A/N: Words cannot begin to describe how happy I am with all the support and interest this story's gotten with the first chapter alone and in such a short amount of time. All I can do is offer my sincerest of thanks and hope that I don't let any of you down.
By the way, there's a very brief "callback" to the episode, "Future Tense", so if you don't want to be spoiled, wait for the episode to be released tomorrow before you read this. Given what the "callback" is, some of you might think that I'm exaggerating based on what it is, but you never know with some people.
Anyway, enjoy Chapter 2!
Lincoln Loud was not a happy camper. Why, if he were a boy scout, he'd have earned the "Grumpy Gus" badge with the attitude he had right now.
But then again, getting into arguments with Clyde did that to him, and the feeling was even more intense than usual, since Lincoln believed that he was in the right. "Nerdin' it out with Clyde" (as Lynn often called it) started off rather well; two boys enjoying each other's company while playing video games.
Then, one thing led to another as Clyde paused the game in favor of divulging yet another scheme to make Lori his girlfriend once and for all. By the time he reached the part involving a garden hose and peanut butter (Lincoln still didn't know where he was going with that looking back on it), Lincoln had had his fill of Lori-fueled lovey-dovey babble and kindly told him to can it. Taking offense, Clyde chastised him for "not being a bro" (whatever that meant), which Lincoln retorted with unkind words of his own. Their heated exchange went back and forth for several minutes, the severity of their insults escalating with each serve, until Lincoln stormed out of his house in a huff.
Now, trudging angrily towards home, Lincoln wanted to do nothing more than spend his remaining Saturday curled up in bed with a comic book or two while he did his best to forget about stupid Clyde and his stupid Lori obsession and his stupid…well, everything!
By the time he reached the front door, Lincoln was just about ready to rip it off its hinges in a fit of rage, but stopped when he regained just enough foresight to know that he'd be hurting himself if he tried and that the door didn't deserve to be mistreated because his "best friend" couldn't cut the Lori chatter for one day to hang out with him properly.
Sighing, he reached out and rapped his knuckles against the door a few times and waited for someone to open it. He sighed again, expecting someone to answer him longer than he wanted. After all, given how it was a Saturday, he suspected that most of his sisters had gone out for the day, and since Vanzilla wasn't in the driveway, there was a good chance that either Lori or at least one of his parents weren't home.
Both of his expectations were dashed when the door was not only open a mere four seconds after his last knock, but the person responsible was the eldest Loud sister herself.
"Welcome home, Lincoln!" Lori exclaimed, wearing a smile that would give any of the Yates, their newest neighbors, a run for their money.
Lincoln staggered back slightly, befuddled by Lori's expression. Granted, seeing Lori this happy wasn't exactly rare, but as far as he could tell, she was elated because of…him? Why? He didn't know, but all he knew was that her smile put him on edge.
Lincoln gave her a sheepish grin, not sure how to respond properly. "Uh…hi, Lor-eeeeeeeee!" he wailed as, without warning, Lori grabbed him, pulled him inside, slammed the door behind them, raced off to the couch, and plopped her utterly confused brother down in the middle seat.
Lincoln was spun in a panic now, believing that Lori's smile was nothing more than a pretense for whatever sordid intentions she had in store for him. The feeling only grew as Lori stepped in front of him, still beaming brightly, as her shadow loomed over him like the retribution that he thought he was about to face.
Lincoln's skin broke in a nervous sweat, and he began to feel sick to his stomach. "W-what's going on?!" he babbled in sheer fright as he pressed himself into the couch and shut his eyes. "Did I do something wrong?! Whatever it is, I'm sorry, Lori! I'm really, really sorry! I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, so-"
Lori reached out and pressed her finger to his lips, which effectively shut Lincoln up, but did little to calm his nerves.
"Sssssssssh. It's okay, Lincoln. I'm not mad at you," Lori said, punctuating her reassurance with a giggle.
His heart began to slow down as he found comfort in her words. "Y-you're not?"
He dared to peel one eye open and he found that Lori had moved. Now, she was even closer to him, her face a breath's away from his.
