A/N: So back in February, I published 'Warm Hearts', the sequel to my previous story, 'Mission Accomplished'. It has been one of my favourite pieces to date because it gave me the chance to lay out my interpretation of Luna and Luan's relationship, something that is severely missing from the show and had been piling up in my mind ever since I realized this. I based their relationship purely on what evidence we've seen and NOT seen in the show. One of my favourite things I did in that story was including a few extra details that I like to picture the characters sharing with just each other, unbeknownst to the rest of the family. These minor tidbits add some colourful and interesting insight to character relationships, which is something I love about Fanfiction. As stated in my bio, 'Life of Pie' follows the established timeline, so I recommend you read 'Mission Accomplished' and 'Warm Hearts' first. 'Little Builders' also follows this timeline, chronologically occurring before this story, but it's not necessary to read for context.

At the time I wrote this, the two most anticipated episodes in The Loud House history have aired at last and the site I use to view these things actually pairs them up back-to-back. Two romantic-based episodes focusing on my two favourite characters and their respective crushes. Even before I watched them, I wanted to link their events together into a story of my own. It's based off those episodes as well as a few minor things from others such as Luan's exclamation of 'Lulu?' during Really Loud Music, how happy Luna looks while applauding in Stage Plight, and Luan's absence in Racing Hearts. You can make a story out of literally anything if you really tried.

After nearly two years of fans yearning for the siblings' love interests to return in full light since L is for Love first aired, the show answered the call and brought back Sam and Benny, albeit a season later. Some people dislike these episodes while the rest of the fans enjoy them. I personally view them partly as fan-service for 'shipping', yes, but more of true development on our beloved characters. We've come a long way from the time I wrote my first Loud House story 'On Top of Vanzilla' where I explained why I had difficulty in accepting Luan as a character and not just a comedic tool. Stage Plight completely breaks down that barrier and finally shows Luan in a new light, showcasing her in some new and relatable colours: a side of vulnerability and insecurity, while at the same time the classic Luan we've known for so long. Thankfully, her puns did not overstay their welcome. An awkward teenybopper romantic jam is a very real thing that teens of Luan and Luna's age can face, and putting them in this situation makes it easy for the audience to reach out to the characters. Overall, it's nice to see romance in the show occasionally, and more importantly on characters other than Lincoln and Lori, who have both gotten so much focus until now. It really is a breath of fresh air to dive into the untapped love life of some other main characters for a change.

These episodes are in no way perfect, and I have my own opinions on what's wrong and right with them, yet any opinion out there is more genuine than those that state that the episodes deserve 11/10 simply because they're new content. Geez, I hate those senseless ratings. No thought whatsoever except "It's the best episode ever!" Come on, have a little more grit than that.

I've seen a few people claim that this was "not the Luan they know", but honestly, after most of her featured episodes showcase nothing but pranks and jokes, this was what was really needed to remind us that Luan is, after all, human too. Head Poet's Anxiety was the only other time I've felt any real sympathy for her. This is fun character expansion and I equally liked Benny's development and 'debut'. In contrast to Sam with Luna, he seems to really reflect Luan in so many ways. Unfortunately, Stage Plight felt very rushed (something many of the recent episodes have been suffering from) and it was disappointing that we never saw Luan actually performing in the play itself, but it's still a ground-breaking episode and one of the sweeter ones out there. Of course, there are several elements that I wished was in the actual episode, some of which are used in my story below. That's another reason why I love Fanfiction. Your imagination is truly the limit.

Racing Hearts was another dynamic episode and one I liked a whole lot. The absence of the music-theme for all 'Luna-centric' episodes is present for the first time ever and has a huge advantage for this episode. Not only does it prove that not all Luna episodes have to be musically based, but also gave the chance for some deeper development in Luna's character in another dimension, much like Luan. Sam's 'debut' was also a ton of fun and her interactions with Luna were nothing short of sweet. Her new voice was also quite fitting.

