A/N: Naturally, I had to drop everything else I was doing and get this fanfiction out ASAP. There's a reason for that, and I'll be sure to give anyone brownie points if they're able to figure it out before the A/N at the end of this fic.

By a quarter past ten, Lincoln had faith in one, comforting thought; as far as he could tell, the Loud house was as still as the inky black of the evening, star-filled sky.

Well, almost still. Besides himself, there was probably one exception to Lincoln's expectations and with luck, she'd also defy his expectations in a different way…

…but he knew he was pushing his luck.

Even now, nearly an hour after Lincoln had thought about his proposal, he still couldn't help but feel a sense of shame from what he was thinking about discussing with Lisa. His idea didn't befit the ideal older brother, one who was supposed to protect the younger siblings selflessly without complaint. He cherished his position deeply and just thinking about his proposition for too long made him question just how good of an older brother he truly was.

And that was just about how he felt. Considering Lisa made the situation even more daunting for him.

Would Lisa go through with it? Would she be receptive to the idea? Could he trust her to turn down the offer gently should she choose to reject it? Those concerns buzzed around in Lincoln's head like a swarm of gnats, refusing to disperse and leave him be unless he got out of his bed and made a move to act.

And so, he decided to do just that. If Lisa was going to tell him "no", probably in that brutally scathing way that only Lisa could manage, then he'd take his lumps to get it over with.

Upon slowly and quietly slithering out of his room, making sure to close his squeaky door as cautiously as possible, Lincoln was grateful for the darkness that covered the hallway, meaning that he ran little risk in being spotted. He was even more grateful to realize that a faint ray of light sliced through the crack of their slightly ajar door.

'Good,' Lincoln thought. 'That means she's probably awake.'

With that, he tiptoed a few brave steps towards the door, opened it by a few more inches, and slipped through the crack to enter, not giving any mind to his new, immediate surroundings.

As he turned around to close the door as far as it had been before, a frightening realization made him freeze in place, petrifying his will to do anything but stand in place like a statue.

He had just entered Lisa's room without her permission. After worrying so much about hoping to be on Lisa's good side in all of this, he had gone and done something that was sure to earn him her ire and rightfully so. Forget turning down his idea; he'd be lucky if Lisa didn't decide to test some of her latest dangerous experiments on him out of spite instead of curiosity.

Lincoln gulped, wishing that his thumping heart would keep it down, lest Lisa could possibly hear it from all the way ove-

"Good evening, Lincoln."

Lincoln nearly yelped in surprise, but quickly clamped both hands over his mouth before it could even be possible. As seconds passed, he realized that not only was he not being targeted by a myriad of rays and androids, but that Lisa's address sounded…surprisingly cordial.

He peeked over his shoulder to find Lisa, hunching over her workbench and fiddling about with…something. Was she too engrossed in her work to be cross with him or did she simply not care about his abrupt entry? Either way, Lincoln wasn't about to let this opportunity of self-preservation go to waste.

Turning around completely, he smiled sheepishly and waved, not thinking about the fact that Lisa couldn't see him right now.

"So, uh, what're you up to?" Lincoln asked, hoping to sound casual.

"I thought I'd commit to some aimless tinkering of my neural oscillation monitor before my slumber," Lisa said, continuing with her work.

Lincoln quirked an eyebrow. "You're…what?"

"My brainwave helmet."

"Ah."

The momentum of the exchange petered off after that, leaving Lincoln to ponder what his next move should be. He knew he'd have to tell her, but the question now was figuring out which way he'd tell her.

'Maybe I can start off with some small talk,' Lincoln thought as he rubbed his chin, 'Or maybe I can compliment her on her…hair? Nah, Lisa doesn't really get flattered like that. Ah, but maybe if I tell her that one of her inventions is cool, that might do that trick. Let's see, what about…the one that made Luna's foot grow an extra two feet in length? Or maybe the one that made Cliff shed all his fur? Or perhaps, I can-'

"I sense there's a purpose behind this unexpected visit?"

This time, Lincoln did yelp as Lisa interrupted his thoughts. And unlike last time, she was giving him her undivided attention.

