Welcome. Besides the other half of "Serendipitous Solidarity", you also get this one, too, since I finished it up alongside that one. Consider it a well deserved bonus for the extended period of time since my last posting.
I know what some of you may be thinking: "Another Luna and Lincoln story? So soon after you already done one beforehand and the fact your two other most recent ones also featured them in prominent roles?" Well, don't worry to those select few who may feel that way, as this one does have a greater purpose than being there for its own sake. What that greater purpose is will be revealed at the end.
This one takes a similar format to "Melodious Juncture" in that its basically Luna and Lincoln have a nice long talk with one another, this time about the more personal matter of relationships. While by no means is it required, reading the aforementioned story can possibly help since there are a pair of references to that one, so that one and this one are effectively connected in a sense.
All right, read on and enjoy!
The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.
It had been quite the adventurous day throughout the town of Royal Woods.
The reason for that was due to the Astonishing Quest, an annual event that pitted several teams of two against one another on a scavenger hunt to complete tasks and seek clues to track down additional tasks.
While most everyone took part in the Quest to have fun, it served an additional purpose for Luna Loud. Her partner happened to be Sam Sharp, the girl who she'd been having eyes on recently and hoped to use the day as an incentive to get closer with her.
As the Quest rolled on though, things were looking rocky for Luna and Sam. For each task they took part in, one of them excelled while the other faltered, each time one having to explain to the other that the preceding task wasn't really their "thing." It got to the point where shared interests seemed too improbable that they genuinely considered breaking things off between them. But despite such lacking of apparent commonality, they at least decided on finishing off the Quest together.
But at long last, during the final task, which was of all things involved baking apple pies, Luna and Sam did finally reach an agreement: baking wasn't a strong suit for either of them. That became obvious when among most notably, Sam got herself splattered in batter after accidentally setting the blender on too high, garnering more than a hearty laughing fit from Luna.
Ultimately, even if they didn't appear to have much in common on the onset, Luna and Sam realized that it wasn't important for them to agree or have every interest cross over with each other's all the time and that the more time they hung out together, perhaps in due time they will discover more common ground then they initially thought.
After taking a moment to get themselves cleaned up following the whole batter splattering incident, Luna had hoped to walk Sam back over to her place, but she had plans of her own already, so she left on her own accord. They shared some quick goodbyes and Sam would then be on her way.
Soon after Sam's departure, Luna stuck on by for a little while longer and sighed happily. She realized that she really didn't have anything to worry about when it came to how things would work out between them.
Her moment of thought would soon come to an end once she heard a very familiar voice call out to her.
"Hey, Luna."
She turned over and saw Lincoln approaching her.
"Yo, bro." Luna greeted back in kind, "Didn't think you'd still be here. I figured you and Clyde would've left together by now."
"Yeah, well as it turns out, Clyde wanted to head home by himself. He said that he and his dads had some sort of big night for themselves planned and had get back home in time to get things rolling or something like that." Lincoln said with a shrug.
After explaining that, he looked around and noticed the conspicuous absence of Luna's own partner as well.
"On a related note, did Sam already leave, too?" He wondered.
Luna nodded, "Yeah, she did. Had some family business of her own to attend to. She was kinda vague about it, so I'm not entirely sure what she meant by it."
"Oh..." Lincoln stated, looking as perplexed as his sister was.
"Anyway, since both our partners bailed out, wanna head back home together?" Luna asked.
"Sure thing, Luna." Lincoln replied, "That was actually the reason why I came over in first place, so I could ask you that same thing."
Luna smiled and patted her brother's back, "Well, in that case, let's shove off for home, bro."
Both shared smiles as they departed the bakery from which the finals of the Astonishing Quest took place and set a course for home.
"So, did you have fun today?" Luna asked of her brother.
"I'd say so, yeah." Lincoln responded with a small nod, "Clyde and I may have only placed about sixth overall in the running, but still..."
Luna laughed a little, "Sounds like you dudes still did better than me and Sam. We didn't even finish making our apple pie, so we must have been last or at least close to it. But honestly, it didn't matter as long as I got to be with Sam for the day."
"Oh, well, that's nice to hear." Lincoln said, "Speaking of which, how are things between you and her, anyway?"
Luna sighed weakly, "Well, I won't lie to you, little bro, things weren't so hot at first. It seemed like each time there was something in the Quest one of us was rad at, the other struggled at it, and I probably struggled more than she did."
"Really?" Lincoln wondered, but then one instance did occur to him, "Actually, I do remember seeing you having a pretty hard time during the rock climbing event. Even Pop-Pop did better than you."
