Lincoln Atwood

         while uncomfortable beyond belief, having five-hundred pounds worth of metal pinning him to the ground was a little reassuring. it was difficult to say whether half a ton of force was enough to keep everything capable of bursting out of him contained, but maybe, just this once, history would be kind to him and make himself something relatively harmless—like an orodromeus instead of, say, a spinosaurid. “o-okay,” he managed to stammer out, trying to focus less on the bruising weight on his chest and more on calming down. squeezing his eyes shut, he went limp. breathed. ignored the proto-feathers that had crept up past his shoulder. minutes ticked by, and just when he thought he might start panicking again, his saurian traits began to recede. “i—i think i’m good now.”

Lincoln stood still and waited for him to calm down and reign in his powers. He couldn’t imagine having to deal with randomly bursting into a dinosaur at any moment. How did this guy survive this long? 

When it seemed liked he had calmed down, Lincoln let go and offered him his hand to help him up. “Do we need to bring you to the doctor or are you okay now?” he asked. It was probably better to bring him just to be safe but at the same time, mutations were weird like that. One moment they could be flaring up and making a person’s life a living hell and the next moment, they were fine. There was no point in over-reacting.

“Just deal with it the way they would with us—Going in through one ear and out the other.” She understood why fights were in Lincoln’s favour. His abilities were helpful in those cases, especially when it came to the rowdy ones. “She’s something else.” muttered the brunette as she reached for Linc’s metal shoulder and supported herself off the couch. Straightening out her outfit, she picked up the tablet and began looking through logs to have a gist of what needs to be done for her shift.

“Mmm…It’s up to you. I mean you sure you want to be out there facing those brats again?” Glancing up from the device, she gave a nod as if she didn’t mind the company. “Besides, what’s that expression?…The more the merrier?” 

“It’s late now so most of them are probably doing their best to avoid us,” Lincoln reasoned. Besides, who better to learn how to deal with the brats from than the master of intimidating everyone around her? It was probably more productive than him sitting around and playing video games until Lizzie joined him for the night. Plus, with his metal body, it wasn’t like physical exhaustion got to him the same way it got to most people. Lincoln was quite confident he could probably go a few days without sleep.

“So, what’s first on the to-do list, boss?” he asked as they left their quarters. While Lincoln’s job mainly consisted of walking around and dealing with problems as they came up, Cassandra was the Head of Security so her job was a bit more interesting. Lincoln didn’t care for it much though. Organizing things and being responsible for others did not appeal to him in any way. He liked the simplicity of simply being muscle. 

“Are you sure the books you’re looking for aren’t available in the school library?” Lincoln asked, obviously very uncomfortable about the fact that he was in public. It didn’t help matters that he was surrounded by shelves and shelves of books with very narrow room to move between them. He was practically going through the rows sideways and even then he was knocking down the stray book here and there. He couldn’t bend down to pick them up so Lizzie had to collect them as they fell.

Every time they would switch rows, someone would give him a weird look and immediately clear the row they were entering, probably scared that Lincoln would squish them and wondering how tiny Lizzie wasn’t already trampled. He hated that look but it could have been a lot worse. Perhaps he had the stack of books in his hand to thank for the fact that he looked non-threatening enough that people didn’t feel the need to attack first. He was almost sure the bookstore manager was two steps away from not letting him in in the first place.

Lizzie closed her eyes and kissed Linc back, her body relaxing as he touched her. When they pulled a part she stared into his eyes. There were many cons to having a boyfriend being entirely made of metal, but the one major pro was that Lizzie didn’t have to worry about him getting hurt. It was a small victory, considering she had all but trapped him inside a metal prison, but it was a pro she didn’t take lightly. 

“Do you think Cass would let us keep a cat here?” Lizzied asked, choosing to forgo feelings and instead focus on her favorite topic: animals. She pursed her lips in thought. “I know I technically am not supposed to live here, but I do and I want a cat. My request to build a spider sanctuary on the property was denied, but surely if Kai is able to keep a cat we should be able to.”

Lincoln blinked, not actually sure if Cassandra would allow it, but considering one of their roommates was a person who could literally turn in to every single feline species in existence, she probably wouldn’t be bothered by the presence of a real one. “I think she’d be fine with it. None of us are allergic to Maxine and she is always climbing all over our counters and couches so I can’t imagine anyone would object.”

His only concern was that the cat wouldn’t like him. He was scary enough to humans. Most of the time, animals would run at the sight of him. “I’m not sure I’m ready for a cat to reject me.” Considering Lincoln grew up surrounded by animals, due to his mother’s profession and mutation, the animal rejection hit him pretty hard. It wasn’t fun being barked at by dogs that were usually ‘very friendly’ and ‘usually not like this at all’.

