It was around that moment that the other children in the house had come to the doorway.
"Wait a minute...you lied to us?" Lori asked him, shocked.
"Well, uh, technically...yeah, I did," he sighed. "I'll be on my way, I guess..."
But as he turned to walk away, another voice chimed in.
"Wait, dude! Stay with us!"
"What?!"
"Luna, what are you-"
"Think about it, guys! He doesn't have any place to go! We can't just let him stay out here!"
"Actually, we could," Lucy schimed in, scaring everyone. "There's a lot of places for homeless people to go."
"Really?" Colin asked. "Where?"
"Well, there's the funeral home. And the mourge. And the-"
"Any other solutions?!" He desperately asked.
10 Minutes Later...
Soon, the entire Loud family was on the front lawn, debating on whether to keep Colin or not. It seemed that everyone had taken sides on the issue.
"I don't want him to stay!" Lola cried out. "He'll get his hobo germs on all the furniture!"
"Dude, that's sick!" Lana said. "Let's keep him!"
"No! Even if we wanted to, we already have 11 kids here already!" Said Lori. "There just isn't enough room in our house!"
"Of course there is!" Leni said. "There's always room in our house! We just have to get him a room, though," she said as the whole group groaned.
By this point, Colin had been sitting on the front steps,patiently waiting for them to settle the argument. Eventually, though, he realized that the kids weren't going to stop anytime soon. He had to chime in.
He stood up, drew his breath, and interrupted the children.
"ALRIGHT! LISTEN UP!"
All the sisters and Lincoln turned their heads to listen to Colin.
"Ok, first off, I dont know any of you! Second off, why do you care so much about me? And third, do you people have any parents?!"
"Parents? Yeah, they're right behind you," said an unfamiliar voice.
Colin swung on his heel and found himself standing face to face with two middle aged people. They both stood about the same height, with the man having a pointed nose and brown hair. The lady had a large, blond hairstyle. But the one thing he noticed right off was that they did not look impressed. At all.
"Who are you and what are you doing on our front porch?" The mother said with a hint of anger in her voice.
All at once, the family shouted out answers, but the dad silenced them.
"Kids! Unless he's deaf, let him talk! Now, what's your name, son?"
That was the first time anyone had called Colin "son." He felt compelled to answer.
"Uh, well, my name is Colin Gomez. I-"
"Where's your house?"
"I, uh, don't really, exactly, well..."
"Well, WHAT?"
"I don't, uh, HAVE one. I'm homeless."
The two were silent for a minute, before the lady spoke up.
"Well, that's just as we thought. I think we should introduce ourselves. I'm Rita, and this is my husband, Lynn. We were listening to your argument out here, and we have to say, we're impressed at you."
"What? Why? Wait...where were you when this was all happening?"
"We were in our room when we heard your voice. We've been standing here for about 2 minutes."
"Oh," he said sheepishly.
"Anyways, we kind of figured you weren't a fake. For one, you had me convinced that the neighbors had moved. And second, you didn't ask any of my children for money, like most hobos around here do."
"No sir, I would never do that. I don't beg for anyone's money."
While Colin and his family weren't exactly living the high life, they weren't being forced to beg for scraps. For that alone, he was thankful.
"A respectable young man. I like that. Now, here's what we can do to help you."
"What? Oh, no, sir, I-"
"Seeing as we have no real space in our house," he continued on, not even taking the boys denial. "We can't offer you a room or anything. BUT, we can give you food, clothes, whatever you..."
"Wait! We have the basement, don't we?" Said the younger Lynn from the back of the crowd.
"Yeah, he can stay in the basement! I mean, he does look like he has a DARK personality! ha ha ha, get it?" Luan laughed as the rest of the family and Colin groaned.
"Well, I'm not opposed to the idea, are you, Rita?" asked Lynn Sr.
"Well, the basement does have a lot of room...and we DO have that old air mattress Aunt Ruth gave me… I don't see a problem with his staying for a few days."
"Well, then, it's settled! Providing, of course, that "Colin" here wants to stay."
Colin immediately voiced his dissatisfaction. Not that he didn't WANT a bed to sleep in, but this whole thing made him feel...AWKWARD.
"Oh, no, sir, I couldn't take up all you guy's space..." Colin tried to say, but he was interrupted by a chorus of boos from the kids.
"NO! DON'T LEAVE! I mean, what if other zombies invaded us?!"
"Dude, if you stay with us, the party will be NONSTOP! WE'LL PARTY LIKE IT'S 1999, BRO!"
"Weeell, he COULD stay. I mean, he WOULD be helping me get ready for my beauty pageants and all..."
