So, after much deliberation on what the next chapter should be, and planning and partially writing several different ones, I ended up deciding that this works as the next step in the story. It was originally going to come a fair bit later, but it actually fits really well at this point. Anyway, enjoy!

Sibling Sleepover

Lincoln ached all over.

Ever since Lynn Jr had roped him into taking part in a five-a-side soccer tournament a few weeks ago, she had been asking him to join her and her friends in training sessions on a fairly regular basis. Fortunately, he found this to be no real hardship. He got on pretty well with some of the other girls she played with, Margo and Paula in particular, and he found that they had the tendency to smooth over some of Lynn's harsher aspects.

Sure, she was still insanely competitive, but her teammates helped her dial it back a bit and, as such, any time Lynn turned up at his door, holding a soccer ball and looking hopeful that he would join her, he found himself agreeing more often than not.

The effects of this little arrangement were already making themselves known. Admittedly it had only been a few weeks, but his arms (often compared by some of his sisters, albeit affectionately, to noodles) were looking a little less... noodle-y. His stamina was getting better – two days ago he went for an early morning job with Lynn and actually made it into the second mile before wanting to curl up under a park bench and die quietly.

His relationship with Lynn was better as well. Of all his sisters, Lincoln's dynamic with Lynn was easily the most… combative. If he was going to clash with any of them, it was most likely to be her. But all of that had changed recently. And the reason for that change was simple: Lynn not longer viewed Lincoln as just her brother – he was also her teammate.

Okay, so he technically wasn't on any of her teams, and that tournament thing had been a one-off, but as far as Lynn was concerned, him attending regular training sessions with her was good enough and, if it meant getting punched less, he'd take it.

Currently, he and Lynn were making their way along Franklin Avenue, trudging home in the aftermath of one of those training sessions. A little rain earlier in the day ensured that the pair of them had gotten covered in mud while practising, and Lincoln was pretty sure that whoever maintained the grass at Ketcham Park was going to be pretty annoyed at the mess they made.

"Sure I can't interest you in a bike ride later?" asked Lynn as their house came into view.

Lincoln gave a slight chuckle and replied "No can do, Lynn. I am going to take a shower, grab something to eat and then head off with Luna to Mazzy's house. I'm starting drum lessons today."

Lynn paused and looked him up and down.

"What?" he asked, worried.

"Who are you and what have you done with my geek of a brother?" she asked, clearly teasing him.

Lincoln rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Walking away from you now." he announced, turning on his heal and resuming his march towards home.

"Oh, come on Lincoln, don't be like that!" said Lynn, hurrying after him. "Look, I'm just sayin' there's been a change and… it's nice, is all. I like hanging out with you more. And I know Luna and Luan do too."

Lincoln paused again and, after a moment of thought, said "You do realise that the stuff I do with Luan would be considered pretty geeky by most people, right"?

Lynn snorted and walked ahead of him. As he moved to follow she said "Well, it would have to be. With her being in theatre club, Luan's the biggest geek in the family aside from you."

Lincoln really wanted to protest that remark, but found that he could not. He ran the thought through his mind and found that, yes, theatre club outranked anything any of this other sisters did that might get them labelled as being geeky. Even Lisa, who's favourite pass-times we more nerdy than geeky (there's a difference, look it up!)

"Okay, I'll give you that," he acknowledged. "But, as much as you might mock theatre club, I, for one, am very glad she has it. She's calmed down a bit since joining up. Gives her another outlet."

"I hear ya!" said Lynn. "You can definitely tell when they're really focusing on an up-coming performance. Fewer banana cream pies flying around the house."

Lincoln nodded in agreement before adding "Still need to find a way to make her use Mr Coconuts less..."

Lynn shuddered. "I know, right? That dang puppet's been giving me nightmares for years. One time I dreamt that I woke up and he was sitting on my stomach holding a knife. Stupid dummy is scarier than Lucy's dumb old vampire head."

"It's called a bust," corrected Lincoln. "But yeah, Mr Coconuts is scarier. Edwin is more… creepy, I guess."

"Speakin' of creepy," said Lynn. "Little Miss Spooky herself is currently spying on us."

"Huh?"

"Two o'clock, bro." she added with a slight nod of her head in the direction in question.

Lincoln turned to look towards the house and caught a brief glimpse of Lucy looking at them through the dining room window before she ducked down in an attempt to avoid detection.

"Wonder what that's about?" mused Lincoln.

"Your guess is as good as mine, bro," replied Lynn as she began leading the way towards the front door.

Inside the house they found that things in the living room looked pretty normal for late afternoon on a Tuesday. Leni was sitting in the armchair, filing her nails with a content smile on her face, while Lola sat on the armrest of the same chair, pulling pouty faces and fluttering her eyelashes while staring at her reflection in a hand-held vanity mirror. Lisa, meanwhile, was standing over the coffee table, scribbling notes into a pad of paper while an assortment of test tubes stood next to her in a rack, one of them giving off a steady stream of blue vapour.

Lana was sitting on the couch, leaning forward and staring eagerly at the television, a game controller in her hands. From the music and sound effects coming from the television, it was clear to Lincoln that she was trying to beat her high score in his game Total Trash Takedown. There had been rumours online for the last few months that a sequel was in the works. If these rumours proved true… well, Lincoln was really looking forward to the expression on Lana's face when the reveal trailer dropped.

"Well," said Lynn while stretching, "Enjoy your shower, Stinkoln. I'm gonna go find my bike helmet then head off to meet Margo."

"Have fun," said Lincoln as Lynn hung up her jacket and headed off towards the kitchen and out to the garage.

"Sigh..."

Lincoln spun on the spot, looking for the source of the sigh. "Luce?" he asked. When he caught no sight of her, and no reply came, he shrugged his shoulders and began to make his way towards the stairs. Normally if he detected Lucy sighing like that, he would go out of his way to seek her out. But he didn't have time for that now. He had places to be, after all. He was really excited to begin his drum lessons with Mazzy and was hoping that he could start getting good before Tabby moved to Royal Woods.

Not that he was trying to impress her or anything…

Halfway up the stairs he bumped into his musically-inclined sister.

"Hey bro! You ready for your first drum lesson this evening?" she asked, cheerily.

"Looking forward to it," replied Lincoln.

"Cool! Well, I'm guessin' you wanna catch a shower after all that runnin' around with Lynn?" she paused while he gave a nod of affirmation and then carried on. "While you do that, I'm gonna heat us up some leftovers Pops left in the fridge. Once we've eaten we can head off to Mazzy's place."

"Sounds like a plan, sis." said Lincoln. "I'll be down as soon as I'm ready."

As he and Luna parted ways, he heard it again.

"Sigh..."

Lincoln paused briefly and looked around. On seeing no sign of Lucy, he shrugged and continued upstairs. At the top he rounded the corner, and immediately bumped into Luan and Mr Coconuts.

"Hey, Linc!" she chirped, happily. "How do you make an egg roll?"

"You push it!" answered the puppet on her arm.

Lincoln waited for her subsequent giggles to subside, which they did, as soon as she noticed that he wasn't laughing.

"Hey, what's the big idea, pal?" complained Mr Coconuts. "This is Grade A material you're frownin' at."

"Yeeeaahh..." said Lincoln slowly. "The problem is, Luan, I've heard you tell that one. And, like, a lot."

"You saying her material's gettin' stale?" groused the puppet.

"Kinda..." said Lincoln, in a tone that suggested he was trying to be as diplomatic as possible.

"Can you believe this bozo?" Mr Coconuts demanded of Luan.

"Now, Mr Coconuts, there's no reason to get all angry," said Luan. "If Lincoln's heard a joke too many times, then he's heard it too many times. There's nothing we can do about it, except tell it less."

"But the nerve of this guy!" continued Mr Coconuts. "We're out here, bustin' our humps tryin' ta make folks laugh, an' all this big palooka can do is complain! I ask ya! Oooh… Why I oughta…!"

At this point, Luan clamped a hand over the puppet's mouth and offered Lincoln an apologetic smile. "Sorry about him, Linc. We've got a big gig a the senior centre this Saturday, and Mr Coconuts can get a bit mean when he's nervous. He's just projecting."

"Riiiight..." said Lincoln, side stepping the family jokester and her puppet. "Well, I gotta go take a shower..."

He darted towards the bathroom door.

"Hey, mind you don't pee in the shower, pal!" Mr Coconuts yelled after him. "We all gotta use that tub!"

Lincoln slammed the door shut and rested his forehead against it for a moment. He loved Luan very much, but, yeah, that puppet needed to take a running jump out the window. Preferably into a running wood chipper!

After taking his much needed shower, Lincoln retreated to his room to put on some fresh clothes. Once fully dressed, he stepped back out into the hallway and almost immediately bumped into Lynn.

"Oops, sorry bro!" she said after nearly knocking him down. "Have you seen my bike helmet anywhere? I've searched everywhere in the garage."

"Sorry, no clue." replied Lincoln. "Be careful though. Last time it went missing, Luan had been soaking it in expired milk."

Lynn gave a shudder. "Don't remind me. It took a week to get the smell completely out of my hair."

"Sigh..."

Brother and sister paused their conversation until Lincoln said "Guess we better deal with this..."

"Yeah, I could hear her sighing the whole time I was in the garage."

Lincoln gave a nod and called out "Okay, Luce. What's wrong?"

