A/N Hello everyone, thank you all for the feedback of the previous chapter, now this one is a little shorter than normal, also it was quite difficult. I'll get into the details of that at the end of the chapter. For now enjoy.

Ties of Friendship.

BURRRRRRRP!*

Will was sitting at the downstairs bar in his home. Nicholas was nowhere to be seen and Will looked like a complete mess. His hair was messed up and frizzed, his eyes have deepened and they have many bags underneath them. He pushed an empty bottle of rootbeer aside as to three other empty bottles he reached towards two other bottles as he popped the cap off and gulped down some of the drink. He sat it aside and rested his head on the countertop looking depressed.

I imagine I look like a wreck, I may not be consuming booze but it just feels right. In fact, I started to understand my father. He's been here himself, I've been front and center for it all. Speaking of, he's at work. It's been three days since the incident at the dance. That night, dad came into my room and I cried on my bed. He just rested and rubbed my back the whole night. When I was finally able to speak I told him what happened. I haven't cooked a meal for him in that time. He seems to be oddly calm about it all.

As you can well imagine, I haven't been sleeping well. I've only been getting about three to two hours at night. Hurting the girl I like, disrespecting the Louds and essentially breaking my promise to Mr. Loud. It keeps me up like a nightmare.

I've gotten lost in myself. I haven't looked at my voicemail messages in that time. I still have the one Lori left me, I got one from Bobby, Lincoln and Luna. No text messages though. In the classes I shared with the Louds at school I just sat in the corner of the room and stared at the wall. I could tell they wanted to speak to me. However I dashed to the classes at the last minute so I wouldn't be late, and quickly ran out to avoid them talking to me when the class ended. Even though I can't see it, I can feel the angry looks on their faces.

At school I usually go somewhere else to eat lunch. I know not everyone was present at the dance so not everyone knows. However I know the news travels fast. I feel the stares and the jabs of people's fingers as they point at me amongst all the whispering. I've been in many fights, this hurts me more than any punch in the face. I would just lash out with my anger, but my guilt seems to overpower it. When I feel anger, it quickly subsides and the sadness and guilt overpower it.

Nicholas opened the door and went downstairs. He placed his hands on his hips and grumbled as he stared at Will, who didn't look back.

"Alright Will, enough of this!" Nicholas growled. "Get up! You can't let this incident define you!"

Will didn't respond, he still didn't turn his head. Nicholas marched over in front of him and he took the root beers away from Will. That finally got him to look up.

"Will come on!" Nicholas scolded. "I made my share of mistakes too, when I was going out with your mother! I felt terrible too, however like myself at that time, you gotta get back on the saddle and keep going!"

Will finally spoke.

"You're right dad, but it's not just Leni, it's the other Louds too. I made a promise to Mr. Loud. It turns out the one thing that would hurt her, is me."

"No you're not!" Nicholas argued. "They're your friends, they accepted you, even after you were at your worst. You purposely were mean to them. This was just an accident. Maybe Leni might not want to date you, she may be angry with you. She can't hate you."

"But…" Will tried to say.

"No buts!" Nicholas said, waving a nagging finger at him. "You can't hide forever from this! You can't hide from the Louds! You need to deal with this! I'm getting really tired of turning Louds away from the front door, who want to talk to you."

At least four of the Louds came to the door wanting to talk to me. I was locked inside my room and I was too depressed to talk to them. So dad told them he couldn't get me to come down.

"But I don't know how or what to do!" Will said. Nicholas sighed and rubbed his eyelids.

"First you could start by checking your phone. I know you have a few voicemails. I can't help you in trying to repair this. However, you could start with that."

Will gulped and took out his phone and looked at the storage of voicemails. He sighed and looked back at his father.

"I bet you're hungry." Will said. "I know I neglected my cooking. I'll make some food." Will just stood up and went to the kitchen to make a meal. Nicholas shook his head.

I think on a subconscious level I decided to get back to my work to purposely distract myself from dealing with this.

After dinner Will went to his room and laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Nicholas went to bed. Will picked up his phone and stared at the voicemail notifications. He sighed and pushed the earliest one from Lori.

Dad's right the more I put this off, the more painful this will get. I gotta get this over with, this is an ok place to start.

Will held the phone to his ear and listened to Lori's voice.

"Will, Leni told me what happened. Call me back, immediately. I calmed her down, and Bobby said that you ran away. I get it, but you're literally Leni's date. You have to come back and try and give her a good time. Please call back, or come back quickly!"

