Back with part 2 to the Lincoln Loud arc! I thought I'd be done earlier but I got a little carried away and things got in the way (honestly at this point I should just stop saying this b/c I'd be saying it every time, but I've done it so many times now that it's weird not to). In any case, I always appreciate reviews, criticism, ideas, etc. and please enjoy!

"On a regular Sunday morning, there's nothing like an exciting gaming session destroying zombies and kicking butt!" Lincoln triumphantly said to himself.

"Adorbs! Now to get the right colors…"

"That is to say, I'd be having an awesome time right now if I didn't have to dress up like, uh, this," Lincoln sighed dejectedly.

Lincoln's lament fell on deaf ears as he currently modeled for Leni's fashion design in her room. Instead of his usual orange polo shirt and jeans, he wore a yellow summer dress that fit his waist like a glove, opening up like sunflower petals that whirled with the wind and finished off in a black stripe that accentuated his femininity. All in all, Lincoln looked like someone had put a white dandelion over a sunflower.

"Couldn't you do this yourself Leni?" Lincoln rolled his eyes as he asked his older sister.

"But then who would dress me up?" Leni responded.

"Never mind…" Lincoln sighed.

She reached for a black sun hat next to her, walked up to Lincoln and dropped the hat on his head. The hat floated down and slightly drooped on the edges as it landed snugly on Lincoln's head without a hitch.

"Cute! You look like one of those flying striped thingies!" Leni chirped.

"You mean bees?"

Leni shook her head. "That's a word, not a letter."

Just then, Lori opened the door to the room while swiping away at her phone in the other hand. Right as she walked into the room, she saw Lincoln dressed up in the middle while Leni looked and giggled with a pile of clothes on her bed.

"Aahhh Lincoln what a cutie!" Lori squealed.

Before Lincoln could react, Lori held her phone up and snapped a picture. Lincoln covered himself up as best he could, but to no avail.

"I am literally sending this to Bobby right now!"

"Lori, please don't-"

"And done!" Lori grinned.

"…send that," Lincoln finished.

He glared at Lori as he took the sun hat on his head and threw it like a frisbee at Leni.

"Relax Lincoln, Bobby definitely wouldn't make fun of you and no one else ever has to see it! I'll even ask him to not send it to anyone else right now." Lori started tapping away on her phone.

Almost as if on cue, Lincoln's phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out to check it and was greeted with a text from Ronnie Anne.

"Hey Lame-O, nice dress you got there," Lincoln read out loud. "Seems fitting for someone like you. Wink."

Lincoln squeezed his phone tightly, and it almost threatened to crack under his grip. He pushed past Lori and stormed out the door into the hallway.

Lori hurried out her room to follow Lincoln. Out in the hall, Lori saw Luan, who held a camera near her face ready to take a picture.

"Why are you wearing that Linc? There are so many questions I need you to address!" Luan laughed to herself.

Lori smacked the camera out of Luan's hand as she passed her. "Not now Luan!" She yelled after her.

Lincoln was just in front of his room when Lori caught up to him. She grabbed his shoulder, causing Lincoln to turn around and face his older sister.

"Lincoln I'm sorry! I literally should have asked you before I took the pic and sent it to Bobby. I texted both Bobby and Ronnie Anne saying not to send them to anyone else. See?"

Lori held her phone screen in front of Lincoln. Indeed, the screen did show a group message between Lori and the Santiagos, with Lori's text saying what she had claimed to say.

"That doesn't matter!" Lincoln retorted. "You did what you did, and if you didn't do damage control just a little bit faster, who knows where this picture could have gone? What if I didn't even want Bobby or Ronnie Anne to see it!?"

Before Lori could respond, Lincoln turned, entered his room, and slammed the door.

Inside the converted closet, Lincoln threw off the sundress that Leni put on him. "I didn't even really want to dress up for Leni, but I decide to give my siblings a little bit of my own time, and I get slapped in the face with embarrassing photos sent to other people!" He ranted to himself as he pulled on his jeans.

"I wish I could just pretend this never happened! If I had just any ounce of courage in me at all to just say 'no" to Leni, then I wouldn't be in this situation in the first place!" Lincoln threw his orange polo shirt on himself as he continued ranting.

Lincoln plopped himself down on his bed with arms and legs sprawled out. His legs and arms twitched and shifted ever so slightly as he lay still on the bed. He stared at the ceiling and observed the absolutely featureless monotony of the ceiling, being nothing but a single painted color and a light that perpetually illuminated the room and glared at his face. He covered his eyes with his right hand and sighed over what had just occurred.

