Okay, so there's something I want to clarify. I don't want to leave people disappointed, so I've decided to explain some things. The A plot of this story is Lincoln and Lori's relationship; relationship, here, is used as a catch all for all the circumstances of their interactions with each other. The superhero stuff, and their family circumstances are firmly B plot. Not to say that either of the B plot… Uh… Narrative elements can't be as important as the A plot at any given time. They'll just never be More important, if you catch my drift.

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Jesse scrunched her brow as she read through the most recent report. One of the stash houses was raided, by what looked like a professional team. Given the way they were in and out without any wasted time.

It was an odd thing. The way the lock was ripped from the door suggested that they'd used some kind of winch, or something… But then it would have taken them more time to load up the drugs and get away. So that meant that they most likely found a way around the silent alarm, and only set it off later. Did they set it off on purpose, or was it a mistake?

Shaking her head, she looked up from the report and pushed out her chair. Her feet carried her to her small safe house kitchenette and she put a pot of coffee on, leaning back against the counter as she thought.

It was concerning, but not that much. The fact that some people found one of the stash houses was not a good thing, but the fact that they only found one was a good thing. It was concerning because she didn't know more about it, so she couldn't say what it meant. Still, it barely changed anything. She'd put a note about it in her next report to her boss, but it ultimately wasn't that important; the rest of the supply was being deployed soon anyway.

The machine burbled as the liquid goodness dripped into the pot, and Jesse pushed herself away from the counter to search her cabinets for a mug. Crossing to the mini fridge, she pulled out some creamer and set it down next to a mason jar she'd filled with sugar, beside the coffee machine.

It did make her wonder though. She'd thought about it before, but she just couldn't get over it. What kind of group just gives drugs away for free. It was the clues like that, that told her she wasn't working for a regular gang… Or even the mafia, if the cloak and dagger bullshit wasn't already enough to prove that to her. She'd never actually seen her contacts face.

Whatever, it wasn't her problem. As soon as the drugs were on the street, and she turned in her report, it wasn't her responsibility anymore. She'd let the higher ups handle it, and just tell her what they needed her to do.

The machine clicked off as the last of the drink fell into the pot, and Jesse inhaled the sent of coffee as she poured herself a mug. It wasn't as good as the stuff she had at home, but it was leagues better than instant.

Remember that this story started off life as an alternate take on AberrantScripts' Literally Normal.

She couldn't sleep. She had her eyes closed, and she'd had them closed for the last hour, but slumber refused to take her and, to be honest, she didn't want it to take her. School would be starting in a couple days, and she felt a sort of restless anxiety claw at the inside of her chest. Because school would mean that the summer was over, and… Lucy opened her eyes in the dark.

It was school, she felt like she didn't need a specific reason to be anxious about that. With the new semester only a few days away, she was feeling the crunch. The inevitable feeling that she hadn't done all she could possibly do. The unavoidable sensation that the end was coming too soon. Lucy was more than familiar with it. It always felt that way when her summers came to an end, and it probably always would feel that way.

Sitting up from her coffin bed, she lifted herself over the side and silently dropped to the floor. Her feet whispered over the carpet as she slunk across the room and out the door. She stole down the hallway and down the stairs, taking in the… Well, everything. Something about how the shadows clung to every surface, in distorted imitations of the objects they came from, calmed her down. In the witching hours of the night, she felt most as home. Closing her eyes, she breathed in deeply.

Breaking her stillness, she cut through the dining room and the kitchen, to unlatch the back door and step outside. The warm air swirled around her as she tread across the grass; the blades tickling her bare feet, as the earth squished and molded underneath. She breathed in deeply and air filled her lungs. Holding it for a second, she exhaled slowly and dropped to a seat on the lawn.

Pushing her hands into the grass behind her, she balled up her fists and used them to prop herself up as she leant back. Pitch darkness fell with the closing of her eyes. Crickets chirped as wind rustled the leaves in the trees, and carried the sent of freshly cut grass to her from someone else yard.

Sitting up again, her hands came away damp from the dew and she idly dried them off on the hem of her dress. She opened her eyes once again, taking in the vast expanse of stars dotted across the sky. A crescent moon hung weightlessly, obscured by a swirl of clouds, but shining brightly regardless. Too many people focused on the moon and the stars, Lucy thought. They'd be nothing if not for the vast stretches of the blackest ink that held them suspended.

