Lincoln Loud was the kind of guy that could almost proudly say he had dug himself into a pit filled to the brim with hot shit, and made it out unscathed… figuratively of course… ok bad example. What I'm trying to say is, he had been in some real tricky scenarios before, and almost always managed to make it out pretty much intact
This particular scenario though was proving pretty hard to navigate. The burning glare Lori's tired eyes shot him as he and Lily sat beside each other on her bed in her shared room only served to prove that.
"I'm literally not going to beat around the bush here, so…" She pulled her phone from her pocket and fiddled with it a little before pointing it at them. "Care to explain?"
The two culprits froze at the photo shown to them. It was more than likely taken when they were in the park. Lily lay over her brother, both held in a tight embrace as they made out on the grass. Now that's where the problem was. In reality, it had only been a quick peck, a second long at most. In the photo, it looked like they were tangled in each other's embrace, showing love for all who passed by to see, and apparently they did.
So, Lincoln blurted the first excuse he could think of. "It's not what it looks like." Instantly regretting how cliché that was. He changed his approach. "I mean, who sent you that picture?"
"Is it literally so important?"
"Yes. Whoever it was, has been spying on us and gave you the wrong idea."
She paused in contemplation. "It was Ronnie Ann."
"Ronnie Ann?" He gazed at her in disbelief. "Ronnie Ann knows about this…" His disbelief soon morphed to anger. "Ronnie Ann was spying on us?" He growled out, feelings of rage burning out for his friend. She's not a friend any more. "That little piece of…"
"Hey!" Lori yelled bringing his attention back to her. "You can curse her all you want when you're out of here. For now remember why I brought you here." Lincoln mellowed down, sitting back down beside his nervous sister who still hadn't said a word,
Lori sighed, her angry mask slowly morphing into one of fear and regret. "I trusted you Lincoln. When Lisa warned me to separate you both, I shook her off because I put so much faith in you. That was my mistake." Lincoln glanced up at her in shame and she could see the tears wetting his eyes. "But then you grab my trust and literally smash it. Look at this Lincoln."' She shoved her phone back in their faces. "Look at this and tell me it's not what it looks like."
"I-it's not wh-what it looks like." He tried again, still hopeful for a chance at redemption.
Lori simply glared at him once again. "Ok then, what is it?"
Lincoln stared up at her. "We went to the park for some fresh air, and bought some ice cream. It got a bit messy and the ice cream stained her a bit, so I told her to go wash up… and…" Lori raised a brow in acknowledgement. "She got a bit self-conscious, and I said some things to cheer her up. She got a bit too happy and hugged me, I fell, and she fell with me, and took the opportunity to steal a kiss." Lori simply looked at him skeptically. "That's all that happened I swear. The kiss wasn't even long or anything like that. Just about two seconds at most." He looked about ready to ball his eyes out. "Please believe me. Nothing happened, honest."
Lori's resolve wavered. "You know Lincoln, sometimes I forget you're just a cute little kid." She said as she looked at his scared, sad face. "You're just so dependable, and trustworthy that it's hard to remember you're still a kid." She began pacing, her legs feeling restless and she watched him follow her movements with his eyes. "That was my mistake. Putting all this on you, stopping you from going to school?!" She scoffed at herself. "What the hell was I thinking?"
"Lori… it's not your fault ok. You see Lily's condition is more complic…"
"I know about Lily's damn condition." Lori yelled and both kids flinched at that. "She thinks she's in love with you." The boy froze. "I knew and I…" Lori's face morphed in horror. "And I still let her sleep with you every night."
"Nothing happened Lori."
"But something could have. Lisa told me everything. She's not just having romantic thoughts of you. She's having sexual thoughts too. I also know she has definitely tried something."
"She… she hasn't."
"Lincoln, it was written all over your face." She continued as her pacing stopped. "The moment we asked where Lily was, you looked ready to wet yourself. But once again I shook it off, because then I still trusted you!"
That did it. Lincoln sniffed as a tear glided down his cheek. "Trusted?"
Lori immediately back tracked, turning to hush him. Kneeling before him, so she was at eye level. "No, wait, Lincoln I didn't mean it like that. I still trust you ok. I would trust you with my life if a time came for something like that, but…" She turned her eyes away from him. "It's myself I don't trust. I've made every wrong decision possible this week, and I need to make up for them."
"I'm sorry." A small meek voice spoke beside them and they both yelped. Surprised, they turned to see Lily, the tears already streaming down her face like a river flowing down the side of a highland. They had almost completely forgot she was there. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I asked Lincoln to take me out. I was the one that got messy in the park, I was the one that pounced on him. It's all my fault."
