He wasn't sure what compelled him to wake up as early as he did, especially given that he had the capability to sleep in as much as he wanted. Something he normally capitalised on whenever he could and always took advantage of any opportunity to get more sleep... or just stay inside in general.

However, he didn't feel like doing that today. Perhaps it was because his mother was going to be leaving him alone for a portion of the day, as she drove the younger girls to their school. Or perhaps it was the idea that he was going to be left alone in the house with the elder girls until his mother came back, which wouldn't be for a while 'cause she was also going to be meeting her new boss today.

Currently the sole boy of the house was busy eating a bowl of cereal in the living room, still clothed in his orange pajamas with his brown wool hat firmly placed atop his head.

He watched as the younger girls moved back and forth, scrambling to get their stuff together ready for school. Unlike yesterday however, most of the older girls were not present, as they were still upstairs sleeping.

The only one of the eldest girls who wasn't still sleeping was the jock, who seemed to be busy running around, gathering all of her stuff together. Which included a lot of sports equipment, some of those things didn't even match together with each other. It looked like she was preparing for the possibility that she could be invited to any sport at any moment and had to have her equipment with her at all times.

Although others would say that he was exaggerating slightly.

He was still extremely nervous around each of them, especially after the scare he received yesterday. He tried to be more perceptive of his surroundings so he wouldn't be caught off guard by Lucy again but that proved to be harder then he originally thought. He could hear when any of the other girls would go near or past him but he never caught Lucy that way. Sometimes he'd look up and she would just be there, standing still in the room with her head faced down in her little book. The next time he looked, she'd be gone and he never caught her coming or going.

It was creepy just thinking about it.

He tried to not let it affect him but he couldn't help but be unnerved by Lucy's ability to slink in and out of a room unnoticed. Hopefully he would get used to it...

Eventually.

A sharp whistle responded through the bottom of the house, making Lincoln flinch slightly, he turned to see Lynn - the girls' father - stood just by the front door, tying up a neck tie. His youngest daughter Lily at his feet as she was trying to get her rattle to work.

"Are you ready girls? Cause it's time to go."

Lincoln watched as all of the younger girls seemed to swarm from different parts of the house, as if racing each other to the front door. Although it did look like the twins were doing exactly that. It didn't take long until all four of the younger girls were present at the door, a moment afterwards the red clothed Jock came up to them too, a large duffle bag full of sports equipment with her.

"Dad, do I have to carpool with you today?"

Unfortunately, there was one problem that had arose when his mother had decided to carpool the younger girls to school. The Jock herself still had school, as she went to the middle school, but there wasn't enough space to transport her to her own school - and with Lori having been promised a sleep in today - there was no way they were going to wake her so she would use their van to drive her to school herself.

Luckily, she could carpool with her dad on the way to his work as the middle school was on the way, so she would be seen off by her father at the very least.

The father of ten looked to his sporty daughter, letting out a sigh. "It's this or ride to school today, which means you'll have to leave some of your equipment at home if you ride."

The jock stomped her foot on the ground, trying to look serious. "But I need all of this, I've got football practice at school today, then baseball after school, then I've got to go roller skating with Polly at the park. "

"Then I'm afraid you'll have to come with me today." Lynn sighed as he looked down at his daughter. "I'm sorry sport, we didn't think about this problem yesterday as no-one said anything about it." The man spotted a knowing smile, which gained the full attention of the jock. "Perhaps if someone wasn't so quick yesterday, they would have been able to sort this problem sooner."

The girl rolled her eyes as she took the hint. "Yeah, yeah. It's my fault. I'm waiting outside." Trudging her large bag with her she stepped outside and into the front porch, shutting the door behind her.

It was only a few minutes after that that Rita emerged from the adults' shared bedroom, slinging her handbag over her shoulder as she rummaged through it for her car keys. "Honey, why don't you go get the car seats from the van and move them to my car, I'll be out in a minute."

"Sure thing dear." The elder man opened the door as he gestured to outside, he picked up his youngest daughter before she could crawl out the door. "Come on girls, why don't you help me?"

Each of the girls let out a small groan but complied none the less, they followed their father outside before the door was shut.

