Throughout the house of Loud on Franklin Avenue, a young boy was doing what he does best and loves most, reading his favorite comic series in his underwear. As much as Lincoln Loud is derided for this particular choice in hobby, the white haired boy simply couldn't halt a popular choice of pastime for him. Besides, it's not as if he hasn't dealt with his sisters bashing and/or interfering with his own business anyhow, such was the case earlier, where he had been coerced into helping out Leni with her "Fashion Crisis", as she calls them, after dinner in the evening. And if the white haired boy knew anything about his sisters, this will not be the only thing he will be needing to do today.
"Oh Lincoln~!"
Case and point, right now. As the sprightly young voice emanated from down the hall, the boy began the process of mentally bracing himself for what he will be forced into this time, as well as cover his mostly barren body with a nearby blanket. What? He could only take so much criticism, especially knowing exactly who it was that was calling him.
Eventually, the white haired boy's door opened, shockingly much more casually than what Lincoln was used to, and had revealed the particular sister in question. One of the boy's younger sisters of age six, Lola Loud.
Lincoln can only sigh internally at the sight of the young princess wannabe. As much as his other sisters tend to drive him up a wall with their "requested" activities, none of the others leave quite the mental exhaustion as Lola tends to do. Had it been only her incessant demands to take part in her tea parties, she'd only be a small nuisance, but the thing with the pink princess of a sister was that her incessance was more like commandments, as the girl tends to get back at those that refuse her in rather extreme measures. So the very fact that the preteen boy can't even deny the young girl without possibly losing an arm in the process, whether it be figuratively or literally, made the princess wannabe the one that Lincoln dreaded having to deal with the most.
"Hey Linky?" Lola asked in an overly sweet tone. "Could you help me with my tea party?"
Lincoln gave another internal sigh. He knew that Lola's tone was most likely a pretense to lull him into a sense of security before launching directly into her archetypal behavior of intimidation, blackmail, or possibly both. Knowing this, the boy decides he might as well get the girl to drop the pretense and give him more incentive to actually get out of bed.
"Sorry Lola, I'm busy right now." Lincoln responded neglectfully. "Can't you find anyone else to do it with you?"
The white haired boy knew he was in for it now. It was only a matter of time before he ended up getting threatened in some way, or as his older sister called it, get turned into a human pretzel.
Much to Lincoln's bewilderment however, Lola's response was much more tame, simply strutting into her older brother's room and giving him the best pout and puppy dog eyes she can muster while getting a hold of the boy's arm.
"But you're the only one here who's actually good at it." Lola whined, desperation covering her voice. "Please Linky? Pleeeeeease?"
Lincoln had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dead already, being caught so off guard. If there was one thing the family knew the princess wannabe was known for, it was her lack of patience, meaning that even one instance of denial was all it took for the young girl to set off the fury trigger. Yet, this particular moment saw the girl just doubling down on her overly tuneful act, almost like she was any normal young girl wanting something. Was Lola simply playing the long game? Was she simply messing with him again? He didn't know, and that lack of knowledge scared him.
Being left at a little bit of an impasse here, Lincoln just decides to capitulate. Might as well take the grace he was given, right?
"Alright, alright. Just give me my uniform and I'll meet with you soon." Lincoln said boredly, speaking of the butler outfit the young girl likes for him to wear during their events, as he sat himself up as he put his comic down besides him.
Almost seamlessly, the girl went back into her smiley demeanor as she let out a small giggle, once over her brother's partial nudity, and for what her brother just said.
"Oh, you don't need that suit today Linky. Just come whenever you're ready." Lola said innocently, strutting away as she left her brother in an even more confused state then he was before. She must really want to put his anxiety up, or want to wring a favor out of him.
Regardless, not wanting to be the one to ruin his sister's rare case of being in a favorable mood, quickly got on clothing and made his way towards the room belonging to his twin sisters.
Upon arriving within the targeted room, Lincoln has come to find the expected room decor, a small pink table with plastic tea equipment, and a various amount of stuffed animals on various chairs around it. Among all of them however, is the lone human and assumed organizer of this little tea party.
"Linky, glad you can make it! Please, sit down." Lola said, motioning towards the one empty chair around the table.
