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saibug1022 · 4 days

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Two Birds On A Wire

Word Count: 1.7k

Lincoln McQuoid/Aquino & Valen Ebony (ILITW MC), background mentions of Lincoln x ILW MC and Lucas x ILITW MC

A/N: Fun fact for those who don't know, for the second half or so of ILW I was actually on the dev team, first as a senior tester and then as a junior writer. As a result I got to program some scenes into my person copy of the game, one of which is this one! I finally turned it into a proper fic and I plan to do the same with a Dan x MC scene later so stay tuned

“Which reminds me,” Lincoln said with a small smile and a sidelong glance at Val. “I actually legally changed my name just a few days ago.”

“You did?” Abel replied.

“Yeah. I took my mom’s maiden name,” Lincoln nodded. “So I’m Lincoln Aquino now. I didn’t think I could handle that name following me around after all my father did, so…”

Val’s eyes fell to the ground at the reminder. ‘My’ father. Just a few weeks ago he wouldn’t have blinked an eye. But now it came with a bit of sting. Not that it wasn’t honest. Matthias had him only to be used. He’d never considered Val a son. Never kept an eye on him, probably didn’t even know his name. Only led Val’s friends to resurrect him to further his own plan. He wasn’t even the man on Val’s birth certificate. But that was why it stung. Technically it should be ‘our’ dad. But it never really was.

But if he was honest with himself, the lack of the word ‘our’ hurt less in relation to their father and more in relation to Lincoln. Val was no stranger to absent parents, so that wasn’t anything new. Siblings? Val was still wrapping his head around that. Lincoln was his brother. And neither of them had said a single thing about it, at least not to each other. They just kept dancing around each other and honestly? Val was perfectly happy with that.

If they never had a conversation Lincoln wouldn’t say the things Val was sure he was thinking. Val wasn’t just his half-brother, Matthias had him via an affair with Val’s mother (which they had a very spirited conversation about that involved some screaming, some crying, and threats of divorce). Val was a reminder of what a horrible person his, their, father was, and especially the horrible things he’d done to the mother Lincoln adored. Lincoln was a great guy. Val didn’t think Lincoln would blame him, even if Val would get it if he did. But he imagined it must be hard to look at him.

No matter Val’s own feelings, Lincoln seemed to be shedding his past, and Val couldn’t help the pride that overtook that little sting. It honestly sounded like a great idea. Not that Val really had anything to change his last name to. For just a moment he caught the eye of a certain ex-class president across the yard and couldn’t help a small smile. Maybe he would one day.

But for now, Val looked over at Lincoln with that same smile.

“I think Lincoln Aquino is a great name,” He said.

“I agree,” Abel said. “You don’t need to carry something around that reminds you of him, especially not after what he did."

Lincoln’s smile turned sheepish as he looked at the ground. “Thanks.”

Abel paused abruptly, craning his neck and looking around. He must have found whatever he was looking for because a smirk appeared on his face for a split second before he hid it, clearing his throat and standing.

“I think Amalia is calling me over,” Abel told them.

“What?” Lincoln glanced over at Amalia who was mid-conversation with Castor and Jocelyn. “No she’s not.”

“You two have fun!” Abel grinned. Oh that little shit. Val and Lincoln must have figured out what Abel was doing at the same time as they both spoke up.

“Wait-” Val objected as Lincoln simultaneously protested “Abel-!”

But Abel completely ignored their pleas and wandered off to Amalia, Jocelyn, and Castor, leaving Val and Lincoln alone at the fire.

They sit there in an awkward silence, Val just messing with his necklace praying Abel would come back and give him an excuse to leave. He couldn’t just get up when it was just Lincoln, it would make it so obvious he was avoiding him. He switched to lightly biting the ring pendant on the necklace as he thought. He had to say something, right? Unless Lincoln was avoiding him too in which case maybe he should stay quiet for both of their sakes? Well unfortunately this silence was eating him alive

“So uh,” Val cleared his throat. “How’re you and Julian?”

Val knew the answer. He’d talked to Julian not even ten minutes ago.

“Good,” Lincoln replied. “We’re good.”

“Great.”

More silence.

Eventually Val sighed. Obviously avoiding each other was getting nowhere and he had a sneaking feeling Abel not returning was on purpose.

“He’s probably right,” Val pointed out. “We should talk about this at some point.”

“Yeah, I know,” Lincoln admitted. “But what do you even say about this kind of thing?”

Val snickered. “What, you’ve got a secret bastard brother three days before your father dies trying to kill you both?”