Currently, Lincoln and Lynn were standing in the upstairs corridor, making approach from the sides impossible. In one direction, there was the door that led to the room that Lynn shared with Lucy, and opposite that door, the stairs that led to ground level. In the other direction was the door to Lana and Lola's room and, opposite that, was the door to Lisa and Lily's room. All three doors were closed. The door to the attic was on the opposite side of Lynn and Lucy's door, and they could quite clearly see that every grate over every vent was securely in place. With Lincoln looking in one direction, and Lynn the other, it should have been completely impossible for Lucy to sneak up on them and give them a jump scare.

And yet, somehow, she did just that.

"Sigh..." Lucy uttered again as she appeared, somehow, between them, scaring both siblings almost out of their skins.

Well, if that didn't prove Lincoln's theory that Lucy could faze through the floor, nothing would!

Lincoln took a deep, calming breath and, once his heart had slowed down to a more reasonable rate, he said "Okay, Lucy, you've proven your spookiness. Now, out with it; why do you keep sighing?"

"Yeah, Spooky," added Lynn. "What's up?"

Lucy bowed her head slightly as if nervous, and after a beat asked "Would either of you two like to… hang out this evening?"

That caught Lincoln by surprise. There were several things that went through his mind that could have been getting Lucy down, but that wasn't one of the things he thought of.

"Oh," he said. "I'm sorry Lucy, but I can't. I'm going with Luna over to her friend Mazzy's house for drum lessons."

"Yeah, and I already promised Margo I'd meet her at the bike track," added Lynn.

Lucy sighed again. "Okay. I guess I should have known..."

"Known what?" asked Lynn.

"That you would both be too busy." the goth girl replied, morosely. "You're always too busy these days."

"Now, wait a second-" began Lincoln, but Lucy kept talking.

"You guys are always hanging out together now, playing soccer and stuff. And Lynn, you go off with your friends. And Lincoln, you're doing more Funny Business stuff with Luan, and now you're taking music lessons with Luna… I guess… sometimes it feels like… maybe… you guys don't have time for me any more…"

Lincoln had never been slapped around the face by a dead fish (and with a sister like Luan, that was actually really surprising), but if he had to imagine it, he'd guess that the feeling he got from Lucy's words would be quite close to the sensation.

"Wait a minute," he protested. "That's not true. We hung out the other day, remember? We spent at least an hour sitting together in my room, reading. Remember? I was reading Ace Savvy and you were reading Princess P-uh… uhhhh!"

His brain caught him just a little too late and he winced before sending a look to Lynn.

"Pfft! Don't worry about it," the jock waved him off. "I already know she reads Princess Pony."

"You do?" asked Lincoln and Lucy in unison, both equally surprised by that revelation.

"Lucy, we share the same room," said Lynn. "I can't tell you how many times I've walked into the room and found that vampire poster of yours hanging off the wall and showing the pony one underneath."

Lincoln could remember the moment clear as day, Lucy vehemently denying that she read the pony book, only for her vampire poster to fall down and reveal the pony poster hidden behind it. Her words to him then were the same as she said to Lynn now.

"Dang it..." the gloomy goth muttered.

"You gonna make fun of her for it?" Lincoln asked of the sporty sister.

"No," replied Lynn, "I was waiting to see if she would come clean on her own, but now that its out in the open I think I should talk with her about letting you take the fall for clogging the toilet when it was actually her."

"Its in the past, Lynn," he stated.

"But didn't you get grounded and miss a convention or something?" asked Lynn.

"Yes, I did. But I forgave Lucy for it, and so should you," insisted Lincoln. "It's in the past, let it stay there, along with the squirrel suit, the video I entered the school contest with, the chore strike, that debacle with the limo, the Sister Fight Protocol, the time we ruined Dad's colonoscopy, the time Luan's pranks nearly ruined all our social lives, the fact that Ronnie Ann used to bully me, the time Lola knocked me out with a golf club, the time Lisa tried to force everyone to tell the truth, and the weird choices me and Clyde made when we thought I was adopted/swapped at birth/cloned and so on."

"Wait, you thought you were adopted?" asked Lucy.

"When was that?" asked Lynn.

"Oh, right. You guys weren't around that day..." mused Lincoln before turning to his left and stating "Anyway, it doesn't matter. My point is, so long as everyone affected has forgiven those involved, what's in the past should be left there, and there's no point in bringing it up again, okay?"

Lynn thought about it for a moment, then remembered Lincoln's comment about the squirrel suit and ultimately decided to concede his point.

Lucy, meanwhile, was staring at Lincoln. "Why are you looking so intently at the fourth wall?" she asked.

Lincoln shook his head as if coming out of a trance. "Sorry, didn't mean to. Kinda got too involved in making my point there."

Lynn shook her head. Between Luan and Mr Coconuts, Lucy and Edwin, Leni and her mannequin, Tanya, and Luna and her Mick Swagger poster, the fact that Lincoln frequently turned and addressed a wall was just something she put up with by this point. Though it was nice to know that Lucy had observed this behaviour from him as well. Sometimes, Lynn felt like she was alone in noticing this quirk of Lincoln's. At least when Lisa talked to things that weren't alive, she made them into robots capable of talking back first.

"Anyway," said Lincoln. "getting back to the matter at hand, Lucy, my point stands, we did hang out not too long ago. But if you want to do something more, all you had to do was ask and we could plan something."

"That would be nice." replied Lucy. "But when?"

Lincoln thought for a moment before making a suggestion. "Well, on Friday I have art club after school..."

"You don't go to art club," interjected Lynn.

"I know, this is going to be the first one," countered Lincoln. "Anyway, art club finishes at around five. I could do something after that."

"I could join you once lacrosse practice finishes," added Lynn. "It's supposed to run until five as well, but we usually run over time a little."

"That actually works out quite well," said Lucy. "I have writing club until five thirty on Fridays. We could go somewhere after that. Mom still runs the club with Principal Huggins. If you guys walk to my school, Mom could drop us all off somewhere."

"Hey, how about the Burpin' Burger?" suggested Lynn. "I'll have worked up a real hunger after practice. We should make that our first stop in order to refuel on protein and carbs."

"Nice," said Lincoln. "But then what?"

Lucy rubbed her arm nervously before voicing "I was actually going to suggest you join us in our room and have a sibling sleepover."

"I like it," said Lynn with a grin. "I'll sort out some snacks."

"And I'll bring my laptop," added Lincoln. "We can watch a movie together."

"So… we're really going to do this?" asked Lucy.

"Heck yeah!" said Lynn, excitedly. "We'll have a great time, right Linc?"

"You know it," said Lincoln.

Lucy gave a small smile before stepping towards them and initiating a hug. It was such an unusual move that it caught the other two completely off guard, but they returned the gesture nonetheless.

The moment was broken by Luna's voice shouting up the stairs "Yo, Linc! Get your butt down here! We gotta get goin' over to Mazzy's soon and you're mac 'n' cheese is gettin' cold!"

"Gotta go!" said Lincoln, breaking the hug to bound down the stairs.

A little after five in the afternoon on Friday, Lincoln packed his art supplies into his school bag and prepared to depart.

"Bye Lincoln," called out Chloe as she, Emma and Jenny left through the door.

"Bye girls," he called back, before turning to address the several other students still in the room; Artie, Andrew, Penelope, Cookie, Hassan and Boy Jordan. "I'll see you guys later"

"Later, Loud," Artie called after him while Cookie added "See you Lincoln!" The others settled on waving.

Lincoln headed out the classroom and followed the familiar path along three different corridors before arriving at the front doors of the Middle School. There was no rush to get outside. Lynn said her lacrosse practice sessions usually over ran, and she would need to get changed after. He figured that he had at least another fifteen minutes before she would be good to leave.

Sure enough, as he arrived at the school's sports pitches, the lacrosse team were only just packing up their equipment.

"Yo, Linc!" Lynn called out. "Lemme just go change and I'll be back."

"No rush," replied Lincoln, even as Lynn darted off with an array of equipment in her arms.

Coach Keck chuckled as she walked by, musing to herself "Never slows down, that one."

"Hey, Lincoln," said Margo, coming up beside him. "Did you hear about the soccer teams?"

"No, what?" he asked.

"Apparently the school's budget isn't stretching as far as it used to and some of the sports teams ware being restructured to save money." she explained. "There's only going to be one soccer team this year, not two."

"That's too bad," he said. "I suppose the girls' team is the one that's gonna stick around? You're the only ones that won anything last year."

"No. Coach Keck says the school still has to offer each sport to boys and girls equally." said Margo. "Both teams are being merged into one mixed gender team. They've already named Lynn as captain. Try outs are on Tuesday, if you can make it."

"What time?" asked Lincoln. "It might clash with my drumming lessons."

"Same as this lacrosse practice session," replied Margo. "We get out here as soon as we can once classes finish, and wrap everything up by five. Five fifteen at the latest."

Lincoln mulled it over in his mind for a few moments before nodding. "Okay, yeah… I should be good. I might just have to tell Luna I'll meet her at Mazzy's rather than go home first, but it should be doable."

"Good," said Margo. "I'm looking forward to you being a permanent part of the school team."

"You know Lynn won't be allowed to play favourites, Margo. There could easily be someone better than me."

"Yeah, well, as far as Lynn, Paula and I are concerned, the spot is as good as yours," said Margo. "All you gotta do is turn up and you're in. Others can cry foul all they want, but at the end of the day Lynn already knows how good you are."

