Arcoln

Arcoln is the het ship between Abe Lincoln and Joan of Arc from the Clone High fandom.

Season 1
ESCAPE TO BEER MOUNTAIN: A ROPE OF SAND

Joan walks to Clone High on the first day of the new school year with Abe and Gandhi. She mentions that Abe has grown much taller since she last saw him and he agrees. In the school, Joan tries dropping the hint that she wants to date more this school year, and Abe agrees to tell her that he wants to date Cleopatra for her looks and the joke of her "commitment to community service." Joan asks why he wants to date someone new instead of an "old friend," someone that she claims he takes for granted. However, Abe's sights are set on Cleo and he ignores Joan's not-so-subtle hints. Cleo comes up to Abe to say hello and he freezes up in awe. He tries to lean against the glass trophy case behind him and the pressure he puts on it shatters it and cuts his arm. Joan tries to tell him that he is bleeding but he ignores her in favor of paying attention to Cleo. Joan sighs and walks off, telling Abe that she'll wait for him by the gauze for his arm. Later, in Mr. Sheepman's class, Joan recalls Abe's mention that he admired Cleo's commitment to community service and makes an announcement to the class that she is opening and maintaining a teen mental health crisis hotline and wants to find volunteers. Everyone disappears from the class as soon as she asks.

At the Grassy Knoll, Abe sits with Joan and Gandhi at a booth and says that he needs to find a way to get into JFK's party after he was uninvited by JFK because of his attraction to Cleo. Abe claims that a girl is interested in him and he shouldn't ignore it, implying that girl is Cleo. Joan, however, tries to then say that she wants Abe, but he thinks that she was in the middle of a sentence and she stutters and gives up. He dismisses it and continues to say that he is going to walk over to JFK and Cleo and ask JFK to be reinvited to the party if he brings beer. JFK agrees and leaves with Cleo.

At gym class, Joan tells Abe that she has the night off from the hotline and asks if he wants to carpool with her to JFK's party, under the tentative guise that the carpool is just to save gas. The gym teacher calls Joan out for talking and sends her to the principal's office. At the party later that night, Joan comes out to talk to Abe on the balcony of the house, saying that he achieved his goal in bringing the beer and having everyone humiliate themselves while drunk. Abe reveals to her that he was only able to get non-alcoholic beer because he couldn't lie to the clerk, and that he's convinced everyone will be able to tell it's fake beer. However, seeing that people still are acting like it's real, Joan tells him that he'll be fine. Abe then asks if Joan has ever felt like she liked someone so much she was afraid to say something stupid, and she blurts out something stupid to him as a subtle affirmative response to his question.

Joan sits by herself on a swing away from the party, depressed. Butlertron rolls up to her and asks if she wants to talk about what's making her so sad. She tells him that he wouldn't understand, but he tells her that he thinks she should tell Abe how she feels about him. She asks what the point would be of such a gesture, and Butlertron tells her that perhaps Abe is just worried about ruining their friendship. She says that Abe may just be waiting for her to make the first move and she perks up. She hugs Butlertron and thanks him, telling him that she loves him. He tells her not to mention it. As she walks back, she sees that Cleo and Abe are kissing, and she watches in shock and horror.

Cleo, conflicted on choosing between Abe and JFK to date, calls Joan's teen crisis hotline for advice. Joan calls Abe a sensitive and caring person and insists that Cleo go after JFK when she finds that she is advising Cleo. However, when she sees Abe upset about Cleo, Joan buckles and tells Cleo to go for Abe instead before hanging up. Gandhi tells Joan that she just made a huge mistake telling Cleo that, and in response Joan takes his belt off of his pants and lets his pants fall down.

Joan watches from a cop car as she's arrested for underage drinking as Cleo almost leads Abe away from the party. However, Abe is focused on Joan and Gandhi getting arrested and pulls away from Cleo to tell the police officer to let the two go free. He explains that there was no underage drinking because he brought non-alcoholic beer to the party.

EPISODE TWO: ELECTION BLU-GALOO

Cleo gets emotional after announcing that she will not run for re-election for student body president for the next school year, and walks off dramatically during an event she conducted under the title. Abe tells Joan that he should go console her, but Joan tries to go after him to tell him that Cleo is just acting like that for attention like Abe's. In her frustration, she says that she's so mad at him she could kiss him. He turns back around and asks what she just said. She stumbles on her words and says that she really said she was so mad she could piss glue, trying to convince Abe that it's a common expression that he's just never heard of. Abe then leaves to find Cleo and Gandhi tells Joan that she's stupid for constantly backpedaling on her accidental confessions instead of doubling down and telling Abe how she feels.

