Clyde was just enjoying some alone time at his home reading some comics, his parents left home to buy ingredients for dinner, he had just finished watching the soccer game at the Royal Woods Middle School, and unfortunately their school lost, he remember seeing Lynn walking away sad.

"I should probably give them a call later to send my condolences." Clyde said.

Suddenly Clyde heard the phone ring, since his parents weren't home he had to go and answer it himself.

When he got to the phone he heard a familiar voice…

"Hey Clyde, its Lori." Lori said through the phone.

Clyde was surprised by Lori's sudden call, had this been before Lincoln's disappearance, Clyde would have immediately gotten tongue-tied and probably fainted, one of his dads would continue the talk on the phone and the other one would be trying to help him get back on his feet.

But it seemed Clyde wasn't too excited about talking to Lori, Lincoln has long since forgiven Lori, and Clyde did the same, but it seemed that what Lori and the rest of his sisters did to his best friend left a stain that wouldn't be removed with ease.

"H-Hi Lori!" Clyde said. "What's up?"

"After we got home Lincoln got into an argument with Lynn…" Lori started.

"D-Don't tell me-" Clyde started talking getting scared at what Lori was implying.

"No! No! He didn't run away!" Lori answered before he could finish, as if she could sense/hear the fear in his voice. "Lynn was very sad about losing the soccer game and she was apparently considering giving up sports for good, Lincoln didn't take kindly to that, I literally don't remember that last time I saw Lincoln so angry."

"Where's Lincoln right now?" Clyde asked.

"He locked himself in his room after he screamed at Lynn, we decided to give him so space to clear his head." Lori told him. "I am calling you to ask a favor."

"What is it?" Clyde asked.

"Do you think Lincoln could spend the night at your house tomorrow?" Lori asked."I think Lincoln might need some time away from the rest of us."

"I-I guess, I need to talk to my parents about it, but considering they seem to like Lincoln as much as I do I think it's safe to say they will allow it." Clyde answer.

"Thank you Clyde." Lori said.

"No problem." Clyde said before hanging up.

After the phone call ended Clyde started thinking back to the day Lincoln vanished and the following 3 months he wasn't around…

Lincoln was the first friend Clyde ever had in his life, he was an only child and he didn't make many friends at his school, mostly because he was nerdy and liked stuff like comics and what not, he also couldn't help but feel like him having two dads may have made him look weird in the eyes of other children.

But then he met Lincoln, Lincoln was the only person who didn't seem to mind his nerdy habits and him having two dads, as such he liked to spend as much time with Lincoln in and out of school, his parents seemed to like him a lot too, they were glad to see that Clyde finally had a good friend.

Lincoln definitely got most of his hobbies from Clyde, Clyde really liked to share his comics with Lincoln which in turn caused Lincoln to start reading comics and doing other things, Lincoln seemed to like to cosplay as characters he liked which was something that he shared with Clyde, Clyde was also the only person who could tolerate the Loud siblings, Lincoln siblings were very wild and frenetic when they were all together which made for a very chaotic life, but for someone like Clyde who didn't have a lot of friends but was also a single child it was a nice change of pace.

Eventually both Clyde and Lincoln started to make other friends but their bound remained as strong as ever, to the point he was an honorary member of the Loud Family and Lincoln's "Brother In Law".

Which is why the day he heard from the Loud siblings he vanished he was just as shocked if not more shocked than the Loud siblings, when he and his parents were told Lincoln vanished Clyde actually had a panic attack and he started to hyperventilate, his parents tried to give him a paper back to help him breed but that did little to help, so they decided to take him to a hospital soon afterwards.

Lincoln disappearing was like a part of Clyde disappeared, Lincoln was an important part of Clyde's life and he was more depressed than he ever was before in his life, even when he was lonely from the having no friends, and that really worried Clyde's parents, he often when to therapy sessions with Doctor Lopez, more often than ever before.

But it was all in the past, Clyde knew that, he was lucky to have Lincoln back and he was more than willing to keep the Loud siblings lie if it meant he wouldn't slip back into that dark place, he suddenly heard a car park close to his house, and he realized from the sound that it was his parents, he smile and moved to the front door to greet his parents and to make plans for tomorrow.

