Lincoln
I wipe the sweat off my forehead as I drive the forklift to pick up yet another inhumanly heavy box. The factory I work at keeps the A/C low and the labor high, ensuring that all of their workers are drenched by the end of their shift. Every time I must stop to drink water and think about how awful the place was, I remember Lacy and how she deserves the best, and it keeps me going. Today my shift was 12 am-6 am. Every so often I'd get these odd shifts. They were set up though so that after, I'd get to go home, take a shower, and go to school right after. On days like these, I gulped down on energy drinks and coffee, waiting until I was out of school to sleep. Lynn was always so understanding though when it came to me sleeping. It doesn't stop me from feeling guilty though that I can't spend all the time that I want to with her and my daughter. It is nearing 5:45 am and I am marking off packages. I got 15 minutes left.
"Hey Lincoln, what are you doing next Sunday?" Alador, one of my older coworkers asks me. Well now that I think about it, all of my coworkers were older than me.
"Spending time with the wife and daughter, why?" I respond, barely looking up. I loved calling Lynn my wife, and no one thought anything weird of it, as they didn't know anything of my home life, or even age! To them, I was another one of them.
"Well, It's gonna be my little Sarah's birthday and I wanted to know if you and your family wanted to come over. It's gonna be very kid friendly- she's only turning 3, so it's gonna be very chill and calm." He asks me. I stop and look at him. I think for a moment. This felt like a passage into fatherhood and adulthood.
"Let me talk it over with my wife, and I'll get back to you!" I smile.
"Great! You have my number, right?"
"Yes, I do."
"Perfect! Hope to hear from you soon!" he says, walking away from my station.
It's 6:15 am when I get home. I'm sweaty and have rough, black hands filled with dirt. I drag myself upstairs and into my room. My beautiful girl is snoring in bed, halfway covered, messy hair everywhere. She couldn't have been more lovely in my eyes! I feel my heartbeat flutter upon the sight of her. She is pure perfection! I cover her properly and kiss her forehead before I go to the bathroom to take a shower.
7 am and I am feeding Lacy before I leave at 7:30. She had oatmeal all over her face. She wiggles in her seat with each bite. I cherish these mornings with her every day.
"Is this the bee? Yeah, It's the bee! BZZZZ BZZZZZ Open the hive door! BZZ BZZ" I go, swooping the spoon all around. She opens her mouth as wide as she can and eats the 'bee'.
After she is done eating, I pick her up and rock her some before I hand her back to her pmother. She normally plays for a little then goes back to sleep after I leave.
I walk into school chugging a monster. There are 2 more in my backpack.
"LINCOLN!" Clyde shouts from behind me. FAR behind me. I freeze in my steps upon hearing this. Everyone goes quiet and giggles are heard. I groan loudly and stomp away quickly. "WAIT UP BUD!" He calls back, running up to me. He runs all the way in front of me and stops, forcing me to stop. "Hey! Did you not hear me calling you back there?!" He smiles. My eye twitches.
"Oh, I heard you," I grumble, rolling my eyes.
"Why did you keep walking then silly?!"
"To get away from you?! I've told you before and I'll keep telling you, Clyde! I don't want to be your friend! I'm just trying to get through the school year!"
"Oh, come on! You're being ridiculous! We are best friends! And you have plenty of friends! No need to go through school alone! No one wants that!" He chirped on. My eye twitches some more.
"Okay, well I do! And we ARENT best friends anymore!" I growl, continuing my walk to class.
"Maybe you should cut down on the Monsters? You seem to be getting really grouchy! And you don't look so good! Are you sick?"
"No, CLYDE! I'm NOT sick! I am EXHAUSTED! That's all! And these things are the only things keeping me awake right now. I am 'grouchy' because you won't stop bothering me!"
"Why are you so tired? Have you tried going to sleep earlier?" he asks. He doesn't seem to know how to read the room. I stop in my tracks and stare blankly at him, debating if I should kill him or not.
"What a wonderful Idea! I haven't thought of that yet! Maybe I can sleep while I'm managing the forklift? Or how about I just ignore Lacy's screams at night?! She's eight months! She'll be fine on her own! No need to be a dad!" I yell.
"…Who's Lacy… what do you mean 'be a dad'…" his eyes widen, and it looks like he just saw a ghost. I freeze. Oh shit.
