A/N: This was originally a greetext story made for Loud House threads on 4chan. I've decided it's appropriate enough for this site. But again, it was originally a greentext. So the formatting may be a little strange.
Royal Woods Elementary. Even two decades later, it was still standing and from the outside it looked the same enough to stir nostalgia in Lincoln whenever he saw it. He wasn't here for good feelings today, though. He was here because he'd gotten called up here.
He got out of his car-an old sedan-and walked up towards the front door. That was when it stopped being familiar. The exterior was the same, but the interior had been gutted and renovated a hell of a lot since he was a student there almost two decades ago. The front door was some magnetically looked super door you had to be buzzed in by. Fortunately, the person watching the exterior cameras saw him coming and did just that.
Inside was clean and sterilized. There was a giant electronic screen mounted on the wall in the first hallway there that showed the time-just past 11- and the weather-a cool 71 degrees. There were electronic displays like that in the halls all over the school, showing news, announcements, other programs, and stuff like that. Right now, all of them were showing celebrations for what was the last week of the school year. Lincoln would've thought this place was awesome when he was a kid.
Sadly, he was an adult with adult responsibilities, and that's why he was here. He ignored all the cool technology and headed straight for the front office.
"Hello, Mr. Loud." The woman behind the assistant desk greeted him as he entered.
"Hello." Lincoln answered politely back. There was a corner of the room to the right upon entering full of chairs for the students to sit in. He looked over, doing a coin flip in his head expecting what he'd see: his son or daughter; he'd just gotten a call from the school to come in concerning an issue '(his) child'. He was a little surprised to see both of them there. Bobby's was slouched in one the chairs, his hair looking wet for some reason. Reina was beside him, cleaning her glasses and perplexingly wearing a different outfit than the one she'd left the house in.
"Hi, papa." She recognized him even without her glasses on.
"Both of you?" Lincoln asked. Bobby looked down at his shoes. Reina flashed a gap-toothed smile and giggled nervously. Getting called here about one of them wasn't unusual, but both at the same time was. They weren't even in the same class. In Kindergarten, they'd both been together. School was meant to be about learning and learning to socialize, but the two of them had just clung to each other through the whole grade. And getting in trouble together too. So for this year, Lincoln and his wife had specifically requested they were in different classes.
"Lincoln Loud." A voice addressed him from inside the principal's office. He cast one last look at his kids before going in and closing the door behind him.
"Hey Clyde." Lincoln greeted his old friend as he sat down in the chair in front of the desk.
"Mr. Loud." Clyde was dedicated to his work, so he couldn't afford to play favorites or acknowledge old connections while he was on the job. "Thank you for coming."
"So, what was it this time?" He leaned back in his seat.
"Well, today is Mother's Day, as I'm sure you're aware." Clyde reminded him, and Lincoln nodded. He'd already called his mom to wish her a good one. "A period was reserved today for all grades to craft cards." Lincoln kept nodding, and wondering where things went wrong this time. "Reina broke a bottle of glue all over herself. We had to give her clothes out of lost and found to wear."
That was his daughter, alright. She put everything into something, and then it blew up in her face. "And I need to take her home for the day." Lincoln concluded. She wasn't in trouble; she'd just had enough for the day. "And Bobby?"
"Some boys were bullying him. Poured glue in his hair. We washed it out and they've been suspended for the rest of the year." Lincoln nodded again. Clyde had put in a lot of policies, and one of them was letting bullied students go home for the sake of their mental health.
"Alright, I'll take them home. Thanks, Clyde." Lincoln leaned forward and reached out.
"No problem, Mr. Loud." Clyde leaned in and shook his hand. "Tell Ronnie Anne I said hi." He smiled. Lincoln got up and headed back into the main office.
"C'mon." He motioned. Bobby and Reina both hopped off their seats, grabbed their backpacks from under them, and followed him out. There may have not been any traffic in the parking lot, but Lincoln still grabbed both of their hands and held them as they crossed the pavement.
"You doing okay?" Lincoln asked his son. Bobby looked up at him.
"Yeah." He said quietly.
"Want to talk about it?" Lincoln asked. He shook his head. "Alright." Lincoln didn't press him. Bobby was an exceptionally deep thinker for a first grader. This wasn't the first time he was picked on. Both him and his sister (but mostly him) fell victim to it a lot because of how undersized they were compared to their peers. But he was surprisingly mature about it, not reacting at all to the bullying, which was the best thing to do. Lincoln earnestly believed his son was at least emotionally mature enough in that regard. But he still checked in from time to time.
"Did you still make a card?" Lincoln turned his attention to Reina. She nodded.
"It's in my backpack." She was wearing hers in front of her. She reached in a felt for it, then she pulled up a plastic bag carrying her ruined outfit to show him too.
"Just put that back. I'll get it in the washer when we get home." Lincoln promised. "You get her a card too?" He asked Bobby. He nodded again.
He got them buckled into the backseat and started the drive home. Reina was bouncing in excitement at getting to stay home for the rest of the day. The three managed to get home safely, and Lincoln got home without letting Reina's pleading and puppy dog eyes convince him to get them all fast food for lunch. The kids ran to their room, and Lincoln went back to his office to keep working. He didn't stay there for the rest of the day though; he ventured out about an hour later.
Bobby and Reina each had their own rooms at one end of the house, but they didn't seem to realize it; they were always together in either one room or the other. Even at night, they'd both sleep in one and the other would stay empty. Whenever Lincoln went to check on them or go get them, he liked to bet with himself which of their rooms he'd find them in. This time, he bet it'd be Reina's.
