39. Chapter 39

AN: Whew. That took a while. This was a pretty difficult chapter to write, and it didnt help matters that I've been dealing with sciatica for close to a month now. So between writers block and back pain that left me physically incapable of sitting in front of the computer for any length of time, I haven't been very productive lately. Thankfully I'm feeling a lot better, and I can now do computer stuff again with only mild discomfort, so hopefully I'll be back to normal relatively soon. In the meantime, here's the next chapter.

Mr. Perv: Don't worry about it, man. I always enjoy reading your reviews. I'm always flattered that you're so enthusiastic about my story, and if something I write moves you to write a long, rambling review, you go ahead and do it. It's one of the biggest compliments you can give a writer :). I actually do like a lot of your ideas, but I'm kind of limited with what I can do with Aces at the moment, seeing as how there's a very specific story I'm trying to tell here. Keep giving me ideas though, you never know when one of them will speak to me.

SordweilderSurvivor: The Bobby thing was addressed right before the tabletop arc started. Leni mentioned that Lori hasn't talked to Bobby for some time, and Lori confirmed that they were on a break.

Guest: Little late on this one, but the beginning of chapter 37 directly follows from Luna accidentally blasting her teammates at the end of chapter 36. Hence the Sonic Youth pun.

Also, I don't think I ever addressed this, but Aces Wild broke 100k views quite a while ago, and is now sitting at a little over 120k. You guys are ridiculous for loving this thing as much as you do, but I love you guys all the more for it, thank you so much.

Anyhoo, chapter now. As usual, big thanks to AberrantScript and LoudAutomata for helping me work through some of the trickier parts, those guys never fail to have my back on this thing.

Lincoln stiffened, in more ways than one, as he felt the slender arms around his waist pull him closer, pressing soft, large breasts deeper into his back. Lincoln could vividly imagine the way her flesh molded around him, squeezing against him like velvety cushions.

"Turn the page, Linky." The girl murmured, her warm breath pleasantly wafting over his skin, her lips tantalizingly close to his exposed neck. He gulped, and acquiesced, relieved that none of the pleasurable sensations he was experiencing relented in the slightest.

It had been a week since the incident. Things at home were...tense, to say the least. Seeing the way the girls had treated Carol had been frustrating, but fairly par for the course, given the general insanity his family tended to engage with. At least some of it, he'd felt, was motivated by how adversarial the game had gotten, and that was one-hundred percent his fault. A game master was expected to stack the deck, at least a little, giving players challenges to overcome made the experience that much more memorable. Given how unpredictable the girls could be (Sam most of all), Lincoln had pulled out all the stops for that last leg of the adventure, determined to have contingencies in place for virtually anything they could throw at him. And he did. Perhaps...excessively so. In hindsight, the exploding robot bees should have been a sign that he'd been taking things a bit too far, but he'd wanted to win so badly. And...that probably should have been the sign that he'd been approaching the problem from the wrong angle. These games weren't about winning, or losing, they were about having fun, and at some point he'd lost sight of that.

As furious as he was at the way the girls had treated Carol, Lincoln knew he was the one responsible for escalating things to that point. A stronger person might have copped to that, gotten it out in the open. They might have started a dialogue, tried to do something about the ill-feelings that had become so prevalent in the wake of that incident. Lincoln...was not that person. His feelings towards Carol had sharply clashed against his feelings for...other things, as well as disgust towards his own actions. So he'd disengaged. He'd ignored his family's attempts to reach out to them. He'd locked himself in his room, desperately wishing that things would just go back to normal. But they hadn't, and within a few days, Lincoln found himself literally running away from his problems.

Thanks to the escape slide Lisa had installed in his room, Lincoln had found it remarkably easy to flee the house without anyone being the wiser. He fled from the pervasive sense of dread that stalked his consciousness in the time since that ill-fated gaming session, and that had alleviated his troubles...for a few minutes, at least. It had occurred to him fairly quickly that while leaving the house had proven to be a simple task, remaining out and about would be considerably more difficult. Despite his small stature, Lincoln stood out in a crowd, and if he hung around his usual haunts it was only going to be a matter of time before he ran across someone who would notify his sisters as to his whereabouts, inevitably bringing the Sister Tornado Plus One down upon his infuriatingly conspicuous head. And he just wasn't ready to deal with that. Not yet. It was at that point, that he'd struck upon an idea, the last place anyone would come looking for him.