Will sighed, the shame and guilt grew bigger inside him.

Great. I did even worse by leaving. I suppose she's right though.

Will then selected the one from Bobby.

"Bro, did you not get Lori's message? Why didn't you come back? Well Leni managed to have an ok time, we found her a new date that was already there. Lori and Leni were pretty upset at you for running away, but now they're mad at you for not being a man and kept trying. As for me, well I'm quite mad at you too. I don't know what you're willing to do to fix this but I hope you find a way."

I tear ran down Will's cheek and he sniffed.

Great I guess that answers that question about what my position is with the Louds. Looks like I blew my chance with the girl I love to smithereens.

Will then answered the voicemail from Luna.

"Dude, what's wrong with you? We keep trying to talk to you but you're abandoning us! This isn't cool bro. We've been trying to help you, Lori and Leni are pretty steamed at you. We were trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, however now we're pretty mad at you for hurting our sister and being a coward!"

Each of these comments felt like a painful stab in the heart.

Man, Only Lincoln is left. I guess it can't get much worse.

Will selected Lincoln's voicemail.

"Hey Will, I know things are bad right now. I know you're probably hurting, I know my sisters are pretty mad at you. I can't say I blame them. You and I are still on good terms. I mean I'm not happy with your decisions but I think I get why you did what you did. Look, call me back, I'm still your friend and you need my help to get through this. Please Will, call me back."

This one little moment of hope given to Will, knowing a Loud is still on his side. Will sniffed and a tear rolled down his cheek.

I know I've criticized Lincoln for poor decisions in the past. I know now that it's my turn. I'm so lucky to have a friend that would stand by me. Luna's right. I gotta quit hiding. It's gonna hurt and I'm probably gonna have to deal with more scorn from them than I'd like to. I gotta do this, a true friend wouldn't stay away after screwing up.

Will wiped his tears away and rubbed his eyes, after sniffing one more time. He looked at Lincoln's contact and pushed the call button.

*RIIIIIIING RIIIIIIIIIING BEEP*

"Hey, Lincoln." Will choked out.

The next morning was Tuesday, day four since the dance. Once Lunchtime came Will grabbed his food and looked around to try and locate Bobby or Lori. Will spotted Lori alone at a table and her eyes met Will's. Her eyes furrowed and Will felt the sting of her look. Will slowly marched over to her and sat down across from her.

"Um, Hi." Will struggled to say.

Man, I'm in the hot seat now. I can't run away after starting.

"According to Lincoln, you finally decided to face us?" Lori asked as she crossed her arms. Will gulped his fear and began to speak.

"I deserved that and more. I'm sorry."

"For what exactly?" Lori asked, wanting more than a simple 'sorry.'

Will listed everything he's done wrong. "For running from the dance, not coming back. Avoiding you guys. Most importantly, hurting your sister."

"Well, this is a start." Lori sighed. "However this is just getting your foot in the door. You gotta say your apology to us all. Come over tonight and we'll hear you out."

Will nodded and began to eat, Lori sighed and added something else, her angry face softened some.

"Will, you're our friend. If you want us to forgive you, we will."

"Thank you Lori." Will replied. "So….how is she?"

"I was able to calm her down and she decided to give you a second chance. However Bobby said you ran away, that's when I called to get you back. She was feeling humiliated once we realized you weren't coming back."

The pain of guilt was starting to intensify in Will.

Oh god, poor Leni. What have I done?

"You said she found another boy though right?" Will asked.

"Yes." She answered. "A classmate of her's in her fashion class. Chaz." Will sighed in disappointment.

I know who he is, but I don't know him personally. It seems he has a similar eye for fashion that Leni would go for. All I can say to describe him, well. Let's just say he's a type of guy that normally wouldn't stand a chance with a girl like Leni. That just goes to show how good a heart she has.

"They had an ok time, although you probably could have salvaged it if you came back." Lori lectured. Will exhaled deeply knowing how right she is. However Will also noticed that many bystanders were whispering and staring. Lori noticed this too and had to give an explanation.

"Don't worry." Lori added. "We haven't been spreading any rumors. Although lots of people were there, these people don't need us to start and spread rumors."

"That's ok to know." Will said, breathing a sigh of relief. "You know what they've been saying? Not that I care though, let them say what they want. I'm just curious."

