AN: I wrote this for my pal Auto. I'm not committing to releasing more chapters like this, or to any sort of release schedule for this story, but this one-shot seemed sufficiently on-theme that it would work as part of this weird little collection of mine.

Margo Roberts trudged towards the Loud House with an ever increasing sense of trepidation, pulling her parka tight against her body, so as to brace against the cold, Michigan morning. She glanced around, noting how devoid of life the neighborhood was at this particular moment, and for an instant it occurred to her that she could just turn around and leave. Nobody would be the wiser. This brief ray of hope was quickly dashed, however, as reality quickly set in. She couldn't just leave, she'd made a promise. And one didn't lightly break promises they'd made to Lynn Loud. There was a reason they called her Lynnsanity...

Margo flinched as her locker abruptly slammed shut, then a second time as the resultant loud, metallic ringing noise resonated throughout the locker room.

"Hello, Margo." Lynn said, her voice calm and collected. But Margo knew her friend well enough to not be so easily fooled, and Lynn Loud was the type who expressed herself with deeds, not words. A quick glance at her locker showed that Lynn's hand was still upon it, her palm sunk several inches deep into the sturdy hunk of metal. That rated fairly highly on the Lynnsanity meter.

"H-hey, Lynn." She replied, looking her friend in the eye. "Listen, about practice—"

"You're killing us out there, Roberts!" Lynn snapped. "The rest of us are out there giving one-hundred and ten percent, and you can't even give me ten! You need to get your head in the game! This isn't middle school anymore, we have college scouts with their eye on us! These girls' futures are on the line, yours and mine included!"

Margo didn't have a response to that. She sunk down on a nearby bench, and stared despondently at the floor. Lynn was right. She was a liability right now, and there wasn't any point in sugar coating it. To Margo's surprise, Lynn sat down next to her, and put one arm around Margo's shoulder.

"Look, Margo." She said, her voice still calm, but now without that unsettling, underlying edge that had been there previously. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I know..." Lynn let out a quick sigh, clearly doing her best to keep her emotions under control. "I know the breakup hit you pretty hard. And I know it takes time to work through stuff like this. But it's been months! Forget about the game, this isn't healthy for you! We're all worried about you, ya know?"

Margo shrugged helplessly. "I'm sorry Lynn. I'm trying, honest! But my heart's just not in it." She looked away, unable to maintain eye contact with her friend any longer. "Maybe it'd be better if I just q—"

"Nope!" Strong fingers wrapped around Margo's jaw, and yanked her head sideways, forcing her to address the now smirking Loud girl, face to face.

"As I see it..." Lynn began conversationally. "The problem here is that you've been given too much time to dwell on this. What you need is something to distract you, and I think I've got just the project..."

And now, here she was. Apparently Lynn's little brother was trying to get in shape for something, and Lynn had taken it upon herself to personally oversee his training. Problem was, the Loud girl had other commitments on this particular day, so Margo was going to be filling in. It sounded easy enough, Lynn had given her a detailed workout routine to put Lincoln through. All Margo had to do, essentially, was tell Lincoln what to do, make sure he was doing it right, and keep him motivated. The latter was the real sticking point for her, it involved a distressing amount of socializing, something that she hadn't been especially fond of as of late.

"Over here, Margo!" Margo determined that the dulcet tones of the sportiest Loud were wafting out of the garage, so she corrected her course and started heading that way. The door was wide open, so she took the liberty of allowing herself in.

As expected, Lynn had done a pretty decent job of setting up a nice, compact home gym with the space she was given. Mats covered the floor from end to end, so as to prevent any unfortunate accidents. There was an elliptical machine, a few sets of weights, and some other miscellaneous exercise goodies arranged neatly in separate quadrants of the room. Everything they'd need to accomplish Lynn's schedule.

"Glad you could make it, Margs!" Said Lynn, walking forward to meet her friend, her little brother in tow, each dressed in matching red and white track suits. That..was strangely adorable, and entirely in character for this particular family. As they approached, Margo quickly did a double take. Apparently "little" wasn't a very apt name for Lincoln these days, the boy'd grown considerably since she'd last seen him, standing a full head taller than his sister, and a a bit more besides over Margo herself. It might have been a little intimidating had it not been for the profound look of embarrassment on the his face. Margo couldn't help but smile at that, just a little. No matter how big he got, it seemed Lincoln Loud was always destined to be Lynn's dorky little brother.

"Alright." Lynn announced with a clap of her hands. "I've gotta get out of here, so lets recap what you're gonna be doing today. Stinkoln here—" She jerked her thumb at the younger boy. "Wants to get in shape for one of his nerd things. Which, I know sounds ridiculous, but only because it is." She glanced back at her brother. "What'd you call it again?"

