This turned out to be my longest chapter to date, perhaps unsurprisingly given that an important moment is going to go down right here. If you like Lunatic Lynn then you're in for a treat.
She was sitting on the soft, lush grass. The sky was crystal clear and the warm summer breeze was gently blowing in her face.
The sound of joyous laughter rang in her ears as she gazed at the world in front of her which was bathed in a soothing golden hue. In front of her was a vast green meadow filled with blossoming flowers.
There she saw her brother laughing and playing ball with their little sisters, her older sisters were happily chatting on a picnic blanket while her parents were setting up the table and the food, looking very happy being in each other`s company.
Lynn felt serene and content, like she didn't have a care in the world, as she observed her family.
She noticed cherry blossoms floating down from the tree she was sitting under, which emitted a pleasant, calming aroma that only added to the blissful tranquility.
"Seeing you guys like that almost makes me buy that you're a normal, happy family." she heard Ryan`s voice next to her, his tone was very passive and easygoing.
The sun`s bright rays were shining down on him as he met her gaze with his usual chill, confident smile.
Lynn once again felt butterflies in her stomach, but this time she liked the sensation. Just seeing Ryan smiling and being at her side made her feel overjoyed.
She noticed that she was holding his hand, but felt no urge to let it go. It felt right and she tightened her grip.
"Yeah, it's a pretty sight, isn't it?" she replied to him.
"It is. Not as pretty as you though."
Lynn blushed slightly. "I know, you've said it lots of times before." she smirked.
Ryan shrugged. "I can't overstate it. You are and always will be very special to me. I never met a girl quite like you before, neither as lovely or as cool."
Lynn`s blush grew stronger. It meant the world to her hearing that from him.
"Especially one who would want to give a guy like me the time of day." Ryan added in resignation.
Lynn scooted closer until they were rubbing shoulders and reached out to touch his face.
"Don't look down on yourself like that. I think you're very cute, in your own weird way." she said with complete sincerity.
"Besides, I prefer strong character over good looks anyway."
Ryan smiled once again. "What would I do without you." he responded cheekily as they locked eyes.
Thoughts of taking a jab at him were strangely absent from her mind as Lynn kept gazing in his eyes, feeling mesmerized while the rest of the world around her seemingly faded away.
Without exchanging any further words the two leaned towards each other, as if pulled by a magnetic force. Lynn placed her hands on his shoulders, her heartbeat accelerated with every second.
Ryan wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into an embrace. She greatly enjoyed feeling the warmth of his body and the rhythm of his heart.
Closing her eyes, Lynn soon felt her lips touching his. It was an entirely new, but immensely electrifying sensation to her. It gave her a thrill like nothing before.
She wrapped her arms around his neck as she melted into his embrace, wishing for this moment to never ever end.
But then she felt something nuzzling her neck and ear, followed by loud meowing noises.
That sound quickly caused the scene around her to break apart and fade to black as a confused and drowsy Lynn slowly opened her eyes.
The meowing continued just above her head, and it slowly dawned on the jock that Marceline was standing above her trying to gain her attention, probably wanting to be fed.
But she was still too sleepy to fully process that, and her attention quickly drifted to something else.
She heard Ryan softly snoring and his chest rising up and down under her head. Lynn smiled and hummed softly as she snuggled against it. It felt so good cuddling with him.
Wait! What?
Lynn suddenly felt her blood freeze as she snapped awake and realized where she was and what she was doing. She slowly craned her head up to see Ryan`s neck and chin just inches away from her face.
Abruptly, Lynn jumped up, scaring Marceline off the bed with her spastic reaction, and nearly fell off.
Holding her balance, the frightened girl planted her feet on the floor and stood up, panting and sweating like crazy.
Luckily for her, Ryan merely stirred a bit before rolling to his side, still asleep.
Trying to catch her breath while being practically frozen with fear, Lynn frantically looked around to make sure where she was.
Ryan was sleeping on his bed, there was a tv set in front of it and right under it there was Lucy, peacefully slumbering in her sleeping bag.
On the other side of the bed, there was Marceline looking up at her and she resumed her meowing.
Lynn`s memories from last night came back to her, she must have fallen asleep while being forced to watch that vampire soap opera.
But how did she get atop Ryan? Looking back at him and her sister, Lynn felt relieved and slowly grew a nervous smile, being beyond ecstatic that neither of them was awake to see her in that embarrassing position.
That was until the memories of her dream became more vivid and detailed, and the jock`s expression turned to one of pure horror.
She stumbled back a few feet and grabbed her chest, unable to believe what her own mind had conjured up while dreaming.
What the hell did she do!?
The scene that had unfolded there was quite unambiguous and her feelings in the spur of that moment were quite clear. The fact she enjoyed it disturbed her.
She resumed sweating bullets, her whole body grew goosebumps, her stomach felt like it was twisting itself into a double knot and her breathing became rapidly shallower as a hurricane of emotion ravaged her mind.
Sending Ryan one final glance, Lynn knew just one thing now. She had to get away from him and try to pull herself together. And so she did, grabbing her duffel bag and rushing out of the room.
Half an hour later Lynn found herself at the kitchen table, having just gulped down a whole box of orange juice and then unintentionally crushed it in her grip as she tried to collect herself.
Marceline was there, still pestering her with that nonstop meowing. It was annoying, but Lynn supposed that she couldn't blame the poor cat for being hungry.
Lynn wanted to do anything, just about anything to get her mind of that accursed dream so she opened the fridge again.
There was no bowl or any type of cat food around, which hardly surprised Lynn as she knew how Ryan had raised his cat to have a more "natural" lifestyle as he put it. So she simply cut off a chunk of baloney and handed it down to the cat.
Watching the cat eat she started to calm down but the effects of that dream still lingered in her mind.
She didn't know what to think of it anymore, all she knew was that she felt conflicted.
She still remembered yesterday`s talk with her mother and the accusations Luan threw at her the night before. She could no longer just brush any of it off, not after that dream.
What did it mean?
Oh, who was she kidding? She knew exactly what it meant, but she didn't know how to react to it.
Lynn hated feeling scared. All her life she has tried her hardest to filter that emotion out of her system when facing life`s challenges, from trying out new sports and facing tough competition to protecting her little brother from bullies with her bare knuckles, and it almost always worked, but not this time.
This was something entirely foreign to her, completely uncharted territory, territory she never wanted to enter, yet it happened anyway.
She never wanted this, she never cared about boys in that way, so why was she starting to feel this way about Ryan?
They were friends and she was perfectly happy with it, she never asked for anything else.
Sighing and looking down, she saw Marceline gazing at her with her bright green eyes, as if sensing that the girl was in distress. Lynn picked her up and placed her in her lap.
Stroking her soft fur helped ease her nerve a bit.
"Marceline, why is this happening to me..." she muttered dejectedly only to quickly scoff at herself.
