Disclaimer: I don't own the Loud House. Most of these one shots are ideas I have after seeing episodes. Some while I'm trying to sleep.

Inspired from Fool's Paradise

One of Luan's favorite things about the end of April Fool's Day was preparing for next year. And now that she was no longer going easy on them, she could pull out all the stops and go crazy. Oh the idea made her all tingly and excited, making her cheeks ache more.

Alone in her room, Luan started writing ideas down and making a list of what she would need. Now was one of the best times to do it, since Luna wasn't around to snoop. The poor rocker had been tasked to keep Lynn from aggravating her monkey injuries, as, despite her injuries, the sporty Loud still wanted to play as recklessly as ever. Lana was still restrained to her room because she was still tired from her anti-histamines. Maybe that had been a lot of rhubarb pie... good thing Lana wasn't fatally allergic. And Lola was hogging the bathroom, doing her very best to rid herself of the skunk stench with tomato juice.

'Maybe that's why Luna's staying clear from the room,' since she herself had been skunked. She'd been covering it up with the smell of bananas and other things. It helped that her favorite prank and joke gag was a banana pie.

What will she do next year though, maybe a giant pie? No... she did that three years ago. She could recycle the idea but she really wanted to go further outside the box. Especially for her dad. The double crosser. He had an amazing proposition and he just-he gave it up. What could she do for him? Luna was going to get a beautiful prop guitar that had all the bells and whistles, yet would fall apart right in her hands. Fall apart? Or explode? Exploding would be cool but temperamental. She couldn't risk screw ups. Not when it came to her family.

Footsteps echoed from the hallway, Luan raising her head slightly when she heard one of the doors open and then closed. Luan sat patiently, waiting to see if the thin walls would reveal anything. Perhaps it was Lincoln or Lisa. Something no doubt unimportant. Or someone checking on Lana.

"Okay Lucy, I think I found the right shade. Let's see if we can get some of your normal color back before tomorrow," Lori, no doubt trying to fight off the bleach Lucy was unfortunately dumped with. That had been a prank she was worried would hit someone else. She couldn't guarantee EVERY movement her siblings made.

"What's the point, I didn't have any color to begin with."

"Come on Luce, let's just try. Watch, no one will be able-" There was a falter, "to tell..."

There was a tense silence. It had Luan sitting up and crossing her legs. She shouldn't be eavesdropping but it wasn't easy to ignore conversations in this house. Especially when it was right next to her room. Besides, everything was fine. Eventually the bleach would go away just like the skunk smell.

"Okay, okay maybe if we apply it even lighter it'll look more like your usual pale-"

"Sigh, that won't work Lori. Just face it, I'm stuck looking like a freak for the rest of the third grade."

"Lucy that's not true."

"Yes it is. I'm whiter than the white that was on my socks and sleeves. Please, just leave me alone."

"Lucy-"

"Get out of my room."

Then Lori shrieked and ran off, the sound of Fang's hissing and flapping after her reaching Luan's ears. But as quickly as Lori had slammed her bedroom door shut, Fang's flew back to Lucy and Lynn's room. Lucy gave another sigh and she heard the door close again. There was something dragged on the floor, her coffin, and she heard it opened. No doubt Lucy was climbing into it. It's what Lucy did.

Luan turned back to her notebook, going back to jotting down ideas. How to get back at her dad? How to take down Lori? She hummed in thought, only to be stopped short when Lucy started to talk.

"Oh Edwin. At least you and Fangs still love me. How can I go to school tomorrow? I look like one of those fake Halloween ghosts. Everyone will make fun of me. I'll never live this down. I can't even hide in my secret dark space anymore."

Luan turned to the wall Lucy's voice was coming from and found herself biting her lower lip suddenly. She began to hear a sound she couldn't recall ever hearing from her little sister before. Lucy was doing something she never did before, when her journal was destroyed by Lisa's chemicals or that double date with Rocky turned sour. She was crying. And it hurt to listen to.

Luan quickly got off of her bed, snatching her notebook with her. She couldn't focus while Lucy was crying. She just couldn't. And upon opening the door, she was met with her eldest sister who decided to do the same thing. And Lola, who was wearing a bathrobe and finished with her tomato bath. Both giving her sour looks. Clearly they could hear Lucy's distress just as much as she could. And while they said nothing, the message was clear 'way to go Luan'. Luan lowered her gaze and moved down stairs, making it half way before Lynn shot up past her. Did she hear Lucy crying too? Or was she racing to go to the bathroom?

Reaching the bottom step, she saw Luna on the couch strumming her guitar. She paid no mind to Luan, maybe because she didn't notice her or was giving her the cold shoulder. Why would Luna give her the cold shoulder though? They were like two peas in a pod?

"Hey," Luan started, waiting for her sister to look at her. Greet her. Help her get Lucy's crying out of her head.

"Hey," Luna didn't look at her, busy strumming a few chords. It sounded much darker than Luan had ever heard Luna play. Creepy music really, "Why the long face? Sad your favorite holiday is over?"

It came out a bit bitter, and Luan's mind went blank from puns. Lynn was knocking on a bedroom door upstairs, no doubt trying to get Lucy to open up to her or let her in.

"Lucy's crying."

"Yeah, Lynn heard. She shot right up like a comet."

"Lucy's crying," Luan repeated, "Why is she crying? It was-it was just a-"

"Joke?" Luna finished, though in a restrained tone that meant she was trying to not instigate a sister fight protocol, "You really call that a joke? Covering your little sister in bleach that will take FOREVER to get rid of?"

"It was suppose to be funny."

