CH. 5: What's a soulmate?

Within the walls of the Loud house, sat young Lemy Loud. Bored of his mind. He was still on thin ice after he and his sister Lupa were caught smoking at school. Both grounded, placed under house arrest and denied what they cherish most. And for Lemy, that was his drums. His drums were left in the garage, locked away from him. So he just sat in his room, thwacking his drum sticks against two stacks of books. The peter-pater being the closer thing to getting his fix of beat.

"God, this sucks." Lemy sighed, talking to no one in particular.

"It's suppose to, it's being grounded." Lincoln spoke up as he was passing by. He poked in his head in his only son's room, checking up on him.

His nose twitched with a quick sniff, followed by him gagging on a foul smell. "Dear God, what is that smell?"

"The funk." Lemy replied simply, gesturing his hand to all the laundry around in the room. "It's why the door was open."

"Sweet Mercy, it smells like the whole house did a dutch oven all at one." Lincoln griped, continuing to cough at the smell.

"Whiner!" The two males swore they heard the voice of Lynn cry from downstairs.

Lincoln was so caught up in a coughing fit at the smell, he couldn't help but stumble forward. Merely catching himself onto Lemy's bed. Lemy stood up in attempt to assist, but the patriarch raised his hand to reassure his boy that he was alright. But upon such, Lemy noticed quite the particular detail about his father's right hand. That being the scars, one each finger right above each knuckle. Clearly faded with time, but evidently there.

"Dad, what's up with your hand?" Lemy asked with curiosity, ceasing the peter-pater of his drumming.

"Whaddya mean?" Lincoln managed to cough out a response to his son's question.

"The scars on your fingers." Lemy pointed at them, "Where they from?"

Lincoln didn't exactly answer right away. He looked down at his hand, bearing a gentle smile. He raised his other hand next to it, palms flat, showing that the same went for the other. A scar on each finger, save for his thumbs. He then flipped them over, revealing that one of his palms had a scar stretched across it. Lemy was lost for words at the sight.

"Believe it or not", Lincoln chuckled fondly, "I got them from your mother and your aunts."

"What?" Lemy asked with shock, an eyebrow raised. How could that happen?

"Do you know what a blood brother's oath is?" Lincoln asked his son, double checking before he went any further. Lemy nodded. "Well, that's kinda what these are."

Lemy didn't answer. His face just stretched into a funny look. His eyebrows raised with bewilderment. His eyes looked to his father, silently pleading for further answers. Lincoln got the message.

"Ok, obviously with our situation, I wouldn't have been able to get them a ring per say, right?" Lincoln asked rhetorically, answering with the obvious. "So this was our way of equaling to that. When we promised our lives to one another, we marked the finger which a ring should be."

Lemy nodded, starting to understand. "How did you get the one on your hand?"

"By the time your aunt Lisa was joining in, I was starting to run out of fingers." Lincoln chuckled at the words, "So I used my palm for the space."

"Oh." Lemy answered, understanding quickly. "Which one is Mom's?"

Lincoln answered by immediately pointing to the ring finger on his right hand. "This one. Your mom was the first, so the first choice was the obvious." He chuckled with glee as he said such.

Lemy couldn't help but smirk at his father's behavior. It's the one thing he admired about his father. The love was there and one could feel it emote from him. As if the love were the vibrations of a beat and his father the amplifier. He just couldn't help but be happy that he came from a house with such love in it.

"Dad, I got a question." Lemy said to his father.

"What's that?" Lincoln asked, curious.

"What's a soulmate?" Lemy asked, recalling the word from one of Aunt Lola's romance novels that he peeked through.

Lincoln smirked at the question. " It's kinda like a close friend, but more. Someone's who a whole different level of close to you."

"Like close as family?" Lemy cracked wise, chuckling at his own joke.

"Yeah, yeah." Lincoln shrugged the joke, "Funny but that's pretty true."

"Ok." Lemy said, rolling with his father's verbal recovery. "But how much more we talkin'?"

"Like, they know you better than anyone else." Lincoln said, "It's the kind of person that you love enough that you actually try to improve yourself for. Because you want to do good by them."

"Did you do that for Mom?" Lemy couldn't help but ask. Lincoln chuckled, expecting something like that from his child.

"Boy, did I." Lincoln said.

"Did you do for all the others?" Lemy asked, curious as to how such applied to his father's kind of love. Lincoln started to hunch, figuring he should have expected something like that to happen.

"Yeah, I did." Lincoln slowly, trying to covert the complexities in his mind into words for a child. "Some over time. Others all at the same time. The love I was feeling for them was such a mess that it needed to improved on my behalf."

"Talk about a clusterfuck." Lemy muttered beneath his breath, but Lincoln heard him.

"Hey!" He got onto his son, "Just cause you have a point, doesn't mean it requires that kind of language."

"Sorry, Dad." The boy apologized.

"It's alright." Lincoln carried on, "That's a dollar out of your allowance, by the way."

Lemy opened his mouth to argue, but closed it as he knew he had it coming.

