A/N Man, I don't know why, but this chapter was so hard to write… I hope you guys enjoy it though! Welcome to the end of week 3!

R&R!

Chapter 21: Shopping Buddies!

"No, no, no, no!" A panic fills the Loud House. Lisa wastes no time sliding down the railing, hoping to reach the front door before her siblings. Thankfully, all of the training she had undergo with Lincoln finally pays off, with her hopping in front of the barrier before the rest of the girls… who simply crash land behind her.

"Please don't be Lincoln, please don't be Lincoln…" Lisa gulps and hops up to answer the door. "Please… I can't fail to bring him back!" And with a turn and push, she opens the door… revealing Lori and Bobby- the duo carrying a set of bags in their hands.

"Hey girls, what's going on?" The young woman raises an eyebrow in confusion.

Instantly, the Louds breath a sigh of relief, though the fear that maybe they would be unable to save their lone male sibling still weighs heavily upon them.

"It's nothing." Lisa responds, waving the young woman off as she does so, "Did I get the materials I required?"

"Yeah." Lori hands over a bag, "If anyone needs me, I'm gonna be spending time with Bobby, all right?"

"Lori! How can you spend time with your boyfriend when Lincoln's stuck in the past?!"

"Don't worry dad, I'm gonna be here, in the living room." Lori holds her hands in front of her, prodding her father to calm down, "I'll be here if you guys need me for anything, ok?"

The Louds begin to whisper amongst themselves for a moment. At this point, Lori remains the only Loud sibling to not know about Lincoln's true whereabouts nor what he has been doing since he left.

And Lisa is going to do whatever she could to make sure she isn't going to find out.

Before any of the Louds can respond, Lisa grabs the supplies from her sister, "Very well. Please, do not disturb me while I work on Lincoln's path home." And with that, she heads upstairs, "I just hope that I'm not too late…"

"I wonder what's going on with her…" Lori thinks, before shrugging and hopping on the couch, while the rest of her family begins to fill the house with their typical chaos.

The Next Day…

"All right, I just gotta get Clyde his own Pig Card." Lincoln takes a deep breath, "Welcome to Royal Woods Mall, Clyde!"

For a moment, the young boy looks on in amazement, before his jaws drop at the sheer size of the building compared to his own, "Wow! This is amazing!" he looks at the young boy holding onto him, "Are we going inside?!"

"I'm doing this for the future…" Lincoln cracks a smile, "Of course, I've got a special place to bring ya, ok?"

"Ok!" Clyde cheerfully responds, before the duo enters the mall.

And a few moments later, they're opening pack after pack, searching for a single piece of cardboard.

"Come on, there has to be a Pig in here somewhere!" Lincoln grimaces in frustration, "I mean, come on! This can't be that hard!"

"I don't know what to say…" Clyde looks down in disappointment, "I went through all the packs you gave me and well… there's nothing in them…"

"Dangit… maybe Clyde was wrong about pulling the card, maybe we just bought it separate… then again, they don't sell the ultimate rare version of it…" He sighs, "Well…" he grabs the last pack, "I guess that's it then… we…" He then carefully tears through its plastic, allowing a strange shape to come into view.

The duo's eyes go wide in surprise, before Lincoln holds up thee lone card they were searching for, "We did it!

And Clyde hugs Lincoln, smiling as he does so, "Thanks Michael!"

"No problem, Clyde." And Lincoln returns the embrace.

Later…

"All right now, hold onto our cards, will ya?" Lincoln smiles as he begins to tie the bag of cards onto Clyde's wrist.

"All right! I'll guard these with my life!" The younger boy responds, much to Lincoln's amusement.

"Hey Michael!" A familiar voice calls out, prompting the young boy to look up at the source.

"Oh, hey Lori!" He cheerfully responds, taking the moment to finish tying the bag of cards the Clyde's hand as he does so. "Careful with these now, these are expensive pieces of cardboard."

Clyde gives a quiet nod, prompting Lincoln to turn back to his girlfriend.

Quickly, the young girl rushes over to her boyfriend, causing her to drag a certain young boy with her, "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing much." Lincoln runs his head the dark-skinned boy's hair, "I was just buying some Card Wars Cards for this kid right here."

"Oh?" Lori raises an eyebrow in curiosity, "And who might you be?"

"I'm Clyde!" The young boy flares his arms in an attempt to emphasize his point, "And Michael is my big brother!"

Instantly, the younger Lincoln looks on in surprise, though his companions don't notice.

"Heh, got an explanation?" Lori smiles at the white-haired boy, "You know for..."

