A Mightily Loud House
What Dreams May Come?
"Ouch!" the jeweler's screwdriver Lily was using dropped from her hand as the young woman looked down at the baby at her breast. "Leon! How many times have I said not to bite mommy's nipple!" the baby burped in response. "Oh, so gentlemanly. But you know better than to do that, young man."
An exasperated sigh escaped Lily's mouth as the baby began nursing again, and she tried turning her attention back to the pair of glasses she was fixing while Luke was heard rustling about in the kitchen for his breakfast. But her goal was stymied with the arrival of her only daughter, the girl seemingly barely able to stand as she trudged on in and flopped down at the table, bags under her eyes more prominent than ever before.
Lily gasped. "Linka! You don't look so well, are you feeling sick?"
The younger girl shook her head slowly, then rested her head on the table as she looked at her youngest mama. "No, just-" a yawn cut her short, but she recovered soon after, "-didn't sleep well."
"Bad dream?"
Linka almost nodded, but paused as if in thought. Before Lily could respond, Linka asked, "Hey, mama Lily?"
"Yes?" her project set aside, Lily gave Linka her full attention.
"Could I… tell you something?"
Lily smiled gently. It was a perk, she always felt, that she was closest in age to all the kids than their own mothers since this meant that she was much more likely to be confided in. Maybe not by Leon, but that was understandable. "Go on ahead, Linka. What's bothering you?"
The girl fidgeted for a moment, seemed to reconsider or maybe wonder what she should say, but eventually she managed to get out, "Um, see, yesterday…"
"Yes?"
Linka started blushing furiously, her entire form trembling as Luke began finishing up with whatever he was doing in the kitchen. "S-see, it's like th-this," Linka sat up and began squeezing her knees before, just as Luke had unknowingly entered the room, she declared, "Kimiko kissed me yesterday!"
Lily blinked. Luke paused, his breakfast in hand.
Then, Linka added, "And I kind of didn't not like it, but then last night I had a dream about a guy I kind of… like, and… and…"
"And?" Lily knew, instinctively, that this was probably the wrong thing to say at that precise moment. Why she said it, she hadn't a clue. But as soon as it left her lips, she knew it was bad.
And it was. "Anditwasasexydream!" Linka blurted out, her face redder than Lynn's old jerseys, any tomato in existence, possibly even more than the blood cells coursing through their veins.
Before Lily could speak, Luke turned on his heels and walked back into the kitchen, opened the fridge, then closed it before coming back in empty-handed.
"Luke? Something wrong?" Lily asked, noticing Linka go beyond the impossible as she grew even redder when she realized her older brother had heard her admission.
Luke nodded in a daze. "Yeah. Not hungry anymore. Gonna go back to bed and wake up from this nightmare I'm in!"
As her son dashed out of the room and ran upstairs, Lily tried to salvage the situation. "U-um," she re-positioned Leon as he'd grown restless, then fished for something to say in reply to Linka's admission. "W-well, why not… start from the beginning? I mean," Lily panicked, "about what happened between you and Kimiko! Not… not the dream, unless you want-"
Still red faced, Linka obliged now that she was stuck. "W-well, you see, mama Lily, yesterday while I was playing Pretty Magical Commisar-"
Don't laugh, Lily, don't laugh! I still don't know who thought that'd be a great idea for an anime!
"-with Kimiko, she and I were wrestling and then, all of a sudden she just kissed me!"
Lily had the presence of mind enough to blush at that.
Seeing her mama was speechless, Linka continued. "And then, when I asked what that was about, Kimiko and I sat up and she started admitting to me that she really liked me and not just as a friend and if I'd go out with her and—Leon, what are you do—mama Lily!" Linka burst out just as Leon had taken the screwdriver in his hand and raised it to his ear.
Lily caught him just in time, but noticed the look of sheer horror on her infant's face and knew exactly what he'd aimed to do. "Leon, no trying to deafen yourself." Lily plucked the screwdriver from his weaker infant grasp and placed it far away from him. He tried to reach for it, struggled with all his baby might, but it was in vain. "I said not to bite mommy's nipples, didn't I?"
The baby shuddered in her grasp, but remained quiet and instead covered his own ears as best he could.
"Drama queen," Lily snickered under her breath. Then, remembering Linka, she looked at the girl and said, "Okay, and the dream?"
Having calmed down after Leon's outburst, Linka hunched in on herself as she explained, "It was like I said, last night after all of that happened I had a dream about a guy I… really like," she practically squealed those last two words.
"That Casey guy?"
Linka shook her head furiously. "Not Casey Paisley!"
This was interesting, Lily considered. So Linka had another guy she was interested in? Crap, if they weren't careful she'd turn out like her father!
"And in it he and I were doing things, like kissing, and then he was sucking on and pinching my breasts and nipples, and then he started licking me down there-"
"OkayIgetit!" Lily held her hands up, then immediately shot both out to grab Leon's arms as the baby had started trying to jam his fingers in both ears to rupture his eardrums. When she'd managed to regain some control, Lily laughed nervously. "I-I see what you m-mean about… sexy dreams, Linka—where the heck did you learn any of that!"