Lincoln quickly made his way over to the table and sat down across from the small hostess. In spite of keeping a fairly cool exterior, on the inside, the boy was a worried mess. This whole time, his normally conniving sister was consistently showing out of character behavior. Lincoln wouldn't have bothered otherwise, but this was Lola Loud we're talking about, there simply had to be something going on. Right?
"Linky!" Lola lightly scolded, snapping her brother out of his worried state. "Don't be rude! Introduce yourself to the rest of the guests."
Lincoln mentally slapped himself on the forehead. He forgot just how much of a stickler for realism and detail his sister was, when it came to tea parties at least. Not wanting to ruin his sister's fairly forgiving mood today, he hastily rectifies this mistake.
"Hello everybody," Lincoln said, looking at the other "attendees" whilst waving awkward. "How's everybody doing?"
Getting a look amongst all the various "guests" among the table, he finds that they are all plush toys of various animals. Though this is a very typical strategy for Lola to do, Lincoln also made the note of the various plushes in play; a rabbit with a pink bow on its ear, a polar bear with a tie around its neck, and a porcelain girl doll with a frilly pink dress. The white haired boy recognized these as the toys that Lola prized the most.
"Okay, let us get started!" Lola announced, a smile covering her face. "Might I get everybody a bit of tea?"
She proceeded to pour the pretend liquid in all the party goers plastic tea cups. When she got up to her older brother's however, she seemed to give a long look at his face, as if she's trying to read his thoughts, all with a slightly dour look in her eyes. If Lincoln didn't think anything was up before, he definitely did now. Not having enough of an idea to pursue the matter though, Lincoln simply decided to let it go for now.
Once finished with her task at hand, the young princess wannabe made herself back into her own seat, her previous look now traded for one more apparently cordial. Though unlike the girl's smiles in past tea parties, this one seemed to be subduing something besides malicious intent. Needless to say, even in spite of all the past transgressions, this left the white haired boy to enter a small state of big brother mode.
"Lola?" Lincoln asked, getting the attention of the younger sibling. "Are you doing okay?"
For but a split second, Lincoln saw that forlorn look within his pink clad sister's eyes again. But before he could really analyze it any further, she speedily switched back to her cordial look.
"Why of course, Lord Lincoln." Lola said in a singsong kind of tone. "I'm simply in the mood to be around someone else right now."
There it was again. This proved to Lincoln that there was something up with his little sister. In spite of Lola being around age six, she was already extraordinary at subtlety in her expression and feelings. So to witness moments of weakness within his sister's expressions, it showed that whatever she was going through was really tearing the young girl apart. It was then that the white haired boy realized something else.
"Wait a minute, "Lord" Lincoln?"
"Well, of course Linky." Lola said, as if it were the most obvious thing on earth. "This particular tea party is only for the most royal of people among the land."
"But don't you usually have a king costume for these kinds of situations?" Lincoln asked. Regardless of what role Lola needed, she usually had the costume needed for said person to fill up, and though the king costume was still rather constricting in practice, it was at least far more flattering than a butler outfit.
"Well, it turns out that the one we usually use is far too small for you to use anymore."
"Oh… okay." Lincoln responded simply before jolting upwards, a realization coming to him suddenly. "Wait a minute! How do you know if it's too small on me!?"
"Wellllll, I kinda asked Lisa to give me the data on that sort of thing. Strategy, Linky. Strategy." Lola seemed to be rather coy about the explanation, which oddly enough though, seemed to be the most in character thing she had said all day.
"So, how are the other members right now?" Lincoln asked, thinking that a change in subject would be beneficial right now. And though talking with inanimate objects seemed extremely silly to the young boy, he at least hopes it will raise up the spirits of his little sister.
Lola responded to the question by taking the rabbit plush in her arms and holding its face up to her ear. This was the young princess wannabe's way of giving her toys a voice, mostly due to finding voice acting to be very degrading.
"It would seem that Ms. Claribel is doing very well, thank you for asking!" Lola said, speaking of the pink furred rabbit she was putting back on the chair she was on before.