"We'll see," said Lincoln. "I imagine Coach Keck might have something to say about Lynn just letting me on the team."

"So long as you bring your 'A' game to try outs, it won't be a problem," said a voice behind them. They turned and found that Coach Keck had paused in collecting sports equipment to listen in. "Sorry for butting in." she added "I was just surprised to hear you planning to join a sports team, Loud."

"Well, I'm trying a few new things," said Lincoln, giving a shrug of his shoulders. "Margo and a couple of other girls have been helping Lynn get me up to scratch."

"Well, if you're good enough to impress Lynn Loud Jr then I'm sure you'll be good enough for everyone else," said the teacher. "But, like I said, just make sure to bring your 'A' game to the try outs. With the two previous teams getting merged, there are bound to be a few kids who feel like they're losing out, even without the new captain appearing to play favourites."

"I'll do my best," promised Lincoln.

"YO! LINCOLN!" called out Lynn as she emerged from the doorway that led to the changing rooms. "You ready?"

"Gotta go," said Lincoln. "Catch you later, Margo. Coach Keck." And with that he darted off to catch up to his sibling.

Margo, meanwhile, turned to head off towards the changing rooms, leaving the sports coach to watch Lincoln leave with his sister. She smiled and shook her head before commenting to herself "Lincoln Loud trying out for a sports team. Looks like Principal Ramirez owes me twenty bucks."

It actually wasn't that far of a walk from the middle school to the elementary school and, before long, Lincoln and Lynn had arrived at the staff parking lot, where they found Vanzilla parked. They were barely there a minute when they spotted their mother and sister entering the parking lot from the opposite end.

"You guys all good to go?" asked Rita as she approached them.

"Heck yeah," said Lynn, excitedly. "I've been craving a double belcher all day!"

"I'm gonna get a box of twenty chicken nuggets just for me!" added Lincoln, practically drooling.

"Is that Lincoln Loud I hear?" asked a voice. The boy in question turned and saw that the elementary school's principal had stopped by in the golf cart he used to patrol the school grounds.

"Hello, Principal Huggins," the white-haired boy greeted.

"Still engaging in the creative writing process?" asked the man. "Your younger sister is showing great potential in the area."

The Loud family matriarch turned to her only son to ask in surprise "You write?"

Lincoln grimaced slightly and said "I sometimes write my own comic books. Some people don't consider that proper writing. And, no, Principal Huggins, I haven't done any in quite a while."

"Well, now, that is a shame," said the educator. "With the talents displayed by your mother and sister, I assumed that you would achieve great things in the field."

Lincoln gave a shrug and replied "I guess the drive to do it dried up."

"Well, if you do ever find the inspiration again, please see to it that you send a copy my way. I'm always interested in the creative works of my students, even the ones who have left the school I oversee."

"Will do," said Lincoln, as Principal Huggins drove off.

"Lincoln, honey, if you've still got the things you've written, I'd really like to take a look at it sometime," said Rita as they all got into Vanzilla.

"Uh, sure," replied Lincoln as he fixed his seatbelt, "I'll see if I can find any of it. I think there's a few copies of my earlier attempts under my bed."

"And if you're suffering writer's block, come talk to me. I know a few ways to get around it," his mother added.

Behind Lincoln, Lynn and Lucy exchanged worried looks. Both knew that Lincoln enjoyed writing his own take on Ace Savvy's adventures, but had no idea that he hadn't been doing it lately. By silent agreement, they decided to talk to him about it once they were free of their mother's prying ears.

Due to traffic, it was a thirty minute drive from the Middle School to the Burpin' Burger. The whole way there, Rita gave her son bite-sized pieces of advice about the creative writing process, with Lincoln doing his best to appear interested. Rita may not have noticed his indifference, but Lynn and Lucy certainly did. Lucy, in particular, got the feeling that whatever was going on with their brother, it wasn't a mere case of writer's block.

Finally their mother pulled the family vehicle into the parking lot of The Burpin' Burger. Given the time of day, nearly every parking spot was full, so she pulled up outside the doors to let them out. Inside the fast food restaurant, they found a queue of people that almost reached the door. Of course, with this being such a busy time of the day, there were only two people manning the counter to take people's orders, even though there was clearly room for five people to work at the same time.

Lincoln looked over to the dining area, and pointed out a small table in the far corner, near a window. "Let's grab that table before someone else claims it. We'll sort out what we're ordering and I'll get in line when we're ready."

"The Man with the Plan strikes again!" said Lynn with a grin while her brother began leading the way over to the table he had indicated. Once they were seated, Lincoln took a notebook out of his school bag and took note of what each of them wanted. They then pooled their money until they had enough to cover the cost and he made his way over to get in line.

Behind him, Lynn turned to her spooky room mate. "What do you think?"

"I think there's a deeper issue going on," replied Lucy. "Lincoln loves creating his own Ace Savvy stories almost as much as he enjoys reading the official material. And its not like he isn't any good at it, he did win that contest, after all."

"Speaking of which," said Lynn, "did you ever actually see the official printing of Lincoln's story?"

"No," said Lucy. "I know it must have happened, because so many people recognised us when we dressed up as The Full House Gang for that convention, but I certainly never saw the final product."

"You think Lincoln ever saw a dime from it?" asked Lynn.

"Given that it was a competition with a clear prize given, I doubt it," replied Lucy. "I don't know much about the entertainment industry, but I have heard that it can be rather… cut-throat. If they can get away without paying someone royalties, they will."

"Yeah? Well, from what I hear, that's pretty much every industry everywhere," commented Lynn.

It took a stupidly long time, but Lincoln finally got to the front of the queue. Once he was finally able to place his order, he found himself opposite a familiar face, albeit one who was looking a lot more weary than usual.

"Hey Benny!" he greeted, cheerfully.

"Hey Lincoln," the older boy greeted back. "Sorry for the long wait. We're a few staff members short."

"I'd noticed," said Lincoln. "Are they off sick or something?"

"My boss, Andre, won't say," replied Benny, before leaning forward so that Lincoln could hear while he added quietly "Between you and me, I think that means he screwed up the staff rota. Anyway, what're you buying?"

A short while later, Lincoln made his way back to the table he was sharing with his sisters, carrying a tray laden down with their purchases.

"Oh, man!" said Lynn as she snatched up her double belcher burger. "I've been looking forward to this all week!" She unwrapped the item in question and took a hearty bite. "Oh, yeah! So good!"

Lucy began fishing around in the bag for a packet of ketchup to go with her fries, while Lincoln took hold of his milkshake and took a long drink, something that he almost immediately regretted. "Gah!" he yelped, clutching his forehead with his free hand. "Brain freeze!"

His self-inflicted suffering earned him laughter from Lynn and a chuckle from Lucy.

"So, Lucy," he began. "With Mom getting so excited about my writing, I never got to ask how your writing club went."

"It went well," replied Lucy. "Principal Huggins has entered us all into the Royal Woods Poetry Society's show next month, and we have all each been tasked with coming up with a poem to read."

"That's cool," said Lynn. "So is it gonna be like that time we all went to the Royal Woods Theatre to watch you perform?"

"Yes," said Lucy. "Though this time its actually taking place in Ketcham Park."

"That sounds like fun," said Lincoln. "People will be able to listen to the poems while feeling the sun on their skin and sitting on the grass."

"Hope the weather holds out though," said Lynn. "Kinda late in the year to be holding something like that outside, right?"

Lincoln didn't like to admit it, but she had a point. They were already getting more cloudy days than sunny ones, and that was a trend that was only likely to continue as the weeks wore on.

"I thought so too," said Lucy. "However, Principal Huggins has informed us that arrangements will be made for the event to continue even if it rains."

"Do you have a poem ready yet?" asked Lynn.

"I have a few ideas, but nothing solid." said Lucy. "I did almost have something completed, but it just didn't feel right." She paused for a moment to steal a chicken nugget from her brother before asking him the question that had been on her mind since the school's parking lot. "So, Lincoln, why don't you write any more? I must confess, I was rather surprised when you made that admission to Principal Huggins earlier."

"Yeah, what's that about?" added Lynn. "You love all that junk."

Lincoln sighed and set his milkshake down. "Look, Luce, I'll be honest with you, there isn't really a reason why I stopped. I just… lost the spark, I guess."

"Mom mentioned writer's block..." said Lynn.

Lincoln gave a shrug. "I guess there's some of that. At one point I was working on something like twelve different stories, but I hit roadblocks with all of them. Sometimes I wouldn't know where to take the story next, other times, I'd know where I wanted the story to go, but be at a complete loss for how to get there."

"That does sound like writer's block," said Lucy, thoughtfully. "Have you tried setting aside the story you're working on and making something else? I do that sometimes. By the time I've finished a smaller piece of work, I'm feeling creative enough to continue my main project."

Lincoln chuckled and answered "How do you think I ended up with working on twelve stories at the same time in the first place?"

"And you hit a wall with all of them?" asked Lynn.

Lincoln shrugged. "I kept trying with all of them, but… In the end I just felt like I was having to force the work to happen, and whenever I did that, what I ended up with wasn't satisfying. In the end, I guess I realised that I just wasn't enjoying writing any more."

He sighed and reached for his burger while Lynn and Lucy exchanged looks. After a beat, the youngest asked "So is that why you're doing all these other things now?"

"Other things?" asked Lincoln, around a mouthful of burger.

"Yeah," said Lynn. "You know, art club after school, drum lessons with Luna and her friends, being a part of Luan's party act… agreeing to play soccer with me. You're trying to find something else you enjoy, aren't you?"