"HA! you think he'd help YOU, sis? He'd obviously help me make mud pies in the yard!"
"I didn't finish my poem yet. He HAS been great inspiration, though..."
As the sisters said of all the uses of Colin, from a comedic assistant for Luan to a new "test subject" for Lisa, The frown on his face slowly grew into a smile. He had never known he could be this useful! Not even to Mama!
Mama.
The realization hit Colin like a truck. He couldn't stay. He had a family to go back to and help provide for. He couldn't let Mama and Chica starve!
But at the same time, the portal was gone. He had no way of getting back to San Diego. He was, to say the least, "Trapped."
Pretty soon, he held up his hand and made his final decision.
"Now, I can't stay here forever..." he said as the families smiles began to turn upside down.
"Buuut, seeing that I can't go home anytime soon, I might as well stay a day or two..."
"HOORAY!" cheered the Loud Kids as they brought Colin in for a hug.
Colin then turned to face the Loud parents.
"Sir, ma'am, If there is anything I can do to repay you, just let me know. I'll gladly do anything you-"
"Im gonna have to stop you there, Colin. You're a guest. Guests don't do work in our house. Stay as long as you want, and for Pete sakes, call us Rita and Lynn! now, I think there's an air mattress somewhere in the basement for you…"
5 Minutes Later...
After staying out to converse with the adults, Colin decided to go down and check out his new digs. But before he could make it up the stairs, he was stopped by Lincoln again.
"You're not from here, are you?"
"Lincoln, I already told you..."
"I know, I know! I mean not from HERE. As in, this world."
There was no answer from Colin, who instead stared at Lincoln like he had seen a ghost.
"G-go inside. We need to talk."
Inside...
Colin sat facing Lincoln. After a while, he managed to murmer out a sentence.
"...How did you know?"
"Well, I was just waking up this morning. I was reading my Ace Savvy comic when I heard something outside, like a thud. I looked out my window, and I could see this, like, "Portal" thing close up."
"Did you see me at all? Did you look on the road?"
"No! I thought I was just dreaming! But seeing that you're here right now, I'll take it I didn't imagine ANY of that."
Colin got up and began to pace around the coffee table.
"Lincoln, what am I gonna do? I have a mother and sister to help provide for in MY world. They need me! Without me, they'll lose our house! Our store! I need to get home, but how?"
"Colin, I really wish I could help you, but that's just it - I have no idea how."
"But don't you know anyone that MIGHT know?! There has to be a genius or something!"
"Hmm... Colin, you just gave me an idea!" He shouted. "Did you know that one of the world's smartest people is just under your nose?"
"What?" He asked, confused.
"I mean my sister, Lisa. She knows science! And she might be able to give you some help!"
"Lisa?" Colin asked, trying hard to remember all of the girls names.
"Lisa. The short one, green sweater, glasses..."
"Oh yeah!" He said, remembering the little kid who ran upstairs with the chemicals. But, that didnt make any sense. He leaned over to Lincoln.
"How old is she exactly, Chico?"
"Four," Lincoln replied. "But she's already graduated from college, and has a PhD, AND a honorary doctorate from Harvard.
"Wow, thats loco," he said, holding his head. There was so much that had happened and no time to process it.
He suddenly realized he forgot to say thanks to anybody. He turned back to his newest friend and began to say his gratitude.
"Look, I gotta say thank you, Lincoln. For everything that's happened so far. Without you calling me out and having me say I was homeless, I would've been halfway gone by now. So, thanks for-"
"Don't thank me just yet, Colin. You don't know what it's like to live in a house this big, with this many sisters."
With that remark, Colin smirked and jumped up from his seat.
"Believe me, I'll learn eventually, Chico. I have to learn how to survive! I'm from the slums! It's what we do!"
And with that, Colin Gomez went downstairs to the basement, filled up an old air mattress, found himself an old pillow, and went to bed. Little did he know, or little did ANYONE know, for that matter, that this was the start of one of the most interesting years to ever take place in Royal Woods, Michigan. And for the whole time he was here, he vowed, he would have one goal in his mind at all times:
"Mama, Chica, I'll find a way home to you. I promise," he whispered under his breath. He turned off the lights, said a silent prayer like his grandma had taught him, and went to sleep.
And thus began the start of Colin Gomez' temporary new life in the Loud House.
I've been meaning to ask this for quite a while now, but would anyone be interested in doing a cover image for this story? I feel that it would be quite nice to be able to see a drawing of my OC, because I have NO drawing skill whatsoever. PM me if interested! Also, hit that Follow and Favorite button! It means a lot!
