I do not own Loud House
The next day, things have not gotten any better for Lincoln. As much as he hated to admit it, he stopped enjoying many of the things he likes. Turns out, Ace Savvy wasn't the only thing he lost touch with; there was also ARRRGH!, peanut butter and sauerkraut, and video games. Even the activities that he does with his sisters didn't make a difference. Now, some of these weren't that bad but lately, he just acted indifferent towards all of them.
Speaking of which, he was currently with Lola and her dolls having a tea party. Lola asked him to be the butler serving the tea. Normally, when Lincoln says "ask" he meant she blackmails him like the time she made him be her photographer or else she'd tell mom on him. Now though, he made no complaints and just did it without question, much to Lola's chagrin.
"So then, Lindsey Sweetwater had the gall to say she'd beat me in the next pageant." Lola said to her stuffed animals. She laughed, then gestured to herself. "As if she could ever outshine this. Oh butler, please pour more tea for Princess Pony."
Lincoln walked over to Lola's stuffed pony and poured empty tea into her empty cup. Lola leaned her ear into the stuffed giraffe next to her as if it were telling her a secret. Lola squealed and before Lincoln could walk away, Lola grabbed his wrist.
"Lincoln, Lady Longnose thinks you make a cute butler." Lola told him.
"Oh, thank you Lola." Lincoln nodded. Lola rolled her eyes.
"No, don't thank me. Thank Lady Longnose."
"Oh, my fault. Thank you Lady Longnose." Lincoln turned back to his sister. "How come you call it Lady Longnose when it's the neck that's long."
"First of all, it's her, not it. Second of all, butlers are not supposed to be so rude to the people they serve." Lola glared. But to her surprise, Lincoln didn't look the least bit scared.
"You're right, I need to do better. That's my fault, and I'm sorry Lady Longnose." Lincoln turned to the stuffed giraffe for the last part. He walked over to the corner and stood by, waiting for Lola to tell him what to do.
Lola stared at her brother, who just looked back at her with a neutral look. She didn't know what to think right now, her brother was never this agreeable with her before. At first she enjoyed seeing him so committed to playing with her when he usually complained. Now though, it was as if he didn't have any choice. This was starting to get confusing, first the walking out on the twin fight and now this.
Lola continued her tea party but kept glancing at her brother, who only stared at her without any bother. This was starting to freak her out a little, he went from being her butler to being her own personal robot. Eventually, there was only so much staring that she could take until she finally decided to call it.
"Ok Linky, I think I'm good. You don't have to be my butler anymore." Lola smiled at him nervously. He nodded in response.
"Ok."
Lincoln placed the tea pot on Lola's table and walked out the room, not noticing his sister watching him leave. He feels his phone vibrating in his pocket, he walks into his room and pulls it out. He looks and sees it's Clyde calling him, which makes sense since he hasn't seen Clyde or his other friends in a while. He slides to ignore, thinking that he still wasn't sure about seeing them. Apparently, Lincoln forgot that Clyde knew him too well because his phone rang again.
He slid ignore again, only this time Lincoln received a text. He clicked it and opened the text app, it said "Lincoln, I know you're there, you haven't answered the phone or walkie talkie. If you don't pick up the next time I call, I'll come over to your house."
Once again, Lincoln's phone rang and showed Clyde calling. But this time, Lincoln answered.
"Hey Clyde, what's up?" Lincoln said.
"Ugh, you tell me buddy. I haven't heard from you in a while, are you avoiding me?" Clyde asked. Even though he asked it so casually, Lincoln could tell he was worried by the tone of his voice.
"No it's my fault. I've just been caught up in my own things."
"Like what?"
"I've been going to the library more and picking up many books. Also, I've been helping out my sisters with their activities and being there for them when they make their cameo. Also, I've got some extra homework I've been working on."
"Extra homework?"
"Just helping someone with their homework is all."
"Ok. Well I don't know about the activities with your sisters, but we could try to go to the library together next time. I'm sure the others wouldn't mind tagging along if they have books they want to read."
"I'm sorry, I'm able to read better when I'm alone. It's nothing personal."
"Oh, ok." Lincoln could tell Clyde was upset by this. "I guess I'll see you in school then."
"Yeah, see ya buddy." Lincoln hangs up the phone. Just then, someone knocks on Lincoln's door. He goes to open it and sees Lucy, which surprises him because she either sneaks up on him or enters without knocking like everyone else.
"Hey Lincoln. We're having a sibling meeting to discuss the movie cameo and other things, you coming?" Lucy asked, gesturing her thumb behind her.
"Ok." Lincoln shrugged. He walked out, closing the door behind him, and headed towards Lori and Leni's room with Lucy following next to him. At least, that's what he thought was happening but he turned and saw she stopped.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Lucy asked, pointing at him.
Lincoln looked down and saw he was still wearing the butler outfit Lola made him wear. He went back into his room to change. He took off the suit and was about to put on his usual polo but he noticed something. In the middle of all his orange polos was a long sleeve button up orange shirt that Lincoln had no memory of ever buying or wearing. He picked it up and saw it was just about his size.