"I'm not trying, Lynn. I do enjoy those things." explained Lincoln. "I wouldn't do them if I didn't enjoy them. That's part of the reason I gave up writing, remember? Forcing yourself to do something is the quickest way to make yourself hate it."

He took another bite out of his burger, only for a combination of sauces some onion to spill down his shirt. "Dang it," he muttered. "I'll be back in a minute," he added as he got up and headed towards the bathrooms.

Once he was out of earshot, Lynn turned to Lucy "You buying that?"

Lucy shook her head. "No. I think that there is something else going on. But whatever it is, I don't think we're going to get it out of him for a while."

"So we back off?" asked Lynn. Lucy nodded.

Lincoln came back a few minutes later, the food stain now gone, but a wet patch on his orange polo clearly indicating where the spillage had been.

"Well," said Lynn, stretching "I dunno about you guys, but I could go for another burger."

"I have room..." commented Lucy.

"Sure, why not?" said Lincoln.

Lynn grinned and said "How about we make it interesting? I'll order each of us a Lynn special – a double belcher with extra pickles, extra onions and triple hot sauce. If the two of you can handle the heat, you won't have to pay me back, and we'll stop by Auntie Pam's Parlour for ice cream on the way home, my treat."

Lincoln and Lucy looked to each other and exchanged a smile before turning back to their older sister. "You're on!" they said in unison.

Lynn grinned like a maniac and rushed over to join the now much shorter line while Lincoln and Lucy finished the last of their fries.

Ten minutes later, Lynn was back, carrying with her three of the burgers in question. She handed one to each of her siblings, keeping the third for herself. Lincoln peeled back the paper wrapping and winced slightly. Even the smell of it was enough to make his eyes water.

"Come on, bro," said Lynn, already done with her first bite. "Get to chewing!"

He exchanged another look with Lucy, both now wondering if this had, in fact, been a terrible mistake.

Slowly, Lincoln raised the burger to his mouth. He licked his lips nervously, and then took a bite. It wasn't terrible. Certainly not to his taste, but nowhere near as bad as he was expecting. He swallowed the first bite, and then took another… ah… there was the hot sauce! Next to him, Lucy gave a slight cough, indicating that she, too, had found the spicy condiment. Opposite them, Lynn was happily munching away at hers without a care in the world. Unwilling to back down, Lincoln took a third bite, followed closely by a fourth.

Was it getting hot in there, because it really felt like it was getting hot in there.

Next to him, Lucy had begun sweating, and Lincoln knew she was suffering worse than he was. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead and along his nose to form a drip at the end. He shook himself slightly to clear it and then took another bite.

"Ah," sighed Lynn, before popping the final piece into her mouth. "Nothing beats a nice burger dripping in hot sauce."

Lucy forced herself to swallow her latest mouthful before commenting "If you say so."

"Hey, feel free to tap out if you can't take it," said Lynn. "No one's forcing you to keep going."

Lucy stared at her older sister for a moment before taking another bite.

"Atta girl!" said Lynn, proudly.

Lincoln's shirt was now drenched with sweat at the collar and at the armpits, but he wasn't going to give up. Eating the burger was hell, but the promise of ice cream from Auntie Pam's was simply too good to let pass by. A few more bites later and he was done.

"Wow, impressive," said Lynn, genuinely amazed by his effort. "Even Margo couldn't get through one of these bad boys the first time I talked her into trying one."

"Thanks," said Lincoln, hoarsely, before grabbing his milkshake. "Mind if I down this now?"

"Go ahead," said Lynn.

Not even bothering with the straw this time, Lincoln pulled the plastic lid off of the cup, brought it to his lips and began guzzling all the milkshake that remained, brain freeze be damned! Next to him, Lucy forced down the last of her burger with a grimace and, after looking to Lynn for a nod of approval, grabbed her own milkshake to mirror her brother's actions.

Lynn watched with amusement as her two siblings extinguished the fires now burning in their stomachs. She really did not expect either of them to finish.

"Ah! That's so much better," said Lincoln, placing his now empty cup back on the table. Opposite him, Lynn gave a snort, earning her a confused look from him. She gestured to her own face, waving her hand around her mouth, and Lincoln got the message. He grabbed a napkin and wiped the last of the milkshake away, though not before a large glob of it spilled onto his shirt.

"Dang it."

Next to him, Lucy was having a similar problem, though she had some hot sauce on the front of her dress to compliment the milkshake.

"Good thing I've got a spare polo in my bag," said Lincoln as he reached for his school bag. After a quick rummage around, he pulled out an orange polo, just like the ones he always wore, along with a black cardigan, which he handed to his younger sister. "Here you go, Luce. This'll cover the stains."

"Thank you," she said, taking the item without question.

Lynn, meanwhile, did have questions. "You were just carrying around a girl's cardigan in your school bag?"

"Hey, a good big brother is always prepared," said Lincoln in his defence. He reached back into the back and pulled out a small, green sweater, a toddler's purple top and pink blouse. One item each for Lisa, Lily and Lola.

Lynn's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You don't have any of my stuff in there, do you?"

In answer, Lincoln reached into his bag and took out a black band, like the ones Lynn usually used to hold her ponytail up. She frowned slightly before commenting "Fine. I guess its not the end of the world if you have one of those for an emergency. Just don't start carrying around one of my jerseys."

"Of course not," said Lincoln. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the bathroom to change."

He turned and walked off. Lucy slipped on the cardigan before looking to Lynn and commenting "You know he definitely has one of your jerseys in his backpack, right?"

"Yeah, I know," the older girl acknowledged. "Dang, he's got this big brother thing down so well he's actually carrying spares for sisters who are older than him!"

"Well, I, for one, am very grateful," said Lucy. "He's right, this cardigan does indeed hide the food stains rather well."

Lynn sighed and shook her head. She gathered their assorted drink cups, food cartons and wrappers onto the tray and carried it to the trash bins in the corner of the restaurant. After ditching the trash and placing the tray on top of the pile, she had Lucy headed over to the doors and waited for a few moments for Lincoln to return from changing his shirt. He shoved the dirty polo into his bag and they headed outside.

After crossing the parking lot, the siblings found themselves standing on the side-walk, waiting for a break in the traffic in order to cross. Without prompting, Lucy stood between her holder siblings and grabbed one of their hands in each of hers. Their mother liked to insist that anyone younger than Lincoln should hold hands with an older sibling when near a busy road, so neither Lincoln nor Lynn protested her actions. She did it without thought, and they accepted their role likewise. Eventually there was a gap in the traffic, allowing the kids to make their way across unimpeded.

It was almost a mile walk from The Burpin' Burger to Auntie Pam's Parlour, but the promise of ice cream made it worth it. The distance also allowed them to begin digesting their dinners, making even more room for the frozen treats they came for.

As a sign of the time of year, the sky above was getting quite dark by the time they arrived at their destination. However, even though summer was over, the ice cream parlour was still maintaining their summer opening hours. As such, they had plenty of time to sit and enjoy their delicious treats without having to worry about the staff closing up.

Placing their orders, Lucy went for two scoops of vanilla and one scoop of chocolate, with dark chocolate sauce drizzled all over. Lynn, meanwhile took two scoops of chocolate and one of mint chocolate chip, with a hearty dose of whipped cream to top it off. Lincoln, meanwhile, opted for a more neapolitan affair, going for one scoop each of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, with a fairly liberal helping of multi-coloured sprinkles thrown on top for good measure.

Frozen treats in hand, they ventured over to a table to enjoy their desserts. It wasn't long before Lynn muttered "Dang it!" in response to some of her whipped cream spilling down her front. Lincoln and Lucy laughed at her expense, while Lynn grumbled and held out her hand to her brother. "Just give me the dang jersey from your backpack. I know you've got one."

"Not yet," said Lincoln, his eyes twinkling with mirth. "If you change now, you might end up spilling some on your clean clothes, and then you'll have no choice but to walk around looking like a baby who can't feed herself properly."

Lucy gave a laugh while Lynn glowered at her brother. "You're lucky that this ice cream is too good to waste, or else you'd be wearing it right now!"

Lincoln just chuckled, and eventually Lynn couldn't help but smile as well.

When they were done, Lincoln pulled Lynn's requested jersey out of his backpack and handed it to her. She darted off to the bathroom to switch it, but came back looking rather annoyed "What the heck, bro?"

Lucy tilted her head slightly, momentarily unsure as to what had caused Lynn to get upset. The jersey was mostly white with red sleeves… and then she spotted the problem and grinned. Usually Lynn's jerseys had a number on it, and that number was always the number one.

Except for the one that Lincoln carried around, it seemed. Right there, in the middle of her torso in bright red was the number two.

"What?" protested Lincoln. "Number one is for winners, and winners don't spill ice cream all down themselves."

After that, Lucy's grin became a chuckle while Lynn sighed and told her brother "You are so getting a Dutch oven later."

"Given the burgers we had earlier, and the amount of dairy we've consumed, I don't doubt it," replied Lincoln as they gathered their things.

As short way down the road, they arrived at a bus stop and only had to wait a couple of minutes for one to arrive. The bus was pretty overcrowded when they got on, with only a few seats left. Lincoln took a seat next to an old lady who smelled of cabbage and Lucy took a seat on his lap. Lynn, meanwhile, found a spot two rows in front and across the aisle, next to balding guy an a business suit, who was clutching a briefcase tightly to his chest in a way that reminded Lynn of a movie she once saw where the main character had to deliver a million dollars worth of $20 bills to a crime lord all while wearing a wire so the cops could gather information about a drug operation. She rather doubted that that was the case here though.