"Yeah, true that, bro." Luna admitted with a somewhat reluctant laugh, "What should that tell you?"
"I don't think it should tell you anything, Luna." Lincoln said with a shake of his head, "Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and rock climbing isn't one of your strong suits, nothing more, nothing less."
"I know, but still there must something to unpack when a young at heart oldster had no troubles versus me, a struggling, scrawny teen girl with an underdeveloped chest." Luna said.
Upon saying that, Luna paused and looked over at Lincoln, who had an understandably awkward expression adorning his face.
"Okay, maybe you didn't need to hear that part, dude." She followed up with a clumsy laugh, "But anyway, maybe next time I'll ask Lynn for some pointers should I ever do something like that again."
"Uh, right, good idea..." Lincoln trailed off awkwardly.
Following that slightly uncomfortable exchange, they continued onward with their journey home. Hoping to ease such feelings, a funny thought had crossed Lincoln's mind and he started giggling.
"What's so funny, Linc?" Luna wondered.
"Well, since she was brought up, could you believe Lynn today?" Lincoln responded as yet more giggling came through.
Luna grinned and had a small laugh of her own, "Yeah, that was something, all right. That's good ol' Lynnsanity for ya, willing to do whatever it takes to get back in and win."
Both of them shared some more laughter before getting things back on track.
"Anyway, we got a bit sidetracked there, little bro." Luna said before continuing with her original point, "So as I was saying, me and Sam both had our struggles and it got to the point where we actually started wondering it we had much in common at all. We thought that we were so far apart that we nearly went about going our separate ways before the end of the day."
"Is that true? Well, I'm sorry to hear that." Lincoln said sympathetically.
"Oh, you don't have to feel sorry for me." Luna assured him, patting his shoulder, "Even though we may not have a whole lot in common at first, Sam and I still decided that shouldn't matter and as we hang out more, we'll eventually find interests that we do share."
Lincoln smiled, "Oh, well that's good to know. As long as you keep it up, I'm sure things will only get better with her."
Luna gave her brother an affectionate ruffle of his hair, "Aw, thanks for the encouragement."
Shortly after that, they again resumed walking home. About another minute or so later, Lincoln spoke up again.
"Hey, Luna?" He asked.
"Hmm? What's up?" She asked in return.
"Well..." Lincoln began somewhat anxiously, "There's something I'd like to ask. It's been on my mind for a while now and I haven't been sure when might be a good time to ask it, but it may as well be now."
He took a couple of seconds to prep up the question in his mind as Luna awaited what's weighing on him with baited breath.
"Luna...when did you first realize you...uh, had a thing for girls?"
Yet again, both stopped in their track after Lincoln asked that most hesitant of inquiries. For what it's worth, Luna knew that this moment had to come sooner or later. She had already once before talked about her sexual orientation both with her parents and some of her sisters, but never really took the time to explain things in more detail with Lincoln. It appeared that time was going to be now.
"Ah, we're going there, aren't we?" Luna asked.
"Yeah, maybe..." Lincoln said, rubbing his arm tensely, "I wasn't sure if you'd be comfortable talking about it with me, so if you're not, I understand."
Luna smiled warmly at him, "No, it's fine, dude. Now that I think of it, I am probably overdue in having a proper moment in being on the record about such business with you, so I'm actually stoked to do so."
Lincoln smiled back in his big sister's direction. She took a nice, deep breath and opened her mouth as she was about to speak, but stopped short of doing so. Though Luna was genuinely willing to talk about such an important subject with her little brother, she had to admit that the right words weren't exactly materializing.
Before she attempted to try speaking again, Luna noticed a bus stop just a few feet away from where she and Lincoln were, which gave her an idea.
"Actually, hold that thought for a moment, Lincoln." She said, "Truth is, I'm feeling sorta ragged after today, so why don't hitch a bus ride home and then we can pick things up after that?"
"Uh, sure, I can go with that, Luna." Lincoln answered, "Since you mentioned it, I'm a bit worn out myself, so let's go for it."
With that decided, Luna and Lincoln took a seat over at the bus stop and waited a couple of minutes until the bus arrived. Soon after, they stepped on board it and grabbed some available seating and settled in for the ride.
As the ride went on, Luna found herself pondering in thought. Though catching a bus because she felt kind of tired was within her reasoning for doing so, it also gave her some time to formulate what to say when discussing her feelings to girls to Lincoln when they got home. Talking about such a matter with her brother was going to feel somewhat different than when she did with her parents and a few of her sisters, so she felt the need to pick out her words more carefully.
A few more minutes later, the bus arrived over at another bus stop which was fairly close to home, so Luna figured that this would be a good place for her and Lincoln to get off and continue on foot. Their home would be within sight after another period of walking.
