AN: Eh, found another chapter in me, what do you know?

Guest: I'm not sure which ones you're talking about since there isn't really a clear division in periods like you're suggesting. She-Hulk has always been subject to varying depictions based on who's drawing her, it's less about what period of time you're reading from, and what the artist's preferences are at any given time. But I've always preferred the ones where she's got visible musculature, but still has an obviously feminine shape, like a fitness model. Not the extremes, where she can be confused for her cousin, or where she's just a waify, green supermodel. The show kinda sucked, but I guess Agents of S.M.A.S.H is a decent visual reference for the kind of thing I'm trying to go for? Maybe like a few steps beyond that.

Edit: I posted this earlier and it doesnt seem like it took. Might have been because of daylight savings? Gonna try this again.

Lynn Loud stared intently at the white-haired young man clutched tightly in her arms, struggling against the myriad feelings that warred within her. Ranking among the world's most premier superheroes meant never having to second-guess herself, and that was how Lynn liked it. Her conduct was often criticized for being reckless, but it was undeniable that she got results. Her attempts to work with other heroes were purely PR and marketing stunts, often done at the behest of her agency, and would inevitably come to an end when her would-be teammates got fed up with not being able to get on her level. But in spite of that, when the latest intergalactic conqueror or trans-dimensional deity decided to try its hand at taking Earth, Lynn would inevitably be on the short-list of first responders, simply because she was just too valuable to leave on the bench. In a world of extraordinary individuals, Lynn Loud was the creme de la creme, and that meant never being anything less than supremely confident in everything that she did.

So it was intensely frustrating that the mere thought of having this conversation left her paralyzed with...feelings. Arms that could tear steel apart like so much newspaper, quivering like jelly, because there was a possibility that once the die was cast, her formerly estranged little brother...might think less of her. Which didn't sound especially dreadful, after their parting all those years ago it would be truly remarkable if there still remained further depths to which Lincoln's opinion of her could sink. And yet, that the possibility remained was sufficient to render her powerful body weak with worry. She hadn't truly expected this...venture, of hers to bear any fruit, not really. But in spite of that, something was being built here, she could feel it, and having seen this all too brief glimpse into what could be, the thought of losing even that much terrified her.

In spite of her reputation as a loose canon, Lynn Loud conducted herself with the strictest discipline in one specific area. She didn't allow herself to get close to other people. This was largely out of pragmatism, Lynn rubbed other people the wrong way, and the feeling was often mutual. First hand experience had demonstrated rather succinctly that at this point in her life, she'd already met all the people that were going to be able to accept her for who she was. Keeping relationships purely at the professional level just saved time, for the most part. It staved off the inevitable. The disappointment. The hurt. It was a good system, one that had proven its worth time and time again. But, her superhuman abilities aside, Lynn was still human. She still...yearned...ugh, that sounded terrible. She was occasionally still prone to the all too human need for closeness, that desire to connect with another person, however briefly. And so there were occasions where she bent that rule, times when she would allow another person past her perimeter, and lower her guard ever so slightly for as long as was absolutely necessary for her to find her footing once more. There was, however, a second rule, and this was one that she never allowed herself to break. Lynn Loud went to bed alone, forever and always. It was largely a matter of boundaries, the weakness would pass, it always did, but no matter how forthright she was about her intentions, no matter how agreeable the other party appeared to be at first, they could never disguise that hope. That foolish, romantic notion that they might be the one to save her from herself. That they were wrong, always, clearly and demonstratively so, never dissuaded them. Hence the Rule. It kept things honest. Clean. Most importantly, it allowed Lynn her one precious dream. Her hope. That there might come a day where he would come back to her, ask that he might be allowed to join her. And that was why she needed the Rule. She needed to save his spot for him.

...That there would come a day when her delusion became so strong that it would drive her to become the initiator, stumbling after something that may never have existed to begin with would have been unfathomable when she was at her best. And yet, here she was. Here they were. Together, in the dark, amidst the sounds of her rapidly beating heart, and Lincoln's slow, rhythmic breathing. It was such a small thing, this change, and now after only a few nights of this, she wasn't certain she was strong enough to go back. She simply couldn't.

