The Gallagher house looked a little different these days. Mickey lived there with Ian, Carl had left his adolescent delinquency behind for a position on the police force, and Fiona wasn’t there to make sure things ran relatively smooth. It wasn’t total chaos or anything but Lip wasn’t nearly as strict, not to say he was exactly in charge but as the oldest sibling he took on the ‘responsible’ role as much as he could. However, after losing his job Lip was down on his luck. Money was tight, he was drinking more than usual, and hearing Ian and Mickey go at it every night wasn’t helping his sleep schedule either. But that Friday things took a turn as Ian walked into the kitchen, finding his big brother downing an oversized bowl of cereal.

“You look like shit” Ian greeted. “Thanks, man” Lip answered rather uninterested. “No job yet?” “Yeah I’m working on being one of those people that eat for a living on the internet” Lip offered without changing his dead expression. “A mukbanger haha?” “Sure” “Well, until that takes off I may have a way to make some quick cash” Ian explained as he sat at the table with a beer. “I’m all ears” “A friend of Mickey’s is taking some heat from the cops and he needs somewhere to keep some pills for a while” “…how long?” “A couple weeks, maybe a month” “And he’s willing to pay us to just babysit them?” “Yep” “Shit, yeah let’s do it. How much?” Lip lit up with the most life Ian had seen in him all week. “A couple grand I think” “Hell yeah, I’m in!” “Great, I’ll tell Mickey to let him know we can do it” Ian answered with a shared enthusiasm for the sweet opportunity.

Around 6 that evening Carl got home from his shift the same time Ian and Lip were on their way out. “Where are you guys going?” Carl asked. “We’re gonna pick up a couple pizzas from that place down the street” Lip answered. “You didn’t get mushroom again did you?” Carl questioned with obvious disgust. “We got one without, don’t worry” Ian answered with a playful pat on his brother’s shoulder. “Haha good” Carl added with a smirk before the door closed behind them and he took off his shirt to get more comfortable in his wife-beater tank top. But just when Carl started toward the bathroom for a shower he heard a knock at the door, prompting him to turn the other way and answer it.

“What’s up, man? You Mickey?” “Fuck no” Carl answered like he was happy to be able to say he wasn’t. “This is his place isn’t it?” “Yeah I guess” “Well then this is for you” the man explained while handing Carl a duffle bag. “Tell Mickey that Big Sam will let him know when he’s gonna pick em’ back up” “What even is this?” “The shit Mickey’s holding for Big Sam, what are you a fucking cop?” he asked. “…right; I’ll let Mickey know” “Thanks, man” the delivery guy answered before leaving and Carl shut the door with a confused look, unzipping the bag to find it full of bottles holding hundreds of pills. “Holy shit!”

“Pizza’s here!” Lip announced as they walked in 20 minutes later. “Where’s Debs?” Ian asked. “She’s at a friend’s house. Were you guys not gonna tell me somebody was dropping off a shit-ton of pills here??” Carl questioned. “It’s nothing; it’s just a side thing for me and Lip” Ian explained. “Dude, I’m a cop. If my house gets raided for drugs I’m off the force” Carl pointed out like he couldn’t believe he had to explain that. “Chill out, man, it’s just for a little while. We’re not gonna get caught” Lip added. “I’m not putting my job at risk so you guys can make drug money” “Carl, come on. It’s not that big of a deal” Ian tried to convince. “Well it is for me so I’m turning the pills in tomorrow to get it off the streets and out of the house” “What?! Carl you can’t fucking do that! That’s not ours!” Ian exclaimed. “Yeah and we can’t throw away the money that guy is willing to pay us!” Lip chimed in. “Sorry but I’ve made up my mind” Carl answered with conviction. “Where’s the stuff now??” Ian asked. “I hid it until I can take it in” Carl explained rather casually as he grabbed a beer. “What the fuck?! I know you’re a cop but when you’d become a narc asshole??” Lip challenged as he and Ian started frantically searching the house for the drugs they were responsible for.

Lip flipped mattresses and looked through drawers while Ian looked outside for any possible hiding spot but both brothers came up empty handed. “What the fuck do we do?” Ian asked after joining Lip in the yard. “We’ve gotta get it out of him…he cannot screw us over like this!” Lip answered with an equally stressed look. “I would say we pay him off but we don’t have money for that” Ian added. “Yeah, no shit” “…what if we made him tell us where the pills are?” Ian suggested. “What do you mean? Like beat him up or something?” Lip questioned. “I think I have an idea that might work. You know how if soldiers get captured there’s the possibility of them being interrogated for information?” Ian started. “Yeah, I guess” “Well when I was in the army there was this rumor about guys being conditioned to withstand interrogation techniques but the craziest one I ever heard of was them tickling people for hours just to see if they would break” Ian explained as Lip’s frustration shifted to more of a ‘are you fucking serious?’ look.

