(The following is a nonprofit work of fanfiction and is outside of the original canon. All names, characters, businesses, places, events, and/or incidents of any kind depicted within this story are being used for entertainment purposes only.)

(The Loud House and all related characters were created by Chris Savino and all rights belong to Nickelodeon. Spider-Man and all related characters were created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and all rights belong to Disney)

- Issue #07 -

The Learning Curve

Lincoln was filled with a greater sense of excitement that he had not felt in quite a long time, aside from earlier today when he discovered the extent of his spider powers thus far, with the whole wall-crawling and jumping across rooftops. And a not-so-well-attempt at swinging from a thick web-strand. His breathing began to speed up, his smile growing bigger at each thrilled breath he took.

I think I found it! Lincoln mentally exclaimed. My window! My chance! To be greater! I found it! After waiting for so long, I have finally found it!

Yes. This was it. The chance that he had been looking for. To be greater than he was before. To finally become the kind of man with special talents he wanted so desperately to become. A future that he knew he wanted. It was all just so much to take in at once, it felt like his brain was going to explode into a pile of confetti. Boy was he so glad that all those years of patience and perseverance had ultimately paid off.

He rushed on over to his desk, opened a drawer and pulled out his notebook and pencil. And then he started writing down the things he was going to do for the next three days, with the powers that fate had graciously bestowed upon him. He was going to get on that show, and the world was going to see what he could do. And with that four thousand bucks, who knows what I could do with it. Maybe I can buy a brand-new motorcycle and show it off to my friends. I can already see the awestricken looks on their faces now. Oh, this is so going to be great!

But first, he had to further test himself, to learn the extent of how far his newfound powers went, aside from what he had got out of already from yesterday and today. And assuming nobody else had anything planned already, he would be free throughout the remainder of the weekend to test the limits of his abilities. The teen paused for a moment. Wait a minute. If he was going to act the part, it would only make a lot more sense if he were to dress for it too.

Since he had the powers of a spider, he might as well design himself a spider costume. Yes, that was it. While he was out and about testing his powers, he would need to find the materials that were required for his new outfit. So, he pulled open the second draw to the left of his desk and got out some colored pencils. He started by doodling out some ideas of what his costume could look like.

Some came out to be really nice, and others he thought could have been done better. Way better. He colored out the costumes with the contrasting yellow and green, but he immediately rejected the idea, ripping the sketch from the notebook and crumbling the paper up into a ball and tossed it into his little trash bin. He drew out a mask or two that had multiple eyes, eyes like as a spider would have.

When the concept was fully realized, all it did was help in only creeping him out, and he threw that away too. He was trying to look stylish and cool, not to scare people. He tried jotting down some web-designed wings for the suit. But he quickly tossed that idea to his now half-filled trash bin of rejected ideas. What was the purpose of having wings if he was going to spend most of the time swinging around on web-strands?

Lincoln pondered, rubbing his chin. Maybe I could use them for an underarm web design instead. That would look nice though. But the outfit itself still needs some work. I've got to find better colors for it.

That was when it hit him. The jogger that ran past him earlier today. The one that was wearing red and blue spandex. Lincoln smiled big. Red and blue. What a perfect contrast. Genius. Pure genius. At first, he tried coloring the legs red and the torso blue. Nah, just did not look right. He tried coloring the mask blue and the body red. Nope, still not good. He groaned inaudibly in frustration. If only he had the correct design for the mask.

He could not just put it over his eyes, not like a domino mask. People would still know who he was from his white hair. No. It needed to cover up his head entirely. But then, he remembered a few days ago, when he saw Lynn sitting in the living room, reading a magazine on masked wrestling. Brilliant. Just brilliant. No one would be able to think twice in easily guessing his identity. He thought carefully on the mask that was on the front of the cover, taking note of the blue material and the angulated eyes with the thick red highlights.

"...if I could reverse the colors..." he mumbled to himself. And that was exactly what he did. He changed the blue mask to being red and the highlighted eyes to blue. He furrowed his brows. On second thought, maybe the highlights of the eyes didn't need to be blue, so he colored them black instead. This was all looking so good. But he still felt like there was something else missing.

He carefully poised the tip of the lead pencil between the drawn angulated eyes.

And organically, he drew several rows of lines from that very center, creating a spiderweb-inspired look. Lincoln could not believe what he was looking at. It was... well, it was something. It was more than perfect. But he could not find the right word. And then, the red went out to the rest of the costume, spreading almost less so down across the midsection and looping around the lower waistline while the outer torso and inner arms were blue, including the legs as well.

The red parts would also go down the shoulders and passed the outer arms, connecting to a pair of gloves that were half the length of the forearms. And finally, the boots themselves would be red, going up to be just a few inches below the knees. Looking at it right now, Lincoln had become very pleased with his craft. But the sketch still had yet to be finished. So, the last thing he needed to include was a symbol. An emblem.