Lynn allowed herself a few moments more to ruminate on her plight, before violently shaking her head. Alright, this wasn't getting her anywhere. She had two options here: chicken out and resign herself to another night of quietly creeping on her little brother as he slept while struggling against her increasingly frustrated libedo...or not be a whiny little bitch, and wake the doofus up so she could finally get on with this. And...considering Lincoln had classes in the morning, she was only making things worse for herself by waiting,so...gah! Come on, Loud! He's nearly half your size and a fraction of your mass! Woman the hell up already!

"L-Lincoln!" Lynn immediately winced at the sound of her own voice. What was with the falsetto? Try again! She took a breath. Then another, finally attaining a semblance of calm. Then, with a degree of care she normally reserved for handling cats and small children, she took Lincoln by the shoulder and shook him as gently as possible. "Lincoln." She said again, softly, this time trying to keep her voice level. There were a harrowing couple of moments where it seemed like nothing was happening. Then, finally, he began to stir.

"Uuuuh." Lincoln groaned, as he began to rouse from his slumber. Funny, she remembered her little brother being a much lighter sleeper. He tried to rise, but couldn't quite seem to manage it. Then Lynn realized the problem. She was still holding onto him. Almost without conscious thought, Lynn tightened her grip on the younger Loud, pulling him closer to her.

"Lynn?" Lincoln asked, blinking eyes still bleary with sleep. He glanced around as best he could from his current position. "I feel asleep on the couch. Again." He glanced back at her. "Didn't I?"

"You may have." Lynn conceded, offering no further explanation. Take the hint, you dope!

Lincoln began to wriggle in her grasp. Once she realized that he was trying to reorient himself, rather than escape, the grudgingly loosened her grip on the young man, enough that he was able to roll over and face her. This had the unwanted side effect of moving him further away from her, and Lynn briefly had to struggle with the urge to grab him again. It was fine, she reasoned, he's still here. He's not going to leave. And if he does...well...you were always faster than him, even as kids...

"You have clothes this time." He observed. "Sort of."

Sort of was right. Lynn's order for necessities included, among other things, some very basic sleepwear. In this case, a black muscle tee and matching shorts, both pulled so tightly against her voluptuous frame that they might as well have been underwear. Which worked out, because she wasn't wearing any of that either. Lynn preferred to sleep au natural, but in the interest of trying to refrain from blowing Lincoln's mind too hard with her awesomeness, she'd opted for this half-measure.

"Aw. You disappointed little bro?" She asked, flicking her ponytail with a slight shake of her head and fluttering her eyelashes at him. We could fix that, if it's really bothering you. She'd been trying to diffuse the situation with humor, but it still irked her when he scoffed and turned away. Dang it, that move warranted more of a response! A supposedly state of the art plasma rifle had once caused her to suffer a rather severe costume malfunction while on stage at a convention, and everyone sitting in the front rows had to be hospitalized from severe blood loss. She'd been mortified initially, but had since decided to take it for the compliment it was. And here she was now, unable to get the slightest rise out of her...little...brother. Wow. That sounded way worse when you laid it out like that. Even so, she was relieved that Lincoln didn't seem to be making any move to leave the room. Though he did, for some reason, take whatever blankets were within reach and wrap them tightly around himself, making a thick cocoon. Ah well, it's not like she actually got cold.

Cautiously, as if trying to avoid scaring away a small animal, Lynn reached for the burrito that had once been her brother, and began to drag it away from the edge of the bed, back towards herself. At first she moved him by inches, fully prepared, albeit reluctant, to surrender her claim if Lincoln showed any sort of resistance. To her relief, he didn't, and emboldened by his lack of protest, Lynn pulled him close, once again assuming the role of big spoon to her burrito-brother's little spoon. It was strange, they'd only been apart for a short while, and she'd already missed the closeness. To the extent that it took everything she had to resist the urge to tear apart the bundle of blankets so she could satiate herself upon the sweet, delicious, Lincoln center.

...Bad Lynn, she scolded herself. Get out of your head before you do something you'll regret.

"L-linc?" She prompted, fighting down the urge to nuzzle. This wasn't the time, she had an objective to meet.