"Of course not, silly," she cooed. "If I were mad, would I do this?"
"This" wound up being Lori pecking him on the forehead, walking over to the coffee table, retrieving the remote control, and placing it in Lincoln's lap.
"I figured you wanted to spend some time in front of the TV today," Lori said, "so I made sure that when you came back home, you'd get that chance."
Once again, Lincoln's expectations were thrown right out the window, along with any reason to fear any sort of punishment from her older sister. Still, he was left with more questions than answers:
Why was TV time, a precious commodity in the Loud house, given away so freely without any sort of ulterior motive, at least as far as he could tell?
And even if he could accept that as normal, how come this was coming from Lori, of all people? She wasn't exactly the most…generous person in the world.
Again, why was Lori so gosh darn happy to see him? He hadn't done anything special for her lately, so…maybe she was just being charitable because…reasons?
Before another vexing question could spawn out and grab his focus, Lori pulled him out of his mulling when she left his side to make her way to the kitchen. She paused, just as she was about to enter the dining room. Turning back to her brother, she flashed another award-winning smile at him and said, "Now, you just sit right there while I get some microwavable popcorn for you."
With that, Lori disappeared around the corner, leaving Lincoln to cope with his warring emotions.
On one hand, he was grateful for Lori's acts of kindness. It wasn't often that she would spoil him like this, and it was even less often that she'd do it without attaching an I.O.U. that she expected him to commit to. Sure, watching TV wasn't exactly what he wanted, but he wasn't about to trample over Lori's generosity by rejecting it.
On the other hand, even with how warm and fuzzy she had left him, he still couldn't shake the feeling that…something was up. He wasn't sure what that "something" was, but he wasn't about to throw his suspicions by the wayside. He'd give Lori the benefit of the doubt for the most part, but he refused to betray his instincts by disregarding them completely.
But even with that hunch in the back of his mind, Lincoln felt unconflicted about one, important thing; Lori had just made his rotten day a little less rotten.
Happily munching on his popcorn, Lincoln found himself in a state of utter bliss. About half an hour ago, Lori had joined him on the couch, watching whatever programs he was looking at without any complaining. Then, in a move that took him for surprise, Lori started giving him "head scratchies" (as Lola would call them) for a good ten minutes before she left him to enjoy himself by his lonesome.
Just as another commercial break followed an episode of Ace Savvy: The Animated Series, Luan came from out of the dining room, holding something behind her back.
"Hey, Linc-a-rino!" Luan called, coaxing Lincoln to turn his head to look at her.
"Hey, Luan," he said and looked back at the TV.
A few seconds later, that became impossible to do when Luan stepped right in front of him, blocking his viewing of the screen. Before he could ask her to kindly get out of the way, Luan asked, "So, how's the most adorable little brother in the whole wide world today? Parched, I bet."
Lincoln eyed Luan with incredulity. On top of being called "the most adorable little brother in the whole wide world", Lincoln found Luan's behavior…a little more than strange. In fact, he would say it was downright suspicious. This all looked and sounded like a set-up for some kind of practical joke.
"I…suppose," Lincoln said reservedly. "Yeah, I guess I'm a little parched."
Lincoln watched as Luan immediately revealed what was behind her back. "Then why don't you quench your thirst with this last can of Mr. Fibb I got from the fridge?"
Lincoln looked at the soda can, and stopped himself just as he was about to reach for it, remembering who it was that he was dealing with.
'Ah, the 'ol soda spray routine, eh Luan?' Lincoln thought. 'A classic but one that I'm not gonna fall for.'
His reluctance to receive her "gift" stirred Luan into asking, "Something wrong?"
"Would you mind opening the can for me?" Lincoln asked, stifling a chuckle from his cleverness. "My fingers are a little sore."
Now, he had her. At this point, she only had two options. She could either come clean with her prank or she could trigger her scheme herself and hope that it wouldn't literally blow up in her face as she tried to save her hide.
"Sure!" she said and snapped the soda can open with a loud click. She held out the beverage to him again. "Here you go!"