As they arrived, Luna paused and looked around for a moment.
"What are you doing, Luna?" Lincoln asked curiously.
"Just trying to find a place for us to settle down in so we can continue with our chat." She answered, scanning the front yard and such of their home.
"Can't we simply go inside and sit in on the couch, or go to your bedroom or mine for instance?"
"We could...or we can mix things up instead and sit down somewhere out front."
In truth, much like the bus ride, Luna trying to look for a place for her and Lincoln to sit down and resume chatting was something of another stall tactic so she continue summoning what she'll say to him with regards to her feelings for other girls.
"How about the front steps? Or maybe under the tree?" Lincoln was heard saying, offering his suggestions.
Luna wasn't exactly paying attention to those ideas, instead only buying herself time until she felt that the right words for her explanation she'll give to her brother for everything.
Then it hit her as she looked on over to the family's van on the driveway.
"Say, why don't we park it and chill out in Vanzilla for a little while, bro?" Luna suggested.
"Oh, uh...sure, why not?" Lincoln said with a tad bit of confusion, then a couple of seconds later, he started giggling slightly, "Oh, I get it, park it, because it's a van and it's parked on the driveway."
"Huh?" Luna uttered, now getting confused herself, but she soon caught on, "Oh, you're right! I wasn't trying to make a joke out of it, but now that you mention it, it does work out. Guess Luan is not the only one who can rock out a pun here and there."
"That's true. Now I suppose we need the keys first. I can got get them." Lincoln offered to do.
"Actually, hold up a sec..." Luna said, halting her brother's attempt.
She approached the side passenger door to Vanzilla and opened it up like it was no trouble.
"Well, just as I thought..." Luna said suspiciously, "Someone left the ol' girl unlocked. Might've been Dad if I had to guess."
"You think so?" Lincoln wondered.
"I'd bet on it, bro, because this wouldn't be the first time, either. I can attest to it myself a handful of times. And he's one to get on our case for forgetting to lock the front door." Luna remarked with an amused grin.
All Lincoln did on his end was to chuckle slightly as he followed Luna inside Vanzilla. He closed the door behind them and they took up seating in the second row of passenger seats.
"So, why Vanzilla out of curiosity?" Lincoln asked.
"Eh, just thought it made for a neat little place to chill out is all." Luna answered with a shrug, "Gotta mix it up here and there for the heck of it, I guess. But anyway, where were we?"
"Um, I had asked you when you first became, uh...interested in girls." Lincoln reiterated.
"Ah, right, of course." Luna said with a little nod.
She took a moment to ready herself for this most significant of conversations by letting out a breath of air.
"Well, first of all in fairness, it's not like I'm only into girls, Lincoln. I do dig dudes, too, you know."
"Well, I certainly know that part well enough, Luna. You'd have to be into boys in order for you to react the way you did like our sisters with my former tutor, Hugh." Lincoln brought up to her.
A small blush formed on Luna's face, "Oh, right, how can I ever forget about Hugh? That wavy hair, his handsome face, the smooth accent, that rockin' bod, his tight...uh, you know..."
Her blushing only got deeper as Luna seemed to get lost in her remembrance of the young Englishman, all while Lincoln looked on awkwardly. Finally, though, she snapped herself out of things.
"Gah, what am I doing? I shouldn't be thinking about anybody else like that if I'm attempting to make anything work out with Sam!" Luna said, shaking her head to regain herself.
"Probably not..." Lincoln commented so matter of factually.
Luna laughed in embarrassment, "Right, let's try that again. So as I said, I am into dudes just as much as girls, too, and I'll leave it at that."
"Well, actually, there is something else I've often wondered. How can someone be into both boys and girls at the same time? I can understand if a person is into only boys or only girls regardless if the person in question is a boy or a girl themselves, but both? I've never gotten that...and, well...uh..." Lincoln said, looking around nervously.
Luna sighed a little, "You're probably asking the wrong person on that one. I don't really know that enough myself, so..."
"Oh...well, okay..." Lincoln trailed off with, sighing as well, "Sorry if that came off awkwardly, Luna. Even though I am curious, this kind of stuff is a little hard for me to talk about."
"No, I can get that, no need to worry, little bro." Luna reassured him, placing her hand along his back, "I think it's perfectly understandable for someone of your age to not get some of this stuff and no one's expecting you to just yet. Heck, I'm still learning myself, so your situation isn't unique."
Lincoln looked back to his sister and shared a small smile. She moved closer to him and briefly put her arm around his shoulders, pulling him against her.