By the time they arrived at their stop, Lucy had slumped lifelessly against Lincoln. She wasn't asleep, but the amount that they had eaten, along with the motion of the bus, had put her into something of a food coma. As such, Lynn had to help Lincoln get the younger girl onto his back so that he could carry her off the bus and the rest of the way home. Carrying all three of their school bags, Lynn trotted on ahead a little way before turning to look back at her brother, trudging along with their sister clinging to his back like a baby koala clinging to its mother.

She decided there and then to take out her phone and snap a quick picture of the pair.

"Really?" grumbled Lincoln as he caught up to the older girl. Lynn just grinned at him and continued leading the way home.

Inside the house was mostly quiet. Lana and Lola were laying on the living room floor, colouring books open in front of them and an assorted rainbow of crayons scattered around them. Luan was sitting nearby on the couch, watching the tv while making sure the twins didn't end up arguing. She looked over to the three new arrivals as they entered, and her previously bored expression brightened considerably.

"Heya, Linc! Lynn!… whoa, what the heck happened to Lucy?"

"Ate too much," replied Lincoln, grunting slightly as he tried to shift Lucy about a bit to help himself balance.

"Kind of in a food coma," added Lynn as she set their collective school bags down.

Luan opened her mouth to say something, most likely some kind of pun, but was cut off by the sound of Lily crying upstairs.

"Uh oh," said Lincoln. "Sounds like someone is getting a little cranky."

"Yeah, she's been like it off and on for a while now," explained Luan. "Ever since mom and dad left for the evening, pretty much. Luna's in charge while Leni's still at work and she just can't get Lily to quiet down. I tried helping, but I think I just made things worse, so Luna stuck me on twin watch. Sam's up there trying to help, but nothings working."

Lincoln sighed and said "Okay, let's go."

"Want me to carry Lucy?" asked Lynn as he headed towards the stairs.

"It's alright, I've got her," he replied, before making his way up the stairs with Lucy still doing her koala impression on his back.

Just as he got to the top of the stairs, the door to Lily and Lisa's room opened and a harried looking Luna stepped out and spotted him. "Bro, you're here! You gotta help me dude! Lily's been bawlin' for ages, the little dudette just won't quiet down."

"Hang on," said Lincoln. "Let me just drop this one off..." he jerked his head back slightly to indicate Lucy. He shoved open the door to Lucy and Lynn's bedroom, moved alongside Lucy's bed, stood with his back to it and let her drop. Lucy barely made a sound as she fell and didn't move once she landed. She just lay there, spread out on her bed like a gothic starfish.

He then crossed the hallway to Lisa and Lily's room, where he found Luna holding a crying Lily while Sam, looking equally as frazzled as her girlfriend, was wiping some food stains off of the wall. Evidently they had made an attempt to feed Lily at some point and it had ended poorly.

"Oh, Lily!" said Lincoln as he reached out to take his youngest sister from the rocker. "What's wrong, huh?"

"Yinkin..." the infant mumbled as her brother held her against his chest. Her two small hands came up to clench a tight hold of his shirt as she buried her face into him.

Holding Lily against him with his left arm, Lincoln approached Lily's crib and began rummaging around. On noticing something he asked "Hey, has anyone taken any laundry from this room?"

"Yeah, dude," replied Luna. "Mom asked me to clear out any dirty clothes from this room and the twins'."

"Did you find any of my polos in here?" he asked.

"Uh… yeah. There was an old one all crumpled up in Lily's crib..." said Luna, thoughtfully, before a realisation came to her. "Wait… don't tell me that's..."

Lincoln turned on the spot and left the room. Luna and Sam looked to Lynn, who gave a mere shrug of her shoulders in reply. A few moments later, their brother returned, clutching an old orange polo of his. He let it drop into Lily's crib, and then set his baby sister down next to it. There were no tears this time. Instead, Lily seized the polo happily and promptly rolled herself up in it like a burrito. She gave a contented sigh before looking up at her siblings and Sam with a placid smile on her face.

Lisa, unnoticed for all this time, tossed her notebook aside, hopped off of her bed and came over for a closer look before demanding "Do you mean to tell me that after all this time her caterwauling could have been silenced merely by giving her one of Lincoln's old polos?"

"Well… yeah!" said Lincoln with a smile. "What, did Lori seriously never tell any of you that trick?"

"No," replied Luna, with no small amount of exasperation.

"What nonsense!" said Lisa.

"Call it nonsense all you like," said Lincoln, "It used to work on you as well. Lana too. And there are photos to prove it."

And with that, he turned and left, with Lynn following after him. Lisa shook her head, muttered something under her breath, and returned to her notebook. Luna and Sam, meanwhile, ventured closer to Lily's bed, where the littlest Loud gave a yawn and fell asleep, all while still rolled up like a burrito in her brother's polo.

"Well, no prizes for guessing who Lily's favourite sibling is," said Sam.

Luna went to reply, but was cut off by the sound of a thud out in the corridor. As random thuds in this house were generally a precursor to chaos, the rocker duo ventured out of the bedroom of the youngest Louds to see what was going on. Beyond the door they discovered the sole male and the sporty sister struggling to move Lincoln's mattress out of his bedroom.

"What the heck are you tryin' to do?" asked Luna.

"Move Lincoln's mattress into mine and Lucy's room so we can have a sleepover," explained Lynn as she struggled to get a good grip. "Okay, Linc, on three!"

Before she could start counting, the twins came bounding up the stairs, drawn by the noise, with Luan following in their wake. Lola had heard Lynn's explanation and she was not happy.

"Hey! How come you two get to have Lincoln for a sleepover and not us?" the princess demanded.

"Because we asked first," came Lucy's voice in reply from hers and Lynn's room.

"Well, we would have asked first if we knew it was an option," protested Lana.

"Yeah!" agreed Lola.

"When has anyone ever given you the impression that it wasn't an option?" asked Luan.

Lola opened her mouth to reply, but no words came.

"Don't get upset Lola," said Lincoln. "I'll have a sleepover in you guys' room next time, okay?"

Satisfied, Lola gave a curt nod and returned downstairs to resume working on her colouring book, Lana following behind. With a few strong shoves, Lincoln and Lynn succeeded in getting his mattress to its destination, with Lynn shutting the door behind them.

Sam waited a beat before asking "So, you two gonna get jealous about being excluded from the sleepover as well?"

"What? No!" protested Luna, before giving a slight pause and pouting. "Would've been nice to be asked though..."

"Come to think of it, Lincoln used to come to our room for sleepovers all the time," said Luan. "That hasn't happened since Halloween three years ago."

"Lincoln eating too much candy, crashing from the subsequent sugar rush and passing out on our bedroom floor doesn't really count as a sleepover brah." commented Luna.

"What do you mean?" asked Luan. "We all went to sleep, didn't we? And he was over in our room, wasn't he? I'd call that a sleepover."

Just then there was a shout from downstairs "Dang it Lana! I was going to use the red next!"

"Well I had it first!"

"Oh," said Luan, her cheer ebbing considerably. "Twin duty… right..." She turned and headed back downstairs.

Given that Lynn and Lucy shared the smallest bedroom that wasn't a converted linen closet, it was a pretty tight fit to get Lincoln's mattress situated on the floor between the two beds, but they managed it. There wasn't barely any room between the mattress and the bed on either side of it.

"You awake now?" asked Lincoln of Lucy.

"I think so," replied Lucy, forcing herself to sit up. This whole thing had been her idea, after all. She couldn't go and fall asleep now.

"Okay," said Lincoln. "Well, I'm gonna go change into my pyjamas and grab my laptop for the movie. You get ready while I'm gone."

Ten minutes later they were all back in the same room, Lincoln sitting in the middle of his mattress with Lynn and Lucy on either side of him. His laptop was on his lap and he loaded up one of the streaming apps.

"Anyone for popcorn or potato chips?" asked Lynn, producing a bowl each of the foods in question.

"I'm good for now," replied Lincoln.

"I don't think I can eat another bite," added Lucy.

Lynn shrugged her shoulders and set the bowls aside, grabbing a handful of potato chips as she did so. She looked back to Lincoln's laptop and saw that he had logged into his own page of the family's shared account on the streaming app. She smirked and commented "Been watching a lot of anime, huh?"

Lincoln's face heated up at some of the selected series that had come up under the "Recommended for You' banner. "I enjoy the art style." he protested, weakly.

"You sure the blonde has nothing to do with it?" teased Lynn.

"Hey, I'll have you know she's a well rounded character-" Lincoln tried to protest.

"Some parts of her character are very well rounded," countered Lucy.

"She is very intelligent and a highly capable warrior," countered Lincoln. "Two assets I enjoy in female characters."

"Oh, I'll bet those aren't the only two prominent assets of hers you enjoy," said Lynn.

Lincoln glared at his sporty sister while she continued to grin at him like a loon. "This is payback for the baby comment at the ice cream parlour, isn't it?" he asked.

"It is," replied Lynn.

He sighed and turned back to his laptop. He scrolled down and found the movie that they agreed to watch – some cartoon from the mid-nineties that been relatively popular had now gotten a direct-to-streaming-only movie reboot, made entirely of CGI that completely robbed the characters of their original charm.