She was starting to talk to a cat about her problems? That dream really messed up her mind.
"Conversing with a cat? I see Ryan`s rubbing off on you." came a deadpan voice.
Lynn got spooked but retained her composure. She turned and met Renee with an unfriendly look.
"What do you want?" she asked curtly.
"Nothing really, I live here in case you've forgotten." Renee approached her.
"Why are you up this early?" Lynn added suspiciously.
"I make it a priority to never sleep past 8 a.m. It's an unhealthy habit if you oversleep." the teenager answered directly.
Lynn felt Marceline tense up as Renee got nearer until she hissed at the teen.
"I don't think she likes you." Lynn noted with a hint of smarminess.
"And I`m not fond of her either." Renee shrugged.
Lynn snorted at her. "Oh, you don't like animals either?"
"To be frank, no." Renee freely admitted. "I don't see the point of getting attached to those disease-ridden pests."
"Wow. You really have no soul, do ya?" Lynn responded flatly. Ryan didn't exaggerate when he described his sister as the ultimate buzzkill.
"Now, Lynn. Let's not get hostile over minor disagreements."
Lynn blinked in annoyance. "Oh, really? Funny, you didn't have that same attitude yesterday!"
Renee remained unfazed. "I don't recall saying anything offensive to you..." she claimed offhandedly "...though in regards to your sister, you can hardly call my reaction unwarranted. You must know that what she did wasn't normal."
Renee considered saying something about how the little goth needed a good psychiatrist, but she didn't care enough to press the matter any matter.
"Hey! I know full well that Lucy has issues but I didn't teach her any of that! Don't you pin her faults on me! And you were the one who made fun of my family!" Lynn barked.
"Fair enough, but I wasn't insulting anyone. I merely restated what others had told me. Though I suppose it would be wrong of me not to admit that I was cracking under pressure a bit last evening. Understand that this was an important meeting for me."
Lynn was surprised to hear that little bit of humility from her.
"And I will admit that my worries were slightly unfounded. The get-together went over quite well and I have little doubt that I have made a good start integrating myself with like-minded peers. Plus I was pleasantly surprised by Ryan as well as by you Louds. You stayed out of my way and caused no trouble last night."
Lynn sneered. Did Renee actually offer her and Ryan something of a compliment?
"Really?" the jock snarked. "Why, it almost sounds like it was pretty dang dumb of you to judge people you didn't even know based on stupid rumors."
"Hardly..." Renee replied plainly "...like I`ve said, most rumors have some grain of truth to them. And I heard them from honest, decent neighbors, not some gossip clique."
Lynn frowned further. Ryan`s sister was beyond unbearable. If they weren't on the latter`s turf right now then she would have been very compelled to deck Renee in that unemotive face of hers.
"So did you just come here to talk down to me?" she asked with growing agitation.
"Emotional, aren't you?" the teen deadpanned. "As for your question, I tend to treat people with the respect that I believe they deserve. And you haven't exactly given me a reason to look at you as anything more than a petulant child. Your choice in friends doesn't help."
Lynn was boiling. She knew all too well about dealing with annoying sisters and it drove her up a tree seeing a friend of hers face the same thing.
"Just what's your deal with Ryan?"
"Are you joking?" Renee snorted, finally showing a hint of levity.
"No, I`m not! Why do you talk about him like he`s dirt?!"
Renee`s steely expression returned. "Because that's pretty much what he is." she answered matter-of-factly. "A loose cannon. Amoral, reckless, irresponsible, undisciplined, disrespectful, violent..."
"Sounds more like you than him from what I`m seeing." Lynn snorted. Renee didn't react much at her jab and simply shook her head.
"You obviously don't know him well then. Not surprising given that you've known him for, what? A week?"
"I know him a lot better than you think." Lynn retorted.
"I have to question that. I was raised alongside him. I know him better than anyone, for better or worse."
"You don't know anything about him." Lynn responded irritably. "If you did then you`d give him more respect."
"I give him the exact amount of respect he deserves. But you're awfully defensive of him, aren't you?" Renee noted with mild interest.
"Pffftt...that's what friends do, Einstein. And because I know that there's a lot more to him than his own freaking sister oughta know. But apparently taking an interest in her brother is too much for her highness." Lynn deadpanned.
She so wanted to go into greater detail but knew she couldn't reveal anything else without looking crazy or potentially getting herself and Ryan into trouble.
Renee grew a slight smirk. "With all due respect..." she said wryly "...a week isn`t enough to forge a friendship or to get to know a person better than their own family. I believe your misplaced feelings for my brother are seriously clouding your judgment."
Lynn went pale, feeling a chill rush down her spine. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
"You think you can pull the wool over my eyes? I can read the signs." Renee stated dryly. "I also saw how you two were sleeping together."
"What?" Lynn blurted with terror before growing angry. "You were spying on us?!"
"It`s my home, kid. I have the right and the duty to check on Ryan, and frankly, I had expected you three to have run off into the night after you were so suspiciously quiet all evening. But after checking I found out that this wasn't the case, surprisingly enough."
Lynn was at a loss for words and panicking. Renee knew? She knew all of that?
"I don't have feelings for him!" she jumped out of the chair and faced Renee. Marceline was flung out of her lap and hid under the table.
"And I wasn't cuddling with him! We just fell asleep while watching Lucy`s stupid show and ended up like that by accident!"
"Please spare me the tantrum kid." Renee rolled her eyes. "It`s not like I care about your naive school girl crush."
"I don't have a crush on him!"
Renee let out a small, curt chuckle. "Don't waste your time. I`ve seen it all before, not that it's hard to decipher something as transparent as this."
"You`re out of your mind!"
"I`d sooner say that about you." Renee snorted. "You`d have to be to fall for Ryan. Was it his good looks or his charming personality?" she added, her tone laced with thick sarcasm.
Lynn growled. She wanted to stand up for Ryan but stopped herself. Doing that would only make her look more guilty of crushing on him.
"You know, your petty denial won't do you any good. It will just eat you up from the inside." Renee smirked.
"I don't have to take this! I`m gonna go work out!" Lynn blurted angrily and pushed past her.
Renee looked on as the preteen slammed the door, her smirk slowly fading.
"How pathetic..." she thought "...how low of a self-esteem do you need to fall for Ryan?"
Renee wasn't one to be easily surprised by just about anything but even she could never have seen this coming. She didn't care much about romance to begin with but she thought that most girls had some sort of standard when going boy-crazy, even ones as young and naive as the Loud girl. It wasn't even like Ryan met the most shallow of criteria of being good-looking, quite the opposite.
It was a paradox to her how Ryan even formed a friendship in the first place but she supposed the mystery would eventually unravel itself. It somewhat intrigued her, if for no other reason than for how little sense it made, but she felt it was beneath her to snoop around about other people`s affairs.
Lynn had to get away. Away from Ryan. Away from his stupid sisters. Away from everything. A flurry of emotions was coursing through her head, driving her crazy.
