60. Ch 60- Games, Grub And A Good Time

(A/N: hey, everyone! As Tristen reminded me in his review, today is the one year anniversary of this fanfic! I'm honestly surprised I've been working on this for as long as I have, and that it's grown to what it has, and I owe that to all of you. You've been so supportive with this that I want to keep it going all the way to the end, because you guys deserve that.

Thank you all for reading, and enjoy!)

Saturday had rolled around, and for one Lincoln Loud, it was a chance for him to relax and just lay on his bed. While he normally would have gone to the mall with his sisters, they all knew that Christmas was coming up, which meant they needed to save up their money for when they eventually went gift shopping. Not that Lincoln minded, of course. Sure, he wasn't able to get the new Ace Savvy comic straight away, but he could wait for that, as the latest storyline hadn't been that exciting. Normally, when this was the case, he would either play one of his video games or watch TV, but he knew that the twins were using the TV right then, which meant he couldn't use the home console, and he didn't have any new games for his portable console.

'Normally, I'd be bored,' he thought to himself, staring up at the ceiling, 'but I'm actually kind of enjoying this. The house is pretty quiet for once, and it's nice to just take a break. This week has been pretty eventful.' He pulled his phone out of his pocket, looking at some of his latest photos, featuring moments from the pool party, his geography project sessions with Jordan and Thanksgiving, and they brought a smile to his face. 'No one can say my that life is boring, that's for sure.' As his eyes glanced over a particular picture— one of his grandfather being 'attacked' by some of his sisters, he thought back to the conversation he had with the senior citizen.

"Don't worry about what your sisters will think when you tell them," his words echoed in the boy's mind. "Remember, they love you, and they want you to be happy."

'I wish it wasn't so hard for me to just tell them. I know that's partly my fault for leaving it this long, but I don't know how to deal with that nagging feeling in the back of my mind.' He sighed before shaking that feeling away, not wanting that thought to sour his mood. 'I can't think like that. Otherwise, I'm never gonna tell them. I just need to have a plan.'

It was at that moment, he remembered the photos that Leni had sent him a couple of weeks prior, from her discussion with Lynn. Going further back through his photos, he looked at what his fashion loving sister had sent him. 'Since I'm not doing anything, maybe I can speak to one of them. Which one, though…' As he thought about it, he heard the sounds of music begin to play from further down the hallway. He knew from the style of music who was playing it, and as he looked over the pictures, a small amount of hope came to his mind. 'I've been able to talk to her about stuff in the past. Maybe she'll understand.'

His mind set, he put his phone back in his pocket, got up from the bed and left his bedroom, heading down the landing until he reached the far right bedroom. The door was open, and one look in showed that his rocker older sister was sat on her beanbag chair, her purple electric guitar in her hands as she strummed away. Her eyes were shut at first, but as if she sensed her brother's presence, she opened them, giving a smile as she saw him. "Hey there, bro," she greeted.

"Hey, Luna," he greeted back, stepping into the room. "What are you up to?"

"Just working on a new song. We've got the lyrics down, just trying to get the groove right. Mind if I ask you for your opinion?"

"Sure, I don't mind. Could we maybe talk about something after?"

"You know it, bro. You can lay it on me."

"Thanks. So, what have you got so far?"

Luna's smile grew a bit as she sat up, reaching onto her desk to grab a sheet of paper. She gave it a quick read over, before putting it back on her desk and preparing to play. "Alright, here we go, bro. One… two… one, two, three-"

"LANA!"

The ferocity of the yell caught them both off guard, their heads turning towards the open door. "Was that Lola?"

"Sounds like it, dude," Luna agreed. "We should probably go see what's going on."

"Right." The two then left the bedroom, with Luna leaving her guitar on her beanbag. As they headed downstairs, the shouting got louder, and they could see that Lola was fighting to get out of Luan and Leni's grip, whilst Lana was trying to get away from Lynn. "What is going on?"

"That dumpster diver let her frog get all over me!" Lola seethed, thrashing as much as she could.

"She tried to steal my hat!" Lana argued.

"This don't look good, bro," Luna pointed out, while her brother just sighed.

"No, it does not." Realising that the situation was tense, he stepped forward. "Girls, let's just calm down and try and talk this out, okay? We don't want this to get any worse than-"

"What is going on down there?!"

Lincoln sighed again, this time in a more dejected manner. "Why did I even open my mouth?"