It was a few hours after Lori made the call to Clyde's home, and the rain didn't ease up, it was still raining as hard as it was during Lynn's soccer game.

Lincoln was now in his room doing a lot of thinking, his sisters Luna and Lori came to his room a few moments ago to explain a few things to him.

"Lincoln?" Luna called out for her little brother from outside of his room.

"Go away!" Lincoln yelled, but Luna could hear by the sound of his voice that he was more scared than he was angry.

"Lincoln, I promise I am not mad at you for screaming at Lynn, I want to talk to you about something important." Luna insisted.

"Y-You're not mad?" Lincoln asked from behind the door.

"No, I'm not." Luna said. "Now can you please let me in?"

Lincoln didn't say anything but she heard him getting the door open and he let her in, she took a seat on his bed and patted the empty space of the bed by her side, Lincoln still seemed a bit on edge but he did as his sister gestured and took a seat next to her, there was a brief moment of awkward silence before Luna spoke up.

"Lynn talked to me before the game about how you were gaining muscle." Luna started."She also said how your school still hasn't taught you about it."

"Y-Yeah apparently they haven't…" Lincoln responded."All Lynn told me was that it was the time were your body starts to change to that of an adult, and about how you can make some of the best muscle gains of your life."

"Well there's a lot more to it than that, there's a lot of symptoms and your body and behavior will start doing strange things." Luna continued explaining."But it's completely natural so don't worry about it."

The explanation continued from there, Luna explained a lot of things, about mood swings, muscle gains, body hair, zits and acne, a lot of sweating and a lot of other things, things that Lincoln was honestly to embarrassed to think about.

She mentioned girls also had symptoms of puberty, and needless to say Lincoln was more embarrassed and horrified that the more embarrassing symptoms boys show during puberty.

She also went on to explain how to deal with all those changes, she and a few of her other sisters went to the supermarket to buy deodorant, body wash and a lot of other things a growing boy might need.

Lincoln was now taking it all in, honestly a lot of the things that have been happening to him recently COULD be explained as symptoms of puberty, but there was still the whole issue with the glowing tattoo on his hand, he didn't think that was another sign of puberty, otherwise his sisters and a few of his friends would have glowing tattoos as well.

Lincoln was considering telling his sisters about his tattoo starting to glow, but he couldn't figure out how to make his hand glow again, and if he couldn't do that there was no way his sisters would believe him, so he decided to keep it a secret until a better time.

Not much happened after that, the dinner was very awkward since no one would say a word, and Lynn wasn't even having food with the rest of the family, Lucy had to bring a plate of food to their room since she refused to have dinner with the rest of the family, probably because she couldn't face Lincoln right now.

The next day Lincoln went to school, once again not much was said on the way to school, Lincoln went to look for Clyde and his sister who also went to his school.

"Hey Lincoln!" Lincoln heard a voice he recognized very well calling out his name.

Lincoln turned around expecting Clyde, and he did see Clyde, but he was now wearing different clothing, instead of wearing his yellow and blue striped shirt with a white collar he was wearing a blue long sleeved hoodie with a single yellow stripe and and the hoodie itself was yellow as well, he was wearing the same black pants he always wears but instead of wearing black tennis shoes he was wearing a pair of white sneakers that were blue like his hoodie with some white in the laces, the toe cap and the welt.

"H-Hey Clyde, you are looking fresh today, what's the occasion?" Lincoln asked.

"Oh, since you got yourself a new look I figured I should do the same so I don't feel left out." Clyde explained.

"Well, you definitely look cool, congrats." Lincoln said fist bumping his pal.

After classes Lincoln and Clyde joined their other friends for lunch.

"I gotta say Clyde, you look great like that." Zach complimented.

"Yeah, now Lincoln, you, me and Zach all have stripes on our clothes." Liam said pointing to their clothes.

"Yeah, we just need to convince Rusty to wear a shirt with stripes and we will be The Striped Shirts Club." Clyde half joked.

"If we change the name to The Striped Shirts Gang than I am fine with it." Rusty answered.

The students shared a friendly laugh but it got interrupted when Clyde heard Lincoln let out a huff.

"Lincoln, are you okay?" Clyde asked.

"Yeah, sorry, I was just trying to blow the hair away from my eyes, my hair is a bit longer than I like, I really need to get it cut this week." Lincoln explained.

