A/N: Happy May 2nd everyone. It's the second anniversary of the airing of the Loud House, a show about a family that touched all of our hearts. So, what better way for me to honor this occasion than with an AU where none of the Loud kids are related? XD
Please enjoy.
Lincoln knew he shouldn't have been angry with his parents. Lincoln knew that they had no choice in the matter, that jobs were hard to come by and that a career opportunity in the city was the best way they could provide for him and his infant sister, Lily. Lincoln knew that, if he were more mature, he would have been upstairs with his parents, helping them unpack everything.
But Lincoln didn't care.
The young boy sat on the ground, leaning on the wall of the building, as he looked at a small picture he had. It was a picture of him and his friends at an arcade; Gus's Game and Grub, one of the many things he would miss from Royal Woods. He smiled at the cheery faces of his friends; Clyde standing next to him, trying (and failing) to give him bunny ears, Paige flashing the camera a big thumbs up, and Ronnie-Anne slamming a box of pizza into his face, while hers was alit with mischievous glee. He then turned the photo over to the other side.
Good luck in the city.
Five words. It should have taken a second or two to read them, but Lincoln had been reading and rereading those words for an hour, and when he didn't read them, the buzzed around in his head, constantly repeating themselves.
Good luck in the city.
The white-haired boy sighed. Despite his parents reassurances, he was sure that he would never find friends as great as those three. In fact, he wasn't even sure he wanted new friends. Why should he? Clyde… Paige… Ronnie-Anne… Girl Jordan… even Chandler on rare occasions… those were his friends, now and forever. Otherwise, what was the point of that BFF stuff? To sell dumb bracelets and necklaces to naïve teenagers?
But it didn't matter now; all he could do was wait until he was old enough to hitchhike safely, then he could take a ride and return to Royal Woods…
"What are you looking at?"
"GAAAAH," screamed Lincoln, surprised by the sudden monotone voice in his ear. After overcoming his initial shock, he looked up to see a young girl. She couldn't have been older than ten, Lincoln thought to himself after quickly scanning her over. Yet, despite that, she looked very inappropriate for her age. Black nail polish, depressing goth clothes, a skull pendant… what kind of parents would let her do this to herself?
"You shouldn't sneak up on people like that, you know," snapped Lincoln angrily at the girl.
The Goth girl shrugged. "It's just how we of the Lilitu breed wander through the mortal plane."
"L… Lilitu breed?"
"I'm a vampire."
"Oh, I see," said Lincoln as he slowly scooched away from the goth. Bad enough that she looked crazy, but she also acting like it. No one from Royal Woods would ever claim to be a vampire. Well, except for that weird Haiku kid, but Lincoln never really talked to her…
Unfortunately for Lincoln, the "vampire" did not take note of his discomfort and attempts to back away, as she got down on the ground and sat next to him. "You didn't answer my original question, though," she continued in her deadpan tone, "What are you looking at?"
Lincoln sighed. It appears he was going to be stuck with her for a while. "It's… it's nothing, really. Just a… picture of my friends from back home."
Lucy gasped. "So you're the new kid."
"Y…yeah. Why is that surprising?"
"Because we, well, every other kid in this apartment is a girl. You're the first boy we've had in a while."
"Great," muttered Lincoln sarcastically, "Not only am I never going to see my friends again, but now I'm stuck in a bad harem light novel…"
"Just a quick question," continued the goth, not noting the sardonic comment that Lincoln had made, "What's your name?"
"Well, my name is Lincoln, though some just call me Linc."
"Sigh… Of course. Everyone's name begins with 'L' around here," Lucy said, looking wistful, "And here I thought we would finally get some variety."
"Sorry to disappoint."
"Apology accepted," said the goth, again not noting the sarcasm, "It's probably for the better; variety is the spice of life, and spices are always used to chase away vampires and ghosts."
"Then I wish I had some right now," Lincoln said with a bit of a smile, so she would know that he was only joking. He didn't know why, but he felt the young girl was starting to… warm onto him. "So, you asked me my name, I guess it's only fair for me to ask: What's your name?"
Lucy gave a small flicker of a smile back at him. "The name that I was given by my parents or the name that I was given by the great and mighty Outer Gods, to whom only the foolish pray?"
"Um… the name your parents gave."
"My name is Lucy. I won't tell you my last name, though, because then you could bind me with a dark ritual," said the goth girl. If there was one thing Lincoln really took notice of, it was the sheer conviction Lucy had of her supernatural nature. It was… kind of dumb, but also kind of endearing. It reminded Lincoln of his and Clyde's devotion to Ace Savvy and One-Eyed Jack.
In a way, it was exactly the same thing.
"You know, I'm really glad someone like you is here," said Lucy suddenly.
Lincoln narrowed his eyes a bit at her. "What do you mean?"
Lucy gave another small smile before flicking his hair. "Before, I was the odd one out. All the other girls had brown and blonde hair, so they always asked me if they could dye my hair so it looks like the rest of them. I'd always so no, but…" she trailed off before coming back to her point, "But now, they have a 10 year boy with the white hair of a sage to focus on. Prepare to be assaulted with questions about it."
"Don't worry about that. I'll just answer the same way each time: an accident involving a toy rabbit, a watermelon, half a tube of toothpaste, and a lack of concern for chemical safety," Lincoln said half-jokingly, half-seriously, "but I'm not actually 10. I'm 11."
"Not much of a difference," Lucy noted as she rubbed her chin, "Although that does mean your closer to Lynn in age than me."
"Lynn?" Lincoln repeated, "There's a girl that shares her name with my dad?"
Lucy nodded. "She's my best friend, too, even though we have very different interests. You should talk to her once she gets back from her swimming tryouts. You two might become friends."
"Well… maybe not now. Or too soon, really," said Lincoln uncomfortably, as he rubbed the back of his neck. His encounter with Lucy was somewhat pleasant, but it still caused by Lucy approaching him.
Lincoln did not have a good history with approaching girls; The first time, he had scared off Christina by being too bold, and deciding it was a good idea to, within the first few sentences of their conversation, rip off his shirt and show her his single chest hair. The second time was with Ronnie-Anne, as one day while she was chasing him down on the field, he accidently turned around and kissed her. She socked him in the eye, but they became closer after she mistook it for an on-purpose kiss (not that Lincoln was going to correct her). The third time with Paige was just luck, as he happened to stand next to her in line for Dance Dance Revolution, and they had a blast playing together. And the last time, he had tried to impress a new girl with a leather jacket and a greaser hairstyle, but just made an awkward display of himself.
A Casanova he was not.
But when he noticed the disappointed look on Lucy's face, he quickly attempted to reassure her, "No, no, wait, what I meant was that… I'm busy… still moving in. But if your friend Lynn is as laid-back and thoughtful as you are, then I should have a good time talking to her."
Lucy flashed the boy a very wide grin, which was unusual for the stoic nature Lincoln had gotten used to about her. "Oh, you poor, sweet boy…"
Well, hope you enjoyed. And, please, feel free to make any requests or suggestions for future plots. It can be absolutely anything at all (I feel like I'm going to end up raising the rating because of my rash words).
Happy Two Year Anniversary, everyone.