That's nice to hear a positive response from this. I've had a fair share of relationships. Even though I've dated a few people for lengths of time, I would only consider one "serious" as I was definitely in love at the time and it was over 3 years and that just happened to be the first person I connected with fetish wise. Having a girlfriend with a tickle fetish and pinpointing it immediately (on the first date lol) made things easier for us to progress in a relationship and always be comfortable, which led to the best sex life as you can imagine. Since then I don't have as much hesitation to "out" myself, plenty of my friends know, it's never been a big deal. I've even had a few friends with the same fetishes so not hiding things or being ashamed really helps you understand there are millions of people like you. People that think tickling, feet, bondage etc. are an exclusive group are delusional. Even if people are "obsessed" plenty of "normal" people involve tickling in their lives or tying each other up...handcuff etc.
Ridicule is just a defense mechanism that people use to defend themselves against things they don't understand. If anyone has had rejection before...really..don't think too much about it. Any girl i'm friends with that knows I'm ticklish is all for it, 90% of them don't have tickle fetishes but understand the fun, so they'll jab me or jump on top of me.
Take my word for it as well, even if someone isn't into it immediately, doesn't mean your sex life can't evolve because of it when they do accept it and learn to appreciate it because it makes you happy. Girls I've known that never thought much of feet now adore the attention I could give them. I've had girlfriends obsessed with painting their nails and showing off to me...literally asking color opinions when at the time I didn't care (go figure). Even friends just send me picture mail to be teases.
Surround yourself with those people as long as you can and you're guaranteed to have a happy life.