The final bit for this masterpiece. He pressed his thumb against the pink eraser of his pencil, thinking on it nice and carefully. He did not want it to be crazy and overdone. Just simple and yet stylized at the same time. The gears within his brain started to turn. He knew exactly what it was. As carefully as he could be, drew down a black spider with its spindly legs lightly outstretched, making its overall appearance match the overall size of a closed fist.

Once that was done and over with, he included the rest of the web pattern, covering the rest portions of the sketched costume.

Lincoln stopped himself for a moment so that he could bask in the glory of his beautiful creation. He carefully picked up the notebook from his desk to get a better feel for it as he gazed in awe and the drawn costume he had designed. At last, after a long painstaking hour, he had found his new face. His new image. Behind that outfit, he would be free to be as he wished. Free from the chains of normalcy. His escapism personified. Now, the question was, what would be the material for it?

"...Spandex," Lincoln muttered conclusively, grinning from ear to ear. "Spandex. Everything, spandex." This day just kept on getting better and better. Suddenly, his train of thought was brought back to reality, when a heard a loud knocking coming from his bedroom door.

"Hey, Lincoln!" Lynn's voice called out from the other side. "Dad wants me to let you know that dinner's ready! We're having burgers!" Lincoln's mouth instantly salivated when he heard his sister say "burgers".

"Er, sure!" he called back, putting away his sketch inside one drawer of his desk. "I'll be down in a few minutes!"

Guess his testing would have to wait for now. Because right at this moment, the smell of dinner was beginning to seductively call his name.

Friday.

The next day proved to be a bit of a fruitful one for Lincoln.

Sadly, it wasn't an easy start like he hoped it would be when he finally found the time to practice with his spider powers. And the first thing he wanted to get the hang of was with his webbing, which had proven to be quite a challenge in of itself. But regardless if it was hard or not, it would be of no use to him if he did not find a way to utilize it however he liked. So, to start this whole thing off, he went out to the Royal Woods Indoor Skate Park located at the southeast part of town.

Unfortunately, he had to wait until closing hours for all the skaters inside to leave, so that nobody else would be able to see him.

The interior of the place was almost as wide as his school's gym. Possibly more so. There were benches, rails, ramps, both steep and narrow, and all other kinds of courses in relation to skateboarding in this amazingly spacious room. Lincoln shrugged his shoulders. Well, this will have to be a good place to start. So, the very first thing Lincoln did was set up two empty Dr. Pepper soda cans on a concrete bench, and he moved into the opposite direction until he was well away from his target.

He drew his left arm up and carefully aimed with his hand. THWIP! A single web-strand shot out from his wrist. He frowned disappointedly when he saw that he had completely missed both of the cans, zooming passed them and hitting a nearby column. He tried once again, but the result had come about the same as before. He tried moving much closer to the cans and shot out more webs. But like the last two times, they had not found their intended mark.

A vein started to throb at the side of Lincoln's temples. Okay, now this is starting to get really annoying.

But this did little to deter him, as he kept on trying, and trying, and trying, shooting out his webs like he was at a carnival shooting gallery, with little to no success each and every time. And finally, in the span of ten minutes, he had managed to cover the walls, ramps, and rails, almost the entirety of the skate park, in layers upon layers of webbing, all except for the stupid little soda cans. His nose curled into an irritated sneer. But even so, he still felt determined to finish this course.

He was not going to give up until he got it right, no matter what. He was going to learn how to use his webs how he wanted them to even if it would kill him in the end. And so, after about a short while now of nonstop practicing, he started to actually get the hang of it, and it was only a matter of time until the end result had finally bore the fruit of his labor, when he shot out one last web-strand and it had adhered around both soda cans in one within its sticky grasp.

A hopeful smile appeared on Lincoln's face. With swiftness, he yanked on his web-strand, pulling the two cans to his direction, and he grabbed them in his hand without effort. Sweet halleluiah! he mentally cheered.

Oh, how thrilled he was to finally be able to do such an awesome thing. And after that, he then found himself practicing a whole lot more than just with creating web-strands. He had managed to manipulate his spinnerets into shooting out web-balls, entrapping some empty energy drink cans he found around the skate park, aiming with great precision like he was a skilled gunslinger in a western. The next thing he started doing was actually swinging from his webs all around the skate park.

The next few things he had done was swing around some of the polls that stuck out on the walls, spinning around them like an expert gymnast and acrobat. He was doing single handstands closely near the edge of the tallest skating ramp in the room, and he crawled around every surface he could fine, even high above on the ceiling. The last thing he did was shoot out a strand at the ceiling and he smoothly glided down to the floor just like a spider would do, until he landed gracefully on his feet.

