Oh hey, first fic of 2018. This should be interesting.
Now, for why I picked Leni and Lola, well, they're basically two sides of the same coin: They both like fashion, they're both quite girly with a tomboyish roommate (then again, all the pairs are like that, but Lori & Leni and Lola & Lana are the most blatant), they're both younger sisters to their respective sister roommates (yes, Lola is younger than Lana, that's canon), and they're both blondes.
But while Leni's a bit lacking in the intellectual department, but she she has a clear heart of gold that she shows more often than her mean side, and she doesn't necessarily seek attention from anybody at any time. Lola, meanwhile, seems to have an average intelligence, but she's quick to anger and get on her bad side, and she quite clearly loves on the spotlight.
See? Polar opposites!
But what if one of those opposites... was the reason that the other opposite became the way they are? Read on if you wanna know what I mean. :)
It was a relatively loud evening at the Loud house, and among the hallways walked a certain little diva. This diva was Lola, third youngest of the family, who was looking everywhere around the house for something.
Or perhaps, someone.
She went downstairs and found who she was looking for, her twin sister Lana, sitting on Leni's lap like a little puppy while the fashionista brushed her hair, before going all the way down her body before starting again at her head. Seeing this, Lola walked forward to the sight and said, "Hey, what's going on here?"
"Oh, hello Lola," Leni greeted, facing the diva as she continued to brush Lana. "I was just petting Lana here like one of the pets. She, like, really likes it when somebody pets her like this."
"Okay, I guess that makes sense, but this is the time when she normally feeds her pets, and they're hissing in hanger," Lola explained, earning a look from the duo. "It's a mixed feeling of hunger and anger. Anyway, Lana needs to feed them now before they probably eat any of us alive."
"I don't think they can even do that, but alright," Lana shrugged and got off the couch on all four. "We'll resume the petting when I'm finished, right?"
Leni nodded. "Of course."
Lana gleefully ran back upstairs, with Lola sternly watching her as she left. And once she was out of the picture, Lola snapped at Leni, "How long did you pet her? You know she loses track of time when people start petting her!"
"Relax, Lola, I only started petting her for five minutes," Leni replied, taking a deep breath. "She was sleeping here on, like, the couch for some reason, and I thought, "Hey, maybe petting her for a moment won't hurt anybody?"
"Nobody will be hurt, alright, but that's not the same for my clothing!" Lola stated, stomping the ground. "It's apparently so delicious-looking, that when Lana's pets aren't fed on time, the first thing they do is look for my dresses and start eating them! And they're so smart, they always find them even after I hide them so well!"
"Did you put your dresses under your bed?" Leni smugly guessed.
"What? Of course not, that would be a stupid idea!" Lola shook her head. "I put them under Lynn's bed!"
"Dang you, Lola!" Lynn yelled from upstairs.
Leni couldn't help but laugh at Lynn's exclamation, only to turn to Lola and say, "You, like, have changed a lot, haven't you?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Lola shook her head then turned around. "In fact, I have something more important to deal with, so-"
"A long time ago, there were two twins named Lola and Lana Loud," Leni started to narrate, bringing the diva to stop right on her tracks. "Lana was a very enthusiastic girl, who had a big heart and a big love for animals."
Lola slowly turned to Leni as she continued to narrate. "But Lola was a bit more shy, a bit more prone to panic, and a bit more insecure, specially seeing how she was part of a big family."
Lola started to form tears as Leni paused, then continued, "In a family as big as hers, she needed to do something to stand out, anything as long as she didn't fall into obscurity. Into the background. Into... being forgotten."
Leni put a hand on Lola's back and pushed her closer to herself, just before she turned to look at Lola and, with a warm smile, she gestured her to come to them as she continued:
"So, during one particular day, she tried to find help with her family members."
In the past...
A much younger Lola ran around the household, seemingly looking for someone. And rather than wearing the pink dress she wore in the present, she was wearing pink overalls with a long-sleeved magenta shirt. Her hair was as long as before, but slightly more messy.
"Lana, where are you?!" Lola exclaimed at the top of her lungs. "We were going to play Golem and Princesses, remember?!"
The girl continued to look around until she finally found her twin sister... playing with her reptillian pets. And from the looks and laughs from it, she seemed to be having a good time. And since Lola was a bit too worried about the snakes and serpents and other reptiles in the room, the girl decided to go off to the next sisters she could find: Lynn and Lucy.
"Lola?" Lynn blurted as she swung a toy rapier around. "What brings you here?"
"Well, I-" the girl's attention was caught by the toy... which also kinda freaked her out. "What are you doing with that?"
"Practicing, of course! Mom and Dad are planning to put me up for fencing classes, and I dunno why, but It's a sport, and I'm all about being the best in every sports in the world," Lynn boasted with pride.
"And again, what are you doing here?" Lucy asked. "You never come to our room."
