Loud House Fanfic: Reversal of Fortune: Chapter 1: The Last Straw
Opening A/N: Yeah, yeah, NSL's been done to death. But it usually follows the same formulas:
1. The sisters suddenly have a "Come to Jesus" moment where they realize they're wrong, & St. Lincoln automatically forgives them because he's "just that good."
2. The sisters have the same "Come to Jesus" moment, & Lincoln makes them "earn" his forgiveness, which usually comes after a day & some gifts that mesh with his personality.
3. Something bad happens to Lincoln, the family gets arrested & shunned, but eventually everybody lets it go & they get the "Family Guy 7-day murder sentence": "They'll be out next Sunday at 9."
4. St. Lincoln & his companion, St. Luna the High Priest of Kindness, are the only ones to see through the insanity & thanks to their "Special Sibling Bond," end up bringing the rest of their family to their senses, & everybody lives happily ever after.
This is NOT one of those fics. I frankly feel that most NSL fics forgive the sisters too quickly & move on like nothing ever happened. Being thrown out by your own family because they deemed you "bad luck," and then being forced to wear an unsanitary, hot "squirrel suit" all day for Savino knows how long would have a lasting impact on ANYONE's psyche, let alone all the other stuff the Loud family has done to him. And with Lincoln being a boy on the cusp of puberty… if this happened in the real world, all hell would break loose in the following year or two for the Louds. What happens in this fic may seem crazy, but I titled it 'Reversal of Fortune' for a reason. I want to give Lincoln the ultimate closure & catharsis for NSL.
Also, as a prologue to this story, read "Reversal of Fortune's official prologue" by DJ Sprouts.
This is not a late 2010's NSL fic. You have been warned.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2; 2:00 PM
HURON BEACH, MICHIGAN; 65 MILES NORTH OF ROYAL WOODS
As Lincoln waddled around the hot beach in an even hotter squirrel suit, he begged his family to get out.
Lincoln pled, "Can I at least have a minute outside of this suit to get a breath of fresh air? This thing is hot & I'm really sweating!"
All of the Louds immediately yelled, "NO!", and proceeded to give bizarre and horrible reasons why Lincoln had to stay in the suit.
Lynn Sr. cried, "Vanzilla might break down!"
Rita cried, "I might get struck by lightning!"
Lori cried, "We might literally get rained on!"
Leni cried, "My sandcastle might get knocked down!"
Luna cried, "I might get sand in my ears!"
Luan tried to joke, "You can't 'squirrel' your way out of this now!"
Lynn Jr. yelled, "Shut up, Jinx-oln!"
Lucy blankly said, "I might get a sunburn."
Lana worried, "I won't find any seashells!"
Lola panicked, "This flawless complexion, ruined!"
Lisa cried, "My scientific studies would be ruined!"
Lily cried, "Poo-poo!"
As Lincoln listened to his family's excuses, his exasperation immediately turned into rage. As he fumed inside the suit, wondering what his next move would be, everything he had been through with his family came back to him in a split second. The Sister Fight Protocol. The "Sweet Spot" incident. The money incident. The Princess Pony toilet-clogging incident, which the sisters still regularly taunted him about. The girls eating his chocolate, then laughing at him for being a failed Girl Guru. The earbuds incident. The April Fools' Day pranks. Running Clyde's parents ragged. The limo incident. The video incident. The underwear bet. The pool incidents. The tie incident. The failed photoshoot. "Take Your Daughter to Work Day," which even he didn't believe at the time because he saw social media posts of a few of Lynn Sr.'s coworkers' sons at his workplace. The camping trip. The time Lisa tried to join his grade, only to turn him into an outcast both in school and at home. The tracking chip Lisa put inside of Lincoln's brain. The elaborate surveillance system Lisa had set up with the help of Luan. His sisters running all over him when he tried to take charge of the house, and Lori's smug grin when he failed. All the school projects destroyed. All the homework notes and late slips he received because of his family's antics. And the constant, mocking laughter that assaulted his ears every day.
As if all that wasn't enough, there was this whole thing where Lincoln had been locked out of his house just because he lied to his family about being "bad luck" to get out of their events. When he fessed up to the lie, his family didn't believe him until he showed himself in a squirrel mascot suit after Lynn Jr. hit a walk-off home run. As if that wasn't enough, they sold his furniture, and proclaimed that he could only be around them as a "good luck charm" if he wore the squirrel suit. To them, he was still bad luck otherwise. And after everything he had done for them during his life, that pissed him off.
