Chapter Text
Thanksgiving. 11 PM. Luca stood before the closed doors of what indeed looked like a dark and abandoned restaurant. The letters of ‘The Walters’ on the sign outside were only slightly visible, thanks to the nearby streetlight. Other than that, no single light was burning around the exterior of the usually bustling restaurant and bar.
Luca sighed and touched his masked face. The ski mask was covering his dark curly hair and his face, with the exception of his big brown eyes. If they had a security camera, which he did not detect in clear sight, they at least weren’t going to recognize him later.
The tall building was as abandoned as they had claimed, and the streets were quiet too on this festive night. The Walters was a popular bar, known for opening its doors every single day of the year with the exception of Thanksgiving.
The family business had been an icon in the city for decades, famous for its creative menu, custom drinks and charming staff.
Despite its good reputation, Luca had never heard of it until he was faced with his hard reality: he was going to be a criminal, and this is where it would happen. In the dark, abandoned restaurant building of The Walters.
He held his breath, tightened his fingers around the rock in his hand and finally smashed the window. He had practiced the rock throw a few times before, and it went smoothly. He couldn’t have landed a better hit.
The shattering sound of glass doubled the feeling of panic he felt as he carefully entered the place without cutting himself. He had never been satisfied with his 5’8 size, but today it came in handy as he easily slipped into the building. The lack of alarm noises was a relief – he had confirmed the restaurant’s poor security system in his preparation work, but one could never know for sure.
Regret filled his mind and body when he swiftly landed inside and ran towards the bar in the corner. Luca had come here plenty of times as a visitor to prepare for this mission, but it barely proved to be useful now that he was actually doing this, with shaking legs because of the fear and adrenaline. He feared this: he made a lousy burglar.
The young thief carefully looked through the stash of liquor bottles behind the bar. He knew it was somewhere around here ー yes. He studied the label: Walters Whiskey. One damn bottle. Its size was smaller than he expected. All of this for one tiny bottle, but he had it.
The sudden sound of what seemed like footsteps coming up, or down (?) a wooden stairs startled Luca into almost dropping the bottle, and he gasped when a voice was heard:
“Who’s there?!”
Shit! He was sure no one was supposed to be around!
He rushed to stuff the bottle in a cheap college tote bag, shoved it under his black hoodie and into his pants for extra protection, and started running.
“STOP RIGHT THERE!”
Luca was an idiot and actually froze immediately when he heard the intensity of the warning. At the door near the bar stood a young man, probably around Luca’s age, and he held out his hand. He appeared to be unarmed.
“Stop, thief,” he said in a stiff voice. When Luca realized his opponent seemed just as scared and inexperienced as he was, he continued running.
“HANK! IT’S A BURGLAR!” the guy bellowed. Luca made the rookie-mistake to run to the door first instead of his window-entrance. Of course it was locked. With shaking hands he looked for a key or a lock, then realized he was messing up and turned to run towards the window in blind panic.
Meanwhile the lights were switched on and he heard the loud noises of running footsteps belonging to not one but two, no, three – ?! – people, and Luca knew he was done for.
“Stop right there!” they yelled. Two of them grabbed him before he could even make a move to climb out of the window, and Luca cried out as he was dragged back into the restaurant.
“Theo, call the police.” It was a firm order from the largest man, and Luca let out a soft whimper as he was dragged towards him.
“No please!” he begged. This wasn’t supposed to end like this. There weren’t supposed to be any people! The thought of getting arrested and going through life as a prosecuted criminal for the rest of his life made the poor student want to cry. He could kiss his scholarship and future goodbye.
Appearing surprised to hear his childish begging tone without even an ounce of arrogance or defiance, the man stared at him for a moment. He then yanked the ski mask off Luca’s head, suddenly revealing his face to all of them.
“He’s just a kid,” one of the men holding him said. Luca recognized him – he had seen him every single time he came here to simply have a drink so he could inspect the venue.
“Shut up James. Hey kid, how old are you?”
Luca stared at the enormous bearded man who he guessed was this ‘Hank’ they all called out to. He was clearly the boss and owner of the place.
“I’m 22,” Luca said. He had quite the babyface and went through life with nicknames such as ‘Bambi’, but he was not a kid.
The other man holding him snickered and glanced at the guy who stood behind them. “Definitely a kid. Right, baby bro?”
“Shut up Josh.”
The men they called James and Josh looked quite alike. Their styles were different, but looking at their faces, Luca realized they were twins.
He then glanced at the so-called ‘baby bro’; the guy who had first caught him. They were probably indeed almost the same age, judging from his looks and his older brother’s remark just now.