She hid in the garage where she found just the thing she needed: a punching bag! When she was pumped up with stress the only thing Lynn could think to do in order to blow off steam was to work herself to death exercising.
Her mind was far too flustered and filled with anger to muster up the concentration to do anything more elaborate than mindlessly beat the tar out of a dangling cylindrical bag, which swung back and forth as Lynn struck it with a powerful blow, every one more intense and rage-filled than the last.
"Stupid Renee! How did that cow figure it out! She has no right to know! It's none of her business!" Lynn lamented inwardly.
First her older sisters, then her mother and now even Ryan`s bitch of a sister knew it! Even freaking Leni had pegged her as crushing on Ryan before she herself had even seriously considered it.
She didn't like it, she hated it! She didn't want to crush on anyone, she never wanted that!
So why couldn't she just forget about it? Why was she feeling this way when she didn't want to feel this way? Why couldn't she just ignore it and let it fade away like a random bruise she sustained during training?
Lynn eventually exhausted herself and had to stop and slouch down while planting her hands on her knees, sweating like a pig and trying to catch her breath. Her brow furrowed as she desperately tried to think clearly. About what to do next. She didn't know, she just didn't know.
The one thing she did know was that at this rate it would be hard to keep a seal on this. Way too many people knew about it for her comfort.
Did Ryan know? That question scared her the most. He was already suspicious of her behavior and she knew all too well that he was far too shrewd to be fooled by cheap lies and excuses for long, if at all.
Lynn grew angry and balled her fists before resuming her merciless pounding on the bag.
"Stupid Ryan! What did you do to me! Why did you force me to feel this way! I hate you!" she raged inwardly before stopping quickly as her knuckles were seriously starting to hurt.
Lynn sighed and rubbed them as she stared vacantly at the swinging bag.
"What am I thinking? None of this is his fault. It's all on me for feeling this way!" she thought to herself pitifully before shutting her eyes tight and seething.
"Alright stay calm! You're overblowing this!" she told herself. "Keep a cool head and think rationally." she breathed in and out to calm herself.
She thought once again about her mother`s words and even took Renee`s snide "advice" into consideration. Denial only made things worse.
So what if she did have a crush on Ryan? Why should she let this scare her? If anybody found out and laughed at her about it she would just beat the crap out of them. She was Lynn Loud Jr. after all! She didn't know the meaning of fear!
She thought about Ryan. She thought back about how they first met, as unpleasant as it was.
Meeting him certainly threw a few curveballs into her life, not just in meeting someone who could challenge her in raw physical strength but also in experiencing something she had never experienced before: a boy being attracted to her, and letting her know about it in the most unsubtle and sleazy way possible.
He had dropped the Casanova act a long time ago, but as her mother made her realize his initial interest in her may not have ever gone away, he simply resigned himself with being friends with her.
Lynn had always sort of suspected that but never dwelled on it much until now. Now that the feelings might be mutual.
Lynn clenched her teeth. She grabbed the bag and leaned her forehead against it, straining the chain that was suspending it from the ceiling.
She soon became lost in her thoughts again. She remembered what her mother had told her: not to look at this as a bad thing? Maybe she was looking at it the wrong way?
What`s the actual downside of this? She didn't deny that she cared about Ryan, she just didn't want to care about him in that way. She liked spending time with him and he was likely still harboring feelings for her. It wasn't like she had a reason to fear a cold and condescending rejection.
Maybe she should think differently. What reason was there not to want to have that kind of a relationship with him?
He wasn't exactly a sight for sore eyes, but that would a shallow reason. Lynn had her faults and wasn't exactly a paragon of modesty but she had never viewed appearances as especially important.
Her own brother wasn't exactly normal-looking either, yet she loved him deeply and despite her rocky relationship with Lucy, the goth`s appearance was never something Lynn looked down upon as much as her numerous creepy and unsettling hobbies and living requirements.
In fact, Lynn could even say that she found Ryan`s odd appearance weirdly appealing.
Maybe it was simply due to her upbringing alongside her sole brother Lincoln that she had learned to be drawn to boys who looked weird, but she always found Ryan`s look sort of cute, maybe even unconventionally handsome?
"What am I thinking?" Lynn couldn't believe it. Was she starting to fawn over him? Was she seriously starting to think about this romance stuff seriously? She didn't feel anger this time, just confusion.
"You really did a number on that punching bag, huh?" a sudden voice snapped her out of her trance. Lynn went pale with horror as she faced the speaker.
"Ryan?!" she blurted, sweat dripping down her neck and forehead.
"That`s me." the boy quipped. "I was wondering where you went off?" he added in a relaxed demeanor.
Lynn was anything but relaxed, just looking at his face made her blush and caused her heart to race. Lynn avoided eye contact, moving her gaze to the side.
"I don't sleep past noon as you do! I have a morning workout schedule!" she said curtly, trying to hide her discomfort.
"Oh trust me, I may be a lazy bum, but not that much of a lazy bum." Ryan joked as he examined the now badly misshapen punching bag.
"But given what you've done to this poor fellows...eh...I`m kinda glad I overslept this bit."
Lynn swallowed a huge lump, unable to directly face him. She couldn't allow him to detect her unease, he already knew too much.
"Agreed." she huffed and folded her arms. "You would have been creamed if you tried boxing with me!" she said smugly.
Ryan smirked. "Is that a challenge?" he asked smarmily. "Very well, Lynn. What's next on your schedule?" he asked as he stretched his arms and flexed his neck.
"Cuz I slept like a baby and I`m ready for anything."
Lynn gulped, starting to panic. The last thing she wanted right now was to be near him. "Forget it, it's time for my morning jog!"
"Jogging? Pffttt...easy peasy." Ryan laughed. "And here I thought you were gonna give me a challenge."
Lynn fumed. She couldn't stand this kind of challenging trash talk, but for once her fear was great enough to allow her to swallow her pride.
"I could outrun you any time and anywhere, but this is something I like to do solo! A morning jog isn't so enjoyable when it's accompanied by annoying blabber." she huffed again, still avoiding eye contact.
Ryan chuckled. "Ouch. Someone woke up on the wrong side of her sleeping bag this morning."
He didn't know about their involuntarily cuddling session? Good. Lynn felt partially relieved.
"Well it ain't my fault your floor is so hard, you never even bothered getting me a mattress." she lamented inanely.
"Sorry, I didn't count on Spooky`s show being so boring that it would put me to sleep." Ryan shrugged, though his apology was sincere.
"You should be." Lynn replied curtly.
"Though you never bothered to wake me up to get it, so the blames on you." Ryan added with a cheeky smirk.
Lynn seethed. She refrained from saying that the show had put her to sleep as well, as this might have tipped Ryan of that she never reached her sleeping bag.
"Oh, you just love twisting things, huh?" she snorted and finally glared at him, only to quickly look away.