"I… she's…. damn it, Clyde, this is why I told you to leave me alone! I don't think straight when I'm tired like this!" I drag my hands down my face and groan. "Remember the baby you saw at my house during the summer?" I asked, annoyed.
"… yeah… but didn't you say her name was Lunacy…? And didn't you say that was your sister?" he asked, horrified. I was too out of it to care about his reaction though. Now I debate if I tell him the truth as to get rid of him, with the risk of him spreading the word, or keep up the lie.
"Well her name is actually Lacy. I meant 'to be a brother!' You know how my parents don't actually raise their kids! It feels like I'm a dad with how much I do for her! I take care of her at night." I sigh.
"…no…. you're lying to me. I can feel it. Tell me the truth Lincoln Loud!" He begins, a hint of fear and anger etched into his voice.
"I don't have to tell you SHIT!" I hiss in his face, walking into the classroom by us. He grabs my arm before I make it in though.
"Tell. Me."
"Or what? You gonna hit me? You gonna stop being friends with me? Please do!"
"Who are you?!" He gagged.
"I've told you time and time again! You don't know me! And you won't like the new me!" I snapped, pulling myself out of his grip easily and walking into the room. I'm filled with anger the whole duration of the class. Who does he even think he is to be talking to me like that, DEMANDING information?!
Lunch came and I was napping on the table. A quick 30-minute power nap never killed anyone, right? And anyway, I got Jen, David, Sky, and Starlla watching over me. Or so I thought.
Third Person POV
Clyde walked to the table where Lincoln and his friends normally sat at for lunch, looking for the guy who had been so rude to him when he had given him nothing but kindness!
"Lincoln! We need to talk!" he piped, standing at the end of the table, tray in hand.
"Uh… he's napping. Y'all can talk later." Jen scoffed at him with a side-eye.
"Then wake him up! This is important!" He stomped.
"I'm sure it can wait little man. Bye now!" Sky scowled.
"You don't understand! He's lying to me about something, and I need the truth NOW!"
"You don't need shit now. He had a long night, and from what I can tell, he doesn't want to talk to you!" Jen stood.
"I just don't understand why he won't talk to me and instead, he chooses you guys!"
"Maybe because we didn't stab him in the back? I don't know, just a thought." Grumbled Sky.
"I didn't stab him in the back! You guys don't know anything!" he huffed.
"We know more than you do," Starlla added in. He was getting angry that he wasn't getting anywhere.
"Oh! So you know about him and Lynn when they were younger? What they were?!" He dared. They all just looked at each other in confusion and disgust.
"Look, Clyde. The fact that you'd share sensitive information like that with us, without knowing what they have told us or what they haven't told us JUST to prove a point goes and shows what kind of a friend you are. And quite frankly, Lincoln is right for not wanting to be close to you anymore. So why don't you go and scatter back to wherever it is you normally go when you aren't harassing him, hm?" David perked with hints of threat laced into his voice.
"Okay. Fine!" he wickedly smiled, taking his milk and walking behind Lincoln. Before anyone knew it, he was pouring the carton's contents over his head. Lincoln jolted up at the sensation, gasping at the feeling. He turned to see Clyde snarking at him.
"Have fun with your friends, Linc-cest-n!" he mocked, turning away, feeling accomplished. That was a big mistake though. In rage, Lincoln grabbed the boy's shirt and punched him across the face. The table all stood up, gasping in disbelief.
"Don't you EVER fucking call me that AGAIN!" He fumed, then threw him down to the floor. The whole cafeteria was quiet by now. Tears were seen to be forming at the corner of Clyde's eyes as he reached for his nose, finding blood.
Lincoln
"Lincoln Loud! Clyde McBride! Office! Now!" our vice principal yelled, stomping towards us. I groaned and shook off any excess milk from my head and hands, walking to the office and purposely bumping into Clyde.
"Now what is the meaning of this?!" Our principal scowled. We stayed silent and looked the other way. "Well?!"
"Clyde thought it would be cute to dump milk on me while I was sleeping and call me names."
"And Lincoln thought it was okay to keep a secret from me and then punched me!"
"I have the right to keep secrets!" I yelled at him.
"Okay, and you punch me over them?!"
"No, I punched you because you soaked me and called me… that name! You know how I feel about that! Why do it?! Because you're so desperate to be in my life again or is it because you're just that nosey?!"
