#cause like??? heartbroken and damaged and shell shocked Lincoln is my fave to write??? but like it hurts more than anything else I have ever

[eaexu]

The Light // Lincoln x Olive

He stood out in the frigid Boston air, his suit all too formal for the dive he occupied. The night had been filled with his father. Micheal was in town, and it was time to make a show. The thoughts of the night played through his head in flashes. He didnt bring a date, wanting to subject absolutely no one he even remotely knew of to the man who called himself Lincolns father. There had been quiet symphonies played through billowing halls; and more money spent on alcohol than the average American household will see in a lifetime. He had partaken in its fancy, and hated himself for it. Being the picture perfect son for the mere ten minutes he was in the same room as his father was enough to make him want to run home and scour his skin, scrub at it til it bled, boil it until it blistered, get it off his body and forget the imprint it left on him. 

He couldnt do any of those things. So he opted for a silent exit, and a four mile walk. He just needed to walk, he didnt care that it was so cold his bones ached, he didnt care that the snow hit his face like tiny knives that cut at his cheeks. To Lincoln it was simultaneously forgettable, and the punishment he deserved. When his legs wouldnt carry him anymore he stopped in and grabbed a pint of beer, finishing it in two gulps, paying for everyones tabs silently, and making his way back into the cold. Leaving the bar somehow colder than when he had entered it. The flashes wouldnt stop, the maddeningly ignorant things said to him, the displays of wealth, the in your face displays of one-up-manship. He was tired, it hit him like a ton of bricks. He could have slumped against the side of the building and slept there through the night, not worrying if he froze, if it meant he could get some rest. 

No matter his state he knew he couldnt just pass out. He secretly would love the headlines, even if from beyond the grave. Lincoln Connors found frozen to death after having fallen asleep outside of local dive. The shame it would bring his father. He had to actively push the thought from his head. He pulled his pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket, bringing one of the filters to his lips. As he lit the cigarette, the nicotine mixed with the freezing air in his lungs and brought a fire through his body he was grateful for. Thats when he heard her speak up, confidently, no hesitation. “dont you think youre going to get away with paying my tab” she said as she approached. “whats your deal?” she asked motioning for the lighter in his hand as she brought the cigarette to her black painted lips. Her eyes narrowed at him and it intrigued him, he had never had this response to paying off a tab. He couldnt even think about it, as she motioned for his lighter he readily handed it over to her. Not opting to light her cigarette for her, something menacing about her told him that to do so would not be in his best interest. 

He coughed just a little bit, more to clear his throat than anything else. Lincolns blue eyes searched her face, trying to get any sense of familiarity between the two. The exhaustion had clouded his brain so completely that for a moment he thought he knew her, that she had name like Daniel, or Isaac, some bible name, that she had been intertwined with his lover. The idea of it as his wits came back about him brought a cracked smile to his lips. “I dont have a deal” he stated with as genuine a look as he could muster. “just wanted to” he shrugged. He took another drag from his cigarette and tried to place her once more. He could have sworn he had pulled one of her curly black strands of hair from Elias’ silk pillow cases. His brain was still betraying him, his lover.. with a woman? He was surely on the brink of total aneurysm. Lincoln smiled once more, and resigned to asking the stranger her name. “Do I know you?” he asked with a quirked brow, blowing rings of smoke from his lips.