Sighing, Lincoln sat in his usual seat, propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his open palm. It didn't take long before the classroom was beginning to be filled in with students, either hanging out with their friends or doing their own things at their desk. Their lingering conversation started getting louder in the room with every passing minutes much to his irritation. Ignoring them, his eyes glanced out through the glass window, taking in the view since the next assigned teacher for their class didn't arrive yet. The sky was quite dark with a few clouds covering the sun as if it would be raining anytime soon. But he can't exactly say he was certain with the change of weather. It would certainly be a bother if it start to rain since he would prefer his clothes to be dry when the school end.
Recess was over just a few minutes ago and he wasn't tired since he already have enough rest from spending time in the library earlier. It wasn't long but it was enough for him to regain his energy after his usual late night studying and gym class earlier that morning. He still have a lot to catch up on with his education and he was trying his best to properly use his time without risking his health too much. At least Lisa was kind enough to clear some time from her already busy schedule to help him with his learning, even if she was still a little bit uncomfortable with him being around. Not that he can blame her though.
He would never hurt his sisters, he knew that, or at least he used to. He wanted to believe that he would never cause any harm to them, but the incident proved that there is a small part of him that was violent enough to break his restraint. He hated that part of him, the part that he was having a hard time to control. Even if it was unintentional, it was still him that caused fear to his sister. He don't want them to look at him like that, he already get enough of that from the people around him. The whispers, insults, mocking, and cautious looks behind his back.
It didn't bother him that much coming from them, they can see him as anything they wanted, he don't care as long as they leave him alone. But he couldn't say the same about his sisters, he cares how they look at him, how they see him as a person. Because as much as he cares about them, they also cares about him in their own different ways. They are siblings after all, and no matter how many times they have argued in the past they still looks for each others back.
That's why he don't want to see them being hurt because of him. They're supposed to see him as their brother, someone that they can depend on when they're in trouble and protect them when they need him. He don't want them to see him as the opposite of that. He wasn't a danger to them, they shouldn't have been uneasy with him being around. He was stupid for taking so long to notice how much he was hurting them, even if he didn't mean to. He was stubborn, not seeing the bigger picture behind his action and letting his mind being clouded with anger.
They are the people who believes that he can change and he don't want to disappoint them. Although there is not much that they can do, he still appreciated them for giving him a chance. That was all he could ever wanted from them, a chance to redeem himself. From now on, he just need to give his full effort as to not make their trust on him being nothing more than just a mistake. And now because of them, he even have a few more people that he can trust, an improvement than how he used to be. Even if it wasn't much, he still felt like he had made more progress than he would have expected.
A small smile curled on his lips, his eyes softened and a chuckle stuck in his throat.
He can't believe he actually got this far. Who would have thought that there are people other than his sisters who actually see him as something more than a delinquent. Even to the point of willing to be his friend after they knew who he was. It was funny, how they still accepted him even after all the thing that he had done. He don't deserve them, he don't deserve their kindness. Associating with him will only bring them nothing but trouble, and yet they still insisted to be by his side. Something that he was having a hard time to understand.
What did they see in him that they thought was worth the effort to save. He was a lost cause, a ship with no sail, nothing more than just another unknown stranger in their life. They could have easily ignore him like the rest of the people, but instead, they stayed much to his surprise. They keep him company, giving him more than enough motivation to move forwards. Without them, it would certainly be harder for him to get through all of this. And because of them he was more confident with his decision. He can't thank them enough for trying to know him better, something that even his old friend didn't attempt to do after the incident. But, can he even called them his friends with how easy it was for them to leave him when he needed them the most. His gaze hardened and his heart started beating faster in anger. Did they ever see him as their friend? Gritting his teeth, he clenched his fists tightly.
"Hey buddy, you alright there?" Pulled out from his thought, Lincoln turned his head to see Clyde sitting at the desk beside him, his friend eyes slightly filled with concern.
"I'm fine Clyde, just the usual you know," He replied, trying to ease his worry. "My thoughts has been all over the place lately." Lincoln sighed, running his right hand through his messy white hair.
