I got the idea to do this story back in August, but never really got to it. But hey, now that it's October... I feel it's appropriate.
What time is it?
The thought occurred to a blood-eyed Lincoln as he rubbed his tired eyelids. The young man was feeling sleepy, but refused to let himself return to his bedroom. There was a magnetic pull in staying locked in the bathroom, as his mind was assaulted by a barrage of thoughts.
One specific thought.
Another break-up.
How many had he racked up by now? He guessed the third. Their names weren't even clear to him, as all he could recall from them were a swirl of feminine faces. Three girls he had dated over four years, ever since fifth grade, and all of his relationships ended the same. Heart-crushing breakups.
He refused to cry, though. He had cried the first time, back when he was eleven, but he promised himself to never again allow himself to shed tears like that. Now he was fifteen; he needed to prove this point to himself.
But damn, if crying wasn't tempting right now…
What was he thinking about again?
"Oh yeah," he croaked, massaging his throat slightly before continuing, "Was going to check the time."
He reached into his pocket and grabbed his smartphone, pressing the home button before placing it in front of his face. Blinding light emerged, attacking his pupils, and he gave a silent grunt of discomfort. It was three in the morning, from what he could read. Exactly three.
"Three AM and I'm stuck in the bathroom thinking about girls… that could be funny in a different context," Lincoln said with a small chuckle. He opened the camera to check his own reflection, running his fingers through his snowy hair. He wasn't bad looking, all things considered. He had more of a mature edge than he did before, as slight traces of sideburns began to appear on his face and the dark bags under his eyes, while still noticeably present, were less prominent than before.
He was handsome enough, he could say without sounding too vain about it. So why, oh why…
The doorknob to the bathroom shook, snapping Lincoln out of his thoughts and drawing his attention to the door. It stopped, followed by a short, melodious knock. "Is someone in there?" came a monotonous voice, that Lincoln recognized as his younger sister, Lucy.
He grinned slightly. Of course Lucy would knock the door like that…
"It's just me," he called back, in a bit of a quiet tone, "I'm coming out right now."
The young man grabbed his pants and ruffled them, pretending to put them back on. He stood and lifted the toilet seat, only to slam it back down and flush. It was a waste of water, but he'd rather that than Lucy asking why else he was holed up in the restroom…
He opened the door, and saw Lucy standing by, waiting patiently. She had both of her hands behind her back, while she gave Lincoln a wide and downright unnerving grin, especially coming from the normally deadpan girl. Lincoln raised an eyebrow, causing Lucy to deflate slightly.
"Sigh. You caught me," said the twelve year old Goth, as she revealed what was behind her back. Lincoln wasn't surprised to see it was a Princess Pony novel. However, he was surprised to see it was the eighth novel in the 'Companionship is Magecraft' spin-off series. By Lucy's own admissions, this one was the most saccharine of an already surgary series.
"I thought you saved that for special occasions," Lincoln said, pointing at the brightly colored novel. Lucy gave a brief nod, before hugging the book to her chest.
"Halloween is approaching," she said, "My favorite night of the year, where all the ghosts and ghouls and dark dreads of our race are celebrated in an ecstasy of darkness. I needed to purge myself of all my softer feelings," she patted the pink book, "so I can truly dedicate myself to that holiday."
"Oh, that's right. Halloween is coming up," Lincoln said softly.
"D-did you forget?" Lucy asked, her tone a combination of bafflement and… was that hurt he detected? "We were supposed to… work together this year. On designs for the haunted house."
Oh, that's why she's hurt, Lincoln thought, before giving his head a quick shake and smacking his cheeks, Come on, Lincoln, big brother mode. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Think about someone else.
"Don't worry, Lucy, I didn't forget," he said, giving her a weak smile, "Just a little sleep-deprived. I'm already coming up with ideas, actually,"
"Yay. I'm so happy to have you on board, Lincoln," she said. Lucy's face remained as expressionless as ever, but that just made Lincoln chuckle.
"Yeah, I can tell."
"I truly mean it, brother," Lucy said, "Though our family will all be assisting me, and I'm truly grateful for their dedication and effort… I'm glad that, this year, we can work together."
