Conflicted Feelings v2

"Awww come on Lincoln! Just one try out, that's all I ask!" Lynn said, trying to convince her brother.

"Lynn I've told you a thousand times, I'm just not interested in trying out for sports. I just want to lie on my bed and read Muscle Fish."

This seemed like a regular thing to Lincoln; it seemed like every other weekend Lynn was asking him to join a sports team. The thing was, sports had never really held is interest. Still, this constant badgering was starting to push him to try out for one, if only to get Lynn to stop bothering him.

"Please please please please please please please please please please please please please pleaasssseeeee..."

"Alright alright alright! Fine, I'll try out for sports..." Lincoln said begrudgingly.

Upon hearing this, Lynn practically squealed with joy. She had finally broken the defenses her brother had set up and got him to try sports. Soon she'll finally have another sibling that enjoys the same thing that she does. She loved her sisters, but none of them really share her love for athletic competition. If Lincoln was to try out and join a team, it didn't even matter what kind of team it was, she'd have someone to play with.

"Sweet! I've already got a list of sports that you can try out for!" Lynn said as she pulled out a piece of paper.

The paper had many regular sports and alternative sports listed, from standards ones such as baseball to more alternative ones such as extreme jacks. Lincoln was a bit taken aback at how quickly she was prepared for his approval, but brushed it aside and took a look at the list. He saw 12 different sports that stood out, but wasn't sure which one to pick.

"Uh I'm not sure which one I'd be any good at..." Lincoln said worriedly.

"Just choose whichever one you think is cool! I'll help you with whatever one you pick!"

Lincoln was never good at making decisions and to make a decision between 12 different options was daunting. He wasn't sure which one to pick so he just closed his eyes and decided to follow whatever his finger chose. His finger wavered back and forth, still unsure. He finally placed it down though and opened his eyes to see what he had chosen.

#2. Basketball

"Basketball? But I suck at basketball!"

"Just try it, you'll like it! Plus YOU said that you'd try out for a sport!"

Lincoln just gave a sigh and accepted his fate, looks like he won't be reading any comics for a while; at least until he tries out and fails.

"So there's a tryout for a youth basketball team on tomorrow after school."

"Tomorrow?? I'll have no time to practice!"

"Ah don't sweat it bro, you'll do fine!"

Ah, whatever. It's not like he wanted to actually join; he just wanted to fail and get back home. Plus since it was tomorrow he'll have the weekend free to just read comics.

"Alright Lynn, if you say so."

"Great! See you on the court tomorrow!"

Both of them went to their rooms and got some shut-eye. Lincoln though spent a good portion of the night thinking about how he could get out of this. Unfortunately, he ended up falling asleep before he could come up with a solid plan.


After school...


Lincoln made his way to the school's basketball court, where many kids were already playing and trying out for the team. He looked around and saw Lynn who waved him down. Realizing that there was no way out of this; he walked over and met up with Lynn who seemed rather ecstatic.

"Oh man I'm so psyched! Once you start playing we can talk about all kinds of strategies and players, and we can watch games together-"

"That's even if I win, which I doubt I am. I've barely had any practice; I have no idea what I'm doing!"

"It's easy dude! All you gotta do is just dribble the ball to the end of the court and throw the ball into the hoop. Easy right? I've already put your name in so you should be called up any time now."

Of course Lincoln knew how to play basketball, but he still felt like he just didn't have the ability to play it well. They waited around for a little bit, watching some of the other kids dribble and shoot hoops, something that Lincoln had no interest in. Maybe it because he wasn't interested in the slightest about basketball, but it seemed like the wait for him to be called on felt like days. He just wanted to be called on so he could get this stupid tryout over with. Finally though his name was called,

"Alright, Lincoln Loud?" Said the coach who was overseeing the tryouts.

Lincoln stepped forward, gave a sigh, and said, "Here."

"Alright now I want to see you do some dribbling." Said the coach as he blew into his whistle.

This was easy; Lincoln wasn't an idiot. He began to bounce the ball up and down in a very simple manner that he learned later was in perfect form. He wasn't even aware that there was a proper form to dribbling.

