of reaction..? It was alarming to say the least. He had enjoyed it a bit too much, but couldn’t tell Pinky that for obvious reasons. “No, no...It was just, umm..” Brain paused to think of a reason, “..tender. Yes. Just...be more careful.”
“Are there any other ‘tender’ spots I should know about?”
“More than I can count…”
“Oooh, that’s a lot, then, isn’t it? You can count really high, Brain.” Pinky glanced upward, counting on his fingers to see how far he could go, but gave up after seven.
“Just---Nevermind that. Keep going.” Brain said, folding his arms.
Pinky did continue, his fingers walking back up to his shoulders, since that had been okay before. He began humming a little tune, then stopped. “And if I hit another tingly spot, you'll just make another loud and obnoxious sound" Pinky confirmed with a big grin.
Brain had begun to relax once more until he heard his comment. He twisted to view him disapprovingly. "It was not that loud"
"It was pretty loud Brain. Startled me good. Its was all 'Wooooo'" Pinky waggled his arms and performed his own rendition of what Brain had sounded like, which was completely embellished and overly dramatic, finished off with a NARF; which Brain knew he hadn’t done.
Brain glared at him and grabbed his snout, yanking him forward, making a slight growl.
Pinky was out of sorts for just a moment but then just blinked at his friend. He was confused by his gesture and spoke up in a nasally voice "...I thought this was about making you feel good…"
"If you want to make me feel good, stop talking. Especially inaccuracies of noises I express" Brain said before letting go and facing forward again.
"Alright then, just do it again. I’ll pay closer attention this time!" Pinky replied. That seemed like a simple solution to him. He readied his ear.
"No."
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to.” Brain said, eyes trailing to the side. His cheeks felt slightly warm, still feeling embarrassed about the entire thing.
"Come on. Brain. How else will I know when to stop? I need to know what you sound like. Tell the good sounds from the bad sounds."
“Don’t say it like that. Besides, I … don’t remember.” Brain lied, “Only that it certainly wasn’t anywhere near your replication”
“Oh, sure you do! You’re the one who told me you had an idiotic memory!”
“Eidetic…” Brain twitched as he turned to view him again.
Pinky tilted his head. “Gesundheit?”
“I am beginning to regret this..” Brain mumbled to himself, questioning why he had even initiated this sort of thing in the first place. A bit of enjoyment and tension relief was not worth having to make multiple explanations to Pinky, especially considering he could barely explain it to himself.
Brain was never doing this again..
The conversation trickled off, but to Brain’s surprise, the massage went on. He was fickle on whether or not he wanted it to, but there was just something about it that disabled all his rational thought. He was putty under his hands. He swore he would be just fine if this went on for hours… He began to take back his earlier statement. At least for now...
“Lower, Brain..?”
“Yes. And to the left..”
“I know where to go! Troz!”
“Yes, you do, my friend…”