Chapter Nine

They climbed up to the attic, where Lucy kissed Lincoln on the lips, blushing heavily as she pulled away. She was trying to act more confident than she felt and it showed. She wanted to prove that she could be cool and confident and adventurous too. That was why she had done this for Lincoln. So she could prove her value to him as a lover.

"I spoke to Haiku on the nature of our… Forbidden union." Lucy said softly. Lincoln tensed up. They were supposed to keep that entirely secret.

Out of the entire family, he knew, Lucy knew and Lisa knew. Jordan also knew. But her parents were often not home and she wasn't that close to them even when they were home.

"Fear not, my Prince of Darkness. Haiku entirely respects our taboo relationship. Her parents are out of town at least twice a month on business. Her father traveled the country to give speeches and her mother travels to medical symposiums. She has offered us her home to consummate our union in the event that we can find nowhere else. Downside, you have to introduce yourself to Haiku's parents as her boyfriend."

As Lucy said this, he could see that it caused her some anxiety as well.

"Haiku's parents are fairly open minded about her having sex. They know that she's pansexual, or in her words, she prefers to judge someone by who they are, not what they are. They've even had 'the talk' with her and told her to make sure any man she's with has condoms. So they'll probably ask you to prove that you have condoms. But they won't allow anyone they don't know and whose relationship to Haiku they don't know beforehand come over to the house while they're away." Lucy said.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait… Lucy… Stop. I'm really flattered you put all this work in. There's a few… Potential drawbacks I can see. One, Clyde is her boyfriend. And I can promise you that even if you, Haiku and I are confident enough to pretend that I'm her boyfriend, Clyde definitely isn't that confident. Nothing against him. He's just got anxiety about himself in the first place. Second of all, Haiku's parents know that and have met Clyde. Third, I can tell you've worked really hard on this plan.

"But there are simpler ways to find a time and place to make love without having to lie about where we're going." Lucy sighed. She knew it had been a dumb idea. She was just trying to impress Lincoln with how smart and how clever she was. Lincoln seemed to notice that she was upset and kissed her gently on the lips, stroking her hair, cuddling with her for a bit.

"Lucy… Look at me. Look at me." He said.

"It's alright. I'm impressed that you thought of all this. It was a good idea. It's just… I shouldn't have been so harsh towards you. It's a good idea. It's just… Maybe it's a bit too complicated to be practical. I promise we'll work together on finding a way that we can be together. We may have to involve some of our more… Open minded sisters in it. Preferably ones that can keep their mouths shut about it." Lincoln chuckled. That almost immediately ruled Leni out. He thought about it for a long, long moment.

Some of his siblings already knew about their relationship. Though how long could Lori and Leni keep it quiet, now that it was getting serious? They would have to be honest about their relationship with the two elder girls. But he would also have to find a way to say it that would calm them down rather than work them up. It's possible that Lori thought this would just be a light crush type thing and would go away after a little while. And Leni hadn't said anything as far as Lincoln knew. If she had, their parents undoubtedly would have acted.

Frankly, Lori was starting her life with Bobby. She recently found out she was pregnant. Lisa, who had invented what she called an elixir that accelerated the pregnancy from nine months to nine weeks had given it to Lori. The blonde wasn't showing just yet, but Lisa said that she was looking like she was going to have twins. Lori was really nervous. Having a child was one thing. Having two children to start with was another. Lincoln was sure that even if Lori did accept that he and Lucy were in a sexual relationship, she very well might not allow them to have sex at her house.

First of all, it was kind of rude to ask that kind of thing of someone, even if they did need to keep their relationship under wraps. Second of all, Lori lived down in Great Lakes City now with Bobby. He was going to school to be a police officer while her golf career took off. She was already getting sponsorship offers from companies and organizations who wanted her as their representative. She was an incredible golfer and she'd already beaten some records for female golfers. Lucy sighed as Lincoln thought.

She was really nervous. She was sure that their parents would find out sooner rather than later. For now, they were safe. But how long would that last? Lincoln was still thinking. Leni lived with Fiona right now. They weren't dating. They were just splitting the rent of the small house they were living in while Leni got off the ground in terms of her fashion line. Fiona wore the clothes Leni made and told anyone who asked that they were made by her friend, Leni. Leni was still dating Scott O'Hara. She was just doing it in person now. He'd come over to America to be with her in person since he graduated high school.