"You want to talk about it?" Clyde asked. It has become quite a routine for him to talk with his friend when there is something bothering him. It wasn't much but he still felt better having someone to talk with. Being in this situation right now, it was hard for him to believe how he used to hesitate telling Clyde about his problem. He never judged him and tried his best to give his genuine opinion or suggestion to help him solving his situation. But even if he really trust Clyde, not everything he can tell the spectacled boy, some stuff was just too crucial that he need to figure out himself.
"Maybe later, we still have a class right now." Lincoln said, realizing the teacher stepping into their class.
"If you say so, just know that I'm always here if you need anything." Clyde responded making him smile at his offer.
"You sounds like my sisters." He chuckled, weakly shoving his friend away.
"I will take that as a compliment." Clyde said, fixing his glasses on the bridge of his nose.
It took him a little bit longer to realize that the teacher was not sitting at his desk like usual at the start of the class instead heading towards him with a hardened look on his face. Noticing his approach, Lincoln turned to the front and completely looked at his teacher direction. Their eyes met and he can sense the displeasure coming from the older man. The class instantly went quiet when the teacher stood infront of him and crossed his arms over his chest in a show of authority. If only he took his responsibility more seriously than he would have probably respected him like the rest of the students. But he was the same like them, nothing more than a puppet, not caring of anything unless it has something to do with his own life. For the teacher he was nothing more than a nuisance to the class. Lincoln already knew that with the look of annoyance he was giving him. Just how much he hoped a troubled students like him would never be in one of the class he was teaching.
"Mr Thompson, Is there anything we can help you with?" Clyde nervously asked, breaking the silence in the class.
"It's fine Clyde, you've nothing to do with this, I'm here to speak with Lincoln." The older man replied, narrowing his gaze at the white haired boy.
"How may I help you Mr Thompson?" Lincoln said, not averting his gaze from the teacher. The older man can glare at him as long as he wanted but he will not look away, he will not be intimidated by someone like him. Clicking his tounge, the teacher pointed at his bag beside the desk much to his confusion.
"I've got some reports from a few students that you're bringing some sort of inappropriate material to school, as a teacher it is my duty to see if it was true, I hope you will kindly cooperate and give me your bag for an inspection." Is it wrong that he really wanted to punch the teacher right now, the older man didn't have any right to use the word duty with him of all people. He don't think the teacher even knew what that word means with how careless he was with his surrounding. But as much as he don't want to admit it, this is quite concerning for him since Mr Thompson wouldn't need to make an inspection unless someone was giving the older man the information. And this doesn't seems to be a trick either with how confident the teacher was being right now. Something isn't right, he can feel it. Everything was happening too sudden for this to be a coincidence. For some reason, he could already tell what will happen next if his assumption was right.
"Is there a reason for the long pause Lincoln?" The teacher smirked in satisfaction when he hesitated to pick up his bag.
'What are you waiting for, shove that fucking dumb face of his to the floor already!'
'pftt, ha ha, what are you going to do now Lincoln?'
Gritting his teeth, Lincoln clenched his fists as his heart started beating faster against his chest. His cold blue eyes sharply glaring at the older man under the looming shadow over his forehead, seizing him like a helpless prey already on the verge of dying. Noticing his intimidating gaze, the entire class including Mr Thompson flinched slightly with their eyes wide open before slowly stepping away from the white haired boy. Lincoln almost stand up when a hand suddenly placed on his shoulder, bringing him back down to his seat. He turned his head to the side with a withering glare only to see Clyde looking back at him in fear.
"Calm down buddy, I'm sure this is all just a big misunderstanding." The spectacled boy nervously said, breaking him from his trance. His features softened when he felt Clyde's hand shaking while holding his shoulder. That was close... Way too close than he would have prefered. He really need to do something about his condition before it get anymore worse. Who knew what he would do in that unstable state of mind. It was just too dangerous for the people around him, especially his sisters. What is he so angry of? Why can't he have a better grasp on himself like he used to?
Taking in a deep breath, Lincoln calmed himself before letting out a sigh of resignation. He picked up his bag from the floor and placed it on his desk where Mr Thompson began carefully inspecting the content. He gritted his teeth when the older man smirked at him, only proving that his assumption was right after all.
"As I suspected, follow me to the teacher's office immediately." The teacher said, still holding the bag while walking away.
Not wanting to make a scene, Lincoln resigned and stood up from his seat, his classmates eyes locked on him as he walked behind the teacher.
"What do you think he did this time?" A male classmate whispered.
