This is not the chapter I wanted to post soon after I published the first one chapter for this fic, but the idea was too good to prolong. Especially since Lucy is my favorite Loud character and I ship Lincoln with Haiku.
~Enjoy
The perfect word to describe Lincoln's current situation is 'awkward.' The reason? His baby sister, Lucy, is quiet. That might not sound strange to anyone considering the child in question is barely eight months old, but if the child is from the Loud family, it is a completely understandable. Especially if you consider the fact that baby Lucy is not even sleeping, she is fully awake. Also, she has yet to shed a single tear since she was born.
Lincoln Loud has helped take care each of his sisters when they were just mere infants ever since his first sister was born and each experience were basically the same, a crying and wailing baby girl who wanted attention. Right now, there is no crying baby, only a quiet eight months old girl, a REALLY quiet eight months old girl.
Currently he and Lucy are the only ones home; the older brother reading a comic book with the new Loud baby is sitting quietly in her crib while everyone else were busy doing their own things. His parents are at their respective job as usual and his sisters were out in five separate slumber parties with their respective circle of friends.
Despite the creepy and awkward silence, Lincoln actually enjoys spending time with baby sister Lucy. After having to help take care of his other five Loud sisters, it is a nice change of pace of taking care of a younger sibling who does not cry 24/7 for the first couple of years.
So all in all, Lincoln is enjoying a quiet afternoon along with his baby sister in the living room.
After flipping to the next page, Lincoln looks up from his comic to check up on his baby sister. As always, Lucy is sitting quietly inside her crib watching the TV, which is showing a colorful cartoon that is appropriate for toddlers. The albino-haired boy cracked a small smile as he got up from the couch before walking up to Lucy's crib.
He patted Lucy on the head, this always get his sisters to smile and laugh back then, but Lucy did not even let out a giggle. Lincoln pouted a little; he has been trying to getting a reaction from Lucy ever since she was born, but no luck so far.
Lincoln looked at the cartoon that was being shown on TV.
"How are you liking Dora the Explorer, Lucy?" He rhetorically asked, not really expecting an answer from her, but he did. Lucy's answer was grabbing a small pillow from her crib and chucking it at Lincoln's face.
At first, Lincoln was stunned by the act, but he quickly got over it and chuckled. It is not really a smile, but he will take what he can get.
He grabbed the remote, "You don't like it, huh? Well lets see what else is on." He offered as he started to flip through channels.
Lucy hold onto the railings of her crib to get a better look of the TV while holding on a pillow with one hand. Even with the wool knit cap, she can still see. From memory of a distant time, Lincoln brought up every kids show that was on, but every time Lucy would whack him with her pillow to express her dislike.
After being whacked on the head for the umpteenth time, Lincoln looked at Lucy with a sharp and calculating look.
"Okay, you." He said with a slightly challenging tone as he brought the remote close to Lucy. "Why don't you choose?"
The Loud baby looked at small device, confused on how it works. She brought one hand up to press one of the buttons, but had trouble reaching them before Lincoln brought it closer to her. The channel changed.
"Coming up next is Vampires of Melanchollia." Said the narrator.
Lincoln recognized the show. He is not really a big fan, but his friend and classmate Haiku is one. The elder sibling thought the dark atmosphere of the show might be too much for the barely one year old toddler, so he quickly the channel.
Lucy threw the pillow at him square on the face.
"Hey!" He reacted as he gave Lucy a small glare, which he was certain Lucy is also doing.
"Princess Pony!"
The little stare down was cut off when the narrator caught the attention the toddler. The show piqued Lucy's interest, but a disgusted look appeared on Lincoln. How countless millions of people are crazy about this, he will never understand.
Looking back at Lucy, Lincoln saw probably the smallest smile he had ever scene. Even if it did look a frown. Shrugging, he went back to his favorite spot on the couch to continue reading his comic, but before he could even pick up his comic, he heard tapping on the door.
His breathing instantly slowed down to the point that could he hear and feel his own heart beat. Lincoln slowly reached for the nearby aluminum baseball bat, which belongs to his fifth youngest sister Lynn, before proceeding towards the door.
Royal Woods has a really low crime rate, but something like that does not stop an overprotective brother from worrying.
Thankfully, there was no stranger at the door. Rather, it was a bat, but not the same kind as the one in Lincoln's hands. It was the animal kind.
"Fangs?" Lincoln said with a confused tone as he toss away the aluminum baseball bat. "What are you doing here?"
The bat in question is the pet bat of his friend Haiku. Lincoln then noticed the rolled up letter in Fangs' hind legs. The albino boy holds up a hand where Fangs gently placed the letter.
The letter reads:
Living is quite dull
I seek you, I will see you
See you soon. Lincoln.
In other words, Haiku is bored so she is coming over to hang out with him. He wondered if she is bringing the others: Tabby, Polly, and Giggles. Usually if you see one of them, the others are usually close by.
His friend Haiku is pretty weird, but that is what makes her interesting to have as a friend. She really stands out in the crowd despite her desire to be left unseen. In spite of her desire, she enjoys hanging out with him and the girls that were mentioned; although she really can not stand Giggles alone for more than five minutes. Lincoln met Haiku one day when he was looking for a club to join at school, which is the same way he met the other girls.
Admirably, Haiku is the president of two clubs, the poetry and mortician club. What made Haiku drawn to Lincoln was when he tried out for the poetry club, which is where he wrote a couple pages of poems which reflect his life back home. What really caught Haiku's attention was the poem that shows Lincoln's stress over his family's money problem. Too bad for her, Lincoln reconsidered joining.