Time past without her awareness, and she couldn't say how long it had been, but eventually she had enough… Or, at least, she was ready to try to go back to sleep; she wasn't sure if she'd ever get tired of the night sky. With a grunt, she pushed herself to her feet, feeling as the damp butt of her dress clung to her. Grimacing at the discomfort, she pinched the cloth between two fingers and pulled it away from her.

Back across the lawn she went. Back through the kitchen, the dining room, and up the stairs. Back down the hall, where she stopped before her door. She hadn't noticed it before, In the silence she could faintly hear sounds coming from behind Lincoln's door and curiosity seized her. Abandoning her path, she crept closer to her brother's door and peered in through the crack.

The sound was coming from a radio, sitting on his desk, but that wasn't what immediately caught her attention. At the far end of the room, up against the window, her brother stood on his hands. It was impressive, the way he balanced, and Lucy couldn't help but wonder if she could have done the same. Then before her eyes, he lowered himself until his elbows were bent at right angles, and his face was almost touching the floor. Holding it for a second before his head turned and his eye caught hers, even as he pushed himself back up.

"Hello Lucy." Despite herself, her breath caught in her throat. She wasn't used to being caught like that, but she wasn't nearly as surprised as she used to be.

"Hi Lincoln." She murmured, slipping through the crack in the door and into his room. "What are you doing?"

"Couldn't sleep." He grunted, bending his arms and holding the position once more. "So I thought I'd get in some exercise and listen to the radio."

With that, her attention turned back to the radio. One of many recent changes.

"This is Officer Bull." A man's voice crackled from the speaker. "Responding to the noise complaint on fifth St."

"Roger Officer." Dispatch acknowledged. She usually found him reading a comic book, or… a regular book, but she wasn't surprised to find him listening to police transmissions. She'd stumbled across that a couple of times too.

Ever since they came back from the family camping trip, he'd been different. Lori too, but not as much. She couldn't help but be worried that they were effected worse than they thought… Or, that it did more harm… Or something… She didn't know what else could have caused so much change in so little time.

They seemed fine though… Lincoln's new insomnia was… Well, he didn't look like he was half asleep all the time. She only rarely saw him sleep, but he must have been doing it more than that. Maybe he snuck in naps at school? And he certainly wasn't suffering from a lack of alertness, she barely ever succeeded at sneaking up on him anymore.

"Me neither." She watched him rise and fall for a second. "I've been getting end of the summer anxieties."

"Oh," He grunted, pushing himself up again. "Yeah, that's the worst. I used to get them all the time." Not anymore though?

"How did you deal with them?"

"It's all the crowds, the unwanted attention, and the weight of expectation isn't it?" He sliced to the core of the issue, something he'd always been good at, but recently his skill had jumped to almost supernatural levels.

"Yeah…" There wasn't a point in denying it.

Huffing with the effort, Lucy watched him push up so slowly that she couldn't help but wonder if he was getting tired. But no, his breathing was calm. His frame was steady. He wasn't even sweating. Even ignoring that, he just kept talking to her. It he was about to collapse, she figured that his voice would at least be ragged.

"I'm going to tell you something."

"Okay."

"Always remember that you are an island." What? She blinked. "Nobody can make you do, or think, anything you don't want to. It's your job to sort through what's useful and what's not. Decide what you want to be, and who you want to be with." Huh… She cast her eyes to the side in thought. "And remember that if you ever feel overwhelmed, you can come to your older siblings, and we'll help you out."

"Thanks." From her trip out into the night, the worst of her worries had already been exorcised. This didn't help more, but… It was more solid. She knew it all along, of course, but it meant something to her that he said it out loud. As much as she preferred the isolation, she wasn't alone… And she was grateful for that.

I'm going to go make dinner. Today I'm making an asian vegetable stir fry.

The door hit the wall, with the reverberating bang of metal on concrete, as Luna and Sam stepped through into the light outside.

"Ugh…" She groaned, slouching in on herself while she and her girlfriend walked across the lawn. "School sucks. We should have played hooky."

"Hey," Sam's arm circled around her shoulder, pulling them together without pausing their forward progression. "At least it's just the first day. Imagine how bad it'll be later." The smirk on her girlfriends lips, as she said that, told Luna that she wasn't trying to be reassuring.

