AN: Well, it was rough, but I managed to get out my longest chapter of Aces so far, as well as two chapters of the other story I started, Gigant. All in the same week. Hopefully the quality on this one didn't suffer too much, I'll try to avoid spreading myself too thin like that in the future.

"So, Ace and the Night Club needed to track down the diamond smugglers, you see…"

Luna smiled and nodded as her girlfriend continued to regale her with the latest exploits from Lincoln's comic. Though a closer examination would reveal that the smile had grown somewhat strained.

"...but the tigers were actually decoys! The real trap was the circus itself!"

For the most part, Luna was happy that they'd managed to get this whole thing out in the open. It was good to have a hobby, and objectively speaking, there was nothing wrong with Sam being a bit of a comic book nerd.

"...I think it was supposed to be like an ancient Egyptian merry-go-round, or something? Anyway, the point was that the bus was actually SIX hours late! Not five! And they'd been reading the map upside down the entire time!"

If Luna was being honest, this side of Sam was actually really cute. The problem…

"...and then, ACE KISSED HER! It was soooo romantic!"

…was that she was a little obsessed with this, "ship", of her's, as she called it.

"I was so ready for him to just throw her down on the pile of ninja corpses and just go to town on her! I mean, they were robots anyway, right? But then those clowns from before showed up again. Not those other guys, the actual clowns. From the circus. Totally killed the mood…"

Really obsessed.

It had been several days since Luna and her sisters had tried to talk to Lincoln about his comics, and failed tremendously. Following that debacle, and not wanting to have to address the issue all by herself, Luna had decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and opted to just avoid her little brother until a better plan presented itself. Unfortunately,…

"…so then, I started designing my own character. I call her The Card Sharp. See, she starts off as a villain because of her horrible childhood, but one day Ace and Night Club catch her in the middle of a jewel heist…"

…there was still this whole thing to deal with. Seeing that Sam was clearly going to go on like this for a while, Luna allowed herself to zone out a bit. She'd needed some time to think, and this seemed to be as good a time as any.

Luna loved all her siblings, including Lincoln. Just…not like that. Yes, there was that time when little Luna had gotten into a fist fight with Lynn over who'd get to marry Lincoln when they grew up, but they were just dumb kids at the time.

Luna smiled to herself as the memory washed over her. Things had gotten heated between her and Lynn back then. Luna couldn't remember who'd thrown the first punch, but by the time their parents had broken up the fight Lynn was sporting a bloody nose, and Luna was covered in bite marks. The real kicker was that Lincoln hadn't even been around by that point. If memory served, Lori and Leni had snuck in and dragged him away to play dress up or something. Lynn had been livid when she'd found out.

And yes, even now Lincoln was a pretty cool dude. He wasn't a bad looking guy by any stretch of the imagination. He was kind and caring, sometimes to a fault. And while this comic book thing was a recent development, that fact that he had some artistic talent was pretty rad too. Sam certainly seemed to think so.

"...but instead of turning her in to the police, they take her back to their lair so she can be properly punished for her crimes..."

He wasn't perfect of course. He could be lazy and thoughtless at times, and sometimes he was way too smart for his own good. But Lincoln always tried to do the right thing in the end, and that counted for a lot, as far as Luna was concerned. All things considered, Lincoln was kind of a catch, really.

But part of growing up was learning to move past things like that. After all, you couldn't be in love with your brother forever, right?

"...and after they take off the hand-cuffs and finish cleaning up all the candle wax, Ace makes waffles for the three of them, and they spend the rest of the day at the amusement park!"

Luna came out of her reverie as the duo rounded the corner, happy to see that home was now in sight. She wasn't sure how much longer she could pretend to listen to whatever it was that Sam was going on about.

Finally arriving at the Loud House, Luna guided Sam into the kitchen for some snacks. It was her hope that with the proper stimulus, she'd be able to guide the conversation to literally any other topic.

"Hi Luna. Hi Sam"

Unfortunately, what had been waiting for them was exactly the wrong variety of stimulus.

"Lincoln!" Sam greeted, pulling the younger boy into a hug, which was happily returned. Despite knowing what she knew about the two, Luna couldn't help but smile at the sight.

It was that little moment of affection that helped Luna find her courage. This was what she needed to protect, and if it took a little bit of short-term awkwardness to make that happen, so be it.