However despite being the youngest, it was a funny observation that he was taller than his older twin brothers. Not that it was the time and place to notice small details like that.
“Name?” Hank asked.
“Luca.”
Another rookie-mistake: immediately telling them his name. Well, not that it mattered much. They didn’t seem like the kind of people who would let him get away now, with or without knowing his name.
One of the twins hummed. “I remember now. I think I’ve seen you before. One of our customers, hm? I remember everyone who orders our signature coconut latte.”
Luca blushed, but the oldest ignored it and continued questioning him.
“What did you try to steal?”
Luca realized they hadn’t noticed the subtle bulge under his hoodie yet, and he swallowed.
“……M-money, sir.”
They all looked at one another, and both guys holding him laughed. “Of course, money. Why ask?”
Hank ignored them. “You seem young, scared and inexperienced. Why sneak in here for your burglary attempt? Not very clever, hm? Luca?”
Luca felt the men tighten their grip on him somehow, and he shuddered. “I h-heard it’d be closed today. It looked abandoned.” They all gave him a stare, and he wondered if they were waiting for more answers to the ‘why’.
“I’ve been… struggling financially.”
The younger man, Theo, approached them carefully and stood beside Hank. He had seemed tall before, but next to Hank he looked hilariously tiny.
“Should I still call the police?”
“No, hang on.” Hank’s command gave Luca a tiny bit of hope, although he wasn’t sure how he was going to get himself out of this mess without getting arrested.
“Sounds like a weak excuse buddy,” James or Josh said – Luca didn’t remember which name belonged to which brother – and a finger poked him firmly in the side in a condescending way. Surprised by the sudden feeling, Luca squeaked. Curse of a ticklish body.
“What was that, little pipsqueak?” The other of the two also poked him, and Luca squeaked again.
“N-nothing! Please, I s-swear! I won’t do it again,” he whined. “I didn’t get anything, please let me go. It was a mistake.”
“Hank, I think he’s lying.” Luca felt how both men put a hand on one side each, and his eyes widened.
“Shall we show you a little trick? Might help convince him.”
As if they had communicated about it with magical twin-telepathy, both men started to move their fingers at the same time, wiggling, scratching and digging viciously into Luca’s sides in what felt like a very deliberate tickle attack, and he let out the most embarrassing series of squeals.
“Nohoho! Wah-wait! Wahahait! Dohohon’t!” he cackled. What the – ! The idea of getting tickled at this moment was absolutely absurd, but it was happening right now.
Hank first appeared annoyed by the playful prank they pulled, but then a smirk slowly made its way to his face.
“I see how it is,” he drawled. “A ticklish burglar, disturbing us on our only night off. Not what I had expected.”
“Kid's even more ticklish than Theo,” one of the guys doing the tickling said, and meanwhile Luca was going insane.
“Plehease stohohop!” Luca struggled between them, pulling at his arms that were held tightly. The men both only needed to use one hand to tickle him with, reducing him into a shameful giggling mess. They were this close to finding the bottle under his clothes. Between getting tickled to death, risking an arrest, and it having all been for nothing, that last part was probably the absolute worst.
“Oh, what’s this?”
It was bound to happen. They first felt the item he was hiding, then tugged up his hoodie and found his little package. Upon taking out and opening the tote bag, they revealed the familiar little bottle.
“It’s your whiskey, Hank.”
The look on Hank’s face darkened.
“This is what you tried to steal?” He took the bottle and held it in front of Luca’s eyes.
“….A little bonus for myself?” Luca tried.
Hank’s eyes squinted. “Tickle him.”
Wait, what the fuck?! Hank didn’t need to tell them twice. Both hands started to tickle Luca again, and he howled and squealed like a madman.
“Hohoho plehehease – nohoho! I’m – I’m sohohorry!”
“Who told you about this?” the restaurant owner asked. He gave the bottle to Theo and to Luca’s surprise and utter horror, he joined in with the tickling. He reached out and dug his fingers under both of Luca’s arms, attacking his vulnerable armpits with sudden urgency. Luca jumped and shrieked, unable to fight the ticklish sensations.
“NO-nohoho ohohone! Ahahaha plehease – hehehe! D-dohohon’t!”
“Tell us the truth and we might stop tickling you.”
Was this really happening? An interrogation? A tickle interrogation? Luca shook his head wildly and snorted.
“I cahahan’t! T-thehere’s nohothing to tehehell!”
Hank smirked. “We’ll see about that after a few more minutes of this, then. We’ve got all night.”
Panic swirled within Luca’s chest. They wouldn’t. They wouldn’t, right? No one would be so crazy to tickle a person for that long. Then again, they were crazy enough to do it right now.