"I… I am, too. Let's, uh, let's knock the neighborhood's socks off," Lincoln weakly swung his hand in an encouraging manner. The sides of Lucy's lips twitched in the direction of a smile, so Lincoln knew he had done his part. The tired boy turned away from his raven haired sister towards his bedroom, ready to call it a night, when he heard a faint "Wait!" coming from her.
He glanced over his shoulder at the Goth, and the look on her face was more serious than before. "I forgot to ask… how are you doing? With your… recent misfortune?"
"It's just a break-up. I'm… I'm doing fine. I know how to deal with these. After all, I have had a few of them," he said with a bark of laughter. Lucy wasn't convinced, though. Her face remained unchanged, and she took a step towards her brother.
"Lincoln, it's alright to embrace your sadness. If you need to, I'm always here to listen to you…"
"I'm fine, Lucy. Really. You don't have to worry about me," Lincoln said, touched by his sister's concern, but he really didn't want to talk about it…
"I can compose a poem for you. Express your dark feelings in a way that no other expression can…"
"Lucy, just drop it…"
"Believe me, Lincoln, there is a girl out there for you…"
"Well, that's a relief!" Lincoln suddenly snapped, "There's a girl out there for me? Well that's great. Where is she? Maybe she's in other country, and I'll go on a wild romcom journey to find her. Or maybe one of my past girlfriends comes back for a round two, and we live happily ever after this time. Or maybe, and this would be a real shocking message for me, but maybe she was under my nose the whole time, and I just couldn't see it for whatever fucking reason," Lincoln didn't even care that he was dropping f-bombs at this point, "But right now, nothing has worked for me. No one has. So can you just drop it?"
Silence hung over them when he finished his little rant, and there was no sound other than the snoring of a few of their louder sisters. The dark haired girl opened her mouth to respond, but instead hung her head. "I-I'm sorry," she said, making Lincoln immediately feel guilty.
"Lucy, I…" he started, but Lucy had already swung around into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Lincoln heard the sharp click of the lock, forcing him to swallow heavily.
"Great. Just great, Lincoln…"
The next day rolled around, just like the white haired boy did in his bed. He awoke feeling groggy and tired, not having even close to enough sleep. His eyes felt as tired as they did the night before as he sat up in his bed, hunching over. He opened his mouth to yawn, and was surprised by the roar he accidentally let out. "Wow," he said in a worn out tone, "I really didn't do myself any favors last night."
His brain pinged him with a sense of guilt, but Lincoln had a hard time placing it. He closed his eyes (a little smile of relief enveloping his face as he did) and ran through his recent memories when a beautiful pale face popped into his mind…
Lucy.
He stretched out his arms, listening to his elbows cracking and popping, before glancing over Bun Bun. The little rabbit toy was always on his side, but right now it was glaring at him with disapproval in its dark eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. I know. I'll apologize to her and make things right. Let me just shower and brush first," he said to the small stuffed animal. The patronizing stare remained, which made Lincoln scoff. "You know, I hate to say it, but if you don't stop making me feel bad… next time Lynn and Luan start mocking me for having you, I will give you to Lily."
The judgmental look in its eyes only intensified.
Lincoln sighed. "Alright, you know I wouldn't give you away. Just give me a second, okay?"
The young man exited his room and made his way through the hall. He could hear the majority of his siblings (at least, the ones that still lived there) were downstairs, chattering and eating. He could distinctly hear Lola cry out "LANA! LYNN! STOP!" as the two tomboys laughed.
"Just another day in the Loud House," Lincoln said to himself, a light chuckle emerging from him. He quickly brushed his teeth, before hopping into the shower and allowing a light rain of warm water to fall on him. He closed his eyes as the stream ran down his body, letting out a little sigh of relief, hanging his head back into the shower…
Which, of course, was the best time for someone to start banging on the door.
Another sigh, but it was the opposite of relief.
Lincoln closed the shower and quickly grabbed his Ace Savvy merchandise towel, wrapping it around his lower body. He checked the mirror, glancing over his face, unblemished by the curses of puberty. "Looking good," he said to himself, trying to cheer himself up slightly.
It didn't work.
Right before he left the bathroom, his eye wandered to the toilet, and he noticed something colorful standing next to the porcelain throne. He peered at it, and saw that it was Lucy's rosy colored novel (though, by its size, it was more of a doorstop that doubled as a weapon). Seemed like Lucy had forgotten it.
