Disclaimer: The loud house is owned by Chris Savino and Nickelodeon. I own none of the properties, characters, or ideas, described in this story. Any references to any other characters or media in this story are attributed to their creators and not owned by me. This story is solely for entertainment and should not be treated as canon.
As his mom drove him and his siblings, all Lincoln could think was that he had never thought he would be so glad to see his school.
The last week had been a nightmare. True to their words, the whole week of his suspension was spent doing chores ranging from sweeping the kitchen, to cleaning up after each of the family pets, including all of Lana's. He went to bed each day feeling completely drained. And the worst part was that he couldn't even talk to Clyde due to him being grounded too.
At least his sisters hadn't been too hard on him. In fact if not for them he wasn't sure he would have survived the week. They would do things like sneak him small snacks from the kitchen or help him out when the their parents weren't watching.
Pulling up to the school, Lincoln's mind once again turned to the L Force comic. He knew it had gotten him into a lot of trouble, but he still felt proud of it and was hoping to get it back. He knew his mom was going to walk him to his first class, so he knew if he wanted to go get it back know would be the best time.
After his sisters had gotten out of the car, Lincoln asked. "Mom, I know I'm still grounded, but can I please go and get my comic back from Principal Huggins? its...really important"
His mother looked at him for a moment before replying . "No, If its really that important then I'll go and get it and you can have it back once you've proven your mature enough."
Knowing that was probably the best he could do, he headed off for his first period class.
After watching her son go down to class, Rita Loud walked down to the principals office. A part of her wondered why she was even doing it. To be frank, she was still a bit disappointed with her son for getting into so much trouble over a comic book. Lincoln was usually one of her least troublesome children and, not counting the times he slept with a stuffed rabbit, one of the most mature. Him hurting some boy for such a petty reason just felt like such a major drop in maturity for him. She had almost said no when he asked to get back the comic he'd fought over, but when she saw the look in his eye she just couldn't.
Whatever this comic was, it had better be worth all the fuss it caused.
Upon arriving at the office, she spotted Harold and Howard McBride speaking in hushed voices. seeing her, they smiled
"I'm guessing Lincoln also gave you the wounded puppy dog look to come get his comic?" Asked Howard.
"How'd you guess?" She asked.
"Clyde hit us with it too. It was just too hard to say no to."
"Well not too hard for me." A furious expression rose on her face. "I just can't believe the boys got into so much trouble over a comic."
"Oh, we know. Trust me, Clyde was in for a heaping helping of trouble when he got home. He spent the whole week on kitty litter patrol and Cleopawtra ate something that didn't agree with her. He was scooping litter until he lost his sense of smell."
Rita cringed. "Eugh."
Howard laughed. "Yeah, well lets go and see whether this comic was worth it."
The three of them walked into the office and found Principal Huggins sitting at his desk, his face buried into a comic book.
"Principal Huggins?"
Looking up from his comic, Huggins's eyes widened. He looked to the comic, then to the three parents in his doorway. He fell backwards out of his chair before getting off the ground and hastily throwing some school papers on top of the comic and then leaning on his desk.
"Mrs Loud, Mr McBride, Mr McBride, what are you doing here?" He asked nervously.
The three of them smirked. "I'm guessing that's the comic you confiscated from our sons?"Asked Rita
Huggins grinned sheepishly, before digging the comic back out from under the mountain of paper on his deck."Yeah. sorry, but this comic your kids made is great! I haven't been able to put it down."
Rita scoffed. "It better be good." Then she realized what he'd said. "Wait, did you say comic our sons made?"
"That's right, it says it's a Clincoln McLoud comic, that is them right?"
The three parents looked at each other. They had no idea their kids had made their own comic book "Do you think we could see it?" Howard asked.
Huggins passed the comic to three of them. Their eyes growing wide as they began to read.
"Hey "Mary", you having a good first day back?"
Lincoln scowled. He had been dealing with comments like that all day. Apparently Chandler had still been bitter over getting beat and, in revenge, had spread his middle name throughout the school. Throughout the halls, he was barraged by taunts from other students ranging from them painting the name "Mary" onto his locker to a rousing chorus of "Mary had a little Lamb" in Homeroom. And of course there was just the slew of people who had simply started calling him by his middle name altogether. Overall he had to say his first day returning to school wasn't starting out as the sweet relief he had assumed it would be.
He was getting ready for Gym class in the locker room, talking to Clyde about their punishments (Clyde talking about how everything still smelled like kitty litter.), when someone had yelled out that nice little question that sent everyone in the room, minus him and Clyde, into an uproar of laughter. Shaking in anger, he was pulling on his uniform as quickly as possible, accidentally yanking his pants up to his chest in the process.
