62. Ch 62- No More Secrets

Dinner was a peaceful affair in the Loud House, with everyone being more or less silent during the meal unless the parents asked something to the kids. While Lincoln was surprised that his sisters weren't talking over each other for once, he simply shrugged it off as them having nothing to say and enjoyed the meal his dad had prepared, unaware that Lynn was watching him from opposite the dining table. She wanted to tell him about what the others had done, but she knew that wouldn't really be possible, so she could only try and think about how she could possibly help him in the meeting.

Her thinking time was cut short when her mother stood from her seat. "Alright, kids," she spoke, getting everyone's attention. "If any of you have homework, make sure you get that done before you do anything else, okay?"

"Don't worry, mom," Lori replied, also standing up. "I made sure they already got any done."

"Oh! Well, thank you, Lori. In that case, you're all excused."

Lori smiled, turning to the rest of her siblings. "Everyone, sibling meeting, right now!"

The rest of the sisters all began to head upstairs, some less eagerly than others, while Lincoln simply blinked before following them. He saw that Leni was frowning as she trudged up the stairs. "Leni? Are you okay?" he asked. "You look upset."

"Oh, I'm…" She saw Lori giving her a stern look out of the corner of her eyes, forcing the second oldest sister to force a smile. "I'm fine, Linky. Just… feeling a little tired today."

"Oh… well, why don't you just lie down for a bit? I'm sure Lori will understand."

She bit her tongue, hating that her brother was being so sweet, even though she was lying to him. "I'll be alright, Linky. Don't worry about me." He gave her a nod, satisfied to let the issue go as he followed her into the room she shared with her older sister. Whilst her brother sat down next to Lucy on one of the beds, Leni went over to the high school senior. "Lori, I don't think this is such a good idea."

"What are you talking about? He's b-" She gave a very brief look to her brother before lowering her voice. "He's been hiding something from us for who knows how long! We can't just let this carry on."

"I know, but-"

"Leni, relax. It'll literally be fine."

She could see that there was no getting through to Lori, so she sighed. "I hope you're right."

Once Leni had sat down next to her brother, Lori took her shoe and banged it on her desk. "Alright. This sibling meeting is now in session. I only have one issue to raise, but before we get to that, does anyone else want to raise anything quickly?"

"Uh, yeah!" Lynn quickly blurted out, suddenly getting to her feet. "I, uh, I mean, yeah. I do."

Lori narrowed her eyes at the athlete. "Go on, then."

"Right. Uh… I was gonna ask… I mean, I was gonna say…" She stammered, trying to think of a way to stall. 'Dang it, why can't I think of anything?'

She could only stammer for so long before Lori's patience eventually wore out. "Alright, this is going nowhere. If you remember it, we'll come back to it." Lynn was going to argue, but Lori's sharp stare ended her resolve, prompting her to sit back down. "Thank you. Now, onto the reason why we're here." She turned to Lincoln, who looked surprised by the sudden attention he had received, noticing that the others had also turned to him. "Lincoln… do you think I'm a gossip?"

He blinked. "Um… what?"

"It's a pretty simple question, Lincoln. Do you think I'm a gossip?"

"Why would I think you're a gossip?"

"Well, do you think that Luna is a gossip? Or that Lisa is inconsiderate? Or that Luan is a joker?"

"Or that I'm a gossip?" Lola added, to which Lynn rolled her eyes.

"Lola, you are a gossip," she reminded. "We all think that."

"Getting off topic!" Lori spoke somewhat loudly, returning everyone's attention to the sole boy. "Lincoln, we know for a fact that you think this about us. We've seen for ourselves that this is what you think about us."

Lincoln opened his mouth, trying to say something but struggling to understand why he was being accused of this. "You have photographed your opinions of your sororal units on your cellular device," Lisa explained. "To put it more simply, we've seen the pictures on your phone."

"Wait, what?!" His expression shifted from one of shock to one of anger. "What were you doing looking on my phone? You weren't putting a tracker on it, were you?!"

"Don't be ridiculous. If I needed to track you, I'd reinstall tracking chips in your necks. Besides, it wasn't me that found your phone."

"Then who did?" He saw the scientist point, following the direction of it to Lola. "Why am I not surprised?"