"...Yeah, Lynn?" He said at last, causing Lynn to let out a quiet sigh of relief. She'd been beginning to worry that she'd tarried too long, that Lincoln's lack of responsiveness was due to him falling back to sleep. She needed him awake for this, time to focus.

"I-I'd noticed that you seemed a little down." She said. "You know, when Stella was asking about...uh, us. And all that stuff that happened. When we were kids." She waited for some kind of reply, but none seemed forthcoming. Lynn took that as her cue to continue.

"I just wanted you to know that..I'm here. I-if you wanted to talk...or anything." She went on, having to strain to keep her voice steady. This wasn't the sort of thing she was used to doing, but Lincoln needed to know that she was there for him if he needed it. Oh, that's good, use that!

"I just..." Lynn cleared her suddenly dry throat. "I just wanted you to know that I'm...here, you know if you ever need me for anything. I...care, about you, little bro. And I don't want there to be any bad blood between us. If you're still...h-holding onto something from back then, feel free to let it out. I'm here for you. I want, to be here...for you...is what I'm trying to say, I guess." Lynn's voice got softer and softer as she continued to ramble, the last words coming out as little more than a whisper. But finally, she was done. She'd said something that...vaguely resembled the point she was trying to make, and now the ball was in Lincoln's court. Now they could be honest. Now—

"Eight years."

—they could...wait, what?"

"Eight years, Lynn." Lincoln said softly. "Eight years without hearing from you. Any of you. Kind of late to have the big feels talk now, isn't it?"

That...was not the response she was expecting. Lynn had run through countless scenarios in her head. She'd expected yelling. She'd expected disappointment. She'd expected any number of things. But she hadn't expected Lincoln to sound so...tired. In a manner that transcended simple exhaustion brought on by being woken up by your pushy sister in the middle of the night. Those words were old. Worn.

Lincoln stirred in her grasp, and without conscious though, Lynn loosened her hold on him. Now free to move, Lincoln removed himself, first from her grasp, then from his comical blanket shelter. He flipped around, once more looking her straight in the eye, and for a moment Lynn felt panic's cold, clammy hands clasped around her rapidly beating heart. Then Lynn looked at her brother, really looked at him, and she was surprised to find that there was no fury in those eyes. There was no deep seated despair, or longing. The Lincoln Loud before her was simply a very sleep deprived looking young man.

He sighed."Look, Lynn..." Lincoln reached out and out his hand upon her shoulder. He opened his mouth as if to say more, but stopped himself, looking at the hand now resting upon her person, and shook his head. "Sorry." He said, pulling it back. "Didn't mean to do that. It just kind of happened." Lynn hadn't minded. She enjoyed the contact. She wanted it back. She missed the warmth.

"That came out harsher than I intended." Said Lincoln, frustratingly oblivious to the maelstrom of emotion he had stirred up within Lynn with a simple touch. "But come on, eight years. You've gotta admit, it sounds kind of silly, right?" His lip quirked up in a small, tired smile, and for a moment Lynn felt herself transported back in time. Back to those days when they were inseparable. When Lincoln would climb into her bed to escape from the things that haunted him in the night, fully confident that his big sister would protect him. And Lynn, for her part, was fully willing to do so. She missed those times. She missed that smile. She'd missed her Lincoln.

"It was a little weird, Stella bringing up all that stuff." He continued. "But only because to be honest...I haven't really thought about it. Not for a long time."

That...she hadn't been expecting. "Seriously?" Lynn asked.

"Seriously." Lincoln nodded, sounding sincere. "I mean yeah, when I was a kid I was so..." He trailed off as his cheeks began to pinken ever so slightly. "Well, alright, I was insanely jealous of you guys. I'd dreamed about being a superhero for my whole life, and not only did I miss out on the chance to have super powers, but you guys got them. All of you guys. It was pretty disheartening" This was a bit more along the lines of what Lynn had been expecting, though she hadn't expected Lincoln to be so calm about it.

"And the fact that our lives got that much crazier afterwords just made it worse." He continued. "You guys were amazing. You still are, even the..." He cleared his throat. "Even the other ones, in their own way." Lynn didn't quite agree with that interpretation, but unwilling to interrupt the moment they were having.