"You`re one to talk..." Ryan quipped "...yesterday you couldn't wait to spend time with me and now you're leaving me hanging?"
Lynn started to panic. She couldn`t allow him to become even more suspicious about her mood swings. She sighed.
"Look, Ryan. I`m sorry. But this is a morning ritual for me and I ain't changing it, okay!" she blurted impatiently.
"Hey, I ain't pressuring you into anything..." the boy shrugged "...just remember that your family is coming back home by mid noon at the farthest, so I wouldn't want to squander what's left of our spare time."
"Oh..yeah..." Lynn realized. She was actually somewhat thankful for that. It would provide a great opportunity to get her mind off her current emotional turmoil.
Something occurred to her. Maybe if she and Ryan returned to doing stuff they did together before maybe that could help her forget about these new feelings?
After all, if you fell off a horse and broke something the best recovery from any lingering fear that experience left you with was to get right back in the saddle as soon as possible.
"That`s it!" Lynn had a eureka moment. If she got back to sparring with Ryan like before she could rediscover and readjust to the way things were before?
She couldn't and she wouldn't run away from him. He was her friend and instead of being afraid about these new feelings she should remind herself why she became friends with him. It would help suppress this unrequired crush. Maybe even help her forget about it entirely.
She faced him, at which point fear started gnawing on her nerves again. But she kept a brave face.
"You`re right, Ryan." she admitted and slapped his back playfully. "Which reminds me, you did make a promise to me."
"Promise?"
"Yup, lucha libre, remember? You did promise that I would get to kick your behind today." Lynn reaffirmed with an air of smugness.
"Ohhh...I did." Ryan`s face dropped. "But you weren't serious about the costumes, right?" he asked hopefully.
"It wouldn't be lucha libre without it." Lynn smirked. "What's the matter? Still scared that you can't take me on?" she taunted him.
Ryan huffed. "As if? It's just-"
"Then it's settled!" Lynn cut him off and kneeled down in front of her duffel bag. "The match starts in an hour. I`ll fix up the arena in half the time!" she stated while pulling out a rolled up black costume and throwing it to Ryan.
"And I think that outfit suits you!" she told him as he caught it at the last second.
Ryan sighed dryly. "Well, at least you didn't give me a pink unitard." he snarked in resignation.
Lynn smirked smugly. Finally, she felt something else than worry. Excitement, for resuming an old favorite pastime of hers. And the prospect of kicking Ryan`s ass, which after all the turmoil he unintentionally gave her felt very cathartic.
While Lynn was preoccupied constructing the ring, Ryan was sitting on the sofa listening and begrudgingly assisting Lucy in writing her latest poem. And it was every bit as tedious as Ryan had expected.
He still couldn`t understand what possessed him to do this, he had no affinity for poetry, in fact, he found it as fun as doing math homework.
And yet he couldn't find it in himself to deny the little goth`s request, the thought of seeing her crushed was too much for him to bear. Ryan couldn't believe he was actually thinking that.
He had to face facts, he was getting soft. Why else would he have agreed to Lynn`s wrestling match?
Ryan looked down at the rolled up costume to his right and exhaled. "I can't believe I`m actually going through with this." he thought dejectedly.
But he supposed that sacrifices like that were inevitable if he wanted to have lasting friendships.
"Ryan, do you know what I could rhyme with "dark abyss"?" Lucy`s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Huh? What did I miss?" he blurted in a confused tone.
"Miss? Thanks, that's one possibility." Lucy wrote it down before his response fully sank in.
"Wait? Were you even listening to me?" she asked him upfront.
Ryan smiled nervously. "Of course I did." he answered quickly, though he could feel the girl`s skeptical glare under her bags.
"Is this boring to you?" she asked simply.
"No, no. It's just..." Ryan denied the accusation "...eh...it`s just hard to focus cuz I promised to do something with Lynn right now...she`s probably waiting..."
"Does it involve those robes you brought in?" Lucy pointed at the costume to his right.
She immediately got her answer as Lynn leaped into the room dressed in a red, sleeveless leotard with matching wrestling pants and boots and a red, blue and black luchador mask with painted on fangs.
"Ready to rumble, Ryan!" she asked him in a challenging tone. The boy tried to suppress a snicker.
"What are you wearing, Lynn?" Lucy asked with a hint of amusement. "I thought you said you were too old for trick-or-treating?"
"I don't know who you're speaking off." Lynn brushed her off before flexing her muscles. "The name`s Lunatic Lynn! Champion de mundo!"
Ryan kept snickering. "Real creative." he snarked. "Was Lame-o Lynn already taken?"
"Oh, and what's your wrestling name gonna be?" Lynn mocked him back.
"I don't think that's necessary! I`ll feel goofy enough in that suit you gave me." Ryan brushed her off.
Lynn narrowed her eyes at him. "Feeling funny, are we? Better soak it up while you can, cuz soon you'll be doing a lot of weeping!"
"Unlikely, my tear sacks dried up a long time ago." Ryan retorted casually.
"Lunatic Lynn will reawaken them." the masked girl shot back. "And since you're too lazy to think of an alias I`ll do it for you!"
She tapped her chin. "Lemme see...Rampage Ryan? Too clunky. Ravenous Ryan? Nah, too lengthy. Ah, I got it! You'll be Ravage Ryan! Cuz that's exactly what I`m gonna do to you!"
"Fine by me." Ryan shrugged indifferently.
Lynn turned her gaze at Lucy.
"And, Lucy? I have a special job for you!" she threw a vertically striped polo shirt into the goth`s face.
"What`s this for?" Lucy grunted irritably as she peeled it down.
"We need a referee, and since I want my victory to be fair and square I don't want a referee who`ll treat me with any favors." Lynn explained matter-of-factly.
Lucy pondered for a bit but eventually smiled. "Well, that much is true. I`ll be rooting for Ryan."
"Thanks, kid." Ryan smirked. "Haven`t even put on the duds and I already have fans."
"Enough chitty-chat!" Lynn barked. "Time for action!"
"Well I have officially forsaken my privilege to make fun of Lincoln`s Super-Nerd costume." a dour Ryan muttered to himself as he slipped his mask on in the corner of the makeshift ring, dressed in the same kind of wrestling outfit as his opponent, except his was black and his black and white mask sported a skull motif with a jagged line on the mouth representing the teeth.
Lynn was standing strong in the other corner, her eyes narrow, punching her palm.
She chuckled ominously. "Oh, this is going to be too much fun! You're dead meat, Ravage!"
"Cut the dramatics, Lynn. Do you honestly not see how ridiculous we both look?" Ryan rolled his eyes, half-amused.
"I agree. You do look ridiculous! That's why you have that mask on!" Lynn retorted bombastically, fully in trash talk mode. "And you'll probably wanna keep it on for a while after I reshape your face!"