“I know how it sounds but this way we wouldn’t actually hurt Carl and if he’s as ticklish as he used to be, this should be a piece of cake” Ian tacked on. “…fuck it. What other options do we have?” Lip answered after realizing they probably weren’t going to locate the drugs on their own. It’d been nearly 2 hours since Carl had told them of his plan so by the time Ian and Lip reached the top of the stairs they found him knocked out in his room, tired from a day on patrol. He’d only managed to take off his boots before passing out which left him in the navy blue pants, white tube socks, and wife beater as he lye sprawled out across the bed. “Do you still have that rope from that time we had to tie Frank up?” Lip asked. “Yep” Ian answered before leaving to grab the green rope and without being caught, the two managed to tie him spread eagle to the bed, only waking him up with a few kicks to the mattress once they were ready.

“Shit, what?!” Carl asked after being startled by Ian and tried to sit up but felt a sudden strain around his wrists keeping him in place. “We need to talk about the pills, where are they?” Lip asked as seriously as he could. “I told you I’m taking the pills with me, now fucking untie me!” Carl barked while fighting with the ropes. “No, you’re gonna tell us where you hid them” Ian corrected. “Why the hell would I do that??” the 20 yr. old questioned with a bit of attitude but Ian and Lip exchanged a quick look and took a spot on either side of him. “Hey, what the fuck are you guys doing?!” Carl asked while trying to retreat toward the wall behind him. “You aren’t still ticklish are you, Carl?” Lip asked and watched his little brother’s eyes get big at the question. “Fuck that! Don’t fucking tickle me! I’m not playing around!” Carl attempted to extinguish before anything could happen but Ian poked into his stomach and Lip followed with another in his ribs, making the young officer wiggle back and forth a couple times before they really laid into him.

“AOahOhfFFuUCCkK!” Carl burst after only a few seconds of trying to hold back but with both of them on him he had no real chance of fighting it. Lip started off with solid jabs across just one side of his ribs but quickly switched to daggering in on both sides with a few sharp fingers, focusing between two of them at a time before jumping to the next without warning. Ian had pulled his shirt up enough to expose his stomach and with both hands locked around Carl’s sides, dug in with his thumbs in every direction. “AAOoHAOOhSSTToOHOoPP! AhoAohAAGgeEETToOoFFmMeeAAsSsHHoOLlLEeSs!!” Carl demanded as he floundered on the bed and tugged on the ropes as hard as he could. “Just tell us where you put the pills and we’ll stop; believe it or not I have better things to be doing” Lip answered. “AHoAohAFffuUUCCkKyYyYoOoUU!” “I guess we’ll just have to tickle it out of him; he’ll talk at some point. He has to” Ian pointed out, knowing all the Gallaghers could be quite stubborn but Carl was proving he was just as ticklish as ever.

The determined ginger ramped up his attack after Carl refused and forced him into even heavier giggles that he was still trying to fight back but Lip followed Ian’s lead and he too stepped up his approach by widening his hands across the ribs and running back and forth. “OOoHAoAOhOhaoAOhaHhoOOOLlYySSHHiITT! AHoAoACcOoOOMmEEOOON!!” Carl howled like he couldn’t believe how bad it all was, especially after thinking he’d toughened up since becoming a cop. “Look who’s been working out a little” Ian teased with a few playful slaps across Carl’s shallow abs before dipping into his bellybutton with a single finger. “AAAOhAHNNoOOAoAHAOAa!!” “Woah, listen to that!” Ian pointed out with an excited smile as he returned to the bellybutton and swirled around this time, watching Carl’s face light up with sudden panic. “AAhoAHAOhAoHAAohAA FFfuUUCckKOoOFFWWiIiITTHhhTTHhAAATT!!” “Oh he really doesn’t like that” Lip added to fuck with Carl more as he thrashed around in hopes of escaping the unwanted attention.

They hadn’t really rough housed with each other or goofed around that much in recent years like they used to but Lip and Ian’s devious brotherly instincts were in full force, bringing out the part of them that got a real kick out of tickling the shit out the other. Ian leaned across Carl’s leg to keep him from moving around even more and continued wiggling into his extra sensitive bellybutton like he could do it all night while Lip found his own sweet spot between the ribs and armpits. “AAAohAOAAoAMMoOOoTthheeRRrFfuUUcKERR!!! AhoAAGgEETOOOFFF!!” Carl shouted as Lip’s steady hands zeroed in, planting a few fingers on each side and vibrating in to really get him going. “I’m starting to see why the military might use this on people” Lip added while Carl jerked at the ropes and laughed even harder under their double-team attack.