"He probably brought something dangerous to school today, we're lucky Mr Thompson found out about this before he decided to use them." Another classmate said.
"Are you sure about that, I thought it was just a rumor?" He questioned.
"He's a delinquent, what else did you expect from him." His friend pointed out.
Lincoln slightly lowered his head as his eyes stared blankly at the floor, ignoring the judging gazes of his classmates around him. They didn't know anything about him, he don't need to listen to whatever they were saying. The sound of their whispering slowly fading from his ears before being replaced with a deafening static. It was rather nice compared to their mixed voices directed towards him. By now their muttering was nothing more than an incoherent mumbling with the static numbing his hearing, and honestly he was fine with that. He would rather listen to nothing than being the subject of their mundane conversation. He hated this feeling but what else could he do, for them he was nothing more than a delinquent and there is nothing he can do to change that.
"Wait, I'm coming with you!" Lincoln halted abruptly when Clyde spoke behind him, his eyes widened and the silence in his ears cracked like a broken mirror at the voice.
The entire class went quiet as Clyde picked up his bag and left his seat before standing behind the white haired boy. He don't need to guess that his classmates were probably confused that an honor student like Clyde would suddenly chose to come with him, especially when they still have a class right now. Even Mr Thompson was speechless at the sudden interruption since he wasn't expecting Clyde of all people to defend the delinquent.
"But Clyde, you still have a class right now." The teacher reasoned. "Don't you think it would be kind of unnecessary for you to miss a lesson because of something he did?" Lincoln have the feeling that Mr Thompson didn't want to make a big deal out of this. With Clyde being an honor student, it would certainly be concerning if his education was disturbed since Principal Huggins was putting high hopes for the student. And being in the principal bad side was never a good idea to begin with, both student and teacher alike.
"It's fine Mr Thompson, I'm sure this will end quickly, like I said this is just a big misunderstanding." Clyde assured the nervous teacher. "Besides, I know Lincoln and he isn't that kind of person." He confidently stated while fixing his glasses. The muttering in the class continued, only this time heading towards a new direction he wasn't even aware was possible.
"He's right, we're talking about the white haired monster of Royal Woods elementary school here, since when did he need to use a weapon for a fight, it doesn't make sense." A male student said as Lincoln winced slightly at the mention of the nickname. He couldn't help but wonder if there is a way to make them stop from calling him that. It was more embarrassing than concerning to him by now.
"I don't think he got into any fight either lately." A girl pointed out. "Just yesterday I saw him running in the hallway with a guy chasing after him, pretty sure the guy was scolded by a teacher after that." She continued.
"And remember dodgeball this morning, Girl Jordan for some reason decided to play more seriously than usual, I almost got hit by one of her famous killing shot when he pulled me away from the ball." Another girl said, a tinge of pink painted her cheek.
"Everything is fair in the battlefield alright!" Girl Jordan spoke, startling the class.
"And we still won the matches because of him." A boy added on with a small smirk.
"You're all just lucky this time, it won't happen again." Girl Jordan rolled her eyes in frustration before narrowing her gaze at the white haired boy. Her cheek reddened when Lincoln tried to hide his chuckle at the sight of her flustered face. She will get him next time.
"Come on Lincoln, we need to settle this before we missed anymore class today." Clyde said, already walking out from the classroom. A small smile crept upon his face as Lincoln followed him until he was walking by his friend side.
"What were you thinking Clyde, if you keep missing class like this, you will be a bad influence to me." Lincoln teased, gently elbowing the spectacled boy beside him.
"Can't believe I'm hearing this from you." Clyde chuckled in amusement. "But don't worry though, I'm not called an honor student without a good reason." He punched his shoulder.
In the teacher's office, Lincoln and Clyde stood infront Mr Thompson's desk as the older man sat across of them with the bag placed on the table. The teacher glared at the white haired boy even if it was pointless against him since he refused to give in that easy to his intimidation. He can do better than what the teacher has in store for him.
"Alright, let's get straight to the point, whatever is is you found in my bag, it's not mine." Lincoln seriously said without hesitation. He don't have anything to be afraid of, he knew he was right.
The teacher sighed in frustration before reaching for something from the bag. "Then how do you explain this!" He pulled out a magazine and slammed it down on his desk where they can have a good look at it.