At the Grassy Knoll, Joan and Abe sit together at a booth and they discuss the idea of who in the school will be the next class president after Cleo steps down. Abe says that he's the clone of Abraham Lincoln, so he can't run because he feels he's an inadequate leader. Joan proposes that he should run, and that she'll help by running his campaign and helping him focus on the big issues facing the school. He then says that him running for president could get Cleo to like him, and Joan sighs. She knocks their glasses off the table angrily and Abe mistakes her deliberate action as her being clumsy.

JFK and Abe are running against each other for the position of student body president. JFK's speech is first, and he gets a very positive reception from the crowd. Abe is nervously waiting in the wings of the stage with Gandhi and Joan, and Joan assures him that there's nothing to worry about because JFK's speech is full of empty promises. JFK finishes his speech and Abe walks on, with Joan wishing him luck. After he bombs his speech and is shown up by a new school corporate sponsor, Abe and Joan are at Abe's house as he bangs his head on the wall of his room in frustration. Joan assures him that his speech wasn't bad, when Gandhi comes in and tells him that his speech was, in fact, terrible. However, he says that Abe could turn his bad luck around by teaming up with the school's sponsor, X-stream Blu, and having them sponsor his campaign. Abe is about to sign the contract when Joan gets between him and the contract and reminds him that the two of them were supposed to run to cover the really important issues of the school that seem mundane. He ultimately signs the contract against Joan's ideas. He makes a crazy commercial with the X-stream Blu team to help his chances of being elected, and shows it to Joan. She's in shock as he asks if it's too much. She is about to answer as Gandhi bursts in to tell Abe that he's leading in the polls. Cleo then comes in to say that her relationship with JFK is failing and she needs Abe to comfort her because he's leading the polls. Joan is frustrated and watches from afar. She says to herself that all the pictures she has of Abe above her bed will be coming down that night, except for one where he is shirtless.

Angry that Abe is now getting closer to Cleo because he's leading the polls, Joan goes to JFK's house to ask to manage his campaign so he'll start winning over Abe again, resulting in Cleo going back to JFK. JFK agrees and the two make a commercial slandering Abe's name, using photos and videos of Abe that only Cleo had access to. Abe sees that Joan helped JFK with the ad and feels betrayed by her. When Cleo leaves him for JFK when JFK starts leading in the polls again, Abe goes to one of the school docks to think. Joan is sitting on the other dock doing the same thing. Abe is angry with Joan for teaming up with JFK to slander his name so that the former would beat him in the polls. Joan tells Abe that she was only trying to help by protecting him from Cleo, saying that Abe has no idea what he's getting into by chasing after Cleo. He gets up angrily to leave and tells her that he'll win back the vote by doing an extremely dangerous stunt with the help of X-stream Blu at the next debate with JFK.

Abe is about to do his dangerous stunt when Gandhi falls extremely ill from drinking exclusively X-stream Blu, which is made only of pancake batter and blue house paint. Seeing the error of continuing to be sponsored by a terrible corporation, Abe tells the crowd at the debate that he doesn't deserve their votes for supporting the company and trying to sell the student body on a dangerous beverage. The crowd boos him off of the stage and the X-stream Blu spokespeople take back all the money they gave the school for their sponsorship. Joan takes the mic and defends Abe, telling the angry crowd that Abe is still a good person and him standing up for himself even when he's wrong is what would make him a great student president. The crowd cheers in agreement and Cleo comes up to the stage to hold Abe for once again being the crowd favorite. According to Butlertron's applause-o-meter, Abe is then the new class president. Joan tells him that he'll be a great leader, and Abe thanks her. However, a dog then walks onto the stage and gets more applause than Abe, making the dog the new president instead.