Before the movie could start, an advert for laundry detergent began playing.

"Hey, I thought we paid for premium so we didn't get ads," said Lynn.

"They changed their service rules about two months ago," said Lucy. "You now get two ads at the start of every movie on a premium account. You need to upgrade to a premium deluxe account to avoid ads now."

"Well, that sucks," said Lynn as the first ad ended and another one came on, this time for a movie trailer.

"In a world where crime never sleeps..." stated the deep voice-over. "Where bandits run wild, and where the police are as corrupt as they come, one man must step up and take the law into his own hands..."

The camera panned up to reveal the hero in question, and Lynn and Lucy's jaws dropped.

"They cast Chris Pratt as Ace Savvy!" exclaimed Lynn.

"Yup," replied Lincoln through clenched teeth.

His sisters spared him a concerned look before turning back to the trailer, a compilation of action scenes, people screaming, over-the-top CGI and seemingly vague dialogue that probably gave away the entire plot.

Before the trailer could even finish, Lynn hit the pause button and tried to wrap her head around what she saw. "Who the heck cast Amber Heard as The High Card?"

"I think Adam Sandler as Snake Eyes was the worst bit," commented Lucy. "Although I'm not sure I exactly like that The Eight of Spades is going to be portrayed by Awkwafina. Was Jenna Ortega unavailable?"

"She didn't want to be typecast after playing Wednesday..." said Lincoln.

"What about Kristen Stewart as The Strong Suit?" exclaimed Lynn. "Ronda Rousey was clearly born for the role of me… I mean, Strong Suit!"

"And who the heck is Zendaya supposed to be playing?" asked Lucy.

"One-eyed Jackie," replied Lincoln. "They gender-swapped and de-aged One-Eyed Jack to reimagine the character as Ace's love interest."

"Oh, man," said Lynn. "Even I can tell this movie is gonna suck."

"Is this the movie we won cameos in at that convention?" asked Lucy.

"No, they cancelled that movie." said Lincoln. "They dropped that entire movie universe after Ace Savvy vs Muscle Fish tanked at the box office. This is the reboot."

Lynn let out a low whistle before commenting "Let's just get back to the movie..."

But in trying to get the movie going, she must have miss-clicked or something because suddenly they were being shown another set of ads. The first was for vegan burgers, the second another trailer, this time a tv show.

'From the producers of The Rings of Power comes an all new series.' read the golden text on the black screen. 'The most expensive spy-thriller television show in history.'

Owen Wilson and The Rock appeared on screen, walking down a corridor. "Now, Agent Ayers," said Owen Wilson's character. "It's great to have you back with us after all that time in your coma. And now that you have returned to active duty, I'd like to introduce you to your new partner."

He opened a door and gestured for Agent Ayers to go in, where they met another man. "Agent Ayers, meet Agent David Steele..."

The camera panned around to show David Steele's face, at which point Lincoln screamed and slammed the laptop shut.

A moment later, Luna came barging in to find out what had happened, with Sam following a little more calmly behind. Luna took one look at Lincoln, who was now sitting with his knees tucked under his chin, his arms hugging his legs as he rocked back and forth, and asked of the girls in the room "What happened?"

"Uh..." said Lucy, trying to figure out the best way to answer. "Hollywood is ruining all of Lincoln's favourite IP's."

"Why is Chris Pratt in everything?" Lincoln suddenly blurted out.

"You noticed that too, huh?" asked Luna with a smirk. "Yeah, they're filming a biopic about Mick Swagger, and he just got cast as Kurt the drummer. People online weren't happy. I'm fairly certain the real Kurt isn't too pleased either..."

Sam smiled and shook her head fondly. "Man, I miss the days when he was just playing Andy on Parks and Rec."

"Um… what?" asked Lynn.

"Yeah, what?" asked Lincoln.

Sam looked at them like they had just spouted bat-wings of something. "You know, Parks and Recreation… the show?" At their continued blank expressions, she turned to her girlfriend. "Wow, Luna. I'm surprised. What kind of sister doesn't introduce their siblings to an awesome show like that?"

Luna gave an awkward chuckle and rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Well, actually, Sam… I didn't think Parks and Rec was all that… funny..."

A look of complete shock came to Sam's face. "Oh… wow. Oh, wow… Jeez, Luna, I knew we had our differences, but… wow!"

"What?" asked Luna. "So I don't like a show you do..."

"Yeah, but this is like a big one," said Sam. "You know what, I'm gonna head home… and have a re-think about this entire relationship… yeah..."

She turned and left.

"You think you should go after her?" Lincoln asked of Luna.

"Oh, she's just messin'..." said Luna, only to break off when she heard Luan call out from downstairs "See ya, Sam!"

"You sure about that?" asked Lucy.

Luna disappeared from the room so fast you could be forgiven for thinking that she teleported.

"Shall we get back to the movie?" suggested Lynn.

"Yes," said Lucy. "But how about we watch it on my tablet instead? We're less likely to get ads for movies that will trigger Lincoln's nerd-rage."

She loaded up the app on her tablet and clicked the movie. After an ad for some computer software that would help you with your spelling and grammar, a movie trailer began.

"Coming this winter, the Princess Pony movie," said the narrator. "Starring Chris Pratt as the voice of Prince Broneigh!"

"Dang it…" muttered Lucy.

At this point, they gave up on the movie. It didn't look that good anyway.

"Check this out," said Lynn, pulling out her phone and loading up something. "Lainey sent me a compilation video of skateboarders and parkour runners hurting themselves."

In the end they had far more fun watching the thirty minute video of people falling from heights or face-planting when their boards slipped from underneath them than they would have had watching the movie. At the second-to-last clip, Lincoln ended up begging Lynn to wind the video back, saying "I think I know her..."

Lynn wound the video back and Lincoln grinned. "I thought so. That's Nikki. She's a friend of Ronnie Ann's in Great Lakes City."

Lynn let the video play again and they watched as Nikki rounded a corner on her skateboard and smacked face-first into a stop sign.

"I always wondered how she lost that tooth..." said Lincoln.

Once Lynn's video was done, Lucy announced that she had something. The video on her phone was titled 'Rabbit Rescue Epic Fail!' Lincoln wasn't sure that he liked the title, but watched anyway. A wild rabbit had somehow gotten itself tangled up in someone's tennis net and, after five minutes of cutting the thing free, the family of six who were trying to rescue the poor thing finally succeeded in setting the animal loose.

"How was that an epic fail?" asked Lynn as the kids in the video cheered.

"Just wait..." said Lucy.

On the screen the rabbit bounded away towards freedom, only for a hawk to swoop in out of nowhere, snatch it up in its talons and carry it off too its doom.

"Dang it, Lucy," said Lincoln, though he was fighting a smile. Yes it was morbid, but there was something terribly funny in the irony involved.

What followed was a forty-five minute compilation video simply titled 'Dang, Nature is Scary AF!" and featured clips of various terrifying things in nature being terrifying, like trap-door spiders, stone fish, humboldt squid, jewel wasps, cordyceps fungus and the sand tiger shark, which would consume its siblings before its mother even gave birth to it.

That last one prompted Lynn to ask "So… if Lana and Lola were those sharks..."

"Let's not have that debate..." insisted Lincoln.

Just then his phone dinged, signalling that he had a message. He took it out and looked at it. "Eh, just Clyde wanting to know if I've started Ms Pham's biology homework yet."

"Ugh! Middle school homework sucks," said Lynn. "There's so much of it, and you only get more with each grade you go up."

"It'll be worse in high school," said Lincoln. "Did you see the size of some of those text books Lori was having to carry around last year?"

"Please don't make middle school sound any worse than it already seems..." muttered Lucy. "I'm worried enough about going as it is."

The other two gave her a puzzled look. "Why would you be worried?" asked Lynn.

"Because I'm going to be the first Loud to enter middle school without an older sibling also going there since Lori," replied Lucy.

"What?" asked Lincoln. "No you won't. I'll still be… wait..." he paused and counted on his fingers. "Oh..." he said as realisation came to him. "Yeah… in your first year of middle school, I'll be starting high school."

Lucy bowed her head and tucked her knees beneath her chin, wrapping her arms around her legs to hug them close.

Lincoln wrapped and arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to his side. "Hey, don't get like that, Luce. You'll do fine in middle school. Just don't do what I did and forget to tick a box on a form and end up in a different home room to all your friends."

Lucy gave a slight whimper at that and buried her face in her knees.

"Oh, come on, Luce," he continued. "You'll be okay. And if you're not, then the middle school isn't far from the high school. If you start struggling, all you'll need to do is give me a call and I'll run right over."

"Me too," said Lynn.

"Thanks for trying you guys," said Lucy. "But I know it's going to be a nightmare. I mean, if you got bullied when you started there, Lynn, then what will happen to me?"

"If you get bullied, then we'll deal with it," said Lynn, determinedly.

"Yeah," agreed Lincoln. "They might do it once, but we'll make sure they know not to do it again, okay?"

Lucy lifted her head to look up at both of them. Seeing that they were being genuine, she smiled and said "Thanks guys."

"No worries," said Lynn, giving a little stretch and resting her hands behind her head. "And, besides, no matter how worried you are about starting middle school, there's no way you're as worried as I am about high school."

That got the other two looking at her. "You're worried?" asked Lucy.