"So, you see them all as soulmates?" Lemy asked, trying to make sense of his father's words.

"Yes I do." Lincoln said, no hesitation.

"Do you prefer one over another?" Lemy said this question slowly, trying to act slyly. Lincoln laughed as he caught on.

"No, as I told them many years ago, I don't have a favorite." Lincoln stressed his words, "I love them all the same."

"Enough to cut your skin." Lemy cracked wise once more. Lincoln laughed at his boy's wit. He raised his hand, scars on display.

"A scar that'll last a forever. As long as my love." Lincoln said with a smile.

"Does the 'No favoritism' apply to us as well?" Lemy asked with a grin.

Lincoln ruffled Lemy's hair with one hand. "Yes, my boy, it does. I love ya, son."

"I love ya, Pop." Lemy said with a smile, as he adjusted his hair.

"Ahem." The two heard a voice. They looked to the doorway, seeing Luna standing against it. She smirked as she gazed upon the men of the house.

"Oh, hey Luv." Lincoln greeted her with the adorable British slang. "What's up?"

"Oh, I was just coming up to check up on our grounded son." Luna said playfully, "But I can see you beat me to it."

"Yeah, just having father son chat." Lincoln said, hoping his wife wasn't in a foul mood.

"I see." Luna said as she stepped into the room. But upon such, her nose twitched with a sniff. "Bloody Hell, what is that smell?"

"The funk." Both Loud men said in unison, gesturing their hands at the surrounding laundry.

"I'm having Vietnam flashbacks to doing Lynn's laundry." Luna griped.

"Whiner!" She could have sworn she heard Lynn cry from downstairs.

She grabbed Lincoln by the hand, signaling him to stand up. Tugging him by the ring finger, she led him out of the doorway. "We should leave our grounded son to do his laundry then."

"Aw, come on." Lemy griped.

"Hey, you got it lucky, mate." Luna pointed her finger at him. "You should see what Lucy done to Lupa."

"What happened to Lupa?" Lemy asked nervously.

"She's helping Lyra babysit Lulu." Luna said darkly.

Lemy just shuddered at the thought in dread.

"Come now, Luv." Luna said, leading Lincoln out and down the hall. Lincoln remained silent and dumbfounded as he was being roped he knew, he was entering his bedroom with the door closing behind him.

"What's going on?" Lincoln asked curiously.

Luna nestled up against her brotherly lover's chest. Arms wrapped around his neck, head resting with her ear pressed against his heart. As if she were listening in for his heartbeat. Eyes closed, smiling content, looking as if she were dreaming.

"I heard everything you said to him." She said to him, "So, 'soulmates', huh?"

"Indeed, Luv." Lincoln said, wrapping his hands around her waist. "Little man got curious about my ring fingers."

He wiggled his fingers about the mention of "Ring fingers", tickling Luna's waist. This got a melodic laugh out of her.

"Haven't thought about that big day in years." Luna said softly, her mind looking back on the precious memory.

"Yes, a good number of years." Lincoln said, "But like the scar, my promise is forever."

"Really now?" Luna smirke. Lincoln nodded. Without warning, Luna shoved Lincoln, causing him to land on his bed. He looked up at her surprised, but she simply smirked at him coyly.

"I think after all these years, I might need a reminder." She said as she slowly approached him. Now it was Lincoln's turn to smirk.

"Well, then. Come here, Luv." Lincoln grabbed at her waist, pulling her towards the bed. She laughed playfully as she landed on top of him. The laughter between the two only ceasing as they begun to share a passionate kiss.

(Meanwhile, Downstairs)

"Babywipes." Lyra said, her hand reaching out in waiting. But was met with nothing in return. "Babywipes!"

"Why should I care if you get baby-shit on your hands?" Lupa cursed at her elder sister, looking bored and apathetic.

"Because it's your task." Lyra commented with irritation, "Now hand them over!"

Lupa relented with one big sigh, finally handing over the baby wipes.

A few seconds and wipes there, Lyra followed such by disposing of the dirty diaper in the trash can nearby. She reached her hand towards Lupa once more.

"Fresh diaper." She requested. Once again, Lupa met her with nothing but an apathetic glance. Lyra was not in the mood for it. "Fresh diaper, goddammit!"

"Gasp! You said a swear!" Lupa mocked her sister, "And the Lord's name in vain, at that."

"Shut it, heathen." Lyra scowled at her junior, "And hand me the new diaper."

Lupa chuckled darkly as she relented and gave one over.

Lyra hunched over as she struggled to place a new diaper on her infant sister. But paused as she started to hear a sound. A rhythmic beat coming up from against the wall. It didn't take long for Lyra to figure out what it was, as she swiftly covered Lulu's ears. Striving to preserve her innocence!

"Hey, gotta appreciate the love going on in this house, right?" Lupa said mockingly with a smirk.

Lyra glared at her with a scowl. The tested patience was now visible and pushed. "I hate you, Lupa."

Lupa just stood there and beamed a devious smile.

The End.