Chapter one of… This thing. This chapter is fairly short, and I don't know if the next few will be any longer. Like, I literally don't know. I have no idea. While I have an eventual end point in mind for this, I haven't actually planned that much out. I created blueprints for the main characters, and that's about it. Usually I create a roadmap for myself before I even publish a chapter, so let's see where this goes together.

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Coming up to Lincoln's bedroom door, Lori swung it open without knocking, and stepped into the room. Her eyes scanned the small area, before quickly settling on her younger brother. He was reading comics in his underwear, and his face turned red when he looked up to see her.

"Lincoln, come to my room, we need to talk, now." She began before he could get a word out.

Setting down his comic, he blinked at her, surprised, but hopped off his bed anyway.

"Now." She said again, when he went for his dresser.

"Can't I put on some clothes first?" His face scrunched up in confusion.

"Now." She repeated again, turning around and walking back down the length of the hall. She heard him fall in behind her, his socked feet barely making any noise against the thick carpet.

Punching in the code to enter her room, she ushered him in before her, and closed the door. Locking it, so Leni wouldn't come in and interrupt them. Turing around again, she watched him squirm in place under her gaze. His head ducked and his body turned to the side, as though he were trying to shrink into himself under her stare. And fair enough, he was literally almost naked.

"What did you-"

"Stop." She cut him off, and he startled in surprise. Looking up at her, he nervously shuffled his feet. "What do you want out of life, Lincoln?"

"I… What do you mean?"

"What do you want more than anything else in the world?" Freezing in place, he stared at her for a few second, but flushed and looked away. "Tell me." She commanded.

"I… I…" Quivering in place, he struggled to meet her gaze.

"Never mind." Her brother stopped shaking. "But this just proves my point."

"You're point?" He cast her a confused look.

"I don't need to know what you want most, but do you really think you're going to get it?"

"I mean… I hope so." He breathed.

"Not like this you're not!" She barked back, causing him to jerk and take few stumbling steps backward.

"I… I don't know what you mean."

"Lincoln," She sighed. "You're not strong enough. I love you, but you're weak. Whatever you want; If you try to get it, other people are just going to step on you and take it for themselves." Stalking forward, she towered over him. "You can't stand up for yourself, and you give in too easily. Case in point," She waved a hand to point out his state of undress. "You literally followed me here almost naked."

"I thought it might have been an emergency." He muttered defensively and looked away.

"Is the house on fire?!" She demanded, jerking his attention back to her.

"N-no?"

"Then what could possibly have been so urgent that you couldn't even wear clothes for it?"

"I…"

"You're too submissive Lincoln, but I'm here to change that." She smirked. "I'm going to teach you how to be dominant. I'm going to teach you how to be strong."

My toilet clogged.

Flipping her phone into silent, so she wouldn't be as tempted to answer it, Lori descended into the chaos of the first floor. She scanned the room quickly, to make sure nobody was getting into any kind of trouble that would keep them from getting out the door on time, and swooped down to pluck Lily off the floor. The youngest Loud having just slipped from her diaper; Something she'd probably keep doing until she was old enough to wear pants.

Without a word, she handed the youngest Loud off to Lynn, as the sporty girl was passing by, and stooped down to snatch up Lily's discarded diaper. Holding it open, while Lynn lowered the half naked two year old into it. Lori wrapped an arm around Lily; resting the toddler on her hip, as she stepped into the kitchen.

A frantic energy stirred up the room, as her siblings got ready for the day. Leni took by the counter making healthy smoothies for the breakfast line, even as Luan attempted to disrupt it by slowly lowering a fake spider, on a string, into her field of view.

"No." Lori wrenched the spider prop from Luan's hands, and cast her a withering glare. Nobody was going to stop them from getting out the door on time.

"What?" Leni looked up from the blender, and looked between them, confused.

"Nothing Leni. Luan's just eager for her smoothie." She turned away from Leni, to fix Luan with another look. "Weren't you, Luan?"

"Oh, uh, yep! You caught me! Ha ha…" She chuckled unconvincingly, but it was apparently enough to fool Leni. "Thanks for helping us Smoothie out this misunderstanding Lori. Ha ha, get it?"

That taken care of, she lowered Lily into her high chair, and swept the room for more trouble. Her senses, once again, landing back on her only brother.

Lincoln stood by the stove, a selection of breakfast options available to the side of him, and… Her hand flashed out to catch the football, that would have otherwise smashed through the kitchen window, and she whipped around to glower darkly at Lynn. The younger girl frozen in place in her sight. Then she nodded her head at the end of the breakfast line, and turned away again. Her thoughts coming back around to Lincoln, who'd just handed off a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, with French toast for bread, to the twins.

The fact that he specially prepared everyones chosen breakfasts… That was something she was going to miss when she was done with him. Or maybe not. She'd never attempted to train confidence into someone, so she didn't really know what she was going to do. And Lincoln was a special case anyway. A lot of what he did… Well he didn't take food requests from the kids in his class, and make lunch for them, so… Was he just being nice, or was this another symptom? She'd still help him, even if it was just a symptom, but she'd definitely miss it. So she hoped this was just a matter of him being a particularly good brother.

Lori swept the room with her eyes, once more, and stepped into the breakfast line behind Lynn.

Lincoln had a lot of things like that. His weakness often blurring in with the fact that he was just honestly a great guy. She didn't want to crush him. She didn't want to ruin the best parts of him. She just wanted to help him overcome his weaknesses. How much was too much, though? How far could she push him before he crumbled? Lori didn't want to find out, so she'd have to be careful about this.

Coming to the end of the line, she thanked him for her usual. Hard boiled eggs, and toast. Variety was nice, but there was an advantage to getting the same thing every time. Lincoln was an excellent chef, but his best work was always with what he was most familiar with. After so many years, he'd gotten hard boiled eggs down to an art form. It may have been a simple thing to make, but simple things could still be elevated to new heights.

Popping the last bit of egg into her mouth, she quickly checked the time, and began cleaning up.

"Alright everyone, we have to go in ten minutes!" She raised her voice above the din. "Be in the car by then, Or I'm literally leaving you behind!"

As the clamor changed from a more relaxed flow, to a frantic surge, Lori waded through the push of bodies, and out into the hall. She plucked her backpack from where it was, beside the front door, and stepped out onto the porch. Taking a moment, she breathed in deeply, savoring the crisp morning air. She tread across the grass to the van, and slipped into the drivers seat. Setting aside her plans for Lincoln, for the moment, so she could focus her attention on putting the finishing touches on her date with Bobby next weekend.

They went mini golfing a lot, so maybe something different was in order? Maybe a picnic, or the beach?

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Chapter notes:

I fixed my toilet.