"Alright next I want to see some shooting. Stand at the free throw line and shoot, it's not an actual free throw so you can jump." The coach blew his whistle again.

So Lincoln began to dribble a bit before just to get a good rhythm going before he shot. He jumped and threw a simple shot, expecting it to fail horribly. Imagine his surprise when he threw a perfect swish. As it landed in the hoop perfectly he looked at his hands in awe. What the hell just happened? He wasn't even trying and yet he threw it perfectly. After contemplating it for a bit he brushed it off as a fluke. The whistle blew again and the ball was passed to him, he had to shoot another hoop. He threw it somewhat lazily and it swished. Lincoln was officially baffled; he was barely even trying that time! He looked around at the other people and they were somewhat skeptical and surprised. The coach was intrigued by this and handed him the ball again and blew the whistle. He confused as to what the last two shots were, but he thought that he couldn't go for three.

He was wrong. He threw it again barely trying and what many others would consider as purposefully throwing badly. This worked somewhat; it wasn't a swish. Instead it bounced on the backboard before landing in the hoop. Lincoln couldn't believe his eyes, was this really him shooting the hoops? He looked towards Lynn who was equally dumbfounded.

"Well done Loud, now we're going to move you to the 3-point line." The coach blew his whistle once again as Lincoln backed up to the line.

He thought to himself that there was no way he could land a swish at the three point line. He did the same thing that he did at the free throw line; dribble, jump, and shoot. Lo and behold it was yet another swish that elicited a number of people murmuring things like "wow" and "whoa". Lincoln was now getting weirded out as the coach handed him the ball again and blew the whistle. He threw it again with another swish. The whistle blown and the ball thrown to him again, he shot another swish. Lynn was dumbstruck at her brother's raw talent; even she didn't have the same level of talent that he had. She felt a bit intimidated and frankly a bit annoyed by how well he was doing for having nearly no practice or experience at all. The tryouts continued, with Lincoln scoring the highest of the tryouts. It was obvious that he was going to be picked for the team, even if he didn't want to be picked.

As expected, Lincoln was set to be a first stringer for the season which not what he wanted. Now that he was part of the team, he was going to spending a lot of time practicing and going to games, instead of reading comics and relaxing like he wanted to do. In his mind he felt like he was still second hat to Lynn, but when he looked her way all she gave was a thumbs up and a nervous smile. He wondered if he had done something to upset her.


Back at the house...


By the time the Lincoln and Lynn arrived at the house Lynn had a slightly look on her face. She should be happy at the fact that her brother had amazing potential, but something was still bothering her. Her mood became even worse when Lincoln said,

"Boy I'm glad that's over with. I'm gonna' go take a shower and read some comics."

How could he be so nonchalant about what had just happened? How amazing he was? Lynn could feel herself turning green as Lincoln walked to the bathroom to take a shower. Hoping to burn off some stress, she went into her room to beat up the dummy she had set up for her fighting techniques. Luan was walking by the room and noticed how hard she was going at the dummy.

"Oh hey Lynn, how was the basketball tryouts?"

"Peachy."

"Did Lincoln do well?"

"Oh yeah he did amazingly, he swished all three of his 3-pointers!" Lynn couldn't help but have a surly tone to her voice.

"Soooo is that why you're beating up your dummy?"

"Maybe."

"Well then I guess you could say that BEAT you at your own game ha-ha!"

"Luaannn..." Said Lynn in a growling tone as she turned to her and raised a fist.

"Oh uh, would you look that the time! I gotta' go draw up my next prank bye!" Luan zipped out of the hallway and dashed into her room in fear of getting clobbered.

Lynn turned back to the dummy and began to punch it again, muttering to herself. She was angry at the fact that Lincoln, who was not trying at all, managed to perform so greatly. And on top of it all, he treated it like it was no big deal! The more she dwelt on the events of the day, the angrier she got. In the back of her mind though, she knew that she had brought it upon herself somewhat. She was the one that pushed Lincoln into trying out, but she never expected something like this would happen though.