If possible, Lincoln would have ripped off the suit and strangled every last member of his so-called "family," along with everyone in his school but Clyde, to death. When he fantasized about doing it, he quickly realized that he wouldn't stand a chance with either direct confrontation or subtly letting them know how much he hated the situation. So, with continuing to play along being his only option, he desperately asked his family for the only right of his that he thought they still respected.
Lincoln told his family with the calmest and happiest voice he could muster, "I have to use the bathroom."
His sisters immediately erupted in protest, and his parents initially cast disapproving glances at him.
But when Lincoln desperately danced around holding his privates in front of his parents to show how full his bladder was, Lynn Sr. huffed and finally gave in, "Fine, but only 5 minutes, got that?"
Lincoln annoyedly sighed, "Yes sir."
Lynn Sr. sternly responded, "Good."
As Lincoln's sisters began to cry in protest yet again, Lynn Sr. interrupted them by yelling, "ENOUGH! Even if he's good luck in the squirrel suit, we can't let him pee in it! That'd be unsanitary & gross!"
As the sisters started whining again, Rita shushed them by yelling, "If you've got a problem with it, YOU can clean his suit up."
The Loud sisters traded glances at Rita's threat before simultaneously yelling, "Dibs, not it!", further exasperating their parents.
Meanwhile, on his long trek to the bathroom, which was fortunately at the beach's entrance/exit, Lincoln briefly reflected once more on his relationships with his family and the people around him. After remembering everything the people in his life had put him through, and their lack of remorse for it all, Lincoln realized: It was all his sisters' fault. And they needed to pay.
With newfound determination, as soon as Lincoln entered the bathroom, he tore the suit off, threw it in the garbage, and sprinted away from the beach as fast as possible. Every time he wanted to stop, he remembered all the times his sisters and parents mistreated him, and those memories kept him going. He initially planned to go to the Sunset Canyon Retirement Home. With Clyde out of town for the weekend, Lincoln hoped that maybe Pop-Pop would knock some sense into his treasonous genetic relatives. However, after about 500 yards, Lincoln cramped up, causing him to absentmindedly curve ever so slightly away from the grass and onto the road leading to the beach. He couldn't even get out of the way of the oncoming car.
(Scene Change: Michigan Highway 25, about a mile south of Huron Beach)
The Sweetwaters were your average upper middle class family going on your average upper middle class late summer beach vacation. Nestled comfortably in their leather-clad white van, they were getting ready to have some last-minute "fun in the sun" before autumn made it impossible to wear a bikini without freezing over. As the kids here would often say, it could get "so cold in the D." How the fuck were they supposed to keep peace?
For what it was worth, they were doing a pretty good job of it. Driving this family was a very tall and fair-skinned man with short strawberry-blonde hair named Brian. As a rockstar computer programmer who eventually became his company's Chief Information Officer, Brian was the family's breadwinner. In his spare time, he enjoyed reading Ace Savvy comics, playing basketball, and spending time with his family. He had even taken a couple of the comics with him for the trip, and was wearing Michigan Wolverines-themed swim trunks. While in college, he met and fell in love with the woman now riding shotgun in the van: his wife, Linda. Linda was a lanky, hourglass-figured, somewhat tall, red-haired editor-in-chief of the Royal Woods Gazette, and was consequently always on top of the latest news & gossip in the town. She was dressed for the occasion in a 2-piece blue-gray bikini. The couple's 3 daughters sat behind them, also eagerly anticipating this vacation.
The oldest child, on the driver's side of the first row of van seats, was Becky. A 17-year-old high school senior dressed in a two-piece bikini with light green and aqua stripes, she had inherited her mother's looks and her father's height, interests, and nerdy personality. As a result, she was considered one of the most attractive and sought-after girls at Royal Woods High School. She was a regular fixture at parties, and was embraced by much of the student body for being both the school's best female basketball player and a fan of nerdy hobbies such as video games, Ace Savvy, Rip Hardcore, and ARGGH!.