Lynn bowed her head slightly and said "High school is going to be make or break time for me. If I wanna be a professional athlete, high school is when it will happen. I either get discovered early and go pro from there, or I get good enough to earn a college scholarship. If I don't…. if I fail..."

Lincoln wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her close, as he had done with Lucy. Lynn took a shuddering breath and said "Margo told me about her uncle back along. He was the star quarterback when he was in high school. Everyone thought he would go pro one day, but when the scouts didn't pick him, and when is scholarship application was declined, it all went downhill for him. Now he's a stockroom worker for a large hardware store, with a huge stomach and a drinking problem. I don't want to end up like that, but I don't know what I'm going to do if sports doesn't work out."

Lincoln's heart ached for her. He had no idea she had been feeling like this, with these fears gnawing at her. Suddenly so much about her made sense. The over-competitiveness, the superstitions and good luck rituals, the seemingly endless drive to be number one… all born out of a fear of what she would become if she didn't make it as a sports star.

There was one other thing that struck him. In trying to hide her emotions, in trying to disguise her fears, she was bowing her head to allow her bangs to cover her eyes. It was a move designed to keep her siblings out, to prevent them from seeing how truly afraid she was. And in that moment, he realised just how alike Lynn and Lucy actually were.

He wasn't stupid. He had an idea that college was very expensive. He had overheard Lori talking with their parents about how much it was going to cost her to attend Fairway University, and that was with the very large discount she was being granted from the scholarship program because she was so good at golf. He himself had no idea how he was ever going to afford to go. With eleven kids, its not like mom and dad would be able to afford to help much. At least Lynn had the potential to get a scholarship.

"Lynn," he said. "Don't worry so much. I mean, come on, you're Lynn-sanity Loud. Of course you're going to do great. You'll see. There will be colleges fighting to get you to go play for their teams, and once you're there, the scouts will snatch you right up. You'll be playing any sport you want at the national level before you're twenty three."

Lynn gave a slight sniff and asked "And what if that doesn't happen? It's a nice dream and all, but..."

"Then you'll think of something," insisted Lucy.

"Yeah," agreed Lincoln. "There are other things you can do in the field of sports even if you don't become some world famous star."

"You could become a teacher," said Lucy. "If Coach Pakowski can do it, then so can you..."

"You could become a personal trainer," suggested Lincoln. "Or a little league coach. Or, I dunno, maybe you do find something else. A good job in some other field that you don't know you're interested in yet..."

"Yeah, sure..." muttered Lynn, unconvinced.

"I mean it, Lynn," Lincoln continued. "If you don't go on to have a big career in sports… yeah, it'll be a shame, but it doesn't have to be the end of the world, you know? There are always other options."

Lynn nodded slightly, and brought a hand up to wipe at her eyes. After that was done, she turned to look at him and asked "And what about you?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Are you going to tell us why you really stopped trying to write comics?" asked Lucy.

Lincoln stared at her for a moment before turning to look back at Lynn, who merely tilted her head to the side slightly, indicating that she was expecting an answer.

Seeing that he had no choice, Lincoln finally relented and told them. "I looked into it, okay? I looked into what kind of money comic book writers get, and its terrible. The majority don't even have healthcare. Most need to have side-hustles just to pay the rent."

"Don't those movies and shows generate billions of dollars every year?" asked Lucy.

"Yep," said Lincoln. "And unless you've got a good lawyer and an air-tight contract regarding a character or storyline you created, most writers and artists barely see any of that money. Most get a 'thank you' in the movie credits and, if they're lucky, an invite to the premier."

"That sucks," said Lynn in disbelief, before a frown came to her face. "Wait, so does that mean, even though The Full House Gang is going to appear in a movie-"

"I'm not gonna see a dime..." said Lincoln. "I checked. It was all in the rules of the contest I entered. In the small print, obviously, but it said "Any and all characters, places and other such invented for the published fan submission will automatically become the property of Savvy Comics Publishing House Ltd, its parent company and its affiliates.' Even if I could afford a lawyer, I don't have a leg to stand on."

After a beat of silence, he continued "And then, just a few months ago, I received a cease and desist order from the company. I'm not allowed to utilise any character from the Ace Savvy universe, including those that I made up for the company, in any personally made fan projects, including my own comics… well, I can make them, but I can't publish them online. And if I can't publish them online and get feedback from others, then what's the point?"

"I'm sorry Lincoln..." said Lucy.

He shook his head. "There's nothing to be sorry about. It's their company, their intellectual property. They hold the copyright. If they want me to stop, I don't have a choice. It's not like I can refuse to comply."

"Bro, that sucks big time," said Lynn. "I know how much fun you used to have coming up with your own stories and stuff."

Lincoln sighed and leaned back a little. "It's not even like that's the worst part though. So I can't create my own fan comics any more, yeah, it sucks, but people get hit by copyright stuff all the time. But the thing I hate most is that I lost The Full House Gang. I hate it because they weren't just some characters that I came up with. They were based on each of you, and our other sisters. You and your personalities all informed who those characters were. They meant a lot to me because of that, and now… and now I can't even post a doodle Strong Suit and Eight of Spades online without fear of a group of lawyers coming and knocking on the door."

A long period of silence followed this, until Lynn finally asked "Dude, why do you still even read Ace Savvy at this point?"

Lincoln turned that question right back at her "Well, why do you insist on supporting the Detroit Lions? They seem to loose all the time, and aren't they the only National Football Conference team to have never even made it to a Super Bowl?"

"Well… yeah… I guess..." said Lynn. "But I've always watched them, ever since I was a little kid. I could have supported any team, but they were the ones who were near us, and I wanted them to win. I've supported them for so long now that I don't think that I could just stop, because I'm a Lion's fan through and through..." she paused to look at him, realising what he was getting at. "And you've been reading Ace Savvy for too long just to stop."

"Exactly," said Lincoln.

"So, what are you planning on doing?" asked Lucy, to which Lincoln gave a shrug.

"I have no idea," he said, simply.

"You could be a journalist," said Lynn. "You and your friends do the school news every day. Maybe you could actually turn that into a career."

"Yeah, maybe," said Lincoln, unconvinced. "But we mostly do that for fun."

"Well, you wrote comics mostly for fun, didn't you?" asked Lynn. "Besides, I think you're really good at it. Most people I've talked to about it think you are Stella are the best ones."

"They do?" asked Lincoln, who didn't usually hear a whole lot of feedback from anyone other than Principal Ramirez.

"Oh, yeah," said Lynn. "Not to dunk on your friends or anything, but I think most kids at school think Zach and Rusty in particular hold the rest of you back".

Lincoln frowned slightly, not at all sure how to feel about that.

"Look, I'm not saying this to be mean about any of them," said Lynn. "It's just… I know you have a habit 'taking one for the team' in order to keep the peace, both here at home with us, and at school with your friends. But if journalism is something you like, if its something you think you might want to keep doing as you get older, then don't let anyone hold you back from being great at it, okay?"

"Okay, Lynn. I won't." he promised. He cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly before announcing, "Excuse me a minute. Gotta use the bathroom..."

He got up, crawled the length of his mattress to the door and left.

"That was unusually mature of you," observed Lucy.

"Yeah, well," muttered Lynn. "We all know he struggles sometimes with feeling inadequate. If he finds something he's good at, then we should encourage him to be the best that he can be at it, even if that means he outshines a few of his friends."

They heard the toilet flush at the end of the hallway and Lucy suddenly asked "So, are there any boys at school you like?"

For a moment, Lynn was completely blind-sided by the question. Not only did it appear out of nowhere, it was also a subject that she and Lucy rarely touched upon.

"Uh, no," she replied. "No one."

"No one who?" asked Lincoln as he came back in the door.

"I just asked Lynn if there are any boys at school she liked," explained Lucy, and Lincoln's whole demeanour suddenly changed. Now Lynn understood the reason for the question – a complete change of topic to make Lincoln feel a little less awkward.

"So… no one?" asked Lincoln as he re-took his spot. "Not even a little bit?"

Lynn gave a shrug and said "I'm just not there yet, I guess. I mean, I have crushes on sports stars and actors and junk, but people my own age? I dunno, no one has really stood out to me yet."

"What about that kid, Francisco?" asked Lincoln. "Or are you sticking to the 'I was dehydrated' line."

Lynn blushed and sighed in defeat. "Okay, if you must know, yes, I did have a bit of a soft spot for Francisco. It's the closest I've come to feeling anything like Margo feels for Elliot or Maddie feels for Kaito. But there was no way if could work."

"So you chose to say you were dehydrated?" asked Lucy.

"It was less embarrassing than the real problem..." said Lynn.

"Which was…?" prompted Lincoln.

Lynn bit her lip for a moment as if trying to refrain from answering, before relenting and stating "It turned out he was a Cubs fan."

Lincoln's mouth fell open in disbelief. "Really?" he asked. "That's it? He's a Cubs fan? That's your sole reason for not going out with him?"

"What more reason do I need?" demanded Lynn.

Lincoln tried to formulate an answer, but when none came, he turned to Lucy and asked "Can you believe this?"

"Of course," said Lucy. "I didn't date Silas for similar reasons."

"Excuse me?" asked Lincoln.

"Silas thought that Monsters of Midnight was a far superior series to Vampires of Melancholia." said Lucy. "The moment he told me that, I knew out relationship was doomed."

"I… wow… just wow." stammered Lincoln. "And what about Rocky, huh? You spent a whole week pining for him, even tried changing your appearance to get him to notice you, and once he did you never saw him again."