Eventually, Lincoln hoisted himself up from the bed and stretched. He then looked around the desk for his gaming goggles, soon finding them shoved in a corner.

"Maybe a gaming session will cheer me up," Lincoln said to himself. He snapped the goggles onto his face and powered them on. The starting menu for Zombie Busters loaded up, with a giant green start button floating in the middle of the hallway.

With the gaming goggles still on his face, he turned his head towards the left where Lisa and Lily's room would be. He took the goggles off, revealing a longing gaze at something he felt he was missing.

Lincoln lightly rested his goggles on the desk next to him and slipped out the door. Out in the hall, he immediately turned left and reached for the doorknob. However, on the doorknob, there was a sticky note pasted onto it. He picked it to read it.

"To Lincoln: I've observed your temptation for the past day now, and I must implore you to reconsider your actions," Lincoln read out loud.

He shrugged and stuffed the sticky note in his pocket. He slowly turned the doorknob left until it stopped turning, then lightly pushed it open ajar, never letting go of the knob.

Lincoln poked his head in through the crack and surveyed the room. Not a single child was seen anywhere in sight, whether it be the prodigious extraordinaire that was his sister, or the even younger sister that would soon grow to be something beyond a blank slate.

With that, Lincoln slipped the rest of his body through the crack and slowly shut the door, careful not to make a sound. A click was heard, and Lincoln exhaled a sigh of relief.

There it was, right ahead of Lincoln. Conveniently resting on top of Lisa's desk was the Virtual Reality Gaming Device.

Like a child drawn to candy, Lincoln's eyes were magnetized onto the gray cube ahead of him. He took another cautionary look to his right and left before he started tiptoeing towards the device.

Soon right in front of the device, Lincoln could swear he was hearing the palpitation of his heart. On top of the device was a yellow sticky note with a bunch of scrawls written over it. Lincoln picked it up with slightly trembling hands.

"Again, I must reiterate that I strongly advise against operating the virtual reality gaming simulator without sufficient supervision or permission. Turn and walk away now."

"Man, Lisa is good!" Lincoln thought out loud as he shoved the note in his pocket. "Maybe she has a point though, she was pretty serious about this earlier too."

Lincoln glanced down at the device in front of him. Externally, it was just a gray box with a bunch of buttons and lights sprinkled onto it. Internally however, it was everything one could ever imagine or need. Within the device was a blank slate, ready to be filled in to your heart's content, made tangible and realistic beyond your wildest imagination. This device didn't harbor a simulation, a placeholder, or virtuosity of any kind. This device created a world envisioned exactly how one would want it, as if it were reality of its own. That device could be someone's world.

After contemplating for several seconds, Lincoln nervously stepped over to the laptop nearby. He slowly opened it, and the screen lit up. However, on the screen was a yellow sticky note obscuring part of the view. Lincoln picked it up and held it closer to himself to read it.

"This is your last chance to change your mind. Turn away now!"

Lincoln put the note in his other pocket and shrugged as he read the instructions on the screen. "Step one: The most important step is to first equip the wrist-bound communication device. It's the only way out, so it is paramount that you take extra care in conforming it securely strapped to your radiocarpal joint."

"Okay," he said to himself as he scanned the desk.

"Ahah!" Hiding behind a few books was the, uh, let's just call it a watch. Lincoln picked the watch up and strapped it into his wrist. He gave a light tug on the band to make sure it was secure, exactly as instructed.

"Step two: To operate the Virtual Reality Gaming Device, simply type in the name of said recreational activity you would like to undertake. The options are listed below. Press enter to confirm."

Lincoln typed in a game he had played time and time again and pressed enter.

Nearby, the Virtual Reality Gaming Device started whirring again as the hatch opened up on the top. A metal cord with a folded-up radar antenna snaked out of the opening. The antennae unfolded itself, pointed itself at Lincoln, and started glowing with a familiar purplish energy.

"Step three: Enjoy. No need to overcomplicate things, especially since Lincoln's going to use it."

"Gee thanks, I see you put a lot of faith in me Lisa," Lincoln huffed as he rolled his eyes.

Eventually, a purple beam fired from the antennae, and Lincoln was surrounded by the same aura he found himself in a day earlier. Slowly, Lincoln was consumed by the energy as his arms disappeared first, coiling from tangibility into a thread of numbers and pixels through the antennae. He felt a light tingling sensation as more and more of his body disappeared. This was his third time getting transported in or out of the machine, and he still found himself freezing up and panicking each time as he experienced a severed connection to a world he knew and depended on.

