III

Refutations

How is it possible that this keeps happening to me?

Lincoln wondered that, as he sat on the living room's sofa with his hands on his knees. He looked up and found the same panorama as a couple of minutes ago: his sisters watching him, extremely upset; the older ones with their arms crossed and standing completely upright, trying to look much taller and more imposing than he did; and the minor ones with a frown and, in some cases, with puffed cheeks. Even though he now was taller than his father and almost as muscular as his grandfather in his youth, he was still intimidated by the piercing looks of those women.

"Well?" spoke Lori.

"Got anything you want to say?" Lola completed.

He sighed and said: "I'm sorry…"

"'I'm sorry' for what?" asked Lynn, looking him in the eye.

"I'm sorry for not going to say hi to you when I got here."

All the women closed their eyes and were silent for a few moments; they pondered their brother's apologies, until he spoke again.

"Girls, I know you are mad; but believe me when I say it wasn't my intention not to greet you. As I mentioned, I was helping Lisa with something, and other than that, I was finishing a project that could have taken me the whole weekend. I wanted to finish it as soon as possible to spend time with you."

Lincoln waited a few seconds for one of his sisters to decide to speak up or, failing that, shout at him; however, he was surprised when Luna approached him and gave him a hug while whispering in his ear: "It's okay, bro. Forgive us for getting like that. It's just that since so much time had passed and you showed no sign of arriving, we worried.

"Besides, with all the work we've had lately, we haven't been able to come in the last few weeks. We wanted to see you already," added Lori, while she and Leni reached out to give him another hug.

"Yeah, Lincoln. It would be no fun if we got home and found out that our favorite boy is not coming to spend time with us," said Luan, after imitating the action of her three older sisters.

"Even if you're not the weakling from years ago, I still care about you, you know?" Lynn stated, giving him a light punch in the shoulder, but hugging him immediately afterwards.

The younger ones, without taking their eyes off the ground nor saying anything, approached Lincoln and hugged him too. Lucy buried her face in the boy's chest, the twins flanked him and were clinging to his arms, and Lily took him by the waist

The actions and words of his sisters deeply moved Lincoln, but he realized that Lisa was not part of that group hug. He looked up for a moment and saw her standing a few steps away; she played with her robe, while she stared at him; she bit her cheeks and her nose was slightly red. She's upset…, he thought; however, he believed that he distinguished another emotion that he could not fully identify. But still, he gave a smile that invited her to join in that family moment; and without saying anything, she came up to the group and imitated the action of her gothic sister.

The white-haired man closed his eyes for a moment and let himself be carried away by the affection and love that each and every one of his sisters gave him. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, until Leni spoke.

"By the way, Linky, you look totes handsome with your hair like that."

The older girls looked up and watched closely at their brother's hair: it had grown so much that now it was arranged in a man bun. The reactions were swift.

"You literally look very handsome, Lincoln!" exclaimed Lori, while taking several photos of the boy.

"That style rocks, dude," said Luna, with a huge smile.

"Even with that 'bun' you look like a total 'stud'. Heh-heh. Get it?" joked Luan, peering closely at her brother's face and hairstyle.

"Who'd say you would let your hair grow? Why did you do it? Did you want to imitate your favorite sister's style?" Lynn questioned confidently, swinging her own ponytail from side to side.

"Huh? And who says he imitated your style?" asked Luan, squinting her eyes in the process. "In fact, who said you are his favorite sister? It's more than obvious that that's me."

"Who decided that?" Lori got into the argument. "I am the one that Lincoln loves the most. Period."

"The one he loves to be the furthest away, you mean," scoffed Lynn.

"What did you say?!" cried out the eldest.

"What you heard!" yelled the athlete.

Lincoln was about to intervene in the discussion, but two of his sisters got ahead of him.

"Girls, please, don't fight!" said Leni, standing between the two women. "Arguing over this is silly!"

"Leni is right," seconded Luna. "Are you really going to fight to know who is Lincoln's favorite? From there we know that the discussion is pointless."

"Exactly!" Leni gave them a big smile. "Linky loves all of us equally… But, like, he loves me a little bit more."

"That's ri— Excuse me?!"

And in less than a second, the five older girls were engulfed in a heated argument over who was the boy's favorite sister, until Lola screamed: "Shut up!"

After doing that, the women watched as the girl took a breath and then pointed at them with the index finger of her right hand. "For starters, do you even think that one of you is his favorite, you grumpy old women?"

The comment made the faces of the aforementioned burn with fury.

"Who are you calling 'grumpy old woman', brat?!" Lori attacked.

"To you!" exclaimed the teenager. "Age seems to be embittering you!"

"We are only a few years older, girl," muttered Luna, gnashing her teeth.

"So? Those are years that make me much younger, prettier and nicer. In short, that makes me Linky's favorite," she directed her gaze to the aforementioned and fluttered her eyelashes several times. "Isn't that right?"

"Oh, so if we talk about beauty, I should be Lincoln's favorite," Lana faced her sister with a confident smile.

The twins glared at each other with fury and began to argue, while the older one continued their own fight. And Lincoln watched the fights with some concern, while the last three girls remained stoic. The boy called them.