Lincoln liked Scott. He was kind and handsome and he had good fashion sense. But Lincoln was happy that she liked him. He'd come across the pond two years ago and they'd been very close ever since. He was in college right now. He was going to college for Communications. He was already setting up a YouTube page to do reviews of movies. He wanted to branch out to reviewing plays as well. But he had started with movies because everyone watched movies. He'd been asking Lincoln what metal was Leni's favorite, what her favorite stone was. He was almost definitely going to propose to her.

Luna and Sam lived together in a nice house. Their home was hardly huge, but it was a nice modern home. Luna and Sam were the leaders of their band, the Moon Goats. Their band was doing really well. They were hardly world famous yet, but they'd made a name for themselves through YouTube, iTunes and other song apps, their own website and . They weren't exactly rich, but they had a strong base of regular contributors to their , they had people frequently buying their new songs and albums and they had a large base of subscribers on YouTube.

They were about to put out a new album and a special song for their subscribers on . It wasn't sure yet, but the band was talking to a few companies that wanted to sponsor them. Luna didn't know about their relationship just yet. And he wasn't sure she would accept the fact that he was in an incestuous relationship. She was very open minded. He knew she would accept that he was in a poly relationship. But the fact that he was in one with Lucy was a different story. He would need to have a backup plan in the event that she didn't accept him.

The problem might not be that Luna wouldn't accept him, but that she wouldn't want to be complicit in the technical crimes that Lincoln and Lucy were committing. Incest was a crime and the fact that Lincoln would be turning 18 pretty soon, within a bit more than a year and Lucy would only be 15 at the time. Next were Luan and Maggie. They were both in college at the moment, and thus were in dorms. Lincoln's thoughts were about where they could theoretically consummate their relationship.

Lynn was still living at home. She could theoretically be relied on to distract the parents while Lincoln and Lucy had their fun, assuming that she could be relied on to not say anything.

"I think that the most likely option would be Luna and Sam." Lincoln said. She and Sam were quite open-minded. Though they may not allow them to have sex at their house. Lincoln gasped as he heard Lisa calling out for him. He excused himself and went downstairs.

"Yes, Lisa?" Lincoln asked. Lisa took Lincoln back to his room. She showed him a switch on the wall.

"I've created noise canceling units within the walls. They scramble sound waves. Frankly, they're much more effective in a larger room. I'm going to install them in all the rooms. That will give you the ability to fornicate with Lucy in any room in the house with Lucy without fearing being caught… Assuming that nobody but Lucy uses the vents to crawl around the house." Lisa said bluntly. Lincoln turned on the switch. Lisa went outside and yelled and banged on the door.

She showed that no noise entered the room. That meant that it couldn't be used for a long time. After all, if people kept knocking on the door, assuming they knew that Lincoln was in the room, it would be suspicious that he wasn't answering or even making any indication that he heard them.

"Hey." Lucy said. Lisa practically leapt into Lincoln's arms.

"Don't do that!" Lisa protested. Lucy shrugged. She still got a bit annoyed that she could sneak up like that. Nobody ever seemed to hear her coming.

"Sorry." She said.

"What is it that caused you to install these noise cancelers?" Lincoln asked, sure that she wanted something in return for her generosity. Lisa thought for a moment.

"There's nothing you can do right now. I needed to test the noise cancelers anyway. They're probably going to be best used in places where privacy is needed. One possible side effect is that the sound wave scrambling effect will cause people outside to make no sound when they talk." Lisa said.

She turned on the cancelers and tried talking, showing that her mouth made no sound. That was a possible drawback. But she was working on making them more accurate and creating fewer side effects.

"At least for now, you can find any empty room in the house and fornicate in it with Lucy." Lisa said. Lincoln nodded, hugging Lisa, causing the ten-year-old to smile a little shyly. Lisa had done well. Her social limitations often hindered her with making friends. But she had Darcy and David as friends. So even if they were her only friends, Lincoln was happy that she had a social circle.