This little moment shared between them would, however, be interrupted when they heard a tapping against one of the windows.
"Uh, Luna, Lincoln?"
Both turned to see their father, looking on confused as to what's going on.
"Listen, I got to make a quick run to the store, so..." Lynn Sr. was saying.
"Oh, sure thing, Dad, we'll get out of your way." Lincoln said.
With that, he and Luna shuffled over and got out of Vanzilla.
"So, what exactly were you two doing in Vanzilla just now?" Lynn Sr. asked.
"Eh, just chillin' and talkin', nothing more." Luna answered, "Oh, and FYI, Pops, might be a good idea to keep a lockdown on her in the future, 'cause that's how me and Linc were able to get in anyway."
Lynn Sr. laughed awkwardly, "Oh...guess I left Vanzilla unlocked again in other words, right? So much for my lectures about keeping the front door locked if I can't follow my own advice in this instance, huh?"
"Ah, it's all good...unless, of course, somebody were to just easily waltz right in and steal it from us like that, so..." Luna theorized.
"All right, all right, I get the message, Luna." Lynn Sr. acknowledged, "Anyway, I better get a move on. Gotta grab a couple much needed Lynn-gredients for dinner, so I should be back in a jiff."
As their father got into the driver seat of Vanzilla and drove off, Luna and Lincoln contemplated their own next move in continuing their discourse.
"Well, looks like we gotta find somewhere else to chill out and keep our chit chat going, bro." Luna said.
"Hmm..." Lincoln uttered, giving it some thought, then an idea came to mind, "How about the backyard, perhaps under the tree?"
"Sure, I'm down with that." Luna said in approval.
With that plan set, they briefly went inside so they can cross through the dining room and kitchen before heading through the back door that leads to the backyard. Upon arrival, they got themselves situated underneath the very tree Lincoln had spoken of.
"All right, so once again, where were we?" Luna inquired.
"Oh, I...had just gotten done asking you how it was possible someone could be into both boys and girls, and you didn't really have an answer to that." Lincoln replied.
"Oh, right..." Luna said, sighing a bit, "Well, I'm gonna have to stick with that, dude, 'cause again, you're asking someone who doesn't entirely get that herself."
A moment of silence passed on following Luna reiterating her own admitted lack of understanding of the subject. However, Lincoln did have another thought to present to her.
"Actually, now that I think of it, maybe I should have seen your feelings to girls coming sooner." He suggested, "Since I brought up Hugh earlier, you probably remember that he was tutoring me because I was having trouble with this particular test, and then I admitted that the most likely reason for that difficulty was due to me being distracted and, dare I say, outright smitten with my substitute teacher, Ms. DiMartino. I distinctly remember you referring to her as 'smokin', so that might've been a big, early clue there."
Luna laughed and shook her head, "You might think so, but there wasn't really anything to that, bro. I only called her that as a matter of fact, because boy or girl, attraction or no attraction, she really is one serious looker of a lady. Bet you still think about her from time to time, though, don't ya?"
Now it was Lincoln's turn to blush, "No! Well, maybe a little, but...come on, now, Luna."
"Oh, relax, I'm just having a little harmless fun with you, Linc." Luna told him, flicking around the cowlick in his hair.
"Heh..." Lincoln simply said, then he got a little more serious, "Well, with that out of the way, there is another question I have. If you don't know how long or when you first realized you had something for other girls, do you know at the very least when or what spurred your interest in Sam?"
"You know, that I can answer, but before I do, let me show you something..." Luna answered.
Curious as to what she meant by that, Lincoln watched as Luna brought her phone and took a second to scroll around. After that, she showed a selfie of herself plus Sam and two other individuals he wasn't entirely familiar with, but did at the very least know what purpose they all served together.
"Oh, this is your band, right?" Lincoln inquired.
"That you are right, bro, and there is a reason I'm showing you this." Luna answered, "You see, Sam wasn't actually the first person I had my eyes on..."
Before going on, she pointed to the lone boy within the picture.
"Because it was this dude, Sully, who I at first had some feelings for."
"Whoa, really?" Lincoln asked surprised, "How did that come about?"
"Well, let me give you a lowdown and then some." Luna said, putting her phone away and taking a deep breath, "At the beginning, him, Sam and that other girl in the picture, Mazzy, were together as a group for a little while and I was actually the latest addition to come along some time later. We all really clicked and jived pretty much from the start, but during that time I really thought I gelled with Sully the best. The two of us even started hanging out a couple of times whenever Sam and Mazzy were busy and within those times together, there were really things racing inside me towards him."
She took a moment to sigh again and had a frown develop on her face.