Lincoln gulped. 'Okay then, looks like there's no more stalling. I sure hope this works.'

"Uh, yeah," Lincoln said, his tone choked by an almost cautious timbre. "Actually, there is."

"Well then, please make haste," Lisa said. "The neural oscillation monitor, for reasons that escape me, is still unable to properly exhibit alpha waves, and although I'd like to retire to bed soon, I'd like to search for the root of the problem without further interruption."

Lincoln swallowed down the anxiety that was threatening to seep through his body like a parasitic disease. "So…you know Bun-Bun, right?"

Lincoln cringed and nearly facepalmed at the lame attempt at kickstarting the conversation. Thankfully, Lisa didn't appear to be judgmental enough to call him out for implying that it was actually possible that she would have no idea who Bun-Bun was.

"Your stuffed toy? Yes, I'm fairly acquainted with your trinket. Why do you ask?"

"I…I, uh, w-well…um…"

Lisa gave her brother a pointed look. "Out with it, Lincoln."

Lincoln nodded and rubbed at his left arm. "He's, um, in the wash right now, and I usually like to sleep with him. And well, since I'm not gonna sleep with him tonight, I was wondering…" He could feel his cheeks heating up as he looked away from Lisa's expectant gaze. "Y'know, if I could sleep with…you tonight."

Lincoln didn't know what to think except for the worst. He couldn't judge Lisa's immediate response to his proposal now that he was peering up at the ceiling, but he didn't have faith in a favorable outcome. He took a deep breath and looked back over at Lisa, whose expression had shifted into a new direction; instead of a stoic look, a veil of confusion was plastered over her.

"So, you desire my company as a substitute for Bun-Bun's?" Lisa asked.

Lincoln could only manage a quick, little nod as a reply.

"Why?"

Lincoln resumed his arm rubbing from earlier, feeling himself get tense again. But this time, he willed himself to keep his eyes on Lisa. So far, there were no bumps in the road, and he felt at least a little bit of comfort from that fact.

"Remember that one time when I let you sleep in my bed after you had that nightmare? Well, I was glad that I was able to make you comfortable, but the truth is, you made me all warm and cozy too. The truth is, I liked sharing a bed with you, Lisa."

Lincoln waited as Lisa mulled over his words in her head. Finally, after a few seconds, Lisa asked, "That's all you require of me?"

"Yeah," Lincoln said.

Lisa hopped off her stool and strolled over to Lincoln until he found himself looking directly down at her.

"Then why did you approach me with such trepidation?" Lisa asked. "The manner in which you looked at me throughout the first half of your explanation; it almost was as if you were bearing witness to a horrific nuclear disaster that spawned into a sentient creature, capable of destruction and malice beyond human comprehension."

Lincoln felt another blush surging. "It's just that…I was afraid you'd turn it down. Or heck, maybe you'd even laugh at me for even suggesting it. I mean, imagine that; the big brother needing the little sister to sleep easier. Kinda pathetic, huh?"

He punctuated the remark with a light, self-deprecating chuckle…

…which was joined in by one from Lisa's, though hers was heartier than his. The sound made Lincoln reel back, astonished by her response. He never accounted for laughter of this kind—light and airy instead of thick with malice or condescension. The smile she adorned now disclosed nothing more than well-meaning tenderness, which immediately put the boy at ease.

"It appears as though my past dilemma was quite homogenous to that of your own," Lisa said after finishing her little laugh.

"What'd you mean by that?" Lincoln asked.

"Like you, I, too, was ashamed to admit my anxieties to you. I thought it beneath me, pitiful even, to seek comfort for something as trivial as a nightmare—a sensation that had absolutely no hopes of ever harming me." She moved forward a few inches more to wrap one of Lincoln's leg in a hug. "But you were there to not only invite me to bask in the solace of your company but of your words of wisdom as well. You reminded me that looking out for the well-being of your younger siblings was the duty of an older brother, did you not?"

Lincoln smiled and reached down to give Lisa's head a little pat. "I remember every word."

"Now then, do you believe that your older sisters are exempt from your protection and love?"