Soon enough, Lincoln was gone and all traces of his physical form were nowhere to be seen.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

"Ugh…"

Another drop of water landed on his forehead. Lincoln found himself lying on his back, arms and legs sprawled out on the dank hallway floor. The drops of water continued to assault Lincoln ever so slightly, annoying him just enough to sit upright and rub his eyes. Lincoln stretched and looked ahead where he was sitting, only to see a familiar endless void: nothing but stone bricks and moss for miles.

Lincoln scratched his head as he stood upright. He stretched and twisted his body, reorienting himself in his regular upright position.

Suddenly, he gasped as he swiveled his entire body in the opposite direction of where he was facing. There, smack in the middle of the hallway, was a giant floating "play" button.

If there's anything Lincoln learned from all his years of gaming, pressing the "play" button was the gateway to hours of entertainment.

Remaining true to his gaming instincts, Lincoln slowly walked up to the button until he was directly in front of it. He put an index finger in front of him and slowly pushed it forward. He hesitated just as his finger was about to make contact. His finger jerked back and his arms retracted.

Something about this all seemed familiar.

Lincoln stood in front of the play button stunned for several seconds as he scoured his mind for just what was missing. He's definitely been in this situation before, he knew exactly how to play, yet he felt he was forgetting something really important to himself.

Eventually, Lincoln squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. He jabbed his fingers forward and pressed the button.

Immediately, the button disappeared, and a whole army of zombies manifested themselves in front of Lincoln. They all groaned in unison as they slowly approached Lincoln.

Fists balled, right foot forward, and determination in his eyes, Lincoln faced the monsters with a triumphant grin. Memories weren't important right now. What was important was kicking zombie ass and making it out alive.

With that, he yelled out a battle cry and jumped up towards the nearest zombie. Mid-air, he put a foot out in front of him, and it collided with a zombie's head. The zombie was knocked down from the impact, making a loud thud as it hit the floor. Immediately following that, the zombie transformed into a bunch of particles and numbers, floated up towards the ceiling, and soon nothing.

Lincoln laughed almost maniacally as he continued kicking, punching, and twerking his way through the horde. With this much power at his disposal, he could never get bored of exercising it. So many cool moves he could do, an infinite supply of punching bags at his disposal, and no risk of failure whatsoever. This was a one-of-a-kind experience, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

Lisa opened the door to the house and walked inside. She had a noticeable char on the right side of her face and glasses and was still wearing a lab coat. Lori followed behind her carrying a purse while whistling and twirling the car keys on her index finger.

"Now remember Lisa, trig homework by tonight," Lori reminded her. She reached into her purse, pulled out a stack of papers, and passed them to her younger sister.

Lisa reached behind herself to accept the papers, then brought them in front of her. She started flipping through the paper as she started walking up the stairs. "Affirmative. I'll have the assignment completed at my earliest convenience."

"By tonight~!"

Lisa made it up to the top and turned right towards her room. When she arrived in front of her room and she reached for the doorknob, she paused.

The sticky note she placed there was missing.

Lisa raised an eyebrow. Odd, but anyone could have moved it, perhaps caught in a fight with the twins. She opened the door and walked inside.

"AHHHHH!"

Lisa gasped as she stumbled and dropped the stack of homework, landing face first on the carpet floor.

"Oh, it's you!" A nervous laughter followed.

Lisa pushed herself upright and started collecting the homework, taking a glance at where the scream came from. Lincoln was leaning back on the desk, hands gripped to the edge and feet pushing him back.

"Here, I'll help with that," Lincoln said as he approached Lisa.

"No no, I have this situation under control," Lisa insisted.

"Heh, okay, I'll just… play with Lily! Who's a good girl?" Lincoln cooed.

Lisa glanced up at the crib Lincoln was approaching.

"Lincoln, you do realize our youngest sibling isn't present in the room?"

"Huh?" Lincoln did a double take on the crib he was talking towards. "Oh, yeah, well I guess I'd better get going then, because that's what I came here for." He flashed the widest grin he could possibly muster as he slowly tiptoed his way towards the door.

"Hold it!" Lisa grabbed onto the bottom of Lincoln's shirt and tugged at it, preventing Lincoln from leaving.

"What? What did I do?" Lincoln said, a hint of uneasiness in his voice.

"I would appreciate an explicit reasoning as to why you find yourself situated in my residential dwelling." Lisa adjusted her glasses as she dragged Lincoln closer to her desk.

"Well, uh, I came to see Lily, but like you said she's not here now, so I'd really appreciate it if you could let me go," Lincoln responded. He resisted a little himself, but not enough to prevent himself from being dragged by his younger sister.