As if realizing exactly what she'd just said for the first time, Linka blushed even deeper before admitting, "Um, well… s-some of my manga."
Lily raised an eye at this. "Which I'm sure your father and all your mamas and mother would be delighted to read as well now." When she saw how embarrassed Linka was, though, Lily decided enough was enough and started relenting. "Anyways!" Lily sat up straight, readjusted Leon, then relaxed her face as she looked back at the still embarrassed and now very much humiliated Linka. "About Kimiko, what do you feel you should do?"
"I dunno," Linka moped, shoulders sagging.
Lily smiled softly. "Maybe you should try talking to her? I mean," she laughed now, but only softly, "she's probably freaking out just as much as, if not more than you, Linka."
"You think?"
Nodding, Lily continued. "I mean, she did take a heck of a risk, right?" then a new thought occurred to her. "Of course, I'm not saying you have to return her feelings or not, but if you're worried about still being friends, then it's important to talk things over. Even if," Lily sighed, "all you want to be is just friends."
Linka waited a few moments before nodding in agreement.
But Lily wasn't done yet. "And as for your… um, sexy dream-"
"Whose sexy dream we talkin' 'bout?" Luna asked groggily as she came into the dinning room, her pajama shorts and shirt askew enough to show her stomach.
Linka immediately started hyperventilating as Lily tried her hardest to think of something. "Uh, Luna! Er, I mean—what I meant, er, said was-"
It was pure bad luck that Luna's mind chose that moment to defog as, looking between the two ladies present and putting what she'd heard earlier together, everything clicked. And as her head swiveled to look at Linka, a grin plastered itself across her face. "Sexy dreams, huh?"
Her daughter merely placed her head against the table, squealed into the surface, and nodded her head.
Laughing, Luna went into the kitchen, grabbed herself a can of beer, then came hurriedly back and plopped herself down at the table beside Linka. "Fill a gal in!"
"Luna!" Lily couldn't help the laugh that escaped her. She knew, deep down, that Luna had no intention of actually humiliating their daughter…
...but she did remember the time Linka, as a baby, crapped on Luna's shirt.
Before Linka said a word, Lily played interference. "You look surprisingly good for someone who got completely wasted last night, Luna."
The woman grinned cheekily at Lily. "What can I say? I've got the best damn tolerance for the stuff in this house!" then she leaned back. "Besides, I couldn't help it, Mags and Haiku movin' in finally? You gotta celebrate hardcore for stuff like that, Lils!"
Lily snorted.
Taking the chance, Luna gently elbowed Linka and asked, "So, what's the sexy dream about, huh?"
"Sexy dream?" both Maggie and Haiku asked as they entered the dining room. Upon seeing Linka, Maggie arched an eyebrow and got only slightly irate, "Why are you talking about your sorts of dreams with Linka?"
Luna's jaw dropped, but she snickered while Haiku glided on through the room, sparing Linka a sympathetic glance as she went to most likely make some tea for herself and the other occupants who drank it.
Haiku really was a considerate type, Lily knew.
But Luna shook her head and smiled. "Nah, Mags! Other way around," she scooped her daughter up in a hug and held her close. "Our little girl is growin' up!"
Maggie, despite being so disheveled that she looked to have tossed herself in a dryer and put it on tumble for a few hours, still had her usual wits about her as she eyed her daughter keenly. "Oh?"
Lily wished she could help the poor girl. She really did.
Hopefully Linka was at least smart and aware enough she wouldn't mention the manga.
Linka said nothing, too embarrassed then and there, and so Maggie walked quietly to the opposite side of the table across from her daughter and plopped herself down sideways, sliding that day's paper over to herself, removing the screwdriver on it, then placing that near the glasses before opening the paper up. "When you're ready, I'll listen."
The humiliated, and probably near dead poor young girl didn't say a word.
Finally, when Haiku came back with a pot of tea and a tea set, she asked Linka, "Sweetie, would you like some tea?"
After a moment, Linka nodded pathetically.
Serving both Linka and Maggie, then asking and being politely turned down by Lily, Haiku took a seat at the table and asked, "So what's this about dreams?"
Linka couldn't take it anymore. The awkwardness, mixed with how crowded it was getting and how crowded it would get as more and more people woke up?
Lily knew that had to be why Linka sat straight up and just poured her soul out then and there.
"Yesterday Kimiko kissed me while we were wrestling and asked me to be her girlfriend and then last night I had a dream about having sex with a guy I like!"
"Oh." Was all Maggie, calm, cool and collected from what Lily saw, said.
Everyone else, including Lily, looked at the woman and asked, incredulously, "Oh!"
"At least it wasn't a boy who actually kissed you," Maggie remarked offhandedly.
"Brah!" Luna started laughing heartily.
Haiku couldn't help but giggle. "Oh, don't worry about stuff like that, Linka. You're a growing girl, and if your time is anything like mine was? It'll calm down eventually."
Maggie nodded in agreement, though only slightly and Lily was sure nobody else saw it. "Now," the woman said after sipping her tea and thanking Haiku, "about Kimiko?"