Lori turned to comfort her, but Lincoln beat her to it. "Lily, don't say that." She lifted her head to look at him. "It's not anyone's fault ok. Remember what I told you in the park?" Lily nodded her head. "Remember that. Anytime you feel as though this whole thing is getting too much for you, remember that, and also remember this. No matter how crazy this gets. Not matter what you may do, what I may do in the next few days until you're cure is fully made, I'll be here to help you every step of the way, ok?" Lily's crying halted and she couldn't help the little smile that stuck to her face. "Does that make you feel better?" Lily nodded and surprised him with a light peck to his lips.
"I love you big brother." She declared, nuzzling onto him.
Lori watched the whole ordeal with a smile. She flinched a bit when Lily kissed him, but it was still literally the cutest thing she had ever seen. She cleared her throat as she stood up and backed away from them. "I believe you." They both turned to her, identical expressions of awe and relief on their faces. Now that she could, she really admired how adorable these two were together. Too bad for the circumstances though.
"Really?" Lincoln asked with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.
"Yes. But that doesn't mean you're exempted from punishment." Lincoln sighed acknowledging it, and Lily only looked at her innocently, still cuddling into him. "As much as I trust you two not to do anything too bad, I still have to take Lisa's words to heart. Lily's condition will get worse over time, and eventually, she will be unable to control herself around you. So as a countermeasure, Lily, starting from tonight, you will no longer share a room with Lincoln."
"What?!" They both exclaimed, at the sudden proclamation. "But… I thought you trusted us."
"I do, I really do trust you both, but I don't trust Lily's state." Lily gasped lightly at that, eyes slowly beginning to water. "No, no. Look, Lily, each day you lose a grasp of your consciousness. Whatever Lisa put in you is making you change drastically. I know you're… in… love… with Lincoln, but slowly that love would overpower you, and you might end up hurting him." Lily's eyes widened as she clutched Lincoln's shirt tighter. "You don't want to hurt Lincy do you?" She slowly shook her head. "Good. Than you just have to bear a few night without him ok?"
Lily let out the tiniest of smiles. "Ok."
"But where will she stay?" Lincoln asked as Lily reluctantly moved away from him so they could stand.
"That I am not sure. A lot of us have long since outgrown you're bed, and we can't just have Lily bunk in rooms that are already too cramped for those staying there, so that leaves a replacement with someone who fits your bed and has stayed with you before. Which of course limits the list to a few."
Lincoln couldn't help the feeling of guilt that overtook him. "I'm sorry Lori. If I hadn't taken her to the park today then…"
"No, it's not your fault Lincoln. Neither is it Lily's. I've made a hell of a lot of mistakes this week and I aim to correct them all." She walked over to the closet and picked up one of Leni's heels, then proceeded to repeatedly bang the wall, allowing the loud sound to resonate around the house before sucking in her breath and shouting "Emergence Sister Meeting! This is not a drill people, this is not a drill!" She turned back to them as she set the heel down. "You don't have to stay Lily, if you don't want to."
"Come on Lily, I remember promising to introduce you to anime when we left the park."
"Anime? I don't think you did."
"Well we're watching it anyway." He took her hand and led her out of the room, grumbling something about not respecting Japanese artwork. Lori only chuckled as the rest of their sisters began to file in.
The inside of Lynn and Lucy's room was like totes dark. If they didn't want to turn on the lights, they could have at least lit a candle or something.
"I was wondering when you would get here." A voice called in the dark.
Leni squeaked in surprise as she backed up towards the door, the back of her head, inevitably hitting the light switch and bringing illumination back into the room.
On the bed sat Lucy, her dark bangs covering her eyes as she sat cross legged, a large book in front of her and a flashlight in her left hand. "Lucy, what are you doing?" Leni suddenly gasped. "Are you doing some kind of creepy ritual? Is that a…" She leaned in closer and whispered. "Is that some kind of devil bible?"
Even with the bangs, Leni could tell she was staring at her incredulously. "No…" she raised her book up to reveal it was just one of those vampire novels she loves to read so much. "This is just a novel."
"Then what's with the sitting in the dark." Leni asked, pointing with an accusing finger.
Lucy simply shrugged. "I like the dark."
Leni's finger comically deflated, before she dropped her hand to her side, looking sheepish. "Oh yeah… ok then bye!" She waved and turned to walk out the door.