"Hey, shall we stop them?"

"No, let them keep arguing," replied Lucy, simply.

"Why? We shouldn't risk letting this turn much more serious."

"It's pointless; just let them be so that way they stop themselves and accept the reality…"

Lincoln was about to congratulate his sister for that show of maturity, until he heard the second part of her sentence…

"Eventually they'll accept that I'm your favorite."

Lucy smiled at him and seemed to want to hug him again, but Lisa got in her way.

"Hey! Don't grant yourself titles that don't belong to you. It's more than obvious that I am the dearest sibling."

"Oh, really?" challenged the black-haired girl. "Is it stated in a thesis that you wrote yourself?"

"No, it is not." In fact, I should write one, she thought. Then pointed a finger at the gothic girl and said: "But it is clear that Lincoln prefers a more relaxed and not-so-childish company."

"Sure," said Lucy, emotionless, "as if being your guinea pig was relaxing."

"I don't use him as a guinea pig!" she screamed. "I would never use my Lincoln for something like that!"

The chaos that reigned in the living room stopped completely, giving way to silence as the new ruler of the place. Had someone dropped a needle on the floor, everyone would definitely have listened the object in question. The eyes of all the presents were fixed on Lisa, who finally fell on the weight of her words and made her face burn with embarrassment.

"I-I— This— Is just— Ahmmm—," she stammered.

"Your Lincoln?" asked Luna, her voice devoid of any emotion.

"N-No… I-I d-d-didn't—"

"So, it's 'your Lincoln', huh?" said Lynn, just like her older sister.

Lisa didn't know what to do anymore. She wanted to tell them that it had all been a mistake and that the word came out on it's own, but it wasn't a credible excuse; for she, more than anyone else, knew how to completely control her brain and her words; and her sisters knew it. She was sure that now they wouldn't stop teasing her for nothing in the world.

"He is not your… Lincoln?" Leni began to speak, pointing at Lisa with her index finger; but then she seemed confused and turned from side to side. "Hey, where's Lincoln?"

The blonde's question alerted the other girls, who noticed not only the absence of their brother but also the absence of Lily.

"I think they stopped fighting already," said Lincoln, as he took off his ear of the door, "although I would've liked to stop them earlier…"

The white-haired boy and the blonde girl were in the bedroom that she shared with Lisa. After all the fighting started, the girl decided to take her older brother away from the other women to make the most of the time he would give her. She knew that the others also craved the boy's attention but decided to not give it importance. She had also eagerly waited for him, and no one wanted him more than her. Neither Lori nor Leni nor the brocon of Lisa loved Lincoln as much as she di—

"Lily," the aforementioned heard behind her, interrupting her thoughts, "now that we're here, tell me what you want to do."

The girl smiled.

"Sit on my bed," she said.

The girl's request seemed strange to the boy, but he accepted it anyway; he took off his shoes and leaned his back against the headboard. He saw how Lily looked for some things in her closet and decided to take a closer look at his sisters' room. As always, Lisa's side was filled with chemistry equipment, different tools, robotic prototypes, and documents with the results of her experiments; the place was somewhat disorganized, but it didn't compare to what it looked like the year before. Lincoln smiled at the thought that his sister possibly followed his advice and decided to be more organized.

On the other hand, Lily's side looked more childish: there were drawings and photographs taped to the wall, a few toys were on her bureau, several Ace Savvy comics —something that made Lincoln extremely proud— were in her small bookcase, and in her bed were settled her beloved teddy bear and Bun-Bun.

The boy's smile faded a little as he remembered the reason why his stuffed rabbit was now owned by his little sister. It wasn't that he didn't want Bun-Bun to be Lily's; in fact, at eighteen he had come to the resolution of wanting to give it to the girl on her eighth birthday as a surprise. She was the only one who still kept her stuffed animals and treated them with affection, so he thought that Lily would be the chosen one to receive that precious possession. However, the day Lincoln had to leave for college was more dramatic than he had expected, and the little girl's crying still caused a twinge of pain in his chest.

"Please, Linky, don't go! Don't leave me alone!" she said, while hugging his waist with all her strength.

"Lily, you know I have to go," he replied, as he returned the hug and caressed her hair. "Besides, it won't be for long. I promise."

The boy's words and smile did not seem to calm the little girl, who cried even harder than before.

"I don't care if it's for a short time! I want to see you every day! I want you, brother!"

The girl's face was too much for Lincoln, who thought he saw for a brief moment the true image of sadness in Lily's eyes. And holding back his own urge to cry, he pulled himself together and grabbed his backpack, from which he took out his beloved stuffed toy and showed it to his sister. "Lily, what's this?"

"Ummm… Bun-Bun?" she answered, completely confused, as she wiped away her tears.

"More or less. But tell me, what is Bun-Bun?"

"Well…, it's your favorite plushie…, and your…, and your… precious?" said Lily, trying to cheer herself up by remembering a character from those movies her brother liked so much.

"Exactly… She is my precious!" he exclaimed, imitating the voice of the aforementioned character and making his sister laugh in the process. "She is my precious; but she is also my friend, my confidant when I wanted to tell her my secrets and my protector during the long nights…" Then he took his sister's hands and gave her the object. "And now it's yours."