"Bloody hell, shut up." She shoved her laughing girlfriend away, finding herself standing straighter and in a better mood despite Sam's worst efforts. A moaning grumbled from her stomach reminded her of what they were doing, and she cast around for a table to sit at. "Hey, there's Leni." She pointed in her older sister's direction. "Let's go sit with her."

They cut across the courtyard, weaving around the occasional other student on their way to their destination. Luna was struck by the oddity that was Leni sitting by herself, staring off to the side with a look of concentration… Huh… wonder what that was about. Coming to the table, she slid onto the bench on the side nearest to Leni, while Sam sat down across from her.

"Hey Leni." She nodded to her sister, who didn't respond; still gazing off to the side. "Uh…" What was she looking at? Leaning forward, Luna tilted her head to see where Leni was looking.

Some distance away, Lori sat chatting with her friends.

"Earth to Leni." Sam waved her hand in front of the other blondes face.

Making a quiet squeal, Leni startled in her seat and blinked rapidly. "Oh, Luna," Turning she grinned radiantly at the girls. "Sam. Hi."

"Whatcha looking at Love?"

"Oh, I was just watching Lori." Luna quirked a brow at the answer. She could have guessed that, but not anything else.

"Why?" Leaning forward, Sam craned her neck to see Lori from her spot.

"I don't know."

"What?" Luna blinked. "Like really? Or are you just figuring things out still?"

"Hm… The second one." Leni determined. "Lincoln and Lori have been… Eh…" Trailing off, she seemed to decide not to explain half way through. "Never mind. I don't want to worry you."

"Oh, what? That does help, now I Am worried."

Wincing, Leni directed her eyes to the ground. "I've just been noticing that they've been acting a bit weird lately, but I don't know why."

Rocking back in her seat, the wood creaked underneath her as she thought about that. Leni was right, though Luna didn't pay much attention to it… Well, she did, but only for so long. She figured that Leni would have gotten over their flash of sickness by now. It's not like they were still feeling bad. Unless she was talking about something else. Whatever, she blew out a breath. The air whistled as it passed through her lips. If Leni figured something out, she'd tell the rest of them. There wasn't a point in getting worked up over it yet, so she'd stop thinking about it.

"Well… Tell me if you figure something out." The brown paper bag crinkled as she unfolded the top and dumped her lunch onto the table.

"Okay."

"So, hey." Opening her own lunch, Sam pulled the seal on a bag of potato chips and popped one into her mouth. "I was walking down town yesterday, looking for something cool to do, and I found one of those escape the room places."

"Oh yeah?" She snaked her hand past her girlfriends attempts to ward her away, and stole a couple chips for herself.

"Stop that." She snatched her hand back to her chest when Sam smacked it on her next attempt. "You have your own food." Though, even as she said that, she pinched Luna's brownie and took a bite out of it before Luna could react.

"Hey!" Lunging across the table she swiped the rest of the brownie from Sam's hand and stuffed it in her mouth whole. "Na yuh cuhn't hah it." She mumbled through a mouthful of delicious chocolate.

"Ah," Sam snapped her fingers in false disappointment. "Damn. You've deployed the ultimate defense. I can't get it now…" She trailed off, before slowly turning her head back, a smirk in place. "Unless…"

Getting up, Sam circled the table to her girlfriend and shoved her tongue in her mouth, making Luna squeak in surprise and almost choke on a piece of brownie that was at the back of her throat; but she didn't pull away. She did do battle with Sam's tongue though, to prevent the organ stealing her prize.

Their panting breaths were loud in her ears as they pulled away from each other, and Luna couldn't help but crack a smile at the sight of chocolate smeared across Sam's lips. She imagined that she probably looked the same, if Sam's returning grin was anything to go by.

"So…" What were they talking about before? Of yeah. "You said you found an escape the room place?"

"Yeah," Standing straight again, Sam cast one last mischievous smile over her shoulder started circling back to her spot. "It looked like fun, and I thought it might be cool if we checked it out sometime."

"Just the two of us? Or…" She trailed off as she caught sight of Leni again. The older Loud had abandoned her study of Lori, in favor of staring intently at Luna and Sam. "Uh… Whatcha looking at Love?"

"You and Sam." Came her unsurprising answer.