"Doubtful, this thing is suffocating me. And all this spandex isn't exactly breezy." Ryan shrugged and scratched his rump uncomfortably. "And it's giving me a wedgy."
Lynn fumed. She would show him for making light of luchadore traditions!
She shifted her glare to Lucy, who was standing in the middle of the ring in her referee shirt and holding a whistle. She seemed unsure of what to do.
"Quit standing around like a dope and just announce the freaking match, Lucy!" Lynn threw her arms up impatiently.
"Is that really necessary? Nobody`s watching this but me." the goth asked passively.
Lynn facepalmed. "Just do it! Will ya!"
"Alright..." Lucy sighed and cleared her throat as the two opponents walked to the center of the ring. "I want a clean match. No dirty tricks or you'll be disqualified."
Lynn rolled her eyes. The utterly dull and passionless way in which Lucy said it was downright embarrassing.
"And, Ryan..." Lucy turned to him and smiled "...make sure to put her in her place."
Ryan nodded and Lucy blew the whistle before quickly moving out of the ring and behind the rope, knowing better than to stay close to Lynn when she was in a fighting mood.
Lynn struck an attacking position and laughed as she locked eyes with her adversary, who looked much less enthusiastic about the match as they started circling one another.
"Already then! Time for me to make Ryan start cryin`!"
"Are the lame one-liners part of the game or are they just your personal shtick?" Ryan yawned with played up indifference.
His hypocrisy was unbelievable, but this wasn't the place to battle verbally as far as Lynn cared.
Roaring viciously, Lynn charged and lunged straight at him. Ryan simply dodged her attack and she fell on the mat. Instantly pushing herself up to her feet, Lynn growled and made another attack at him, but Ryan just kept moving out of the way.
"What are you doing! Fight me!" she yelled with frustration."This isn't dodgeball, you idiot!"
"I would! If you weren't so damn slow!" Ryan quipped tauntingly.
Lynn hissed, focusing closely on his every move.
She lunged again and he made another evading move, but Lynn caught his arm and pulled him towards her.
Wrapping her other arm under his torso she flipped him over her shoulder. Ryan`s back hit the mat and Lynn got ready to dive her elbow into his chest but Ryan rolled out of the way at the last second and Lynn`s elbow hit the mat.
Before she could react Ryan seized her leg and Lynn found herself being swung in circles.
Ryan let her go and she tumbled around for several feet. Dizzy and disoriented, Lynn groaned when Ryan picked her up and threw her over his shoulders.
"This will hurt you more than it will hurt me!" he quipped as he slammed her down on the mat. It definitely hurt, but Lynn sucked up the pain and glanced up at him.
Ryan was ready to do his own elbow drop but Lynn swiftly shot her legs up and wrapped them around his neck. Ryan gasped as he was pulled down.
"What's the matter? Getting a little choked up about your loss?" Lynn laughed as she tightened her squeezing grip on his neck. But much to her shock Ryan pried himself free with his bare hands.
Within seconds Ryan kneeled up and secured his grip on both her legs as he regained his footing.
Once again, Lynn was swung around like a ragdoll and thrown into the fence which bounced her right back towards Ryan. He caught Lynn and started crushing her in a bear hug.
Lynn squirmed and growled, unable to break free. Ryan laughed triumphantly.
"Don`t like my affectionate gesture-OW!" he got interrupted by Lynn headbutting him.
He stumbled back and Lynn regained her footing. "Damn, wrestling`s a lot harder with a worthy opponent! I love it!"
While he was stunned, Lynn lunged at Ryan and caught him in a chokehold, using her own weight to pull him down.
But Ryan quickly pulled his arm under her armpit and secured her shoulder, throwing her over him.
Ryan jumped to his feet and tried tackling her but Lynn planted her feet into his gut and with remarkable strength pushed him up and threw him several feet away.
Ryan groaned as he lied on his back for a second before swiftly jumping up to his feet and meeting Lynn`s stare. In spite of some bruises, he chuckled cheekily.
"Well, I think I owe you an apology. This is stuff a lot more fun than I thought."
"Glad to see you admit you were wrong, as usual!" Lynn retorted smugly.
Ryan`s eyes narrowed. "Maybe? But I am a man of my word!" he added smarmily. "And I did promise you a beatdown!"
"Bring it!" Lynn exclaimed and they both charged at each other.
They grabbed hold of each other and struggled with their feet planted to the ground. They both started sweating profusely under their masks and growled more and more intensely as they tried to overpower the other.
"Take a dive now and I will show mercy!" Ryan told Lynn into her ear in a strained voice.
She huffed, her voice equally strained. "That makes one of us!"
She secured a hold around Ryan`s head and fell backward and pulled him with her before kicking him away with her knee. She tried to tackle him again.
Ryan recovered quickly and jumped up in time to grab her and perform a piledriver, trying to drive his opponent head-first into the mat.
But Lynn managed to wrap her leg on his head again and threw him over her while performing a cartwheel and gracefully landed back on her feet.
Ryan was already on his feet and as Lynn lunged at him he grabbed both of her hands and they were once again at a standstill, pushing each other with interlocked hands.
"You`re good, Lynn I`ll give you that!" Ryan complimented her as they raised their arms up and their faces gradually came closer.
"And you're not too shabby, for an amateur!" she retorted as they exchanged challenging glares. Both were now covered head to toe in rancid-smelling sweat.
"Thank you!" Ryan said cheekily. "It's an honor fighting the best!"
Lynn`s inextinguishable fighting spirit suddenly began slipping away and her flustered confusion started creeping in.
She gazed into Ryan`s eyes and her grip started loosening. Snippets of her recent dream started flashing before her.
Looking into her eyes had the same effect on Ryan, he started feeling light-headed, growing mesmerized by those fiery, yet beautiful orbs.
A sudden whistle jolted them out of their trances, but thanks to their sweat they lost their respective grips and Ryan fell on top of Lynn.
"End of round one! Time for a break!" Lucy announced from the sidelines.
The preteens wound up with their faces pressed against each other but thanks to their masks nothing uncomfortable happened and they helped hide their blush.
Ryan scurried to his feet and helped Lynn up. They both turned awkward and were reluctant to talk.
"Spooky`s right. Time for a refresher." Ryan blurted out.
"Yeah! Good idea! I`m parched!" Lynn quickly agreed and slapped his back.
"You're a tough one, but I will win!"
"Don`t count your chicks before they hatch." Ryan retorted jubilantly as they returned to their respective corners.
Lynn grabbed a water bottle and pulled part of her mask up to drink it. No. Why did this have to happen? Everything was going great until that last-minute moment of awkwardness!
That was only like the third time they ended up on top one another in the last few days! Lynn was starting to worry that it was some kind of jinx.
Ryan leaned his arms out in his corner and exhaled deeply. Lucy stood on a stool behind him and gave him a shoulder rub.
"You`re doing great! I know you`ll win! I believe in you!" she encouraged him.