"Hey Sam", Luna said, jerking her head towards the nearby table. "Why don't you take a seat. I've gotta have a chat with my little bro."

The girl's face briefly crinkled with puzzlement, but she nodded and affectionately ruffled Lincoln's hair one last time before stepping away to give the two some privacy.

"What's up, Lu?" Lincoln asked, concern evident in his eyes.

"Listen Linc, I feel crappy about it, but I've kind of been avoiding you for the last couple of days."

The paled haired boy's face fell a little. "Yeah, I noticed."

"Is this about the comic? Was it really that bad?"

"Sort of…"

"Because I know I've got a long way to go, but I'm trying really hard."

Lincoln's voice had been steadily getting louder as they talked, causing Luna to nervously glance around. Now Sam was looking their way. "Lincoln…"

"No, seriously. I picked up this new book on anatomy, and I've been practicing like crazy."

"Lincoln..." Luna tried to interject, a bit firmer this time.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up with determination. "Wait just one sec and I'll show you. I've been working on this new sketch of Ace and Nightclub…"

And suddenly this was the worst possible conversation to be having with Sam in earshot. Thinking quickly, and finding herself with few options, Luna did the first thing the came to mind and pulled the younger Loud into a fierce hug. Silence fell upon the kitchen. For now, at least, she was safe.

"Look, Lincoln", Luna said, softly but firmly. "I could never hate you over something like that, alright? Your comics are good, and I can see you're working hard to make them better."

Waiting for a reply, but receiving none, Luna continued.

"I happen to know that some people really dig what you make, and that's awesome. I just need you to be a little more careful about what you're putting out there. I mean, those scenes you draw...you have to know what that looks like, right?"

More silence. Jeeze, was he trying to make this hard on her?

"It's not that I can't appreciate the sentiment. It's not like…I've never thought…about…that. About those things. But it's not right, you know? It's not…proper."

Suddenly Lincoln began thrashing in her arms. Luna looked down to ask what was wrong and saw that, in her haste, she'd accidentally smushed her little brother's face right up against her chest, suffocating the poor kid. Whoops.

Luna loosened her grip, and the pale haired boy immediately came up for air. Luna noticed his face was red, but whether that was from embarrassment or oxygen deprivation, she couldn't tell.

"Sorry about that little dude"

"N-no problem, Luna" he replied, stammering a little.

"Sorry, but could you repeat that? I was having trouble hearing you…down there, heh",

"Oh…", Luna said. The right thing to do would have been to give it to Lincoln straight. It would have been better for the both of them in the long run if she'd just buckled down and repeated her speech word for word. But having to say that again, especially while looking him in the eye this time…she just couldn't do it.

"I just said…that I loved you, little bro. That's all".

So, she chose discretion. Again.

Any lingering thoughts Luna might have had about taking back what she'd just said died at the sight of the smile that erupted onto Lincoln's face. What could she say? The kid had a nice smile.

Lincoln gave Luna a hug that was every bit as fierce as the one she'd just given him, though this one was considerably more pleasant, somehow.

"I love you too, sis." He said. And for a time, the two were content to sit there, basking in their mutual affection for each other. Then, just as quickly as it had begun, it was over. Lincoln extracted himself from her arms, and Luna felt herself already missing his rapidly dissipating warmth.

"Well," he said, clearing his throat, "Good talk, Lu. But I should probably leave you two alone." He glanced meaningfully to a spot behind her as he did. Oh right, Sam.

"Right" she chuckled in agreement, "See you later bro".

The two parted ways, and even though Luna had once again failed to breach the subject with her brother, she somehow felt more optimistic about their situation. Finding herself a seat across from her girlfriend, she noticed that Sam was wearing a very particular smile. It sort of reminded Luna of how she looked when she got really heated about those comic books.

"Everything okay, babe?" She asked.

"No, no. Everything's fine" Sam said, her smile not so much deepening as it intensified. "I just thought you guys had a really sweet moment there."

"He's my little bro," Luna said, shrugging. "That's kind how we do things around here".

"I just think that it wouldn't hurt if you guys did that kind of thing more often". Sam offered.

"…Sure thing, Sam, I'll try to run that by Lincoln", said Luna, perplexed by her girlfriend's sudden interest in her sibling relations.

"A-and maybe next time, he could like…touch your hair, w-when you hug. Just a little"

Luna blinked as she attempted to process her girlfriend's words.

"Geh?"