Lori rolled her eyes, feeling bad about repeating stuff she knows isn't true.

She sighed. "Well, some said you pushed Leni. Some say on accident, others say after she broke up with you, completely ignoring that you two aren't 'together.' Others said you purposely stomped on her feet. Some did say the truth, that it was a total accident."

"Good thing that there's some people who weren't there." Will said, finally breaking a smile.

Later at the end of the day Will was walking to his bike with Bobby.

"I forgive you bro." Bobby said. "I know what you did is not really my problem. Although I care about the Louds too, so I feel hurt with them if someone does so."

"I won't forget it." Will said. "How's Ronnie Anne?"

"She doesn't know." Bobby answered. "It's not her concern. Although I know she wouldn't have much to say about it. If she did."

"Great." Will replied as he got to his bike and undid the lock. "Now if you'll excuse me, I got an angry family to face."

"How do you plan on making this right?" Bobby asked.

"I just don't know." Will sighed.

"If I may make a suggestion." Bobby chimed. "There is something you can do to show them how much you trust and how much they mean to you. Although you're not gonna like it."

"How?" Will asked, fearing what the idea was.

"Open up to them completely." Bobby answered. "Tell them where you came from, tell them about your mom."

"WHAT!?" Will yelled furrowing his eyebrows.

"I know it hurts but how much about you do they know?" Bobby answered.

Will paused and looked to the ground.

He's right. They knew practically nothing about me before I came to Royal Woods. Everytime they tried I'd tense up and get angry. They eventually decided to stop asking. Yet I know much about them.

Bobby continued. "I know that it must be too painful to speak about but I know they would do more to help you move past it. Me and Ronnie Anne too. We all really care about you, show us how much you trust us. It's not good that you're keeping it all bottled up. I mean come on, you're mom's not….you know, gone to heaven?"

"No." Will growled not looking at Bobby, he seems to be touching nerves with his words, but it turns out to be true. Every word. "She's still alive, last I heard."

Here's a bit of information. I hope this line of questioning will cease immediately.

"There you go." Bobby pointed out. "That's a start. Just work up the strength to tell the Louds." Will exhaled out his angry feelings and hopped onto his bike without saying a word.

He raced home on his bike and sat in his living room window as he stared at it to see Vanzilla return home.

I could just buy them dinner, but I know that just feels like a cheap bribe. I hate it, but Bobby's right. It's time I gotta face up to something that eats my soul almost everyday. Something I haven't disclosed to anyone but I guess it's time to do so. Even if the pain is still too tight on my heart.

Will heard the roars of Vanzilla's engines as he watched the family pile out of the car and go into the house. He knew the parents were already home and the time to face them is now. Will walked out of his house and walked to the Loud's. Once he reached the front door he reached out his hand to knock on the door but pulled it back.

Man come on, just knock!

Will reached his fist again, but once more, fear pulled his hand back.

Will clenched his fist and mentally slapped himself. Will shut his eyes and looked downward, his fist reached at the door and knocked loudly. All the chatter and noises on the other side of the door instantly ceased. Will opened his eyes as his muscles tensed up and as his face looked absolutely terrified.

The door opened and Will didn't see any people.

"Come in Will." Mrs. Loud said in a soft yet serious voice.

Will stepped inside and his heart ached with the stabbing pain with a thousand knives. He was met with the angry faces of every family member. Including the parents and baby Lily.

I thought I made some progress with Lori and Lincoln, why are they glaring at me?

"I'm sorry about everything." Will apologized. "I know I have a bit to answer for."

"Not answering us when we wanted to talk things out." Luan said.

"Also you hurt our dear sis!" Luna added.

Leni shut her eyes and ran upstairs and went into her room.

"Alright everyone calm down." Mrs. Loud said as she changed her face to a calming one as she moved to Will's side and made hand motions to calm the children down. Mr. Loud sighed and moved to his wife and did the same.

"Now everyone, sit down." Mr Loud instructed. All the kids sat on the couch and the extra chairs. Mr. Loud went to the dining room and got a chair from there and sat it in front of the couch and motioned for Will to sit in it. Will did as instructed, as the parents stood on the opposite sides of the couch. Everyone calmed their faces as Will gulped.

"I'm sorry for my actions." Will said. Sounding sad. "I pray you guys can forgive me."

"You want forgiveness?" Lisa asked.