Rita let a smile adorn her face before she turned to her son, seeing him somewhat relaxed was comforting but she could see that he was still partially coiled up. Ready to bolt off if need be, she moved over to him and sat next to him on the sofa. "You gonna be alright sweetie?"

The boy nodded before putting his empty bowl down. "Yeah, I guess. You won't be too long will you?" Seeing the look of worry in her son's eyes was enough to tug at her heartstrings.

She sighed as she pulled him into a hug. "I'll be as fast as I can ok? I can't promise I'll be quick though." She would have ruffled his hair but his hat made that impossible and she knew better then to ignore one of his coping mechanisms for something she wanted. Instead, she gave him a gentle squeeze before pulling away. "Don't worry you'll be fine... And you'll have all of your 'big sisters ' here to help. Ok?"

Seeing him nod Rita planted a kiss on his forehead before standing up. "I'll see you later ok?"

When she got to the door she gave Lincoln a little wave before exiting the house, Shutting and locking it behind her.

For a few minutes Lincoln sat there, he could hear each of the younger girls trying to clamor over the car until finally he heard its engine start and soon drive away. A few minutes after that another car drove up, picked up Lynn and his daughters before driving off too. Leaving Lincoln on his own.

Honestly, he wasn't even sure what he should do. He had unpacked yesterday, he didn't need to go out till tomorrow, where he would be getting a small tour of his new school. There certainly wasn't a need to wake anyone up either, so he settled with just turning the TV on. Hoping to find something entertaining to watch.

Slowly he scrolled through the channels, making note of which ones they did and did not have available. So far nothing had interested him yet, he was about to give up looking until he stumbled across a Sci-fi movie he had seen before. Cyborg Ninja.

It was a particularly good film, it started with a highly skilled ninja from a Japanese family being almost killed by his older brother, only to be saved by a Swiss doctor of a growing humanitarian group. Unfortunately, he had to be given extensive cybernetic parts in order to save his life, to the point that he looked more machine than man.

From there he went on a mission of revenge, soul searching and forgiveness against his own criminal family. Ultimately confronting his own brother in their family home, who was ridden with guilt as he believed he had truly killed his brother and was never given the chance to bury him.

Soon Lincoln found himself indulged in the movie, watching as the protagonist learned to use his new body with his old skills. Most parents would not let their kids watch such a violent film but this one was okay in his mother's book as it contained very little blood and gore, most of it was left to the viewers imagination.

By the time the halfway mark of the movie came around Lincoln was engrossed in watching it. Currently the protagonist was sneaking into one of his family's own warehouses, in hopes of catching someone who he knew was higher up on the chain of command then anyone he could get his hands on.

He was so engrossed in fact, that he didn't hear Luna descend down the stairs. The rocker was dressed in her standard day clothes, having recently come out of the shower. Normally Luna would be the type to sleep in till midday but with her friend/ girlfriend Sam coming round she couldn't afford to sleep in till that late.

When she noticed Lincoln on the sofa she smiled, he looked so... cute, like that. Her eyes looked to the TV and her smile dropped as she saw the green cyborg doing flips and throwing shurikens at people. She moved to behind the sofa before leaning onto the back, being right beside him.

She went to open her mouth and then quickly remembered what happened yesterday when he had been scared, she didn't need that repeating and waking everyone else up, especially Lori. So instead, she made a quick tour of the kitchen, getting herself a coffee and a snack, she'd eat properly later when she worked up an appetite.

When she returned, she saw the cyborg was holding a man in a suit against a wall at... Bladepoint? He was brandishing a large katana blade, the tip touching the man's throat. Luna circled her way around the sofa, making sure to not get in his way, before sitting next to the boy.

She gave him a smile when he looked to her and he quickly averted his gaze to the screen.

"What's this?" She's took a sip of her coffee, relishing in the bitter taste as it rushed down her throat. Shame they didn't have authentic British coffee.

"Cyborg Ninja."

Ah, well. She should have expected that.

"I think it's got a sequel... " Lincoln scratched the bottom of his jaw as he thought about it, questioning if he was right or not. "Uh, Cyborg Ninja: The Dragon Brothers... I think, I'm not sure."