Lucy coughed loudly, causing Leni to stop. "Didn't you come here to ask me something?"
Come to ask her something? Leni turned around and her eyes instantly fell on her outfit. What were those, arm socks? And black and white stripes were so last year. This girl needs a total makeover. Pink might look good on her, but she totes hates pink. Maybe a stylish red? Red is a type of pink right? But is she an autumn or a spr…
As if sensing her internal digression, Lucy coughed again. Oh yeah… I came here for something else… uh… ugh I'm hungry, those pancakes this morning were good, but… wait a minute. "Aha!" She cried in triumph as she finally remembered why she came here. Reflating her accusing finger, she send it back in Lucy's direction. "What was like, with you this morning?"
"Sigh." Lucy closed her book and placed it carefully beside her, setting the flashlight on top of it. She had clearly been expecting this. "Leni, I need to tell you some things that you would not believe."
Leni's eyes slowly widened at that, before she squealed and rushed to seat beside Lucy. "Story time!"
"Leni? Leni?!"
"Wha… what?" How long has she been sitting like this, staring into space without any grasp of what was happening around her?
"Did you understand a word of what I was saying?"
Leni nodded solemnly and shook her head to clear her thoughts. "I-I'm sorry Lucy. I'm just having a hard time like putting all this together." She turned to face Lucy. "And how long have you known?"
"Well I've been noticing some weird stuff for a while now, but I only got definitive proof of it last night, when I caught Lincoln and Lily…" A pink dusted her cheeks.
"What? What?!" Leni pestered, intrigued by the sudden mood swing.
"Nothing. Anyway, after a little snooping around, and investigation, I came to a result."
"And you're like really sure about me…" Lucy nodded. ""But I don't…"
"Leni, you made out with him in plain view of everyone last Christmas with only the flimsy excuse of a mistletoe. Mum and Dad accepted it, because you're just 'sweet innocent Leni' but really look at yourself and think if that was really a sweet and innocent thing a sister would do to her brother."
Leni remained quiet. "But why are you telling me this?"
"Sigh." Lucy breathed out as she curled in on herself. "I'm telling you because out of all of our siblings, you undoubtedly care for him the most, even if you two aren't the closest. I just want you to watch yourself more around him. I know how much you would hate it if Lincoln got hurt, especially if there was something you could do to prevent it."
A silence fell over them again as Leni slowly processed all the information fed to her, before something suddenly occurred to her. "Wait a minute, what about you." Lucy glanced at her questioningly. "You haven't told me where you fit in all of this."
A dark blush rose over her cheeks. "I…"
A loud series of bangs suddenly reached their ears. "Emergency Sister Meeting." That was most likely Lori's voice. "This is not a drill people, this is not a drill."
Leni's attention diverted away from Lucy for a second. "What's going on?" She turned back, but her sister was gone. "Lucy?" The empty room gave her no answer. She glanced over her bed and noticed the open vent. "Ok then, we'll talk later I guess." She stood and made her way towards the door, but stopped as her hands grasped the handle. "But you know you know you can tell me anything right?" Still no sound in reply. She sighed, resigning the matter to another time, before making her way out the door.
She however didn't notice the rather distinct "Sigh." That emanated from beneath the bed.
"And there is Leni." Lori announced as her blond sister entered the room and closed the door behind her. She did a mental head count. "Who's missing?"
"Lisa and Lucy." Lola answered, and a quick look around confirmed just that.
"I'll go call Lucy." Lynn announced, getting up to go and find her sister.
"No!" Leni cried. They all paused to stare at her. "I mean, she isn't feeling so good, so I told her to like sit this one out."
"Really? I should probably go check on her." Lynn tried again to stand.
"Don't worry about it, I saw her, she just need some rest. Let's just start this meeting already." Leni giggled shakily and rubbed her hands together, an act Leni only did when she was hiding something and trying her best to avoid outright lying. Lori simply classified it under the list of Leni's weird shenanigans and continued on with matters at hand.
Beating the heel on Leni's sewing table, much like a judge would a gavel, she turned back to her siblings and gestured them to settle down. "The topic of this meeting is one thing. Lincoln needs a new roommate." There were a few gasps and some questioning glances. Lori decided to pick her words carefully. I can't just tell them they were kissing in the park. "You see, today I realized that Lincoln wasn't very comfortable with his current living arrangements and I have decided to fix the problem. I want someone who has slept in his room before to switch places with Lily."
Luan eagerly raised her hand. "Oh, oh pick me!"
Lori raised a brow at her. "And why should I pick you when you're clearly among those who have out grown his bed."