Luca’s own older brother’s face flashed before his eyes and he shuddered. The whole reason this was happening. Having been orphaned since they were young boys, raised by their aunt and only remaining family member who passed away two years ago, he and his older brother both chose different ways to cope.
While Luca had poured all of his existence into his studies, gaming, programming and little gigs and jobs to earn his money, his brother Dave had chosen the less legal ways to make his life comfortable. Theft.
Having started his own little gang with like-minded young criminals, Dave was living a life entirely different from Luca and the two had barely seen each other since aunt Claire’s passing. Until the jerk was back in Luca’s life, saying he ‘missed his brother’ and would love to hang out together again.
Meaning… He had stolen Luca’s most precious possession, his laptop which he used for everything. Gaming, studying, working, earning his income. It was basically his life. Dave had known right where to hit him the hardest.
It shouldn’t have been this easy, and the campus security might have managed to avoid the whole debacle, but it had been Luca himself who was too naive and allowed Dave to come over. He had thought he was serious about wanting to catch up again like brothers, only to get stabbed in the back. After some small talk and a few sips of soda, Dave repaid Luca’s kindness with a punch in his face and ran out with his most valued item.
The smug bastard said it was easy. All Luca needed to do was join their little gang and he was sure to give him the easiest jobs. Only then he would get his laptop back.
Between the bad options of reporting his brother to the police and getting into even more trouble with the jerk and his evil friends, and actually doing as he was told with the hope that Dave would fulfill his promises as a family member should, Luca ended up choosing the second bad option and joined their gang.
For his first job, they tasked him with the strangest thing ever. He was to steal one bottle of whiskey from The Walters. Now that he had it, he was surprised it wasn’t even a properly sized bottle, so he had no idea why they would make him steal this. His first inkling was that it was purely to mess with him, but now seeing the restaurant owner’s reaction, he thought there might be more to it after all.
Oh right, Luca was laughing his head off right now. “Plehehease! It waahahas juhuhust a souvenihihir!” he lied.
“Not buying it boy,” Hank said. Luca had no idea what was so special about the baby-bottle of whiskey but apparently it was special enough to get tickled to tears for.
“Guys…” Theo mumbled, but he was ignored while the three of them continued torturing poor ticklish Luca. Feeling a certain connection, Luca tried to get Theo’s attention more. He seemed to pity him.
“Hehehelp mehehe! I’m tehehelling the truhuhuth!”
“What if he’s telling the truth?”
“Then he’s in for some more laughter for free. What’s the matter? Laughing is good,” the man on Luca’s left side said. He was burying his fingers under Luca’s arm and tickled him there without mercy.
The other man was attacking his tummy, while the big intimidating Hank attacked Luca’s slender torso with both rough and gentle tickles, from his ribs and sides down the sides of his stomach, his hips and back up again. Repeat.
Luca felt how his legs lost their strength to keep him up, but his arms were still trapped tightly and especially when he sank through his knees, this left his sensitive body and his poor underarms even more exposed and vulnerable to their attacks. If his brother was somehow watching, Luca would rather die than having to face him ever again.
“Y-you guhuhuys ahahare ehehevil!”
“Says master burglar~”
More tickling, more teasing. Help. In this vulnerable position, when both of his armpits were getting tickled mercilessly, Luca finally lost hope that he would get himself out of this with his weak excuses. The truth wasn’t any better, but it was all he had to end this humiliating torture.
“Ahahalright! I’ll talk- I’ll tahahahalk! Plehehease, I’ll tahahalk! I’ll tehehell you eheheverything!”
Hank nodded. “See?” The two jerks on Luca’s sides continued the tickling until Hank gave them a warning look.
“Stop it.”
“Alright, alright.”
They finally released Luca’s arms and he collapsed on the floor, curling up tiredly and still giggling a little while he caught his breath. He heard some sounds of them moving around, and also the soothing sound of running water.
Someone gave him a glass to drink from and he greedily accepted it. He supposed it was either Theo or Hank since the other two were the jerkiest, but without looking he gulped down the water and gasped for air.
Hank pulled a chair towards them and sat down on it. A little higher than Luca who still sat on the wooden floor, but the restaurant owner looked as big and menacing as when he was standing.
“Well, spill it.”
Luca took a deep breath and while he had wanted to just say the simplest thing, that he was tasked to steal the bottle of whiskey by a gang of bad boys, he felt like it might not be enough for them. So he told them everything. From his brother’s crimes to the way he got dragged into them, and the simple task to steal a single whiskey bottle.