"I was looking for Lana to play our "Golem and Princesses" game, but then I found her playing with her icky snake pets and I decided to leave her alone," Lola scratched the back of her head. "Come to think of it, she's been having out with her pets more often ever since she got that weird snake Lana keeps calling a rat snake."
"Ha, looks like Lana has finally found her "thing" in the world: Being an avid animal lover," Lynn sighed, with slight hints of pride in her tone. "You might as well get started on finding your "thing" too, Lola, 'cause Lana's unlikely to ever spend time with you again-"
Suddenly, Lucy threw a book at Lynn so hard, she collapsed and dropped the toy rapier. She then turned back to Lola nervously smiled, "Please forgive Lynn, she never thinks before she says anything."
The girl just sniffed and walked out of the room, with Lucy throwing another book at Lynn when the athlete was about to recover. As for Lola, she went to the best person who could help her with her sadness: Luan... who was in the middle of assembling her stage.
"I would be more than happy to tell you a couple of jokes to kill your bad mood, but I'm afraid assembling "Specially since Luna doesn't wanna let me borrow her roadie!"
"Dude, I 'ready told you that I only 'ave Chunk the proposition," Luna answered while trying to write some song lyrics. "And he hasn't answered yet! If you're so desperate, how 'bout I ask imaginary friends, "Why no response?"
"You just wanna keep him for yourself, and you know it!" Luan sighed and turned back to Lola. "Again, you'll have to wait until I finish setting this up. How about you go walk around, see if our other sisters can help you with your problem?"
"But can I really trust that they'll help me?" Lola worriedly asked. "Lynn's too blunt, Lucy's too creepy, Lori's too bossy, Luna's too noisy-"
"Uh, dudes, I'm right over here!" Luna exclaimed, clearly offended.
Lola just briefly glanced at Luna before resuming, "Lana's too busy with her pets, Lisa's weird, and Lily's just a baby. And while I could ask for your advice, I'm kinda wary of you in general due to... reasons."
"It's okay, I get that often," Luan answered, then snapped her fingers. "And besides, if you don't want to deal with our sisters, then there's one other person that you can go to."
Lola raised her eyebrows, and moments later, she nervously entered Lincoln's bedroom, where she saw an unexpected sight: Lincoln reading comics in his underwear!
"Um, Lincoln, what happened to your clothes?" Lola asked as she walked towards her brother. "I thought you were wearing a shirt and pants earlier today?"
"Yeah, but whenever I decide to read a comic, I take those things off," Lincoln explained, focusing solely on his comic. "It's just not as comfortable reading them with my clothes, you know?"
Lola then turned to the reader and whispered, "I didn't knew clothes could be comic-intolerant."
"Ah, I see you're speaking with the audience, I'm glad something about me rubbed off on you," Lincoln remarked with a little laugh, only to add as he put his clothes back on. "But anyway, do you need something?"
"Lana's been hanging out with her pets more often ever since she got her sixth or so snake, and I can't approach any of those things because they scare me!" Lola walked to Lincoln's side and hugged him... before he could put on his shirt. "I went to get help from some of our sisters, but they told me that Lana had "found her thing" and that she wasn't going to pay attention to me anymore. They then told me to come to you to find out my thing and... well, what do you think?
"...Lola, I hate to tell this to you, but the only person who can help you figure out what makes you stand out, is yourself," Lincoln somberly answered. "No advice you get from anybody else will let you find out. Sure, they may give you hints, but in the end, you're on your own."
Wanting some sort of comfort, the girl couldn't help but ask, "Have you found out what makes you stand out, Lincoln?"
The boy had no choice but to fall silent, since there really was no answer he could give. The girl, realizing what this meant, sniffed and separated from her brother before running out of his bedroom.
Back in the present...
Leni sighed and turned around to see Lola was now sitting right next to her, witth a forlorn, troubled look. She then rubbed the diva's hair in sympathy.
"No matter how hard she tried, though, nothing her sisters suggested seemed to fit her," Lola took a deep breath before clutching her chest. "And when her last sibling, her only brother, told her that only she could find what made her stand out, she panicked... and she hid under her bed..."
Back in the past...
The younger Lola, just like the present Lola said, hid under her bed, covering her eyes as she silently cried to herself. And she continued to cry for a while, until a certain sister came to check what was up with her.
No, not Lana, but Leni.
"Hi, my, like, "sister is uncomfortably sad" senses were tingling, and I could feel it coming from here," Leni explained with a calm, reassuring tone. "But before you tell me about that, why are you hiding under your bed?"
"It's the only place where I'm safe from Lana's creepy pets," Lola answered, looking at her surroundings as she added, "They crawl and hiss and do serpent-y things everywhere else but here. I have nowhere else to go."
"I can see why you'd be hiding here then," Leni sighed. "But, like, why are you hiding in the first place? Lana left with her pets a long time ago."