Comparing these two episodes together, one major thing that I find interesting is how Luna confided to her older sisters about her romantic problems (thumbs-up for much-needed sibling interactions) while Luan talked to her puppet the whole way. While I would have loved Luan to also seek advice from her older sisters, somehow Luan's lower levels of maturity make it acceptable to be talking to her toy rather than real people; my headcanon has always been lingering on the popular theory that Luan is a bit on the socially-awkward spectrum. So in the end, using Mr. Coconuts as a counselor worked enough for me to give that a pass, but only just. That too is brought up in my story.

Also worth mentioning, the coffee scene was lightly adopted from an incomplete and forgotten story I came across on an obscure site. No idea what it was, but the start-off was rather sweet. If you're out there, author unknown, credit goes to you.

Hope you enjoy this multi-chapter production. See if you can spot all the references to past episodes, as I traditionally accept everything that happens on the show, the good and the bad, and try to write around it. Here's to an awesome season of The Loud House.

And now, our freakin' presentation!

Life of Pie

March 8, 2019 – April 20, 2019

Chapter 1 – The Cart Speaks the Truth

Ask Luan what classified as being 'funny' and you would immediately wish you had thought to grab some popcorn and a soda first. Or perhaps even a pillow. Whatever items that may allow you to get comfortable, you should be fully prepared for a speech, no, a seminar from the queen of comedy herself. She would go into every fine detail of exactly what fell under the world's broad category of 'funny', covering a wide range of topics from when the time was just right to crack a joke to knowing what stunt to pull on your specific audience. She had learned a surprising amount of substance throughout her years in the comedic industry to be able to deliver such a colourful lecture on the ins and outs of her beloved craft.

But Luan would have never given a second of her time to consider love being funny at all. Well, perhaps through observation of Lori's romantic life or perhaps more so with Lincoln's hilarious antics (for it was easy to see that the poor boy was positively clueless with the ladies), then maybe she would reconsider. But the events that had occurred during these last few weeks had turned on a few lights within her to see, and thus understand, love a little bit better.

And looking back, her whole romantic plight did seem a little on the funny side. It was serious, of course, but there were plenty of laughs to be found in that episode, mostly with how she had managed to achieve it.

For Luan Loud, this entire month of May and half of April had been quite the adventure. An adventure of change. An adventure of love. One that she hoped would never stop. She could still remember how it all started like it was just yesterday…

Six weeks ago:

"Really? Then why did you keep finding ways to avoid kissing me?"

Luan stared at the boy, the one whom she wanted so desperately to spill out everything she had thought about him for years. Her mind was running in hyperdrive, but it couldn't put the words that she wanted to say to him in any form of logical speech. She stuttered, felt her cheeks heating up, made some stupid gibberish, but finally gave up trying; she instead resigned to hanging her head in defeat with nothing more than a "Never mind."

Sad, lonely, and defeated…was this really how it was to end? Her last sliver of hope that she and Benny could become closer slowly began to fade into oblivion, until the stars in the heavens presented her with one last chance in the form of an alternate entity.

"She was nervous because she's never kissed anyone before..."

Luan gasped. "Mr. Coconuts!" she cried in shock. Her ventriloquist dummy looked at her reproachfully. "What? Someone's got to say it!"

The girl looked at Benny knowing he must think her as a complete fool for using her toy to convey her feelings…that is until he reached into his backpack and, with a swift maneuver, whisked out a puppet of his very own. Luan stared at the marionette with complete surprise; did Benny carry this around with him like she did with Mr. Coconuts? Her initial shock only escalated when Benny started operating it with such precision and voice-over talent that was considerably comparable to her own.

"Well, that's nothing to be ashamed of…Benjamin's never kissed anyone either." Benny gasped dramatically, albeit with less energy than Luan had previously. "Aw, Mrs. Apple Blossom, argh, you weren't supposed to tell!"

His puppet shrugged. Mr. Coconuts considered her for a moment before speaking again. "Well, I gotta say that's a load off. Luan didn't want to embarrass herself in front of ol' Benny boy. Just between you and me…(Luan gulped)…she's sweet on the guy."

Then Mrs. Apple Blossom giggled. "Really? Heh, Benjamin rather fancies her as well..."