"Oh! My parents would gladly cut your hair for you, come with us after school is over and they give you a haircut for free!" Clyde suggested.

"If they don't mind then sure, I just need to give Lori a phone to tell her I am getting a ride from your parents." Lincoln said.

"That won't be necessary, Lori called me yesterday to ask me if you could spend the night at my house." Clyde explained.

"Really? How come I wasn't told about this?" Lincoln asked.

"Maybe your sisters are still a little worried about you snapping at Lynn…" Clyde suggested.

"She told you that too huh?" Lincoln said lowering his head."I need to apologize to Lynn soon…"

Suddenly the bell rang and The Striped Shirts Gang returned to class, the day ways very quiet, not much happened.

After school ended Lincoln followed Clyde back to his house, once they entered they were greeted by Harold McBride who was sitting on his couch watching TV.

"Hello Lincoln, it's good to see you." Harold said once he noticed Lincoln and Clyde had arrived home, standing up to greet them.

"Hello ." Lincoln said, he then started looking around the house before turning back to Harold. "Where's the other ?"

"Oh, Howard just went over to your house to fetch some of the belongings you might need for the sleepover." Harold explained."You know things like a sleepbag, tooth brush, pajamas,ect."

"I see." Lincoln said before looking back to Clyde."Oh! . do you think you could cut my hair?"

"What's wrong with your haircut right now?" Harold asked confused.

"The bangs are getting a bit annoying, I am always huffing and blowing on my bangs to get them out of the way of my eyes." Lincoln explained."How my sister Lucy can live with her hair always like that is beyond me."

"I see, that makes sense." Harold said nodding in response."Well Lincoln I would be more than happy to give you a haircut."

After some time passed Harold got a chair for Lincoln to sit on and he tied a sheet/blanket around his neck to keep the cut hair from getting all over his clothes, once Lincoln was comfortable Harold turned to Lincoln.

"So Lincoln, is there a specific haircut you want?" He asked."I have a few magazines of men hairstyles you could look at and pick one you like, or perhaps you want me to cut your hair to how it looked before you ran awa- before you vanished!?"

Lincoln was a weirded out by Harold's stuttering, he turned to Clyde for a second, who was reading a comic book on the living room couch, when Harold stuttered Clyde turned to Lincoln and him with a shocked expression before burying his face back in the pages of the comic he was reading.

Lincoln was suspicious of this but he decided not to press forward."I actually would like something a little different, I would just like you to cut the excess hair, but no need to cut it THAT short like how my hair use to look like."

"I see, I think I see what you mean." Harold said before touching a button on a box next to him, the box sprang open and inside it were several sets of razors, scissors, a trimmer with several atachable heads and a lot of other things you would find at a professional hair salon.

And with that, Harold started cutting Lincoln's hair.

There was so much suspense to it, there wasn't a mirror he could look at while Harold cut his hair, so he could see the progress, the only other time he was in this situation was when Myrtle (AKA Gran-Gran) placed a bowl on his head and gave him the bowl cut, which looked terrible on him and he was too embarrassed to show his face in public until his hair grew back.

But Lincoln had faith in Harold, he knew he wouldn't make him look weird, but that didn't make the hair cutting any less suspenseful.

"It's done." Harold said after what seemed like an eternity, he removed the blanket and Lincoln stood up from the chair before Harold continued talking."I'm going to go fetch you a mirror so you can see what it looks like."

While Lincoln stood still waiting for Harold to return with the mirror he looked over to Clyde to get his insight, Clyde only gave him two thumbs up and a sincere smile, assuring Lincoln his hair didn't look weird.

Harold returned with a mirror and Lincoln looked into it to see his new hair cut…

Lincoln's hair was no longer big enough to cover his neck , it only covered his head, it wasn't as short as his hair was before he went missing but it wasn't as long as the overgrown shaggy haircut he had when he returned, his bangs were also much smaller and no longer got in the way of his vision, instead of dropping down they were sticking forward his hair looked spikier than his pater buzz cut and it also didn't have his tuft of white hair sticking out anymore, something he felt he was going to miss but he would get use to it.

But over all Lincoln was very happy with the final result.

"Do you like it?" Both Clyde and Harold asked at the same time.