The middle child, both in terms of birth order and seating, was 10-year-old Paige, wearing a kiddie yellow two-piece bikini. Known for being one of the best "Dance Battle" players in town, she was a regular at Gus' Games & Grub, a consistent B-student, and a former beauty pageant participant. As such, she was a relatively popular girl. Becky introduced Paige to video games & comic books, and taught her everything she knew about the footwork needed to excel in "Dance Battle". Consequently, Paige idolized Becky as a big sister, role model, and friend.
The youngest child of the trio, seated to the right of Paige and behind Linda, was 6-year-old Lindsay. She was a consistent beauty pageant runner-up presently dressed in a teal swimsuit. Normally, she'd be plotting on how to beat Lola Loud in the next beauty pageant. But right now, she had other concerns, which she expressed by whining at her mom while fidgeting in her seat, "I want an ICE CREAM!"
An irritated Linda sighed, "Calm down, Linds, sweetie, there'll be plenty of frozen treats at the beach! Besides, you should have told us on the way there while we passed by Aunt Pam's Parlor. We asked you and you said no."
Lindsay continued to yell, "NO! I! WANT! ICE CREAM!"
Becky, fed up of the yelling, gently suggested, "Lindsay, you know they have those slushies and popsicles at the beach you like. We'll get them for you… for all of us. Does that sound good?"
Lindsay collapsed into her seat, turned away, crossed her arms, and huffed, "Fine," muttering "Stupid slushies. Stupid popsicles."
Paige mischievously joked back, "I heard that! You know you like them."
Lindsay, knowing she was defeated and outnumbered in this argument, slumped further into her seat and let her pout grow, ignoring Paige's half-mocking plea to "not be like that".
While all that was going on, Linda noticed a fair-skinned, white-haired boy in orange swim trunks walking right onto the middle of the road, seemingly on the brink of fainting. When she saw the boy continuing to walk onto the middle of the road, she fearfully yelled at Brian, "Honey, look out! STOP THE CAR!"
That caused Brian to notice the boy. As Brian observed the boy's gait and sense of direction, he realized that he was going too fast, and that he was going to hit the boy.
Brian slammed on the brakes and yelled at his kids, "Brace yourselves! We're gonna hit someone!"
Brian's yell easily alerted his kids to the situation, who began freaking out and screaming themselves.
Meanwhile, Lincoln started recovering from his exhaustion-induced trance only to find a white van barreling down the road, seemingly headed straight for him. In a flash, he froze, his fight-or-flight response too overwhelmed from the previous week's turmoil to really register or react to the threat. As the car continued to get closer to him, and the screeches of said car's brakes grew louder and louder, he bitterly hoped that his so-called family wouldn't find his mangled body. Finally, as the car closed in on Lincoln, he closed his eyes and braced himself for the hit.
And then… nothing. When the screeching of the car's brakes stopped, Lincoln stood motionless for a few seconds before deciding it was safe to open his eyes. When he did, he felt a weird combination of shock, relief, and anguish. The car had stopped mere inches away from his face, keeping him both alive and unharmed. Lincoln had directly stared down the barrel of death, and had lived to tell the tale. Incredibly panicked and frozen from the experience, Lincoln started to hyperventilate. As he did so, he subconsciously wondered if every gasp of air would be the last of his short life. He was so overwhelmed that he couldn't pay attention to the two very concerned adults rushing out of the car.
As Becky, Paige, & Lindsay looked on in horror and stunned silence, Brian and Linda exclaimed, "Oh my god! Kid, are you OK?", as they checked Lincoln for signs of distress. Lincoln only managed to painfully groan in response.
But Brian asking Lincoln, "Where are your parents, kid?", was enough to bring Lincoln to his senses. When Lincoln regained awareness of the full weight of his situation, he began to cry in Brian's arms.
Sensing Lincoln's distress, Brian and Linda decided to cradle him while also checking to see if he was physically sick. As Linda felt Lincoln's forehead, she gasped worriedly, "Oh my god, you're getting a fever. We've got to get you in the car, now!"
Brian and Linda then scanned the road for more cars before rushing with Lincoln in their arms back to the car. As they did, Lincoln weakly begged the Sweetwater parents, "T-the doctor? D-d-don't take me home. D-don't tell my parents. Please. Turn the car around. I'm not going back there!"
Hearing Lincoln begging to be away from his home, Linda gasped and cried, "Oh my god! What happened to you?"