Lincoln's mouth fell open as neither of his assumptions came true. The shock eventually wore off, leaving shame behind in its place. Lincoln could only hang his head and rest it in his hands as he realized that he had acted like a jerk just now.
For the first time since she showed up, Luan frowned, clearly perturbed by Lincoln's response.
"What's wrong? You don't like Mr. Fibb?" she asked sadly. "It thought it was your favorite drink."
"I'm sorry," Lincoln replied.
Luan sidled up next to him on the couch, leaving the soda on the coffee table before she did so. "Sorry for what?"
Lincoln sighed and looked up to lock eyes with her. "I lied about my fingers being sore. I thought you shook up the can of soda, and you were trying to get me to open it and spray the drink all over my face."
He didn't know what Luan would do next, but he was sure that even if she wouldn't chastise him harshly, she'd still be a little disappointed in him.
Instead, the exact opposite happened when Luan threw her head back and laughed. Once again, Luan rendered Lincoln completely flabbergasted. Once a few moments ticked by, Luan finally found the resolve to keep a lid on the laughter to address her brother.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Luan said and poked Lincoln lightly in the ribs, eliciting a giggle from him. "Don't feel down because you made a mistake. Everyone makes 'em."
Before she stood up, she leaned in and planted a kiss on his cheek, leaving him feeling pleased with himself.
"Now, why don't I leave you alone so you can get back to your 'fizz-ness'?" Luan joked and resumed her laughter from earlier as she left Lincoln to continue relishing in his alone time.
Not even the return of Ace Savvy: The Animated Series could get Lincoln to feel better than he did right now. Sure, enjoying a refreshing can of Mr. Fibb wasn't exactly the greatest thing in the world, but the kindness behind Luan's act wasn't lost on him; instead of dashing his hopes with a prank, she looked to enhance his good time with a small token of affection.
And on top of that, she had forgiven him for expecting the worst out of her. It was moments like these that Lincoln was appreciative of the fact that Luan was his sister and that was no joke.
After a few hours of uninterrupted TV time, Lincoln had enough for one day and went off to bed to grab a comic book for reading. Presently, he was contently snuggled underneath his blanket (half-naked for maximum comfort) and skimming through the pages of Muscle Fish #16 (a timeless classic, in his opinion). Just as he was about to read through the dramatic caption box on top of page 29, his mother called out to him from downstairs.
"Lincoln?!"
He could hear the inflection of a request in her voice, and Lincoln groaned. 'Just when things were getting really good.'
He hopped out of bed and opened the door to allow his voice to carry down the empty hallway.
"Yeah, Mom?!" Lincoln called.
"Charles needs to go for a walk! Hurry up before he pees on the carpet again!"
Sighing, Lincoln knew he really didn't have a choice in the matter. Even though Charles wasn't his pet, per se, he was usually the one responsible for taking care of him, and that included taking him for walks.
"Okay, Mom!" Lincoln replied, but before he could do so much as go back to his room and slip some clothes on, he could hear the jingle of a dog collar in the distance and quick-paced footsteps bounding up the stairs. Sure enough, there was Charles, racing towards Lincoln with his leash in his mouth. He grinded to a halt once he was in front of the boy and dropped the leash down to pant excitedly.
Lincoln grinned. Even if he was cutting into his free time, Charles was someone that he just couldn't stay mad at.
"Hey, boy, ready to go?" Lincoln asked, as if he needed to.
Charles responded by wagging his tail and yelping out a few impatient barks, which stirred Lincoln into letting out a few short chuckles.
"Alright, alright, calm down. I got you covered," he said, and turned his back to go back to his room for his clothes.
"Stop right there!"
Lincoln froze up instantly, locking his limbs rigidly in place. He knew that voice, even from behind a door like right now, and he knew full well that if Lola told you to "stop right there", that you'd better not move even the slightest twitch, lest you incur her wrath.
He could hear a door opening, presumably the one for his twin sister's bedroom, but he didn't dare turn around to confirm; he had his orders and they were all about stopping in his tracks.
"Where do you think you're going, mister?"