"Why?…"

"I'll tell you when I figure it out."

Just so you're not confused, to "Pinch" something is British slang for stealing it.

"COME OOOON!" Lynn's scream rang through the air and caught Lisa's attention. She looked out the window, where Lynn was standing over Lori, a football on the ground near them. "YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY!" Lincoln started towards them from where he was on the other side of the yard.

"I was carrying the ball and you tackled me." Lori's response just barely carried over the distance. "What did you think was going to happen." Even with the space between them muting the sound, Lisa could hear the impatient edge to Lori's response.

"No!" Lynn's voice lessened in volume, from eardrum rupturing, to merely raucous. "I touched you, and you suddenly dropped like your string were cut!"

She stopped shouting when Lincoln got close. He raised his hand and said something, but Lisa couldn't catch his words.

"No!" Lynn whipped around, and stabbed her finger at Lincoln to emphasize her words. "She didn't just drop because she knew she couldn't get away! When we last went to the mall, she carried her own bags! Do know how much clothes she buys?! If she had tried, she probably could have gotten away from me!" Huh, that was a good point.

Lisa couldn't say that she cared much for whatever inane game they were playing. She also wasn't paying attention until after Lynn tackled Lori, so she couldn't even claim to have the full picture, but Lynn was correct on one thing; Lori was significantly stronger these days, than she was in the past.

"Look, Lynn, we don't have to play this if this is how you're going to act." Lincoln's voice picked up in volume enough for her to hear it, an irked twist to his expression. Curious…

"WELL MAYBE I DON'T WANT TO PLAY WITH YOU GUYS AT ALL, UNTIL YOU START TAKING IT SERIOUSLY!" Their sporty sister exploded. "We've been out here for hours! You're not even sweating!" She pointed an accusing finger at their brother, who was practically pristine compared to his sisters moderate perspiration.

"Look, we're trying alright." Lori spit out.

"No. You. Are. Fucking. Not." Lynn hissed back. "UGH! GOD! Fuck it! I'm leaving." As Lynn stomped away, Lisa turned her attention back to Lincoln and Lori.

The two were talking quietly and Lisa couldn't anything out. Eventually they started towards the house and disappeared inside.

It was curious… A picture was forming, but Lisa couldn't say of what. The sudden increase in her siblings physical prowess was interesting, but ultimately not worth spending too much energy on. Most likely it was the result of something fairly mundane, but that didn't mean it wasn't causing its own issues… Though Lisa doubted that too. Probably it was just mixed in with everything else.

No… There was a shift in the family dynamic… Curious… What to do though? Her innate curiosity told her that she should try to figure it out for herself. Her sense of personal privacy said that she should leave them be. A compromise than; she'd talk to Leni about it. She'd noticed that Leni was paying close attention to the two and despite Leni's shortcomings, She knew that Leni had a keen mind for navigating psychological minefields. A conversation with her should clear things up a bit.

What's the cutest animal you don't own?

"Alright everyone, I call this meeting to order." Lisa smacked a telescoping pointer against a white board, she had Leni help her bring into the room, and Lynn sat up from her spot on the floor. "You're probably wondering why I've called you here today."

"Kinda…" Luna rasped, looking around. "Also, why aren't Lori and Lincoln here?" Lynn had wondered the same thing, but she didn't care enough to ask. She was still a little pissed off from the day before.

"They aren't here, because this meeting is about them." Were they in trouble? Her anger disappeared in a flash, worry curling in her gut in its place. "Surely you have all noticed how differently they've been acting lately."

"Yeah? So what?" Lynn cut in.

Lisa didn't answer immediately. She stood frozen in front of the white board, as though somebody had hit pause on her life. Then she began to move again, slowly and deliberately. "Leni and I have been conversing about it, and we have a theory." Uncapping a marker, she wrote two words at the top of the board. The words Supporting Evidence sat on top of a line. "Keep in mind that we have no solid proof of this, it's all conjecture, but I thought it prudent to inform you all just in case."

"Well spill the beans already."

"I'd like you all…" Lisa trailed off. "Hmm, no. Let's do something else first." She took a deep breath. "Have any of you asked them why they spend so much time in the city, or disappear at odd hours? Have you ever asked them why they're suddenly attached at the hip?"