She rolled her eyes at the insinuation. "It's not like I wanted to, but I was looking for my ribbon stick, and you happened to leave your phone on. If you don't want people to look through your phone, don't leave your phone!"

He narrowed his eyes. "You don't seem to realise that you still invaded my privacy, technicality or not. If it was you, or any of the others, they would be just as angry at you as I am right now!" He stood up and walked over to her, his glare not leaving her. "I don't care why you were in her room, but I should tell mom and dad right now that you were looking through my phone."

"Hold it, Lincoln," Lori interrupted, stepping between him and the younger girl. "Before you do that, there's a more important issue we have to deal with." Giving a small frustrated sigh, he sat back down. "Lincoln, there's only one reason why anyone would make a list like that, and that's if they were hiding something. So, now that we know you're hiding something, it's time you came clean."

"Wh-why would I have something to hide?"

It was clear that the boy was now nervous, his mind now wondering about how to handle the situation, but he stood strong for the moment. Lori, however, showed no signs of relenting either. "Lincoln, you can't fool us. We know you're hiding something, and you are not leaving this room until you tell us."

"Geez, Lori, back off him!" Lynn insisted, but Lori shot her a dirty look. "He's not gonna talk if you keep barraging him like this!"

"Lynn, do not-"

"Dude, she's got a point," Luna argued, hoping to avoid a conflict. She then looked to her brother and smiled at him. "Bro, this is what you were going to talk to me about yesterday, right?" He gave a small and hesitant nod. "Well, you can tell us. Come on, it's not gonna be anything that bad, right?"

He looked down at his lap. "I… I dunno…"

"Come on, Linc, just tell us!" Luan insisted.

"Yeah, I wanna know now!" Lana added.

"Well…" He looked up again and saw the range of expressions he was receiving- while Luna, Luan and Lana were all smiling, Lola and Lori were looking expectingly, while Lisa was looking blankly at him as always. He also saw that Leni was giving a gentle smile, showing that she was sympathising with him, and he noticed the same in the sliver of a smile Lucy was giving him. When he then looked towards Lynn, she simply gave a small shrug, so he sighed. "Look… I'll tell you, but… just know that I was going to tell you all eventually. I was just… trying to figure out how to tell you."

"Noted," Lisa stated, making him roll his eyes.

"Thanks." He shook his head, planning in his head how to tell them. "So, first of all, I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to tell you. I know I should have told you all sooner, but... well, I wasn't sure how. I mean, I wasn't sure-"

"Just tell us already!" Lola snapped, causing Lincoln to grit his teeth.

"Give me a second." Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he calmed himself down before preparing to explain. "Here's the deal. For the past two months, you girls think that I've been going to dodgeball practice, but the truth is… I've been doing something else instead."

"And that is?"

He gulped at Lori's question. 'This is it, Lincoln. No more hiding.' "Instead of dodgeball… I've been doing gymnastics." Squeezing his eyes shut, he waited to hear what they were going to do or say. He waited… and for a few seconds he heard nothing. 'Wait… they're not…'

"Oh! I get it!" Luan eventually spoke, giving a chuckle. "Good one, Linc."

The others, thinking that it was a joke, joined her in chuckling. Leni, Lynn and Lucy all became worried by this. Lynn was going to say something, but Lincoln beat her to it. "You think that's funny?" His voice was low, his hand in a fist on his lap. When he looked up at his sisters, his face was scrunched up, giving a somewhat angry glare. "You think that's a joke?"

"To be fair, Lincoln, you don't exactly have the grace for gymnastics," Lola argued. "Trust me, I should know."

"First of all, it's not rhythmic gymnastics. I do artistic gymnastics."

"There's a difference?" Lana asked, to which Lola rolled her eyes.

"There is a big difference. Artistic gymnastics uses vaults and beams and stuff, whereas rhythmic gymnastics is more elegant and utilises props, such as my ribbon stick."

"Wait, guys do that stuff?"

"Yes, Lana, guys do that stuff too," Luan explained. "I know a couple of people from clown school who do gymnastics and acrobatic stuff."

"Oh, really?" Lincoln interrupted. "Then why did it sound so funny when I said that I do that stuff?"