Lincoln slurred deliriously, "B-bad people. Ch-chasing me. Squirrel suit. Go."
Knowing Lincoln was not fully composed, and not bothering to question it, Brian and Linda carried him into the car and hoisted him into the van's back seat. Once they buckled Lincoln's seatbelt, they cranked the A/C up and opened the window to give him some fresh, cool air. Once seated, Lincoln slumped, barely able to keep himself upright from the stress of the whole experience. He remained this way even as Brian quickly turned the car around & sped off in the opposite direction, hoping not to run into any more unfortunate kids like Lincoln. The next couple of minutes were totally silent as every Sweetwater except for Brian intently watched Lincoln.
A couple of minutes later, Lindsay broke the silence when she realized that Lincoln Loud, the pageant coach of Lola Loud, was the kid her parents rescued. Seeing the opportunity in front of her, she feebly muttered, "L-L-L-Lincoln? Lincoln Loud?"
Lincoln panted as he opened his eyes to focus on his surroundings. He noticed that he was in a comfortable van. Not Vanzilla, but an actual working van with working A/C and comfortable, non-crooked leather upholstery. To the left of him was bags full of his rescuers' beach equipment and clothes. In front of him was a tall, orange-haired man aggressively gripping the steering wheel, and four red-haired females, all of which he either knew or had seen at some point in his life, looking back at him with genuine concern as he struggled to wake up. As Lincoln slowly opened his eyes, he noticed a voice calling out to him, "Lincoln?" It took Lincoln a couple of seconds before he could process where the voice calling his name came from. When he followed the sound of the voice, he saw a little red-haired girl, about 6 years of age, fearing for his well-being.
As his eyes focused on the girl and made out her features, he immediately recognized her: "Lindsay Sweetwater? What are you doing here? As a matter of fact, what am I doing here?"
Paige deadpanned in response, "We could be asking you the same thing."
As Lincoln regained his strength, he noticed the other people in front of him. The woman who helped carry him into the car was riding shotgun, with her presumed husband driving. He decided to thank them once he felt energized enough to do so. Lincoln recognized the other 2 girls sitting to the left of Lindsay as Becky and Paige. Initially, he wondered what they were doing there. That was until he remembered seeing a label, "Paige Sweetwater", on the board with every student's year-end book reports the previous June. He also remembered one conversation he had with Paige where she mentioned she had sisters. At that moment, it clicked for Lincoln: Yup, it's that Paige, that Becky, and that Lindsay. It's all making sense.
A very worried Becky then asked, "Where are your parents & sisters, Lincoln? Or any of your friends? I hardly ever see you out alone, much less this far from home. What's going on? Should I call Lori for you? Or Leni?"
As soon as Becky uttered those names, Lincoln's face flushed almost completely red with anger. However, knowing Becky might not be ready for the whole truth, and not wanting Lori or Leni to find him, he just distraughtly moaned, "No, I'm exhausted. Let me sleep. Please."
The rest of the drive back to the Sweetwater house was filled with tense silence. Brian didn't even put on any music for the family to listen to, deciding instead to use the time to collect his thoughts. It was the most somber & silent drive any of them had ever experienced.
(Scene Change: Huron Beach)
"Alright Lincoln, it's been 5 minutes! Get back here! And make sure you have that squirrel suit on!", Lynn Sr. shouted as he checked his watch.
When his wife and daughters didn't see Lincoln, they immediately cried out in panicked protest.
Lynn Sr. rallied his family, "Don't worry, kids, we'll find our good luck charm!", to which his wife & daughters cheered.
Between the various water sports teams headquartered at the beach, the fast-food shacks lining the beach, and the facilities offered by the beach itself, Huron Beach had 8 sets of bathrooms. Each family member thoroughly combed every building on the beach, along with the beach itself, looking for their good luck charm.
Lynn Sr. called out, "Lincoln, my boy, where are you?"
Rita said loudly, "Lincoln? Lincoln?"
Lori yelled, "Twerp, we need your good luck!"
Leni begged, "Linky! Linky, come out!"
Luna pled, "Linc, come on bro! Our family needs your good luck!"
Luan quipped, "Lincoln, come on? We'd be 'drained' without you! Hahahaha, get it?"