"Don't put pressure on me, kid." Ryan snarked tentatively. His awkward moment with Lynn left him somewhat shell-shocked.
"I mean it. A crushing defeat will humble her inflated ego." Lucy replied encouragingly.
"Fair point." Ryan shrugged and chortled. "And I do like winning."
"Pull yourself together, woman! You have a wrestling match to win!" Lynn ordered herself inwardly. "Don`t think about anything else!"
She acted on impulse. Lynn nervously rushed back into the center. "Enough resting! I`m ready!"
"Go and stomp her." Lucy patted Ryan`s shoulder and the boy hesitantly walked up to Lynn.
"Nervous, Ryan?" Lynn teased him, trying to hide her unease. "You oughta be! Cuz you're going down!"
"We`ll see..." Ryan replied coolly while bracing himself "...too much self-confidence is usually one`s undoing, Looney Lynn."
On the inside, he too felt uneasy but he had some experience suppressing it. He couldn't look wimpy in front of Lynn, especially not now.
Lynn, however, wasn't so good at suppressing her feelings. As she met Ryan`s gaze her confidence started withering away.
"No! Stay focused!" she panicked inwardly. "You can't let some bozo feelings affect your performance! Stay focused!"
Lucy`s whistle jolted her out of her inner rant but she was too slow to react as Ryan grabbed her and threw her down. The shock jolted her head in the game.
She swiftly pushed herself up and viciously tackled the charging Ryan.
She caught him in a crushing embrace but Ryan kept his footing long enough before falling down and crushing Lynn under his weight. Ryan rolled aside and got to his feet.
"Your mojo seems to be a tad off, Looney!" he laughed mockingly as he grabbed her arm and swung her around until her back hit a pole.
Ryan pumped both of his fists up triumphantly. "Damas y caballeros, looks like Lunatic Lynn`s getting her culo handed to her!"
"Go Ryan!" Lucy cheered him on.
Lynn felt a burning fire inside of her and glared ferociously at her opponent with unrestrained anger. No way was he going to make fun of her like that!
Roaring furiously she charged at him. Ryan laughed.
"Back for more-oh! he stopped as Lynn tackled him with lightning speed.
Lucy watched and covered a bit behind the rope as the fight continued, the two parties performing various moves on each other with greater and greater ferocity. Ryan was doing it out of the thrill of the fight but Lynn was just releasing her pent-up anger.
Anger directed at him for making her feel about him and throwing her off her game!
"You're relentless!" Ryan complimented her exuberantly while dodging her increasingly more mindless attacks.
"But victory`s mine!" he exclaimed while ducking from another attack and bodyslamming Lynn in the flank.
She felt that blow hard as she hit the rope and was flung back at Ryan. Lynn braced herself, caught her footing and used the momentum to charge at him and tackle him by the waist.
Ryan hit the mat and Lynn dug her knee into his chest and pinned both of his arms down and leaned down to face him.
"You were saying!" she mocked him while struggling to keep him down.
Ryan looked up at her, their gazes locking. "You think this will hold me? In your dreams!" he laughed while pushing himself up.
Lynn growled as she tried to do the opposite. They stared into each other with fierce intensity, sweating and straining themselves to the maximum.
As she kept gazing into his eyes Lynn once again saw involuntary flashes of her dream, which distracted her just long enough for Ryan to grip her arms and push her off him.
Lynn hit the mat and pushed herself up only for Ryan to grab her from behind, keeping her in a kneeled position and restraining her in his crushing grip.
"Say adiós, senorita!" he whispered into her ear as he hoisted her up.
"We end this now!" Ryan exclaimed and slammed her into the mat belly down.
He pressed his knee into her back to pin the struggling girl down, grabbed her left arm and started twisting it behind her back. Lynn hissed in agony but her squirming did nothing to free herself.
"Referee Loud! Do your thing!" Ryan called for Lucy who rushed to the scene, smiling as she watched Lynn growling and squirming pathetically.
She kneeled down beside her and placed her hand against the mat and raised it up.
"Three!" she started counting and placed her hand down.
Lynn`s eyes shot wide open and she grew livid. No! She couldn't lose! Not like this! Not because of some goddamn crush that threw her off her game!
"Two!" Lucy repeated the gesture.
Lynn`s adrenaline, fueled by her anger, went into overdrive. Her mind became fuzzy, consumed by rage. She had to defeat Ryan! Losing at wrestling was not an option!
Furthermore, she wanted to hurt Ryan! For doing this to her! For bestowing her with these infernal feelings! He had to pay!
"On-"
"AH!"
Unexpectedly, Lynn pushed herself up and slammed her left elbow into Ryan`s throat. He instantly let go of her and Lynn rolled onto her back while a spooked Lucy scurried back and jumped out of the ring.
Setting her sights at her stunned opponent, Lynn gave him a good kick to the crotch. Ryan gulped and fell down to his knees.
Lucy gasped from the sidelines. Was this even a legal wrestling move?
Wasting no time, Lynn threw Ryan over her shoulders and roared at the top of her lungs as she threw him headfirst into a pole.
Stunned by the blow to his head, Ryan felt his arm being grabbed as Lynn hoisted him up to his feet and gave him a powerful punch to the gut and then decked him in the jaw.
Lucy blew her whistle. "Lynn, stop! You're breaking the rules!"
But her pleas fell death ears as Lynn struck Ryan in the chest and he stumbled back.
"Lynn! What are you doing!" he blurted out before receiving a kick to the throat which finally knocked him down.
"Lynn!" Lucy cried in shock.
Lynn jumped on top of him and punched him in the face repeatedly in an act of mindless, emotionally fueled retribution.
"Stop! You're hurting him!" Lucy grabbed her arm. Enraged, Lynn shot her a death glare and struck her in the face.
Lucy fell on her back and started sobbing as she clutched her stinging cheek.
Hearing her crying jolted Lynn out of her rage trance. Her breathing grew shallower as she calmed down and her sister`s sobbing fully registered with her.
Lynn immediately grew horrified at what she had done as she observed Lucy`s sobbing form.
Ryan`s moaning turned her attention back to him as she saw him lying under her with his face to his side.
Lynn grew more mortified as everything sank in and she observed her bruised knuckles.
Still dizzy from the blow to his head, Ryan`s eyes shot up and he looked at her with confusion and unease. Lynn got off him and stood up, panting and shaking feebly.
Fear and regret were plastered on her face. What had come over her? She couldn't bear to look at this and she bolted away.
"Lynn wait!" Ryan called out for her but by the time he picked himself up she was already gone.
Ryan groaned, still somewhat dizzy, and rubbed his face. He felt something clogging one of his nostrils and he sniffed it in. It tasted like blood.
"Great." he grumbled sarcastically.
His attention quickly drifted towards the sobbing Lucy.
He helped her up and saw her reddening cheek.
