Chapter III: A Loud and a Pierce Pt. II

"Deal."

"So, should we continue with the card trick you were teaching me?" Lincoln asked, causing Nathan to rub his neck uncomfortably.

"Sorry Linc, I'm not really in the mood for card tricks after… you know, what just happened. Some other time, okay?"

"Oh, ok, sure…" Lincoln says, a little dejected. "Well, what do you want to do now?"

"Well, you know a little about me, so tell me about yourself. We could use the time to get to know each other a little better." Nathan replied, peaking Lincoln's interest again.

"Well, what should we talk about first?" Lincoln commented.

"You know, like your favorite color, favorite food, those kinds of things. Tell me what makes you, you." Nathan suggested.

"Oh ok. Well my favorite color is orange, and my favorite food is a Burpin' Burger Double Belcher, although pizza is a close second. I like playing video games, reading comics, and hanging out with my best friend, Clyde. What about you?"

"Well, my favorite color is either dark grey or a really dark purple, I absolutely love french fries, and you know that I like card tricks and art. But my main passion is sleeping. Honestly, I could sleep all day if it wasn't for my sisters barging in my room every five minutes." Nathan said. However, his last sentence was what Lincoln paid the most attention to.

"Wait, you have sisters? I thought it was just you and your mom."

"Yeah, I have two sisters, unfortunately. Which means I'm busy 24/7 doing favors or covering for them. And the thing is, they also barge in my room for something whenever I seem to actually relax. I shouldn't complain, but it's difficult sometimes, you know?" Nathan says dismissively. He reaches for his water bottle on the ground and proceeds to drink from it.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. My ten sisters are the same way sometimes." Lincoln says nonchalantly. However, his mentioning of his ten sisters causes Nathan to sputter as he chokes on his water. "What? Was it something I said?"

After he manages to stop coughing, Nathan asks, "Hold on a sec, did you just say you have ten sisters?", unsure if he just heard Lincoln correctly.

"Yes"

"Ten sisters? As in the number ten?" Nathan asks as he holds up all ten fingers, looking for further clarification.

"Yeah, ten. Why?"

"Quick question, um, how are you not dead?"

"What do you mean by that?" Lincoln questions.

"I mean, my two sisters drive me crazy as it is, and you're telling me you have 5 times the amount of sisters? Isn't it hard to deal with that many siblings all the time? How do you deal with all that stress?" Nathan persists.

"I admit, it's not always smooth sailing living with my sisters, but it's still pretty great to have them. They all have my back and I have theirs."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, my sisters are the same." Nathan replies. "But still, it's pretty tiring dealing with my sisters constantly. I mean, my older sister Michelle isn't that bad, other than how she gets me to do her chores or watch our little sister while she hangs out with friends. But my little sister Mikaela, sometimes I swear she was orphaned by the devil or something. She always barges in my room whenever she pleases, having me do pointless things or asking for stuff, and if I ever say no to her, she either throws a tantrum or blackmails me."

"Tell me about it! Lola, one of my little sisters, always used to blackmail me too, and she threatened to tell my mom and dad I was being mean if I refused to do something for her." Lincoln said.

"I know, right! And for some reason, it's like you can never get time to yourself when you want it. They always seem to want you to do one thing right after another, and when one sister is satisfied, the other wants something, and the cycle repeats. It's almost like my sisters have a schedule of my free time so they can take turns sharing me or something."

"My sisters actually do have a schedule to borrow me." Lincoln deadpans. "Still, you don't actually think your sisters are bothersome, do you?"

"No, I suppose they aren't totally awful. They can be really helpful sometimes, like when they helped me with the Pantless Parade."

"Wait" Lincoln said, confused about what Nathan said. "What's the Pantless Parade?" This causes Nathan to laugh, reminiscing over the past.

"Oh man, it's probably the most awesome moment in my life. It all started when I was 12, my first year in middle school, and there was this one group of 8th grade boys that always picked on us 6th graders, you know, taking food off our trays, pranking us, wedgies, the whole shebang. My older sister Michelle, who was in the 8th grade at the time, found out, so she decided that we teach the group of kids a lesson. My sister and I got bathroom passes to use the bathroom ten minutes before lunch, but we used that time to go the cafeteria instead. While my sister distracted the lunch ladies, I covered the 8th graders' seats with three bottles of Elmer's glue. After a bit of waiting, the group of 8th graders made it to their seats, and after the lunch bell ended, they realized they couldn't get up. They had to remove their pants to get free, and they had to walk all the way to the Nurse's office for spare pants, which is why we called it the Pantless Parade. And the greatest part was that it was on National No Pants Day." Nathan finished with a smug grin on his face, while Lincoln found it difficult to stop laughing.

"Oh man, that is great!" Lincoln said between laughs. "But didn't you get in trouble?"

"Oh, we got into huge trouble. We were going to be suspended for two weeks, but the other 6th graders who were picked on also explained to the principal what the 8th graders had done, so my sister and I only had a month of after-school detention helping the janitors. But the worst part was when my mom found out what we did. My backside still hurts from the whooping I got. It was worth it though, those 8th graders never messed with me after that prank." Nathan added. "What about you, do you have any crazy stories about stuff you and your sisters did?"

"You have no idea. There was this one time where my family had a yard sale…" Lincoln began.

Ten minutes later…

"...and we ended up selling all the furniture in the house." Lincoln finished, while Nathan stared at him incredulously.

"That's crazy! You're family seems awesome!"

"Lincoln!" Rita Loud calls from the living room, "It's time we get going!" Lincoln and Nathan both head to the living room, where Rita Loud was standing next to her husband who was holding a sleeping Lily, and Lincoln wears a bummed expression.

"Aww mom, can't we just stay for a little bit longer, we were having so much fun." Lincoln says.