And Darcy always made sure to invite Lisa to her parties. Darcy was much more social and had a lot of friends. Lisa worked with an occupational therapist to learn better social skills. While Lisa felt that it was a waste of her time, she still went, primarily because she didn't have a change, and she actually had a pretty good relationship with Doctor Muñoz. Lisa was exceptionally intelligent, but her social skills left a lot to be desired, even after four years with an occupational therapist. Still, Muñoz said she was improving, and that she recommended Lisa continue working on it with her.

"Why did you do all this for us, Lise?" Lincoln asked.
"Because, I'm developing treatments that will allow even an incestuous couple such as yourself and Lucy to produce a completely healthy child. As you may know, a child born between a brother and a sister is far more likely to have a slew of genetic disorders, both physical and mental. blindness, hearing loss, neonatal diabetes, limb malformations, disorders of sex development, and schizophrenia… Amongst others. And that's not even mentioning the other mental disorders.

"If you've heard of certain royal families who commonly practiced inbreeding… Charles II's family is the most prominent, their inbreeding resulting in the 'Habsburg Jaw', with Charles II being so inbred that his inbreeding rating being .25, the same as if he'd been born of two siblings. However, I believe there are treatments that I can provide to Lucy to prevent any such disorders if you'll permit me to assist you. It's early yet. You're only 13 and you're only 16 and I strongly recommend against trying to get pregnant. But someday, maybe." Lisa said. Once again, she wasn't realizing that she was being a bit inappropriate.

Still, Lincoln thanked her.

"You have a play date with Darcy today, right?" Lincoln asked. Lisa nodded.

"Yes. There are many other things I could be doing with my time. But Darcy was eager to 'hang out' with me. And I do enjoy spending time with her." Lisa said.

"Lincoln?" Lynn asked, raising an eyebrow, having heard most of the diatribe about the Habsburg Jaw and the treatments Lisa was developing to prevent inbreeding disorders.

While she didn't understand most of it, she understood the part where Lisa talked about Lincoln and Lucy having a child together. Lincoln froze. Lynn wasn't as much of a big mouth as Leni was. But Lincoln wasn't sure still if he could trust Lynn to keep her mouth shut about this. It was a big deal and he would likely be sent to military school now and then kicked out of the house when he was eighteen if he was lucky. If he wasn't lucky, he would be kicked out of the house immediately and left to his own devices. Now, Lincoln got money from a trust fund each month.

He had made the Full House Gang Comic and had introduced them to Bill Buck, who had published his work and there was now an ongoing comic within the Ace Savvy Universe about Ace and the Full House Gang. Lincoln got a full 25% of the comic's royalties each month. So he had plenty of money to live on. But being cut off from his family like that still wasn't something he wanted.

"Lynn…" Lincoln said, hoping that he could reason with her, hoping that she wouldn't go right to their parents about this. Now, there was a chance that they wouldn't believe her.

There was a chance that they would simply chastise her for playing such a disgusting prank, for lying about something like that. But there was also a chance they would investigate further and find out the truth. Either way, it was best to nip this in the bud before it got off the ground.

"What? You gonna try to seduce me too?" Lynn asked.

"What? No! Of course not!" Lincoln protested. Lynn scowled.

"So only Lucy is good enough for you to want an incestuous relationship with?" Lynn demanded. She didn't really want to be with Lincoln. He was more interesting now that he was becoming so physically fit. But romance and sex weren't really that interesting to her. She didn't really want to be in a relationship. It was a waste of her time.

"Lynn… Shhhh…" Lincoln breathed, trying to calm her down. Lynn shoved Lincoln against the wall.

"Fine! Get in here, you freak!" Lynn snapped, dragging Lincoln into her room. She'd heard Lisa mention the noise cancelers, so she turned the switch and shoved Lincoln down on her bed.

"Now, how long have you been with Lucy? Have you fucked her yet? How old was she when you and she had your first time? Does Jordan know you're cheating on her?" Lynn demanded.

"A few weeks, we have made love, only a little while ago and I'm not cheating on Jordan. She knows and she's cool having a poly relationship." Lincoln said. Lynn's scowl deepened.