“We’ll have the drugs out the house within a couple weeks; just tell us where they are” Ian tried to persuade while swirling around in his navel with a casual yet maddening circular motion. “AahAohAohAIIIMMNnNnOOoTTttEeEElLLLIInNNGG!!” “Well, if you’re gonna play it that way I guess I’ll see what other spots I can find” Ian answered as he got off the bed and moved around to the end of the mattress to kneel between Carl’s socked feet. Lip was still drilling into his upper body too much for Carl to pay attention to what Ian was doing until he felt a sudden few scratches along his right foot, sparking fresh anxiety all over his face. “AhoANNOO!! DDOOnNnTtmMEeSSsWWiIiTThHMmYyFFEEETT!!” “I think he said ‘please mess with my feet’” Lip intercepted with a fiendish smirk. “I’m gonna ditch the sock first though; it’s really just in the way” Ian added as he stripped the dirty sock right off and revealed the size 12 that’d been marinating in the thick police boot all day.

“AAhOaOhaFFfUUuCckKIInNGGCcHHiiLLL!!” Carl protested to try and at least slow his brothers down as his naked toes curled with anticipation. “You know what we want” Ian reminded before descending onto the perfectly helpless foot with 10 rapid fingers. “NNOOAohAoAahAOhaAA!!” barreled out of Carl with another violent buck against the bed but Ian didn’t miss a beat, instead sitting across his ankle to pin his leg down under his thigh. He spidered all over the smooth sole now that Carl couldn’t try to avoid him while Lip locked onto the incredibly vulnerable armpits practically inviting him over. Lip leaned across Carl’s stomach for better control and taunted his brother with a slow, creeping wiggle of his fingers up his sides toward the wide-open pits. “AAAHoAHNooNNO!! LLiIIIpPPcCoOMmmEEOoNN!!” But Lip just grinned at the squirrelly reaction and kept inching closer until finally filling both underarms, realizing in the moment that interrogating Carl was turning out to be the most fun he’d had in a long time.

“AHOAFFfuUuuCCkKkOOOFFf!! AHoAHoAhAohAAANNOOnNooAOHaOhaO!!” “You want me to stop?” Lip asked. “AOHAYyYeEESS!!” “Then tell us where you put the pills” “AhOHANnNNOoOO!!” Carl doubled down and Lip’s initial fluttering suddenly became more aggressive, digging around in the excellent targets to bump his laughter up even higher. Meanwhile Ian had discovered just about every inch of Carl’s feet to be a trigger spot which convinced him to keep with a wide-spread approach as he scribbled along the wrinkling pink sole. “Squirmy isn’t he?” Ian laughed as he corralled Carl’s big toe with one finger to steady the foot and started scratching up and down with a slight wiggle to his stokes. “AhAOAAhAo iIIMmGGoNnnAaKKIiIiCCkKYYyoOuUURRAASsEeSSS!!” “Now that I’d like to see” Ian answered as he started again at the rather plump balls and dragged all the way down until he slipped off the heel.

Carl was close to breaking a sweat and even though he’d never known Lip or Ian to be big ticklers, it seemed to be a natural, untapped skill both brothers had in their back pocket. The youngest of the three could tell they weren’t going to stop until he gave up but he also knew such steady, focused tickling would surely force him to spill the beans before Lip or Ian got tired of trying. “AHAOOKKOOKK!! aHoAHAHAohAOHAIIIllLTTTEEllLYyYoOOouU!!!” Carl shouted and that convinced both of them to stop tickling for a minute. “Alright so where are they?” Lip asked. “…under the deck” “I already checked there” Ian added. “Must’ve not looked good enough” Carl suggested and Ian left to go look while Carl caught his breath. “You can untie me now” “I will once he comes back with the stuff” Lip answered just as his phone started ringing. “Shit, I’ve gotta take this” he added before walking out the room, leaving Carl by himself as he started yanking and struggling with the ropes around his wrists.

“He fucking lied; it wasn’t there!” Ian announced as he walked back in to see Carl free his left hand. “No way, you’re not going anywhere” Ian assured as he swooped in and grabbed his free arm. “Get off me, dickhead!! This is bullshit!” Carl argued but couldn’t match Ian’s strength, forcing him to try and jerk loose of the other corner without any help while Ian tried to tie him back. But the sight of Carl’s belt lying on the floor caught his attention and before Carl could get his other hand free he heard the familiar clicking of handcuffs and felt metal around his wrist. “Fuck me…” Carl let out with a frustrated sigh and pulled on the cuffed wrist to see the other end was attached to bed frame around the same time Lip came back.

