“Welcome back, everyone. Lovely to see you all on this fine Tuesday evening. As you all know, awards season is upon us and if your social media feed is anything like mine, you’ve seen many of the interview snippets from the red carpet or from press junkets and after watching several of them, it got me thinking about what an actor brings to a role. I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying there are no small parts, only small actors and while that is true, it’s also worth noting that almost any role can be elevated with a good actor. It always gets under my skin a bit to hear big-name actors treat roles as silly or beneath them. If one is a good actor, one can make the role worth something I believe. That brings me to today’s lesson, bringing your best to whatever role you’re given. I’ll be selecting pairs of you to demonstrate an improvised scene with assigned roles. Everybody understand?” Lenny, the seasoned acting teacher explained from the front of the room as everyone collectively nodded.

Among the class of 16 were actors spanning various ages and at various stages of their careers. Several had only done commercials, some had done bit parts on TV shows, a few had landed minor roles in movies, and a few more had reached some level of fame. While many actors land a big or ‘real’ role and stop practicing their craft, L.A. was full of acting classes with those who understood the significance of not getting rusty or relying on their name to sustain their career. One such student was Michael Cimino, one of the most successful of the group with major roles in a couple different TV shows at this point but the 24 year old enjoyed pushing himself and honing his craft. He may have been gorgeous and charming but the class was full of attractive and charismatic people; Michael wasn’t special here. Here, he was just another actor trying to be the best one he could.

The first two actors chosen for the scene were given the roles of prosecutor and defendant but instead of a usual court case, the class watched them argue the given prompt of if pineapple belongs on pizza. Of course it was entertaining to watch them so seriously argue such an arbitrary topic but the exercise proved its point; both actors brought a lot to the roles and made the other members of the class not only believe they cared about the subject but become invested in it too. “Very nice, you two. I think I’ll have Dominos for dinner tonight thanks to that. Alright, who’s next…Brett and Michael. Come on up” Lenny announced and Cimino along with the slightly older blonde made their way to the front of the class to take their spots on the empty floor.

Michael’s boyish smile was hard to contain as he waited with anticipation next to his scene partner, Brett who looked like a cross between Chord Overstreet and Matthew Lillard. “Alright, since the courtroom scene got a chair prop for the defendant, you’re going to get this” Lenny explained as he pulled out a long piece of camping rope, earning a humored look from both young men as well as the rest of the class. “For your scene, one of you will be a burglar having broken into a house and the other will be the victim. The victim will be tied up while the burglar searches for the safe he believes to be in the house. But while the burglar is searching for the safe, the victim will be trying to give the burglar movie recommendations.

Michael you will be the victim and Brett will be the burglar. Also, like with the previous scene, you both have independent goals here; Michael, you are trying to suggest the best movie to the burglar while Brett is determined to find the safe. This is another example of a weird or unusual scene that I’m expecting you two to bring to life and make me care about. I want the victim to pick out the very best movie for the man robbing him and I’m expecting to really want the burglar to find the safe. Got it?” Michael and Brett exchanged a friendly smile and assured Lenny they understood the assignment.

“How do you wanna do the whole…tying up thing?” Michael asked with a light laugh. “Yeah, umm, I guess just lay on your stomach and I’ll fix you up” Brett offered. “Alright, yeah” Cimino agreed and the class watched as Brett proved he sort of knew what he was doing, hogtying his scene partner until he was knotted-up and unable to get out. “All good?” “Damn, man haha…this is legit” Michael added as he halfway tugged on the rope. “This is what kind of stuff you learn when you have an older brother” Brett joked as he stood up and prepared to start the scene. “Everybody good to go?” “Yep” both boys said and Lenny gave them the green light, effectively making Michael the helpless movie lover and Brett the intruder hellbent on finding Cimino’s safe.