Everyone looked as the eldest sister made her way down the stairs, a stern look on her face. "I am TRYING to talk to my boyfriend!" She yelled. "So, someone had better have a good reason for all this yelling!" The two twins tried at the same time to tell their side of things, but they just ended up speaking over each other, causing Lori's anger to rise. "ENOUGH!" Once the twins were silenced, she crossed her arms. "Right. Since neither of you are going to be civil, it seems that we've got no choice."

"Please, no," Lincoln whined, but it went unnoticed.

"The sibling fight protocol is now in effect!" Everyone other than Lori and the twins— who were staring daggers at each other— gave heavy groans at the announcement. "For the time being, you will be kept separate from each other, until you've calmed down and we can reach an agreement."

As Lori went over the terms, Luna looked over her shoulder to see Lincoln going upstairs. "Where you headed, brah?"

"I'm gonna just hole myself in my room until this is over," he explained, before doing just that. He went up to his room, shutting the door and locking it. "It's a good thing Lana put that lock on for me." As he walked over and collapsed on his bed, he gave another heavy sigh. "This stupid protocol… it's not as bad as it used to be, but… there's got to be a better way for them to deal with it."

As he shut his eyes out of exasperation, he heard his phone ringing, so he pulled it out of his pocket to check who was calling. Seeing the caller ID, he answered it. "Hey, Jordan."

"Hey, Lincoln," he heard the girl answer.

"What's up?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out. I'm kind of bored right now, and I know the others are all busy with things."

"Sure, I'm up for hanging out. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I remembered when I sat with your friends at lunch last week, and that they mentioned that arcade you guys like… something games and… something."

He gave a small chuckle. "Gus' Games and Grub."

"That's the one. Well, I was thinking of checking it out."

"Okay, sure! I can meet you at the park, and then we can walk over."

"Sounds great. See you in a little while, then."

"I'll see you then." Hanging up the phone, he got off the bed and walked over to his desk, pulling his wallet out of the drawer. "Well, at least I'll be able to enjoy today, rather than have to sit through another protocol." His eyes then glanced over to the poster near his window. "Good thing I have an escape route."

Jordan sat on a park bench, looking at her phone as she waited for Lincoln to arrive. 'I wonder what's keeping him,' she thought. 'Still, better being sat here waiting for him, than being sat at home and doing nothing.' She looked up from her phone and caught glimpse of some white hair, prompting her to stand up and wave. However, when she saw that it was an old man, and said old man waved back, she gave a sheepish smile as she sat down, blushing bright red. 'Yep, that's embarrassing.'

"Jordan!" She heard a familiar voice call, looking the other way to see that Lincoln was walking towards her. "Sorry I took so long. I had to make sure I didn't get caught by my sisters."

"It's alright," she replied, standing up. "So, which way is the arcade?"

"It's not far, just a few minutes that way." She nodded and walked in the way he pointed. "So, who were you waving at?"

"You saw that?" When he nodded, she felt her blush grow. "Oh, it, uh… it was… I thought it was someone else."

"Let me guess, an old man with white hair."

She looked at him, equally embarrassed and shocked that he figured it out. "How did you know?!"

He simply smirked and told her, "Jordan, all of my friends have done that at some point. It's no big deal."

"You sound way too cool with that."

"Well, I've kind of gotten used to it."

"Still," she rubbed the back of her arm, "I feel a little bad about it."

"Jordan, it's no sweat. Really, I'm over it."

"You mean it?" Seeing the boy nod and smile at her, she couldn't help but smile back at him. "Thanks. So, how come you're avoiding your sisters?"

He groaned slightly. "Lola and Lana got in a pretty big fight, which means the whole house is pretty tense."

Jordan lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "How is that…"

"It's a bit of a long story. The short version is, my sisters have a protocol for this, which I think doesn't work, but they won't listen to me about it. They keep the two sisters who are fighting apart from each other, and no one is allowed in the same room as them."

"Wait, what?! No one's allowed in the same room as them?!"

"Yep. The whole thing used to be much worse, though. A while back, they put the old protocol into effect, and I didn't even know what it meant back then. They would use the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room or even someone else's bedroom as a cool off room, and anyone else would get forced out."

"That sounds horrible!"

The boy nodded. "It was. I had to leave the house for the day to let things blow over… though, I'll admit, I didn't make things better. Again, a long story."