Lincoln wasn't certain what was the best way to say "Sorry my sisters were mean to you but could I please hide out at your place while I figure out my inner turmoil". It wasn't exactly the kind of thing they put on a greeting card, but he'd figured a box of chocolates was a pretty good start. Discounted, of course, he wasn't made of money, but Flip had assured him that the chocolates were as edible as they came. And that a triangular box was just as, if not more meaningful than one shaped like a heart. Lincoln hadn't quite bought that, but he had bought the chocolates, seeing as how money was most certainly an object.

He'd been nervous when he arrived at the Pingrey house, "chocolates" awkwardly held in one hand and desperation in the other. He'd been mortified when Mrs. Pingrey was the one who'd answered the door. An older woman to be sure, but handsome in spite of her age, possessed of the same ample bust, slender waist, and long flowing hair that her daughter was known for. It suggested pleasant things regarding Carol's future.

Mrs. Pingrey, seeing his offering, had dragged him inside the house and up to her daughter's room. The exceedingly beautiful woman had required no further explanation, and his attempts to provide one were only met with dismissive waves and a knowing smile, further compounding his embarrassment. Upon reaching their destination, Mrs. Pingrey had rapped loudly on Carol's door, announced that she had a "gentleman caller", and immediately flounced off, her elegant features twitching with barely repressed mirth.

The door had silently slid open, and Lincoln, steeling his courage, ventured in. The low lighting had made it difficult to ascertain the specifics of his surroundings, but two things had immediately stood out to him. A well used bed, and a large, vaguely human shaped bundle of blankets, resting atop it. Lincoln had tried calling out to the creature,not entirely comfortable with how easily it had been to penetrate Carol's inner sanctum without her express permission, but had received no response. Then, choosing to trust his instincts, long honed from years of dealing with sisters who had found themselves in similar states, he carefully crept up the being and silently slid the container of "chocolates" into an opening. Then, he retreated back towards the door, and watched. He didn't have to wait long.

The being quivered as the offering worked its way through the creatures protective layers. Then came the noises, those of a predator falling upon its prey and viciously tearing it apart. Gobble, Snarf, Snap. Then...silence.

Lincoln held his ground, this was the decisive moment. Fortunately, he would not have to wait for long. The misshapen pile before him gave one last shudder before violently twitching in his direction, the motion ejecting a small object from within its folds. With practiced ease, Lincoln snatched the object from mid-air, and exhaled in relief, satisfied by what he'd found. It was the container, once triangular and filled with something very akin to chocolate. Now merely half a square, and devoid of such encumbrances.

Lincoln tossed the parcel aside and made his way across the room. He sat down upon the bed, and gently patted the pile of blankets with his hand.

"Hey, Carol." He said, softly.

"Hey...Linky." Came its breathless reply.

Things weren't quite back to normal between him and Carol, but after that first awkward day, the pair had settled into fairly comfortable routine. Lincoln would go to school, make his way home, establish is presence around the house, and then leave unseen at the first available opportunity and head to Carol's. Conversation between them was sparse, but Lincoln took comfort in Carol's presence, and though it may have been wishful thinking, he sensed that the feeling was mutual. Most important of all, being with Carol was sufficiently distracting that his mind failed to wander to more...unsavory topics.

He just wished Mrs. Pingrey would give them some space. The woman had a tendency to hover, albeit unseen, for the most part.

"It's kind of weird that your mom just so happened to have all these wedding cake samples." Lincoln had remarked one day. Not that he was complaining. It was free cake! Carol's response had been to sink deeper into her cocoon, muttering under her breath.

As quaint as this all was, silence, however companionable, wasn't especially entertaining. So a few days into this new routine, Lincoln had started bringing comics with him. Not his own stuff, of course, real comics. Carol had previously expressed an interest in exploring the greater Ace Savvy universe, and this seemed like as good a time as any. Nothing dulled emotional pain like the smell of ink and paper in your face. At least, nothing that could fit into his budget.

It seemed to go over well. Lincoln had made his usual appearance at the Pingrey's, this time accompanied by a choice selection of what he considered to be some of Ace's greatest hits. He'd explained his intentions to Carol, informed her that she was free to read whatever she liked, and settled in next to her for some good old fashioned escapism. These were not optimal reading conditions by his usual standards, but it felt unseemly to drop trow in front of a sad girl, so Lincoln endured. He'd noticed several times throughout that visit that his pile of comics had shrunk, little by little, and took that as a sign that Carol was agreeable to this modified arrangement. So pleased was he by this minor breakthrough, that he didn't even mind when he'd returned home that night, and only then noticed that he'd never gotten his missing comics back.