“my dear friend..” bas mumbled, the spooked glint returning to his eyes as he lifted his hand up towards the metal man’s face in demonstration. “i just do this —” he twists his hand in a circular motion, his fingers fanning, as a mischievous look lights his face as he’s imitating the movement. “and immediately, my abilities bring the blood in their lips together and stay they shut for the entirety of the tutorial.” bas blinks, and once again, he’s back to his normal self, legs swinging on the ledge, smiling jovially. “easy peasy, no stress added.”

Was this man capable of offering an answer that didn’t sound creepy? He was almost as bad as Lizzie except Lincoln was used to Lizzie and her creepiness didn’t revolve around the very real possibility of bodily harm. “Can I bring you along with me on every patrol? I’m good with breaking up fights and all but I’m very bad at getting kids to shut up. They kind of all know that I’m not actually scary.” 

At his inquiry, Cassandra nodded to confirm that it did make sense. Their job wasn’t easy, especially with the size of the Institute. They were a group of ticking time bombs going off left and right. They were mutants all cooped up in one space. The younger they were, the worse they come, but it was a matter of patience, understanding, and perseverance that made them the protectors of this place. In her opinion, the brattiness that came with the students would eventually subside. It just all came with time.

A rare smile graced Cass’ lips as she gently placed a reassuring hand on the young man’s shoulder. “Lincoln…It amazes me how you’re thinking about all this at your age.” With the same hand she then formed it into a fist and began knocking on his metal head, “Even with this amount of weight in there, it definitely works.” she teased in attempts to lighten the situation. He was a good kid, no doubt about it. A kind soul on top of that—a strength, yet a weakness when it came to the job. However, Cass chose him as a part of her team and she wouldn’t change it for the world, despite him being less scarier and forceful than the others. 

“You will be the best father in the world.” affirmed the older woman with a nod. “And sure, you can’t prevent them from all the negative social factors that the world has to offer us. However, take it from someone who had parents who never loved them…I’d rather have that because at least I know there’s hope and a good foundation in my life. Your unconditional love for them trumps all the bad that consumes them. They’ll definitely hold onto that.” 

Humming softly, Cass pondered on a response before saying, “Well at least it’s nothing severe like fights breaking out. Also my day hasn’t started, I’ll be doing the night shift. However, I did stumble across Max and her paint shenanigans…So I had to come back and change cause of all that.” 

“I’d rather deal with fights. At least I’d actually be able to get a bit physical. I don’t know how to deal with kids and their loud mouths.” He shrugged. Lincoln was good at being physical. He could fight or, at least, he could get int between and block the students from hurting one another, but he didn’t have a quick enough wit to deal with smart mouths. The best he could ever do was threaten them with detention and that wasn’t badass at all. It was kind of embarrassing.

“Oh yeah, I saw her doing that too. She kind of covered me in paint and I had to get Lizzie to wash it off earlier. I don’t really understand the whole paint-twister thing. It just seems really, really messy.” Then again, Maxine was somewhat of a mystery to them all. He was pretty sure that half of her conversations included innuendos every other sentence but Lincoln wasn’t very receptive to them. His lack of high school experience made him rather unaware of flirting. 

“Did you want some company for the first part of your shift? I don’t really have anything planned for the next hour or so.”

          strictly speaking, lincoln was right. his mutation was the last thing trying to kill him. but it did like to have a go at everyone else. that was what really scared him—generally speaking, that was. at the moment, he was a little more wrapped up in his panic than in his mutation in and of itself. irony. “i don’t feel like the next stage in evolution.” hell, every time it happened he technically took a step back. but he tried to take lincoln’s advice all the same, curling his arms around himself and working to focus on his breathing. easier said than done, of course. “if it gets any worse i’ll eat the on-campus doctor,” he whined, but thankfully nothing new had happened.

Eat the on-campus doctor...? That was a weird impulse but he supposed it wasn’t exactly unheard of. Deciding that he couldn’t stay passive anymore, he suddenly reached out and pinned Joseph to the ground, using his massive weight to keep the man still. “Look, I won’t let you go crazy and hurt anyone. Your teeth or whatever can’t hurt me and it’s my job to protect the people here so I won’t let you free if I don’t think you’re in control.” Unfortunately, Lincoln was all too familiar with this kind of situation. “Now don’t focus on the fear and try to calm down. I’ve got you.” 