A.D.D.: THE LAST 'D' STANDS FOR DISORDER

Joan sits with Abe and Gandhi at the lunch table as Gandhi fidgets around and makes a joke of putting fries up his nose, calling it an impression. Joan tells him that it's not an impression because he really is just someone with fries up his nose. Gandhi then takes Joan's retainer out of her mouth and puts it in his own to make fun of Joan, and Abe doubles over laughing. Joan is annoyed at it and takes her retainer back, noting that Gandhi bent the metal bracket. She puts it back in her mouth as Cleo plasters a poster over her advertising her Awareness Fair, where she will be holding an open-mouth kissing booth for anyone interested in paying her to kiss them. Her and JFK have an argument over it and the two storm off. Abe goes to follow Cleo to comfort her and Joan watches from afar with Gandhi, sighing in frustration. As she lets a single tear fall from her eyes, she hears a disembodied voice telling her that God loves her. She asks Gandhi if he said anything, but he shakes his head because he had been stuffing his mouth with straws. She interprets the voice as mirroring the voices her original counterpart heard as part of her claim to fame and she is strangely relieved that she can be like the original Joan of Arc.

Days later, Joan is raving and insane as she has fully adopted the idea that she is hearing voices from divine sources. She paces around Abe and rants about how she hasn't slept in 78 hours and how tired she is as Abe watches over her to see Cleo manning the kissing booth by herself, kissing a long line of older men.

FILM FEST: TEARS OF A CLONE

The school unexpectedly wins a cross-country meet for the first time in the school's history and it results in the students rioting in the streets and destroying most of the school. The next day, Mr. Sheepman sits the clones down and asks if there's anything any of the students do to express themselves that isn't destructive to keep the greater student body from rioting again. Gandhi offers that Joan makes films, which she confirms, and then Abe suggests that he help her and create the first annual Clone High film festival, where students will make their own films and show them to inspire creativity. Sheepman agrees and allows for it to take place.

Later at the Grassy Knoll, Joan and Abe sit at a booth together and Abe shows Joan a poster he designed to promote the film festival. She seems only barely enthused by it. She puts her hands over Abe's on the table and tells him that she's happy that this project will mean them spending more time together. While she's talking, however, Cleo walks by and Abe gets distracted when she comes up to talk to him. Abe is captivated by Cleo's premise for her film and when she leaves, Joan starts crying and gets up to leave the booth. Abe dramatically chases after her to find that she moved a few booths over, curled up and upset. He asks her what's going on, and she says that she doesn't know how to say what she's about to say. Abe tells her that she doesn't have to say anything because he already knows what she'll say. He incorrectly assumes that she's upset because she thinks the film festival idea has gone too far, all because it was inspired by her love for making experimental works and now everyone in school is making a film for the festival. He assures her that the night is still all about her and her films, as well as him. He says that the night will showcase her heart, putting his hand on her chest for effect that makes Joan flustered. He asks if there's anything deep in her heart that she feels she needs to express through film, and she says that she does. She is about to say she loves Abe when he puts his finger over her mouth and shushes her softly, telling her that he wants to see it in her film, not hear it from her directly. He holds the sides of her head and they smile at each other.

After a filming montage showing everyone filming their movies, Joan is finished with her film and holds the tape canister. She says that she's glad that she's finally done with the film that contains all of her feelings for Abe. Abe then walks into the editing room and asks what she was saying. She says that she's finished with her film and that it fully shows her truth. Abe says that he's glad for her, and that she's a good friend. Joan is hurt by him calling her a friend. Abe then explains that the past few days had been hard on him while he balanced working on the festival and still trying to win over Cleo, saying that Joan has been a "pal" through it all. She's hurt again, and he then says that him being with Cleo will never ruin their friendship. Abe walks off then and Joan pushes her film canister into the trash can in a rash move. When Abe comes back into the room, he sees her film in the trash and picks it up, exclaiming that he will make Joan express herself by showing the movie presumably against her wishes. He then walks off while sniffing the canister.

The festival is about to start and Abe is in the wings of the school stage ready to give the opening speech when Joan comes up to him frantically asking why her name is included on the program, after she threw her film away. He says that he found her film and submitted it anyway because he thinks it deserves to be shown. She tells him that the film is too embarrassing to be shown for the both of them and he asks how he could ever be embarrassed by a friend. He says that her film might just change the world and walks off to give the opening speech. She then whispers to herself that her movie changing things is exactly what she fears. Joan tries to get into the production booth manned by Thomas Edison to take her film out, but he doesn't let her.