Lincoln returned the next day, a fresh stack of comics in hand. And initially, at least, things proceeded as expected. He was escorted to Carol's room by an beaming Mrs. Pingrey, who dallied just long enough to inform the pair that she had errands to run that night, and they'd have the house to themselves. An annoyed growl from her daughter proved sufficient motivation for the older woman to take her leave. Lincoln was, himself, relatively unphased by the exchange. They'd gotten up to stranger things while he was around.

He'd taken his usual spot, fully prepared to settle in for another night of unfettered escapism and not dwelling on his problems, when he heard a shuffling off to the side. As per their unspoken agreement, Lincoln was fully prepared to quietly ignore the disturbance. But that became exceedingly difficult when a pair of slender arms wrapped around his midsection, and gently pulled him close, causing Lincoln to become acutely aware of his close proximity to the tall, shapely mass that was Carol Pingrey.

"I want to read that one." She murmured softly, her lovely face perched on his shoulder.

"S-sure." Lincoln replied. He'd started twist his body so that he could hand her the book when he was stopped by a squeeze from the older girl.

"No." She said. "You read it with me."

And so he did. Lincoln had worried that his shaking hands would make it difficult for Carol to follow the story, but she never complained.

"Lincoln?"

The pale haired boy started in surprise, pulled from his recollection by Carol's voice.

"I said to turn the page." She repeated, giving him another squeeze for emphasis. Strange how this had become his new norm, being an impromptu teddy bear for one of the prettiest girls in town. Truthfully, Lincoln had been enjoying this development quite a bit, these last few days having been exponentially more enjoyable than the preceding ones. If it were up to him, things would just stay this way. Comics and candlelight, the pleasant scents and sensations of Carol Pingrey teasing his senses. There was one problem, however...

"There, uh, no more." Lincoln replied, clearing his throat nervously. Lincoln flicked to the following page, which contained an advertisement for x-ray glasses and nothing more.

"Oh." Said Carol, sounding disappointed. Lincoln would have liked nothing more than to move on to the next issue, so they could continue their pleasant activity, but she knew, just as he did, that today's pile of comics was exhausted. There was nothing left.

The pair lay there together for a time, neither moving, neither saying a word. Lincoln desperately searched his mind for something to break the silence, but, as it turned out, staying composed in the presence of a pretty girl was a lot more difficult when you were forced to actually interact with said girl. He was desperately running down his internal list of conversational fodder for the umpteenth time when a thoroughly unpleasant sensation ran through his body, that being the complete lack of pleasant sensations he had grown accustomed to. And he knew, without turning around, that Carol was gone.

It took a significant amount of Lincoln's willpower to resist the urge to blindly flail about, desperate to reestablish contact, but somehow he managed it. Heart hammering in his chest, Lincoln slowly and deliberately put his comic aside, sat himself up, and looked behind him.

She wasn't especially far away, just a ways further down the bed, but after the closeness that had become so commonplace between them even that much distance felt palpable. Still, Lincoln forced himself to watch as Carol shimmied out of her makeshift cocoon (appreciating the way her casual shirt and shorts combo clung to her shapely body as she did so), reached down underneath her bed, and retrieved a small shoe box. She looked to him, a strained smile upon her face, and patted a spot next to her, indicating he should join her. Lincoln tried not to seem too eager as he slid closer to her.

"I think..." She began, as she fumbled with the box, trying to pull the top off without losing her grip on it, "...that I've made it pretty clear by this point that...I like you, Lincoln Loud." The managed to remove the top, and set it aside. She looked him in the eye, her face suddenly serious. "I like you...a lot."

Lincoln would have vehemently disagreed on the first point. He'd certainly hoped this was the case, he'd occasional fantasized about such a thing, but he wasn't delusional enough to seriously believe that a dope like him could attract the attention of Carol Pingrey. Suffice to say, this was an extremely...pleasant surprise, to say the least.

"I-I'm glad." He said, haltingly, his mouth dry . "I don't know why you would, but I'm glad." The room fell silent, and it took a few moments of staring into Carol's slowly reddening face for Lincoln to realize that the older girl was waiting for a more definitive answer to her feelings.

"I like you too." He said quickly, flushing with embarrassment, and he was heartened to see Carol let out a small sigh of relief, her taut body untensing ever so slightly. Still...

"Is..." He fumbled, searching for the right words. "Is it weird if I ask why?"

Carol giggled slightly, and held her box closer to her body. Lincoln found that he very much wanted to slide over, close those last remaining inches between them, but he remained resolute. Something was happening here, and he felt like they needed to finish what had been started.

"It's funny you ask that." Carol absentmindedly began to drum her fingers against the side of the box, the soft staccato seemingly syncopating with his beating heart. "I don't think I need to tell you that you're cute, and nice. That I feel this...I dunno, connection with you, that I've never really felt before."

