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Lincoln looked his father dead in the eyes. “If you ever want me to talk to you again, let me go.”
Grant’s face morphed into something he could only describe as distant. It may not have been what Linc was intending and was most definitely a dirty play, but Grant’s fingers went limp nonetheless. Linc threw his weight shoulder-first to the side, tumbling out of his father’s grasp and toward the foot of the stairwell. Normal skidded across the industrial stone floors as he whizzed past Linc up the stairs. Behind him was Terry Jr, chasing him for a reason Linc couldn’t catch in the ruckus.
The fight was still in high gear. He could have followed Normal. He could’ve. There was a small gap between him and Terry, and Sparrow was waiting at the top of the stairs to entangle him. Linc was the height of an adult and could easily outpace Terry. But Taylor was scheming with Mae Hailes- Linc would take a bet on Taylor and Hermie finding a wacky way to get them out of there.
He needed to find Scary.
She hadn’t told him. They had been together for almost two months now, and she hadn’t told him. Is that what romance was? To lie and keep and hide? He knew they were omitting the truth to Normal and Taylor, it's true, but Scary had said she just wasn’t ready, and Linc had accepted that. Linc shouldered Scary’s discomfort because he would do anything for her. Clearly, she wouldn’t do the same for him.
Scary. Find Scary.
It didn’t take him long. Scary must have wanted to find him, too. After sprinting down a long, randomly chosen hallway, Linc turned into a small cove expecting to find a supply closet or pile of dust. Instead, he saw a glimpse of pink hair and dark eyes behind a door before it quickly slammed shut.
Linc pulled on the door handle and with it came Scary Marlowe. She must have had her weight on the handle, because she flew out into the tight cove and rammed straight into him. Usually, Linc would have gawked at their closeness (and admittedly, his heart rate rose a little), but now he was focused on only one thing.
“Willy’s in there-” Scary started, speaking quietly and closing the door.
Linc cut her off. “Why didn’t you tell me.”
Now, in the weird corporate lightning of HQ, he could really look at her face. Her eyes were wide and rimmed red, dark makeup clearly smudged from the fight. Or maybe from something else, if the wiped-off tear tracks were anything to go by. He had never seen Scary look so disheartened. Pathetic. Conflicted. He wanted to hug her so badly.
Linc kept his arms diligently to his sides. Scary steeled her expression, as if he couldn’t see through any mask she dared put on. “Why do you think?” she asked snarkily.
Lincoln did not back down. “Why would you work with him.”
Despite being slightly shorter than Linc, Scary was still imposing when she wanted to be. “You hate our parents. You don’t trust them. Why would you want to be on their side?”
“I’m not on their side,” Linc said, trying to keep his voice down. Scary tilted her head and squinted at him, like she didn’t believe a word he said. “At least they’re not fucking manipulators.”
“Oh, and Grant isn’t?” She responded, up in his space to stay away from the door. “He didn’t fucking lie to you your whole life?”
Linc didn’t have an answer to that. Scary looked like she didn’t want words to keep coming out of her mouth, but they did anyway. “Willy loves me,” she said. She looked like she was trying to believe it.
Lincoln laughed in her face. He didn’t care how loud he was- she was so deep into this it was almost funny. Scary had the gall to look offended. “Does he love you? Has he ever said that to you?” Linc shook his head in awe. “He’s manipulating you. He knows that you hate your stepdad and is just trying to get what he wants out of you. He’s using you.”
Tears gathered in Scary’s eyes. Linc’s hand instinctively moved up to wipe them away, but he pulled his hand down into his pocket before it could reach her face. Scary’s voice faltered as she watched his hand leave her vicinity. “He protects me. He gave me his magic.”
Linc couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “If he protects you, he’s doing a shit job at it, Scary,” he said, bringing his voice back down. Linc put his head in his hands, struggling to come up with the words he needed to say.
He was not going to cry. Life has been going horribly for him lately, but he needed to get through to Scary, and he was not going to cry. He was the only chance she had.
As he allowed himself one small sniffle, he felt tender fingers loosely wrap around his wrist. He let his hand be guided away from his face and interlocked with Scary’s. Linc kept his eyes shut tight.
They always couldn’t stand to see the other hurting, no matter the circumstance.
He wanted her to say something, but she didn’t. He would rather she be screaming at him than sit through Scary’s torturous silence. Linc took a deep breath and opened his eyes, finding that Scary was staring at the floor, resting her forehead on their joined fingers.
Lincoln hesitated before speaking softly. “I’m…. loyal. To my morals. Always.” He felt Scary’s forehead crinkle, eyebrows tensing up. “I’m trying to be loyal to you, too. Please, escape from Willy. Please.”
A too-long silence stretched between the couple. Scary’s fingers loosened, and he knew she had made her choice. He gently withdrew his hand from hers, pulling her chin up to face him. He saw pity on her face, and he knew his looked the same.
He felt a loose tug at his soccer jersey and brushed his finger against her bottom lip. “Tell me you don’t want me to kiss you.”
Scary let out a humorless chuckle. “I can’t.”
“Can’t tell me? Or can’t want me to kiss you?”
Scary took a deep breath before pulling Lincoln in by his shirt. Their lips brushed before catching on their target, the pair pressing into each other’s spaces like they had done this for a lifetime.
At first, it felt like a goodbye, and that’s really what Linc expected it to be. His words alone weren’t going to change Scary’s mind, but he had had to try. If Willy wasn’t going to protect her, Linc would, even if it was from herself.
Scary turned her head, pulling Linc into her neck where he gladly peppered soft and sweet kisses on her skin, avoiding the bruises from combat. She sighed, revelling in the moment, before Linc felt the buzz of speech from her throat.
“Bite me. Hurt me. Linc, please-”
With one last extra soft kiss to her lips, Linc cut her off and fully pulled away. “I won’t hurt you, Scary.”
Scary pulled back like she had been burnt. She blindly reached behind her for the door handle. “You already have.”
With that, she was gone. Linc allowed a few tears to fall before he ran down the hall, following the sound of Taylor’s voice.