Lincoln gulped, the only movement his body allowed. He felt fear trickling down his spine like an ice-cold breeze. He couldn't remember what he had done to make Lola mad, but rather than dwell on that, he desperately scrambled for an apology that would satisfy her.
As he did, he failed to notice that Lola had approached him from behind. He only noticed when he felt her tapping him on the shoulder, thus permitting him to unfreeze to face her properly. When he did, he recoiled backwards, nearly tripping over his legs as he did.
It was Lola alright, but rather than vengeful Lola, here was…sweet-looking Lola, grabbing on one end of Charles' leash while the other end was hooked in his collar.
"You're going back to your room to read your comics, that's where you're going," Lola said, grinning from ear-to-ear. "I'll take Charles out."
Lincoln spluttered out wheezy breaths in quick succession, his mind blown from what he couldn't believe he had just heard. Finally, he found his voice and yelled, "What?! You?!"
Out of any possible outcome from this meeting, Lola offering to take Charles out for walks was, by far, the least likely scenario he could've seen coming. He'd sooner believe that a meteor would crash through the ceiling of their house before he could imagine Lola, "Miss Prim and Proper", voluntarily handling the burden of managing the family dog while he did his business.
Lola met his disbelief without malice and repeated her intentions calmly. "You heard me. Let me take care of the dog. You just relax."
Lincoln almost made a move to stop her, to question her why she was doing something like this for him, but he clamped his mouth shut when he remembered what Lori had done for him earlier. Like Lori, Lola was going out of her way to treat him kindly. Sure, with two similarly unbelievable events happening in one afternoon, Lincoln felt he had every right to reserve a shred of suspicion—but in the meantime, who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth?
"Lola?"
Before Lola could go anywhere with Charles, she stopped and looked back at him over her shoulder. That smile never left.
"Yes?" Lola answered.
Lincoln returned her smile with one of his own. "Thank you. This is really nice of you."
Upon saying those words, Lincoln noticed that Lola's cute, little eyes expanded and sparkled. Her smile grew along with them, and she let go off Charles' leash to run up to her brother and hug him around his legs.
"You're welcome, Lincy!" she chirped and let go to hurry away with Charles in tow.
The only thing Lincoln did after that was go back to his room, all while thinking that Lola was a great little sister indeed.
It was close to dinner time now, and by this point, Lincoln was burnt out on both comic books and television for the day.
But something else, something other than weariness, weighed on him like an anvil. No matter how much he tried to block his spat with Clyde out of his mind, he could only do so much before the painful memory came back to haunt him.
Over and over again, the harsh argument played in his head, and Lincoln winced at each time, both from hurt from Clyde's words and from guilt from his own. After the last replay, Lincoln had enough, knowing now that the fight with Clyde was stupid and worth getting over as soon as possible. His friendship wasn't worth losing his best friend over, and he knew that had some apologizing to do for the things he said anyway.
With his mind made up, he got out of bed, and was about to reach underneath his bed for his walkie-talkie…
Until he heard knocking from behind his door. Lincoln grumbled but figured that he could get back to Clyde once this business was handled.
"Come in," Lincoln said and slipped back under his covers on the off chance that it wasn't his mother or father. He wasn't exactly shy about his sisters seeing him in his underwear, but he knew that they would rather see him fully clothed when they were around him (although Lola didn't seem to mind his half-nakedness if his last interaction with her could be trusted).
The door opened and Lisa, holding a clipboard underneath her arm, slipped through the crack.
"What's up, Lisa?" Lincoln asked.
Lisa held her clipboard out in front of her, her eyes never leaving the pages that Lincoln couldn't make out from this distance.
"I've been interested in the histology of intestinal tissue lately," Lisa explained, "and I have reason to believe that your gastrointestinal tract would make for an exemplary subject of analysis."
Lincoln blinked. "I'm sorry…what?"
What followed was what Lisa would usually do when someone failed to comprehend her vocabulary; explain herself in layman's terms. Lincoln, though, noted that unlike the other times she'd do this, she wasn't doing so with condescension and impatience in her tone.
"I want to examine your intestines on a microscopic level and wish to do so using an assortment of highly invasive equipment," Lisa clarified.