“What happened to you??” Ian asked. “I had to take a call. Shit, what happened?” “He almost got out” “You guys have fucking lost it” Carl added like he still couldn’t believe they were willing to keep interrogating him. “I know you’re my brother and all but you’re in the way of us getting paid or worse if we don’t have those drugs so you’re not giving us much choice” Lip explained. “So where are they?” Ian asked with a firmer tone to his voice than before. “…it’s not my fault you guys can’t find them” Carl answered like he wasn’t fazed. “Alright, we can be assholes too if that’s what you want” Ian assured before sitting back across the left ankle and Lip decided to join him at the other one, mimicking his position. “Just let me go – this is fucking crazy!” Carl demanded with another jerk just as Lip tugged off the remaining sock so both feet were fully exposed.

“Damn, Carl. You’ve gotta change your socks more often” Lip pointed out as he caught a good whiff but Carl was too busy still trying to free his roped wrist to quip back at him. Ian and Lip made eye contact for a second as if to synch up before launching onto the ripe bare feet, both brothers ready to give him their worst. Carl bit his lip but broke after only a few seconds and was bucking around on the bed once again with twice the attention on his taffy pink soles. “AAAohAOhAOhAAAAohAFFfuUUCCK! AHoAHaohAAAnNoOOnNNooHAoHAGGEeEETTToOOFFmMMEEE!!” Carl raged but neither brother responded, too focused on cracking him to bother. Lip pried the toes back for a less wrinkly target and it made every scratch and scribble that much worse as he dragged his nails every which way across the balls and arch, a little impressed that Carl’s feet were relatively soft. Ian already knew his entire foot was covered in hot spots so he decided to try his toes, holding them back a little like Lip was and running along the plush undersides. “AAAAHoAHAOHAOAOOSSHHIIIiTT!!” Carl’s laughter shot up into squeaky squeals of giggly surprise between the full-bodied laughter.

“Holy shit haha. What’d you do?” Lip asked after hearing the wild reaction. “Go for his toes!” Ian suggested to Carl’s horror and before he could try and prevent Lip from taking the advice, he felt another wave of unruly sensations from his other set of bubbly toes. “NNOOoAHoAHOAOOAoAAOhA!! AohAoHAAOhaSSTTOOOOPP!! FFFuUUCCkKIInNNGGFFFrRREeAAAkksS!!” Carl tried to insult for being willing to tickle him so enthusiastically but they just laughed at his suddenly more desperate outburst as they both scratched along his savory toes. Lip figured finding such an intense weak spot would accelerate their interrogation but Carl was proving extra stubborn today despite flailing on the bed and laughing like they’d flipped a switch on him, prompting the brain of the family to look around until he saw something that could be useful.

“Carl, you really just leave old toothbrushes lying around? That’s disgusting” Lip added as he stopped tickling for a moment to grab a random toothbrush from a pile of clothes. “AhAOoHAAIiiTtSsSSMmEEeLLiIiSssAAASs AAAsSShHOOoLlLEE!!” “So you let your girlfriend leave her toothbrush lying around? I don’t know if that’s any better” Ian chimed in without leaving the rich toes unattended. Even though he’d fired back at Lip, Carl hadn’t actually thought about why he’d grabbed the toothbrush until he felt a new, somewhat prickly feeling on his toes. “WWhAAaTTTthHhEEFffuUucCKKiIiSsTTHhAAAT?!?! AHAHaahoAhAoAHAOH!!” Carl let out with a wide-eyed look down toward his brothers but couldn’t see Lip scrubbing the old brush between his fleshy toes, only able to feel the askew bristles working in and out like he was cleaning the entire row. “Well I think you found a use for the old toothbrush after all” Ian grinned as more and more high-pitched squeals broke through Carl’s heavy laughter.

With Lip now wielding a tickle weapon, Ian decided to leave him at Carl’s feet and return to his upper body to see if he couldn’t help force him to talk. “I think I remember your legs being ticklish but maybe I’m wrong…” Ian proposed before sinking into his thigh and squeezing a couple times, getting a violent jerk from Carl and another quick yelp of confirmation. “Good to know” Ian added with a grin before straddling just above his knee to keep his leg in place. “AHANNoOONOO!!! FFUUucCkKOoOFFFMmMAAANN!!” “One way or another we’re getting those pills; you’re just making it harder on yourself” Ian assured before plunging back into his thigh and squeezing in with a tight grip.