Meanwhile Lincoln had finished his shower and went to his room, finally free to do what he wanted. He contemplated putting on all of his clothes, but since he didn't plan to go anywhere, his felt that his underwear would suffice. He hopped onto his bed, picked up Muscle Fish, and gave a content sigh as he flipped through the pages. Now this is what he liked! No running around, no sweating; it was just him, his underwear, and his comic books. As her reflected on the day's events he wondered why Lynn seemed so agitated. Was it something he did? Was it his performance? Even he could tell that he had done well for his first tryout, but he felt like that he was nowhere near Lynn's skill; she was in a league of her own. Either way, this wasn't something that he was looking forward to.


Sometime later...


Lincoln was at his first game. He had been forced to practice every day after school since he joined; combining that with his daily chores and homework, he didn't have much time to do the things he wanted. Still, he breezed through all of the practice sessions; easily becoming the cream of the crop. The coach had mentioned to him that he had an amazing career ahead of him if he chose to pursue basketball. Lincoln didn't want that though; even after all that had happened he still wasn't interested in playing. The only reason why he was doing this was because he made a promise to Lynn, nothing more than that. He half-assed his way to get here and apparently it was still great. After he put on his jersey he stepped out of the locker room and onto the court, he watched the crowds and spotted his family. Lori was switching between watching the court and her phone, Both Leni and Luna cheered for Lincoln as soon as they spotted him, Luan waved to him happily, Lucy looked around to make sure no one was watching her before giving a warm smile and wave, the twins seemed to be arguing with each other, and Lisa was working on some sort of formula. The one though that he had noticed first though was Lynn, who wore a look that said 'I don't really want to be here' but then changed to what felt like a forced smile as she locked eyes with Lincoln. After seeing this, Lincoln felt a little sad. He felt like ever since the tryout, Lynn had grown to resent him; something that he never wanted from any of his sisters. He wished he could just quit and things could go back to normal.

He took his position and waiting for the whistle to blow. After it blew his team had won the tip-off and passed the ball to him. As he took the ball, he began to work his magic. He blew past the other team, easily keeping the ball away from those who were trying to steal it, and shot a three pointer. It was the same thing every time; he barely tried and still managed to do well. In fact, he played TOO well in the eyes of Lynn. Every time he stole the ball or scored a swish, she grew more and more agitated. How could he be so much better than her!? Her, who had been playing the sport since she could hold a basketball, was being outmatched by someone who had previously played one game, if that. Why did he have to get that talent, especially if he didn't want to play sports in the first place!?

"Hey Lynn are you okay?" Said Luna, curious as to why she was so irritated.

"I'm fine! I just want to watch the game!"

"Yeesh, okay. Sorry."

The match continued in the same fashion as it started; complete domination from Lincoln's team with him in the front. He scored the final point as the buzzer rang and signaled the end of the game. Lincoln wiped the sweat from his brow, thankful that the game was over. He shook the hands of the opposing team and then made his way back to the locker room. He approached his locker, using a towel to wipe the sweat away. A teammate then came up to him, exclaiming,

"That was totally awesome dude! You scored almost half the points in the game!"

Lincoln simply retorted, "Nah I'm nothing special, my sister Lynn though, now SHE'S awesome. She'd completely destroy me in a one on one match."

Lincoln firmly believed this. While he admitted that he was decently good at what he did, he still felt sub-par compared to Lynn. He packed up his things, waved goodbye to his teammates, and went home.

As they all piled out of the car, the sisters were congratulating him on a job well done; that is, except for Lynn. By the time the game was over, she looked like Christmas; her white skin was red with anger and green with envy. Worried, Lincoln caught up with her and was about to ask her what had been bothering her.

"Lynn I-"

'What?! You want me to say congrats?? Well congratulations! You're awesome!!" Said Lynn angrily.

"Well I don't think I'm that awesome, I think you're a lot better than I a-"

"No I'm not!! You wanna' know why I'm mad huh?? Why did you get to be amazing at basketball when you don't even like it!? Why did you get it and not me!? Huh?? I'm the one who practices playing it every day! I'm the one who watches the games! I'm the one follows the teams! And then you want to say that I'm better than you!? That's why I'm mad! You don't even want to admit your own skills! You just wanna sit and read your stupid comic books all day!"