"Yes, but they failed to give me a satisfying answer." Everyone jumped when Lucy spoke up for the first time, all of them having forgotten she was there.

"Y-yeah." Luna stuttered, clutching her chest and starting at Lucy with wide eyes. "Same."

"As I suspected. My attempts yielded similar results." Lisa caught their attention again. "So I'll elaborate, or cut to the chase. I'm seventy percent sure that Lori and Lincoln are romantically involved."

The silence hung in the room like a wet blanket, until Luan raised her hand tentatively, like she was asking to be called on. "Like… With other people?" She got out, worry in her tone.

"No." Lisa didn't explain further, and they didn't need her too. Lynn felt her stomach churn and her gorge rise at the thought, but she forced herself to swallow it down despite how sick it made her feel.

"Oh…" The comedian stared into the middle distance before snapping her eyes back to Lisa's, a flickering hope behind them. "But there's no proof, right? You said that at the beginning, it's all circumstantial."

"True." Their scientist sister conceded. "But there are enough circumstances that other possibilities are becoming vanishingly unlikely." She turned back to the whiteboard, uncapping her marker again. "We'll start with the least convincing evidence and work our way up." She wrote on the board, underneath the line the words The City appeared. "We know that Lincoln and Lori spend a large amount of time in the city." Underneath that she wrote the word Lies. "And they won't tell us why they're going." More words were written underneath the first two, and Lisa just kept talking. "We know that they're closer than they were before, to the point that they're almost inseparable." Turning to look over her shoulder, she cast them a knowing look. "Does that sound like anything to you? It's familiar behavior." It was like with Bobby and Lori. Capping her marker, Lisa twisted her body to follow her head and stood facing them again. "Leni has been observing them for the last couple weeks, and she's noticed a lot of similarities between their conscious, and unconscious behaviors, versus those of other couples. They're comfortable inside each other's space and seek to be near each other, and touching if possible, whenever possible. They support each other in any engagement the other is involved with, and stand by each other's side with a level of faith that's difficult to replicate outside of life and death encounters, or sexual ones. And they refuse to explain the changes truthfully."

Laid out like that… Ew… Just the thought of it. Lynn really hoped they were wrong, but… It wasn't solid proof, like they said, but it certainly painted a picture. "So…" The words stuck in her mouth like peanut butter.

"Our theory is that Lincoln and Lori are involved romantically. They're going into the city so much because almost nobody would recognize them, so they can act like a couple so long as they're careful."

"Wait, wait, that can't be it." Luan interrupted. "Think about it, you're suggesting that two of our siblings are banging. How ridiculous is that?"

"I take it you have an alternate theory than."

Suddenly put of the spot, Luan backpedaled like a chump. "I-I… I mean, no…" She sighed, her discomfort showing through.

"Look." Lisa sighed too. "I'm not saying that this is definitely true. I'm saying that it's a real possibility, and we shouldn't ignore the evidence just because it makes us uncomfortable. Just… Keep an eye on them. We don't know anything for sure, yet, but…" She stopped without finishing.

"Yeah…" Lynn agreed.

I need more decorations on my walls. Useful decorations, like a… Defibrillator.

Hayley looked down at the report she just received, skimming through it, like she did with all reports, until she found something interesting. Almost all her assigned operations were going off without a hitch, but there was a bit of hiccup.

Someone apparently broke into one of the store houses and made off with the drugs. Her external contact suggested that it was a professional job, and nothing she'd seen disproved that… But… Her mind strayed to a different report.

The boys in blue discovered a pile of burning cocaine off the side of the road, just outside the city. So she at least knew where the drugs went, though that didn't help much. It did suggest that whoever did it wasn't interested in drugs, which didn't mean that they weren't criminals. Ah… Well, there wasn't much point wasting mental energy on it. Without more samples, she couldn't form a pattern.

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Chapter notes:

Hey, so… I sort of got stuck in a particular mind set while writing the beginning of this. Different stories have different narrative scaffolding. I was stuck using the narrative scaffolding of another story, so I didn't put my best foot forward when starting this. So, bare with me as I figure out what's best for this story.

I forget if high schools, middle school, and colleges start up at the same time, or different times. It also doesn't matter a lot. For the purposes of this story, I'm just going to assume that they all start at the same time, because it's narratively convenient, and who cares.