Lisa arrived just in front of her desk and hopped on the stool, still holding onto Lincoln's shirt. She took a look at the gaming device, then the laptop, before turning back at Lincoln and letting go. Lincoln stumbled backwards a bit slightly, but quickly reoriented himself.

"You may recall a certain number of adhesive cellulose pulp compressions placed in locations conveniently visible to one's visual field, do you not?" Lisa inquired.

"No. I mean yes! Yes I do." Lincoln did an exaggerated nod. "You're talking about the sticky notes, right?"

Lisa squinted at Lincoln's direction. "Have you adhered to the statements imprinted on said 'sticky notes'?" Lisa made quotation marks for emphasis.

"Well…" Lincoln's eyes glanced away from Lisa. "I… was going to. Yeah." Lincoln did more exaggerated nodding. "Man, I didn't listen the first time or the second time, but the third time I finally realized what you said was pretty important, so I decided to just play with Lily instead." He started tapping his index fingers against each other and stared down at them as if they were suddenly the most interesting things in the entire world.

Lisa stared as Lincoln continued to pantomime and shifted tones.

"Hmm…" Lisa rubbed her chin as she thought to herself. "Perhaps the simulation from yesterday is having an adverse effect on your cognitive reasoning skills. In any case, as long as directions are followed and irreparable damage isn't caused, then we can resume as we were. "

Lincoln put his arms behind his back. "Heh, yeah, that would be pretty bad," Lincoln responded with an especially toothy grin. "I'd better get going now."

Lincoln turned and made a mad dash for the door while Lisa watched from behind. Out in the hall, he turned right towards his room, pushed the door open, then slammed it shut. Now in the safety and comfort of his own dwelling, he dropped himself onto the bed, arms and legs sprawled out on the soft comforting mattress.

Yet even resting on the mattress, his mind and body were seemingly doing everything in their power to do to the exact opposite of rest. Lincoln's heart palpitated in a similar pattern to when he first entered Lisa's lab, his respiratory pattern was irregular, and coherent thought was all but a façade.

Lincoln inhaled deeply with as much air as he could muster, then released the pressure building up within. His body initially fought against him, but after a few deep breaths, he found himself calming down, tension slowly releasing and a clearer vision on the recent events.

Just then, someone knocked at the door.

Lincoln lightly facepalmed, then dropped his arm beside him. He pushed himself upright and off the bed, stretching before opening the door.

In front of him was Lori, who Lincoln greeted with an unamused expression.

"Oh, it's you," Lincoln said just as sullenly.

"Hey Lincoln, are you doing okay?" Lori asked.

"I'm fine," Lincoln flatly responded.

Lori sat down on the edge of the bed and pat the area next to her with warm eyes and a smile. "Why don't you come sit next to me?"

After hesitating at the entrance for a few seconds, Lincoln shut the door and slowly scooted over to his bed. He sat down where Lori motioned him to, and Lori put an arm around his shoulder.

Lori turned to look at her brother, and her gaze softened at what she saw. Lincoln had his head down, arms limply resting on his legs, and his hands hanging down the gap in between.

"Listen…" Lori started. "I'm sorry about what happened today. I definitely should have asked you if it was okay to take a picture or not." Lori glanced away as she said those words.

Lincoln remained silent.

"I felt bad about what I did, so I deleted the pic. See?" Lori took her phone out, opened the photos app, and held it in front of Lincoln. He quickly peeked at the screen before turning his head in the opposite direction.

Lori clasped her hands together and laid them on her lap. "I also want to make it up to you for the embarrassment I caused," she continued. "So I got $20, and I thought it'd be fun if we went to Gus' Games 'n Grub later, today, tomorrow, whenever you want. It's been a while since we've played games together." Lori smiled.

Lincoln still remained unmoved.

"Give it some thought, okay?" Lori rubbed Lincoln's head lightly before standing up, opening the door, and walking out the hall. Before closing the door, she peeked through the room one last time.

Lincoln didn't glance up to acknowledge Lori leaving the room at all.

Lori sighed as she turned away, finally shutting the door slowly with a soft click.

A few seconds passed until Lincoln finally turned his head towards the door that Lori left through just now. He softly shook his head as he slowly stood up from his bed.

Lincoln walked up to his desk, where he placed his gaming goggles earlier. He picked them up in his hands and started looking at it from multiple angles, regret slowly welling up in his eyes.

He turned his head towards where Lisa's lab was, and softly returned the gaming goggles to his desk. Lincoln returned to his bed and dropped himself down again, an airy oomph resonating from the impact. There he lay, doing nothing more than simply stare up at the blank monotone ceiling. His thoughts were reduced to a longing desire for something that he felt was missing, and they played on repeat several times over.