Lynn Jr. shouted, "Come on, Stinkoln! Tryna catch a big wave out here!"
Lucy said, "I ask the spirits' assistance in finding our good luck charm!"
Lana proclaimed, "If you fell in, I'm gonna dig you outta there even if I die trying!"
Lola threatened, "LINKY, IF YOU DON'T COME OUT RIGHT NOW!"
Lisa boasted, "Don't worry, family units! I'll find Lincoln in no time!"
Lily babbled, "Incon! Ba wuck! Quiwa gu wuck! Incon!"
As Leni ran into the girls' bathroom of the Huron Kayaking Association's headquarters to look for Lincoln, Lori sighed "Leni, Lincoln's a boy. He would be in the boys' bathroom," before muttering to herself, "Unless he's gender-confused."
Leni chirped in reply, "Oh, sorry," as she ran out of the bathroom.
Unfortunately for the Louds, their search for Lincoln would come to a short & untimely end. During their frantic search for their "good luck charm", numerous doors were kicked, punched, slammed, and/or literally torn open, mostly thanks to Lynn. Multiple bathroom-goers freaked out at having their privacy violated, and several Loud sisters even had to go into neighboring stalls a couple of times to throw up after what they had seen. The Louds acted so crazed in their search of Lincoln that they forgot to flush their vomit. These actions caused said bathroom-goers to report the Louds to the beach's numerous workers, ranging from lifeguards to the front-desk lady, vowing they'd "never come back again."
As the Louds ran from the bathrooms back to the beach, a lifeguard yelled at them, "LOUD FAMILY, OUT!"
When Lori tried to protest, "But we were just looking for our brother!", the lifeguard scolded them, "Yeah, but violating others' bathroom privacy & destroying bathroom property is NOT the way to do it!"
When a blonde ponytail-haired teen at the front desk slammed the door shut on the Louds, the Loud sisters immediately started furiously banging their fists on the door, begging her to let them back inside.
Lynn Jr. fumed, "THAT LITTLE JINX! I'M GONNA KILL HIM! I'M GONNA STRANGLE HIM, THEN BURY HIM, DIG HIM UP & CLONE HIM, & THEN KILL ALL HIS CLONES!"
Lori growled, "I'M GONNA LITERALLY TURN HIM INTO A HUMAN PRETZEL! AND THEN I'M NEVER GONNA TALK TO THAT TWERP AGAIN!"
Lola shrieked, "WHEN WE FIND HIM, HE IS SO DEAD! PROBABLY TOOK OFF THE SUIT, TOO!"
Luna roared, "YEAH, I'M GONNA GIVE HIM MY 'AXE' RIGHT TO THE FACE!"
Luan threatened, "NEXT APRIL 1…. HE'S MY 'NUMBER ONE' TARGET! NOT MY 'NUMBER TWO!'"
Lisa then calmly but furiously growled, "I can help you out with those clones, Lynn. No catch this time."
Lucy viciously muttered, "I will summon dark spirits to curse you to an eternity of damnation, Lincoln."
Lana yelled, "COME OUT, SQUIRREL BOY! AND WE WON'T MAKE IT HURT TOO MUCH!"
Leni cried, "LINKY! COME BACK! WE LOVE YOU! JUST PUT THE CUTE SQUIRREL SUIT ON!"
Lynn Sr. begged, "Please… let us find our goo-I mean son. We don't know where he is."
Rita, who was holding Lily, cried, "My baby boy! Bring him back to us! He's wearing a squirrel suit!"
The front desk girl yelled, "Not until your daughters calm down! They're wild animals!"
As Rita observed her daughters' fervor, she sighed in frustration before whistling loudly to get her daughters' attention. When Rita saw her daughters' eyes on her, she yelled, "You girls got us kicked out of yet ANOTHER place! And your behaviour isn't helping find your only brother and good luck charm!"
Lynn Jr. snapped, "But Stinkoln...", before Rita angrily pointed at the family van and ominously warned her daughters, "Get in Vanzilla now before Dad & I show you what real bad luck is."
The girls moaned and mumbled to themselves curse words about everyone at the beach, yet still obliged.
Rita then straightened, nervously laughed, and explained, "As you can see, my daughters love their good luck… I mean brother. Can you please help us find him?"