"We do forgive you Will." Lola said.

"We've been through too much at this point to just end our friendship over this." Lana said.

"However we do want to hear what you're apologizing for." Lynn added.

Will sighed. He was gonna have to give a long speech.

"I'm sorry for avoiding you guys when I should have owned up to my mistake and apologize right away." Will paused as he looked inward. "I guess I was scared of you guys being upset at me. I know how close you are. I remember the story of Lori first dating Bobby and how you guys had to test him to see how right he was for her."

"You're right there." Lucy agreed.

"You hurt one of us, you hurt us all." Luna added.

"But….No, no excuses. I messed up. I'm sorry, I should have acted sooner." Will said. "I'm also sorry for hurting Leni and not coming back to keep giving Leni a good time as she deserved to have. The last thing I want to do is hurt her, or any of you guys. I also soiled her reputation. I know I don't care much for mine but I have no right to bring down anyone else's. I felt certain that she, or anyone else didn't want to see my face after causing a scene. I didn't understand how wrong I was."

"We can forgive you." Lori said.

"However, you would have to work hard to fix what you did with Leni." Lincoln said.

"I will, I promise." Will declared. Lastly, and mostly I'm sorry to you Mr. Loud. "I'll do and be better from this day forward. That is, if you want me to keep my promise."

The patriarch gave. Will a stern look. "First see how well you stand with Leni. Then we'll see."

Mrs. Loud smiled, for real this time.

"Well, it seems like you still have a lot to learn young man." She said. "This apology has exceeded my expectations."

"What?" Will said softly, looking a little surprised. The rest of the Louds soon started to smile at Will finally.

"Like we said, we forgive you Will." Lincoln repeated.

"You're still our friend, even though you messed up." Lana also repeated.

Will sniffed as warmth began to replace the stabbing pain in his heart.

The Louds are the best things to happen to me and my dad. I became a much better person once I met them. They may be crazy at times, but I'm blessed to have them watching my back.

"Aw." Luan teased. Hearing how emotional he's getting. "The big mean bear turns out to be a big teddy!"

The children all got off the couch and all surrounded Will and gave him a big hug.

"You have come a long way." Mrs. Loud commented as she giggled at the cute scene. Her children finally released him.

"First you were rude and kind of a bully." Mr. Loud said. "Now, while you still make mistakes you've become a friend of the family."

"Thank you all." Will said. "Now….I plan to make this up to you all."

Everyone's interest peaked upon hearing this.

"How so?" Asked Lola. Will gulped as he softly spoke his proposal.

Lori walked with Will up the stairs as Will shook with fear.

"I will help you get in the door." Lori explained. "However, you gotta fix this on your own." Will nodded in understanding.

Now I'm just a boy trying to make things right with the girl I like. I hope I can at least get back on her good side. Believe it or not. I'm more scared of this than I was facing the whole Loud family.

Once they made it outside of Lori and Leni's room Lori motioned for Will to stay outside. Will did what he was told to do as she walked inside. Will anxiously stood outside the door and after about ten minutes that felt like it lasted for an hour, Lori stepped out.

"Ok Will. She'll talk to you." Lori said. "Good luck." She held the door open and Will slowly stepped inside, Lori slowly shut the door leaving the two alone.

"Um…..Hi Leni." Will's voice cracked. As his right arm gripped his left arm and his whole body shook.

"Will." Leni greeted politely but not smiling.

"Look….um…..I'm sorry." Will stammered. His voice started to stabilize.

Leni looked Will in the eyes and there was a mixture of fire and water in them. Anger and sadness blending together.

"That hurt me, you running away. Worse than you knocking me down." Leni said.

"I…I didn't." Will struggled to speak. However Leni cut him off.

"I know you didn't mean it. I know what happened was an accident."

"But…..I don't underst-"

"Let me finish!" She said harshly. "You've been good to the family and to me. You know I could have found a date easily. When Lori suggested I asked you. I felt like I was guaranteed the best night of my life. I knew you wouldn't disappoint. You have no idea how it felt when I realized how wrong I was."

Tears started to well in Will's eyes. He remained silent.

She continued. "Lori convinced me to keep trying and you wouldn't let me down, but you did."

"Leni, I-" Will tried to speak.

"I was humiliated!" She cried as tears flowed from her eyes.