A few minutes in, Lincoln lifted his head up towards the wall in front of him. Behind the wall was the Virtual Reality Gaming Device. It held the path to escapism, the path to a Lincoln that wasn't a wimp or a pushover, and the path to an infinitely engaging world and life. But most of all, it almost felt as though it contained what mattered.

"Those goggles aren't enough anymore," Lincoln sighed. "None of this is enough anymore…"

And so, he dropped his head on the bed and continued to stare at the blank empty ceiling.

Lincoln sat down at the breakfast table with his left elbow resting on the table and head resting in his hand. His other hand held a spoon as he poked at his now soggy bowl of cereal sitting in front of him.

"Eldest sibling, I have completed the trigonometry homework as requested, though it is my opinion that establishing the deadline closer to the beginning of school would be more sensible than when we collectively suspend consciousness the day before," Lisa said as she read a book and chewed on some waffles.

Lori perked up at that. "Oh, that! Yes, thanks Lisa, just hand it to me before we leave okay?"

"Oh that reminds me!" Luna glanced up from her toast with jam. "Lori, I need you to drive me to the street drumming contest I told you about on Wednesday."

"You're playing with pots and pans! What kind of music is that!?" Lola asked.

"Eh, it's still rock and roll to me."

Lincoln's sisters all surrounded the table, but the conversation happening between them was all but incoherent babble. Eventually, he stood up from the table and made his way towards the stairs, leaving his cereal and his sisters.

"Hey Lincoln, why are you flaking on us?" Luan giggled as she held up a box of corn flakes.

"Speaking of flaking, where was he yesterday?" Lynn wondered out loud.

"Yeah, he was supposed to help me find Izzy but I couldn't find him anywhere!"

Lincoln paid her no mind as he trudged his way up the stairs. When he reached the top floor however, his downcast expression slowly morphed into one of determination. He tiptoed his way to a room that he had yearned for all of yesterday, all of today, basically ever since he set foot inside the device that changed his life, in some ways literally.

In front of Lisa's door, Lincoln reached over to open the doorknob, his hands slightly shaking at the prospect of just what he was about to get himself into. He turned the doorknob slowly, both in anticipation, and to avoid making a sound. Once the knob was fully turned, he pushed the door open ajar and poked his head in. He scanned the room, turning his head left and right before slipping in through the crack, lightly pushing the door and manually turning the doorknob closed.

Right ahead, Lincoln's eyes were on the prize. The Virtual Reality Gaming Simulator lay on the desk in plain view, with Lisa's laptop and the, er, wrist thingy nearby.

Now that he was in the room, Lincoln slowly tiptoed his way towards the device. Soon, he would be home free. No more would he have to experience the dread that is school. Here, there was no school. Here, he had control over his being, over what he did, and who he was. Free of responsibility, free of embarrassment, free of his own feeble nature.

Finally in front of the device, Lincoln stopped to stare at awe over the machine he had very well acquainted himself with for the past few days now. He put a hand on top of the device and started caressing it with an affectionate sigh. His other hand joined in on giving the machine attention as well. Soon after that, he moved his hand on top to make room for his head, which soon rested in place. Lincoln was now outright hugging the device.

"My concern for your apparent infatuation towards the Virtual Reality Gaming Simulator had begun yesterday, but I do believe you've hit an all time low with how you seem to be romanticizing inanimate objects today."

Lincoln's eyes shot wide open and his entire body froze at the sudden voice of the familiar figure that had birthed his digital sanctuary.

"Am I to understand that you legitimately believed I bought your feeble attempts at deceiving me yesterday?" she said with an accusatory tone.

Lincoln pried his hands off the device, despite his entire body screaming to appreciate the moment a little longer, and especially not to turn towards the menacing figure that could take it all away. He turned to face Lisa and pointed finger guns towards his younger sister with an awkward grin.

"Hey Lisa, didn't expect to see you there, heh." Lincoln's sheepish grin grew wider as he put his hands behind his back. Beads of sweat were starting to form on his forehead.

"Even now, your presentation of your current demeanor is far more embarrassing than any amount of 'twerking' ever was," Lisa said as she adjusted her glasses and approached Lincoln.

"What are you doing up here?" Lincoln backed himself up against the desk, his grin slowly turning upside down as Lisa got closer.

Lisa soon got in front of Lincoln, who inched to the side in the face of his younger sister. "Pursuit wasn't my intent, I had business to take care of," she answered. Lisa swiped her hand behind Lincoln, which returned with a stack of math homework. "Given your lack of appetite, your abrupt departure from the familial dining table, and taking into account the observations gathered from the past two days, I had reason to believe you were preparing to engage in an activity with deliberate disobedience to my earlier requests."