"LARP, Lynn." Lincoln said, with a small, resigned sigh, the sigh of one who had developed the infinite patience required to deal with Lynn's eccentricities. He turned to address Margo directly. "It's live action role play. We're going to be running around and stuff. Actual physical activity. So I thought it might be nice if I could run around a bit without breathing hard." He gave her an apologetic smile. "Bit of a tall order, I know." Margo barely heard that last part, she was too fixated on that smile, and the...stirrings, it caused. It was a nice smile. Too nice. This might be a problem.

Lynn gave Lincoln a gentle nudge to his midsection. "She doesn't care, Linc. Show the lady what she's working with."

Lincoln frowned at his older sister, but nevertheless complied, unzipping his track suit and stepping out of the garment as it fell to the ground. Underneath, he was wearing a simple outfit, track shorts and a white t-shirt, but they did their job. Boy, did they do their job. The Loud siblings weren't giving the sole male Loud enough credit. Gone were the noodley twig arms of yesteryear. While Lincoln was by no means jacked, or anywhere close to the level of physicality that Margo and her teammates enjoyed as would-be professional athletes, he was as far removed as could be from the comic book reading wimp that Lynn typically described him as. That thought caused a different sort of stirring, a memory this time. Lynn...complaining, something about Lincoln's propensity for reading comic books in his underwear. Was that still a thing? Maybe a little quid-pro-quo was in order. Reading was fundamental after all...

"Okay." Margo jerked back to life as Lynn gave her a companionable slap on the shoulder. "You have officially waived any right to refuse at this point. Dorko is now your responsibility. Just follow this training program and you'll be fine" She gave Margo a strange little wink as she pressed a notebook into her hands. "Take good care of him."

And with that, Lynn made her exit, leaving Margo alone with Lincoln. A distressingly attractive Lincoln...

"So..." Lincoln ventured, scratching his head in embarrassment. "Should we get started?"

"Lunges!" Margo shouted, surprising even herself with the sheer intensity of of voice. "You should start with lunges. To warm up."

Lincoln looked at her, perplexed. "Really? Because normally Lynn starts us off with some light jogging."

"N-nope." She replied, shaking her head emphatically. "Lunges. Definitely lunges. Says right here." She made a show of checking the program, intent on mentally adjusting the schedule to account for this mild deviation...but to her surprise, lunges actually were the first thing on the schedule. Wordlessly, she flipped the notebook around and showed Lincoln the relevant section.

"Alright then." He said with a shrug, taking his position in the center of the room. "Just tell me when to—"

"Go!" Margo yelped, wincing at how eager she sounded. Nevertheless, Lincoln complied with her instruction, and began to lunge. Oh, but that boy could lunge.

Margo stood transfixed, watching Lincoln's shorts constrict around his taut gluts. Again, and again. Tense, then release. Then tense again. And then release. This was good. This was very good. A part of her still functioning brain observed that her body temperature had become significantly more elevated within he last few minutes, and it might be a good idea to address that problem. With that, she set about removing her parka without taking her eyes off her instructee, and his very important workout.

"Margo?" A familiar voice cut through the haze of her inner thoughts. The lunging had stopped. She pulled her gaze away, and instead addressed a very confused looking Lincoln.

"Y-yeah?" She uttered, not trusting her own voice at this point.

"I asked you how much longer I should keep doing this."

"Twenty more." Her mouth supplied, without input from her brain. To her surprise and relief, Lincoln merely shrugged again and resumed his routine. Everything was right with the world once more.

...for a time, at least. While Margo was immensely enjoying the show, she had her pride as an athlete. And as delightful as Lincoln was to watch, his form wasn't quite right. It was beginning to irk her.

"No, no, no." She said, stepping forward. "You're bending your back too much. You need to keep it straight."

"Like this?" Lincoln asked, demonstrating.

"No." Margo shook her head. "Straighter."

He tried again.

"Straighter!" Margo repeated, now starting to get legitimately irritated. And once again, he failed to comprehend what she was tying to convey.

"Dangit, Lincoln!" Margo growled, slapping one hand onto the Loud boy's backside. "You've gotta keep your back straight! This part here..." Margo trailed off as her hand and her brain finally had a very important conversation. In her zeal to properly instruct Lincoln, she had, without conscious thought, grabbed what had seemed to be the most problematic part of Lincoln's movements. And now, Margo Roberts found herself clutching the butt of a very confused, and suddenly very tense Lincoln Loud.

Lincoln swallowed audibly. "Uh, Margo—"

Margo didn't think, her brain was occupied, shame and joy vying for control of her now very conflicted values system. So, she did the only thing that seemed natural. She threw Lincoln on the ground.

THUMP

—And instantly regretted it. Gym mats were good at reducing accidental injuries, but they were a lot less effective when a hormone-fueled idiot was practically bodyslamming you on the ground. And the way Lincoln bounced as he hit the ground did little to reassure her.

"Shoot." She hissed, mad at herself. "Really sorry about that, Linc, I didn't mean it. Uh, either of...it. Honest." She stepped towards the fallen Loud and reached out one arm. "You okay...down...there?" Margo found herself trailing off as she approached the Loud boy. From her current vantage, she could see that Lincoln's eyes were wide and alert, which was a very good sign. What surprised her, however, was the way the prone Loud's gaze was locked squarely on her.