"I'm sorry." Will said. A single tear rolled down his cheek. "I was humiliated too. However I know I brought it upon myself. I should have done better and stayed. Or at least come back. I was afraid. To face Lori, to face you, and to face the rest of the student body. I've never cared much for what they think, but at this moment I did. I felt overwhelmed when I realized I humiliated you and ruined your reputation."

Leni's face started to settle. "From what I've seen though it seems mine stayed intact. Yours is the one that suffered."

Will laughed lightly at this revelation, because it was broke a smile and giggled slightly. Will felt a little relieved as he noticed that he managed to lighten the mood a little.

Will continued. "I messed up. I would never want to hurt your family and most importantly, I would never want to hurt you or break your heart. You and the others mean a lot to me." Will looked down to the floor as tears left his eyes.

Leni looked away but couldn't ignore how vulnerable Will looked, as well as incredibly sincere. She reached out a hand and touched Will's face and brought it up to look at hers and used her thumb to whip the tears away.

"I know you wouldn't." She said softly. "I guess…I may have overreacted to the trip. I didn't like you stepping on me, but I didn't have to run away like that." Will didn't answer. The two laughed as the tears stopped for them both.

Will said something important. "I made a promise to make this up to your family."

"How?" Leni asked. Will answered but he had a lump in his neck but he pushed through it to speak the words.

"I'm gonna tell you guys the story. The story of me and my dad…..and my mom."

"Oh Will, you don't need to do that." Leni assured.

"Yes I do. With Bobby's convincing. I understand that keeping it all in. Is probably the source of my anger. If I let it out I can probably manage it better."

"When?" Leni asked.

"I gotta be honest." Will sighed. "I'm still not ready. Everyone agrees that they'll sit down and hear it when I can gather the strength to tell it."

"That'll be ok." Leni said, resting her hand on Will's. As Will started to calm down about this situation. Will started to blush again.

Well, I know that my chances with her are pretty much blown. Maybe it is me and her, maybe it's me and someone else. Although I just now realize that she's been touching me a lot this whole time.

"I agree." Leni continued. "We know how hard it is for you to talk about. Tell us when you're ready. We're with you for this."

"Do….you forgive me?" Will asked, smiling. Leni lowered her hand and her smile faded a little.

Leni answered in a stern, yet soft voice. "I'm not just gonna forget about what happened, but yes." Will nodded knowing it will take time for her to completely get over it.

After several minutes, Will left Leni with a smile on his face. Outside was Lori and Lincoln, Will with a sympathetic look as Lori stood with her hands on her hips.

Lincoln asked. "Safe to assume that you got her in a good mood again?"

"I'm not sure, I think I did. I think I still have some ways to go." Will answered.

"I hope you do." Lori sighed.

"Lori, Lincoln, thank you both for helping me with this." Will said. "Without you guys and Bobby's help, and my dad's. I probably would still be locked in my basement drinking my problems away."

"Anything to help you." Lincoln said. "You're our best friend Will. You messed up, you're not a monster."

Lori gave Will a threatening stare. "Know this though, hurt Leni again. I hurt you."

Will gulped and nodded. Feeling the anger in Lori's threat.

I can't blame her, Leni's golden heart is precious. I can't damage it again.

The next week. Will was making breakfast for Nicholas. Nicholas was sitting at the table with coffee and newspaper, dressed in his work uniform.

It took time but at this time, things have started to get back to normal. Lincoln is still getting into headaching shenanigans. I still gotta steer him in the right direction. I'm back in the Louds good graces.

The only thing though, is they do bring it up from time to time. It does hurt when they do. I understand though that I gotta make things right with Leni personally. I gotta make this up to her.

Although now I'm locked in for telling them my story of my old life. Sure they said when I was ready I could tell it. Although I'm not sure when that is.

Looks like there are still many of my loud adventures ahead of me.

As Will and Nicholas finished breakfast, Will left the house to go to school, and Nicholas left to go to work.

A/N I really hope you all enjoyed this one. This chapter was quite difficult, because I wanted Will to be rightfully overwhelmed for messing up and instead of facing it, he avoids it. Which in my experience and others I know. The more you put off facing mistakes the worse it gets with the people you wronged. However I also thought a few times that weather or not the Louds were being too hard on him. Also if this feels like this issue got resolved too quickly, I do have another chapter coming up very soon where this will be addressed again. How did you guys feel? Let me know in a PM or a direct message. I greatly appreciate your feedback.

Thank you all for reading and see you next time.