"I, uh, look a Jackalope!" Lincoln yelled as he pointed in some arbitrary direction up ahead. He then immediately grabbed the machine and turned to run towards the door. However, Lincoln had barely taken a step before was immediately forced to the ground by the crushing mass of the machine he coveted. Lisa watched Lincoln the entire time, hands behind her back with an unchanging neutral expression.

Lisa took her glasses off her face, covered her eyes with one hand, and slowly shook her head. "You've embarrassed yourself enough Lincoln," she muttered. "The Virtual Reality Gaming Device won't function without the associated computer to operate said device. What a poor lost proverbial soul you are."

"I'm gonna play this game!" Lincoln yelled. His hands reached around to clutch the device in his arms.

The door to the room opened, and Lori presented herself at the entrance, one hand on her hip and the other just having let go of the doorknob.

"No you're not Lincoln, you're going to school today like everyone else," she said matter-of-factly.

"You can't tell me what to do! No one can!" Lincoln pushed himself upright and turned towards the laptop on the desk. He lifted the screen open and was greeted with a blinking text box and the word 'Password' on top of it.

"Nice try Lincoln, I logged myself out while you were temporarily incapacitated on the floor," Lisa snidely remarked.

"Nononononononono!" Lincoln balled his hands into fists and slammed them down on the desk. Upon impact, he immediately felt a sharp pain from the sides of his hands and lifted them up uncurled, crying out in pain. With that, he dropped down on his knees, his arms lay limp on the desk in front of him, and Lincoln laid his head down on top in defeat.

Lori put a palm on her face as she entered the room. "You guys have a lot of explaining to do," she muttered.

"Allow me," Lisa started. She cleared her throat.

"What's going on in here?!"

Lola was at the forefront of the group of other siblings that had appeared before Lisa's door. She was leaning forward and squinting, eyes constantly shifting focus towards Lori, Lisa, and Lincoln.

"Yea dude, is everything cool up in here?" Luna asked.

Lincoln was sniffling now, as he closed his eyes and fought back the tears that started welling up in his eyes.

"Uhh guys?" Leni lifted a finger and pointed it at Lincoln. "That doesn't look cool to me," she remarked, a worrisome undertone present in her voice.

Lori gave another look at Lincoln, who continued to emotionally destabilize before her very eyes. Her gaze softened as she relaxed her face muscles and her stern expression transitioned into one of genuine concern.

She walked up to where Lincoln was in front of the desk. She crouched down to his level and turned to look at Lincoln's face. She caught a glimpse of the glimmer on his eyes before he turned his head to face the other direction.

"Lincoln? What happened?"

He didn't respond.

Lori put an arm around his shoulder. "I'm not mad Lincoln, I want to help you."

All the other siblings continued to watch as their brother ignored the advances made by Lori. Some exchanged glances, some stared down at the ground, some played with the fingers on their hands. None of them however moved from the entrance.

Eventually, Leni stepped forward, pushing through the crowd and slowly making her way towards Lincoln. Her hands were nervously fiddling with each other up on her chest and her eyes kept jumping to and away from him.

"I wanna help him too," Leni said. She continued walking towards Lincoln until she was next to him where he was facing. She gazed down at Lincoln's face, who instinctively turned his downwards, burying his face within his arms.

Luna stepped forward as well. "Same here brah, same here." She walked towards the three at the desk and stood directly behind Lincoln.

One by one, the sisters approached Lincoln, taking the nearest available space they could to be as close to their brother as possible. In the midst of this gathering, Lincoln stirred a bit digging his head even deeper into his arms than he could, but alas there wasn't much to dig into.

Finally left with just Lisa, she remained hesitant at her spot in the room. She watched as the other siblings gathered around Lincoln, no longer able to maintain the monotone expression she usually sported. Her hands shook slightly as she took off her glasses and wiped them on her sweater, only to be blasted with the same image of her siblings' support as she put them on again.

She slowly edged towards Lincoln, and her other siblings made room for Lisa as she got closer. Even despite her constant claims of not putting any stock into 'inane human emotions', she was human nonetheless. Seeing Lincoln's apprehension to his siblings' love and slowly breaking down was a sight only for the heartless to dismiss.

"We care about you Lincoln," Lori softly reassured Lincoln. "We all do."

Just then, the dam that Lincoln had built for himself collapsed, and the tears that he held back for so long burst through. Lincoln was now sobbing softly to himself, the sounds muffled through his head still buried within his arms.