"Lynn hit me." she sniffed meekly.
"What?"
Still sobbing, Lucy hugged him for comfort. He hugged her back.
"Ryan? Are you alright?" came her muffled response.
"Eh, sure I am. Don't worry about me, I can take a few punches." Ryan was glad he still had his mask on so Lucy couldn't see the multiple bruises he probably had by now.
He wasn't worried about himself and didn't want to attract attention. He was more worried about Lynn.
Just what the hell possessed her? Why did she suddenly attack him so viciously? He had to find her.
It didn't take much time and effort to locate her, and Ryan found her sitting behind some nearby bushes in his yard, hugging her legs and hiding her face behind her knees.
Lynn heard the rustling he was making and sighed in resignation. She hadn't made much of an effort to hide as she knew that Ryan could easily find her if he wanted to.
She was happy to be able to hide behind a mask as she didn't want him to look at her and her miserable face.
"What?" she asked rudely, not knowing how he was going to react to her. She knew he had to be angry and she could hardly blame him for it.
She was blinded by her emotional turmoil and had hurt him, and had struck her little sister as well, relegating herself to being the same kind of callous bully she had so desperately tried never to become again.
She heard him sigh as he sat next to her. "I think you know why I`m here. Care to explain what happened there?" he responded in an even tone.
"How bad is it?" she muttered.
"Lucy`s upset, but she`s fine otherwise. It was just a slap."
"I figured." Lynn grimaced, filled with guilt and shame.
"And what about you?" she dared to look up at him only to see that he was still in full costume, which made his expression impossible to see. She was somewhat glad for it, as she was too embarrassed to properly face him.
"I dunno, I haven't taken a look yet. You said luchadores don't remove their masks till the match is over, gotta respect the rules." Ryan shrugged.
Lynn blinked before straightening herself up in bewilderment. "Are you shitting me? After what I`ve done to you?! Are you even mad at me!" she snapped at him, her voice filled with hurt and frustration, as well as shame.
Ryan remained calm. "Oh, I am mad at you, don't get me wrong..."
Lynn crumbled inwardly at the confirmation.
"But as a certain sports-loving friend of mine has repeatedly demonstrated to me, blowing your top when you feel angry doesn't solve anything. Why did you do it?" he finished with a straightforward question.
Lynn turned silent and looked away. "Ryan, I`m sorry..." she blurted uneasily. "I didn't mean to...i just...wasn`t thinking clearly."
"I figured." he replied simply. "And I forgive you."
Lynn felt she was undeserving of his forgiveness but she knew why he gave it to her anyway.
He knew Lynn was rowdy by nature and not the kind and considerate type, he, in fact, liked that about her, and Ryan knew that sparring with her could get painful sometimes and did it at his own volition, and Ryan was good at tolerating pain and enjoyed getting rowdy himself.
He obviously wasn't upset that she had hurt him as much as he was upset wondering why she had needlessly harmed him.
"But why did you suddenly go ballistic and beat the crap out of me? Did one of my taunts finally go too far?" he added some levity to his question, but his tone still conveyed that he demanded an honest answer.
"No..." Lynn answered dejectedly, feeling her anxiety growing. She knew there was no going back now, she had to tell him the truth.
She had just seen the results of keeping her secret bottled up and she didn't want to repeat it.
Not just that, but these feelings were still eating her up from the inside and there was no other way to free herself of that inner turmoil.
An impulsive hot-head like her simply couldn't afford to leave her emotions pent-up, she came to realize.
"So what was it? I`m pretty sure this has nothing to do with our mission as you claimed." Ryan deduced on the spot.
"No..." Lynn sighed "...but I have been feeling stressed out lately, but for an entirely different reason." she admitted nervously.
Ryan had a suspicion that something was wrong, seeing Lynn talk in such a vulnerable and tentative manner was a huge red flag.
"And what's that? You know you can tell me." he said softly, feeling more concerned than angry.
This was it. No going back. If she said it now things would never be the same again. She didn't want to but knew that delaying it would only cause her as well as others further grief.
Lynn sighed and braced herself. "It's about you..." she started, much to Ryan`s surprise.
"Me?" Ryan didn't understand. Did he do something to upset her?
Lynn once again looked away, preparing herself to spill it out.
It wasn't easy. Her vocal cords seemed to have gone mute and her throat turned dry. Her anxiety grew to levels she had never experienced before.
She took a long exhale and tried to find her voice.
"Ryan, I...I think I have a crush on you." was her weak and timid response.
Ryan`s eyes shot wide open and his heart seemingly stopped. It took him a minute to properly process what she had said.
"Say what?" he blurted, thinking he must have misheard her.
Lynn`s blushed hard under her mask yet felt chills and hugged herself. "I think I have a crush on you! Was that clear enough!" she repeated irritably.
Ryan blinked in disbelief. "Lynn...I..." he rambled incoherently, his voice quickly trailing off.
It was fortunate that he was already sitting, otherwise, he probably would have lost balance. Part of him was still crippled with disbelief, but the other part grew ecstatic.
He remained composed, but inside he felt like he was dancing at the greatest celebratory party ever!
Lynn faced him again timidly. He appeared stunned but also flustered. At least that's what she thought.
"Ryan?" she asked tentatively. The deafening silence was killing her. She wanted him to say something. Anything.
He gazed at her, finally getting back to Earth. "Lynn? Did you mean that?" he asked her, too flustered to think straight.
Lynn scowled. "Why would I lie to you?"
"No. Of course not, it's just..." Ryan rambled nervously "...how long have you felt that way?"
Lynn sighed. This conversation wasn't turning out as scary and awkward as she had thought, which filled her with relief.
"Not sure. For a while maybe. But it`s only after I talked with mom yesterday that fully realized it. And I wasn't sure how to handle it."
Ryan felt like someone had opened his eyes. Suddenly a lot about Lynn`s behavior from this week made sense. How did he not figure it out sooner?
Her mood swings? Ryan had to chuckle inwardly at the irony. Lynn had done a far worse job keeping her feelings hidden than him. Her sour attitude when Luan was brought up? Lynn was jealous. He had actually gotten a girl to be jealous at him!
And that hostility between the two sisters? Did he have two pretty girls fighting over him?
That was almost too much of a good thing to take in. He skipped towns and suddenly went from dud to chick magnet. It was hard to stay focused on the conversation at hand with that huge boost to his self-esteem.
"So all this time you've been acting so moody cuz...you like me? As in like-like me?" Ryan tried not to jump from joy.
Lynn nodded weekly. "And what do you think of me?"
Ryan froze. "Huh?"
Lynn swallowed a lump. "When we first met..." she started hesitantly. Neither of them wanted to reminisce about the bad past, but now it was inevitable.
"You said I was pretty and stuff like that. Please, be honest with me. Do you still think of me like that?"
That was one of the most anticipated questions Lynn had ever asked in her life. Awaiting his answer felt like a grueling eternity.