The young princess wannabe quickly continued the process for each of the other toys; the polar bear, Mr. Shivers, and the porcelain doll, Mrs. Beautacious. All names provided to the "guests" were given to them by Leni, of which they are also handed down from. Ever since Lincoln was born, the blonde fashionista has handed down her old dolls and comfort objects to her younger siblings. Of course, this included his own toy, Bun bun, and Lincoln knew that even if some like Lucy and Lisa do a bang up job on hiding them, Lincoln knew that they still kept theirs around.
As the tea party continued, Lincoln got more and more involved along with the young princess wannabe. Very often, the older sibling finds himself adding comical details in an attempt to entertain/ cheer up Lola, including, but not limited to: getting spanked by Mrs. Beautacious, telling Mr. Shivers about the polar ice caps, and eventually needing to cheer up Ms Claribel by doing a little dance with her. Thankfully, despite some being rather degrading to the young boy, the young princess wannabe seemed jubilant with the details added, achieving his ultimate goal.
By the time the tea party has ended, Lincoln could officially say that he had the most pleasant time at one of these tea parties in forever. Never before has partaking in this activity with the young girl ever gone as smoothly as it did now. It was as if she was trying to take it easy on him…
"Thank you for playing with me Linky!" Lola said as she was gathering the materials for cleanup. "I had a great time!"
"So did I Lol's, so did I." Lincoln responded genuinely, finding his sister rather precious right now. Despite Lincoln's feeling towards how these tea parties typically go for him, he can't say that he never enjoys himself around the young princess wannabe. Usually, whenever the two hung around, Lincoln found himself enjoying something about whatever it is he has to do for the young blonde, whether it be preparing for a pageant, or just simply playing around. Sure, she can be extremely pushy to the point of demanding, but that's just what happens with a free spirited six year old, the princess wannabe's twin sister being another example of this.
As Lincoln left after helping out with cleaning everything up, the boy looked back at the young girl one last time, that somewhat dreary look yet again, albeit a little less so after the little hangout.
Thankfully, apart from Lola's request for a tea party, Lincoln was asked no more favors the rest of the day.
However, the white haired boy's mind found itself preoccupied with another dilemma, that being the odd actions and behavior from his little sister. It's not as if he's completely dense, he knew that Lola most likely was in need of an outlet to feel better, hence the random request for a tea party, but what he couldn't make heads or tails of was her strangely agreeable behavior during the whole play session. What did it mean? Should he be more worried then he already is?
Questions such as these plagued the white haired boy's mind as he was busy helping out his older sister, which seems that it meant little else than just standing around as a model to test measurements of various clothing items.
With this rather boring job as is, Lincoln might as well get some things off his mind.
"Hey Leni?" Lincoln asks, seemingly not breaking the blonde fashionista's concentration. "Have you noticed anything strange about Lola lately?"
"Nope, she looked pretty as usual." Leni responded casually, causing Lincoln to sigh inwardly.
"No, Leni. I mean behaviorally." Lincoln corrected. "Is she acting differently than usual?"
Leni put her hand in thought before responding.
"Well, I did notice that she was totes more quieter than usual."
Now that Lincoln thought about it, he noticed that too, Lola has been incredibly reserved the whole day. Even the trademark brawls with her twin had been strangely absent for the whole day, even though he clearly saw Lana try to start something with her pink clad twin.
"Also, I think we might need to have Lola see a doctor at some point. I thought I totes saw that her eyes were red when she got home earlier."
While Lincoln simply groaned about his older sister's trademark ineptitude, his worries for the younger sibling only exemplified from the statement.
"Are you worried about her Linky?" The blonde fashionista asked as she continued taking measurements on the young boy.
"Kinda, she's been acting a little weird is all." Lincoln passed off, focused solely on his thoughts.
"Maybe she just needs someone to be around her?" Leni suggested.
The conversation died from that point forward, Lincoln being far too deep into his thoughts to really focus on talking anymore.
The topic continued to bother the white haired boy in the evening. It seemed that regardless of how much he dwelled, the answer just never seemed to become clearer to him, and while the idea of simply confronting the young princess wannabe did cross Lincoln's mind, he hadn't the opportunity to do so the rest of the day, mostly due to her being absent apart from dinner, where it seemed that no one knew just how aloof the usually boisterous princess was during the whole process.
Lincoln only sighed as he sat up, figuring out that sleep wasn't gonna come to him easily. He got out of bed, planning to head to the bathroom to hopefully get his mind more off the subject, and hope that it's just his big brother senses were simply just invalid this time.