"Yeah?" her daughter was now sucking pitifully at her lip in between sips of tea.
Turning the page, Maggie remained silent until, after another sip of tea, she eyed her daughter from the side and said, "Are you interested in her?"
"Um, well… maybe?" Linka whimpered a bit. "I dunno, really. It's all just so… so… I dunno," she finished lamely, unsure of what to say as she ran her hands through her long white hair.
Maggie nodded while everyone just watched. "Well, you could refuse her and try to salvage your friendship. Regardless, it's not your fault if that fails. But then," she took another sip, allowed some silence to befall the room, then broke it with, "you could also accept and see where it takes you."
As if thinking it over, Linka took her time to say, "You think I should?"
Maggie shrugged as all the other ladies watched with interest. "I'm not you, so I can't say. But, if you do?" she eyed her daughter sharply now, "you better not dare be anything less than the dominate one in that relationship."
"Wh-what!" Linka gaped.
Haiku and Luna both spat their drinks out. It was Luna who recovered first and said, "Mags!"
"What?" Maggie smirked. "I'm just saying that I expect Kimiko Soun to be the submissive one given Linka's my blood and we don't settle for anything but." Then, Lily could have sworn Maggie was forcing herself not to grin as she leaned in and said, "And you better make her scream your name-" and at that, Linka slid off her chair and onto the floor, nearly unconscious while her tea remained on the table, still piping.
As Lily tried to get a word in edgewise, Maggie stood up, walked around the table, looked down at Linka, knelt beside her daughter, made sure she was alright and even helped her into her chair before hugging her and saying loudly, "And that? That's for biting my nipples when you were still nursing."
Luna and Haiku sat there in complete shock, Haiku alternating between that and actual full on giggles.
But Lily, as soon as Maggie had walked back to her seat, looked down at Leon and smirked. "See that? Remember that the next time you bite mommy's nipple, Leon."
The baby's lower lip started to tremble as he looked between the women, his sister, and his mother. Then he leaned in and patted her chest gently, hugging his mother tightly.
"Yeah, thought so," Lily chuckled.
Getting back on track, Maggie looked at her daughter once more. "But maybe all of this is a sign you should tell that other guy how you feel, Linka."
"I.. don't think that's a good idea-"
"Oh, come on now," Haiku said, lowering her cup of tea as she looked Linka's way. "How would you know if you haven't tried?"
"Haiku's right, my little dudette!" Luna added after another go at her own drink. "If you don't, you'll always have to deal with the what-ifs, and those suck!"
"Although," Maggie added as she flipped the page again. "A word of advice?" when Linka showed she was listening, Maggie continued. "I'd suggest masturbating once or twice before you do. To calm yourself down."
Again, everyone who had a drink, including Linka, spat it out all over the table. "Maggie!" everyone but Linka squealed.
"What?" Maggie looked away from her paper. "I'm sure she does it. She's not exactly quiet-"
"Mom!" Linka whined pathetically.
Maggie leaned in and quietly said, "Your teeth were like little tin snips. I could have sworn my nipple was sliced off one time."
As Maggie leaned back, Lily could have sworn she'd muttered under her breath, "Besides, if you do go out with Kimiko and find it interests you then I'll never have to worry about you following in his footsteps."
Ah, Lily thought as she looked between the two. So ol' Merciless Maggie's not as cool as she's playing at, I'd wager.
But before she could act on this and just as Maggie looked to be about to ask something else, Linka shot up, cut everyone off, laughed nervously and declared, "I'mgonnagetdressednowthankyoufortheteaandbye!" as she slammed back her cup, gulped its contents, and turned to exit the room.
And ran right smack dab into a barely awake Lane.
"Huh? What's the rush for, Linka?" Lane asked in a haze.
Before anyone could say a word, Linka squeaked in the highest pitched voice Lily had ever heard from anyone, "I'msorryforhavingsexydreamsaboutyouLane!" before, her face once more going beet red, she realized what she'd said and fled as fast as her feet could carry her.
Lane looked at his mamas, each and everyone of those who had a drink having sprayed its contents across the table or, in Maggie's case, into the paper which then ricocheted back at Lily and Leon who were both in shock. "D-did I just hear…," Lane squeaked, now wide awake, "what I thought I heard?"
Maggie's jaw trembled, but still she was the first to speak both hers and Lily's mind. "Oh goddamn it all! She really is her father's child!"
As Maggie fled to get a hold of Lincoln and Haiku tried to regain some semblance of peace by wandering out into the backyard and pretending she hadn't heard any of that after helping to clean up, Lily realized that, actually?
It wasn't so great a perk being the one the kids felt they could confide in, after all.
End
A/N: This is the first of two Lily stories I wrote up. Unfortunately they both possess the same starting premise, but at least veer in wildly different directions. Also, it was never my intention to make this a, "history repeats itself," style of story, but how her crush came to be will be explained. Or, at least how it may have come to be.
And you do NOT cross Maggie. I think even Haiku realizes this.
Anyways, take care and thank you for reading!