Michael instantly started struggling in the bondage a little on the floor and looking back at Brett who was pretending to look around the ‘house’. “Where’s the safe?!” Brett demanded to know. “There is no safe! Come on, this is crazy! I was just about to watch a movie…Dune’s on HBO Max, well I guess it’s just Max now. Have you seen it?” Michael asked with believable interest in the answer despite his situation. “No, I haven’t fucking seen it! Just tell me where the safe is!” Brett shouted with frustration as he continued ‘looking’ for said safe while everyone else watched from their seats. “What about Home Alone? This kind of feels like some weird version of that” Michael added. “I don’t give a shit about movies – just tell me where the safe is!” Brett fired back, making the others laugh a little at the juxtaposition of the characters like Lenny had intended. They were doing well.

“…that new Batman movie is on Max too I think, the one with Robert Pattinson. You might like that one” Michael suggested. “I didn’t come here to hear about movies! I want to know where the safe is and you’re gonna fucking tell me!” Brett answered back, believably fired-up about coming up empty handed as he moved closer to Cimino. There were a few moments of contemplation on his handsome face, hesitation like he wasn’t sure what plan of action to go with. He knew he was supposed to be after the safe and that they could go with the scene however they wanted but it wasn’t like he was gonna beat Michael up to make him talk. Then, the answer seemed to come to Brett as he knelt down on the floor and grabbed the heels of Michael’s black Vans, not even bothering with unlacing them before prying them off his unsuspecting feet and giving the audience another laugh at the surprise on Cimino’s expressive face.

“Now tell me where your safe is!” Brett insisted before Michael seemed to even know what was happening as his partner’s hands appeared above his socked-feet and sprang into spidering action across the upturned soles. “AhAH!” shot out of Cimino with a wide-eyed look and his toes crunched in the white ankle socks as he started actually fighting the hogtie. “NNoAoHAoh!! WWHAaatTTAARrEeyYYoOODdoOIiiNNGGhAHA?!” Michael couldn’t help but struggle to ask over his bubbly uproar, seemingly unable to control his reaction to the surprise tickling. “You brought this on yourself. Tell me where it is!” Brett pressed, riding the line of a man who enjoyed tormenting Michael and just a frustrated burglar with unusual methods of persuasion. “CCoOMmEoOON! AOhAohGGEEETtOOoFFFmMYYyFFEETTbBbROO!!” Cimino argued, suddenly more Michael than his character in that moment. Brett’s skittering fingers on his feet was enough to throw him off but realizing how strong the tie was and that not only were his feet being tickled, but that he couldn’t do anything about it, Michael nearly forgot he was in the middle of an acting exercise and was supposed to be playing a character.

“Tell me where the safe is!” Brett ordered again as Michael squirmed on the floor and his wavy brown hair began to fall in his face the more he laughed and jerked around. “IiITThHIinNnKkKAhAHA yYOouUUuDDLLIIikKEEAhAAHAJJuUrRAASSiIiCCPPpAAAHAHRRKK!!” Michael forced himself to shout as he tried to get back on task, making the class laugh more. “I’ve already seen it, now talk!” Brett interrogated as he started scribbling a little faster and got an animated shriek out of Cimino as his whole body tensed up. “Right here, huh?” Brett realized and zeroed in right along the arches with brutal drags even while Michael’s feet tried to flex or worm out of the way. “AAAAHH! AOHOhASSHhIIITT!! AOhAMMmAAyYBbBEE YYOoUuSSHHoOoUULlDDWWAaATTCcCCH SSAAAhAWWIInNnSSTtEEAADD!!” Cimino managed to get out, humoring his fellow actors and teacher again as he suffered rather adorably in front of them, letting out embarrassing squeals every few seconds thanks to Brett’s concentrated tickling.