"He DOES?" But it wasn't Mr. Coconuts' warbled voice anymore. It was that of his master's. "I mean…you do?" gasped Luan, looking up at Benny with a hopeful smile and a mad blush. And all the anxiety and pain in her heart vanished completely when he gave a confirming nod, smiling and blushing just like her. Time seemed to freeze as the stares they were giving each other suddenly became gazes, with a twinkling look in their eyes that matched the other's perfectly. They giggled sheepishly, but that didn't last long. As if they were the dummies being controlled by their human masters, designed to only move upon the guidance of a greater force, both of which seemed to be working upon the exact same script, they simultaneously leaned towards each other and let their lips make contact in unison. Mr. Coconuts and Mrs. Apple Blossom watched with approval.

After a few seconds, Luan and Benny pulled apart, but their faces still lingered closely together. They stared misty-eyed at each other with giddy smiles, blushes still very present upon their cheeks. Despite feeling lost in a fantasy, Luan finally managed to craft together the words she had wanted to tell the boy for so long.

"Benny?"

"Yes, Luan?"

"Would you…I mean…will you…" Luan was positively certain that her cheeks couldn't burn fiercer as she let out the question that had been yanking at her heart and begging to be released before him. "Will you be my Romeo?"

Her cheeks instantly felt like they were ablaze with flames when the boy placed his finger beneath her chin, raising it so she could meet his eyes. "Only if you'll be my Juliet."

Present day:

Did she word that question that way to ask if he would reclaim his role in the play? Or was it her clever way of asking him if he would be hers forever?

Ever since that sunny afternoon, and throughout the following weeks of rehearsals leading up to Royal Woods High School's drama production of Romeo and Juliet, Luan's mind had transformed into an old VHS player, with all the memories recorded on an ancient tape. She must have hit the 'rewind' and 'play' buttons so many times that the little icons on said buttons had all but faded away. Could you blame her though? She wanted to remember every last detail of her time with Benny for all eternity, from her attempts to avoid kissing him and her deep conversations with Mr. Coconuts, to the shock that Benny had a dummy of his own and the greater shock that he held feelings for her too, to her very first kiss, to the fun they had together during rehearsals, and finally to the magnificent performance that they had starred in as the leads. All these recollections she would replay and relive in her mind day and night for hours. Luckily, she did not have to completely rely on her memory power to keep the experiences fresh. Not that she would be forgetting them anytime soon. She in fact had a second recording method.

At this present moment, in the quiet of early morning near the end of May, with the first rays of sunlight streaming lazily through the bedroom window, Luan was sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at her phone and enjoying the rare silence of the Loud House, as everyone was still in his or her bedroom likely snoozing away. It was Saturday after all, just two days after her big performance to be exact. Ironically, though she was exhausted from the hard work put into prepping for the show, she wasn't resting. Her mind was far too excited to let her sleep any longer and the hidden contents in her phone were just too tempting. She was browsing through the camera feed on her phone, the same phone that she had used to propose a change-up in the play's script to Mrs. Bernardo. Ultimately, that had been sort of a catalyst in uniting her and Benny together, as it was the final straw to be pulled that had prompted the boy to quit the drama, leading to their confessions on that bench outside. The electronic photo album was stocked with over two hundred snapshots taken during their rehearsals, each one featuring one or both of the comedic duo: selfies of them dressed up in their costumes, practicing lines together, and fooling around with the stage props. Though he was still a Montague and she had been made a Capulet again, they quickly found out that roleplaying the leads had major perks in that the new couple spent a lot of time practicing together, rather than on opposite sides of the stage as Mrs. Bernardo had initially ordered. In the end, Luan had gotten exactly what she had wanted when she signed her name on the bulletin board: time with Benny. And through this, she had successfully managed to get to know him on a far deeper level, as did he. Throughout all their rehearsals and practice sessions, she had kissed the boy of her dreams more times than she could count, and there was an unfailing passion present within each one. Other than Benny himself, the entre cast simply thought these were stage kisses, mere actions delivered as instructed by the script. She and Benny knew better.