"Boys! Both of your actions are unacceptable! I'm sending you two home for the rest of the day and I don't want to hear or see anything go down between you guys again or else expect to see suspension from school!" She scowled.
"Fine! Works with me! As long as HE stops harassing me!"
"Whatever! Keep your secrets and lies and 'friends'! What do I care! All I wanted was my best friend back!"
"And that's not gonna happen!"
"Both of you out! Now!"
And so we grabbed our bags and stomped out of the office. Honestly, this worked well in my favor! Now I get to go home early! In the hall, I bump into the peoples.
"Hey! Are you okay?" Starlla asked upon seeing me.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm going home though. You guys can stop by later today if you want." I mumble, walking to the door. I slam it open and start walking home.
Once there, I walk into the living room to see Lynn and Lacy on the floor building towers with blocks. My anger softens at the sight of them. I exhale a long breath of air, pushing out all of the negativity.
"Linc? What are you doing home so early?" She asked.
"Wow, if you don't like it, I can go again," I joke, pointing at the door behind me with my thumb.
"No! I didn't say that!" fretted Lynn, standing up and coming at me with a hug, to which I GLADLY accepted. I held on to her tight, burying my head into the crook of her neck, taking in her comforting scent.
"Hi, baby~" I hum into her.
"Hey~ Are you okay?" She asks in concern upon seeing how close and tight I held on to her.
"Yeah… just… school…" I mutter, separating from her. She grabs my hand though and kisses it softly.
"Wanna go take a nap?"
"I could use one!" I sigh. She then turns and picks up Lacy from the floor and places her on her hip.
"Come on now stinker," She grunted. She immediately reached for me to grab her though and I chuckled. I take her happily and plant kisses all over her face. She squeals and tries to push me off. "What a daddy's girl, geez!" Lynn rolls her eyes and crosses her arms jokingly. We walk upstairs and go into our room. Lacy is placed between Lynn and I and she stays playing with her mom's hair upon seeing it.
"Straight for the hair!" I laugh.
"Always man! I'm gonna end up bald like this!"
"Hmm. You'd look cute bald."
"Shut up!" she smiles, playfully hitting me. I laugh at this.
"How was your day, my love?" I ask, yawning. I can see a slight red tint to her face at this. It surprises me that I am still able to do that to her!
"It was okay. Lacy and I were playing when you got home and before that, we had some lunch. How was yours?"
"You don't even want to know…" I roll my eyes, the memory and annoyance returning back to me.
"Oh no… that bad?"
"Why does Clyde have so much audacity? He needs to grow up, honestly! Man won't stop harassing me to be friends with him again right, and get this! Now he wants me to tell him all my secrets? Like what do you mean?! So you know what he did? He dumped his milk on me!"
"No!"
"While I was napping at lunch!"
"NO! Seriously?! I mean, you do lowkey smell of dairy, so I believe it, but I can't believe he'd do that to you! What did the others do?!"
"They were shocked! OH! And guess what got brought up again today by mister 'iM a cHanGed mAn'?!"
"What?"
"Linc-cest-n"
"NO! What the hell is his problem?! Is he five?! Oh my god, he's SO lucky I'm not in school right now, because if I was, he'd be in a hospital!" She growled.
"Well, him saying that led me to punch him square in the face. Was it dramatic? Maybe. But it felt so good to finally hit that son of a b…. Biscuit…" I trail off, looking at Lacy's wide eyes staring at me as I told the story.
"Oh, I bet it did. I'm proud of you! You did the right thing!" She cheered on. "Okay, it's handled. Let's move past it, because knowing us, we'll keep getting ourselves all worked up about it. You need to shower, then come to bed!" I roll my eyes at this.
"What, don't like the fresh MELK Scent?!" I accentuate on pronouncing, moving my hands to indicate the smell. She scrunches up her face and starts pushing me away.
"No. Go shower Stinkin'!" I laugh at her expression but do as told and, make my way to the shower.
When I return, I am drying my hair vigorously with a towel. Lynn is sitting on the bed with Lacy, holding her wrists and making her clap.
"Yay! Daddy is all clean now! Go yay!" She speaks in a baby voice to Lacy, clapping her hands some more.
"Ahhhhh!" she goes in return.
"Wow. Thanks, guys!" I roll my eyes, laughing. I plop on the bed, back in my spot, and get comfy for bed. Lacy scoots her way toward me and decides to play drums on my face. Lynn giggles as she lays down too in her spot. She always slept by the wall, Lacy in the middle, and me on the outside of the bed. Again, Lacy grabs her hair.
