The Princess and the space cowboy Chapter 41: Breakfast, a loud house fanfic

Author's Notes: So... yeah, sorry for the formatting of the "chat" sections, I didn't realize that this site was so limited with the alignment of sentences, didn't see that as a problem in AO3 before and I already had this idea in mind, same thing with Strikethrough text, for now i shall point out that words underlined under parenthesis will come out as "invasive thoughts" for the characters.

Chapter 41: Breakfast.

*mmm idk Linc, u did shout at me pretty badly, honestly shouldn't even be talking to u right now*

9:31AM

*Stell please, I just need to get away from this house one moment, I'll invite lunch no worries :)*

9:31AM

*Look lincoln, even If I wasn't mad at u right now, I just can't, dads doing a family reunion today and I promised to stay*

9:42AM

*ok got it, sorry to bother u today :(*

9:42AM

*really I am, and Im also sorry for what I said yesterday, u were right*

9:42AM

*i'll be here if you ever need to talk to me :3*

9:43AM

*love u babe :33*

9:44AM

Lincoln was looking at the screen of his phone with glassy, reddish eyes, adorned with delightful eye bags for lack of sleeping, his mind was currently shut down, unable to think any further than the latent stimuli to leave the house (forever) for a while, the excuse to leave for school would not work on a Sunday, and now he realized that it was probably a lost battle to convince his girlfriend to help him by now.

He really shouldn't have treated her like that the other day, hearing her say that word… "manipulate", it triggered something… primal in him, but who could have known that this "sixth sense" of girls would be so accurate?

Regardless, he wasn't out of options.

*sup bud, what are u doing today?*

9:45AM

*hi buddy, well I was about to go to my pastry class, nana Gayle said and I quote: "I will not allow my grandson to waste his talent on just cupcakes", like, can you believe it lol*

9:47AM

*dang, that's pretty brutal lol, sorry to hear that bro*

9:48AM

*so when are u out? Can I go to ur house today?*

9:48AM

*yeah sure bud, but Im home at like 6, that okay?

9:51AM

*yeah great! Actually, is it ok if I stay today?

9:52AM

*Clyde is typing…*

- Come on, say yes… - Lincoln began crossing his fingers, he tried his hardest to hide his desperation, but rereading his own messages, he realized that none of his messages were naturally coming from him, in fact, he was positively impressed at the fact that the last conversation he had had with Clyde dated from like 10 days ago, in his mind, he was certain that he was talking to his best friend on a daily basis.

The immense feeling of guilt in his heart just kept stockpiling…

*Well I mean, sure, u can stay, I'll tell my dads, but is there something wrong?*

9:55AM

*i'll tell you in person bud, it's a little personal ok?*

9:56AM

*No worries! Your best bud is here :D*

9:56AM

The albino left out a sign of relief, finally, he had an excuse to leave the house, the only problem was that he wouldn't be able to leave until at least 5:00PM, but he was already planning on staying shut in his room until then, thankfully he had his giant flat-screen TV to provide a distraction.

… the one that she gave him.

NO! It wasn't time to think that (if ever), Lincoln was just going to entertain himself, he had comics, Videogames and just overall TV, there were quite a lot of distractions that he could use before reuniting with his friend.

Although, making up for that restless night was definitely a priority for now.

*knock* *knock*

…or not.

- Hey, dad made breakfast, hurry up - Lynn's uninterested voice could barely be heard through the door, but the message was clear.

- Why today, of all days, is my dad here? - Lincoln thought bitterly as he forced himself out of the bed.

This was going to be an awkward breakfast.

- Hi kiddos, how was your day? -

- … -

- Uhh, Lana? How was the dance? Did you enjoy it? -

- uhh.. yes dad, it was.. good -

- Lincoln? -

- It was ok dad -

- Lol...? … wait, did you guys tell her to come down? - Lynn Sr. had now just realized that his little pageant champion was missing from the table, if the overall mood in the table wasn't a good indicator enough that something was amiss, then this was.

- I'm sorry dad, I told her, but I got no response - Lucy calmly added, her expression ever always somber.

- …ok, ehh, L.J. h-how was your day? - The patriarch of the family was now desperately reaching for normal interaction-

- good dad, thanks - Lynn answered without ever taking her eyes of her phone, something that was being mimicked by Lana, of all people.

- Hey Lisa! I heard you discovered a new technology, ehh, Crispy-Cass? H-how was it? - Lynn Sr. was now evidently grasping at straws, but he just needed to form an environment for the now very rare family reunions.