Lucy shrugged and said "He insisted that Jimmy Fallon is funny. I just couldn't see it working after that."

"Unbelievable," said Lincoln. "Both of you, completely unbelievable."

"Well, what about you?" asked Lynn, trying to deflect. "You got anyone you're interested in?"

"Nope. No one," replied Lincoln, and he was being mostly honest about that.

"No lingering feelings for Ronnie Ann?" asked Lucy.

"She just wants to be friends," he replied.

"What about Stella?" asked Lynn.

"Same."

"Paige?" said Lucy.

"Doesn't speak to me any more after that whole love-note thing…"

Lynn winced and almost didn't want to press further, but she did. "What about that Christina girl?"

"Changed classes to get away from me," said Lincoln, morosely.

"Dang it..." muttered Lynn. Well, so much for the idea of cheering Lincoln up by turning the conversation away from their futures and onto their love lives.

"What about those two girls who were at that party you hosted with Luan?" asked Lucy, pressing on despite all warning signs that this topic should be dropped.

"You mean Jordan and Mollie?" asked Lincoln. "Yeah, not gonna happen."

"Why?" asked Lucy.

"Look, I'll admit they're both cute, okay? But they're also two of the most popular girls in school, and, last time I checked, dorks like me only end up getting dates with girls like them in network television shows."

Lynn fought the urge to groan out loud. There was his low sense of self-worth back again. She tried formulating an answer in her mind, trying to find a way to point out that Jordan in particular had been pretty interested in him when she and her friends watched Lincoln practice soccer with Lynn and her friends at school, but Lucy beat her to it with another question.

"And the girl who went with you, Luna and Sam to that concert the other night? What about her?"

"I… uh… what about her?" Lincoln stammered, his cheeks flushing a little.

Lynn took notice, sitting up a little straighter, a grin appearing on her face. "Hey, yeah." she said. "What was her name? Tabby? I heard you had a good time with her."

Lincoln looked nervous as he admitted "Yeah, I did..."

"So what's the problem?" asked Lynn.

"She currently lives in another country," said Lincoln.

That took the wind out of Lynn's sails. "Oh..."

"And, yeah, she's going to move to Royal Woods soon, but its not like I'm going to ask her out or anything."

"Why not?" asked Lucy.

"Because her mind is going to be all over the place. Her parents are getting a divorce, her dad is likely going to prison, she's moving to a different country, joining a brand new school where the classes are going to be different, she's going to be trying to get used to everything, and she's kind of going to be hoping that I, at least, will be one friendly face she can count on. Me hitting on her would be a pretty despicable thing for me to do, given all of that."

Lynn opened her mouth to retort, thought better of it and admitted "Yeah, there's no way you don't look like a scumbag in that situation."

"Thank you," said Lincoln, glad she was admitting he was right. "And I'm not saying I wouldn't ever ask her out or anything. Just not until she's doing ok."

"Very noble," said Lucy, with a touch of admiration in her voice.

A Cheshire cat-like grin appeared on Lynn's face then. "Wait, is she why you're suddenly taking drum lessons? Looking to impress a rocker-chick with some sweet drumming skills?"

Lincoln cleared his throat awkwardly and admitted "I did actually want to learn the drums for myself, but… I mean, it couldn't hurt my chances with Tabby, right?"

Lynn and Lucy looked at each other and then burst out in extremely feminine squeals of joy which had Lincoln clamping a hand over each of their mouths. "Not so loud!" he hissed. "I don't want the others to know."

Lucy pushed his hand away and asked "Why not?"

"Because they'll want to meddle, they'll get in my head, and I'll end up ruining everything. And, seriously, I do want to be Tabby's friend first, and I can't do that with people like Luna and Luan giving me knowing looks every time I'm near her. Seriously, about two months ago, me and Stella broke off from everyone else at the Mall to go get fro-yo for everyone and Leni was sitting at the food court with her co-workers and she was just giving us this look, and it was really weird and creeped Stella out a bit."

"Okay, we won't tell," agreed Lucy while Lynn nodded.

They talked for a little while longer, but were interrupted by Leni knocking their door and poking her head in. "Hey, it's getting pretty late. You should be asleep by now."

"Leni?" asked Lincoln. "When did you get home?"

"Like, three hours ago," replied Leni. "Luna says it's just a little past eleven."

Lincoln's eyes widened and he grabbed his phone to check the time. 11:03 pm. Wow, that was late.

"Mom and Dad sent a text just now. They said they're going to be home in, like, an hour and they totes want everyone younger than Luna in bed with their lights out," she continued.

"Okay," said Lynn with a yawn. "Thanks Leni."

"Hey, Leni," said Lincoln before the older girl could disappear. "Luna and Sam had a disagreement over a tv show earlier and Sam left. Is Luna ok?"

"Oh, sure," said Leni. "Sam just pretended to be mad, but she stopped at the end of the driveway. Though I think she was upset that Luna didn't like the same show as her… What show was it?"

"Something called Parks and Rec, I think," replied Lincoln.

"Ooh, fun!" said Leni. "That show is why a decided to do that internship with Mayor Davis. I should show you guys it sometime. Anyway, bye!"

She left them too it, closing the door and turning around, only to find her way blocked by an annoyed looking Luna and a positively giddy looking Sam. "Did I just hear you say that you like Parks and Rec?" asked the blonde.

"Totes," said Leni. "It's so much fun."

Sam beamed a smile that went from ear to ear as she turned to her girlfriend. "Hear that Luna? Turns out someone in this house does appreciate great tv after all."

Luna rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh.

"Lincoln, Lynn, Lucy!" Lynn Sr shouted up the stairs. "Get your butts down here! Your breakfast burritos are getting cold!"

Lincoln roused himself from slumber and, blinking owlishly, he realised two things – first, he was not in his own room. Second, his right arm was completely numb.

Looking to his side, he found that Lucy was currently curled up next to him, having fallen asleep there before she could return to her own bed. That helped the fog in Lincoln's brain clear a little. He wasn't in his room, because he had had a sleepover with Lucy and Lynn in their room.

Speaking of Lynn… He turned and saw that the older girl had made it back to her own bed to sleep. She was currently facing away from him and snoring loudly.

Leni opened the door and looked in on them "Come on guys. Dad is totes going to get upset if your breakfast burritos get cold before you can eat them."

"Alright… I'm up..." grumbled Lincoln, extracting his arm from beneath Lucy and sitting up.

Satisfied, Leni retreated as Lincoln massaged his arm to get some feeling back into it. "Come on you two. Up and at 'em."

Lucy mumbled something to voice her displeasure, but sat up anyway. Lynn did not move.

"C'mon, Lynn," he insisted. "Breakfast's ready."

"Jus' five more minutes..." mumbled Lynn.

Lincoln gave a moment's thought on how best to handle this situation, before picking up the corners of his bed covers and asking aloud "Hey, Lucy! What's better than a Canadian microwave?"

"I don't know, what?" asked Lucy.

"A Dutch oven!" Lincoln announced.

Lynn's eyes flew open. She was just about to sit up when her brother landed on her bed next to her and her world went dark as he wrapped his bed covers around them both.

'Pwwwrrrrpppp!'

"Waaaaaahhh!"

Lincoln drew the covers back and hopped off the bed, laughing as he did so why his older sister gasped for fresh air. "Oh, man! You have no idea how long I've been wanting to do that to you!" he said.

Lynn rounded on him. "YOU JERK!" she yelled as she launched herself off of her bed at him. The impact knocked Lincoln off his feet and they both landed with a crash on top of Lucy's bed, which creaked slightly from the impact.

"Get- get off Lynn!" said Lincoln through his laughter as the pair of them scrapped playfully. Near them Lucy was laughing at their antics, something that caused the sporty sister to turn her attention to the goth.

"Oh, you think its funny?" she asked, reaching out to gave Lucy is a loose headlock. Lucy yelped but pushed back against her, even as Lincoln shoved Lynn in an attempt to get her off him. The double push had the size effect of pushing Lynn to the edge of the bed and, in an attempt to prevent herself from falling, she older girl locked her legs around Lincoln's torso. This only succeeded in pulling Lincoln with her as she fell, and, with Lucy still being in a headlock, the goth went too.

All three landed in a heap on Lincoln's mattress, where they had to scramble to get loose from each other. The fact that they were laughing the entire time proved that it was all just for fun.

"Oh, man," said Lynn, giddily as she sat up on Lincoln's mattress. "That was fun. I'll admit it, Lincoln, you got me good."

"I think you had better take a shower and change your clothed before heading down to breakfast Lynn," suggested Lucy. "As funny as it was, you probably don't want to go downstairs smelling like one of Lincoln's farts."

"Yeah," agreed Lincoln. "Otherwise, we might have to start calling you Stink-Lynn."

"Stink-Lynn?" asked Lynn, a grin still on her face. "You gonna call me Stink-Lynn, Stinkoln? I'll show you who stinks!"

Lincoln had the good sense to bolt out of the room, Lynn hot on his heels, both of them laughing like maniacs.

Left behind in her room, sitting on her bed, Lucy couldn't help but feel that Lynn probably didn't mind that nickname actually. She probably didn't mind it at all.

So, if any of you didn't notice, I actually have a second Loud House story going on at the moment. Its called Future Imperfect and takes a look at the Loud siblings as adults in a world in which their dreams didn't come true. The subject matter and humour are slightly more mature in places than here. I hope you can check it out if you have the time.