Clyde, the innocent kid he was, instantly averted his wide eyes as his face flushed red in embarrassment. He lowered his gaze to the floor and pressed his index fingers together, trying to distract himself from the images currently lingering in his head. As for Lincoln, he can't exactly find the right word to explain what he was feeling at the moment. If anything he was mostly confused with the mix of dumbfounded on why the magazine would be in his bag. One thing for certain, that's definitely didn't belong to him.
On the front cover of the magazine, a blonde woman dressed in a red bikini that barely covered anything sat with her tounge out while showing the peace sign. It was without a doubt a porn magazine. He have heard and seen this type of magazine before but he never thought of owning one. Not that he wanted to, his sisters will definitely kill him if he bring this kind of stuff home and he won't blame them for that.
"What do you have to say now?" Mr Thompson asked. "This is a clear enough evidence that you're breaking the rule by bringing an inappropriate material to school." He stated while raising the magazine.
Clyde flinched slightly before covering his eyes with both of his hands from the sight of the revealing woman on the front page. "Mr Thompson, c-can you at least put the m-magazine aside." He stuttered.
Lincoln massaged his temples in frustration and looked at the teacher with annoyance in his eyes. "Like I was saying before, it's not mine!" He raised his voice, not caring if he was being a nuisance right now. "Do you seriously think I would have that kind of stuff, what I would even use it for, throw it at my opponent to distract them? You know what don't answer that."
"You're caught red handed, it's clearly belong to you since it was in your bag, why are you still denying this." The teacher shouted.
On the side, Clyde stayed quiet during their argument, not that he didn't have anything to say, he was just still recovering from the shock caused by the magazine. Why would anyone exposed so much skin like that? He knew he wasn't being much of a help to his white haired friend right now, but with how unreliable he was being at the moment, it would be better if he didn't try to interfere.
"You can deny the truth as much as you wanted but I still found this in your possession, you will be punished accordingly for breaking the rule, perhaps another suspension would do good for you, not that you care am I right?" The teacher mocked, making his blood boiled in anger.
'Wow, he really deserves to be punched in the face right now, you sure you don't want to beat him up?'
"It's. Not. Mine..." Lincoln muttered through gritted teeth. His fists clenched tightly by his sides as he slowly approached the table.
"Then, who does it belong to!?" Mr Thompson shouted, startling Clyde from his trance.
"Hey, that's mine!" A new voice suddenly screamed from the opened door.
Turning his head to the source of the voice, Lincoln was met with a familiar ginger haired boy looking back at them with narrowed eyes. The boy walked towards them and stopped infront the table before pointing his index finger at the magazine still being held by the teacher.
"You've no idea how long I've been looking for that." He said.
"Excuse me, but who exactly are you?" Mr Thompson raised an eyebrow in confusion at the sudden disturbance.
The boy groaned in frustration. "Rusty Spokes, now can I have my stuff back, today has not been a good day for me." He introduced himself.
"How do I know this actually belong to you?" The teacher hesitated, his eyes nervously glancing at Lincoln who was watching him with folded arms and a glare. Even Clyde has finally woken up from his shock and taking in their current situation. Though his eyes mostly stayed on the floor, not wanting to accidentally take a glimpse of the magazine again.
"Seriously?" Rusty inquired only to receive a hard scowl from the anxious teacher. "Fine, on page 15 there is a red haired chick in black lingeries and bunny ears, you can check it up if you don't believe me." He said, not at all bothered to notice the presence of two other students in the room or the weird expression currently on their faces while listening to him. Even with the description of the image was enough to send Clyde into another of his flustered state.
Mr Thompson looked at the ginger haired boy in suspicion before turning the pages of the magazine until he was at the page Rusty was talking about. His eyes widened in shock and fear when the boy was right about the content of the page. "H-How did you know that?" The teacher nervously asked.
"Of course I would know that, it's my favorite page after all!" Rusty said while rolling his eyes in annoyance.
"What?" The teacher weakly said.