The blonde, feeling a little pity for Rita, shook her head and sighed, "Fine, we'll search for him. Give us a description of your boy, your phone number and address, and we'll give you a call as soon as we find him."
Frantically, Rita gave the blonde a visual description of Lincoln and his squirrel suit, the house phone number, and the family's home address, and immediately afterward, the front desk girl commanded the family to leave. Rita & Lynn Sr. then put Lily in her car seat and shuffled to Vanzilla before driving to Royal Woods. Immediately, tensions began to simmer.
Lynn Jr. venomously said, "Where? Is? That? Little? Jinx?"
Lynn Sr. sighed before pointing out, "Because of that attitude, you got us kicked out of the only place we could find him! Now, we're going to have to wait for some ding-danged beach worker, who probably doesn't even know what she's doing, to find OUR GOOD LUCK CHARM! AND SON! Because of YOUR attitude, Junior, we're going to get bad luck!"
After enduring her sisters' various complaints, Lori then threatened, "Yeah, maybe you're the unlucky one, Lynn. Let's throw you out next," to which the rest of the Loud sisters mockingly laughed.
Lynn Jr. fired back, "You know I can kick all your asses, right?"
Lori then pressured, "You on tip. It's 9-against-1. I'd like to see you try."
Lynn Jr. seethed, "When we get home… you're in for it, bitch."
Exasperated, Rita slumped in the shotgun seat as yet another drive turned into a nonstop circus. Lana & Lola quarreled as usual. Lisa droned on about the numerous weak points of Vanzilla. Lynn Jr. kicked any seat she could and fought with Lucy to blow off steam. Luan didn't stop making annoying puns about her 'missing Linc'. Lily had to have her diaper changed at least once. Luna continued to reinforce the meaning of her family's name with her singing. Lori farted in the car and puked on a fortunately empty seat whenever Vanzilla screeched to a halt. And finally, every sister in the car also viciously argued with each other about who would beat who in a fight.
Meanwhile, back at Huron Beach, the front desk teen blonde considered calling 911 before being taken out of her thoughts by nonstop buzzing on her phone. The nonstop buzzing was accompanied by a big alert: "End of shift." Smiling to herself a little, she checked her notifications and scrolled past the countless Instapic notifications that each signalled a thirsty dude liking her latest pic. In the middle of that deluge, she found a text from a groupchat of her best friends since kindergarten. Immediately afterward, she double-checked the date and time on her phone, and gasped. It was her bestie's 17th birthday, and they were going to the local Cherry Hornet's to celebrate. She packed up, changed into normal clothes, and said to herself, with regards to the child, "Not my problem."
She would not alert authorities of Lincoln Loud's "disappearance" that day.
(Scene Change: Loud House, 3:15 PM)
After a tense drive with a couple of mechanical errors, which the Loud family again blamed on their absent "good luck charm," the Louds had finally made it back to their home in Royal Woods. By that time, they had managed to somewhat calm down. Once Lynn Jr. walked out of the car, she immediately bolted to the garage & started striking the punching bag so hard that it felt like an earthquake to the rest of her family.
As that happened, Luna sighed, "At least she's not doing that to us. That's a miracle."
About an hour later, Lynn Sr. began to prepare a mac & cheese bites dinner for his family. He was about to put them on the cooker when Leni approached him.
Leni worriedly asked Lynn Sr., "Daddy, where's Linky?"
Lynn Sr. sadly responded, "We don't know. But he couldn't have gone far from that beach. The beach is an hour and change away from our house by car."
Lisa then approached the fashionista and explained, "Plus, if Lincoln's away from us, he is neither good nor bad luck to us. He has no effect on our luck whatsoever. So we can rely on our skills to win. And you won't have any, um, street name, fashion disasters."
That immediately calmed Leni down. She smiled, letting out a big, "Ohhhhhh," before walking back to her room to design her next trending dress.
Closing A/N (July 20, 2022): Moved my original BTS chapter here. Also, combined my original first, second, & fifth chapters into this one, with the exception of the original fifth chapter's (Premonition) ending scene with Lucy. So here's my story's setup:
When the Luck incident happened & Lincoln was locked outside, Lynn is said to have been in the "playoffs" of her baseball season. Judging by Lynn Jr.'s athletic prowess, she would likely be on a rep baseball team, maybe even a travel team.