"I know, but I want to volunteer. You know take one for the team." She sounded a little too excited for Lori's liking.
"It'll be a tight squeeze." Lori warned.
Luan shocked all present by licking her lips, her mouth practically watering. "Oh I'm counting on it."
Lori narrowed her eyes at the jokester. "Luan you are a heavily messed up individual."
Luan smiled at that. "Thanks, you're pretty dysfunctional yourself."
"Either way, you're not going to be the one."
"What, why?" Luan whined like an angry school girl.
"First, because you're acting really weird. Well, like weirder than usual, and we are definitely going to talk about this later." Luan huffed folding her arms. "Secondly, because as earlier said, you've out grown Lincoln's bed and it'll be a tight fit. And I don't care what sick deranged part of your mind would enjoy that, but Lincoln wouldn't. And lastly, considering everything it's between Lucy and Lynn since they've both slept in his room multiple times during their… fights. And since Lucy literally couldn't bother to show up, I guess it's you Lynn." Lori finished, pointing the heel at Lynn.
"What?" Leni and Lynn both shouted in unison. They paused to stare at each other, before Lynn stood to confront the oldest Loud sibling. "No way am I sharing a room with Lincoln all week."
"Tough nuts Lynn, I could literally not care less what you think." Lynn still tried to persist. "You will bunk with Lincoln or so help me I will twist you inside out like an uncooked meat wedge.
"Aww dang it. Well that's all folks." She waved goodbye to the wall and made her way towards the door.
"And where do you think you're going?" Lori asked, her uneasiness with Luan increasing.
"We're here to decide who gets the next turn sleeping with Lincoln." The way she said that made everyone in the room cringe. "I'm not next in line, so I guess my job here is done." Without another word, she walked out the door, slamming it shut behind her.
Lori sent a pointed look toward Luna who nodded and followed after her strange roommate.
"Well, I guess that's it, meeting adjourned." She banged the shoe a few times, and everyone stood up, moving out of the room as they chattered with one another, but Lynn remained.
"Lori…"
"No."
"But Lori…"
"No means no Lynn. There's no one else to do it. What's the big deal anyway? You've bunked with him before." Lori asked as she pushed the sewing machine back into the closet.
"Well yeah, but… never for this long. Who knows how long before Lisa gets the cure."
Lori sighed. "Look, if we're lucky, the cure will be ready by tomorrow. Worst case scenario, maybe by the weekend. Either way, it'll be done soon. So just suck it up and do it for Linc. He's helped you so many times to this is your turn. Right Leni?" They both turned, but realized the blond was nowhere in sight.
"I…" Lynn couldn't argue with that. She sighed. "Fine. I'm heading to bed anyway."
That would explain why she was already in her night jersey and bum shorts. "Alright then. Good night."
She mumbled a greeting in reply, before moving out the door heading to her temporary new room.
"What the bloody 'ell was that mate?!" Luna immediately cringed at that. She sometimes marveled at how she could easily slip into the British accent she had once spent months perfecting without even thinking about it. But once in a while it could be her Achilles' heel, especially when she was aiming to be serious.
"Whatever do you mean dear sister?" She responded in an eerily calm tone of voice.
"Ok Luan, you're creeping me out, more than usual. If this is some type of prank, it's not funny."
"Oh it's not a prank. I've just been made aware of a few things over the past few days… think of it as an enlightening." She sat down in front of her desktop and booted it up.
"Enlightenment? What in blazes are you going on about?"
Luan turned in her seat and stared at Luna for a bit, really taking in something about her. "You don't know, do you?"
Luna raised a questioning eyebrow. "What?"
"Sweet innocent Luna, you can't even notice the devil in the detail. I thought it was pretty obvious." Luan chuckled at some kind of inside joke that Luna still couldn't quite place. "Though I guess if it wasn't for my cameras, I wouldn't have figured it out either.
"What was pretty obvious? Look Luan quit the funny business and just tell me what the hell your thinking."
"I would… but it'll be way more fun to watch you try and figure it out for yourself." Luan said with a laugh as she swirled back to face the screen. "You might wanna go downstairs and check on Lincoln. I don't think he knows about his new living arrangements."
"Uh… yeah, I'll go… I'll go do that." Anything thing to get away from… this.
She backed out of the room and slowly closed the door just as Luan seemed to open her joke cameras.
"I guess this won't be so bad." Lynn thought out loud as she gazed about the familiar room. "It's not as if I'll suddenly lose control over myself and pounce on in." She crouched down and back flipped onto the bed, pulling out her tennis ball and taking delight as it bounced off the wall and back into her hand.