“Tell me where the safe is or the socks are coming off!” Brett threatened, triggering an audible gasp from at least a few people in the class, proving those stakes were universally understood. “That’s my safe! I can’t just tell you where it is! We could just watch a movie…like Scream! Yeah! It’s great!” Michael answered/intentionally babbled on once Brett stopped for a moment, hoping to give himself time to get out and steer the scene in a way that wasn’t him being tied up and tickled, bending and twisting his hands before Brett could make good on his threat. “I’m not having a movie night with you, man! I want the safe!” Brett asserted as he grabbed the loose bit of sock around both toes and started pulling on them, leaving the room in suspense as Cimino looked back with nervous eyes and squirmed a bit harder on the floor until the cotton protection slipped off his captive feet and exposed both size 12s in all their naked beauty.

“Dude! Come on!” Cimino whined as he felt the newfound vulnerability, again more as Michael than his cinephile character while his radiant, peachy-pink soles wrinkled a bit in front of Brett. “I know there’s a safe in this house, man. Just cough it up!” Brett pressed as he wrapped his arm around the bound ankles for a better lock on his target, making Michael look back again with obvious concern for his horribly defenseless feet. Part of him wanted to drop character, to throw the scene but he knew Lenny would want him to keep going and another part of him feared if he quit that it’d look like the ‘big-time’ actor of the bunch wasn’t taking the class seriously. He’d have to keep going and pray he could figure a way to change course.

“Just take my watch! It’s worth at least a couple hundred! Just let me go and stop tickling me!” Michael negotiated as Brett’s free hand rested above the upturned soles. “Oh, I plan on taking a lot more than that. Now tell me where it is!” Brett insisted as his vicious fingers broke into a scribbling fit all over Michael’s smooth soles. “NNNOOAOAOAOHAAOHA!! FUUCK!” roared out of Cimino with a giant smile and a flash of dread in his eyes as the rapid tickling dominated his head-locked feet, filling the small theater space with youthful, crazed laughter. Michael’s hands reached around trying to find some part of the rope that was the least bit loose but could hardly focus on helping himself out with Brett’s short nails zig-zagging and skating across both supple soles. “PPLLLeEAASSEEE!! AOhAOhAnNOoOAohAOHSSTTToOOPPpIiiITTT!! AOhAOhAACCCoOMMmEEOONNNBBbRROOO!! GGEETTOoOFFFF!!!” Michael howled with the most charmingly desperate laughter anyone in the class had ever heard but Brett wasn’t breaking character.

“I’ll leave you alone when you tell me where the damn safe is!” Brett offered as he tightened his grip on Michael since he was bucking so much, never giving the handsome star’s equally handsome feet a moment’s break. Cimino knew he was supposed to be trying to give him movie recommendations but that’d become nearly impossible; his brain was too much of a tornado at the moment and his priority had become getting away from Brett’s tickle interrogation more than doing his part in the scene. “TThHEEeSsAaAFFEEiiISSEemMmPPpTTYY!! AhoHAOOKK!?! IiITTSSEEeMmpPpTTYY!!” “Bullshit” “IImMmTTEELLiiNNNGGTTheETTRRuUUTTHH!!” Michael tried to assure as his abs began to feel the burn from laughing so much. “Tell me where it is and I’ll see for myself then” Brett countered. “JJuUuSSTTLLEETTMMeEGGOOOAOH!!” “I guess it was bullshit” Brett concluded before uncurling his arm around the ankles and reaching out with it to squeeze into the back of Michael’s thigh.

“AAAHaGGH!” flew out of Cimino with a surprised squeal but another powerhouse chomp gripped his other thigh right after and got the same wily reaction before combining it with the other five fingers clawing along his unprotected feet once again. “AAHAHAHANNoOAaOhAOHA!! FFuUUCCkkIIiNNnGGAhAOHASSTTOhoOOP!!” Michael raged like he didn’t know what else to say but Brett wasn’t backing down as he squeezed back and forth into the meat of Cimino’s strong thighs and ravaged his wrinkling, squirming feet like a pro. Soon the hand clamping into his thighs started throwing in squeezes into his side, getting sharp laughs from Cimino anytime it happened, proving there were more than enough spots for Brett to go after to get what he wanted.