Luan Loud had never felt happier. This was not the same happiness that she felt when she delivered a perfectly-placed pun at the perfect moment (regardless of what anyone with no comedic mind thought) or when she could make the entire audience of an auditorium laugh. This was a very different sort of happiness. One she had observed radiating off of Lori and sometimes Lincoln, but only now had fully felt it for herself. Seeing it and feeling it were two very different experiences.

She gazed dreamily at the current image on her screen; it was of her and Benny posing with the theatre's prop swords. Plastic models like these served to cause zero damage, but the sword grasped in Benny's hand placed strategically between his arm and torso away from the camera played off as if it had really done an authentic job to his chest. Perhaps it was the contorted look of pain painted upon his cute face that conveyed the message so well. Benny was unbelievable in the art of acting, as Luan had quickly discovered. Benny had complimented Luan several times on what a good actress she was…never failing to earn a blush and a bashful grin from the girl.

This was the boy she had been crushing on since they first met while engaged in solo mime routines that had quietly merged into a duet. The only boy she knew besides her father who genuinely enjoyed her humour, and responded back with his own. The boy who had the power to melt her heart to a pool of rich burning lava.

And he was her boyfriend.

Luan set her phone down and sighed dreamily. This whole sensation felt like a dream, really. Like a make-believe story out of a fairy tale and one that she believed. She gazed around the bedroom, suddenly appreciating how beautiful it looked. The early rays of morning sunlight were coating everything with a pleasant yellow glow, like the room was a mine filled with hidden gold waiting to be unearthed and collected. Her eyes trailed everywhere, first at the bulbs of her vanity mirror, the various costumes and bottles of face paints strewn in a disorganized mess, then at Luna's drum set and her acoustic guitar, and finally upon a tattered lavender backpack, which had once doubled as a hand-me-down/birthday present from Luna when she was 11, sitting upon the carpeted floor against the bed. Protruding out of the open zipper tracks was her beloved ventriloquist dummy, who had been more or less than a mentor during her romantic plight. She pulled him out and set him on her thigh.

"Well, didn't I tell ya? I told'ja you were gonna be fine!" the puppet piped up.

Luan smiled down at her dummy, controlling him with such expertise such that he was like an extension of her own limb. "Yeah, you were right, Mr. Coconuts. Thanks for sticking by my side through all that. I really owe you one."

"Aw shucks, toots. Think nothing of it…I told you I was right! But next time, maybe you should consider taking your troubles to somebody else."

Luan blinked. "What do you mean? You were the perfect support!"

Mr. Coconuts shrugged. "Maybe. I just pushed you along. What happens next time when you face bigger problems? Something that only people who have gone through it before you can help you out with. You really should be talking to, oh, I dunno…your older sisters? Or maybe your parents, hmmm? I'm just a dummy made of felt and wood. I'm not even really talking! Just a fragment of your imagination running wild and spit-balling your inner thoughts and crazy desires...that's all I am!"

The girl was about to protest, but she stopped. He did have a point. Since she was now in a relationship, which was surely a big step towards growing up, perhaps this was a good indication that she should put off engaging in childish things. That included talking to inanimate objects.

"Speaking of sisters, when are you gonna tell the others about you and Benny Bean Boy?"

Luan sighed. "Oh, I don't know. Everyone knows I had a huge crush on Benny back then, but that's it. I haven't told anyone that we're a…a thing yet. But knowing my siblings, they'll probably find out anyway. Nothing stays a secret in this house."

"Well, maybe you should tell Lori first. She's the oldest and look how happy she is with that fella of hers. What's his name? Boo Boo Bear or some cheesy yik yak like that?"

She absent-mindedly began to swing her legs over the bedside as she considered this option, the ears of her well-loved bunny slippers waving back and forth from the motions. For a brief moment, she wondered if Benny would think of her as a dork if he were to find out that she wore something so juvenile on a regular basis. "I don't think so…Lori and I aren't really that close. Though I bet she would help me out if I ever had romantic problems. She takes love-business seriously." Luan looked up at the wooden crossbars above her that supported Luna's mattress on the top bunk. She listened to the light snores of her sleeping roommate. "I'll tell Luna first," she decided. "She and I…we get each other."

Mr. Coconuts nodded and became lifeless once more.