His heart pumped fiercely in his chest. At long last. After having devoted such a long painstaking hour of nonstop practice to the operation of his webs, the terrific teenager could now use it in many unique ways like being able to create a shield, and also parachute or a safety net, and heck, even a barrier. He had successfully captured the full extent of his abilities. This left him with one conclusive thought in his teenage mind...

He was ready. Ready to show the world what he was truly made of. What the Human-Spider was truly made of. He paused for a second. Okay, so he still needed to have some work done on the name. But right now, he still needed to find the materials he needed for his costume. Unfortunately, the show was going to air live in only two days, and it would take him almost half a week to create his costume. Guess he would have to be forced to settle with a substitute for now.

And he had a pretty good idea where exactly to start looking for what he wanted. The Royal Woods Thrift Market. And it was only a couple blocks away from where he was.

Not to worry about that. After he had quietly snuck out of the skate park, he thought about swinging his way over to the second-hand store. But he quickly nixed that idea. People would easily notice him if he had done so. So, the best option he went for was web-zipping. Plus, it would give him enough speed and momentum that he needed to get from one place to another. And that was exactly what he had done, zooming past from one rooftop to the other until he had come upon the entrance way to the thrift store down below.

Making sure that nobody was watching him, he sneakily crawled down the building wall and into a nearby alley. After he had done so, he walked out and he made it inside through the front door of the store. Aisles upon aisles, he found clothes of different size and color. But none of them were what he wanted. After a few minutes of searching, he came across an all blue Adidas tracksuit with red vertical stripes going down the sides of the arms and legs, and a red sleeveless hoodie hung right next to it.

Lincoln's face beamed. They were perfect. He then moved on over to the shoes section and from the corner of his eye, spotted a pair of red knee-high converse shoes displayed on a wired shelf. After taking the shoes, he noticed the head of a bodiless mannequin on a wooden shelf just above him and covering up the head was a red ski mask and a pair of aviator goggles with tinted lenses.

And in the end, after making absolutely sure that they were the right size in an empty dressing room, he came out of the store with a full paper bag, having now bought and paid for everything he needed. All that was left was some black spray-paint and some elbow and kneepads, which thankfully were located back at his house. Of course, he would have to go through Lynn's closet to find them without her noticing. Without warning, his phone vibrated inside his pocket.

He drew it out and the caller I.D. was displayed on the screen. It was his mom, Rita. He slid the green button across the screen and held the phone up to his ear.

"Hey, Mom," he answered normally. "What's up...? Oh, nothing. Just walking around the city. I'm on my way home right now... Eggs...? Organic, no problem... Alright. I love you too, Mom. Bye."

And he turned off and put away his phone, putting it back into his pocket. And, not wanting to risk revealing his identity with his web-swinging, Lincoln decided that he would take the next bus instead.

"I might as well pick up those eggs now before I forget."

Back at home...

Not bad, Lincoln thought as he started to admire his new appearance in the full-length mirror. Not bad at all, if I do say so myself.

The makeshift costume he had put together had come out surprisingly better than he thought it would. Though granted, it looked nothing like the costume he had sketched out on his notebook, but it was close as it was going to get. And the black spider emblem that was spray-painted on the chest of the red hoodie gave the costume as an entirety a much nicer touch. And the tight-fitting blue tracksuit worked wonders in accentuating limber yet muscled frame underneath.

A large smile grew under Lincoln's red ski mask.

He just knew for a fact that those four thousand dollars were as good as his already. He could feel it in his veins. On the day when he wins the contest, he was going to use half of that money to get the proper materials he needed and create the costume he so truly desired. Hopefully, his sister Leni's sowing lessons would pay off for this one. And in time, people will be lining up to cheer for his name, to beg for his autograph, his spotlight shining directly down at him. Lincoln swiftly paused.

Oh yeah, he still needed to figure out a name to use for his new alter ego. Well, supposing now would be a good time than any other. For some time, he tried to think of a good name that would stick, one that would have people talking for the ages and remember so easily. Hmmm... Perhaps he could go for... Johnny Arachnid! Lincoln's brows knitted together. Nope. Most definitely not that one. How about Kid Arachnid...? Arachnid the Kid? The Arachnoid? Daddy Long Legs? Arachnid-Man?

Lincoln suddenly let out a small gasp, realization striking him like a steel hammer to the side of the noggin. "No... Spider-Man..." he muttered aloud and slowly, listening carefully to how the three syllables sounded.

Yes. It was perfect. It rolled gracefully off the tongue. It sounded spectacular, sensational. Probably even go so far as to say that it was amazing. With this in thought, Lincoln stood proudly in front of the mirror, his chest slightly puffed out and his hands resting on his hips. That's right. No more bad luck. No more Lincoln the Loser. No more being pushed around all the time and treated like a nobody.