Lincoln's pupils dilated, his body shook, and he gulped loudly. "Is, uh, i-is that so?" he asked, tugging at a shirt collar that wasn't there.
"However…" Lincoln stopped shaking when Lisa's compassionate tone put him at ease. "…I won't impose my will on you by insisting that you assist me nor will I…well, have you involved without your consent. Instead, I'll simply ask if you're willing to indulge me."
Lincoln marveled at the aftermath of what he thought was going to be a tense situation. He half-expected Lisa to lunge at him with wild abandon, doing whatever she could to bring him into submission.
But this? This was a rare occurrence, indeed. Heck, he wasn't sure if this was a new occurrence or not. He couldn't remember the last time Lisa had ever regarded her siblings' feelings when it came to her involving them in her studies, especially those of the really invasive kind.
But if this wasn't some sort of elaborate experiment, then Lincoln found no reason to fear giving her his honest thoughts on her proposal.
"No offense, Lisa, but that doesn't sound like something I'd be up for. Sorry, but I'm going to have to deny," Lincoln said firmly.
Instead of either storming out of his room dejectedly, or revealing that her consideration was but a mere front, Lisa replied with the maturity that befitted her genius.
"Very well," she replied. "I'll respect your wishes and leave you be."
Without another word, Lisa walked out, closing the door behind her. A few seconds passed after that, and Lincoln was met with regret over what he had failed to do.
Instead of rewarding her attitude with a "Thank you", he had let her slip out before she could know how much her thoughtful approach meant to him. He promised, right there and then, that he'd be taking care of that very soon.
For now, though, he had a best buddy to make up with.
Over the next few hours, Lincoln had accomplished everything that he had wanted to do.
As it turned out, Clyde was just as accepting about burying the hatchet as he was. With that, both friends patched up and promised to never let anything like that repeat itself ever again.
Afterwards, he made sure to tell Lisa, whom he had found in the living room, that he appreciated the fact that she had asked him he was okay with her studies.
And now, with a belly full of dinner, Lincoln was ready to call it a day and go to sleep. Once he got upstairs, he switched into his pajamas, brushed his teeth, and was just about to head to his room.
Just then, he felt a tug at the sleeve of his pajama top. He looked behind him and found Lynn standing there, looking, to Lincoln's surprise, rather glum.
"Can we talk for a second, Lincoln?" she asked.
Sensing that something was eating at her, Lincoln said, "Sure, Lynn."
She followed him into his room and Lincoln gestured for her to sit anywhere she wanted as he closed the door behind them. Once he did, he turned around and was taken aback by Lynn's expression as she looked back at him from his chair; she had gone from a little "under-the-weather" to almost…frightened?
Lynn Loud? Frightened? He could count the number of things that Lynn was afraid of on one hand. And somehow, her fright involved him. Though he was concerned for Lynn, all the same, he just had to know what was up with her for curiosity's sake.
He sat on the bed, doing his best to appear as approachable as possible, so that Lynn wouldn't have any reason to hold back.
"What's on your mind?" Lincoln asked.
He looked carefully at her as she took a few seconds to speak.
"Earlier, I was…" She shut her eyes and rushed out, "…Iwasinyourroom."
Though that last part was a little fumbled, Lincoln could make it out.
"You were?" he asked. "I don't remember seeing you here before I went over to Clyde's."
By now, Lynn was squirming in her seat and broke away from Lincoln's gaze to look at the floor. "That's because I was in here while you were gone."
Instantly, Lincoln's face hardened in a glare. "So, in other words, you came into my room without asking me first?"
Lynn nodded and kept her eyes away from seeing Lincoln, who no longer felt anything resembling attentiveness for Lynn's feelings; now that he was aware why Lynn was responding to him so timidly, he couldn't help but be agitated with her.
"Uh-huh," Lynn continued. "I was looking for some earbuds, and I thought you might have some. That's why I came in here and-"
"And you were looking through my things too? You went ahead and looked to borrow something that I didn't give you permission to use, let alone look for?"