"Your hair is getting so long now!" I mention to her.
"Yeah, and it's only a matter of time before it's all gone!" She jokes. Lacy then gets a bit fussy randomly clawing at her mother. "Okay, okay. I get it, baby." She sighs, raising her shirt to feed Lacy. They still breastfed from time to time, and to be honest, I think it's more of a comfort thing for both of them. Lynn has explained to me in the past how it was such a unique bonding moment for them and how special it was for them. I'm happy I picked the right one to mother my daughter. They have such an important and special bond! I'd often come home to see Lynn asleep, holding Lacy close, still attached. It's the cutest thing!
"You say she's a daddy's girl, but she'd panic without her mommy!" I smile. She chuckles.
"Get some sleep dork~" she hums, closing her eyes, smiling. I grab her hand. Reaching it over Lacy and in mine. I rub the top with my thumb and my eyes begin to shut.
Lynn
I wake up to my phone buzzing. Yawning, I grab it, blinded by the bright light, to see it's a call from David.
Lynn:…hello?
David: Lynn! Wanna open the door? We're out here!
Lynn: huh?
David: open your door bro!
He hangs up. I'm still half asleep and am very confused, but I get up and drag my feet downstairs. Opening the door, I see David, Jen, Sky, and Starlla.
"Oh. Hey guys! What are you doing here?" I ask, yawning and stretching.
"We came to check on Lincoln! He said it would be okay if we stopped by later so…" Starlla smiles softly. I blink once before I step aside to let them in.
"Yeah, yeah. Sure, come in," I say. They all pile in and I lead them to the couch. "Wait here, I'll be back!" I say. I then head upstairs and walk into our room. I feel bad to, but I'm sure they won't be here long, right? I lean down and kiss his temple, shaking him softly.
"Linc…" I call out. "Linc… wake up real quick." He groans in disapproval at this.
"Whattt" He mumbles.
"The peoples are here to check on you? They said that you said that it'd be okay for them to stop by later today."
"…Crap… I forgot about that… okay, hang on, I'm coming," He stretches and yawns, before throwing himself up. He grabs Lacy, who was starting to wake up and starts heading downstairs. I follow suit. "Hey, guys! Sorry, I was sleeping!" He yawns again.
"You're all good. We know you worked early, so we won't be here long." Starlla smiles.
"We just wanted to ask you what happened at school today?" Sky adds. Lincoln sat down, Lacy still snuggled into him. They thought nothing of it as they knew the two were close.
"Oh. That. Well, nothing really happened that you didn't see. In the office, we were told to go home and to not fight again or else we'll get suspended? I don't know. Works with me though."
"What was that name that he called you though? It seemed to really upset you…" David asked, looking at the floor and focusing on his hands. Lincoln's mood fell some. As did mine as I suddenly felt awkward standing there.
"Um… well… some years back… there was this rumor going on about me and people started calling me Linc-cest-n, teasing me. I hadn't heard it in a while, but he knows what hell I went through during that time, so bringing it up was very personal and out of pocket. That's why it upset me so much."
"Okay… Can I ask you one more thing…" Sky shyly added. "Clyde mentioned something about something that had happened between you and Lynn when you were younger…? He asked us If we knew what you two were…"
"Sky!" Starlla scolded.
"I'm just asking! Could you elaborate on that and tell us what he was talking about…" she finalized. My face went pale and so did his. My hands were suddenly clammy and I wanted to leave. This wasn't happening!
"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to or aren't ready though!" David chimed in, giving us both a concerned look. He knew, but were the others ready to know?
"Um…" He swallowed hard and looked at me. I looked at him back, eyes filled with concern. I didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to do.
"Well… I'm not sure if you guys would want to hear this or not…" he spitted out. My throat felt very very dry.
"If you do choose to share, we will still be here for you guys to love and support you! No judgment!" Jen tried to reassure, reaching for my hand with a smile.
"The thing is, the whole thing is a very long and complicated story… I just don't know if you guys can ever see us the same if we—"
"It started about 5 years ago," I started. Lincoln glared at me for interrupting him. "What?! You were beating around the bush too much!"
"You know why I was beating around the bush! Do you actually want to tell them?!"