"I'm sorry Lincoln, but we have to get back to the house. We haven't started dinner yet, Lily's taking her nap, and you still have to help your sisters clean the house." Rita replied, causing Lincoln to become even more dejected. "But, your father and I wouldn't mind if you invite Nathan over tomorrow afternoon."

"Really?!" Lincoln and Nathan say in unison, turning towards their respective parents.

"Only if it's okay with you, Isabella." Rita says to Nathan's mother.

"Sure, I don't see why not. It's good to see that you two are getting along so nicely." Isabella responds, smiling.

"Awesome!" Lincoln and Nathan both say as they high-five each other.

"What time should I come over?" Nathan asks.

"I think 3:30 is good." Lincoln replies.

"3:30 it is. Cya Lincoln. Bye Mr. and Mrs. Loud." Nathan says, and the Louds take their leave.

7:00 P.M. at the Loud Residence...

During the siblings meeting, Lincoln is bombarded with questions from his sisters regarding the new neighbors. "How are the neighbors?" "Were there any children?" "What was their house like?" were among the most repeated questions, although the chatter of eight sisters, Lily at the moment was asleep and Lisa wasn't interested in the slightest, blended into a singular mass of incoherent noise. Nearing the end of his patience, Lincoln placed two fingers in his mouth and blew a high pitched whistle, causing the noise to die down as the sisters focused on what Lincoln wanted to say.

"Finally, some quiet. Now, I know you guys want to know about the new neighbors. There was this really cool kid named Nathan, who was around your age, Luna, and we got along really well. He said he had an older and a younger sister named Michelle and Mikaela. I invited him over to hang out tomorrow, and I want you guys to play it cool when he comes over." The Loud sisters all complained, offended by that last remark.

"What do you mean play it cool?!" Lola questioned.

"Are you saying you're afraid we might embarrass you in front of your new friend, dude?" Luna asked accusingly.

"I'm not saying that. It's just that in the past whenever I invited a friend over, besides Clyde, you guys managed to run them off. Remember the last time I tried to throw a sleepover." The girls flinched at the memory of Lincoln's sleepover, where they ran off some of Lincoln's classmates he invited to make Clyde jealous. It was their fault, true, but he didn't have to hold it over their heads like dirty underwear.

"So what, are we, like, not supposed to talk to your friend when he comes over?" Leni asks, although her phrasing makes Lincoln feel slightly guilty of what he previously said.

"No, that's not what I mean. You can still meet him, just, please, tone down the all the chaos. I don't want him to be freaked out or run away. Promise me you won't scare him off guys."

"Geez Lincoln, run the neighbor off, that's crazy. It's like you hardly new us at all. Hahaha, get it?" Luan jokes, earning a collective groan from her siblings.

"Seriously guys, I need you guys to promise me you won't run him off." Lincoln repeats, and one-by-one the sisters finally relent, promising to be on their best behavior, well at least better than usual.

"On that note, this sibling meeting is adjourned." Lori concludes, whacking her shoe against her bedframe like a gavel.

Meanwhile, at the Cruz/Pierce residence…

"Mom, Nathan, we're back!" 17 year old Michelle Pierce yells as she and her younger sister, Mikaela, open the door to the house.

"And we brought food!" Mikaela added. Hearing her voice, Nathan immediately marches towards her.

"So, you 'tried' waking me up earlier today?" Nathan confronted her, which made Mikaela chuckle nervously.

"Hehe, hey Nathan, I thought you needed your beauty sleep, so I left you alone."

"Oh, is that why you were snooping in my room?"

"What? I'd never snoop—"

"Mikaela, I know it was you. My lucky deck of cards were lying on the edge of my desk. I never leave them on my desk, I put them in my drawer so nosey trespassers like you won't find them. Which meant you were also snooping through my drawers, and may I ask why?"

"Um… we brought food?" Mikaela repeated, trying to evade the question.

"You're lucky I'm hungry, but this isn't over. And stay out of my room!" Nathan says, waving her off. Michelle walks up to Nathan with a bag of fast food in her hand.

"Wassup, bro?"

"Hey Michelle. Where's that from?"

"Some place called Burpin' Burger, a girl me and Mikaela met at the mall recommended it."

"Did you get the goods?" Nathan asks, and Michelle reaches inside the bag and pulls out two boxes of curly fries and hands both to Nathan. "I gotchu fam." She says with a playful grin.

"You're the best, sis."

"Pssh, as if I didn't know it already. Anyway what went on while we were gone, anything happen?"

"You didn't miss much, but a family from the neighborhood came over to greet us, and I hung out with this kid named Lincoln, he seemed pretty cool. Check this out, he has ten sisters."

"Ten? And here I thought you and Mikaela were too much, at least there aren't 8 more of you."

"Ha Ha, very funny. I'm going over his house tomorrow, do you want to come with?"

"No thanks Nathan, I'm just gonna chill at the house, plus I still have some old stuff from the move I have to put up. Well, I'm going to give the rest of this food to mom and hang in my room. Night, Nathan."

"Goodnight."

Nathan starts to think about him hanging out with Lincoln and meeting his siblings. What if they don't like me? Nathan thought, but he quickly pushes those thoughts aside as he took a bite out his first fry. Tomorrow, he takes on the Loud House, but tonight, he takes on these French Fries.

Hey guys, XxTheGlichHopxX here! Sorry that it took a little bit longer with this chapter, I've been pretty sick the last couple of days to the point I didn't have it in me to write, but I'm feeling much better now. Chapter 4 is in progress now, so hopefully it will be out shortly. I wanted to include Nathan's sisters is this chapter, and I based them on my experiences with my own elder and younger brother. The ending is a bit off to me, but I couldn't think of another way to end it.

Thanks for the wait, and enjoy the chapter!