While presenting each film, a small fire breaks out in the production booth because of the coal-powered projectors, burning everyone else's film except for Joan's, which somehow expanded to be seen in widescreen. Abe tells Joan that this is a sign for the film to be seen over everyone else's. Joan reluctantly agrees and stands to preface the film by saying that it needs no introduction because it should be obvious what it's about. What follows is a deeply experimental and abstract film called "The Truth Wears Side-Burns," about her feelings for Abe. However, it's so esoteric that no one gets it in the theater and Joan is kept from revealing her love for Abe once again. Everyone loves the festival so much that they riot again, destroying the school for a second time. Joan is standing on a hill by herself watching it all happen, and Abe comes up behind her. She notices him and says that she supposes things are different now, implying that he understood her film's message and will treat their relationship differently. However, Abe doesn't understand the film and just hesitantly goes along with telling her that he doesn't care about what the film said. She hugs him and thanks him, saying that her film was the only one that was truly personal at the festival. Abe pushes her away and angrily asks how she didn't understand that Abe's film was just as personal. The film was a blatantly obvious narrative about Abe feeling out of place for being too lanky, where he is portrayed by a giraffe that successfully makes a touchdown as part of the football team and is then beamed up into a spaceship. As the giraffe was beamed up, a little girl in the audience says that she loved the giraffe. Joan asks who the little girl symbolized if the giraffe symbolized Abe. He just tells her good night and walks off, leaving her confused but hopeful.

SLEEP OF FAITH: LA RUE D'AWAKENING

Joan and Gandhi sit at a booth at the Grassy Knoll discussing the idea of Gandhi not taking the PXJTs. Joan tells him that Abe approaching and to act like she just said something funny. Gandhi makes up that she farted and he started laughing hysterically. However, it didn't matter what he said because Abe wasn't paying attention. He explains that he hasn't slept in two days, and Joan tells him that he needs to sleep in order for him to pass the PXJTs. He tells her that he can't because he has so many things he has to do.

Later, Joan goes with Abe to go grocery shopping. Abe tells Joan how great he feels about how close him and Cleo are getting because they're studying together for the PXJTs. He stops walking but lets go of his cart, and it keeps rolling slowly ahead of him. Joan frantically calls for him to grab the cart before it hits a store display of animal crackers. She tells him that it's moving slowly and he can just grab it, and he reaches his arm out to grab the handle but misses. The cart bumps the animal cracker display and knocks it over. Joan stands in front of Abe and tells him that he's too tired to be grocery shopping because his reflexes are gone. He tells her that his reflexes are fine, and to prove that he's wrong Joan tells him that she's going to slap him in the face in three seconds. She follows through and he doesn't flinch or fight it. She tells him that he has a problem and that she has a big secret to tell him that's related to the issue of not sleeping. However, she tells him that it's too big to reveal and just doubles down on the fact that he needs sleep. Abe tells her that he doesn't take orders from anyone when he gets a call from Cleo. He literally takes her order for sushi and then tells her that he's getting in the car to go. Joan pulls him back by his arm and tells him that he's in no shape to drive with how little sleep he's had. She reminds him of when his shopping cart crashed into the animal cracker display, and he mocks her by saying that it's not like he'll drive into a real truck of animals while he's on the road. He, in fact, almost does.

Joan approaches Cleo in the girl's locker room as she's changing. Joan tells her that she needs to stop pushing Abe so far because he needs sleep. Cleo teases that Joan is just jealous about the time she's spending with Abe instead of Joan. Joan agrees, but again almost tells Cleo about some secret of hers regarding the subject of sleep, but decides against it. She urges Cleo to stop to help Abe, but Cleo only mocks her concern and walks off.

At the PXJTs, Abe and Joan are sitting next to each other. She goes to ask how he is to see that he's a wreck from still no sleeping. He explains that he pulled an all-nighter with Cleo to help her study, and as he says this he cannot help but fall asleep during the test. Joan tries to whisper to wake him up, but he's fully asleep. He then sleeps through the entirety of the testing period.