An uneasy silence sprang up between the two of them, with little to talk about there was almost no hope in having a real conversation. Luna had no other preparation to get done before Sam arrived and with nothing to talk about, she sat down and watched the movie next to her future step-brother.

At first, she didn't think much of it, what with a robot running around and flipping all over the place and somehow dodging bullets and at one point deflecting one. But, she grew to enjoy the film instead of questioning everything and while it wasn't her cup of tea she still enjoyed it. It wasn't everyday that you could watch a movie without everyone else interfering.

The movie came to a close after a climatic fight between the two brothers that ended in a draw before each brother revealed the truth about themselves. The older brother had forsaken the family business after killing his brother and the cyborg was the brother who he had slain but not killed.

The ending left a little to be desired but it only made Lincoln feel a little confident about his earlier judgment about a sequel.

"Well... I wasn't expecting that." Truthfully Luna had expected it to end like most action movies, violence and killing, the confusion must have been evident on her face as Lincoln spoke up.

"You only really understand it if you watch from the beginning, otherwise it's easy to get lost."

The rocker nodded before standing and stretching her arms up, letting her joints pop when she stretched them far enough. "You have fun with the TV little bro." She reached down and grabbed her half empty cup of cold coffee and Lincoln's empty bowl before starting her way for the kitchen.

The TV had lost its appeal very quickly after the movie, with almost nothing entertaining on anymore Lincoln had decided to continue to draw in his notepad, it didn't take much to finish the basics of his drawing yesterday and was working on the finer details now.

He even felt a little more confident today... Slightly. Well maybe not but he was taking a risk that might be worth the reward. Instead of being in his own room, he was seated in the dining hall at the table. He knew the only way to get to know the rest of them would be to be around them, being isolated in his room wouldn't help that.

He figured that maybe the older ones wouldn't be as judgmental as the younger girls, hopefully. Luna certainly didn't judge him for what he watched, so there was that.

During the few short hours, he had been drawing two of the other girls had woken up, the blonde with the sunglasses and the brunette with the braces... He really needed to figure out who was who soon before he called them by the wrong name.

The blonde was watching some fashion shows on The TV and the brunette was... actually he didn't know. And that left him a little uneasy.

The sound of the door knocking caught his attention and he pulled his head away from his notepad, his curiosity being peaked. However, he didn't move from his spot, his mother had always taught him to never answer the door unless he was expecting someone to come round.

It was a minute later that Luna came rushing into the living room before bolting for the door, stopping for only a moment to open the door without hitting herself.

"Sam!"

"Luna! "

Lincoln's brows furrowed at the sound of the second girl's voice, trying to visualize her by voice alone.

"Come in, quick."

It was then that Luna re-emerged into view, one hand holding onto the new girl's wrist. The two of them stopped halfway in the living room, just outside the dining room where he was sat. From there he got a good look at Luna's friend.

She wore a short teal leather jacket with a white T-shirt that bore the RAF symbol on its front. She also wore a pair of burgundy jeans with rips at the knees, which was being supported by a studded black belt. She even wore a pair of dark purple boots. Even from where he was sat, he could see the two pairs of piercings in her ears and most importantly one lock of her hair was dyed teal, the same colour as her jacket.

Admittedly he didn't think much of her, not in a harsh way, but because he couldn't gouge what she was like from looks alone. He figured that she would share some interest with Luna... Even though he knew very little about Luna's own interests.

The two girls shared a small hug before Sam held Luna by the shoulders. "So, my purple pixie, are you ready to rock and roll? "

"Absolutely, but there's something I need to do first." Sam raised her eyebrow in a quizzical manner, before she could even ask Luna had grabbed her jaw and turned her head to the side. Where her eyes landed right into Lincoln, the boy in question - realising he had been noticed - quickly put his head down in order to keep working on his drawing.

Sam let in a sharp gasp before it developed into a small squeal of joy. She whipped her head around to her girlfriend before starting her into the eye. "No!" Luna nodded at her silently and Sam squealed again. "Why didn't you tell me? I would have been able to practice my introduction at least."

" Sorry I guess I kinda... forgot yesterday. What with the flooding and all that. "

The blonde haired girl let out a knowing sigh before she backed up from Luna. See it wasn't just the Loud family who had been told of Lincoln and Rita's arrival, the girls who were on board with the two moving in had even spread the word to their own inner circles. Although they themselves knew nothing about him, it didn't stop them from trying to imagine him in their heads. For Sam that meant imagining what Luna would be like with a younger brother, especially since she only has sisters her whole life.