"Might as well now!" I sigh. He sighs back. We take turns, going back and forth between telling the story of how we kissed on Christmas, got closer, started dating, the backlash we got in school, the fake breakup, then of course, Lacy. They stayed quiet and listened thoroughly till the end. They looked at us with serious eyes. Even David had this reaction! I mean, this was the first time we ever told ANYONE this whole story like this from the beginning!
"And that brings us here. So yeah… that's what Clyde was talking about when he asked if you guys knew what we were when we were younger. What we still are. We are together…" Lincoln swallowed hard. It felt like all of the weight had been lifted from my shoulders but at the same time, I felt as though I was holding my breath! They stayed quiet after that, and all looked at each other. Jen was the first to speak.
"I mean… we all kind of had a hunch…"
"What?!" Linc and I asked at the same time, eyes wide open! How could they have possibly guessed? It didn't make sense!
"Like… you guys made it a bit obvious that something was going on between you two. Lincoln, you're super close to Lacy and always talk about her. That was indicator number one. You also always talk of Lynn and are quick to defend her with anything. You guys also sit close to each other, you hug a little too long for siblings, I think I've caught you with your arm around Lynn's waist once, and Lynn, you always talk of Lincoln and always ask for him to be around whenever we hang out. You don't do that with any of your other sisters. I don't know. It just seemed like a given, to be honest." Jen started to list off on her fingers. We just looked at her blankly, completely shocked.
"She isn't wrong. I mean… it is what it is, to be honest. You guys do you. Is it weird? Maybe, but we aren't you guys, so we aren't here to judge!" Sky shrugged.
"Well, hearing the story itself really connects a lot of pieces I had questions about. Congrats on telling the whole gang y'all. It's about time!"
"Wait, you knew?!" Starlla asked.
"I mean… Its David. I'd be shocked if he DIDN'T know by now!" Sky blurted out.
"Wait… so you guys are just… cool with it?" Lincoln asked.
"I mean like we said. We had our suspicions and now you just confirmed them so… nothing new here. It is what it is! You guys do you! As long as you guys are happy!" Jen trailed off. We looked at Sky and she shrugged and smiled. We then looked at Starlla and she smiled with a thumbs up. David nodded at us and Jen smiled. "You guys are still cool and we still love hanging out with you, so nothing has changed!"
"Okay, but this has to stay between us now. Especially keep this from people like Clyde!" Lincoln added in.
"Yeah, because as you can see, his 'bestie' is so very eager to nudge his way back into it all." I say, arms crossed and rolling my eyes.
"He's not my 'bestie'" Lincoln scoffs.
"But didn't you say he knows?" Jen asked.
"Yeah, he KNEW! He doesn't know we are still together and he doesn't know who Lacy really is. He really hurt Lincoln during all of that and now that we are older, we just wanna push past school and not have to deal with any more of this drama." I sigh.
"That's where the name came from. 'Linc-cest-n' It's a name he made up when we first stopped being friends and he was trying to fit in with Chad and his posy. And to do that, it involved bullying me. So that's why it bothered me so much. Clyde was like family to me and he stabbed me in the back. I will not let that happen again! So much for he's a cHaNGeD mAn!" Lincoln mocked.
We continued to answer questions that they had, we made jokes and just hung out together. Like promised though, they didn't stay too long, as they knew of Lincoln's crazy shifts and how tired he got. When they left, I was finally able to breathe and felt as light as a feather! We went back to bed soon enough. He lied in my arms as I played with his hair. Lacy was down for the night in her crib. Lincoln was drifting off to sleep, but before he fell asleep, he tapped on me.
"Hey, I wanted to tell you, My coworker invited us to his daughter's third birthday party next Sunday. I told him I'd—" he paused to yawn, "ask you about it," he hummed. I looked up thoughtfully for a moment.
"Sure, I don't see why not!" I chimed.
"Okay," He yawned again, "I'll let him know~" he mumbled, snuggling into my chest. I laughed at this. I kiss his temple and keep rubbing his head.
"Goodnight Linc~"
"Goodnight love~"
A/N: Hello everyone! So, I went a little wild with this chapter and accidentally made it 4400 and something words- anyways, as always, I hope you enjoyed the read! ALSO! I've been meaning to disclaim that the last episode I've watched of this show was season 3 episode 21. I am going based off the perception of the show from that point and before. I will try to make an effort and watch onward though. Thanks for staying all these years! Till next chapter!