Lola covered her face. "I'm crying here so nobody will get worried."
"Well, that's too late right now because, like, I'm worried for you," Leni extended her hand closer to Lola. "Come on, let's go to my and Lori's bedroom, clean your tears, and you can explain to me whatever happened that made you cry."
Though hesitant for a moment, Lola eventually nodded and slowly crawled out of the bed, before getting up and following Leni to her bedroom, holding her hand as she did. Once there, Lola sat on Leni's bed, and the fashionista brushed the girl's hair as she explained the situation, although rather briefly.
"I see, that's, like, kind of a dilemma," Leni remarked with sympathy. "Did you ever consider telling Lana about your opinions on the matter?"
"I did, but every time I try to tell her about it, she's surrounded by those creepy pets of hers," Lola explained, twiddling her fingers. "And whenever we are on our own, we're usually either playing so much I forget about it, or I decide to leave it for later since I want Lana to have fun at all times."
"And I admire that, I, like, really do," Leni remarked with pure honesty. "But Lana's your older sister, right? Shouldn't it be the other way around, that she would want you to have fun at all times?"
The overall-wearing girl lowered her head and remained silent, prompting her older, ditzy sister to add: "By the way, Lola, why do you and Lana wear similar overalls?"
"Overalls only come in one form, Leni," Lola answered, chuckling a little as she said so.
"That's not, like, what I meant," Leni took a deep breath. "Listen, our family is... rather big. So big, in fact, people think most of us are adopted."
This caused Lola to innocently ask, "But some of us are adopted, right?"
Leni flinched, almost as if the question struck a nerve to her, but she quickly shook herself back to earth and regained her composure.
"D-Don't pay attention to that, just... like, let's drop the topic and get back on track, okay?" the fashionista answered, and the overall-wearing princess nodded. "Our family's big, and in a big family, some of the members might wind up being harder to remember. So, in order to avoid that, we have to try and give ourselves some "memorable" identities."
"Is that why most of us are living stereotypes?" Lola asked, tilting her head to the left as she added, "Like how Lynn's an athletic knucklehead?"
"No, that's a sad case of both the real self and the persona being exactly the same," Leni scoffed, rolling her eyes.
The pair laughed once again, and if it was up to Leni or Lola, they would most definitely hold this moment in place. But alas, Leni soon stopped laughing, for she knew she had to get something done, and she knew what: She needed to help Lola, and she might have just an idea on how to do it.
Hopefully it was a good plan, too. So she spoke:
"Hey, Lola, would you like to give a test run on some of my dresses? I'm planning to become a fashion designer when I'm older, and I wouldn't mind having somebody as pretty as you wearing them."
Normally, the girl would probably ask or get some more information about the deal before accepting it. Not Lola, though, the girl simply scratched her chin and thought about it for a second or not, and her eyes turned into diamonds as her decision was made.
Next thing she knew, Lola was doing a little fashion show, where she stood on Leni's bed, wearing Leni's handmade dresses, and posing while Leni took several pictures with her phone. Lola put on several dresses: A pink one with several layers, a blue one with polka dots, one literally made of leaves, and finally, the pink dress that she wore in the present, only without the sash.
With the final dress, Leni paused for a moment and took a look at Lola's overall look, and commented, "That dress looks so amazing on you, Lola."
The girl blushed a put a hand on her cheek. "Aw geez, you mean i-"
Suddenly, Leni took the picture, and the flash caused Lola to flinch and wobble around before collapsing on the bed. Luckily, Lola didn't seem to be worse for wear.
"Oh, sorry, I should've warned you that I was about to take a photo," Leni said as she went to the girl's aid. "Anyhow, I'm being honest, that dress does suit you really good. And that may give us a clue on what you can do; I made that dress so it could be wore by a beauty pageant master, someone with a remarkable beauty and talent that, while easily exploitable by shady people, is genuine and passionate to prove said beauty and talent to the world."
Leni leaned closer to Lola and scratched her chin, "All you really need is a way to avoid being exploited and you'll be set."
Lola, however, only had one thing to ask: "Wait, Leni, what are you saying?"
The teenager smiled.
Back in the present...
"And we both know what happened afterwards," Leni wrapped her arm around Lola's shoulder and rubbed it. "We got a brand new personality in the Loud house, and you and Lana managed to become polar opposite twins, rather than slightly different twins, which is always a plus."
Lola looked at the ground and lowered her eyelids as Leni got up and said, "Well, I gotta go work on something. It was, like, nice talking with you."
The ditzy designer turned to look at Lola, who simply looked elsewhere, prompting Leni to walk away...
"Leni?"
The fashionista stopped on her tracks, turned around, and smiled as Lola took a deep breath and stated:
"Thank you. For everything."
Leni walked back to Lola, and the duo shared a tight, tender hug as Leni answered, with pride in her tone:
"You're welcome... sis."