Now, there he was, just sitting at the table like he belonged. Sam had to admit, he didn't look like she imagined but when she was given zero details that was to be expected. Even so, she would have been stupid to not notice his shyness, the way he avoided eye contact and was far more focused on what he was doing as opposed to everyone else.

She could tell immediately that a simple approach would most likely be too much for the boy to handle, if he couldn't meet her eyes now then he certainly wouldn't be able to talk to her on his own, not without some form of middle ground.

"So? You going to introduce me to him?"

Luna snapped out of her happy trance before her eyes darted back and forth between Sam and Lincoln. Truthfully Luna had a lot riding on the two of them meeting, it wasn't that she wanted Lincoln approval on her relationship with Sam but she didn't want to keep him in the dark, not like she had done to her own sisters. It was just the nagging feeling that he would not approve, it did not stem from anything other than her own fear of being disproved by others.

A fear that had started when she realised her own sexuality some time ago as she didn't believe her family would approve, it was even harder to overcome said fear as it hadn't been long since they had lost their mother. As much as she was closer to her dad then her mom, she figured that had she been around it would have been easier to come out.

In the end her fears were unjustified, but now they were coming back full force. In regards to both Lincoln and Rita.

"Uh, sure."

Slowly the rocker pulled Sam closer to Lincoln. The two ladies stopped on the other side of the table, keeping a nice distance between the two separate parties.

"Hey Lincoln."

The boy in question looked up from his drawing, shrinking slightly as the two - unintentionally - towered over him. He looked between the two of them before making eye contact with Luna, giving a silent nod to her. Which she picked up on.

"I, uh... Just wanted to introduce you to Sam my uh..." The purple rockettes cheeks began to light up in a small red hue as she started to look away from the boy, unknowingly squeezing Sam's hand without realising that she had been holding it in the first place.

You'd think that it would be easier to come out a second time, just say it and be done. But no matter what Luna could never say it out loud, last time it took her writing it all down and presenting it to her siblings to say it to them.

Noticing that she had gotten tongue tied, Sam raised their connected hands up, effectively showing it off to Lincoln. "Girlfriend." She's continued. "Her girlfriend." Now Sam was sporting a small blush herself, although for a different reason.

"Oh..." Each girl was unaware of the other tensing, expecting some kind of negative remark. "...ok." As quickly as that Lincoln put his head down and resumed his drawing.

Despite the unexpected response, Luna could feel a massive wave of relief wash over her, Sam herself relaxed slightly. The hard part was over, now all they had to do was keep going from here. She's wasn't so sure on why she had felt the way she did but she didn't deem it unjustified, fear could easily overpower all forms of logic.

"Cool, Cool dude." Luna let out a chuckle before her shoulders sagged, non-existent disaster averted. "Come on Sam, let's go jam out some tunes."

Smiling at each other the two teens made way for the door, Luna stopped before turning back to Lincoln. "Hey dude, you wanna come join us? Could always use an audience."

From her spot by the door frame Luna could see the look cross over his face, surprise mixed with fear. She's hoped that she didn't put him on the spot too hard there, she knew what it was like to have that happen to her.

Unfortunately for Lincoln, that's exactly what it felt like. The way he saw it he had two options, he could decline and be left to his own devices or go with her and spend some time with her. If he stayed then he could do what he wanted but then he wouldn't be putting any effort into getting to know Luna and in turn wouldn't put any effort to know the rest of the girls. If he went with her, then he could get to know her more, learn her likes and dislikes but then he may not like being involved with everything, especially if she was going to play music.

He wasn't sure how much loud noise he could handle at once.

Seeing the struggle on his face, Luna decided it was best to lower her offer. "It's your choice dude, you don't have to nor do I expect you to. I'm just offering, ok?"

Lincoln's face twitched slightly, going from thoughtful to slightly relaxed before jumping back to thoughtful. He looked between Luna and his drawing for a moment, revealing his chipped tooth as he bit his bottom lip. He knew, he knew he needed to make the first move, make an effort. Even if all he did was sit near her and listen and/or have his eardrums burst from her loud music.