Lincoln swallowed. He wanted to give it back to her, but then his sisters would see him carrying it, and considering how well it went every other time… he really didn't need it…
The person on the other side knocked again, so Lincoln just surrendered to it. He scooped up the book and opened the door to the bathroom to reveal Luna, bouncing slightly in place.
"What took you so long, bro? Can't you read your girly books somewhere else?" she ridiculed, before rushing in and closing the door behind her.
Lincoln's eyes widened. "She must've really had to go if that's the most mocking thing she could manage. Course, that was just a sneak peek of what's to come…"
He made his way down the stairs after he changed into his usual orange polo and jeans. He then walked into the kitchen, greeting everyone with a sweeping "Good morning."
All the girls present stopped their chatter and looked over to their brother. Lincoln noticed them all staring at the Princess Pony book in his hand, but to his surprise, no one said anything about it. He received a "Good Morning, Lincoln," from a few of his sisters, but none of them mocked the book.
"Hey, Lincoln," Lynn said, "How, uh, how are you holding up, champ?"
Champ?
"Are you feeling fine, Linky?" Lola asked, genuine concern in her tone.
"Anything you need, just come to me," Lana offered, giving him a light smile, and Lincoln saw what was going on.
"Everyone, everyone, I'm fine," he said, trying to give a confident beam, but it looked more like a smile in pain.
"You're not convincing anyone, bro," Lynn said, shaking her head, "We know you're still reeling."
"It's… it's fi…" Lincoln sighed. He couldn't bring himself to lie. "It hurts, okay? I'll admit it. I just… need some time…"
"It's fine. We'll hold off on making fun of you until then," Luan said, pointing at the book, "But when we do…"
"Yeah, I got it," Lincoln said with an unamused look on his face. He glanced around the kitchen, noticing a certain ravenette was missing. "Hey, um… where's Lucy?"
"She's still upstairs. Said she wasn't hungry, and I saw her scribbling in her notebooks," Lynn said with a shrug, "It was either poetry or ideas for the haunted house."
"Oh yeah. It's in a few days, right?"
"Uh... more like a few weeks. Me, I'm just waiting on Leni to mail us the costumes she promised to sew…" Lana said.
"I requested a Dr. Frankenstein costume from her, but when she sent pictures for reference, they were all of Albert Einstein," Lisa deadpanned.
After that, all the sisters began to voice which costumes they'd be wearing, but Lincoln turned and left to go get Lucy. He stumbled a bit up the stairs and towards her room, only stopping to take a gaze towards Lori's and Leni's room. Or rather, their former room. The two of them were off at college, living together off-campus. Their room was empty now, no one really wanting to move in. For the most part, their room was used for future Sister Fight Protocols or when one/both of them dropped in for a visit. Lincoln eyed their room and realized; Damn, he missed them both…
"Can I go two steps today without feeling bad about something?"
He approached Lucy's door and knocked gently, waiting for an answer. When he got none, he pressed his ear to the door, and heard the sound of a pen scrawling over a piece of paper. He nodded to himself. She was decent, there was no way she was, uh, making use of her alone time.
Like that one time he walked in on her, one hand on her budding right breast while another was hidden under the sheets…
Okay, time to open the door.
He peered into Lynn and Lucy's room, and saw the pale girl sitting on her knees, surrounded by notebooks and blueprints that littered her dark bed. She glanced from one to the other, a pen in one hand, occasionally making hurried notes on one of the pages. "What is it?" she asked, not glancing up from her work.
"Um… you forgot this in the bathroom," Lincoln said, extending his arm towards her, her Princess Pony novel in hand. Lucy's gaze rose to see what he was referring to, when she gave a audible "GASP!" and ripped the book from his hands.
"D-did anyone…" she said, her voice completely overtaken with nervousness.
"No, they all thought it was mine," Lincoln said in a soft, relaxing tone, trying to calm his younger sister. He knew that, when it came to teasing, Lucy handled it the worst, but that simply was because she had dealt with it a lot as a child, more than her sisters. The popular blonde and aggressive jock didn't attract as many taunts and bullies as the quiet, pale, thin girl. She was often called ugly for her build and complexion, something that deeply bothered Lincoln to hear. How was she ugly?