She did, and she should. Often. By his estimation, he was going to need at least two sessions like this a day to keep himself convince himself that Lisa hadn't plugged him back into her virtual reality pod, and he wasn't just living some glorious waking dream. Thankfully, he managed to refrain from saying that, and just nodded, giving her what he hoped was a confident smirk.

"That." She pointed at him, a soft smile etching its way onto her beautiful face. "That dopey look of feigned confidence. That's exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about. You're adorable."

Lincoln's face fell, and he immediately resolved to allocate some time out of his day to practicing how to look more confident. Carol reached out and gently brushed her hand against his cheek, and Lincoln felt a bit of the frustration that had built up begin to wane, just a little.

"There's a little more too it though." With that, Carol withdrew her hand, and began rifling through her box. "I don't know if Lori ever told you..." It took a great deal of willpower for Lincoln to refrain from flinching at the mention of his eldest sister, "But it all kind of started with this."

Apparently finding what she was looking for, Carol procured a small object from the container and slid it into his hands. Lincoln was surprised to find that it was...a comic book. And not just any comic book, one of his comic books. Aces Wild: Drawing the High Card. His hands shook slightly as he ran his fingers over the cover, taking in the familiar scene that he himself had drawn, seemingly forever ago. Ace Savvy, tired and obviously wounded, and only on his feet thanks to the support of his...partner. The High Card.

"I came across this by happenstance." Carol continued, seemingly oblivious to Lincoln's inner turmoil. "Serendipity, I guess." She laughed melodiously. It was a nice laugh.

"I found this comic, out in the world, and I was drawn to it almost entirely by the fact that the girl on the cover looks so much like...me." Lincoln noticed an odd emphasis on that last word, but held his tongue, allowing Carol to say her piece.

"I got it for myself on a whim. A bit of a vanity decision, I guess, I thought it'd be a funny conversation piece I could share with people. But it seemed a shame to not know what it was actually about, so...I read it." Her smile deepened as she warmed to the topic.

"I read it. And I reread it, over and over again. Not because of the story itself..." She shot him an apologetic look, which Lincoln dismissed with a wave. It was an early story, he was still finding his feet. "...but more for what it represented."

"This girl." She leaned over and tapped the comic in his hands. "Looked so much like me. But she was strong, a-and cool. She went on fantastic adventures, fought bad guys, saved the world. It was so cool so picture myself in her shoes, doing those things. With him." Carol now indicated Lincoln's own alter ego, and he found he was having trouble swallowing.

"That little fantasy meant a lot to me. So much, that I guess I began to look for some deeper meaning in it all. And what I found...what I'd hoped, I guess is the more appropriate word, was that there had to be more to it than what I was seeing on the surface. I mean, how often do you find someone who could easily be yourself, on the cover of a random comic book, right?" Lincoln found he was growing a little uncomfortable with where this was heading, but Carol pressed on.

"I thought that all this had to mean something. I came up with a little scheme so I could meet the person responsible for this little masterpiece, thought maybe if I could meet him, if I could just ask him what it all meant, that I'd find something amazing at the end of that road." She giggled. "I even roped Lori into helping me out."

Carol took one of Lincoln's hands and held it between her own. Lincoln himself too enthralled by her story to feel embarrassed. "I met that guy. And it was...so much more than I could have hoped for."

"But..." Carol's face fell, her expression suddenly distant, pensive. She let go of Lincoln's hand, reached over and gently pulled the comic from Lincoln's hands. "I also learned that this girl on the cover was, in fact, someone very important to this guy. And that she wasn't me."

There was a dull smack as Carol pulled another comic from her box, and placed it on the bed, with perhaps, a little more force than was necessary. Aces Wild: Her Strongest Suit

"Neither was she."

Another comic joined the first. Aces Wild: Know When to Hold Her

"Or her." Smack. "Or her." Smack. "Or her."

The pair sat their for a while, staring at the array of distressingly familiar comic book covers, Lincoln's heart caught halfway in his throat, uncertain what he should say. What he could say.

"Is..." Carol took a deep breath to steady herself. "Is there one for Luan? I never found that one."

"Tricks and Treats." He let out a short, self-deprecating laugh. "We didn't make too many of that one. Nothing wrong with that issue, it just came out at a weird time, there wasn't much demand for it."

"Ah." She replied, noncommittally. And once again, silence reigned. At this point, Lincoln was seriously considering cutting his losses and bolting for the door. Being alone with his inner turmoil didn't sound so bad any more.