Lucy decided to head into the room before Lincoln. She was really beginning to worry about her brother, he wasn't acting like himself, being so dismissive of everything. Hopefully, she can bring it up during the meeting but there's a part of her that thinks she might be overreacting. Those last thoughts were immediately forgotten when he finally arrived.
Since Lincoln was the last one in, all the girls' eyes were on him and they were once again surprised to say the least. He was wearing an orange shirt, but it was long sleeved, button up, and tucked into his pants. Lincoln sat next to Lucy and he finally noticed everyone staring at him. He was confused and no one was speaking so he decided to break the ice.
"Am I late?" Lincoln asked. This time Leni spoke, but she was more excited than the others.
"O-M-Gosh, you finally wore it." Leni gushed, jumping up and down.
"Wore what?" Lori asked.
"My christmas gift to Linky, I got it for him last year and he said he'd wear it but he never did." Leni said, saddened by the last part. "Did you not like the color Lincoln?"
All the other girls just gave Leni the usual look whenever she said something stupid.
"It's not that, I've just gotten too used to my regular polo. It's my fault for not trying something new sooner."
Leni just waved it off.
"No probs Linky."
"Anyway," Lori backtracked. "We've got a big day coming up. We'll be practicing for our big movie role."
"Technically, it's a brief segment featuring our alter egos based on a fan made fictional comic." Lisa corrected.
"Huh?" The twins asked simultaneously.
"It's a short cameo that'll probably be a minute or less depending on how it fits in the film." Lincoln simplified, the sisters nodded in understanding.
"Well, the point is that we'll be in a movie and we'll need to be prepared." Lori said.
"Isn't that what the rehearsal's for dude?" Luna asked. "We'll be at the film set going over this stuff a hundred times."
"True, but it will be easier if we know what to expect." Lori turned to Lincoln. "So Lincoln, do you have any tips for us?"
Lincoln looked around the room, seeing all his sisters looking at him.
"I think you'll all be fine, you're perfect at these sorts of things."
"Awww" The girls group hugged their brother, who just stood stiff and didn't hug back.
"Thanks again bro." Lynn said, throwing her fist out in front of him but this time he didn't flinch. "Ah, someone's learning."
The rest of the sibling meeting went on to talk about random things, Lincoln zoned out through the rest of them. When it was finally over Lincoln was the first one out and the others were about to leave but Lucy blocked the door to stop them.
"Guys, we need to talk."
The other girls looked at the goth confused.
"We did talk, we spent ten minutes talking." Lori told her.
"I know, but I have something I wanted to discuss with just us girls."
"Oh boy, another sister fight protocol huh." Luan said. "Well, better lay it down before we throw it down, hahaha, get it? But seriously, who is it?"
"It's not that." Lucy shakes her head. "Guys, I'm worried about Lincoln, he's been acting differently."
"You mean the same Lincoln that you let walk out of the room?" Lynn asked, raising an eyebrow at the goth.
"I was worried he wouldn't talk about it if he was in the room."
"Talk about what, the new shirt? Aww, I knew he didn't like the color." Leni wined, lowering her head. Due to this, she couldn't see the various "are you serious" look.
"It's not just the shirt, haven't you guys noticed by now. Ever since the convention, he's been off. He doesn't smile, he doesn't react to anything, he avoids us a lot."
"You do realize you just described yourself, right?" Lola countered, unimpressed.
"That's not the point. Lincoln is never like this, even on his bad days."
"Actually, she might have a point." Luna said, sharing Lucy's concern. "You all saw how he was in the car and during the twin fight, he's been kind of a downer lately."
"Well, obviously he's still upset about being the pooper scooper. Anyone would be down about that." Lori said.
"I wouldn't." Lana countered. "I mean I definitely wouldn't turn down the cameo, but I wouldn't say no to kitty duty."
"Hahaha, good one Lana." Luan complimented her unintentional joke. Her and Lana high five.
"Sorry Lucy, but I agree with our eldest sibling." Lisa said. "He's probably just distressed over his current predicament."
"I don't know, it just feels like there's something more going on." Lucy said.
"I wouldn't worry too much." Lola said. "Maybe he'll feel better when we start working on this film, I know I will."
"Yeah, and besides it's Ace Savvy. No one is more obsessed with Ace Savvy than Lincoln. The moment he realizes that, he'll forget about everything else." Lori said.
Lori knelt down to Lucy's eye level and put a hand on her shoulder.
"If there was something wrong, we'd know. And if things get worse then we'll talk to Lincoln about it. But until then, everything is fine."
Lucy was hesitant but finally relaxed. Maybe her sister was right, Lincoln's just grumpy about his karma. After all, he did something bad and now he's paying the consequences. Lucy steps aside and lets everyone get by, all of them going to do their own different things.
Author's Note: So Lincoln is starting to get worse, emotionally speaking, and one or two of the sisters are concerned. Even Clyde is bothered so who knows what will happen when they talk next. However, the real hurdle will be how he handles himself when he goes back to school. I'm pretty sure everyone's looking forward to what Chandler has in store for him.
If you like this story, please spread the word. I could use all the reviews, favorites, and followers as possible. Also, you are free to check out my other stories MHA Reacts: JCA (Jackie Chan Adventures) and The Omni-Army. I could use some ideas for The Omni-Army so PM me if you'd like.