Yes, she was pale, but it wasn't the sickly white of a corpse. It was a smooth shade of ivory and snow. It contrasted her well-kept raven hair, and her body, while not the most fine-tuned, was hardly skinny. She may have been petite and thin, but it wasn't unhealthy. And judging from how her growth had been treating her so far… it wasn't hard to assume she would grow into a shapely woman…
"Thank you, Lincoln," she said, returning back to her usual tone and drawing her brother back to reality, "I hope they… didn't tease you too much."
"No, but… they promised they would later," he chuckled softly.
"I… I appreciate you putting yourself in that situation. For me. I know how dark and clouded your thoughts are, and the poison our sisters could slew," she pressed the heavy tome to her body, "Well… I'm less upset than before."
Lucy gently placed the book next to the wall, letting it stand upright. She then extended a hand to move some of the loose papers and books covering her bed to the side, giving Lincoln room to sit. He accepted, sitting close to her, and feeling some of her stray breaths escape. "So…"
"So," she repeated, turning away from him again. Lincoln sighed as he realized what he would have to say.
"I'm sorry about what I said. I… I shouldn't have snapped at you when you were trying to make me feel better."
Lucy didn't face him yet, but she did stop pretending like she was working.
"I get if you're still upset," he said, patting her gently on her leg, "I guess I'll leave you…"
"I meant it."
Lincoln stared at her curiously, raising an eyebrow. Lucy stared back, the bangs covering her eyes a little more sharp than when she was eight, and she cocked her head to the side, beaming faintly.
"I mean it, Lincoln. In this desolate and apathetic universe, all beings are bound to at least one other by a red string of fate, one other who can combat the loneliness of the world. I believe there is some out there for you. You just need to find her," she rasped.
Lincoln lightly smirked, before glancing at the ground. "You really think so?"
"Yes. Why… why wouldn't you?" Lucy's cheeks began to blush, "You're so kind and handsome and smart…"
And Lucy would know. Though she couldn't spend as much time in the vents as she used to, her body growing from that eight year old build, on the good days when she could squeeze through the vents, she would often occupy herself by staring down at her older brother, admiring his physique. Her cheeks would burn as Lincoln disrobed to read his comics, but that didn't stop her from admiring his every shape and curve. The little time he spent exercising did pay off, she noted, and the soft look of his ashy curls made him that much more unique to her. Truly, any woman that could have him would be lucky.
The thought caused Lucy a stab of jealousy. Envy towards the woman that would take her brother from her.
The women before had failed, but how long would it be until one of them succeeded in becoming his girlfriend? How long until Lincoln wasn't there for her anymore?
"Uh, Lucy?" It was Lincoln's turn to draw his sister back to reality.
"I hope you can find the right woman…" Lucy finally said, in a voice not much louder than a whisper.
Her words hung in the air, as Lincoln and Lucy stared at each other, their faces separated by inches. He could feel her cool breaths on his face, and she felt his warmer essence on hers, and both of their skins tingled. Lincoln swallowed heavily, his face reddening, before he finally shook his head as if he were waking up from a trance.
"No," he said, "Let's not make it what happened on Christmas…"
Lucy's eyes widened underneath her dark hair. "I didn't know you remembered that…" she said with a hint of shock in her tone.
"Yeah, I do," he said, turning his face away, "And it was just a… a fun little thing that we did, a-as siblings. As a brother and sister just having fun on Christmas. Nothing… more…"
"Sigh. I agree," Lucy said, though her tone was as unconvinced as his was. She could sense another uncomfortable silence heading their way, and quickly decided to take action, grabbing a small notebook to her left and showing it to Lincoln, "This is, uh, something I came up with for Lily. For the haunted house."
Right. We're working together on this little show, Lincoln thought before he said, "Cool. What is it?"
"I was thinking that, for Lily, we suspend her in the air with a rope, and have her fly towards the guests. In her morbid costume of course."
"Couldn't that be dangerous, though? For both Lily and the guests?"
Lucy rubbed her chin, visualizing the worst case scenario. A small smile bloomed on her face as she imagined the screams she could get, but that faded as she remembered the most important rule she promised her parents;
Not to make her holiday as dangerous as Luan's holiday.
"Sigh. I'll come up with something better. But still macabre enough for our ears to ring with fright," Lucy relented, before giving her brother a brief nod, "Thank you, Lincoln."
"No problem, Lucy. We are going to be partners on this, so I guess this'll be my job," he said with a light chuckle, "Anyways, when do you need me back? I promised Clyde we could meet up at the comic store."