"Funny?" Luna gave a short sarcastic laugh, "No one's laughing Lu. No one's laughed at your April Fool shenanigans since you learned how to get the supplies yourself. The jell-o was one thing. The laundry pile too. But you don't seem to care at all about how we feel about them."

"It's just a joke though."

"It's not funny when it hurts people Luan. I thought you knew that. I thought you knew where to draw the line. It doesn't concern you that for one day in an entire year, your entire family is terrified of you? Pies and whoopie cushions are one thing, but they only last a day. They don't follow us for days and weeks like dumping bleach on an eight year old."

"Can no one in this family take a joke?" Luan shouted at Luna. She heard doors open and felt eyes staring from the stairs at them. Dang it. There's sister fight protocol started.

"That's not a joke Luan," Luna raised her voice to match Luan's tone, "That's you being a bully to your entire family." The rocker stood, taking her guitar and heading for the door, muttering something about going to the garage. Luan didn't care, clenching her fists and whirling to glare at the rest of her siblings. No one made a move towards her and instead backed up around the corner out of view.

Not funny. Not a joke. Who does Luna think she is? The comedy mastermind? She's just a wannabe rock star. Luan was hilarious! Except... it had been really lonely watching those monitors by herself. No one around to laugh with her. None of her siblings had been laughing. They all seemed terrified. Even her parents were scared of her. That shouldn't be normal or healthy. Was Luna right? Was all of that mean instead of funny? No. Certainly not. Who was Luna to tell her what was funny and what wasn't? And yet... Lucy was in her room crying right now because of something Luan had done for a laugh. Maybe it had been a little too far to dump bleach on her dark sister? The poor girl had curled into a ball after it happened.

Maybe she had taken it too far. No one was really laughing. They were all pretty upset with her. Was she being a bully?

Luan frowns, looking down at her notebook. She just loved April Fool's Day, nothing was wrong with that. But-maybe she took it a bit too far. The last thing she wanted was for someone to start crying. What had she done?

Luan just had to do something. She couldn't just leave Lucy in such a distraught state. But at the same time, she doubted that Lucy would just flat out accept her apology. Luan hummed in thought before getting an idea.

Lucy gave a loud sigh as she descended the steps. Despite having lost one outfit, she still looked ridiculous in her typical black and white style. Her hair and skin were still abnormally white. She wished she didn't have to go to school. Was it too late to feign being sick? Perhaps Lisa could give her something?

"Morning Lucy, white the long face?" A collective groan erupted from the table and Lucy looked up to see Luan coming from the kitchen. Her mouth fell open a bit.

Yesterday, Luan was perfectly normal. But now her light brown hair was pale white and her skin turned maybe five shades lighter from the baby powder that was coating any exposed flesh. She grinned at the younger girl and Lucy struggled for a moment, a very brief moment, to think of what to say.

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing," Luan quipped and then quickly explained, "It's not the same. I-uh... couldn't find any bleach so I settled with baby powder and some temporary hair coloring. But I'm staying this way for as long as you are. Doesn't seem right that you ought to suffer through this alone."

"But-but why?"

Luan glanced down and then looked around at her siblings, "Because... I didn't want to do this to you. I didn't want to make you cry. I got carried away with the April Fool's Spirit and was too blinded to realize I was hurting you all. It's all fun and games until I make my family miserable. I should have realized the monster I was becoming. I'm sorry Lucy. I don't have an immediate fix, but I'm going to suffer with you. It's probably not enough but I'm really sorry. I hope you all can forgive me."

Lori gave a small smile, "I think we can find it in ourselves to forgive you."

But Luan was looking at Lucy. Would her little sister forgive her? This would mean nothing if she hadn't gotten it from ALL of her siblings.

Lucy on the other hand was amazed that Luan was stepping up to the responsibility. It was one thing to apologize but Luan was prepared to go through the same misery she was about to enter. Could she forgive her? Lucy couldn't say. Forgiving and forgetting this soon was too crazy an idea. But she could accept the apology and put this behind them. That's what their family was about wasn't it?

The small poet of the group gave a small smile though, "Apology accepted."

So, the point of this one-shot was to go with the aftermath of April Fools Day. Yes, some of the siblings have easy fixes. Luna and Leni weren't too bad and neither was Lisa. Lily was sparred in it all really. Lincoln's prank never was revealed. But Lola smells like a skunk, which she'd be furious about. Lana had her food allergy used against her which can be dangerous but obvious not enough where her life was in immediate danger. Lori... okay but her eyebrows will take a while to fix itself. Lynn no doubt had injuries from the monkey. And Lucy got bleach dumped on her and even if she has other clothes, that stuff is going to take a LONG time to come out. And yeah, you can argue that they could re-dye her hair or something but after it was bleached? I'm not sure if that would be safe or turn out well. And her skin is so washed out. Lori was trying to use concealers or blush to get the normal grey/pale skin tone back with no success obviously. But imagine all of the teasing she'll go through with her class mates and at Mortician's Club. She said she didn't want to go out in public like that and well.. maybe I over exaggerate it but this is what I thought might happen. I also just didn't like that Luan had no sympathy or care about her siblings and their fear of her on April Fools Day. Like, that's really scary and I think she needs to see how her actions are hurting her family. I also never saw the other April Fools Day episode so I don't know if anyone stuck up to her about it.

I haven't seen all the episodes, but if there are requests feel free to leave it in a review. I've personally been dying to do something with Luna and the whole L is for Love episode. Though, I don't know if I want it good or bad. I love putting favorite characters in emotional turmoil. Maybe one for Potty Mouth.