“OOAohaOhoaAOHAOhAAOHAOhGGOOoDddAAMMIIITTAHoaHAOHAOAAOH!!” Carl bowed away from the bed with a wave of fresh hysterics as Ian kneaded into his upper leg with just one hand, even soon making it worse by reaching around and doing the same to his knee for extra motivation. The baby-faced policeman couldn’t hide how overwhelmed he was by the onslaught of tickling, his cheeks flushed and his muscles getting tired of fighting them but he was determined to hold out as long as he could. However, the reality of actually being able to keep his mouth shut quickly became less likely when he heard another voice from the doorway.

“What the fuck is going on??” Mickey asked like he couldn’t figure out what he’d walked in on. “Carl took the pills for Big Sam and he won’t tell us where they are” Lip explained. “aHoAHMMiICCkKeEEyY! HAhAhHhEElLlPpmMeE!!” “Are you serious? So he took the fucking pills and you’re…tickling him??” “Just pick a spot and help us out” Ian instructed. “Man this is a weird house sometimes” Mickey pointed out before moving around to the side of the bed opposite from Ian and diving into Carl’s vacant armpits. “AANNnOONOAHoHAOAHAFFFfUUUUCCCkKYyYooOuUUU!!” “Did he just say ‘fuck you’?” Mickey asked his husband with a look of disbelief. “Yeah I think he did” Ian answered, knowing Carl had made the wrong move. “Oh you’re asking for it, Gallagher” Mickey assured as his initial pokes became jackhammering jabs at the base of both sweaty pits.

Carl’s face lit up with the sudden avalanche of sensations only to remember he couldn’t pull his arms down to even try and protect himself, his reaction getting a sadistic laugh from Mickey as he wrecked his brother-in-law. “How’s that, kid?” Mickey taunted with his cruel fingers never letting up and Ian still squeezing into his thigh and knee. “Just give us the pills, Carl…you can’t last much longer, not at this rate” Lip tried to encourage as he started on the opposite foot to brush between the other set of toes. “AAHAOhAoAohAanNNNOOO!!” Carl refused once again but they could all tell he wasn’t nearly as confident in his position this time.

“I’ll get you talking” Mickey promised with a knack for making guys change their minds when he needed them to. It was obvious that the addition of Mickey was helping turn the tide but Carl still wasn’t budging, convincing Ian to return to a spot he’d discovered earlier on. Ian abruptly stopped tickling his knee, wet his finger with his mouth real quick, and slipped back into Carl’s bellybutton. “OoAOhAohaoAOHAAOHANnNNOOOOO! AhaOAHGGeETTTOUUUTTAATTHheEERREEE!! SSHhIIITT!!” shot out of Carl as if it was even worse now for some reason. “Tell us where the pills are, Carl…I know you want to” Ian tried to coax while swirling around in his tight bellybutton and still squeezing into his thigh, even moving up an inch or two on his leg to make it worse.

“AAHAOAOhAOhAAAOhaOhAIIiICcAAANNTT!! AHoAAOhAAAOhAohAohAJJuUUSSTttSSTTOOoppPP!!” “Yes you can, Carl; just tell us” Lip added as he started scrubbing across the entire row of buttery toes. “You better tell us something or I’ll get Mickey to start licking your feet” Ian warned. “I’ll fucking do it too; I don’t give a shit” Mickey assured while still destroying the glossy pits and Ian continued stirring around in the hyper ticklish bellybutton with just one brutal finger. “AAhOAhAOOOKKOOKK!! AhAOHAOHAAOHA IILlLfFuUuCkKIInNNGGTTEELLlLYYoOOUUU!!!” Carl shouted about a minute later with a glimmer of exhausted fear in his eye thanks to the gang tickling and threat of Mickey’s tongue going after his feet. “So where is it? For real this time” Ian asked once they all stopped.

“…under my bed” “What? I could’ve sworn I looked under there” Lip added with a dumbfounded look. “…in the cutout” Carl pointed out and Ian and Mickey looked under the bed to find the piece of floor that’d been cut out and placed back. Ian came back up with the duffle bag and they checked to find all the pills still there. “Why do you have a secret hole in the floor?” Ian asked. “…that’s for me to know, now fucking untie me” Carl answered and they all helped untie and un-cuff him from the bed. “At my house we just beat the crap out of people until we got what we wanted” Mickey added. “I think I’d rather have had that” Carl answered. “I think this way was a little more fun” Ian suggested with a smirk from Lip toward Carl who of course wasn’t amused, “You guys suck. I can’t wait to get back to dealing with regular criminals tomorrow.”