“That’s all, I swear. I didn’t want to do it, he made me. I thought he was just messing with me and that the bottle was nothing special, if it was that important I wouldn’t have-”
“It isn’t special,” Hank interrupted, glancing at the others with an unreadable look in his eyes. Their silence after hearing his story was nerve-racking.
“I’m just a student and I want my laptop back, that’s all,” Luca continued. “But my brother is….” he sighed and lowered his head.
“Are you going to report me?” he finally asked in defeat.
The men were all silent for a moment longer. Not even the twins opened their mouth for a snarky remark. Luca could sense the authority of the oldest as the others probably awaited his decision.
“Well…” He glanced at the broken window, and Luca froze. Shit, he had forgotten about that damage too.
Hank smirked. “We could use a dishwasher. One of our student part-timers quit last week, so we could use the extra hands. Since you’re a student and can’t work full-time, hmm… three months of part-time work should do it. Do that, and we won’t report you or charge you for the damages.”
Luca was both relieved and horrified at the same time. Three months. An additional part-time job, and not just that. It was alongside these tickle monsters. He shuddered.
“As for your brother…” Hank paused and Luca could see him think. He then got up and walked into what looked like a storage room. They were all quiet while the big man rummaged through his things. He then came out and handed Luca a bottle that looked just slightly similar to the one he had tried to steal.
“Of course the first thing we’d suggest is to report your brother to the police, but…”
“Family affairs, the police won’t do shit,” one of the twins blurted out. Hank glared at him but didn’t reply.
“Tell him you got caught by us and that we’ll make you work your ass off for the next three months as a punishment, in exchange for not reporting you.” He smirked. “But also tell him you still managed to sneak out this. It’s one of the earlier samples. Looks like whiskey, tastes like piss. Can’t give you more than that, unfortunately.”
Luca nervously accepted the small bottle that had also had ‘Walters Whiskey’ on it and a little scribble below it: failure.
“Tch. Not even public yet and already famous for your stinking whiskey, Hank,” one of the twin jerks said.
“James, stop talking.” Hank didn’t even look at him.
“So kid, do we have a deal?” he asked. Before Luca could answer, suddenly he heard the tiny sound of a camera. They all looked at the youngest in shock: Theo, who stood there with his phone. He held it up and grinned.
“Got his picture in case he bails. We could still report him to the police in that case.”
Great. Thanks, Theo. Luca glared at him, but fair enough. If it had been the other way around, he wouldn’t blindly trust a random thief either, no matter how young, babyfaced or how sad his crybaby-excuses were.
One of the twins picked up the tote bag from the floor and tossed it at Luca’s face.
“We’ll know where to find you too.”
Luca caught the bag and unfolded it, revealing his college logo on it. Another idiot-move to add to his long list. He nodded.
“Yeah…” He took a deep breath. “T-thank you, sir,” he mumbled, turning to Hank in particular.
“Just give me the details, I’ll be here. The next three months.”
Hank’s smile looked genuine. “Sounds good, we’ve got a deal then. James, call Tom about the window.”
“But it’s almost midnight!”
As James got ignored, Hank turned to Theo. “Theodore, you exchange numbers and brief our new recruit about the job. I’ll leave him to you.”
Luca watched how all of them went to do their thing, and he was left alone with Theo, or Theodore. The youngest.
“Give me your phone.”
It wasn’t a request, but an order. Still a little shaken, Luca unlocked his phone and gave it to him. Theo swiftly entered his number and called his own number with Luca’s phone before returning it to him.
“Good. I will message you the details of your first shift. Don’t be late.” He smirked and Luca wasn’t prepared for him to suddenly reach for his stomach with a sneaky poke. He squeaked at the ticklish sensation and Theo laughed.
“Nice,” he said dryly. “See you tomorrow.”
Tomorrow already, fucking great. Getting up, he made his way to the exit and looked over his shoulder. They looked busy, making phone calls, discussing with each other, without even looking his way. He couldn’t believe they would let him go like this.
When Luca made the same mistake for the second time – trying to leave through the door – he was too flustered to call for their attention again and ask to unlock it. Instead, he quickly left through the window like the guilty thief he was and headed back home to his dormitory as fast as possible.
Still in a trance and shivering from the exhaustion and adrenaline, he messaged his brother while on his way.
Got the whiskey.
It didn’t take long for Dave to answer him. Of course not, the bastard night owl was probably up to no good at this time as well.
Good. Tomorrow at 10 AM.
Luca sighed, not looking forward to another reunion with him, but then before he could put his phone away, he received another message. It was from an unknown number, but even without an introduction, it was clear as crystal who the sender was.
First shift: tomorrow 10 AM. Don’t be late.
Well fuck.