"I get it. You tried to help, they didn't want it, and things just got more tense."

"Something like that. Anyway, the new protocol is better, as you're only allowed to cool off in your own bedroom, or in the dining room if you're fighting with your roommate, but it's still not perfect." He turned to her and smiled. "I'm glad you asked me to hang out."

"Me too." They walked for another minute or so before reaching their destination. The building had a retro aesthetic, with green and white chequered walls, plus a red neon sign that read Gus' Games & Grub snack bar. "I've walked down this street so many times, yet I don't think I've ever really noticed this place."

"I get what you mean. If you aren't looking for somewhere, it's easy to overlook it." He saw the girl nod before he approached the door and held it open. "Shall we?"

She gave a giggle at his 'act of chivalry', then entered the building, where she was met with more of that retro aesthetic— black and white chequered floor, red leather booths with black tables between them, old school arcade cabinets, pinball machines and air hockey tables, and even a jukebox. "Woah… is this place from the fifties or something?"

"The building itself is pretty old, but I think the actual arcade opened in the nineties or something. Lori said there's a plaque somewhere, but I think it's in the employee area."

"Well, it's still pretty cool."

"Yeah, it is. So, do you want to grab something to eat first, or go straight for one of the games?"

"I'm not really hungry at the moment, so let's try a game. I don't really know what's good here, so you can pick something."

"Okay, then. Let's see…" His eyes browsed the cabinets for a few seconds, as he tried to decide. "Let's try… this one." He led her over to one of the cabinets, which had the title Monkey King. "This one's a classic, and it's not too hard to pick up."

"Alright. Let's give it a shot, then." She reached into her bag and pulled out her wallet, taking a quarter from it and putting it in the machine, then pressing the start button. Looking at the screens, she saw the instructions and controls appear for a few seconds. "Okay, yeah, seems simple enough. Let's do this."

Pressing the start button again, the screen changed, showing what looked like a construction site, with a giant, pixelated red gorilla at the top of it in front of a pile of barrels and a woman in a cage. At the bottom of the scaffolding was a short pixelated man. The game said START, and the gorilla began throwing this barrels, which began to roll down the scaffolding, so Jordan began to move the man up it. When the barrels got close enough, she would make the character leap over them, making steady progress towards the top.

"Okay, you're doing good," Lincoln told her. "Ooh! Go for the hammer!"

"The hammer? Okay, if you say so." She moved her character further along until it reached the hammer, which it grabbed and then began swinging up and down. When one of the barrels got too close, the hammer destroyed it, creating a small pixelated explosion. "Oh, I see! Alright, let's do this!"

She continued to play all the way to the top, never letting the barrels hit her guy, and once she got to the very top, it cleared the level. She celebrated with Lincoln until the next level began, and this time, the barrels came quicker, so she lost a life early on. Having two more, she got higher up on her second attempt, but then the gorilla began throwing barrels directly down, which took her down to her final life. Determined to beat this level, she tried again, and after narrowly dodging a downward barrel, she was able to get all the way to the top, clearing the second level. The third level, however, showed her less mercy, and once again, she was caught off when the gorilla threw a barrel down at rapid speed, taking her final life and triggering the GAME OVER screen.

"Ooh," Lincoln said as he saw the hi-score table appear. "Unlucky, Jordan."

"I don't mind," she replied, taking her tickets. "Besides, it was pretty fun." She turned to her friend. "So, what next?"

"Alright. Let's go for something different this time." Looking further to the right, his eyes lit up. "How about a racing game?"

"Okay." She followed him to a pair of racing sim machines, each with the title TurboCity. "Ooh! This looks cool!"

"You up for a race?"

She donned a confident grin as she nodded back at him, the two kids taking a seat at each machine. "I'll let you pick the track."

"You're gonna regret that." After they put their quarters in, Lincoln went through the different tracks and eventually chose a beachside street race, before they both chose their cars— Lincoln going with a red sports car, while Jordan chose a silver low-rider. After checking how to play the game, they started the race, both cars lining up side by side on the starting line. "Get ready to eat my dust."

"In your dreams, Loud."

THREE… TWO… ONE… RACE!