If you saw Luna Loud walking down the street recently, you would have thought Mick Swagger had accepted her as his personal right-hand band mate. With the lightness and skip in her step, you could tell that she was pretty happy. But the reasons for the boost in her joyful demeanor had nothing to do with Mick, nor was it even related to music. Luan wasn't the only one in the Loud family whose romantic life had taken a thrilling leap this month. Luna couldn't remember being so elated in her young life. Not even her exploding success upon the stage for America's Next Hitmaker came even close in comparison to how she had been feeling these past weeks. Thanks to the mishaps and unexpected discoveries during the Royal Woods Astonishing Quest, she and Sam had learned an important lesson. Now they were all the more closer and had been seeing each other more than ever, leading what one could only describe as a very healthy relationship. She loved Sam for who she was, which was exactly what had first drawn Luna to the teal-streaked blonde all those years ago.

Back in April, a month before the Quest, Luna and Luan had originally planned on teaming up to compete together, until the latter suddenly informed the former that she had secured a role in the high school's production of Romeo and Juliet and thus couldn't join her. Although she had been initially surprised at Luan's abrupt decision to swap commitments, Luna had been struck with the idea of inviting Sam to join her on the Quest instead, to which the latter had been more than pleased to accept. They had been trying to arrange a date for some time and this seemed like one heck of a 'date' to go on. Luan, meanwhile, had been too preoccupied with her rehearsals for the big play and didn't have much time to talk to Luna even after the Quest was over. Even at nights when they were alone in their bedroom, Luna left her little sister alone as she continuously mumbled quietly to herself, most likely practicing lines again and again. With the way Luan's face had always been screwed up hard in concentration, and how she had kept fidgeting at mealtimes, Luna had figured she was feverishly working on perfecting her role as Juliet and therefore didn't feel any reason to give her sister too much worry. After all, Luna herself always needed to enter her own zone to prepare herself before going on stage.

Of course, Luna had no idea that more than half of the things going on in Luan's head those nights weren't even related to rehearsals, but instead on something (or rather someone) else.

But this was all several weeks ago. By then, Luan had been well engrossed in her character development for the performance. The closer that opening night approached, the more frequently she requested Luna to be her audience, to which Luna simply sat quietly on Luan's bed and watched her sister transform into the Capulet girl she was striving to become. Pretty soon, the whole family was sitting in their bedroom to watch her, making it rather crowded. The rocker remembered just a couple days ago when it all came down to her sitting in the squashy auditorium seat and watching her little sister perform on stage. She felt so proud of her, and couldn't help but gush with sisterly affection as she witnessed Luan kiss her long-time crush Benny. Boy oh boy, was Luan in for a never-ending dosage of teasing after this, just you wait.

Right now, Luna was dozing happily in the top half of the bunk bed, enjoying a particularly pleasant dream. She and Sam were rocking out on stage before the biggest crowd you had ever seen. It was totally rad, totally awesome…totally romantic. But of course, like all dreams, the owner has to wake up sometime, more often than not at the best moments of the show. And only if you are lucky enough can you recall exactly what you dreamed about. Just as the two musicians were about to kiss for the entire world to see, reality-Luna's eyes fluttered open, and to her disappointment, found that she was not on stage, but very much in bed and could not remember much of her fantasy performance. "Aw, bogus," she muttered out loud. She sat up and stretched, and despite still feeling groggy with sleep, she sensed that her movements were being monitored. Her sleepy eyes squinted past her feet and saw at the end of the bed, her roommate standing halfway up the ladder, watching her with a wide grin on her youthful face.

"Morning sleepy-head!" she chirped. Luna rubbed her eyes and delivered a small smile back. "Hey dude," she murmured. "What's happening?"

"Not much. I can see that you're tired of sleep though. Get it?" asked Luan as she laughed. Luna just groaned; it was a little too early for this. Typical Luan, always there to greet you in the morning with a cheery face and a terrible pun. "Good morning to you too, brah."

Her mild annoyance dissipated as Luan slowly climbed the rest of the ladder and knee-walked her way towards Luna, carefully cradling a steaming mug sporting a cursive 'L' in purple. The musician looked pleasantly surprised. "Coffee too? Wow, you're in a good mood today. Cheers."