As the strong blonde clawed away at Cimino’s soft soles and explored the rest of his ticklish body, Michael couldn’t help but think about a part of the commentary track from Call Me by Your Name he’d watched years ago, the part where Oliver tickles Elio by the window and he crumbles in his arms trying to escape it. Chalamet had laughingly commented that it [his reaction in the scene] was just about surviving at that point. Cimino hadn’t understood fully at the time but somehow it clicked in that moment on the class’s stage what he’d been talking about; self-preservation becomes the most important thing when you’re as ticklish as either of them, even during a scene.

“OOkOOK!! aohAhaIiITTSSUUNnNDDDEEERRrTHhEEEBbBbEeEDDD!!” Michael shouted the best he could but Brett didn’t stop. “I checked there.” Cimino couldn’t believe his ears. “TThHeEoOoTThHEEeRRRbBEEeDDD!!” Michael pointed out as quickly as he could and that was enough to make his tickle monster of a scene partner stop. He didn’t know what to expect next but Brett turned him on his side so he was facing the small audience and hiked his t-shirt up, exposing his ripped, tan upper body. “I’ve looked everywhere in this house and haven’t found any safe. I know you’re hiding it somewhere and I’m not giving up until I have it in my hands. Got it?” Brett laid out, still fully in character while Cimino struggled with what to say next. Surely he wasn’t serious. What answer could he possibly give him if Brett had decided that his character had already looked the house over? What would or could make the scene end? Lenny? Time running out? An act of God?

He'd seen Brett act in scenes before and he was always sort of intense but usually it was channeled into delivering lines or showing emotion, not tickling the hell out of his partner. “Wait! Come on! I told you where the safe is! Seriously!!” Michael tried to convince as Brett eyed the stretch of sure-to-be sweet spots in front of him. “I’m serious too, can’t you tell?” Brett answered before doing double duty again, letting one hand plow into Cimino’s tight abs and the other drilling between his ribs. “AohOhAOHGGOhAOhAAohAOHAAohANNOOAOH!!” was all Michael could say as Brett had his way with him some more, now digging into his stomach with wide fingers and kneading away up and down his ribs while Cimino floundered on the floor just as helpless as he was when the scene had started.

Lenny watched with a subtle yet curious expression, as if he too wasn’t sure when the scene would end. Usually, he’d cut the scenes off after a certain amount of time and for all Michael knew, theirs was still within the normal range of time. Maybe the tickling was just making it seem a lot longer. Brett’s dedication to getting an answer out of Michael was impressive, becoming a sinister tickler right there in front of the class and while Cimino’s attempts to suggest movies was commendable, by now it was unclear just how much acting he was doing to everyone else in the room.

“OoHMMyyGGoOoDDAOhaOHaFFuUuCCkKoOOFFF!!!” Cimino shouted as Brett took advantage of how sculpted his abs were now with both hands, as if Michael had worked out so hard just to make them easier to tickle. “Come on, tough guy, tell me where the safe is so I can get out of here” Brett pressed again almost like he could tell Michael was really wearing down. “IiiITTToOOOOhoLLlDDDyYOoUUAOAHAhhAA!” “Yeah right” Brett dismissed before jumping up to Cimino’s pronounced chest and diving into both sides of the juicy pecs with stiff, pointed fingers. “AAHAHAHAHA!!” Cimino’s face lit up like a cartoon character and his laughter jumped a couple octaves, caught off guard by how unbearable the new attack was but it wasn’t like Brett gave him a chance to catch his breath, instead pressing the gas and really drilling into the mounds of muscle.

“AHAHAAAAA!!! NNNOAooAohAOhANNOOOAOaAOHAohA!! CCCoOOMMmEEoOONNN!!” Michael pleaded like surely Brett could tell how awful this new spot was and surely he’d spare him anymore suffering. “I can keep going…it’s up to you” Brett assured as he tasered into both sides of his chest and cranked out laughter from the very back of Michael’s throat, forcing his head to fly back with rolling howls. “SSTTOHoHAOAHHOPPP!!” Cimino tried to convince, hoping Brett would snap out of his character but he was committed to every exercise they did, maybe too committed in times like these, tickling too good for a simple afternoon acting class. But his power-tool hands refused to give up, even switching over after a few minutes and teasing Michael’s now fully hardened nipples, stroking and fluttering across the firm points between daggering into his pecs until Cimino was over-stimulated in the craziest way and unable to say anything from laughing so hard.