Lizzie met Linc’s eyes, seeing the silvery metal where she used to see deep blues. She nodded quickly in reassurance. “I am happy. It was just a rough night,” She admitted. She looked back down and began to play with the hemline of her shorts. “That is the euphemism people use for not sleeping well or something bad happening, correct? I just, I had a nightmare and you were gone and I felt like it might–that I might–”

She stopped, not bothering to say the rest. She bit her lip. She knew Linc would understand what she meant. Incident. Episode. Accident. All were just more euphemisms for her ability. 

“It was just a rough night,” she repeated, her whole body feeling heavy with defeat. 

Lincoln frowned, immediately wrapping his arms around her as she struggled with her words. There were few things that Lizzie couldn’t speak about and her mutation was on the top of the list. “It’s okay. You’re with me now and you can’t hurt me.” He pulled them back down so that Lizzie was to his side before gently running his fingers over her hair. He knew she liked lying on top of him but there was no way she could convince him that it was comfortable and the goal was to get her to go to sleep. 

“You trust me, right? Nothing’s going to happen.” He leaned over and kissed her, hoping that he could ease her worries. He hated that he couldn’t always be there for her because of his job but there really wasn’t much else he could do. He didn’t want to sit around all day like many of the boarders here and school wasn’t for him. He had an indestructible body and figured it was best to put it to use.

Lizzie poked Linc’s chest, staying serious. “If you went to school you wouldn’t have to deal with those kids you don’t want to talk about,” she said. She rolled herself over so she was on top of his metal body, balancing like a cat. She leaned down to give him a quick kiss on the lips. When she pulled away, she looked down so she didn’t meet his eyes. “And you wouldn’t have to do the night shift anymore.”

It was selfish of her to want Linc to be with her at nights, and Lizzie knew she had no place to be selfish. It was her fault her couldn’t feel her, that her every touch was nothing more then a knock against metal. And she would fix him. She knew she would. She just needed to find a way. 

“Plus, a lot of stores take a student discount. Well, some stores still refuse to sell to mutants so the discounts don’t work there, but there is this one book store downtown that will accept it. And a sandwich place. I know you can’t really taste them, but maybe if we added some peppers and some strong spices you could get a little flavor…”

Lincoln really appreciated Lizzie trying, but sometimes it was hard for him to really get in to it. “If I needed a discount, I could just get you to do it,” he stated, his lips forming in to a small frown. He didn’t understand why Lizzie wanted him to go to school so badly. As annoying as the kids were, he liked his job and where he was in life. He didn’t really aspire for much else, aside from being able to properly feel his girlfriend and not look like a metal freak all the time.

“Are you not happy?” he asked, bracing Lizzie as he sat up. He brushed her hair away from her face and nudged her head up so that she would meet his eyes. “I could spend more of my free time in your classes, if you’d like, but you know I’ve never liked school.” Even before the whole incident, Lincoln only considered going to college for sports rather than the learning. It wasn’t his thing and he had accepted that a long time ago.

The sound of heavy metal thudding its way towards Cassandra only meant one thing. Lincoln was here. Paying no attention to his presence, she focused on the tablet in front of her as she was preoccupied going through surveillance records. However, as soon as he sat down next to her, the brunette slid towards his body causing her to look at him with an unamused gaze. “Linc—” Before she could even try to scold him, he started talking and once he starts talking, she couldn’t stop him from there.

She was used to him discussing about his relationship with Lizzie. Hell the blonde seemed to make herself at home in Darkholme, but the random subject of kids caught her attention as she locked the tablet and set it aside in front of her. “Rough day?” she asked at first. 

“—For starters, don’t let the students here taint your decision in wanting kids Linc…They’re misunderstood and have their reasons, even though its irrational and immature for the most part…But they’ll eventually learn. If not, then don’t beat yourself over it. They’re the problem not you.” A soft chuckle escaped her lips as she shrugged in response when the topic was redirected to her opinion. “Like in what sense? Like to have them? Like them as a whole?…To be honest with you, I envy kids. They’re innocent and naive, but I also feel bad for them since they’re the most vulnerable.” 

Lincoln knew that he definitely wasn’t the problem. He’d be a great father and he knew as much. He had always wanted them and of course these kids wouldn’t change anything at the end of the day but... “Does it make sense though?” he started. “They will probably be mutants and it seems sad to bring them into a world that hates them. I might be the best father in the world but kids are influenced by their friends and if this is the stuff the kid’s going to be around, I’m not sure I can do anything about it.” 

He was only twenty-one and definitely not the age to be thinking about such things, but if being a mutant had taught him anything, it was life was dangerous and so sometimes waiting to be normal wasn’t the best plan. Still, if there was anyone he can muse about this stuff with, it was Cassandra. The woman was scary as hell sometimes but there was no doubt that their boss cared and when it came down to it, she kind of always knew what to say. There may have been a lot of sarcasm and some ice in her tone as she said it, but it was still right.