"But the thing is, I never told him how I felt because I was worried that he might've been with either Sam or Mazzy and I would've gotten shot down if I said something and felt super dejected even if he let me down gently. It was only after he casually mentioned during a conversation that he wasn't seeing anyone at the time when that was disproved. Now, you might think learning that gave me a golden opportunity to tell him how I felt, but I just didn't. I bailed at the very last second, kinda like when I didn't give Sam one of my most treasured guitar picks as a token of how I felt toward her, and also like with Sam, I thought that Sully would've been out of my league."
Lincoln reached out and patted his sister's shoulder, "Wow, I didn't know about you went through something similar like that before Sam. Sorry to hear that, Luna. How come you never mentioned that before, and just out of curiosity, did you ever tell him how you felt at some point?"
"Uh, well, this is where things took a different turn down the road..." Luna said, chuckling clumsily, "But first, I didn't ever bring this period of my life up to you or anyone else because as quickly as it came, my infatuation for Sully just kinda...disappeared. I can't really explain how or why, but that's how it went and I'm just being as honest as I can be here, bro. Maybe it was nothing more than a passing crush that wasn't gonna amount to anything serious in the long run, and because of it, I've never told him about it anyway. Then, right around the time any feelings beyond friendship for Sully went by the wayside, that's when I had some more individual time with Sam and then...I think you might know where this goes from here."
"You mean that's when she became your next target of interest to put it one way?" Lincoln asked.
"In essence, yeah." Luna responded as she placed a hand on her brother's shoulder, "Plus, there's something else you should understand, Lincoln. Before Sam, I never felt anything for another girl until she came along, and I've wrangled within myself over if I've always felt that way for girls and she brought those feelings out of me more into the open or if she was such a unique case that she triggered such feelings that I've only recently discovered. That's why I couldn't give you much of a straight answer when you asked me how people can be into both boys and girls, because I really don't know, at least on my end of things."
She sighed and brought her knees up to her chest, while at the same time her inquisitive little brother scooted a little closer to her.
"So, to ask again, what was it about Sam that made you want to, you know, get closer with her?" Lincoln continued in his line of questioning.
A smile perked back up on Luna's face, "It's kinda hard to go into some fine details, but what I can say is that she's probably the single most chill gal I've ever met. I know I just said moments ago that I thought Sully and I really hit it off at first, and we do still get along very well, but make it doubly so with Sam. I really got these super cool vibes being around her and it's like every moment I was around her...well, I can't quite explain it, dude, but something inside of me was starting to grow for her, kinda like with Sully at first, only even stronger, and the fact I'm going through with hoping to work out something with her, that should tell you how much stronger those feelings are."
Despite the positiveness from everything that was said, the smile Luna had shifted over to a small frown.
"But I gotta say, things were a little rocky from the start, although not quite like how today went when she and I nearly split things off. When I dropped off that letter I wrote for Sam in her locker at school after finding inspiration from how Mom and Dad did things back in their day, I admit to watching from around the corner to see how she'd react. She seemed pretty happy, so I thought right away that everything was gonna go up from there. But once she found out I was the one who wrote it some time later, she started acting pretty awkward around me for a little while, which said to me at the time that she must've not felt the same for me and I might have wrecked any chance of us even being friends anymore."
"Huh, well, that does sound unfortunate, Luna, but obviously that can't have been the case for too long based on what's been going between you and her now, right?" Lincoln mentioned.
"Too true, little bro." Luna agreed, once again smiling, "Now here's where stuff gets real crazy. Turns out that Sam went about like she did with me not because she inherently didn't feel the same for me like I did for her or was too put off to be around me anymore, but in a huge coincidence, she also was struggling with similar issues like the ones I just told you about. She too was conflicted about having feelings for both dudes and gals, and though she's had a couple of boys approach her before, and Sully wasn't one of them in case you're gonna ask, the same can't be said for girls until I did so. Anyway, she didn't quite know how to deal with another girl like myself thinking and feeling something for her, so she kinda kept an arm's length from me for that little while I mentioned. Finally, we did actually sit down have a pretty detailed chat about everything, and although Sam did confess to not exactly sharing the same feelings I had for her, we did at least agree to still hang out and she even admitted that perhaps something could develop between us down the line."
With a content sigh and chuckle, she put a hand on top of Lincoln's head.
"So that's pretty much how things stand with me and Sam, bro. We're still very tight as friends, maybe just that slightest bit more, and something could come together beyond that, but we're not gonna get too ahead of ourselves and instead we'll see how everything goes from here. That's something I need to heed and realize is that you can't hope to you'll get straight to where you want to with someone and you just need to take it slow and hope for the best." Luna said, taking a nice big breath of air as she concluded her lengthy recall of events.