Lincoln smirked at the scared look now plastered on the older man face. The way his wide eyes darting anxiously around for an escape, his trembling and dry lips, and also the sweat now drenching his forehead. He never felt so satisfied in his life, he might even dared to say that this feeling was much better than what he usually felt after defeating his opponents in a fight. The satisfaction of being right. He will always remember this moment, he wanted to laugh so bad that he could barely contained himself with the chuckles threatening to get out from his throat. Everything about this was just so amusing for him, was it out of pure luck or just Rusty being in the right place at the right moment. Whichever it was, he don't care, he couldn't help but cherished this moment of misfortune for the teacher. He still deserves a punch, but hell this is more entertaining to watch. The only thing stopping him from laughing while hugging his stomach on the floor right now was the half conscious Clyde still being by his side. He can't exactly say that they were sharing the same sentiment regarding the situation.
"Now can I please have my stuff back?" Rusty asked nicely. "I still have a class right now, the only reason I even chose to come here because it was math." He continued.
"Unfortunately even if it was proven that this magazine actually belongs to you, I still need to confiscate it." Mr Thompson said, trying too regain his composure, but it was already too late for that. The teacher knew he was at fault here and Lincoln didn't waste any time to use this chance to get back at him, if he's lucky he might also add salt to the injury by mocking him back for what he did. At least he thought so before Clyde decided to speak on his behalf.
"Now hold on a second." The older man flinched slightly at the voice of the honor student finally taking part in the conversation. "Rusty, if you don't mind can you tell me why you came here in the first place?" He asked.
Rusty snapped his fingers when he remembered the reason he wanted to come here. "Right, I almost forget about that, I want to make a report, someone fucking broke my locker and had the nerve to steal some of my stuff." He informed.
"Now that is quite interesting." Clyde rubbed his chin with his right hand with a look of concentration on his face. "Mr Thompson can you tell me the names and classes of those students who reported on Lincoln bringing inappropriate material to school." The teacher coughed into his fist, clearing his throat.
"As a matter of fact, I can't reveal any information regarding them because of the student teacher privacy policy." He tried to reason but Clyde didn't stop there. In fact he have a lot more to say actually. There is a reason why he is one of the honor student, other than having a good grade in academic he also have his ways to deal with the school regulations. And there is a lot of mistake being made here that he can point out as an argument to get what he wanted from the teacher. A weak and foolish act of defense that he can easily break with his own speculation.
Looking at how focused his friend was, Lincoln stayed quiet as to not disturb him. For some reason he could tell that Clyde already have everything figured out.
"Now Mr Thompson, not to be rude but I think it would be better if you give us the information." Clyde suggested. "We're not only talking about false accusation here but there is also a probability of vandalism being a part of this situation, if my assumption is right both of this problem were connected and planned by the same students." The teacher nervously lowered his head, not meeting their gazes.
"There were plenty of time for someone to break Rusty's locker and placed the magazine in Lincoln's bag, especially since we have Gym class today. After all the magazine couldn't have walk on itself into his bag." Clyde said as Lincoln snorted at that.
"If you don't mind, I want to settle this misunderstanding as quietly as possible, we just wanted to talk with those students to clear everything out." He reasoned.
"I'm sorry but I still can't do that, I can at least let the three of you go without punishment." He said but Clyde wasn't having any of that.
Lincoln almost agreed with the condition since he don't want to make a big deal out of this when his friend stopped him. Although a little bit confused, he went along with Clyde, letting his friend speak his thought out.
"I really want you to consider this Mr Thompson, you're not only falsely accusing Lincoln of owning an inappropriate material without enough proof, but you're also trying to defend the students that most likely would be the culprit of vandalism and letting them get away without a proper punishment. Even if this was all caused by them, you're also involved for further believing their lies and getting us out from our classes for something that we didn't do. Other than disturbing our lesson, you're also at fault for making foolish assumption on your own student which will be a concern for other teachers in this school." Clyde paused, now looking straight at the sweating teacher with a blank face.
"Now what if Principal Huggins know about this?" And just like that, Clyde pierced through his shaking defense, bringing it down to the ground. Mr Thompson looked at him with his eyes wide open in shock. As an honor student, it would be without a doubt, he have some sort of connection with the Principal.
"W-wait, are you threatening me?!" The older man choked out, now standing from his seat with a terrified look.
Clyde pushed his glasses slightly up his nose. "You can interpret it as anything that you want, I'm just doing my duty as an honor student to keep the peaceful atmosphere of education for other students in this school." He said as Lincoln smiled softly at his statement. What did he do to deserve someone like him as his friend, no that wasn't right, he chose to be his friend.