"Nerd," Lucy deadpanned, a wide and mocking grin growing on her face.
"I think the real nerds are people who read Princess Pony," he shot back, a teasing smirk on his face.
"Then yeah, you're still the nerd," a third voice said. Lincoln and Lucy's eyes shot back to the doorway, where Lynn Jr. had just strolled in. She threw herself on the bed, lifting her neck to look at her two younger siblings, "By the way, you two look like you're going to make out."
The sporty girl watched Lincoln and Lucy's mouths drop to the ground, and she shrugged. "I'm just saying…"
A few hours later, Lincoln and his best friend Clyde McBride were in the comic book store, scrolling through the aisles. So many genres and so many characters and worlds to explore… too bad their hearts were stolen by one particular series.
Why am I acting like you don't know which one? It's Ace Savvy. It's always Ace Savvy.
"I'm glad that you came with me, Lincoln," Clyde said as they walked past a Muscle Fish cardboard cut-out, "How are you, uh, doing with your recent break-up?"
"I won't lie, it does still hurt a little," Lincoln said, rubbing the back of his neck in shame, "I thought we had something special, and there was no chance she was going to move to the city like someone… It's stings, Clyde. It does," he gave a brief smile, however, "Of course, my sisters have been helping me move past it. Especially Lucy. We're working on a haunted house together…"
"Oh. You mean like back when we were eleven?" Clyde asked, "I remember a lot of corn…"
"This year we're doing a house, not a corn maze," Lincoln said with a shrug, "Lucy watched a reboot of some old timey haunted house movie… the reboot where they cast only women with dyed hair. Anyways, she was so offended she decided to make her own. 'I'll show those sacrilegious money-grubbers what true terror is,'" he said in his best Lucy impression, making Clyde crack a smile.
"So sounds like you're feeling a bit better."
"I guess I am. Still…" he exhaled heavily through his nose, looking off wistfully, "I just wish it ended better."
His bespectacled friend gave him a light slap on the back, and a friendly grin. "Well, allow me to finish what Lucy started. We'll have such a great time, you won't even remember what a break-up is."
"That's the plan," Lincoln chuckled as he glanced to the side. When he did, however, his already weak smile quickly slid off his face.
Over by the pretentious graphic novel section was a familiar classmate of theirs, a boy by the name of Chandler. And towering over him, glowering aggressively at him… two unfortunately familiar bullies; Hank and Hawk.
Lincoln scowled. Hank and Hawk, on the prowl close to Halloween… not a good omen, as Lucy would say.
He stopped in his tracks, encouraging Clyde to do the same. As soon as Clyde caught sight of the two hunkering figures, he knew to stop and crouch down slightly, to get a good view. Neither of them could hear, but it was clear that the two were threatening Chandler. Lincoln watched as Hawk's hand slipped into his pocket, and his eyes widened as he saw the outline of a knife.
There were many people in the world that should not have weapons on their persons. Hank and Hawk were up there.
There was a back and forth between the two giants and the redheaded teen, which ultimately ended with Chandler hanging his head and giving a reluctant nod. The two grinned and slapped each other high fives, with a booming "Awesome, bro!" "I know, bro!" before leaving Chandler and the store.
Chandler grimaced as he ripped a large comic (probably an omnibus edition). "All I wanted was the reprint of Wanderers," he muttered under his breath as he passed by Lincoln and Clyde, "Why did they have to put it here, with other horror comics? Crossovers belong in the crossover section…"
Lincoln glanced back at Clyde. "Hey, Clyde… do you think that… Hank and Hawk might bother us this year?"
All his friend could do was shrug. "I hope not, but… there's no telling with those two."
Lincoln grimmed. "I just don't want a repeat of what happened back then," he said, remembering how those two almost wrecked Lucy's Halloween. He remembered how devastated she had been, slouching over with her frown more pronounced than usual. It broke his heart to see her like that, and even though everything worked out in the end, Lincoln cared for his spooky sister too much to let her feel that way again.
Plus, he remembered how, at the end of the night, Lucy turned to him, in high spirits about her success. And Lincoln saw her cute… no, beautiful smile across her fair, snowy face. His heart skipped a beat when he saw it, but he'll never forget how wonderful she looked…
I'll watch out for those two, Lincoln thought, For Lucy's sake.