The rest of the students watched as the scene continued and watched Lenny to see what he’d do. Would he call the end of the scene or wait to see how they’d handle it? Would Brett show Michael some mercy and decide his character was going to give up on the safe? But, in a surprising twist, just when the hunky TV star was nearing the point of calling out to Lenny himself, one hand suddenly slipped out of the rope and shot out like a zombie’s from the grave before landing on the floor and using it to help get away from Brett. However, the exercise turned mini-play didn’t end there. Brett got to his feet and proved he still had the upper hand by catching up to Michael and forcing him on his back/side again before taking hold of the now free arm and pinning it straight out on the stage floor.

“Dude! Come on!! I can’t help that you can’t find the fucking safe!” Michael protested, a little in character and a little just himself. “That’s why you’re gonna help me and tell me where it is” Brett countered as he held Michael in place with one hand and kept his free arm pinned down with the other, only realizing in that moment that Cimino had worn a t-shirt with cut-off sleeves, meaning this new position left his armpit fully exposed. Some of the other students had noticed his homemade shirt earlier on so by the time Michael’s furry armpit had Brett’s full attention, it was like one of those times in a sitcom where the audience knew exactly what was coming before it happened. Well, at least they thought they did.

Brett kept a firm lock on Michael’s wrist and leaned closer before extending his tongue and licking straight through the length of Cimino’s sweat-seasoned armpit. “AhAOhAWWhAATTHEFFUUCK!?” Michael exclaimed with ticklish shock but the initial lick quickly became Brett’s long tongue flicking around and stealing quick drags in the salty cove while Cimino laughed a horrified laugh and squealed for him to either ‘get off’ or ‘fuck off’ or some variation of that while the class watched on in awe. “Are you gonna tell me?” Brett asked between slurps. “AHAoAAAHAOhAOOkOOK!! AOhAOhaOhAohAOhAIILLLSSHHoOOOWWyYoOUAuAOAHOA!!!” Michael surrendered with a last-stitch effort answer to appease Brett. “You’re gonna show me where the safe is?” “YYYEEESSS!! YYEESSASAHAHA!!! PPLLLeEEEAAhAASSEEE!!!” a writhing Michael assured while Brett’s textured tongue licked his propped-open pit clean until finally, finally he let Cimino go.

Lenny understood the scene was over when Brett stood up and started untying Michael’s hogtie, almost like he’d forgotten he could end the scene himself until now. He’d been just as transfixed on the exercise as everyone else. “Alright, uhh, very nice. Michael, your movie suggestions were great…I liked how you handled that and Brett…impressive commitment as always but perhaps it would be better in the future to try to read your scene partners better” Lenny added. “Yeah, like not tickling the shit out of them” Michael added with obvious attitude as he stood up and grabbed his shoes and socks. “Sorry, I guess I was just trying to make it the best scene I could” Brett offered as if the regular Brett had returned.

“Well, I did believe you wanted that safe and tickling was a unique way to move the scene along, I’ll say that. I’d cast you as a devious burglar any day of the week…and Michael, it’s hard to say how much of your performance was acting or just natural reactions but you were just as believable. Maybe you could add ‘extremely ticklish’ to your resume. I’m sure that could help you with at least a couple roles down the line” Lenny offered, seemingly trying to smooth over how the exercise went. “Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind” Michael answered with a polite, half-ass smile, knowing Lenny’s characterization of him as extremely ticklish was far too truthful to ever intentionally tell anyone, let alone put it in writing. But even if he kept it to himself, there were 15 other actors in the class. At least one of them was bound to tell about happened, how could they not?