Chapter Text
Lucy
The world was upside down, and Linus awoke with a start.
By then, he’d grown accustomed to Lucy’s nightmares, as jarring as it was to awaken to the world looking like it had gone through several funhouse mirrors and was being stretched and pulled in different directions. Though the room was upside down, the gravity had blessedly reversed with it, meaning that Linus could slide himself out of the bed that he and Arthur now shared and place his feet on the ceiling. His stomach dropped at the anticipation of being sent crashing toward the floor, but he steadied himself on their likewise-upside down nightstand and began to move toward the closet. The stippling was rough on his feet as he shuffled away from the bed, glancing forlornly back at where Arthur lay curled on his side, mercifully asleep–a nearly impossible feat with the house shaking and thundering. Linus knew Arthur had had an emotionally-draining day prior–the long visit from the reporter had left them all on edge, but Arthur especially–, so Linus crept toward Lucy’s door without waking him, a promise echoing in his head.
“You have to dance with me, and when I have bad dreams, you have to come and tell me everything will be okay.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes to all of it. To any of it. For you, I would do anything.”
And he’d meant it, of course. Linus grimaced as he thought about the first nightmare he had experienced while on the island, the way the children all looked at him as though he were the son of Satan as they scrambled to defend Lucy in his nightmares. To keep their brother safe.
Linus felt an indescribable sense of pride that that was his job, now.
As Linus approached Lucy’s door, noises like the soundtrack of a horror movie–creaks and gurgles and squelches and echoing screams–mixed with some of Lucy’s favorite dead people music, but it was warped and out-of-key. Linus resisted the urge to jam his fingers in his ears as he reached for the doorknob to Lucy’s closet room, almost out of reach from his upside-down perspective. As Linus gently pushed Lucy’s door open, the cacophony deepened, echoing into the house. The room glowed a violent red as Lucy convulsed above his bed, practically foaming at the mouth. All of Lucy’s clothing was out of its dresser and danced around the room as if partaking in an ancient ritual.
Linus, startled by the sound of it all, quickly shut the door again, glancing Arthur’s way. Arthur was sitting straight up, his hair in a million directions, his mouth in a huge O. His eyes were still foggy with the thick haze of sleep, but he was listening intently, his gaze on Linus and the outline of the door, still pulsing red.
“Nightmare, I think,” Linus said somewhat helplessly, gesturing toward Lucy’s room.
Arthur nodded and swung his legs over the bed, quickly crossing toward the door. “It’s been months. I thought–” He pressed his lips into a firm line, looking helpless. “I thought I was helping.”
Linus took Arthur’s hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “You are; we are. All of us. Do you remember what you said to me after Lucy’s first nightmare when I was here?”
Arthur smiled softly, almost in spite of himself. “I believe I left the unspoken challenge of ‘get rid of me, and I will raze the earth.’ Or something like that.”
“Something like that, yes,” Linus echoed, smiling. He brushed Arthur’s hair from his eyes and brought their foreheads together. “Let me take care of this,” he continued, barreling on as Arthur started to protest. “You go check on the children and make sure they’re not too worried about Lucy.”
Arthur nodded and hurried out of the room. Linus steeled himself before wrenching the door back open and stepping over and through the doorway. He imagined he was wearing his explorer outfit, slicing a fake machete through the t-shirts and socks that blocked his path until he finally arrived at Lucy’s bed. Lucy’s mouth was open wide, creating a sound so inhuman that Linus had to resist the urge to run in the opposite direction, and his head was thrown back at an unnatural angle.
Linus had helped Arthur comfort Lucy in his nightmares a handful of times before, but he’d never been tasked with doing it alone. His hands began to sweat as he tried to determine what the right thing to say would be. He wiped his palms on his pajama pants, bouncing on the balls of his feet, before throwing himself beside Lucy on the bed. He snatched Lucy up in his arms, hugging him closely the way he had seen Arthur do it.
“You are more than the sum of your parts,” he whispered fiercely, knowing that this was what Arthur often said to him. “You are special and important, no matter what other people say about you. We love you so much. When you’re ready, we want you to come home.”
He spoke like this for several more minutes, his pleas punctuated with “ums” and quiet curses that he had sent Arthur out of the room. Eventually, Lucy crumpled in on himself, crying out as the world righted itself and flipped right-side up. Linus held him close the whole time, cradling his head as the two of them landed on the ground with a thump, surrounded by Lucy’s de-animated clothing and the records that typically decorated the wall–though they were, by some stroke of luck, still whole this time around. Linus rocked and whispered, “Shhhh, it’s okay, Lucy. I’m here.” He wiped a tear from Lucy’s cheek as the boy opened his eyes.
“L–Linus?” Lucy looked uncertain, afraid even. He flung his arms around Linus’s neck and sobbed. “The spiders, Linus. They were everywhere, and you were gone, and you said you weren’t going to come back.”
Linus’s heart ached as he hugged Lucy to his chest. “I will always come back. This is my home now too, remember? A few bad dreams mean nothing.”
Lucy’s voice was barely a whisper against Linus’s chest. “I was scared.”
Linus searched for the right thing to say. He hoped he found it when he said, “Don’t worry, Commander Lucy. It’ll be harder to get rid of me than a nightmare and a few spiders.”
Lucy nodded fiercely, his tears soaking through Linus’s sleep shirt. Linus rocked him back and forth slowly, rubbing circles on his back the way he had seen Arthur do. They sat like this for a long time, Lucy’s face pressed into Linus’s shoulder, his body curled around Linus’s.
When Lucy finally untethered himself from Linus, Linus stood up, moving toward the door of Lucy’s closet room. “Shall I go fetch Arthur for you? He’s probably done settling all your siblings.”
“No!” Lucy shouted, then blushed a fiery red that matched his eyes. He slumped back onto his bed and crossed his arms, feigning indifference. “I mean… no, that’s okay. You can just stay with me. Unless you want to go. Then it’s whatever.”
“Oh–”
“It’s okay. You really can go,” Lucy whispered, his voice quivering.
Linus wanted to slap himself. “No, no! I’d love nothing more than to stay.” He climbed back into Lucy’s bed, putting out an arm for Lucy to crawl under. His frame barely fit, but Lucy didn’t seem to care, squishing himself between Linus and the wall in a cocoon of blankets. Within minutes, his breathing evened, and his small fist balled up in Linus’s shirt. “I love you, Linus,” he exhaled, snuggling closer to Linus’s chest.
Linus felt every reservation he had ever had about himself shatter. Was he ever anything before he was a father?
“I love you too, Lucy.”