“How about you? How was your day? I found two people drinking in the middle of the day and one kid even had the nerve to be smoking weed on campus in bare sight.”

Lizzie giggled. She was rarely relaxed outside of their time together. She felt like she was always checking her breath, making sure her heart rate didn’t go up and she wouldn’t end up blacking out only to wake up to discover she had hurt someone. Her powers were unpredictable, and it was reassuring to know that with Linc she would be accepted no matter what. 

“Actually, spiders don’t eat their kids. They let their kids eat them. The mother spider will often pretend to attack her kids then encourage them to kill and eat her. It is quite noble. The dad is usually eaten way before then. So if we are continuing with our use of the arachnid metaphor we would be the eaten ones in this situation. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure I’m the only one who gets to bite you.”

Her gaze flashed in the teasing way it did whenever she reminded Linc of the promises she made of what she would do to him when he was back to normal. With a boyfriend who couldn’t feel, it was up to her to get creative. 

She yawned, snuggling closer to his chest while making an effort to stay awake. “You should consider taking classes again. I know you don’t think you’re very smart, but you are very average. You could definetly pass your classes with a little bit of effort. And I would help. I’m a terrible tutor, but I would make sure you studied.”

Lizzie definitely made a lot of promises and Lincoln was going to hold her to them the moment he could. In fact, he was quite confident that he would be using all his banked up vacation days if the day came when he could finally break free from his metal body. It was useful but it was the worst thing ever when all he ever wanted to do was touch his girlfriend and actually feel it. 

But nothing turned him off quite like the topic of school so as soon as those thoughts came, they zipped right out. Lizzie’s insult/compliment didn’t even faze him. “I don’t like school,” he whined, nuzzling his nose against her head. Lizzie knew that. He only finished bare minimum because it would have basically been impossible to get a job otherwise. “Besides, why would I need more school? I’m happy where I am. It’s not like we can even take classes together because I’d be super behind you.”

“Your problem, Darlin’, is that ya look like you can kill someone, but you’re actually a cinnamon roll.” The blonde laughed, playfully sticking her tongue out at the man. “And it ain’t that hard to figue out - word of advice? Never play poker.” She continued to tease, deciding it would be a good idea to put a red handprint of paint on the man’s chest.

“Cass is Elsa, Darlin’ - I’m convinced her chaacter was based off her. Probably means there’s hope for her yet.” She wondered if Lincoln even got the reference or not, but it didn’t really matter much. “Here’s the thing, Link. Kids know I’m easy goin’ and whatever. So when I get pissed about somethin’, I get scary, ‘cause I’m no longer jokin’. Also helps that I got wicked cool eyes and the ability to growl. Also, when I catch 'em doin’ somethin’ wrong, I leap out as a growlin’ tiger.” Not always smart, considering some could react to being scared with their ability, but Max wasn’t too concerned.

“I look like a cinnamon roll, but could actually kill you. It works. Just pick 'em up by the back of their shirt and tell 'em you’re bringin’ them to Cass or me. The bug up her ass makes her scary. And I got that parental disappointment look down. Or, alternative? Hit somethin’!” She shook her head and made a green smiley face on the other side of his chest; probably not conducive to his intimidation; or lack thereof. “Seriously, speakin’ of Elsa? That whole bein’ afraid of what you can do only makes things worse nonsense ain’t so far from the truth. Hit a brick wall or make a hole in the ground. Be loud about it. You don’t show off your strength, so ya might as well be a teddy bear with an 'I love you’ sound thing in its’ tummy.” Shrugging with an amused smlie, she switched to blue and wrote an 'I’ then a heart, then the letter 'U’ on the man’s abdomen.

Lincoln was too busy listening to Max’s words to really notice that she was smearing paint all over his body. He couldn’t really feel it and he was quite confident Lizzie would be more than happy to wash it off afterwards. He was too caught up in the image of Cass pulling off a blue glittery dress and how disturbing it was. Still, Max had a point. Cass was basically Elsa, except she was a lot more frozen when she was serious and Cass never had any problems putting her powers to good use. In fact, Cass was a lot scarier than Elsa. 

“But I don’t like hitting stuff,” he matter-of-factly answered. “Don’t you think I give more Mal enough to do without purposely destroying things?” Their groundskeeper was overworked enough having to deal with mutant-related damage from mutants losing control. He didn’t want to add to the alcoholic’s list of things to do. 

“So... why are you playing with paint anyway?” He began to rub his chest, smearing away the words that she put on him. He still had his shift to finish and he didn’t want to walk around with... whatever message Max had painted on him.