Mr Thompson slumped in his seat and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Sighing in defeat, he looked back at the three of them as they waited for his response. "Fine, I will tell you their names, but I don't want to hear anything about this again." He finally gave up, there is nothing he could do or say to argue with them.
"Give the magazine back to Rusty and this never happened." Clyde said. Rolling his eyes, the teacher put the magazine back on the table as Rusty quickly took it in his arms.
"Tell me Clyde, why are you willing to go this far for him." The older man asked, slightly curious.
"I know Lincoln and he isn't that kind of guy." He simply replied as the teacher chuckled at his response.
After the ringing of the last bells, students began pouring out from the school main entrance as they headed home to continue with their daily activities or sleep until late at night before doing their homeworks. Among the crowd of students walking in the busy hallways, two brown haired boys stood infront an open locker which contained the rewards from their locker breaking earlier.
"You know what, I'm not expecting this to be so easy." One of them chuckled. "It was a good idea to put the blame on the white haired monster." He continued.
"I told you we don't need Trevor for this, heck me might even be better without him." His friend agreed.
"Excuse me but can we talk for a moment?" A voice interrupted them as they eventually turned around.
"What do you-" He was cut off at the sight of three figure standing infront of them. His eyes widened at the cold glare coming from the white haired boy as their bodies froze at the intimidating gazes looming over them like death playing with the candles of their life, slowly putting the fire out in a teasing manner for entertainment.
"I finally found you." Lincoln seriously said, it was more than enough to send a cold shiver running up their spines.
Shrugging off the tension coming from Lincoln, Rusty looked at the content of the locker and narrowed his eyes. "I'm here to get my stuff back, if you don't mind." He walked past the petrified boys and gathered his stuff into his bag.
"Just consider yourself lucky that we didn't bring this up to a teacher, or better yet take this as a warning, if you try any tricks like this again, be sure that we wouldn't find you." Clyde paused.
"Or we will make sure your disappearance will be permanent." He whispered with an innocent smile. Even Lincoln was surprised at his threat but held himself together from laughing since he knew how nervous Clyde was at the moment. He wasn't made for this kind of stuff. They might not notice this but his hands were shaking behind his back. It wasn't easy for the spectacled boy to keep his intimidating facade up, he wasn't like him after all. By now it was kind of natural for Lincoln with how easily he could be intimidating when he wanted to.
"Now go." Clyde said as they wasted no time to run away from them, ignoring their open locker still being checked by Rusty to search for his missing stuff.
"Well, that was quick." Rusty closed the locker and slung his bagpack over his shoulders. "Anyway thanks for helping, I've got all of my stuff back, now I just need to figure out how to fix my locker." He looked at them with a frustrated sigh.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Clyde placed his right palm against his chest where his heart was beating at a rapid pace. "For Ace sake, I will never do anything like that again." He said receiving a chuckle from Lincoln who wrapped his arm behind his shoulder.
"You sure about that, I almost believed you for a second there." He teased.
"How did you keep dealing with this stuff, it was terrifying." Clyde admitted.
"I guess you just got used to that." He replied.
"Oh and Rusty, don't worry about your locker, I'm sure I can talk with one of the teacher to find you a replacement." Clyde said.
"Seriously? Thanks dude." The ginger haired boy replied.
"You can just call me Clyde, Clyde McBride." He fixed his glasses.
"And I'm Lincoln, Lincoln Loud." He introduced himself.
It didn't take long for them to realize that Rusty was without a doubt a weird guy for a lot of reason that it would take more than a piece paper to list it all. But he is also an entertaining guy to hang out with. There is not a day where he didn't have anything new to say even if it wasn't the truth but they already got used to that side of him. And luckily he is also a fan of Ace Savvy franchise like them, even though he was mostly interested in the female characters and the sexy fanart. Lincoln really need to talk with him about that. Until then, he just need to keep Rusty away from meeting any of his sisters.
A/N: Dude, I'm not even trying to make this fic feel real, I don't have the ability to write like that. I just gather whatever my mind kept throwing at me and put them on the screen. At least it's fun to write that way. Thanks for reading though. Unrelated question, did anyone notice the loss meme in the episode where Leni, Luan and Lincoln were reading Luna's diary?