And no more having to live in fear of the possibility of being left behind while his sisters went out into the world with their charted futures, because he had at last found his. He had been given this wonderful power, and no way was he going to give up this opportunity to use them and become the most talked about sensation on the planet. He was finally going to become that greater somebody he had been yearning for so long. His name will be engraved on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Lincoln chuckled to himself, knowing that his life was going be smooth sailing from here on out. And even though everybody in the world may mock and ridicule Lincoln Loud, the timid teenager, it would soon marvel at the awesome might of... the Amazing Spider-Man! Lincoln gandered over to his left. He rubbed his red and black fingerless-gloved hands together in anticipation before maneuvering over to his bedroom window.

He pulled it open as wide as it could be, all the while being gentle as to not break it or shatter any glass.

Okay, world, he thought to himself excitedly. You better hang onto your hat! Because you are about to meet the original web-swinging wonder! Next stop, the Royal Woods Theater. But before he could even get the chance to plant his right foot onto the window sill, three unexpectedly loud knocks were heard coming from his bedroom door. Lincoln instantly froze right on the spot before instinctively turning his gaze over to face the door as quick as a flash.

"Who is it?" the Loud teenager asked cautiously.

"Hey, Lincoln!" Lynn's voice called from the other side of his bedroom door. "Have you seen my elbow and kneepads anywhere?" Lincoln's shoulders sagged with dread, his heart now thumping nervously in his chest. Oh, crud. He could not let Lynn or any one of the family see him. Not while he was dressed like this. If they did see him, they would all utterly freak out, and then he would freak out, and then his long-desired chance would come crashing down into a pile of destroyed rubble right before his feet.

And he would most likely be forced to see some kind of doctor or a specialist to try and find a way to have his powers removed. And he would have to kiss his hopes and dreams goodbye. No way. He did not come this far to lose everything now, and he wasn't going to give it all up. No matter the cost. So, for now, he had to think of something real fast as he hastily tried to take his costume off one piece at a time.

"Uh, n-no, Lynn! I-I haven't!" he stammered almost nervously. "When was the last time you saw them?"

"They were in my closet about an hour ago!" she answered. If she caught him red-handed with her gear, then he would surely be in some serious hot water. "But now, I can't seem to find them anywhere in the house! Do you mind if I come into your room and check?"

"Y-Yes, Lynn! I do mind!" Lincoln quickly said as he manically took off the last bits of his costume – his knee-high red converse shoes and blue trackpants – until he now wore almost nothing but his cotton-white boxer shorts. Without even paying attention, he tripped over his feet and fell to the floor with an audible thump.

"Are you okay in there, bro?" the sporty Loud girl wondered with concern.

"Er, y-yeah! I'm fine, Lynn! I-I'm just not very decent at the moment!" the Loud brother stammered as he shoved his entire costume into a spare backpack sitting next to his dresser drawer and he stuffed it safely underneath his bed. "And I am pretty sure that your elbow and kneepads aren't here in my room! Cause if they were, and if I found them, I'd let you know right away! Besides, don't you have any spare ones lying around anyway?"

There was a short pause, causing Lincoln to swallow a nervous lump as he waited on bated breath, hoping very desperately that his sister would take the bait.

"You know, you're actually right!" Lynn concluded finally. "But when you do find them, just let me know, okay?" Lincoln released a relieved sigh, and his heartbeat changed back to a normal pace. And then, within a heartbeat, right before he could reach back underneath the bed…

"Oh, and one more thing!" Lynn spoke again without warning. "Dad said that Leni, Luna, and Luan are coming over from college to visit this weekend! They'll be here in about a few minutes! All you gotta know!" And with that, Lynn was finally gone, leaving Lincoln all alone again to himself in his room. Lincoln sighed again in relief. He then turned aside to face the bottom of his bed, where a quarter of the top half of the spare backpack was sticking out.

He started to really contemplate on what he should do now at this point, as he gently massaged the back of his neck. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen three of his sisters in a while now since they had left for college. Supposing that it would not kill him to say hi again while they were here.

He took one final glance at the backpack that contained his makeshift costume, and then he shook his head with a smile.

"Guess the Amazing Spider-Man is going to have to wait for just a little while longer," he muttered aloud to himself. And so, he quickly got into his normal clothes and then walked out of his bedroom, not before making sure that his door was nice and closed.

So far, so good.

Oh, and the part where Lincoln is called by his mom for some eggs? That is also a reference to a scene from the Amazing Spider-Man movie, where Aunt May calls Peter for some organic eggs after he made his suit.

Don't forget to send me a review and tell me what you folks think and what I can do to improve upon this chapter.

Until then, have a late Happy New Year. ;)