"Thanks for the relaying the message, Fangs." He politely thanked the flying rat, but when he looked up, he did not see the little black bat. Looking around, he saw the bat flying above Lucy's crib.
To Lincoln's surprise, he is seeing probably the most emotions Lucy has ever expressed. It was not much, but the little Loud baby is trying her hardest to stand tall on her own two legs and reaching her hands up to get close to the hovering bat with her mouth opened in awe to show her interests in the creature she has never seen before.
Lincoln jumped a little when Fangs smiled widely at Lucy, which showed the reason why he was named 'Fangs' in the first place. He knows bats are misjudged animals, but that smile still terrifies him since the first time Haiku introduced her pet bat. Thankfully, he knows Haiku's pet bat is trained and obedient.
Despite the weirdness of the scene, it was still put a smile on Lincoln's face. He walked over to them.
Lincoln then picked up Lucy from her crib so she could get closer to Fangs. The only son of the Loud family chuckled a little as he said, "I see you made a little friend, Lucy."
Lincoln heard a familiar soft knocks on the front door. No doubt it was Haiku. He got up to answer it, but when he opened the door, no one was outside.
Then he felt a tap on his shoulder with someone saying, "Hello, Lincoln."
Standing behind him was Haiku wearing her usual attire along with a gothic handbag.
"AH!" Lincoln yelled in freight as he fell down forward. Getting up, he out an exasperated grunt before looking at his visitor.
"Haiku, would you stop that?" He half-rhetorically and half-pleaded.
"No." Haiku quickly and softly replied with her usual emotionless face. She then quickly changed the subject. "Where's Fangs? I specifically told him to come back to me after giving you my message."
"First, you should really turned to texting because I'm pretty sure bats are nocturnal." Lincoln suggested as he remembered the times Haiku used Fangs like a messenger pigeon to relay messages to him and their circle of friends. "Second, he's playing with Lucy." He told her as he pointed to where her bat and his sister are at.
Haiku's frown deepened. She holds no ill to Lincoln's sisters, but she hates the fact that Tabby, Giggles, and Polly, all of whom she referred to as her acquaintances, uses his sisters to get closer to him. Unfortunately for her, she just do not share the same interests as her acquaintances or Lincoln's sisters. She once tried to turned them into the dark side(1), but no such luck reforming them. They were lost causes into becoming a goth. There is no hope.
However, when she laid her eyes on Lucy sitting on the couch with Fangs resting on her head, for once her eyes brighten despite it was overshadowed by her lack of outward emotions. Perhaps there is some hope.
Haiku slowly walked up to Lucy and her pet. Taking slow and long strides on the way. Lucy looked up at Haiku, also showing some interesting despite her eyes were covered.
She turned to Lincoln, "May I?" The goth asked as she motioned to Lucy.
Fangs flew out of the way, having a feeling that his master wants some privacy.
Lincoln nodded. "Please be careful."
Haiku smiled a little from the distress filled tone of Lincoln's plea. How cute she thought. She picked up Lucy and at that time, any traces of emotion that the two expressed, it was all purged once the two locked their gaze upon each other. Complete silence filled the room
Lincoln sweat a little, wondering what is happening before. Before he could voice a question, Haiku brought Lucy loser to her until their foreheads were touching each other.
"Uh...what are you doing?" He asked as he bit creeped out. The albino boy had a half a mind to pull his sister away, but fearing for his own life stopped him.
"Shhhh..." Haiku quietly shushes him as she continued to connect with the Loud baby. "Ah... I see."
"What?" Lincoln asked, but more quietly this time.
The gothic girl creepily turned to Lincoln. "Mind getting me a drink? I'll watch over Lucy."
Lincoln rolled his eyes. "Haiku always the vague girl." He thought.
"Fine, just please keep a close eye on Lucy." He pleaded as he disappeared into the kitchen.
Haiku smiled. Her smile is what she considered that should never be seen. She hardly smiles, but when she does, she makes sure no one sees it. She then looks down on Lucy.
"You have no idea how lucky you are to have him as a sister." Haiku told the Loud baby as she pet Lucy on the nose with a finger. Lucy did not react, which made Haiku smile a little more before lifting the wool knit cap to make sure.
What a stare.
She pulled back the cap back down to cover Lucy's eyes.
"Now that..." Haiku started. "...must never be seen." She finished before pulling out a her poetry journal. "I must write about this."
Lincoln came back to the living room with a can of soda for himself and a cup of cranberry juice for Haiku. Upon returning, he saw Haiku writing in her poetry journal with Lucy sitting next to her, wondering what she is doing.
Haiku look up from her journal, "Your sister's eyes are inspiring."
Lincoln cracked a smile as he handed the goth girl her drink before taking a sip from his own drink.
"I had a feeling you'd enjoy that." He said as sat down on couch with Lucy now being in the middle of the two 12-year olds. "So what you wrote down?"
Haiku put down her drink before answering. "Let me finish ."
After a while, she finished writing before clearing her throat and read.
Orbs of void that somehow pierced through my none existent soul.
What thoughts exist behind those deep and endless eyes?
I aspire to see and bring into fruition,
No matter what he thinks.
That last line caught Lincoln's attention and worry. He raised an eyebrow as asked, "What does that last line mean?"
Haiku gave him a sideway glance, "Don't worry about it."
That did the opposite effect.
Hope the haiku in Haiku's letter was good because I don't want to offend any poets. I know Lincoln in "Loud House: A Family Together" knows about Haiku, Giggles, Polly, and Tabby's crush on him, but I thought it would be more interesting if he was oblivious.
(1): I might have recently became a Star Wars fan. I'm still hype on it.
I thought that it was best to end it there, but don't worry I'll continue it in the next chapter.