After Abe sleeps through the whole test, Joan and Gandhi stage a sleeping intervention for him. Abe still tries to fight it, and Joan tells him that he'll die if he doesn't sleep. Gandhi tries to tell Abe a story of why he should sleep, but Abe pokes holes in it and leaves Gandhi running out of the door, leaving Joan and Abe alone. Joan finally tells her mysterious story about sleep, where she had to go to a special camp for people who can't sleep because he had an addiction to staying awake. Abe is shocked and the story moves him. He tells her to give him the pillow to sleep. Joan and Gandhi sit in the next room watching American Pie when Joan says that she's going to go check on Abe. When she does, however, she sees that he broke out by running through the wall, presumably to participate in the drag race with JFK to win over Cleo. Joan makes her way to the race area just before the race starts to come to Abe's window. She tells him that him driving so fast isn't safe when he still hasn't slept at all and that he'll end up killing himself. He assures her that the race is the last thing he has to do before he can finally sleep. Cleo calls for the race to start and he drives off as Joan says that the race might be the last thing he may ever do. Abe ends up winning the race because he pulled over to sleep, and at the end he thanks Joan as his "pal."

HOMECOMING: A SHOT IN D'ARC

Abe is the new captain for the Clone High basketball team, and he is upset after a defacing incident with the rival school, GESHH. Joan tells him that she wants to play on the team with him for the game, but he tells her that girls and animals aren't allowed on the boy's basketball team. She gets frustrated and reminds him that she beats him every time they play together, and Abe is surprised that she was keeping score. She walks off when Abe stops her and tells her that she should try on his letterman's jacket. She thinks that the gesture either means that he'll have her on the team or that he's interested in her romantically, but in reality he explains that he wants her to try it on to see how it will fit Cleo when he gives it to her to wear at the homecoming dance. Joan asks angrily why Abe is still pursuing Cleo when they had a single date and she ended up leaving with JFK.

To get on the team, Joan disguises herself as a man, calling herself John D'Arc. At the practice, Cleo starts getting interested in Joan instead of Abe because of how good she is at basketball, and Abe gets mad at her for it. In the locker room after practice, Joan goes up to Abe and says that he played well at the practice. Abe says that it wasn't good playing because he's upset that Cleo is gravitating more towards Joan now than Abe. Joan tells him not to chase after Cleo, and that he should go after Joan instead. He questions it, and she doubles down that she's everything for Abe. He says that he's never thought of dating Joan before, then claims that he knows what Joan is trying to do. It sounds like he's about to expose that Joan is pretending to be a man and trying to influence him to date her, but in reality he says that he thinks Joan is doing this so that she can have Cleo for herself. Joan says that she doesn't want Cleo, she wants Abe, but he interprets it as she wants Abe to date Joan so that Cleo can be John's.

Abe and Joan, still as John, get into an argument about Cleo wanting Joan over Abe. As they argue, Principal Scudworth comes in to say that Joan is the new basketball captain over Abe because she plays better. This angers Abe further, while Joan says that she never wanted it to happen like this. Abe doesn't buy the sincerity and tells Joan not to talk to him anymore, mentioning that the actual Joan has been "unsuspiciously" missing for the past few days that John has been there. He walks off.

At the game against GESHH, Joan keeps passing the ball to Abe even though he's terrible at shooting. This results in the team still not being able to score a point to win the game. Scudworth steps in to force Abe to let Joan do the free-throws, but Joan argues that they should let Abe shoot them instead. Abe tells Joan to give it up because he's just terrible at basketball. Joan then reveals herself and removes the fake moustache, shocking everyone in the stadium. Abe accuses Joan of lying to him for the past few days. She tries to get him to understand, but they just argue about her disguising herself. However, at the end of it, Abe still thinks that Joan should be the one to shoot the free-throws. Scudworth is in opposition due to the original rule that girls are not allowed to play for the boys, but Abe ends up convincing the entire stadium that Joan should be allowed to shoot the ball. She thanks Abe as Scudworth hands her the ball, and he tells her to score the point. She ends up missing the first shot narrowly, but then makes the second, scoring a point for Clone High. Abe hugs Joan as the players all cheer for Abe instead of Joan, taking away her credit because she is a woman.