“Don’t call yourself a bastard,” Lincoln snapped. Val’s eyebrows raised in a mix of shock and confusion.

“Why not?” Val wondered. “I mean, I am. Matthias obviously had me while he was still married to your mom. It was an affair, plain and simple. I, I wouldn’t blame you if you hated me for it.”

“Why would I hate you?” Lincoln questioned, genuine confusion on his face.

“Because I’m living proof of your dad being a cheating asshole?”

“No.”

Lincoln turned in his chair to fully face Val and Val turned to meet him, the awkward tension of his shoulders turning to anxiety as he waited for whatever Lincoln wanted to say. Lincoln met his eyes and Val found he actually wanted to meet them. Whatever Lincoln said he wanted to truly absorb it.

“Look, I don’t really know what I’m doing here,” Lincoln confessed. “I have no idea how to be a brother. I screwed up the closest thing I had to it, bad. But I don’t think you’re a bastard.”

Lincoln’s face shifted from solemnity to rage. “If anyone’s a bastard it’s him. He had you just to use and then throw away when it suited him. It;s messed up and wrong and…and you deserve better.”

For a moment, Val didn’t know what he wanted to say. Even if he did he had a feeling the words would get caught on the emotions clogging his throat. This hadn’t been how he’d expected this conversation to go. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting exactly but he’d considered anything from indifference to disgust to full on hate. But what Lincoln was looking at him with felt more so like affection. Protectiveness.

Lincoln leaned over and after a moment of consideration put his hand on Val’s knee and Val froze. Something felt fragile about this. Rather than two adults navigating a complicated a difficult family secret they felt like two hurt boys who more than anything were scared. Scared of their dad, scared of the monsters in the woods, and scared of the big feelings too complicated to understand. One wrong move could send one or both of them running but there was a gravity pulling them together and blocking out the rest of the world.

“This whole thing is messed up and weird,” Lincoln said.

“Us being messed up and weird too doesn’t really help,” Val commented.

“Not really,” Lincoln agreed. “I want to be part of your life, and I want you to be part of mine. We may not have grown up together but he took everything else from us, I don’t want him to take our chance to be brothers too. But only if you want that too.”

Val was grinning so wide his face hurt, his vision blurred from slight tears. Val had never had a sibling, hell he’d never had family that wanted him. Connor was the closest thing he’d had. But here was Lincoln telling him that even with everything that had happened and their origins he still wanted to try to be Val’s brother.

“I’d like that,” Val said. “I’d really like that.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Good,” Lincoln grinned too.

“You being in Vegas might make it a pain though,” Val remembered. “Give me your phone.”

Lincoln unlocked his phone before handing it over. Val opened the contacts and entered in his name and his new phone number. Connor had helped him get a new phone finally, one that didn’t die fucking constantly. You handed Lincoln his phone back.

“There,” Val said. “And you better actually text me. I know technology isn’t your strong suit.”

“You talk to the twins too much,” Lincoln sighed.

“I’m gonna be talking to them way more now.”

“We’ve been brothers for five minutes and you’re teasing me.”

“I have twenty-two years of it to catch up on!”

“You have a point,” Lincoln hummed in consideration and glanced toward the cabin with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You’ve known your friends since you were little, right?”

“Oh no, no no no no,” Val shook his head. “This is backfiring fast.”

Lincoln barked out a laugh and Val joined him. The sound broke the fragility around them and Lincoln sat up, his hand falling off Val’s knee. But neither of them ran. Now the silence was comfortable and easy.

“You know,” Lincoln spoke up. “I don’t go back to Vegas until tomorrow afternoon.”

“Are you asking to hang out with me?” Val grinned.

“Maybe I am,” Lincoln smiled too.

“We’re definitely hanging out now,” Val declared. “I know where we’re going too. If you really want to learn about me as a kid we’re going to Pizza Mega.”

“That sounds like a place middle-schoolers hang out.”

“That’s because it is.”

The two of them conversed a bit about their schedules and picked a time, including some logistics before Val spotted Abel on his way back over so he stood up but Lincoln stopped him before he could walk away.

“I’ll see you around, buddy, okay?” Lincoln said and Val’s heart soared at the casual nickname.

“You’re damn right,” Val agreed.

With one more wave to both Lincoln and Abel. Val returned to the rest of the memorial.

#val ebony #playchoices #choices #it lives in the woods #ilitw #it lives within #ilw #it lives anthology #lincoln mcquoid #lincoln aquino

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