"If you don't mind."

Although she almost didn't hear him, Luna let a relaxed smile form on her face. "Of course I don't mind dude! That's why I'm asking. Just remember, you are free to leave whenever you want, you don't have to get involved if you don't want... You don't even have to do anything if you don't want to ok? Just come and have some fun rocking out with us. "

"Ok. " Lincoln scooped up his art supplies before slowly following Luna and Sam outside, where the three of them entered the side door of the garage.

The two teens quickly pushed towards their music equipment, which had been set up the day before thanks to Luna. Lincoln shuffled in behind the two of them awkwardly, not quite sure on where to stand or move to.

Noticing this Luna gestured to Sam to check over their equipment before giving the room a place over. Quickly spotting the old chair that had been left in there for some time, she pulled it out and put in in a different corner, facing towards the equipment before she placed a sturdy box in front of that.

"There you go dude, your own little front row seat to the show. "

Mumbling out a thanks he took a seat, finding the chair to be slightly lopsided on one of its legs. The box however was at an appreciable height, he would have to hunch over only slightly to be able to draw.

The two separate parties both worked away for a few minutes to organise their own things, just as Luna was almost done, she and Sam caught Lincoln looking over their stuff. One Quick look at each other had the two of them pulling off a pose with their guitars in his direction.

Had Luna paid just a little more attention to him at that moment she would have seen Lincoln's eyes shine in creativity, a spark of pure joy went through him as he memorized the girls pose and the layout of everything in the room. Suddenly the idea of drawing his own home didn't seem very interesting anymore, not when he was granted such a... picturesque image.

He flipped the page over, quickly looking up between the girls and his book to get an idea on where to start.

With a quick check between them the girls played a few mellow chords to check their guitars tune. After that they checked with Lincoln to see if he was ready, after a nervous nod the girls started to play.

At first Lincoln didn't recognize the songs they played and he was grateful that Luna wasn't playing her music too loudly. It was loud and in the garage it certainly echoed around the room that made Lincoln's entire frame shake and he was sure that his ears would be ringing by the time they were done but even he couldn't deny that Luna had some real skill when it came to playing.

Lincoln did his best to focus on his drawing but he couldn't help but notice how the two teens didn't just play their instruments, they lived them, their guitars became extensions to help them perform.

After a few songs the music eventually changed to one that stuck Lincoln a little deeper than normal, it was one he recognised. As the girls played, he found it harder to keep his eyes off them, soon he was tapping a finger against his pencil in a rhythmic fashion. Before long it had evolved into foot tapping and a slight head-banging.

As much as Lincoln liked this song, he didn't feel confident enough to get up and dance to it, not in the way he would at home whenever he got the chance to listen to music.

His actions did not go unnoticed by the girls, who both found his actions adorable and dorky. Luna herself sported a happy smile as she realised that the two of them just might have something in common, as the last verse came about Luna out a little extra effort into delivering it perfectly. When she ripped the last chord, she did a small knee slide forwards as she brought her right hand up with a devil's horn signature.

"THANK YOU ROYAL WOODS!" Luna panted as she tried to regain her breath, shredding on an axe took a lot of hard work after all, not to mention doing it for nearly an hour.

She didn't not expect to receive an ovation from her single person audience, nor was she surprised when she didn't actually receive one. That didn't stop her from basking in her own self-proclaimed glory as if she had though.

Luna and Lincoln caught each other's eyes. "So..." She's spoke slowly as she was still out of breath. "Someone's a Smooch fan. Am I right little bro?"

Slowly Lincoln nodded as he averted his eyes away from the two of them, his cheeks heated up as he realised that he had been caught out but... He didn't mind, at least he could share his music interest with her without fear of being judged... Mostly.

"Rocking Dude!"

A/N: I did it, I finally did it. I got past my writers block and managed to get this chapter done. Thank F-ing God. I didn't want to start on anything else until this was done cause I knew I would have slacked behind on this story.

Glad I restarted this chapter cause now I have a better chapter then I originally did.

As for the long wait well... That's life for you. I'll try to put a little more focus on this but I can't make any promises.

Enjoy.