"I know you guys do," he cried. "I care about you guys too."

Lori gently stroked Lincoln's hair as she listened.

"I want you guys to be happy," Lincoln sobbed amidst all his sniffling.

"Aww Lincoln, we're the happiest we could ever be," Lana said. "We couldn't ask for a better brother than you."

"Yeah! You play fashion photographer and help me with my beauty pageants all the time!" Lola mentioned.

"You're always willing to listen to my poems and help make them better," Lucy commented.

"You sparred with me! Twice! In the same day!" Lynn added.

"I KNOW!" Lincoln exclaimed.

All the sisters were stunned speechless. They exchanged nervous glances at each other in the face of their younger brother's sudden outburst. It wasn't like Lincoln never did have moments like this, but it was still incredibly surprising and just as impactful every time it did.

"Why does showing care have to be so much work sometimes?" He sobbed. "I have things I want to do too! When I wanna play a game, half the time one of my sisters come up to me and ask me to do something, and I have to keep doing that all day every day! It's not like I don't want to, but can't I catch a break once in a while?!"

Lincoln dragged out his right arm from under his head, which glimmered under the light from the tears he wiped away with it. He pointed his arm towards the general direction where the gaming device was on the floor. "That's my only escape," he cried. "That gaming device. I can be who I want doing whatever I want in there. Away from all my worries and problems."

The rest of the siblings collectively turned their heads over the device Lincoln was pointing at. What the hell was that even? It just looked like another one of Lisa's inventions, a gray cube with a few buttons and lights.

Whatever, that wasn't important right now. What was important was making sure Lincoln was okay. They all turned back to face Lincoln, who had retracted his arm and now put it on the side of his head, somewhat gripping the hair that was there.

"You know," started Lucy. "You could just say no."

"Yeah," Leni affirmed. "You love all of us, and you work so hard!"

"I can always depend on you to give me good advice!" Lola added.

"You have your own interests and things you wanna do, and you deserve help and support just as much as us," said Lori, who still stroked his hair. "The least we could do is give you the same love and respect you give us all the time." She smiled.

Lincoln sniffled once more as he turned his head to face Lori. Her genuine smile radiated with the affirmation that she really meant every word she said. The reassuring presence of his siblings felt as though they were all collectively working together to lift a weight that had been on his shoulders for years. His siblings weren't out to get him and ruin his life. They wanted to spend time with him because they cared, just as much as he did.

Lincoln's eyes as he lifted his head up and wiped away the tears that remained. He slowly pushed himself up using the desk and turned to face the rest of his siblings when he was finally upright. He saw them all looking at Lincoln with a similar affection to what Lori had shown him earlier as well.

A small smile slowly crept on Lincoln's face as his siblings opened their arms to reach in for a hug. Lincoln followed suit and reached in as well, and his siblings all shared a loving embrace that they had done time and time again. Despite having shared such a moment possibly hundreds of times before however, each hug felt just as powerful as the last, and the bonds created by the siblings were cemented even further as the loving family they were. Instead of tears of sadness and despair, Lincoln was now weeping with tears of joy.

"You guys are the best sisters a boy could ever ask for," Lincoln said.

Continuing the group hug for several seconds longer, the siblings pried themselves away from each other, now standing in their places and looking at each other with a warmth in their eyes over their physical display of affection.

Lisa cleared her throat. "Pardon me, I don't mean to put a damper on what would otherwise be classified as a 'wholesome moment', but I do believe if we don't make haste we will be marked tardy for our regularly scheduled obligations to public education."

"Alright guys, you heard her, get your stuff and hop in Vanzilla!" Lori announced as she waved her arms towards the door. The rest of the siblings followed suit and made a mad dash for the hall and towards their own respective rooms to grab their belongings.

That is, all the siblings except for Lincoln. He didn't make a mad dash for anything, instead slowly inching towards the door where Lori awaited him at the entrance.

At the entrance, Lincoln turned towards the device that now lay on the floor in front of the desk. For a split second, he considered running back and trying to jump back inside the machine, like he had the past few days now. The Virtual Reality Gaming Device provided escapism, but it was providing an escape from a family life that, when it came down to it, was a lot better than it seemed. In the machine, Lincoln could feel a sense of power and personal autonomy unlike any other. He could have all the time to himself, be as strong, as fast or as fit as he wanted, and be away from any potential problems that could arise in real life.

Lincoln quickly shook his head and increased his pace, walking straight out the door and turning right towards his room. He didn't turn back once. He didn't turn his towards Lisa's room when he retrieved his bag, to when he climbed down the stairs, to when Vanzilla pulled out of the driveway.