Turns out they were in Bobby's room. Ah well, it wasn't like he was keeping score. When he glanced through the cracked door, they were both sitting on the floor, hunched over some book. He was glad to know they weren't rotting their brains on this day off. They both looked up when he pushed the door open and stepped in.
"You guys want to help me do something for your mom?" He asked. Reina jumped to her feet with Bobby following more slowly.
"Yeah!" Reina agreed excitedly. "Are you making a gift?"
"You can say that." Lincoln said cryptically. Of course he was going to do something for his wife today. She was the mother of his children, and she'd suffered a LOT to make that happen. On bad weeks for his independent work, she was the primary bread winner for the family. He loved her, and he'd do anything for her on a normal day of the week. Today being Mother's Day was just extra motivation. "Come out into the kitchen and I'll tell you."
So, they did, and he told them, and he grinned to himself as he watched both their faces fall into despair.
"Cleaning?" Reina moaned.
"Yes, cleaning." Lincoln reaffirmed. Keeping their household tidy was actually a hard task. With four people including two kids, it got dirty quickly. Ronnie Anne was a chef, so she spent 8 hours a day working in a hot kitchen and was obvious tired when she got home. Lincoln's status as an independent artist could see him working for 12 hours or more shut up in his office. So, it really wasn't uncommon for the dishes to pile up or the floor to go un-swept or things like that. Lincoln would make a dent in it whenever he could since he knew how much it annoyed Ronnie. Today though, he was going for a full house, hence why he was starting a couple hours before she got home.
"That's boring!" Reina complained. "Mom doesn't want that." She tried to reason with him.
"She does." Bobby spoke up. Lincoln nodded approvingly.
"Adults are boring." Was his daughter's final argument.
"Yes, we are very boring." Lincoln agreed. "Now come on, think how happy she'll be when she gets home." Reina pouted, but she didn't try and get out of the work. Being the only one tall enough to reach the sink, Lincoln handled the dishes and the kitchen. He had the kids wiping down tables and furniture. After that, he had them clean their rooms. By 3:30 that afternoon, Bobby and Reina were acting like they were tuckered out. Lincoln let them rest and started slow cooking dinner for that night. He may not have been a paid professional chef like his wife, but he could manage.
She got off work at five, and the country club was about 20 minutes from their home. She walked into the living room at half an hour past, hair messy, her face covered in sweat, and looking irritable. Still as beautiful as ever. Lincoln smiled at her as she kicked her shoes off her feet in the vague direction of the hallway and trudged over to the couch where he was sitting.
"How was your day?" He asked, leaning over to kiss on the cheek as she flopped down.
"Hot." She said. "A/C busted in the main building. These pendejos pay five grand a year for membership, but they can't afford a working air conditioner. Whew." She started pulling off her uniform top; she was wearing a tank top under it, and tossed to the Lincoln. She forced herself up and made the walk back to the master bedroom. Cries of excitement and a duo of "Mom!" soon resonated from the hallway. Lincoln leaned over the edge of the couch and peered down it to see Bobby and Reina hugging their mother. She reached down to return both of their hugs.
"Si, si, yo también te extrañé." She told them before gently dislodging them and finishing her journey. As she disappeared into the master bedroom, the kids both ran into their rooms and reappeared shortly with their cards to follow her. Lincoln got up and made his own way there.
Lincoln looked in through the door to see them both standing in front of the door to the master bathroom with their cards held behind their back, ready to ambush her when she came out. He smiled and quietly beckoned them away from the door. "C'mon." He guided them back into the living room. "Let's all give our gifts at once." He told them. He got a cold can of fruit juice from the fridge and hurried back to sit on the couch where she pulled both his kids to either side of him. He waited.
His wife came back out a few minutes later dressed in a more comfortable short and t-shirt combo. "Thanks." She took the can when Lincoln tossed it to her and sat down on the other end of the couch. Bobby stayed still but Reina was starting to try and wiggle out and giggling when Lincoln grinned back at her.
Finally, Lincoln let go, and both Bobby and Reina jumped off the couch to go stand in front of their mother, hands behind their back hiding their gifts. Bobby looked meek as always. Reina was trying to hide her giddiness and failing spectacularly.
"What's with you two?" Their mother sat up and leaned forward with an eyebrow raised.
"Happy Mother's Day!" Reina thrust her card out in front of Ronnie Anne's face while Bobby held his out. Their mother blinked for a moment then took both the cards from her kids' hands.
"Forget what day it was?" Lincoln slid over and whispered in her ear.
"No." She tried to save face, but their children smiled anyway, knowing they'd pleasantly surprised her. Lincoln leaned on her shoulder while she opened the cards. Bobby's was more neatly written while Reina's was more loaded with decorations and a fair bit of dried glue. Both had lists of what they thought made their mother the best in the world: the best hugs, the best Spanish teacher, best hair stylist. Things like that.
Ronnie Anne smiled and pulled both her children up to sit with her. "We cleaned the house." Reina told her.
"Dad did the hard stuff." Bobby ratted his sister out.
"And I made dinner." Lincoln added. His wife sniffed the air. "You couldn't tell?" He guessed.
"I thought that was just the smell stuck to my uniform." She admitted, causing both their kids to bust out laughing and her husband to snort.
"Shall we eat, or do you want me to bring you a plate?" He asked. Bobby and Reina stared at him. "One time exception-we can eat on the couch if mom says yes." They both looked at their mom.
"Hmm." She mused, leaning back and kicking her socked feet up on their table. "Bring me a plate." She commanded. Lincoln obliged, and Bobby and Reina jumped up to get their own.
And that's how this branch of the expansive Loud family spent the rest of Mother's Day: letting the woman in question spend it snuggling contently on the couch with her family that she meant so much to and meant so much to her.