Then, much to Lincoln's surprise, Carol reached over, hoisted Lincoln up into the air with surprising strength, and pulled him into a mighty hug. Holding him tightly against her, almost as if sensing his thoughts, as if fearing he might flee. She wasn't wrong, though now, with his face crammed between her lovely breasts, Lincoln was finding that his options seems a lot less black and white.

"You need to understand that it's...frustrating..." She punctuated the last word with another squeeze, causing Lincoln's vision to go completely white for an instant. "...to find out that the guy you're into likes another girl." Her arms tensed, and Lincoln braced himself for another squeeze. "It's even more frustrating to find out that he might actually have a thing for seven other girls."

Lincoln blinked in surprise, and with a little difficulty, managed to wriggle his way into a position where he could peer up at Carol. "Seven?" He asked, his voice muffled somewhat by their proximity.

"I saw that commercial you did with Sam."She said dryly. Oh, right. Lincoln turned away, ashamed. He hadn't even realized that...wow, really? Sam? What was wrong with him?

"I don't blame you for being mad." He said softly. Carol gently, but firmly cupped his face in her hand and forced him to look at her. To Lincoln's surprise, she looked more concerned than anything.

"I'm not mad—" She started to say, then paused, seemingly reconsidering her statement. "I'm not unreasonably mad." She corrected herself.

She absentmindedly began to tousle his hair. "But I'm not so mad that I can't feel bad for my boyfriend, when he's so very clearly beating himself up over something he has no control over."

"W-what are you talking about?" Lincoln protested, years of pent up frustration beginning to unfurl within him. "I'm attracted to my sisters! It's sick! It's wrong! It's—"

"Perfectly understandable." Carol smoothly interjected, interrupting his train of thought with a well timed kiss to his forehead. Lincoln immediately found himself too tongue tied to continue his self-deprecating tirade.

"Lincoln, you guys are closer than any siblings I've ever known. While I'm not...happy, with this, having seen how you and your sisters are together, I can understand why you might develop feelings for them that are...decidedly nonfamilial."

She sighed, wistfully. "Especially Lori. I've only shared a locker room with that girl, can't imagine what it would be like to live in the same house as her." Wait...what?

"The point is, I get where you're coming from." She nuzzled her face against his. "I get that you feel terrible. And while I'm not happy that there are other girls in the picture..." She let out a short, frustrated shudder. "...really not happy, especially in light of recent events..." She swallowed audibly, as if choking down something particularly unpleasant. "I want my boyfriend to be happy. And you can't do that if you're feeling like garbage about this."

There was that word again. He hadn't remarked upon it the first time, but..."You, uh. You called me your boyfriend." He gulped. "Twice."

The older girl smirked at him. "Yeah, I did." She lifted him up to her eye level, and gave him an affectionate kiss on the cheek. "You got a problem with that?"

"N-no."

"Good." Carol leaned back on the bed, pulling him with her, and resumed snuggling with him. Lincoln allowed himself to enjoy the experience.

"I'm glad you're not mad." He began.

"Unreasonably mad." She corrected him, deliberately undercutting the tone of her voice by giving him another peck on the cheek.

"But it's not like you actually have anything to worry about." He continued. "I mean, its already crazy enough that you like me that way. Imagine how insane it would be if even one of my sisters felt the same way." He chewed his lip thoughtfully. "And I know Sam isn't an option."

Lincoln had expected his declaration to ease the tension between them, at least somewhat.

"Are you seriously that dense?" Carol asked, her expression disbelieving.

"...I don't follow your meaning." Lincoln replied. "So...yes?"

"Of course you are." Carol rolled her eyes. "You're lucky you're cute."

Lincoln felt like he'd lost the thread of conversation, but Carol still liked him, so that was a plus. He leaned forward, hoping to initiate a kiss of his own, but rather than Carol's dainty skin, he found his lips pressing against Carol's outstretched hand.

"We're not done here." Carol replied, gently pushing him away. "You and I clearly have a lot of things to talk about." She sighed. "So...so many things." Lincoln was starting to feel a little insulted. "But we've still got a date to get to, and I've got a week's worth of bed hair I need to deal with.

Lincoln blinked in surprise. "We do?"

"Yep. Tonight's the premier of the new Ace Savvy movie, remember?"

He'd forgotten. Completely and utterly. But it seemed unwise to acknowledge that fact.

"I didn't think you were feeling up to it." He responded, neutrally.

"I wasn't. But now I think a script that barely resembles the source material, broken up by frequent bouts of gratuitous violence and underscored by a bloated special effects budget is exactly what the doctor ordered."

She shoved him toward the door. "Now scoot. If I start getting ready now, we just might make it."