PLANE CRAZY: GATE EXPECTATIONS

At the cafeteria during lunch, Joan asks Abe why he's saying that him and Cleo haven't kissed yet when they kissed in the first episode, at JFK's party. Abe clarifies that it's their first kiss as boyfriend and girlfriend, so it needs to be perfect. Joan reminds him that Cleo never held JFK to that same rule. She urges Abe to forget Cleo, saying that the first kiss will just happen if people are really in love. She leans in to try to kiss him and he laughs at her, telling her that he's always amused by her "fake infatuation bit." She is annoyed. After Cleo leaves to be on a TV show as a dancer, Joan, Abe and Gandhi sit together to watch Cleo. Abe says that he's upset that he can only see his girlfriend on TV, and Joan tries to tell him to be realistic and consider that Cleo has already slept with the star of the show, Ashley Angel from O-Town. Abe tells her that she's wrong, because him and Cleo made a deal to not touch anyone else below the eyebrows while they were apart.

Abe is upset that Cleo didn't wear his jacket on TV like she promised him before she left, and that she's been telling him that she was wearing it when she got back. He sits with Joan at his house to rewatch the episode, which Abe says confirms that Cleo wasn't wearing the jacket. Joan tells him again to forget Cleo and find someone new as she flips her hair and puts her hand on his knees. However, he again doesn't pick up that she's talking about herself. He stands up and tells her that she's right, and that he's going to find a new girl, potentially a redhead. She is excited. Suddenly, Abe sees that Cleo is wearing a necklace he didn't notice. He looks closer and sees that his letterman's jacket, now very small, is like a pendant around Cleo's neck. Joan tries to convince him that it's not his jacket and that he should continue giving up on Cleo, but he celebrates it as a victory. She tries telling him that it doesn't count as wearing it, but he doesn't care, and calls Cleo's home number. Her foster mother picks up and tells him that Cleo's at the airport to stay with Ashley Angel instead.

Abe goes to the airport to try to stop Cleo from leaving, but she sees him and runs into the plane. He then sees Buddy Holly in the airport and asks to board his plane, which is shown to be a small plane that's falling apart. Joan then shows up at the airport, running and calling after Abe not to get on Buddy Holly's plane. She says that she doesn't want to see him make a mistake. She explains that Cleo's flight has a layover and that the two can drive together to the layover location to stop Cleo there instead of him flying on Buddy Holly's risky plane. He agrees and thanks her.

RAISIN THE STAKES: A ROCK OPERA IN THREE ACTS

In the opening number of the episode, Abe sings about Cleo. Cleo sings about herself in return, and Joan sings about Abe. At the anti-drug assembly after the number, Abe and Joan are on stage together to announce the speaker, Larry Hardcore. He talks about saying no to drugs, and Abe and Joan wipe tears from their eyes as he does. Because of an offhand comment he made, all the students now want to smoke raisins, and a mysterious hooded man named "The Pusher" sells two bags of raisins to JFK. He asks all the students in the halls if they want to smoke raisins with him. Cleo wants to go and tries to drag Abe in, too, but Joan pulls him back and reminds him that drugs aren't cool and he shouldn't go. He angrily tells her that he needs to go with Cleo because they are dating.

Abe succumbs to peer pressure by Cleo in JFK's van and smokes the raisins. He begins tripping out, and Joan finds him naked in a mud pile. She slaps him across the face to pull him out of his high and asks him why he ended up smoking the raisins. He tells her that he has real friends, ones who peer pressure him into doing drugs. Joan picks him up and throws his body onto the ground, telling him that he's changed. He tells her that maybe she's the one who's changed by not changing at all.

After Abe has a trip that gives him illusions of grandeur, he hits his head on a rock and has a hallucination of the real Abraham Lincoln descending from the sky to tell him to stop smoking raisins. He finally wakes up with his head being held by Joan. She asks him if he is okay, and he tells her that he is now. She tells him that she has a plan to stop the students from thinking that smoking raisins is cool, by making the parents high. It works, and The Pusher's power diminishes. Abe and Joan then pull The Pusher's hoodie off to reveal his true identity, Larry Hardcore.

Fanon
This ship is often paired with JFCleo, LinCleo and JoanFK because of the love triangle between Abe, Cleo and Joan in Season 1, with the added love complication of JFK in both the final episode of the first season and most of Season 2. The ship draws the audience in because one is always pining for the other while the other is distracted by their love for someone else (Joan pining for Abe in Season 1 while he goes after Cleo, and Abe pining for Joan in Season 2 while she goes after JFK). Despite the lasting pining through the two seasons for each other, there are currently only 11 fan fictions under Arcoln on AO3, making it a rarepair.

Fandom
FAN FICTION