Ryan was beyond nervous now. "I...I..." he rambled while scratching his neck "...it was so long ago...I..."
Lynn felt crushed by his hesitance but kept a strong demeanor. "Ryan, if you don't feel that way anymore it's cool. I just had to get it off my chest."
"No, wait! That's not what I meant!" Ryan threw his hands up. "I like you too, Lynn. I mean I like-like you!" he finally said it to her.
"Really?" Lynn perked up.
Ryan was shaking anxiously. "Of course I do!" he exclaimed in a shaky but exuberant voice.
"I mean...I think you`re really pretty, and funny, and cool, and exciting, and pretty..." he came to a stop as he rapidly grew out of breath. But telling Lynn this at long last felt beyond fulfilling and so exhilarating.
Lynn blushed a deep crimson, but this time she honestly enjoyed the feeling. Few people said such sweet and flattering things to her.
"Ryan...I...I..." she too started to ramble, too flustered to speak clearly.
"Yeah...eh..." Ryan chuckled awkwardly and rubbed his neck as they both looked away.
Lynn couldn't believe how good she suddenly felt. It was like the burden she had been carrying moments ago had been utterly obliterated.
She felt like she had been lifting weights when someone put twice the weight plates on her barbell, trapping her underneath it for days until someone finally freed her and removed that asphyxiating load off her chest.
But that feeling of relief got hampered as a new pressing thought entered her mind.
"But now what?" Lynn asked her friend.
"What do you mean?" Ryan laughed. "You like me, I like you. Boy meets girl. Simple as that."
Lynn gulped. "But what do we do now that we know how we both really feel?" she admitted with uncertainty.
Kissing in the bushes was Ryan`s first thought, but he knew better than to pressure Lynn into it. She was clearly still uneasy about the whole thing and frankly, he wasn't sure if he himself felt ready to make such a giant leap with Lynn.
She wasn't just some girl he had a crush on, she was his best friend and closet confident. This would be an upgrade in their relationship that they couldn't just jump into.
"Dinner and a movie maybe?" he shrugged.
Lynn looked down. His response seemed natural, but she wasn't sure if she was ready for this.
"I dunno. This is all new to me, and I don't know exactly what to think of this." Lynn replied with unease.
"It`s okay, Lynn. This is new to me too." Ryan shrugged understandably.
Well not exactly, he has been a bit of a flirt in the past and recently went on what was by all accounts a serious and intimate date with Luan, but the idea of having a genuine relationship with a girl who liked him back was still new to the boy.
Lynn shrank back. "So what do we do?"
Ryan patted his friend on the back. "I`d say we just let things run their course, right now we have a wrestling match to finish."
Lynn looked at him incredulously. "What? We just talked about something big and you want to go on like nothing happened!"
"Of course not, Lynn." Ryan replied in a chill tone. "Thanks for being honest with me. But we`ve just established that we're best friends who like each other a bit more than average friends, I`m not sure what else is there to say right now?"
Lynn blinked, thinking about what Ryan said. "Yes? But...it's just..."
Ryan shrugged. " I know you're feeling awkward about this so take your sweet time to think about and get used to it. There's no rush. Summer`s just begun and we still have a certain mission to fulfill. We`ll have plenty of time to think about you being head-over-heels for me."
Lynn bumped his shoulder.
"I guess you do have a point." she chuckled. There was no reason to rush anything. The two of them told each other about their feelings, the scary part was over, and now they should let things progress naturally.
"Yeah, let's not overthink it." Ryan advised. "Of course if you're that eager for a first date we can always call the wrestling match our first, sort-of date." he added semi-jokingly.
Lynn`s cheeks heated up, she snickered and punched his arm playfully. Given Lynn`s usual ideas for a good time, that suggestion didn't sound so far-fetched.
"Lucy, I`m really sorry about hitting you. I`ll make it up to you." Lynn told her little sister back in the ring.
Lucy`s frown didn't falter. "Then why did you go berserk in the first place?" she firmly repeated her question.
Ryan sighed. "We`ve told you, Lucy. It's...complicated and I don't think you would understand. But rest assured, Lynn promised to keep her temper in check this time."
Lucy hated this. She hated being left in the dark with no other justification than the old "it`s big kids stuff, you're too little to get it" excuse, but it didn't seem like either of them wanted to talk about it and she couldn't do anything about it.
Whatever they were doing, Ryan sure took his time to get Lynn back, leaving Lucy to make a very icky and nauseating assumption.
"Yes, and I`m not asking you to forgive me right now. I just want you to know I`m sorry." Lynn told her humbly.
Lucy deflated. "Fine, whatever." she sighed, figuring she wouldn`t like the details either way.
"But Ryan? Are you sure you want to do this again?" she asked him with concern.
"Lucy, wrestling is built on pain. If you can't take the risk you might as well never even try it. I know what I`m doing. But don't you worry." he reassured her before turning to Lynn. "Lynn said she won`t get so passionate about the fighting again."
Lynn blushed under her mask while Lucy exhaled.
"Sigh. Alright then. Get into your positions." Lucy told them unenthusiastically.
Ryan slapped Lynn`s back playfully and they positioned themselves in the center.
"Alright, no distractions, no foul tricks. I want a clean and fair fight." Lynn told her opponent. "You`re still gonna lose though!"
"Don`t get cocky." Ryan taunted her back. "Just because you're cute doesn't mean I`m gonna go easy on you."
Lucy blew her whistle.
Lynn narrowed her eyes and smirked confidently. "I wouldn't expect any less." she agreed and lunged at Ryan.
Something important did indeed happen. By which I mean Lynn and Ryan officially jumping over the friend zone tape even though the story is far from over. What? You thought I was gonna drag it out until the end for them to spill out the obvious?
Though as a pair of 12-year olds with next to no experience with romance they haven't exactly jumped into the dating thing yet, especially Lynn. She still needs time for adjustment. Unfortunately for her, she still has some competition from a sister who is a lot less shy about getting serious with Ryan.
And I`m pretty sure this chapter alone was probably Lunatic Lynn`s biggest role in any LH fic on this site that I know of. I always found Lynn`s fondness for Mexican wrestling interesting and think that it`s pretty disappointing how the show hasn't explored it as anything more than an occasional side gag, so I decided to weave it into the story after giving her a worthy opponent in the form of Ryan. Also, I thought it would be really funny if their inevitable confession of feelings scene happened while they were dressed as luchadores and immediately jumped back into their match afterwards. I mean what else would you expect from Lynn?
And I know this mini-story dragged on for quite a bit, but I definitely haven't forgotten about the main story. Now that this major chapter in the main pairings relationship drama is over it's time to go back to more timeline altering high jinks.
The hard part is deciding which of the show`s episodes to take inspiration from next. First April Fools Rules, then It's a Loud, Loud, Loud, Loud, House, which one should I pay homage to next?