We also see character development with regards to the Loud sisters being nicer in later seasons, & they DID go to the beach after Lynn's playoff game. So that means the events of every episode aired after NSL have not happened yet unless I say otherwise. That means Bobby & Ronnie Anne are still in Royal Woods, Stella hasn't arrived, Lori & Carol are still rivals… you get the picture.
I'm from Toronto, only a couple of hundred miles north of Detroit. Royal Woods is implied to be a suburb of Detroit, because it's in Michigan, and Canada is "right across the river" according to Schooled!, which would be the Detroit River. I remember that when I was in middle school (Lincoln & Lynn's age), the girls' softball season took place in the autumn. I know Lynn Jr. plays baseball, but where I'm from, girls hardly ever play baseball; they play softball instead. I also remember being in high school & the golf team playing in fall, which would explain Lori having a "golf game coming up". The professional baseball (MLB) playoffs are in October. The Little League World Series, which someone like Lynn Jr. would try to lead her team to, takes place in September. So judging from all of that, the playoffs of Lynn Jr.'s baseball season would probably take place in August, or September at the absolute latest.
The Loud House typically shows trees full of green leaves & the characters' antics at home, which happen in the daytime. Given that they mainly wear short-sleeved clothing & dresses, it's safe to assume many of the episodes happen over summer break. If you want autumn episodes, well, Toronto is known for having "Indian summers." Basically, there's always a week or two straight in early October where days top 70 degrees Fahrenheit & it's sunny (gotta use US terms because a majority of my readers are from the States), and usually, there will be a week or so in early-mid November where temperatures will reach 60-65 degrees, maybe even passing it. I figure that Detroit, being not that far south of us, has the same conditions, but a little warmer (I remember Windsor, the city across the border from Detroit, having a 78-degree day listed on the Weather Network in October once).
In addition, Lincoln is shown as 11 years old and in 5th grade throughout the first 4 seasons of the show, implying that he's one of the oldest kids among his classmates. So his birthday would be in September.
Taking all of this into account, as well as the fact that the ground & trees are shown to be green, I decided that the events of No Such Luck took place at the end of September of Lincoln's 5th grade year. Which means the events of this AU would start in October of Lincoln's 5th grade year.
This means that many of the "holiday-themed" or "weather-themed" episodes (e.g. The Price of Admission, the Christmas specials, Snow Bored, L is for Love, the April Fools' Day specials except for April Fools' Rules) have not happened yet.
Other episodes that haven't happened yet include:
- The Loudest Yard (due to ongoing football season, started, but not completed);
- The Waiting Game (first senior dance, likely the homecoming dance, so concurrent to this fanfic);
- Cover Girls (spring cleaning, so March);
- The Green House (probably an "Earth Day" challenge, taking place in April);
- Study Muffin (Lincoln's "big multi-subject test" is probably an end-of-year test, in May or June); and
- Vantastic Voyage (not enough time, doesn't fit in concurrently with plots of other episodes)
I also assumed a lot of the incidents at the Loud House where no going to school is shown happened in the summer break between Lincoln's 4th & 5th grade years. I'm putting the Sadie Hawkins Dance featured in "Dance, Dance Resolution," and consequently, "Heavy Meddle" and "April Fools' Rules", as have taken place during Lincoln's 4th grade year. I'm also putting "Party Down" as Lori's 17th birthday party, so it will have also taken place a few months before this episode. And since "Take Your Kids to Work Day" is the 4th Thursday of April every year in the USA, I'm having "A Novel Idea" take place on the 4th Thursday of the April before NSL.
As for my choice of who saves Lincoln, I know what you're thinking: "Lindsay Sweetwater? Why would fmarcsthespot use the psychopathic Lindsay Sweetwater, who might be just as bad as Lola, for a revenge attempt on his family?" Well, in her brief appearance in A Tattler's Tale, Lindsay is shown spilling Lola's secrets to Lincoln, quote, "not because she likes him, but because she's tired of always coming in second place to Lola!" This, combined with her beauty pageant participation, implies she has a similar personality to Lola. Because of her personality traits and ruthlessness, she's the only Loud House character other than the Louds themselves, IMO, that's going to be able to do what I want to do with this fanfic. I just ran with it.
So, that's the context of my story. Be sure to give it a favorite and a follow, and stay tuned!