Lincoln reached out and patted Luna's knee, "Well, thanks for me telling me all of that, Luna. Quite a fascinating story, I must say. And I think that last part is dead on and is the right way to approach things. But for what it's worth, regardless of how things ultimately turn out with you and her, and as I've said something similar on our way home, I wish for the best for you."
Instead of using words to express her appreciation, Luna again like earlier in Vanzilla wrapped an arm around Lincoln and held on to him for a brief, one-armed hug.
However, once again, the sweetness of the moment was cut short, this time much more suddenly and abruptly when a soccer ball came whizzing on by and bouncing off the tree inches above their heads. Both yelped and quickly saw that their sister Lynn was the culprit.
"Jeez, watch it there, Lynn!" Luna said to her a little peevishly.
Lynn shrugged, "What? Is it my fault that the ball got in your way? Now scram, I need the backyard to sharpen up some techniques of mine."
"You know, you could have told us that without the need to nearly give us head trauma with that ball of yours." Lincoln pointed out.
"Eh, whatever. But really, if you two could so kindly pack it up and leave, that'd be nice." Lynn said insistently.
Seemingly having no other choice, Luna and Lincoln stood up and departed in favor of going back inside so that their sister could have the needed space for now.
"Man, you'd think she would give us a little more in the way of a warning before nearly cracking our noggins." Luna said amused, "Last I checked, you're supposed to hit soccer balls with your head, not be hit in the head with them. But that's Lynn for ya and I guess you need to always need to be prepared for whatever she throws at you."
Lincoln chuckled, "Yeah, and if you didn't notice, that's the second time someone bearing that name came along and interrupted us."
"Heh, yeah, you're right." Luna said, laughing upon realization, "But at least we got all the important stuff outta the way beforehand. It was nice to discuss that with you and all."
"Actually, Luna, on that note, there's something else I'd like to talk to you about. This time it's something on my end, assuming of course you're not going to be busy right about now or anything." Lincoln said.
"Ah...no, not really, so sure, what's up?" Luna asked.
"Well, first maybe we need to find another place to settle down in, hopefully one where we won't be unexpectedly interrupted again by anyone." Lincoln suggested, "Maybe now one of our rooms will suffice. Maybe yours?"
"If that's what you wanna do, then I'm cool with that." Luna replied.
Having that agreed upon, they made their way up to Luna's room, where she right away appeared to pick a specific area to continue chatting with her brother by climbing up to her bunk bed and waved him over to come join her, which he indeed did by laying down next to her.
"Remind you of anything, bro?" Luna asked him.
"Uh...should it?" Lincoln wondered a bit confused.
"I'm talking about how this setup of being together here like this is very much when you let me tell about how I made some adjustments to what I'd like out of life with music, remember?" Luna reminded him about.
"Oh, that's right." Lincoln said, "When you said that you wanted to focus on doing your own thing first and finishing school before really figuring out what to do next."
"Yeah, but that was then, and right now, let me in on what it is you wanted to talk about." Luna requested.
"All right..." Lincoln simply said, giving himself a moment to prep up, "Well, it's sort of related to what we've just talked about with you and Sam and...I guess I'll straight up say it: I'm in the need for some girl advice and I was hoping you could provide that."
Luna was very surprised to hear that, "Wait...you want girl advice from me? Just only me? Isn't that usually Lori's gig?"
"Yeah, but you're the only one in our family that's perhaps hoping to make something work with another girl, so I'm thinking you could give me a different perspective on things." Lincoln explained.
Even though being there for Lincoln and doling out whatever helpful words she could give him was something she was often very willing to do, this was a case of uncharted waters for Luna. He never really sought her in particular for the subject of girls, as that was typically Lori's domain like she just mentioned, and Luna herself still relied on the eldest sister for her own needs on that subject, plus Leni to a much lesser extent. Now being asked by her brother to provide the very same thing despite her own lack of experience wasn't something she was entirely prepared for. Still, like with anything dealing with Lincoln, she at least wanted to try giving it her best shot.
"Um...all right...what do you want to know?" Luna asked.
"Well, first let me set things up for you..." Lincoln began saying, "You might be a tiny bit familiar with the new girl at my school, Stella, right?"
"Yeah, she's the one that caused you to dress up in those greaser duds to impress her at first, isn't she?" Luna wondered.
Lincoln nodded, "Indeed she is. Now give me a second here…"
Much like Luna did for him earlier, Lincoln got his phone out and showed her a picture of himself plus all his friends, including Stella.