"Lynn I'm sorry, I-"

"No, save it Lincoln. I don't want to hear you say anything else. Just; just go read your comic books and leave me alone."

Lynn walked into her room and slammed her door shut, leaving Lincoln out in the hallway with a sad look on his face. He didn't want this happen, but it did. What should he do? How was he going to fix this? He took a shower and went to his room, looking distressed. He wanted to read his comic books, but just couldn't bring himself to. He had to figure out a way to fix this situation. He laid on his bed, contemplating his next course of action, the idea finally coming to mind. Meanwhile Lynn was starting to calm down; she finally let out those feelings that were being bottled up. Still, she felt a bit bad about blowing up at Lincoln like that, technically it wasn't his fault. She couldn't help but feel like it was unfair that someone who didn't care about sports at all was so talented.


The next week...


Lynn was walking through the house when she spotted Lincoln walking through the hallway and entering his room. Confused as to why he wasn't at basketball practice she followed him. When she came up to his room and barged in, she found Lincoln sprawled out on his bed in his underwear, reading Muscle Fish.

"Why aren't you at practice?"

Lincoln looked up and saw Lynn which caused him to let out a rather girlish scream and cover his body with clothes.

"Lynn! How many times to I have to tell you to knock before coming into my room!?"

"I dunno. So why are you home?"

"I'll tell you after I change so just leave and let me get dressed!"

"Okay fine. I'll wait." She exited the room, closing the door and waited for Lincoln to dress himself. Her patience though was in short supply so she opened the door again to see if he was done, but she saw Lincoln with his shirt on and in the middle of pulling up his jeans.

"Lynn!!"

"Okay okay, jeez. It's not my fault you take so long to get dressed..." She closed the door again and waited a little bit longer this time. Lincoln then opened the door, ready to answer her question.

"Okay, I'll tell you why-"

Lynn was ready to hear the answer, but she had a more pressing question that had suddenly come to mind.

"Why don't you want me to see you in your underwear? It's not like I haven't seen it before, plus you've seen me in mine, so what's the big deal?"

"Just... Just because that's why!" Lincoln's cheeks were slightly tinged red when he said this.

"Whatever, so why aren't you at practice?"

"Oh I quit."

"WHAT?!"

Now she was mad; fortunately Lincoln had already taken this into account.

"Well if I kept on playing you'd keep being mad at me right?"

"Well yeah I guess... But I'm mad at you now!"

"Yeah that's true, but hopefully what I tell you will stop you from being mad."

Lincoln scratched the back of his head, ready to say what he had thought about last night.

"Lynn I'm sorry. Even if you think I'm better than you or whatever, I don't think that. I'm doing well without having to work at it, but you are amazing Lynn! And you got to be amazing by working at it, you spent so much time practicing and going to games that you earned the right to be that good; I didn't. I just came in and played without putting anything into it. I think someone who makes the effort is better than the one who doesn't, even if the person who doesn't is naturally better."

Lynn's anger slowly faded away by Lincoln's praise. When he praised her before it felt so half-hearted and it seemed like he was trying to downplay himself to make her feel better; but this was different. She now understood why Lincoln was so adamant on the idea that she was better than him.

"I'm sorry Lincoln... When I saw how good you were, it made me feel like I was bad. I felt like even if I put in as much work as I could, you'd always be better. So I got jealous and yelled at you. I pushed you into this and got mad when it worked too well. I'm sorry..."

"It's okay; I just hope things can go back to normal. Hug?" said Lincoln as he motioned for a hug.

"Hug."

The two hugged it out and the jealousy that had been ever present faded. So what if Lincoln might be better naturally, there were still tons of sports that she was better at anyways!

"How 'bout a game of basketball in the backyard?" Said Lynn.

"Are you sure?" Said Lincoln in a sly tone. "I might beat you with my mad hoop skills!"

"Don't ever say that again Lincoln."

"Got it."

As the two walked down the stairs Lynn couldn't help but ask again,

"So really, why don't you want me to see you in your underwear anymore?"

"Let's talk about that another time shall we?"