She shrugged as she handed Luna the drink and took a seat on the edge of the bunk. "Ah, well, you know…just my way to 'coffee' up a little gratitude!" She laughed loudly as Luna took a sip and gave her a puzzled look. "What for?"

"For putting up with me while I rehearsed, silly."

Luna placed the mug on the small bedside shelf along the wall, which had recently been built for her use. "Oh, you mean the audience biz? Aw, it was nothing. Fact is, I enjoyed watching you get into character. You really fit the part, you know? So, really, no burden at all." She slid herself closer to the wall as she lay her head back down upon her pillow and patted the now-empty half of her bed, a kindly gesture that Luan quickly responded to by laying down beneath the covers next to her, sharing half the pillow and enjoying Luna's body heat for a minute or two. Even with the weight of an additional person, the bunk stood firm. Luan always preferred the lower bunk, finding sleeping so high a bit unsettling for her, yet she was willing to lend her bed to Luna if the latter ever felt ill and too weak to climb the ladder. In contrast, Luna liked the top bunk, treating it like her own private penthouse. Good thing she wasn't prone to sleep-walking.

Overall, the girls liked their bunk bed; it made them feel close.

"Well, still," Luan continued, "thanks for being my audience. There's a huge difference between going over the lines by yourself and actually acting them out in front of someone."

The soft smile that graced Luan's face was more than enough to tell Luna that her little sister was truly grateful for even her mere presence this past month and a half alone. She had lived with both her and the world of music long enough to know that sometimes having a warm body (both metaphorically and physically) was all you could really provide as a helping hand to an artist prepping herself to set foot on stage. With her elbow propped on her pillow and the side of her head resting upon her hand, she gazed lazily across at her sister. "I totally hear what you're laying down, dude. It's the audience that makes the difference. Glad I could help you out."

She nudged Luan's foot. Luan smiled widely, absorbed in Luna's comforting presence. "Anywho, now that the play is done, I can ask you how the Quest went. It was your first date ever with Sam, wasn't it?"

A giddy smile, one that was now very familiar to Luna as of these last few weeks, resurfaced upon her face; blessed memories began taking over once more. "It sure was, dude."

"Well, I bet you musicians had a real heartbeat with each other!" Luan laughed at her own joke for the third time that morning as Luna simply rolled her eyes. It was still too early for this. "But really, how'd it go? Tell me everything!"

Luan never hesitated to ask Luna to spill the beans; they told each other all that went on in their lives. Sharing their struggles, hopes, and greatest joys was what had made them so close and understanding of each other for so long. It's just a special thing that you share with your best friend. What Luan didn't know was that Luna had a little plan of her own already laid out. Ever since the final challenge of the Astonishing Quest, she had made a silent pact with herself to ask Luan to help her out with a special something. Now that she was no longer busy rehearsing, perhaps she could now put aside some time to spend with her older sister. "I'll tell you later, brah. Right now, I gotta ask you something."

The rebounding of the interviewing roles caught Luan by mild surprise laced with disappointment, but she decided that she could hold off in hearing the goods, if only for a few minutes. "Uh, sure, what is it?"

"Can you show me how to bake an apple pie?"

Now she was really surprised, perhaps a little more than she should have been. Growing up in a household of 13 people and numerous pets, it was quite normal for a never-ending string of surprises to rise from the depths every day. Practically everyone had something new to bring to the dinner table or literally through the front door on a regular basis. Luan herself was probably the queen of surprises, being the master prankster of the family after all. But her siblings each led their own life speckled with shocks and jolts, and even after 14 years of growing to be accustomed to all the chaos of daily life in the Loud House, Luan was never taken completely by unsurprise, as some of her siblings' antics brought about unbelievable riches and madness. For some reason, Luna's abrupt request seemed no different. It certainly caught her off-guard. "Bake a…pie? How come? You've never shown interest in baking anything before."