At once, Lincoln frowned at the silly notion of exclusion and shook his head. "Of course not," he said. "That'd be ridiculous."

"So then, wouldn't it also be ridiculous to assume that my older siblings, namely my brother, should be excluded from my benevolence simply because of their age?"

Before Lincoln could answer, the dawning realization of Lisa's point made him take pause and burst out in a chuckling fit, which Lisa joined in on. Suddenly, looking back on his thought processes, it was dumb to give himself the title of some gallant "brother in shining armor", one who could never seek comfort in his younger siblings because it "wasn't proper".

Family was family, no matter how big or small they were, and they were the ones that Lincoln could always trust to make him feel better. His younger sisters had given him a sense of belonging with their acts of compassion and understanding over the years, and expecting things to be different now was too laughable for Lincoln to feel shame from.

Maybe, in a sense, this was a "reversal of roles"—the younger sibling comforting the older sibling—but his family was anything but conventional, and Lincoln wouldn't trade off that dynamic, not even for the world itself.

At last, after nearly a full minute, the laughter died down. Lincoln snuck a quick glance at Lily's crib and breathed a sigh of relief when he discovered that they hadn't woken her up.

"Yeah," Lincoln said after looking back down at Lisa. "That would be kinda silly. Good thing I wasn't thinking like that, right?"

Lisa rolled her eyes and snickered. "Of course, dear brother, of course." She moved past him to shut the door. "I suppose I can resume my tinkering tomorrow," Lisa said. "I have a much more pressing matter to attend to, anyway."

Then, she flicked off the lights and crawled into her bed. She motioned for Lincoln to join her, which Lincoln did once Lisa shuffled over to give him some room.

"Hey, Lisa?" Lincoln whispered as Lisa removed her glasses to place them on her nightstand.

"Yes, Lincoln?" Lisa replied just as quietly once she returned to her spot.

Lincoln, full of warmth, leaned over and pecked Lisa on the forehead. "Thank you."

Lisa smiled back at him and returned the favor with a kiss on the cheek. "You're welcome, Lincoln."

Lincoln sighed and let his head fall on his half of the pillow. Leave it to Lisa, the supposed "unfeeling" sister, to make him feel more cozy and snug than he had felt in a while.

"And it's alright if you tell my other sisters about this," Lincoln said, turning over so he could look at Lisa in the eye. "I don't care if I get a little teasing for it. You're way too cuddly to not be worth it."

Lisa smirked. "Even cuddlier than Bun-Bun?"

"Way cuddlier," Lincoln replied as he drew Lisa closer, which the genius allowed. "And the best part is, you don't have an itchy tag attached to you."

A/N: So, have you figured it out yet? If not, then here's the reason.

On September 26, 2016, one year ago today, I submitted my first fanfiction. As you've probably guessed by this point, it was the story called "In Your Dreams". Like many of you, I love The Loud House, but this cartoon means a lot more to me than simply some run-of-the-mill cartoon that's clearly not intended for my age audience. This show compelled me to be more than just a spectator, someone who watched at the sidelines and simply read fanfictions. No, I was compelled to make some of my own because of how much more I wanted from the show; I couldn't just wait for new episodes while twiddling my thumbs without doing something about all the wild imaginations and fantasies I had for "What if's" and other potential story ideas.

So, ever since that day, I've been creating stories for this show, and I've had few regrets ever since doing so. I really didn't have a goal or a purpose beyond just writing whatever idea popped into my head; I wasn't and still don't worry about being one of "the greats" or whatever. But even so, I'm truly blessed and grateful to have gotten as many views, follows, favs, recommendations, favorable reviews that I've received over the year.

Needless to say, I still have a lot of work cut out for me; I'm nowhere close to being a great writer yet. But the best part is that now, along with The Loud House itself, I have a lot of readers, friends, and inspirations that compel me to keep moving forward and improving my writing and storytelling. I'm nowhere close to being done yet, and I hope that none of you are done with supporting my work, either.

Thank you all so much for making this one-year journey worth every sleepless night, and by the grace of God, there will be plenty more to come as I continue to try my best at making worthwhile stories for this wonderful show and equally wonderful fanbase.