After managing to remove his pants from his torso, he saw his classmate Rusty approaching him.
"Hey Lincoln, I got something I got to ask you." He started.
Lincoln huffed. "Yeah Rusty, its true. My middle name is Marie. A girls name. You don't gotta rub it in!"
Rusty waved his hands defensively."No, no, no, that's not it. I was gonna ask about this." He pulled a comic from out of his backpack
Lincoln and Clyde gasped.
It was the L Force.
They stared at it in wonder, Lincoln barely managing to ask. "Where did you get that?"
"I found a massive stack of them just sitting in the copier in the library." Rusty pointed to the cover. "Clincoln Mcloud, that's you guys right?"
They were too stunned to speak. For the past week they had given up hope of ever seeing their creation again and now, as if by some miracle their friend had a copy.
Managing to shake themselves out of their stupor, they replied in unison. "Uh, yeah why?"
"Because everyone's was asking me about it all last week!"
The boys looked at him strangely. "Why would they be doing that?" asked Lincoln
"Well you see, after I found them in the library I realized that I didn't really need 100 copies of the same comic, so using my massive pythons-." He took a moment to kiss his non-existent biceps, not seeing Lincoln and Clyde roll their eyes. " -I took them all with me back to class and passed them out to everyone. They all loved it!"
For the first time that day, a smile broke on Lincoln's face."Really?"
"Yeah! After everyone read them they totally flipped! Seriously guys, it was like, Ace Savvy level good."
Hearing their comic be compared to their favorite hero made their spirits soar. They had written it for Lincoln's sisters, but they had never imagined other people might enjoy reading it.
But there was still something they didn't understand."Why did people wan't you to talk to us?" Asked Lincoln.
"Well, I was chatting up a few ladies-." Once again the duo rolled their eyes."-And it turned out that they were fans of the comic. By then I had figured out it was you guys, cuz you put your nickname on the cover. So, I let it slip that I know the guys who wrote it and they just started freaking out. Next thing I know, people were coming up to me in the hall, asking me when the next one would be ready. Went on for days. Finally, I just gave up and told people I'd ask you when you got back.
Clyde looked at him confusedly. "What do you mean,"next one"?"
"Well, you guys are gonna make more right?" Rusty asked.
Lincoln and Clyde looked at each other. They had never really thought about making anymore comics. The L Force had simply been a way to get the Loud sisters interested in them.
"We weren't really going to make any more." Said Lincoln slowly.
"Aw come on guys, you gotta make more. I can't let down my peeps. Besides your comic is amazing, you guys should totally make more of them."
Lincoln had to admit this wasn't something he had anticipated. While he had been hoping his sister's would like his comic, a part of him felt that he was only deluding himself and they would simple blow him off per usual. He hadn't anticipated so many people would like what he made and part of him felt glad that they enjoyed what he helped create.
But more than that it was what Rusty had said. They hadn't put an issue number to their comic, but from the way he made it sound people simply expected them to make another one.
He wasn't quite sure what how he felt about.
"We'll think about it, right Clyde?" asked Lincoln
"Yeah"
After Gym, Lincoln was surprised to find a number of people coming up to him and Clyde and talking to them about the comic. Just like Rusty had said, they all seemed to enjoy the comic and were begging to know when they would make another.
"It was seriously amazing."
"Best comic ever."
"Never read anything like it."
They also had the same reaction when they said they weren't sure they would make any more.
"Come on man you gotta keep going."
"Everyone wants to see more!"
"I don't think I can survive without more of this."
He was completely amazed by the amount of people who liked his comic. Oddly enough, whenever people asked if there would be more, he would slightly waver in his answer. He kept getting this odd feeling in his chest that he couldn't quite explain.
By the end of the day, Lincoln was sure he had talked to almost everyone in his grade and a good portion of the students in lower grade. All of them either commenting on his middle name or wanting to talk about the comic book. Every time he was asked for more, the feeling in his chest returned.
He thought about it the entire car ride home. Once he had entered the house he noticed the blank look on his mothers face.
"Mom, is something wrong?" He asked nervously
She looked at him and gestured up the steps. She followed him all the way up to his room. Upon opening his door he was startled.
His father sat on his bed, bearing the same stony emotionless look his mother had. His mother sat on the bed next to him.
"Lincoln, do you have something you'd like to tell us?" She asked sternly
He broke into a cold sweat. He racked his brain for any reason his parents might have to be mad at him, but beyond his suspension he couldn't find one. For the last week he had been on his best behavior.
"No." He answered.
"No? Not even about THIS?" Rita reached in her purse and brought out a familiar sight.
"Where did you get that?" Lincoln asked, once again gazing at a copy of his comic book.