"Yes, I really like it, heck, I might stick with this haircut for a while!" Lincoln said with a smile after looking away from the mirror, and Clyde and his dad cheered.

But they didn't cheer for long, they heard the door front door of the house open and when they turned they saw Howard, who was carrying a rolled up sleeping bag under his arm, and carrying a bag that they assumed contained more of Lincoln's belongings in his hand.

"Wow Lincoln, you look gorgeous with that new haircut!" Howard said."If you were 15 years older I would ask you out on a date."

That compliment made Lincoln feel a little awkward but he just laughed it off.

After that was done the parents decided to take Lincoln out to the park to have some fun with Clyde, on the way back home they stopped by a Burping Burgers to grab a meal, they were a little taken aback by how much and how fast Lincoln was eating.

"Whoa Lincoln! Slow down, we don't want you to choke on your food." Harold said with concern.

"Oh was I eating to fast?" Lincoln asked."I didn't notice, I have been told him eating a lot more than usual, my sisters Lynn and Luna explained to me about how I've been having symptoms that are common in puberty."

"So you snapping at your sister was you having puberty mood swings?" Harold asked.

"I guess." Lincoln theorized."I also gain a bit of muscle."

After saying that Lincoln lifted his shirt to show them his Six-Pack, causing Clyde's parents to cover their mouths with their hands and Clyde himself seemed a bit jealous of Lincoln's muscles.

"Oh my…" Howard said."You will definitely turn into a very good looking young man if you keep eating your carbs and vitamins and working out."

Once again Lincoln felt a bit awkward and embarrassed with the compliment but he once again just laughed it off.

This however also caused Howard and Harold to realize that if Lincoln is already reaching puberty, Clyde will most likely also begin to enter puberty very soon.

"O-Our little boy is growing up!" Howard whispered to the his husband, trying his best to keep his tears inside him.

"S-stay strong!" Harold said, hugging his husband, and much like him he too was trying his hardest not to cry."We will get through this together!"

They couldn't hold their tears any longer, they started crying out loud, Lincoln and Clyde stopped eating their food to look at them with confusion since they didn't hear them so they didn't know what they were crying about.´

After the kids were done eating and the parents were done making a scene in public they paid for the food and drove back home.

Not much happened back in Clyde's home, they were just playing video games, reading comics, chatting,ect.

They made some popcorn and got some drinks and bought some Pizza, they were all sitting on the couch watching TV, suddenly they heard a yawn and Clyde's parents saw Clyde was getting tired.

"Looks like it's time for the two of you to go to bed." Howard said."We can record this movie so we can finish it tomorrow morning if you still want to continue watching it."

Clyde and Lincoln decided to comply, they made their way to the bathroom to brush their teeth, Clyde went first and Lincoln went after him, by the time Lincoln was done and made his way back to Clyde's room he saw he was already dressed in his pajamas, Clyde decided to step out for a moment to let Lincoln get dressed.

"You can come in now!" Clyde heard Lincoln shout from inside his room, Clyde walked in and saw the lights were already turned off and his sleeping bag was already sprawled on the floor and Lincoln was already inside it, Clyde smiled and walked over to his bed.

"Good night Lincoln." Clyde said.

"Good night Clyde." Lincoln replied.

Clyde has been trying to fall asleep for about 15 minutes, he was constantly changing positions to get into a comfortable sleeping position, but no matter how much he did he could never fall asleep, having trouble sleeping isn't anything new for him, but this time around he felt like he knew why he could sleep.

He had been meaning to talk to Lincoln about some stuff, and Lincoln was now sleeping in the same room as him, he realized he wouldn't be able to sleep until he told Lincoln what was on his mind.

"Lincoln, are you awake?" He asked sitting up in his bed, Lincoln opened his eyes when he heard Clyde's voice and looked his way to see him sitting on his bed.

"Yeah Clyde, I'm awake." Lincoln answered, sitting up too so that he could look better at Clyde."Is something wrong."

"I can't sleep, can you come closer?" Clyde asked much to Lincoln's confusion."There's something important I need to tell you, I won't be able to rest easy until I do."

Lincoln stood there for a moment but he nodded and walked over to Clyde, climbed on his bed and looked at him, waiting for him to start talking.