- CRISPR-Cas9, father, and it was not a discovery, I just applied technical knowledge from a series of papers detailing the molecular mechanisms behind this novel gene-editing tool and expanded upon the potential applications by devising a more accurate tissue-specific vector for more accurate manipulation of the expression of certain neurotransmitters in the brain - Lisa explained with great annoyance to her family peer at the glaring misunderstanding of her latest project - and regardless, what is with the sudden interest in my profession? - She continued with slight resentment over the conveniently placed question, when was the last time someone had genuinely asked her something without another interest in mind?

- Ok, I'm sorry dear, I'll get it right next time! - Lynn continued while pretending a smile, once again he only had a way out.

- Honey it's ok, we'll - Rita tried to comment.

- Lily, I didn't hear you all day yesterday, what were you doing? - Lynn Sr. interrupted his wife to insist on having a successful conversation.

- Gosh dad, it was awful, teacher left us way too much homework! I barely had time to draw my storybook! - Lily commented with great annoyance - but Lisa here was amazing, I don't know how she can solve all of those math problems in seconds! - The youngest loud commented while hugging her sister at the side, eliciting a soft blush and a smile on the otherwise serious researcher.

- heh, it's nothing Lily really, but next time please try to solve them yourself - Lisa commented while still slightly flustered at the sign of affection.

- Will do! - Lily responded cheerfully, which in turn, also managed to draw a smile in the patriarch, relieved that at least one of his children was still sweet and innocent.

The rest of the breakfast was spend on Lily's preschool tales, with some quick technical addendums by Lisa, who was now feeling a little bit more comfortable with having a speaking role, being never one for that before, Lynn Jr. quickly finished her food and left to "train", barely remembering to thank her dad for dinner, Lucy and Lana were still overall unwilling to engage, but couldn't help but smile at Lily's adorable face and energetic storytelling from time to time.

Lincoln was still on another planet, especially after hearing the word "Storybook" coming out of Lily's mouth, the urge to expel his own breakfast becoming ever present, he was only thanking the world that the little blonde was nowhere to be seen.

When will he wake up from this nightmare…

- … so yeah, I may have pulled a small prank on Jackson, but why 2 days? It's not fair! - Lily continued talking about her life from last week, once you get her going, there's no stopping.

- well honey, by now you must know from Luan that there are limits that you can't cross, Jackson did not like what happened to him! - Lynn was now on fatherly mode, providing advice to his youngest daughter.

- but dad, he's such a crybaby I swear! - Lily protested with a frown.

- People have different sensibilities dear, you can't always expect to make everyone be on the same page as you, specially when it comes to pranks - It was Rita's time to speak, now alert of her daughters behavior.

- Yes mom… - Lily lowered her head, before changing the subject - aaanyways, today I just want to sleep a lot, all that noise last night made it hard to sleep, seriously guys what was that? - Lily went on to look at Lincoln and Lana with a raised eyebrow.

The siblings opened their eyes wide, a visible trail of sweat running through their head as they watched each other, attempting to read their minds, they had been put on the spot and didn't really have time at all to come up with an excuse.

- I'm sorry Lily, I was playing with stock footage of our siblings arguing with each other on our synthetic walls, it was an… acoustics… experiment - Lisa quickly interrupted while creepily smiling.

- Well I don't know what that means but seriously Lis, turn it WAY down, I could almost hear Lola screaming here - Lily said while rubbing a finger in her ear in cartoony fashion.

Through Lily's dangerous comment, the family continued enjoying their silent meal, no further questions were made as the silence ones again reigned supreme, Lincoln, Lana & Lucy were now eating cautiously, but where slightly relieved that no further comments were being made.

Breakfast was over, each remaining sibling took their dishes to the sink, as per family tradition, it was Lana's turn to wash the dishes, Lincoln was rushing through the hall to get back up stairs to his room, wondering why Lisa had just lied to cover the situation, and why his dad and mom were so silent to Lily's comment.

Something was not adding up.

- Lincoln, son, before you go upstairs, I need a small favor from you, please come to my room - Lynn Sr. managed to say, just getting up from the table.

- Knew it - Lincoln thought to himself, before retracting from his original destination, he was now just hoping to get it on quickly with the questioning, the only real surprise being how his parents did not come to his room yesterday for interrogation.

That's the issue with being Loud, and being a Loud.