The two then began to drive their cars down the city roads, turning the wheel to control the car, neither taking their eyes off their screens. The cars raced along the streets, speeding past the shoreline on one side, and the shops and other buildings on the other side. While Lincoln was racing smoothly through the city, Jordan was having a little more difficulty with controlling her vehicle, trying to get to grips with the gear shift and the steering wheel. In the end, Lincoln crossed the finish line, prompting him to pump his fist in the air.

"Oh, yeah!" He celebrated, a big grin on his face. When he turned to Jordan, however, his grin faded and instead mirrored the frown on his friend's face. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she replied with a nod. "I just don't think this is my kind of game."

"Right… sorry, I… probably shouldn't have celebrated so hard. Guess I get a little competitive sometimes."

"Don't worry about it. Besides, just because this isn't my kind of game, doesn't mean I won't enjoy some of the others. We're here to both have fun, not just me."

This got the boy to perk up a little bit. "Right! So, shall we move onto something else?

"Sure, but this time, I think I'll pick."

So, for the next hour or so, the two of them had fun at the arcade, trying out the different games available. Like Jordan had said, she found that some games weren't her thing, but she excelled with the shooter game and at air hockey, and no matter what the two played, she had fun, which made Lincoln happy. After they'd played a lot of games, they decided to take a break and grab something to eat. While Lincoln ordered a basket of fries and a root beer, Jordan got an order of nachos with a lemonade.

"This has been a lot of fun," Jordan told the white haired boy, once they had finished their food. "I'd definitely say I'm more of a console girl, but I could definitely see myself hanging out with you and your friends here again. If you'd let me, of course."

"Of course!" he replied, taking a sip from his root beer. "I had fun too, and I'm sure the others would be happy to have you join us sometime." As they smiled at each other, he heard his phone beep, so he checked the text he had just received. "Well, it looks like my sisters have managed to calm down and sort things out."

"Oh, that's good. Guess that means… you'll be heading back home, then."

He noticed the hint of disappointment behind her words. "I probably should… but, I think I have some time." Jordan raised her eyebrow with intrigue as Lincoln began texting something, trying to peek without being too obvious, but she didn't have to wait too long before Lincoln looked at her again. "Alright. I've let Lynn know where I am, so I don't have to go just yet." He finished the rest of his soda and put his phone away. "Shall we play something else?"

"Sure, though how much is there that we haven't played?"

"Well, there's one I really enjoy, and I think you will too. Come on." He got up from the booth and the girl followed him over to another two player machine, this one titled Dance Battle. "This is probably my favourite game here."

"A dance game? I don't know, Lincoln. I'm not that good of a dancer."

"Trust me, you'll enjoy it. Besides, you seemed to have fun yesterday." She blushed a little at the memory. "All you have to do is stomp your foot on the arrows that you see on the screen."

She thought for a second, before smiling. "Alright, let's give it a go. Though, maybe choose something easy, if you can."

"No problem." They then put one quarter into each coin slot, and Lincoln chose an easy song on battle mode for them to do. "You ready?"

"Sure." She looked back at the screen as the song began playing, and once the arrows began to move down the screen, she began moving her feet on the respective arrows beneath her, building up a rhythm over time. "Okay… this isn't too bad."

"See? I told you that you'd like this."

She nodded at her friend's words, while focusing on the screen as the song picked up in tempo a bit. As he played as well, Lincoln would occasionally glance over at his friend— not out of competition, but just to see how she was doing. At one point, he heard her laughing, and he looked once again, only to see that she was really enjoying herself. Her eyes had lit up and she had the biggest smile on her face as she jumped and stomped to the rhythm. He could have sworn she was glowing from how much she was enjoying it, and he didn't even realise that he had stopped playing. Even when the song was over, he smiled at how happy she was, while she looked at the screen as the scores started to appear. "That was awesome!" She cheered. "I haven't had that much fun dancing in a long time!" When she saw the final scores, her eyes widened. "Woah! We came pretty close!" She turned to Lincoln, who had just snapped out of his dazed state, and gave him a grin and a raised eyebrow. "Were you going easy on me?"

"What? No, of course not! You just happen to be really good at it!"

"Oh, really? Well, if that's the case, then you won't mind letting me pick the next song."

"Wait. You want to play again?" She nodded, and he couldn't help but give a chuckle. "If you're sure."

"Oh, I am."

So, they put in another pair of quarters, and whilst Jordan began looking through the songs, Lincoln simply smiled. 'I never thought I'd be thankful that my sisters got into a fight.'