Upon opening his door however, he found himself a surprise visitor standing at the doorway, shivering within her pink pajamas and holding a pink stuffy and a story book in her hands. It was Lola, clearly shaken and haired all messed up.
"Lola?" Lincoln asked softly, kneeling down on knee. "What's wrong?"
The young girl's only response was to rush her brother, wrap her arms around his chest, and sob softly right into his chest, dropping the items she was holding in the process.
Officially within brother hen mode, Lincoln's response to such actions was to wrap his own arms around his younger sister, pulling her closer to him, and putting the younger sibling's head underneath his chin.
The two simply sat there for a little while, Lola continuing to sob, while Lincoln stood patiently, stroking his sister's messy blonde hair. He always hated seeing his younger sisters in this kind of state, but to see this happening with the normally confident young princess wannabe hit the older brother differently then any of the others.
Eventually, the young girl's sobbing started to slow and her tight grip began to loosen. Lincoln got a look at his sister's face, eyes puffy and red, presumably from crying all night. He silently motioned for her to come into his room, which she gladly took as Lincoln got the items that his little sister dropped upon locking the white haired boy in a vice grip, and then following her inside, closing the door behind him.
Setting the items aside for now, Lincoln simply got in bed, motioning Lola to do the same, which she took without hesitation and scooched herself into her previous position against her brother.
"What happened Lola?" Lincoln gently asked, stroking his sister's straw blonde hair.
Lola seemed to mumble a response, but upon seeing her brother's confused expression, spoke up a little.
"N-N-Nightmare…"
"Do you want to talk about it?" Lincoln asked, squeezing her a little more to ease her tension.
Lola whimpered at the question, but capitulated all the same.
"I… I wanted to be alone in my room… so I made everybody leave… but… but I couldn't leave… a-and no one came to help me…"
The young girl's tone wavered more and more the longer she went into it, prompting the older brother to brush away the tears off the young princess' face.
"Please… don't hate me Linky… please." Lola begged, holding onto the boy tighter than before.
"Hate you?" Lincoln asked softly. "Lola, why would I ever hate you? I love you, all of us do."
"B-But I'm awful."
"You are not awful!" Lincoln spoke out, quietly but more forcefully. "You're sweet and loving. You're our queen."
Lola's sobs slowed again upon hearing that, but her grip remained as tight as before.
"Lola? Is this why you've been acting differently all day?" Lincoln asked, tone once again gentle.
The older sibling simply felt his sister's head nod yes as a response, finally putting those questions to rest, but leaving yet another job for the older brother to do.
After a little while more of simply laying there, stroking her sister's cheek with one hand and her hair in another, Lola finally calmed down, at least enough to make a request of her own.
"Linky? Can you read me a story?" Lola asked as sweetly as she can muster.
Lincoln eyed the book, one of her favorites that he used to read to her when she was even smaller. Smiling at the nostalgic thought, he got the book out, and opened it.
"Once upon a time, there lived a princess in a far away kingdom." Lincoln began reading and continued for a while.
"And they all lived happily ever after, the end." Lincoln finished, only to find his little sister out like a light, making tiny snores as she continued to hold onto her older brother.
The white haired boy can only smile at the precious sight in front of him, get out Ms Caribel, and place it in the open space in between her arms, getting a small smile out of the young girl in the process.
"I love you, Linky." Lola mumbled in her sleep.
"And I love you, princess." Lincoln simply responded, falling asleep himself.
The next morning, Rita looked around in a bit of a panic, looking for the young princess. She wanted to see if she could approach her about her weird behavior the day before.
Upon gently checking her only son's room though, she found a sight that she knew she had to get a camera for.
Lincoln and Lola, softly sleeping in each other's tight embrace.
A/N: My gosh this one was so cathartic to write.
So I'm in that rare camp that actually really likes Lola, more than most people anyway. I know that she can often be the subject of simply being "The Brat" in most episodes of the show, but I chalk most of that to the show having an emphasis on comedy and simply going from there. What I find enjoyable about her has to be her ability to go completely off the wall, but can also be really sweet as well at the same time (Almost like what some leaders should be like).
Regardless, I hope you enjoy, and have a good one.