A glint of blue caught her eye and she turned her gaze toward the partially opened desk drawer. "What's that?" Dropping the ball beside her, she reached out and pulled the drawer wide open, picking up the strange vial of liquid within. "What is this, some kind of nerd soda?" She paused at how dumb that sounded, but… it's Lincoln, the same guy who openly reads his comic books practically naked in plain view of his sisters so…
Her lips slowly rose in a wicked grin. She uncorked it, downing the contents in one gulp. With a satisfied smile, and a cringe at the slightly sour taste she tossed it back into the drawer carelessly, and reclined back down onto the bed. "That'll show that twerp for taking one of my protein bars."
She resumed tossing the ball, but the steadily increasing temperature in the room caught her attention. She pulled at her top as the room slowly began to spin. "Ugh what the hell was in that thing?" Her body began to heat up and her cheeks felt as if they were on fire. "Oh God I feel weird." A tingling itch began to grow between her legs and she really needed to scratch it… and had Lincy's room always been so… COLOURFUL!
The sound of exaggerated punch effects, excessive yelling and strange but heroic sounding music reached her ears and she groaned as she realized Lincoln was probably watching one of his weird cartoons again. "Bro, has anyone told you whose bunking with you now." She reached the bottom steps and paused as she noticed Lincoln and Lily cuddling particularly close together than would be normal. On an ordinary day, Luna would simply overlook, but today, especially with the strange encounter of the Luan kind, she couldn't help but feel uneasy at the scene.
"No, who is it?"
"Lynn."
"Lynn?" Lincoln didn't look all that surprised at that.
"Yeah. Actually, I saw her headed toward your room. She didn't look all that happy with it."
"I'll go check on her." He attempted to stand up but Lily pulled him back down to her. "Lily I've gotta go. We've got the whole of tomorrow to hang out. Lori still said I'm babysitting you." Ok something was definitely going on here.
Lily sighed and reluctantly untangled from him. "Good night."
"Night guys." He called as he jogged past her, up the stairs.
"Yeah… night." She really had no idea what was going on here, but her rocker instinct told her it definitely had something to do with the resident man with a plan. And if anyone would know about it, it would definitely be Lily. "Hey Lilster, would you mind answering some questions I've got floating in my brain?"
"Lucy!" Leni called out in the once again dark room as she closed the door. "Lucy, I think we like have got a problem." No answer. As Leni's eyes adjusted to the dark she noticed the distinct lump on her bed. There you are. She slowly snuck up on it, like a predator observing a pray. She pounced, compressing the pile with her hands with a triumphant "Aha!"
"What is it Leni?" A raspy familiar voice called behind her as the lights suddenly switched on.
Leni yelped, jumping onto the bed and backing into the corner panting with wide eyes. Her shock slowly turned to angry annoyance, as she 'humph'ed and crossed her arms.
"Sorry." Lucy apologized but couldn't keep the split second smirk off her face. "You said we have a problem."
Leni blinked for a second before gasping dramatically. "Yeah. Lily isn't sleeping in Lincoln's room anymore."
"Well that's a good thing isn't it?"
Leni shook her head. "No, because now Lynn has moved in."
"Oh… well that shouldn't be a problem to big."
"But you said."
"Leni, if there is anyone who cares about Lincoln more than you, it's Lynn." Lucy reassured as she moved to sit beside Leni. "Plus she has a tremendous amount of self-control. Honestly, her staying with Lincoln is probably the best case scenario."
"Are you sure." Leni asked, unsure of the conclusion.
Trust me Leni, Lynn is the only one of us I trust with Lincoln completely.
Lincoln halted at the strange sounds coming from his bed room. Like a panting dog that just ran a pet marathon. He shakily opened the door, and peeked inside. He expected anything but what he found.
And Lynn laying on his bed, her legs spread, her tongue out as she put her hand down her shorts, her other hand busy fondling her half exposed breast was definitely not what she was expecting.
Lynn slowed her motions as Lincoln shakily entered the room and closed the door behind him.
She bounced up excitedly like a puppy happy to see her master come home after a long day apart. She raised her butt in the air, happily swaying it from side to side, as if she had a faux tail. As she squealed excitedly with a high pitched cry of "Lincy!"
Author's Note: Another chapter hot off the presses. Next chapter coming soon. Leave you thoughts, criticisms and angst in the review box below. It really speeds up the process. Please and thanks.
Peace!