"Lincoln, you are my best friend, you are the first friend I made and the first person who didn't seem to mind my nerdy habits or me having two dads." Clyde started talking.

"Not to be rude, but where are you going with this?" Lincoln asked.

"I was getting there, you are like the brother I always wanted but never had." Clyde said."The day that you went missing i-it was like a part of me vanished."

Clyde went on to explain how he had a panic attack the day Lincoln vanished and had to be taken to a hospital, he had to go visit Lopez more often than usual and he would spend his free time in his room just staring at the ceiling which worried his parents and his other friends.

Lincoln was shock by how much being gone affected Clyde, it made him feel guilty especially when he saw Clyde starting to cry, Lincoln bent forward and embraced Clyde into a hug, a hug that he quickly returned.

"I'm so sorry Clyde, I would feel the same if it happened to you." Lincoln said, rubbing Clyde's back.

Clyde did feel better but he didn't seem to completely buy Lincoln's claim, since his friendship with him wasn't enough to keep Lincoln from leaving Royal Woods.

"Thank you Lincoln, it makes me happy to know that." Clyde said smiling.

"Something has been bothering me too." Lincoln said getting Clyde's attention."My sisters have been acting weird, they give me special treatments all the time, do my chores for me and even save the "Save spot" on Vanzilla for me, at first I assumed it was because they missed me and were being nice because of that, but it's been a while and the still treat me that way, do you have any clue what that's about?"

Clyde seemed to tense up after that question, something Lincoln took notice but didn't comment on.

"I-I haven't g-got a clue, sorry Lincoln, can't help ya there." Clyde lied, he couldn't tell Lincoln and risk him regaining his memories are running away.

Lincoln didn't buy this for a second, he could tell Clyde was lying to him, his sister were definitely keeping something from him, and apparently Clyde was in on it.

Lincoln was considering bringing up the glowing tattoo to Clyde, but he still couldn't figure out how to make it glow, he trusted Clyde with all his secrets but until he could figure out how to trigger the glowing he would keep it to himself, and with that they both went back too sleep.

Meanwhile Harold was getting ready to go to sleep himself when he noticed Howard walking upstairs with two glasses of milk in a small tray he was carrying in his hand.

"What are you doing Howie?" He asked his husband.

"Oh, you know how Clyde has been having trouble falling asleep, so I decided to bring him a glass of milk to help him fall asleep, I decided to bring another one for Lincoln so he doesn't feel left out." He explained.

"That's very thoughtful of you." He told his husband with a smile, Harold was sitting in his bed reading a book waiting for his husband to join him, but he was suddenly surprised when he heard fast footsteps coming from upstairs, down the stairs and into the door of his room, Howard opened and he looked at his husband.

"Hare-Bear! You need to come and see this!" Howard insisted.

Harold followed his husband upstairs and he noticed he left the tray with the glasses of milk on the floor by the side of Clyde's bedroom door, Howard directed his husband to peek into Clyde's room from the door that was left half open.

When he did he looked and the ground and saw that Lincoln's sleeping bag was empty, he looked over to Clyde's bed and was surprised by the image he was met with…

Lincoln and Clyde were cuddling close to each other, holding each other in their arms while they were sleeping peacefully.

Harold thought it was so cute his husband Howard and to cover his mouth with his hand so that he wouldn't let out a loud squeal from the adorableness and potentially wake up both of the boys sleeping.

After Howard was sure his husband had calmed down a bit he took of his hand from his mouth giving him room to talk.

"That is literally the cutest thing I have ever seen!" Harold told his husband.

"I know, I had to keep myself from yelling from the adorableness." Howard said, before he looked over to the floor next to him and saw the tray with the glasses of milk and picked them up.

"Let's not wake them up, I wouldn't want to ruin this." Howard said before hold the tray with the milk glasses in front of Harold."Since they won't be drinking these do you want to have one and I'll have the other?"

"Sure." Harold said to his husband before taking one of the glasses from the tray.

They both moved away from the door quietly to not wake up Lincoln and Clyde and went back to bed after finishing the glasses and leaving the tray in the kitchen.

Meanwhile Clyde and Lincoln were sleeping peacefully, Clyde sleeping much more peacefully now than he had in a long time, happy to have his best friend back.