Luna smiled. "Let's just say it has something to do with the Quest. I'll explain that later." She rubbed her sister's shoulder gently. "What do you say, Lulu? It'll give us a chance to hang out together and make a sweet treat for the fam to eat. Lynn finished up the cake yesterday, remember? Help me, and I'll tell you absolutely everything."

If lightbulbs were powered by smiles, their bedroom would be sunlit even without the sun already streaming through the window. Luan's face positively beamed. "Y-Yeah! Sure, that'll be…that'll be fun! Gosh, no one's ever wanted to bake anything with me before!"

"That's 'cuz everyone's afraid you'll just smash it in their face," the rocker remarked.

The comedienne smiled innocently. "It's not that bad of an assumption…ooh, this is so exciting! What do we need? I think we still have some apples, but we probably need more…flour…butter…"

For the next few minutes, Luna watched her sister enthusiastically examine over all the supplies they would need with much amusement as she thought back to what exactly had brought her to ask Luan to teach her how to bake an apple pie…

Though the final challenge of the Astonishing Quest had shown both her and Sam how very little they each knew about baking, the accumulation of all the challenges that day had brought them to the revelation that they could have fun together even without having everything in common. Besides, they still had good old-fashioned music to fill the void if need be. Even so, Luna had never been quite able to stop thinking about that radical feeling in her gut as she lay on the floor covered in batter and laughing with her dear friend, who was equally splattered with the goop. Wouldn't it be nice, she had thought to herself, if one day she could present to Sam a perfect apple pie baked by herself just to mark the anniversary of the Quest and the time they had shared together? She hadn't quite planned it all the way, but for now, just learning how to bake seemed like a suitable place to start. And who better to teach her than their resident baker and her favourite sister, Luan? Yes, the creamy confections she created were mainly for the purpose of hitting an unsuspecting face with, but occasionally she would bake to make an actual dessert for her family, which were undoubtably tasty.

"…yeah, I think we'll need to pick up some stuff first. Let's see if Dad isn't busy. Hope you're up for a 'punny' trip to the grocery store with Dad and me!" Luan told her, interrupting her thoughts. Luna looked at her and gave an easy shrug. "If that's the shazizzle that gets the ball rolling, I'm in," she breezed easily.

Perhaps Luna wouldn't have been so dismissive towards Luan's warning if she knew exactly what would be included in the packaged deal of visiting the Royal Woods supermarket with Luan and their dad. Despite having grown to be slightly more accustomed to Luan's antics than the rest of their siblings, there were of course limits as to how far Luna could tolerate them. The trip to the store was filled with non-stop pun delivery between Luan and Lynn Sr., so that meant twice as much comedic activity. Well, now we know where Luan gets her comedy genes from, she thought as she sat quietly in Vanzilla's rugged seat, letting her two companions laugh away while doing her best not to implode under the madness.

Once at the market, the comedy show didn't stop. If anything, it only escalated. Luan and Lynn Sr. generated puns and jokes out of everything they saw as the three travelled down the aisles, the staff members and other customers shooting them annoyed looks and death-glares. Luan rode on the front of the shopping cart that their dad was pushing while Luna strolled alongside them, offering small apologetic smiles to anyone they passed. They didn't seem to help.

"Hey Luna! What did the carrot say to the wheat?"

Luna looked up, unamused, at Luan. "No clue, sis."

"Lettuce rest…I'm feeling BEET!" Lynn Sr. chimed in as they passed the vegetables.

Luna let out a quiet groan as her sister and dad teared up with laughter. "I'm starting to think I'm the carrot here," she muttered to herself. She eyed Luan's riding position. "Don't you think that's past your time?" she asked her.

Luan frowned at her, looking rather offended. "What? You know I don't pass the chance to crack a good joke. You of all people should know that."

Her older sister shook her head. "Not that. I meant you on the cart. Don't you think you're a little old to be riding it like that?" Such a thought had never occurred to Luan, but she waved her hand passively. "You're never too old to live like you're young. It just makes you feel…'soup'-er!" Right as she said it, she whisked a can of mushroom soup off the shelf and held it in front of Luna's face. The rocker rolled her eyes as Luan and Dad went at it again. Never change, Luan, she thought.

"Get off," groaned the shopping cart.