"Ooh! You know, I don't really know much about her, but looking now I must say that she is a pretty little thing, I'll give her that!" Luna said, then noticed one detail that stuck out, "Actually, 'little' might not be the right word, 'cause wow, is she tall! You sure she's around your age?"
"Yeah, she is eleven like me and the rest of the guys, but I don't blame you for thinking she might be a little older." Lincoln said, trailing off into some nervous laughter, "So, you probably know where this is going..."
"You mean your heart is still racing and aflutter just a bit for her?" Luna teasingly put it.
"Uh...sure, I guess that's one way of saying it..." Lincoln said as he darted his eyes around, "So, uh...what I'm asking I suppose is what can I do to...you know...oh, I'll be blunt about it, win her over?"
Letting out an amused chuckle at her brother's reaction to her inquiry, Luna prepared herself to try in helping out in whatever what she can. However, like when they first started talking about Sam and other such related topics on the way home, the words weren't exactly coming out of her mouth. Curiously enough, this was an even more challenging subject, again due to her not having enough experience to pass down to much anyone else, let alone Lincoln.
"Well, I...uh..." Luna attempted saying.
She took a pause and tried again, but nothing came about. Sighing heavily after still not coming up with anything, she figured there was no point in giving him bad advice and admit her own inability to handle this.
"I'm sorry, Lincoln, but I'm gonna have to be honest with you in that I'm not the best person for ask for this kinda thing. Whether it's because I'm worried about telling you something that may backfire or because I'm lacking the knowledge myself, I can't give you the best response on my end." Luna conceded, grunting disappointingly "The best I can maybe lay out for you is to simply be yourself. I know that sounds cliché and all that jazz, given that's basically what Lori told you when we had our concerns about your sudden lengths to change up your looks that one time, but...I'm sorry, that's all I got."
Though disappointed, Lincoln did appear to understand, "Oh...all right. You know, upon reflection, maybe I did put you on the spot without knowing how much you actually know about that sort of thing, so perhaps I'm the one who should be apologizing here."
"No, it's fine, brah. You simply didn't know is all. Maybe once I acquire the needed knowledge, I'll lay some of it down should you wanna ask me again." Luna said, mussing around her brother's hair.
Lincoln grinned, "Sure, that sounds like a deal."
After that exchange, a small period of silence took hold while the two of them simply enjoyed the presence of one another. But soon enough, another thought would resume the discussion.
"I will say this much, dude. If you are serious about Stella, you may want to get a move on before any of your buds tries to snag her first." Luna said with a small laugh.
"Heh...funny you say that, Luna, because actually when she first started hanging out with me and the boys, we all kinda competed with each other over who could win her over. In fact, she came up to me first and asked if we could hang out, so I thought she chose me to be her potential boyfriend. But then she did the same for Clyde, Rusty, Liam and Zach as well, and to be honest, things got tense between us to the point we almost ended the friendship we shared." Lincoln explained such events.
"Wait, for real?" Luna said genuinely surprised, "All over a girl? I mean, I know that something like that can come between friends, but I'd never bet that could ever happen to dudes of your age, at least I hope not. But things must be cool with you all I'm guessing, since she looks to be part of your little circle now? And may I also wonder what came about her hanging out with each of you as you've said?"
"So yeah, we're all good, but here's the kicker..." Lincoln resumed in recalling those recent events, "The reason Stella went about hanging out with each of us individually was because we acted so awkwardly around her as a group that I guess she had no other choice then to isolate us for one-on-one 'get to know you' kind of encounters. Plus, she wasn't angling for any of us to be her boyfriend and all she ever wanted to do was only become friends with me and the boys."
"Really? She never felt such feelings at all?" Luna said, sighing shortly after, "You know, it could have been helpful for you to bring that up in the beginning, Lincoln. Here I thought you made it sound like from the top that she may have shown interest in you. But now knowing this? Well, I hate to sound like a downer, but if she does only want to be friends with you and your fellow dudes, and she still feels that way even after you try expressing how you truly feel to her, it's perhaps for the best that you respect her wishes in that regard."
"Yeah, I guess you could be right." Lincoln concede a little sadly, but he still did show the briefest of smiles, "Still, wouldn't hurt to hold out even the slightest bit of hope, right?"
"I guess not. Just be prepared for a bit of a let down if things don't go your way." Luna suggested to him.
A bit of an uncomfortable silence would follow after that latest exchange. However, Lincoln's recent attempts in wooing a girl did bring another thought to mind.
"You know, even though Stella may be on your mind now, bro, what about Ronnie Anne? I'd thought their might've been a little somthin' somethin' there." Luna said.
"I think I've said plenty of times that she and I may only ever be friends." Lincoln replied, sounding just the mildest bit miffed, given he's had to say that more than a few times before.