"Lincoln?" Margo called out, hesitantly, only growing more self conscious when he failed to respond. Margo hadn't put much thought into what she'd be wearing today, so she'd donned her usual workout outfit, yoga pants and a tank top, a combination that gave her the freedom of movement she needed to get stuff done while also keeping her nice and breezy. Since she and the girls usually worked out in a big group together, she rarely put much thought into her outfit other than her own comfort. Now, one on one, and with a boy at that, her choice of clothing felt...insufficient.

Margo wasn't the type of girl who turned heads when she walked past. Puberty had given her a pair of nice, medium sized breasts, but she was still short, her nose still a tad bigger than normal, and no matter how hard she worked on it, she still possessed the flattest white-girl butt in the history of flat white-girl butts. It was mildly infuriating that even Lynn, the least feminine girl she knew, had started high school rocking a nice, well rounded set of curves. Stupid sexy Loud genes.

What Margo had, in rather bountiful amounts, was muscle. She worked hard, and she took care of herself. And while there wasn't a lot of her, to go around, what was there was tight, and densely packed. Something she took pride in, even though it scared off prospective guys more often than not. So it came as a shock to see Lincoln staring to intently at her. Specifically at her taut, exposed midriff.

"Everything okay, Linc?" She asked taking another step forward. To her surprise, Lincoln's eyes followed her, his gaze unwavering.

"F-fine." He replied, his voice low.

Margo took another step forward. Then she crouched down on the ground, bringing herself to eye level with the pale haired boy. Lincoln's eyes followed her all the way down, and it wasn't until they were face to face that he finally wrenched his gaze upward and looked her in the eye. Margo's heart began to beat more rapidly as they locked gazes. This was...interesting. Very interesting. But she needed to be a little more certain.

"You sure about that, Linc?" She asked raising her right arm and putting it behind her head, ostensibly to fiddle with her hair. This was just a pretense, however, one that was rewarded with the boy's gaze now fixating on her tightly curled bicep. Bingo.

"Totally sure." Lincoln said at last, nodding emphatically as he started to climb to his feet. "Let's get back to—"

WHUMPF

Margo didn't let him finish, putting on hand on his chest as he attempted to rise, then unceremoniously shoving him back on the ground, this time completely flat on his back.

"Change of plans." She said, crawling over to the boy and straddling his prone form. She planted one arm on either side of his head, and felt no small amount of vindication as his head darted back and forth, openly admiring her well sculpted set of limbs.

"You know..." She said, conversationally, as she lowered her face towards his. "There's a lot of exercises you can do on the ground, just like this. More than enough to get you a nice, well rounded workout."

"R-really?" He stammered, only now meeting her gaze once more.

"Really." Margo nodded, now leaning even closer. "Let me show you some" She whispered, closing the distance and pressing her lips against his.

Several days later, Margo found herself back in her team's locker room once more. She realized she'd been whistling to herself, a habit which had become strangely common as of late. She immediately ceased, and bit down on her lip. After all, the last thing she needed was someone to—

SLAM

Margo flinched as her locker abruptly slammed shut, once again revealing the face of Lynn Loud.

"Hello Margo!" She greeted her. As before, her voice was nice and level, but that didn't mean much. Margo turned to check the locker door, but before she could, Lynn cupped Margo's face in her hand and held her still, not allowing Margo to turn away from her.

"Is this about practice?" Margo asked, warily. "Look, I got a little carried away, okay? I didn't mean to hit Polly that hard, honest!"

"Nah." Lynn chuckled as she released her grip on Margo. "You kidding me? That was awesome! And don't worry about the broken leg, she'll live. What's important, is that you've got your edge back, right?" A smug grin began to work its way onto Lynn's face. "Did that little project I gave you help at all?"

"A...a little." Margo stammered, turning away, conscious of the heat that had begun welling up in her cheeks. She'd been hoping Lynn would leave it at that. Instead, the brunette stepped closer, putting one arm around Margo's shoulder, companionably, and pulling her close.

"You know..." Lynn said, keeping her voice low. "As it happens, Lincoln's still got a little more time to prepare for his nerd thing. I was planning on having another training session with him this weekend."

"Y-yeah?" Margo asked, trying to keep her voice neutral.

"I think Linc could really benefit from an extra set of eyes." Lynn continued. "I was thinking of inviting Paula along. She's supposed to have her cast off by then, I thought it'd be a nice little way to celebrate, but if you're interested..." She leaned even closer. "I could see my way to putting that off, and letting you join us. What do you say?"

"What time?" Internally, Margo berated herself for answering so quickly. But the die was cast, and Lynn didn't seem to mind.

"Bright and early." Lynn said with a wink. Giving Margo a friendly squeeze, before finally releasing her. "And wear the tank top again. Linc really seemed to like that."