Lincoln watched as Lynn nodded again. The only thing keeping him from yelling was the fact that he didn't want anyone else to rush in and intercede on him dressing down Lynn for her negligence of both his privacy and his respect.
"Lynn," he groused, "how many times do I have to tell you not to do that? How many?"
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah, well you should…" He paused after those words were said. That had to have been his imagination. "What?"
Now, Lynn was no longer looking away, guilt-ridden and ashamed. Now, she was facing her brother with tenderness that Lynn was usually reluctant to wear on her sleeve.
"I'm sorry," Lynn repeated. "You're absolutely right. I was wrong, and I shouldn't have acted like what I was doing was okay. It won't happen again."
Lincoln fought the urge to slap himself across the face to wake himself up. This had to be dream. It just had to.
Now, everything was beginning to make sense…sorta. Her tentative attitude, her uneasy look, her apology…Lynn was actually showing remorse for barging into his room unannounced, not to mention the fact that she did all of this on her own, without Lincoln having to have caught on to her. Normally, she'd just tell him that what she was doing was "no big deal" and leave it at that, but that definitely wasn't the case.
So, in a way, what Lynn was doing all added up, but there was still a strong possibility that he was just having a dream.
And that's when she rushed forward and hugged him, wrapping Lincoln up with warmth that he could never experience in a dream.
"Forgive me?" she asked.
Lincoln didn't need to think about his answer. "Yeah. I do. And look, I'm sorry for being a bit of a hothead."
Lynn shook her head. "Nah, I deserved it. And hey, thanks for forgiving me. It means a lot."
Letting him go, Lynn let out a yawn and stretched her arms over her head. Lincoln was relieved to see that Lynn was looking much better than she had a few seconds ago.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm bushed. How about you?" Lynn asked.
"Yeah. I'm pretty beat myself," Lincoln said.
A cheeky grin sprang up on Lynn's face. "That's what I thought."
Before Lincoln could protest, Lynn scooped him up in her arms with ease. With one arm, she pulled back the covers of his bed and used her other arm to gently slide him underneath his blankets. Then, she grabbed Bun-Bun from his desk and placed him right next to her little brother's head.
"Here you go," Lynn said, looking pleased with herself.
Though Lincoln hadn't asked to be tucked in quite like this, he had to admit that it felt pretty nice to be treated like this.
"Thanks, Lynn," Lincoln said and pulled Bun-Bun closer to him, letting out a dainty yawn.
"All in a sister's work," Lynn replied and walked over to the light switch.
"Goodnight," Lynn said and flicked the lights off before she left.
It didn't take long for Lincoln to peacefully drift into his sleep cycle, but before he did, his thoughts were with Lori, Luan, Lola, Lisa, and Lynn—five sisters that had made this a Saturday to both remember and to cherish.
The basement was in a fever of pride and enjoyment. After making sure that no one would follow them Lynn, Lisa, Lori, Luan, and Lola snuck off to the basement and told each other what they had done for Lincoln after he had come home. With each story and report of Lincoln finding favor with their respective actions, the sister only grew prouder of themselves by the minute.
After Lynn wrapped up her story, Lori spoke with sentiments that were sincerely felt by the other four.
"You know, doing all that nice stuff for Lincoln felt pretty good," Lori said.
"I hear ya," Luan agreed. "And by the sounds of it, Lincoln really appreciated it too."
"So, you know what this means, right?" Lola asked.
Lynn smiled, believing that she had Lola figured out. "I'm pickin' up what you're puttin' down, sis; if Lincoln really liked what we did for him today-"
"…then that means we have to make sure that we act even nicer tomorrow!" Lola finished, slapping a high five with Lynn.
"And we'll be 'nice sisters' in no time at all!" Luan cried.
"Huzzah!" Lisa exclaimed.
She carried on with more "huzzah's", which the others eventually joined in with cheers of their own.
It was official; day one was a rousing success, but they couldn't afford to halt their momentum by slacking off.
No, Lincoln was going to recognize them as his 'nice sisters', and they'd fight for that acceptance with smiles on their faces.
A/N: This didn't take as long as I thought it would. So, this is what "being on a roll" feels like. Well, it feels great! :D