"Your principal gave it to your mother after she went to go see him." Answered his father.
Then he remembered. In all the excitement he had completely forgotten he had asked his mother to retrieve his comic. This was the original copy Huggins had confiscated from him.
Suddenly he panicked. Where his parents mad about his comic? He knew he had written them into the comic (they were the parents of his super hero alter ego and his team of sisters.) but they didn't appear that much and he didn't think it was a very insulting portrayal.
His mother stood up." Lincoln. I. Can't. Believe...that you didn't tell us about this!" She said excitedly.
Lincoln had apparently not reached his maximum of daily misunderstandings. "Huh?"
Now both his parents where smiling widely. "You should have told us you'd done something like this." Said his father
"Really Lincoln, this is seriously impressive." His mother said, while flipping through the pages. "Even principal Huggins said it was good."
Hearing that his school principal actually liked his homemade comic book might have been the most insane thing he had heard that day.
His mother gave him a knowing smirk. "I'm guessing this was the "Extra credit project" you were working on with Clyde?"
Lincoln rubbed his head sheepishly. "yeah."
Frowning, his father asked. "But why didn't you tell us about this sport?"
That was a difficult answer. while he no longer felt he had to keep his comic a secret, he still didn't want to sound needy by giving them the real answer.
"I guess I was just nervous about showing it to people." He lied.
"Well you shouldn't be." His mother said. "its really great son. Are you going to make any more?"
That odd feeling filled him again. First his classmates, now his parents. Why did everyone seem to think he would just naturally keep writing comics?
So once again he replied. "I don't know yet."
"Well, I think you should. You really seem to have a talent for it." She said. Then her face turned stern. "I know this comic must've been important to you,but that's no excuse for fighting. Understand?"
He supposed that was fair. "Yes"
"Good. Than your groundings over. Be ready for dinner in 15."
With that his parents walked out, his mother leaving the comic on his bed.
Lincoln stood their collecting his thoughts. All he could think about was the response's his classmates and parents had given him. He had never had people react that way to something he had done before. Most of his accomplishments were met with, at best joy, and at worst scorn.
He finally understood what the feeling bubbling in his gut all day had been. Pride.
Lincoln had felt pride for a multitude of different reasons. Pride in helping out one of his sisters. Pride from formulating a good operation. Foolish pride from some perceived status such as riding in a limo or managing to win a video contest. Even pride in managing to snag a cereal box, but this was different.
This was pride in something he had created. Something he had made had manged to make people happy and fill them with joy. Even grumpy old principal Huggins had enjoyed something he had helped put into the world. People had seen him do well and now expected more good things from him. He had to admit it was an amazing feeling.
His eyes fell on the comic on the bed. All day people had told him that they had wanted to see more from him and ever since Rusty had brought up the idea, he had been rolling ideas around in his head.
After all, he did feel like he had another one in him...
And he did want to try and make the characters look better...
And there were definitely some ideas he had wanted to add, but couldn't due to space...
He was shaken out of his thoughts by the sound of radio static. From the walkie on his dresser came Clyde's voice. "Clyde calling Lincoln. Come in Lincoln."
He grabbed the device and held the talk button. "This is Lincoln, go ahead Clyde."
"Lincoln, you'll never guess what happened!
"Your parents found our comic and your not grounded anymore?" He asked Playfully.
"No my-Wait, Yeah how'd you know?"
Lincoln laughed. "My parents did the same thing. They were waiting in my room for me when I got home."
"Mine too. My dads told me how proud they were of their "Little Artist".
Lincoln smiled. That was exactly the response he expected from Clyde's dads.
Suddenly his thought's turned back to what he had been thinking about. "Hey Clyde, have you given any thought to what Rusty said?"
For a moment the radio was silent.
"Clyde?"
"...Yeah, I have."
"Really?"
"Well, yeah. I mean the artwork could use some improvement, the shading was wonky, the dimensions of the characters needed some work."
"Clyde that's great!"
"Huh?"
"I've been thinking of it ever since Rusty brought it up!"
"Me too! But I wasn't sure if you were cool with."
"I'm absolutely cool with it! I've got tons more ideas!"
"Me too!"
"Clyde meet up with me here after dinner. We've got some work to do!"
Well, it seems like things have started speeding up. I really wanted this chapter to underline Lincoln's response to people having read his comic. I felt like this would be a big moment because, as we see in the show, Lincoln doesn't really make a lot of big accomplishments like his sisters do so this is a big moment for him.
The next chapter is going to deal with the big changes Lincoln's new hobby will cause for the Loud House. Remember this is Lincoln origin story and much like superheroes families, his will be effected by the new lifestyle he has taken. He will become someone else. He will become something else. Till next time.