She shrank slightly at the sharpness of his tone. "Oh, uh… just… y'know… I wouldn't have expected…"

As the words failed to vocalise, her face showed her guilt as she realised what the words she had in mind truly meant. Lincoln didn't need time to understand that, his eyes narrowing. "Go on, Luan, say it. You wouldn't have expected me to be into it. That's what you were going to say, wasn't it?"

"Regardless of what choice of vocabulary she may or may not have planned to make," Lisa interrupted, adjusting her glasses, "it is a reasonable assumption. Given your regular hobbies and interests- video games, comic books and such- the idea of you pursuing gymnastics does have an anomalous quality to it." He didn't say anything in response, causing her to roll her eyes. "It means-"

"I know what it means, Lisa," he sharply cut in. "The only reason I didn't say anything was because I don't know how you can say that, given that you're a four year old PhD who enjoys hip hop music and Tai Chi. If you can enjoy those things, then why does it make my hobby so strange?"

"Okay, stop it, you two!" Lori ordered, slamming her shoe on the desk again. "Let's bring this back a moment. Lincoln, what you're saying is that, for the last two months, you've been lying to us about where you've been going and what you've been doing?"

"I mean, yes, but-"

"What the heck were you thinking?! You really thought you could keep it from us for this long, and we'd be okay with it?! Why would you-"

"You want to know why?!" She stepped back from how loudly her little brother yelled, her eyes widening at seeing the fiery look in his eyes. "Because I was worried, okay?! I was worried about how you were all going to react! I was worried that you were going to do what you do with my other hobbies and laugh, and you know what?! It turns out I was right!"

The girls watched as the boy stormed out of the room, not even caring to close the door, which meant they could easily hear his door slam a few seconds later. As soon as they did, Lynn turned to Lori with a scowl. "Nice one, Lori," she chided, sarcasm dripping in her words as she stood up. "Way to handle it."

The oldest sister opened her mouth to retort, but didn't get chance to say anything before the jock left the room, the goth girl following behind her. While she looked indignant at how Lynn had treated her, the others were displaying a mix of reactions to Lincoln's outburst- while Lisa was indifferent as ever, both twins were shocked, whereas Luan and Luna looked guilty. "So… what do we do now?"

Lori didn't answer the rocker straight away, rubbing her temple with her thumb and her index finger as she let out a heavy sigh. Once she was calm enough, she looked at the others and told them, "let him calm down. He'll get over this, and we can talk it out or something. For now, I guess this meeting is adjourned." Not wanting to argue, the others all got up and began to leave the room as well. "Leni, this is your room too."

Stopping at the doorway, she turned and looked at her older sister, no anger in her eyes but disappointment instead. "I know, Lori, but I want to make sure that Linky's okay."

"Fine."

Leni nodded, then made her way across the landing towards her brother's room, where she saw Lily in front of the door. Giving a small smile, she leaned forward. "Hey there, Lily," she spoke softly, getting the infant's attention. "What are you doing?"

"'Inky sa'…"

Leni nodded. "Yeah, Linky's sad. Let's see if we can cheer him up." She picked Lily up and held her in one arm, using her other hand to knock on the door. "Linky? It's me. Can I come in?"

She waited for a few seconds, hoping that Lincoln would answer her, and when he didn't, she prepared to knock again, only to hear the door unlock and see it open. The boy on the other side had a dejected expression when he looked at his sister. "Leni? What is it?"

"Me and Lily wanted to see if you were okay."

He looked at the one year old, who was grabbing at the air in front of her, signalling that she wanted him to hold her. He gave a small smile as he took her from their older sister, that smile growing when Lily chose to hug him. "Hey, Lily."

"'Inky sa'…"

He gave a small nod. "Yes, Linky was feeling sad, but he appreciates you trying to cheer him up." She looked up at her brother, who looked down kindly. "No more frowny face. See?" This got his youngest sister to smile, before she gave a small yawn. "Sounds like someone's getting sleepy."

"I'll go and put her down for a nap," Leni offered. "You can find me later if you need me."

"Thanks."

He handed Lily to Leni, the blonde taking her baby sister into her bedroom for a nap. Though Lincoln appreciated them checking on him and trying to cheer him up, he felt his mood lower as his mind played over what had happened. Sighing, he re-entered his room and tried to close his door, only to feel someone pushing to open it again. Letting them do so, he was surprised when he saw that it was his mother.

"We heard a door slamming," she said, her tone and expression showing a mix of seriousness and concern. "Is everything alright?"