Here, he heard the familiar vibrant chatter of his siblings in the car. Luan cracked bad puns, inducing a collective grown. Lana bought some of her pets on the van, much to the dismay of everyone else. Lisa read a book to herself and made constant snide remarks about the ongoing activities in the van.

"In the Loud House, we always annoy each other, it's super chaotic, and it can be pretty hard to find some peace and quiet to yourself," Lincoln said to himself. "But now I realize, I love all of this for the whole package. For everything bad that ever happens, we can always count on each other to be there. That's not something I can ever get from a video game, no matter how awesome that game is."

"Talking to yourself again dude," Luna remarked.

Lincoln turned to acknowledge Luna next to him and smiled.

It was another Saturday when Lincoln and Lori got out Vanzilla and walked towards the entrance to Gus's Games and Grub. A place dear to Lincoln's heart, with it being a source of comfort, endless entertainment, and amazing food to boot! This time however was especially special.

"Man Lori, I haven't seen you play video games in forever!" Lincoln shook fists in front of his chest and gazed at the flashing sign on the building in anticipation.

"Hey, I've said this before, you can't *always* say no." Lori winked. "Besides, I haven't seen you play games in a few days either."

"Heh, yeah I've kinda avoided that because of what happened recently." Lincoln's eyes drifted away from the sign. "But I'm ready to come back today with a vengeance!" He exclaimed, fists now balled in a fighting stance and determination in his eyes.

Lincoln and Lori opened the door and walked inside. Immediately, they were flooded by a plethora of sights and sounds. Some were eating pizza and garlic knots at the tables to the right, some were spazzing out playing Dance Battle, some pinging noises were heard from the pinball table. There was always something to be looking at or something to do.

They both went up to a token dispenser and inserted a $10 bill. Out came 40 tokens, which they both stuffed in their pockets. They jingled inside as they walked away to search for something to do.

"It's too bad you don't work here anymore, you could have totally hit us up with some freebies," Lincoln said as he grinned and poked Lori with his elbow.

"Ahh I remember that, you made me work overtime because I gave you too much free stuff!" Lori responded with a poke back.

"I ditched my chance to go to a super awesome party to fill in for you though! That is, a party in a nasty sewer with some nasty people!"

They both laughed at the memories as they got in front of Alien Blaster 3000. There were aliens being pelted at the screen from within, and two guns stationed near the front for two players. Lori dug into her pocket and rolled two tokens into their respective slots. The screen lit up with the text "pull triggers to begin".

Lincoln picked his gun up and Lori picked up hers. They both turned towards each other with a grin.

Yes, Alien Blaster 3000 is a really fun game where you get to blow up aliens in space and be totally freaking awesome! But this time, it wasn't just about the game. It was also about doing the things you love with the people you love.

They both turned towards the screen, gripped their guns, shifted into a fighting stance, and pulled the trigger.

The battle music started playing and aliens started swarming in front of the screen. Right now, there were a bunch of aliens waiting to be pulverized by the death ray that they held in their hands. What came after however was more important: the memories that they would form with the good times they had together. Sharing memories, creating them, or simply being there for each other.

That was something Lincoln wouldn't trade for the world.

So, I have something to announce. This is probably going to be the last chapter to this story for a while, because I'm actually planning out another story idea that I have. It's going to be a single continuous multi-chapter story, and I can tell it's going to be a very long one that'll take a while to complete if I have it in myself to follow through. With that said, that doesn't mean I'm going to abandon this collection of stories completely, seeing as it was intentionally made so I could come back or quit whenever I wanted to. I just don't know when, and my focus will be on the other story for the time being. Keep an eye out for "Life Isn't a Science", a story that will go through Lisa's life to adulthood and takes an unexpected turn few people saw coming!

I do want to say thanks for those of you that have stuck with me reading this all this time, it started as an experiment in which I felt so sure about it blowing up in my face, but I feel like I've gotten better over time and finally have it in me to make something bigger. Many of you are the reason why I kept writing in the first place, and why I want to continue writing going forward. As always, I appreciate reviews, constructive criticism, ideas on what you want to see in this story, legit anything. Again, thank you so much and see y'all in a while!

Response to Reviews:

Classicfilmfan: Hmm it's an idea that could go in many directions, though I'd have to imagine it wouldn't quite fit the type of story that this collection of one/two shots tends to have. I also honestly don't have much interest in writing AUs in general, and this is close enough to one for me (I've really disliked episodes like One of the Boys and White Hare)
Ageswap AU: If