"Oh, so one girlfriend isn't enough for Lincoln Loud! Figures!" Lynn snarled. Lincoln looked at Lynn, confused. She'd never cared about his romantic or sex life before. He could tell that something was upsetting her and when Lynn got upset, she tended to get angry.

"Nothing, Stinkin'! My only problem is you porking your thirteen-year-old sister!" Lynn snarled. Lincoln cocked his head slightly at her. She hadn't called him that in years.

Lincoln sighed. He knew that he wouldn't be able to force answers out of Lynn. He sighed.

"Lynn… I get that you're a little… Uneasy about my relationship with Lucy. But I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't tell anyone about it. I might tell our other siblings. But I want to keep it on the down low for now." Lincoln said. Lynn stared at him for a long moment, smirking at Lincoln, who gulped.

"I'm not uneasy about it. What you and Lucy do together is your business. She's mature for her age and smart enough to make her own decisions." Lynn shrugged.

"It's kind of gross that you're fucking your sister, but hey, if that's what you want to do, I'm not going to get in the way. I won't save your asses if you do get found out though." Lynn said. Lincoln smiled in relief.

"Thanks, Lynn. Now, what's wrong? You're clearly upset about something." Lincoln said. Lynn snarled, punching her bed's headboard.

"I just had a fight with a friend. It's nothing." Lynn said. She'd had a big fight with Margo and now the two weren't even talking. That was over a week ago. Lynn tried to see Margo today and work things out with her. She'd put aside her busy training schedule to see her and their 'talk' devolved into yelling and fighting again in no time. Lynn didn't even fully remember what the fight was about. She just wanted her friend back. She didn't have a lot of friends. She didn't really have time for friends. And Lynn had been invited to a bunch of team events, even though she wasn't technically on the team anymore.

But she always turned them down. She was busy training for the next Olympics. Why couldn't they understand that? Yes, it was an adult Roller Derby team now and they were really good, even without Lynn. But Lynn didn't have time for amateur sports. She had to train. But some of the members of her former team tried to tell her that she was already the fastest runner in the world. She was not only doing Triathlon in the coming Olympics, but doing track, freestyle swimming and biking as well. She was the best of the best and taking a little time off, they argued could be good for her.

But Lynn was dedicated to proving that she wasn't second place this time. She'd sprained her ankle shortly before the previous Olympics and had, as a result come in second place, which was still incredible, especially for her first Olympics. But it wasn't good enough for Lynn Loud Jr. She planned to get the gold in all her events this coming Olympics. She was upset that she'd gotten in a fight with her friends. But she had to get over it. She had to continue to train.

As she explained this, Lincoln hugged her, rubbing her back as tears stung her eyes.

"I p-promise I won't t-t-tell anyone about you and Lucy." Lynn said, grabbing Lucy's ritual dagger and slicing her hand open.
"Blood oath." Lynn smirked. Lincoln chuckled and Lucy grinned. She didn't know Lynn knew about blood oaths. The blood was used to bind a powerful magical contract between two individuals. If Lincoln cut his hand as well and shook Lynn's hand, the contract would be sealed.

Lynn would be unable to reveal Lincoln's and her incestuous relationship without suffering severe consequences that, unless she rectified her betrayal in a meaningful way that Lincoln accepted her apology, would likely ruin her life. Lincoln sliced his hand open as well and shook Lynn's hand. Lisa probably would have discouraged them from sharing blood like that. But that was why they had Lisa. She had nanomachines and regenerative serums and other science-y stuff like that that could prevent diseases.

"Lynn Loud Jr. Do you swear not to reveal, whether through word or deed, Lincoln Loud's relationship with Lucy Loud?" Lucy asked, making it as specific as possible.
"I do." Lynn said. She wasn't sure what this was, but she went along with it. Lucy often did things like this.

"Then the contract is complete." Lucy said. The two pulled away and went to Lisa's lab.

Lincoln remembered when they got there though that Lisa had left for occupational therapy. She was then going to Darcy's house to hang out with her. Lincoln took down a spray bottle that said 'regenerative serum'. He then cleaned his hand wound with hot water and then hydrogen peroxide and sprayed his hand and then Lynn's hand with it. They then shook hands again and went back about their days.