Lily's face reflected such a surprise that now was Lincoln the one who could not help laughing.

"L-Linky… Are you really giving it to me?"

He just nodded.

"But why?"

The white-haired boy took the blonde's face and, wiping her tears, said: "Because I know she will be in very good hands," he paused for a moment and smiled. "Also, if one day you feel lonely or you need me by your side, come to Bun-Bun, and I assure you that through her I will convey all my love for you, baby sis."

Tears ran down Lily's cheeks again, but this time she no longer screamed or pleaded; she just hugged her brother and whispered: "T-Thanks, Linky. I will. But please, come home as soon as you can…"

"As soon as I move into the dormitory, organize up a few documents, and get into the new rhythm of work, I'll come to see you," he stopped a few seconds to think his next sentence and smiled. "What's more, I promise I'll come to see you and the others every week. What do you say? Do you like the idea?"

The girl nodded slightly, with a little smile; but not satisfied with the reaction, Lincoln started tickling her.

"L-Linky! Ha-ha-ha! S-Stop!" Lily pleaded, between laughter.

"Not until I make sure there is a smile on that cute face!"

"Okay! Okay! Ha-ha! I'm laughing! See?!"

The boy stopped and let the girl rest, and once she regained her strength, Lily gave her brother a big hug once again, making sure to rub her face against his chest, while listening to his heart. She always gave him that kind of hugs, but that specific one felt way more special. It was one she wanted to last forever; it was one from her older brother, her superhero, her…

Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln…

"Lincoln!"

The aforementioned turned, heeding the call, and saw that Lily had a few sheets of paper in her hands.

"Tell me, sis."

"I was asking if you wanted to see my new photos and drawings," said she, with a hopeful smile.

"But of course, Lily. Show me those artworks."

The girl giggled, jumped onto the bed, sat between Lincoln's legs and he hugged her from behind, as he settled his chin on the girl's head. The action made the girl blush and leaned even more against the boy's chest. However, she picked up the sheets again and passed them to Lincoln, who watched each image in amazement and disbelief.

"And tell me…, do you like them?" asked Lily, with some shyness.

"I love them. You've really improved a lot lately," he replied, not taking his eyes off a specific drawing. "But I specially like the sketch of the couple."

"Huh? Couple?" she asked bewildered. "Which one are you talking about?"

"About this one," he replied, showing her the image.

Lily's face turned scarlet in a second and snatched the sheet from Lincoln's hands with a single movement. She felt a thin layer of sweat cover her back, and her heart was beating as fast as when Lucy scared her. Oh, God! Oh, God! No one was supposed to see that! She thought.

"Lily, what's wrong?" he asked. His sister's attitude confused him too much. "I couldn't see that drawing?"

The girl shook her head.

"Why? I thought it was very cute. The girl's dress looked beautiful. Was it a wedding dress? I think it was. And the boy's outfit also looked amazing; the orange shirt matched pretty well with the white suit. Or did you just not finish coloring it yet? I mean, his clothes and hair had no color."

Each and every one of Lincoln's words were like arrows digging into Lily's chest, who felt like she could pass out at any moment. Nevertheless, the sound of a door opening and slamming against the wall made them both jump out of shock. And as they turned around, they could see their nine sisters in the hallway, looking at them angrily.

"Playing dirty, huh, Lily?" questioned Lana, crossing her arms.

"That's against the rules!" exclaimed Lynn, pointing a finger at her youngest sister.

"You can't take Lincoln just like that!" said Lucy, clenching her shaky fists and displaying an unusually childish attitude.

"Give me back m— Give Lincoln back!" demanded Lisa, grinding her teeth and with the face flushing.

The other girls started to vociferate their own comments; but Lily, who'd had enough, sat up in the bed, hugged her brother's head, and, putting aside her bashfulness, cried out: "You can't take Lincoln away from me! He is now with me! Wait your turn!"

And without saying another word, she stuck her tongue at them.

Holy Molly! For a story with only two chapters it is doing pretty nicely. Thank you so much! Also, I want to apologize for not uploading a new chapter in all this time, but I was working in other story and also didn't have the time because of school. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this update, guys.

Now, with some reviews:

henry-kun, I hope this answers your question, heh-heh.

NoSoul01, I'm happy that you think that. Enjoy this update, man!

JK75, this shows even more hive-mind than before. I hope this was worth the wait.

Mark the Mark, our boy Lincoln is in for a situation now.

Guest, you are right, but I wish I could put even more character tags in the description...

Mr. Haziq, the robot is still alive, don't worry.

Guest, well, not all the highschool couples really survive. Plus... No, keep reading.

Low-Lying, thank you. I hope you liked this even more.

Guest, here you go, dude. Enjoy.

SIAMES, the robot is alive, bro. Don't worry!

Kuro okami, thanks for your kind words. i hope this was a fantastic read, too.

Well, that's all for now. Please favorite, follow and comment this story. And if you have to point out some mistakes, please do. I want to improve.

Dark Dragon Of Creation