"Well, if you say so, but you never know..." Luna remarked with a touch of humor, "But while we're at it, how about that other girl you once had eyes on...uh, Cristina, I believe that's her name, right?"
"Um...yeah, that would be her. But she's pretty much been a distant memory ever since she was transferred to a different class quite some time ago." Lincoln answered.
"Hmm...okay. Oh, but what about the girl who you thought may have sent that anonymous love letter to us before we found out it actually meant for Dad from Mom?" Luna inquired, "What was her name?"
"Oh, that would've been Paige." Lincoln responded, "Nothing's really come up since then. Maybe it's like what happened in your case with Sully where it was nothing more than a passing crush. With that said, is there a reason you are bring these other girls up, Luna?"
Luna shrugged, "Eh, just found it interesting that you've already had a number of little crushes beforehand. Who knows, I bet there's a whole lot more you've had eyes that you never brought up before, you little ladies man."
Lincoln giggled, "Come on now, Luna, a ladies man? Really? Me?"
"Hey, who wouldn't want to be with a dude who's funny, clever, creative, sweet and good lookin' as you?" Luna told him, "And no, I'm not saying those things simply because you are my little bro and feel obligated to as a result. You really are all those things and any girl would be so lucky to have you in her life."
Following saying that, Luna got up into a sitting position, as did Lincoln as well, and then immediately she brought him into a hug.
"Not to mention I and everyone else in our fam are incredibly lucky to have you in our lives, too." She said lovingly.
Lincoln let out a small laugh while he hugged her back, "Thanks, Luna. I'm lucky to have you around as well."
Luna chuckled as she held on to her brother just that little bit tighter, taking a moment to also give him a kiss on the side of his head.
"Anyway, good talk, Lincoln." She said upon pulling away, "We sure covered quite a bit, didn't we?"
"I'd say so, too. Plus, it does help having such a welcome and understanding conversational partner like you, Luna." Lincoln stated with a smile, "I enjoy talking with anyone in our family about most anything, though I do have to say there is this more relaxed feeling with you to some degree."
Luna smiled back, "Well, that's mighty sweet of you to say. And hey, to repeat something similar to what I said at the end of the time when we chatted about my future with music, if there's anything worth bringing up, be it just for fun or if it's something which is bothering you, I'm available for a spot of some soulful discourse whenever I have the time."
His initial smile getting a modicum bigger, Lincoln responded to his big sister recommitting to future prolonged talks about anything between them by initiating another hug with her. Naturally, Luna did the same in response and nothing at the moment felt more satisfying or fulfilling following all they've discussed than this.
"Kids, dinner's ready!"
That mealtime declaration from their father was the only thing that put an end to their shared embrace, though nabbing some evening nourishment was certainly as good a reason as any for an interruption.
"Wow, Dad must have really booked it when he snagged whatever groceries he needed fast and got things done in a jiff. That, or maybe time flew by so fast with our chat that chow time snuck up on us." Luna posited, chuckling briefly, "Either way, shall we, dude?"
"Actually, hold up for a second..." Lincoln said, both grabbing her hand and holding up one of his own.
At first, Luna had no clue what he was doing, but a sudden, short lived rumbling heading in the direction of the dining room potentially clued her in.
"Just wanted to give ourselves a moment to avoid the initial rush." Lincoln explained.
"Ah, gotcha." Luna said with a nod.
As tranquility resumed, should it be called such, both Luna and Lincoln disembarked from the latter's bed, out of the room and were about to join the rest of their family for dinner. But just as they were to go on downstairs, one last exchange was shared.
"Thanks for listening about everything with Sam and such, little bro." Luna said.
"Anytime, Luna, and thanks for doing the same with my own girl issues." Lincoln reciprocated to her.
Another brief hug was shared, plus a tiny little kiss to Lincoln's forehead from Luna, and finally they came on down for dinner. For as much fun these two can have on most other times, sometimes the most engaging experiences are with simple discussions and such are which that really defined the bond they share perhaps more than anything.
It truly is very much soulful in that sense.
Okay, how about that? So about that greater purpose I said earlier...
Well, this and "Melodious Juncture" are preludes to a series of loosely connected stories that will feature Luna, Lincoln and also Sam, then a little later down the line Sam's (presumably) younger brother, Simon. I say "presumably" because though every single depiction of him I've seen, both of the fanfiction and fanart varieties, has him as the younger brother, nobody knows for certain if that's actually the case, or at least I don't. Regardless, that's my plan and I'm going through with it anyway.
That being said, thanks for the read and I'll see you again at some point.