Lincoln simply waves her off, "I've been staying with the McBrides while I wait for my chance to come home." He rubs the back of his head, "Things started going crazy there..."

Lori raises an eyebrow in curiosity, "Oh? Why's that?"

"Simply put, your mother was right about listening to my sisters' advice." He shakes his head, "and after what happened with me ending up in your room, well, I'm gonna stay away from them and their advice for a while."

"I don't blame ya." The young girl shrugs, "Lincoln and I were just working on getting my stuff for the dance..." she looks into his eyes, silently prodding him, "Wanna come with?"

"Well, it's not like I'm gonna be going home any time soon..." Lincoln shrugs, "Sure, it couldn't hurt."

"Yay! Lori cheers, before grabbing onto the boy and pulling him along, leaving their younger charges to follow them.

Lincoln stares at Clyde for a moment, before sighing and walking along, the dark skinned boy following soon after.

And soon enough, they're sitting in a clothing shop, while their older counterparts simply begin to go through possible outfits.

"It must be nice, having a big brother and stuff..." Lincoln sighs, "I'm alone..."

"Why do you say that? Clyde tilts his head in confusion.

"I have six sisters, that's why." The young boy simply looks down at the floor, "and my mom is going to have two more girls soon too!"

For a moment, Clyde remains silent, unsure of just how to respond, "Wow..." he rubs his arm, "I don't have any siblings... and my dads told me that Michael is going to leave soon..."

"Still... he's around now... he's like the brother I never had..." he turns to the dark-skinned boy, "Right?"

Clyde shrugs, "I wouldn't know..." he turns to face his companion, "But... I do know what it's like when he's not around..."

"What do you mean?" The young Lincoln tilts his head in curiosity.

"My dads... they aren't around that much, and well... I may have a big house all to myself, but it gets really lonely, ya know?"

"Heh, I have the opposite problem." The young boy shakes his head, "I'm never alone because of my sisters, but none of them like what I like..." his gaze softens, "It's like I'm alone in a full house."

"What do you like?" Clyde tilts his head in curiosity.

"Card Wars, Ace Savvy, some cartoons." Lincoln shrugs, while his companion's eyes begin to go wide in surprise.

"You do?!" He shouts, "I like those two!"

"Really? You read Ace Savvy?" Lincoln tilts his head in curiosity.

Clyde nods, "Yeah! One-eyed Jack is my favorite character!"

The young Lincoln's heart begins to race. After all the wars he had spent alone, he has finally found someone who likes what he does! And he is not going to let the opportunity escape him. "Hey, do you remember when-"

Later...

"All right, see ya Lori!" Lincoln quips, dropping their shopping bags in the doorway as he does so, "That looks like everything, right?"

"Yep." Lori nods, hugging him as she does so. "I'd kiss you as a reward, but my dad is serious about sending me to a convent."

Lincoln chuckles, "Heh, all right then, all right." He hugs her back, before breaking the embrace and grabbing Clyde's hand, "Say bye Clyde."

"See ya later, Lincoln" The dark-skinned boy declares, "I'm gonna find you at school!"

"Same!" The young Loud cheerfully replies, before the two turn and head off.

"So, you like Lincoln, huh?" The older boy quips.

"Yeah! He was awesome!" The younger boy smiles, "I don't feel so lonely anymore.

"Dangit, I can't believe I forgot that Michael got Clyde and I together!" he mentally slaps himself.

"Oh, and Lincoln told me that if he had a big brother, he'd want him to be just like you!" Clyde adds, flaring his free arm as he does so.

"Heh, that's good. I became something younger me would've loved to look up to." Lincoln rubs Clyde's head again, "Tell me more later, ok? I wanna get home before it gets too dark."

"Ok!" The young boy cheers.

And with that, they head off, trying to get home before the sun finishes its decent once more.

"The dance is coming soon… I have to leave my mark…"

20-8-5 2-5-7-9-14-14-9-14-7 15-6 20-8-5 5-14-4 9-19 21-16-15-14 21-19.

A/N Man, NaNoWriMo has finally gotten to me. Luckily, the rest of the story is mostly planned out! I thank Wolvenstrom for his ideas!

Review Replies:

That Engineer: Yep! Things are gonna come together soon!

BoukenDutch: Some things never change mate. And I doubt he thought his decision through enough to realize a key fact like that.

A.T. Gunn: Thanks!

Zoinks81: Yeah! The door is like that letter!

gamelover41592: Thanks and yeah, he is!

Finnjr63: I wonder too.

TheLivingMyth: Thanks! I'm glad you felt pleasure from it all!

The Keeper of Worlds: Stay tuned for the answer!

celrock: Yeah! Things are coming together nicely!