He was going to say that he was fine, and that he just closed his door too loudly, but after the meeting, he couldn't think of any excuse. Instead, he shook his head and told her, "not exactly."

"I'm guessing something happened during the meeting. What happened, sweetie?"

"Well… let's just say that I had to tell the girls the truth about me doing gymnastics, and… it didn't go well."

The mother of eleven frowned. She knew that Lincoln was worried about telling his sisters the truth, and more importantly, she knew why he was worried, so hearing her son say this meant she didn't even need to ask what happened. "Oh, Lincoln…"

"I know, I know. I should've told them from the start, I brought this on myself."

"No, Lincoln. I mean, there is that, yes, but you had your reasons, and if they forced you to tell them, then there's another issue that needs to be discussed. Are the girls still in Lori's room?" The boy didn't answer her, save for a small shrug of his shoulders. "Well, I'm going to speak to Lori, see if I can find out what happened."

"Don't bother. It's not worth it."

She furrowed her brow. "Lincoln, are you sure?" He nodded, and though she wasn't sure if he was making the right decision, she gave a small smile and put her hand on his shoulder. "Alright, Lincoln. I won't do anything for now, but if things get worse, do let me know. I don't want the whole house to come apart because of this." He nodded once more, so she gave him a gentle hug that he didn't hesitate to return. "Okay, sweetie. I'll let you be by yourself for a while. Your father and I are downstairs if you need us."

"Okay." Once the matriarch let go and walked away, he closed the door and leaned against it. There was a small part of his mind that was regretting not letting his mother handle things, but this was outweighed by the part that just wanted to forget all of this had happened. He heard his phone ringing in his pocket, but he didn't want to speak to anyone at that time, so he put his phone on silent and placed it on his desk. Heading to his bed, he sat down and laid back so his head could hit the pillow, but the second his eyes shut, he heard someone else knocking on his door. He gave a tired groan before calling out, "who is it now?"

"It's just me, bro," he heard Lynn call back. "Can I come in?"

He gave a small huff as he sat up again. "Sure, just close the door behind you." He watched as the middle schooler entered the room, obeying his wish straight after. "What do you want, Lynn?"

"Figured you could use a pick me up." She showed her hand from behind her back, revealing two bars of dark chocolate in red wrappers. "Want one?"

"Isn't that your favourite chocolate?"

"Yeah, and I know it always helps me when I've had a lousy day. Come on, when else am I gonna offer you this, huh?"

He couldn't resist a slight chuckle, being all too familiar with his sisters' chocoholic tendencies. "Sure, thanks." Lynn sat down besides the boy, handing him one bar of chocolate whilst keeping the other. They both opened the wrappers and bit off a piece. While Lynn smiled at the familiar comfort it gave her, Lincoln was instead surprised. "Oh, wow!"

"Told ya, bro. It's dark, but with just enough sweetness. Plus, the lower sugar content means I don't have to worry about being unhealthy."

"I get what you mean." He finished the first piece before turning to her and asking, "so, that thing you wanted to talk about earlier… were you trying to warn me about… well, what happened?"

She gave a small nod, her eyes seemingly fixated on the chocolate bar. "Yeah… I only heard from Lucy when we got back, so I didn't have enough time to warn you or help you. My bad."

"No, it's fine. I don't know if it would have gone much differently either way."

"Heh, true." She ate another piece of chocolate before lowering the bar and looking at her brother. "Look, I heard what you and Mom talked about, and-"

"You think I was wrong about not letting her handle it."

The brunette shook her head. "No, you were absolutely right, Linc. This might sound strange, but now that they know the truth, they've got to realise that it means a lot to you. Sure, it took you two months to tell them, but that doesn't make up for how they reacted."

"You think? I'm not so sure. I kind of feel like, maybe, I deserved it."

She shook her head again, this time more firmly. "No way, bro. So, just trust me on this. The ball's in their court, and when they've pulled their heads out of their butts, they'll apologise to you, and you can talk things out properly."

He took a moment to take in her words, then smiled. "Thanks, Lynn."

She smiled back and pulled him into a side hug. "What's a big sis for?" As he returned the hug, though, her smile lessened slightly. 'I just hope it's a matter of 'when',' she mentally noted, 'and not a matter of 'if'.'