"And we still had good times, we had a lot of those." He went on. "But more and more I just kind of felt like an outsider. Like I wasn't one of you anymore." He frowned slightly. "And it didn't help that you guys started—" Lincoln abruptly cut himself off, frowning in concentration. Finally, he just shook his head, letting out a soft grunt of annoyance. "Look, the point is, that stuff happened a long time ago. I was a dumb kid, we were all dumb kids. And the thing about being a dumb kid, is that at some point...you have to stop, right? That's kind of the point. Eventually, you stop being a dumb kid and have to start being a somewhat less dumb adult."

"I...guess that makes sense." Lynn replied, nodding slowly, not entirely sure of her words. Lincoln began to reach out again, seemingly on instinct, but caught himself before making contact. Not one to let an opportunity go by, Lynn quickly snatched his hand and pressed it against her shoulder again, holding it firmly there. Lincoln blinked a few times, surprised, but to her relief, her let out a small laugh, and pressed his hand against her well toned limb. It was a nice laugh. One which made Lynn acutely aware of the fact that his hand was so very close to her prodigious bust. It would be to easy to simply...guide him there...make it look like an accident...

"Look, Lynn." Said Lincoln, still shaking with the fading vestiges of laughter, his eyes still shining with mirth. "You kind of dropped into my life unexpectedly, but I'm glad your here. Genuinely, truly glad" His smile receded for the briefest of moments. If Lynn hadn't been staring so intently as his lips, she might have missed it, but it was there. "I missed you. And even though it took you long enough...I'm glad you're finally here."

Lynn was touched by the sentiment. So much that she was able to briefly put aside the storm of lust raging within her, and just for a moment, look upon the young man before her as the little brother she'd left behind all those years ago. "I'm happy to be here, Linc." She replied, her voice thick with emotion. "I'm sorry it took so long."

Lincoln took a deep breath, then exhaled. And as he did so, he looked much...lighter, then he had been. "Good." He said. He withdrew his arm, and rolled over, facing away with from her once more. Lynn's mood deflated considerably, but to her surprise, Lincoln proceeded to scooch backwards towards her. Within a matter of moments, he was now lying a respectful distance away. Not close enough that he was touching her, but enough to make it clear that they were sleeping together. Just like the old days. Well...almost like the old days. But she could fix that.

Grinning Lynn yanked Lincoln close, pulling him right up against her. And then , purely driven by raw, wicked impulse, she leaned down and planted a small kiss on his cheek. Chaste, for the most part, but she allowed herself to linger just a big longer than was absolutely necessary. Her reward, upon pulling away, was seeing Lincoln's face, now burning bright read, clearly visible even in the dark. She laughed silently to herself, then laid down once more, resting her head against Lincoln's. "I love you, Linc." She murmured softly, allowing herself the tiniest nuzzle, delighting in the tickling sensation of his pale hair brushing against her skin.

"L-love you too, Lynn." Lincoln stammered, gulping audibly as Lynn resumed the spooning position. This was fine. She could content herself with things as they were. For now, at least. And, her objectives more or less achieved, albeit in a very unexpected manner, Lynn allowed herself to finally relax, waiting for sleep to claim her.

Silence fell upon the room, the only sounds to be heard being Lynn's deep breaths in concert with Lincoln's much smaller, quicker breathing. And then...

"Hey..." Lincoln said softly. Lynn didn't move, didn't open her eyes. She didn't want to ruin the moment. As far as she was concerned, this was about as close to perfect as she could get. She was content to let Lincoln have his piece. "Could you imagine what it'd be like if I was still holding onto all that stuff? What it'd be like to live every day regretting some dumb thing you did as a kid?"

"Stop being selfish, Lynn! You need to let go of him! It's for his own good!"

"Screw that! He needs me! I'm doing this for him! And if any of you get in my way, I'm just going to have to go through you!"

"Try it! I'm done holding back for your stupid ego! This time the kid gloves come off!"

"Y-yeah." Lynn replied, her voice quavering ever so slightly. "That would be...terrible."