Note: This is an extension of "Thinking About Luan Loud". So, as a recommendation, I suggest that you go through that story series. But despite that, this is a stand-alone story.
On a chilly winter night, where the crescent moon illuminates over Royal Woods, Lincoln is doing the best thing he loves to do on a Friday night – play videogames, of course. With nachos dressed with cheddar cheese and salsa sauce to accompany him, it is a perfect night for him.
Eventually, Luan goes downstairs from her room with Mr. Coconuts on her hand and encounters Lincoln in his leisure time.
Lincoln notices her, and then encourages to join with him. "Hey Luan, wanna play with me? I could really use a companion for this quest."
Then, while operating Mr. Coconuts with her voice, Luan says, "A companion for your quest, eyy? I have a lot of quest-ions about it."
"Come on Luan. It's Final Fantasy VI. I really need someone to be my mage," Lincoln persuades.
But Luan still continues her Mr. Coconuts stint, "What's the matter? The mages went along the way."
"Hahaha! Oh, Mr. Coconuts, you're such a funny bone."
"What do you mean? That wasn't even humerus."
"Oh please Mr. Coconuts, you've shown some skel-e-tons on making puns. Hahaha. Get it?"
Annoyed at Luan's expected pun intrusion, as he is hoping for his sister to bond with him, Lincoln pauses the PS3 and asks bluntly, "Are you done annoying me now?"
"Why I didn't notice you there, player…" Luan says in character as Mr. Coconuts.
"Please, don't call me that Luan," Lincoln insists.
"Why I never hear our sister say such a thing," she pokes fun.
"Well, you're playing out the pun out of me."
"Ouuuccchh. That pun really hurts; it makes me want to take pun-killers."
"Pun-killers?" Lincoln then understands what Luan is doing to him. Being the clever one on dodging his sisters' antics, he thinks of out-punning Mr. Coconuts, in order for Luan to play with him. "Might a recommend an Advil to your head?"
"Ohh sheesh, that's like liver for every meal. And I don't like liver."
"How an ironic statement. Hehehe. Get it? Well I guess you're a non-be-liver."
"Don't you dare mix food, health and religion jokes."
"Might as well egg roll with it. Hahaha!"
"I see what you're doing. Wait until I tell Luan about how you're stealing her punchlines."
"At least I borrow them because they're punny."
"Awww…right on the guts!"
"Did I just throw you off the line with my punches?"
"No, my head!"
"What happened? Did I have you go nuts?"
"Don't dare use my name in your unholy mockery."
"What's wrong? You a coco in the head? Hahaha."
"That's it Whitey! You had it this time. I will come back for you with more pun-chlines."
"I suggest you get a boxing trainer. Might I recommend Meghan?"
And just like that, Luan portrays Mr. Coconuts walking away from the scene. She then returns without holding her ventriloquist puppet after placing it aside.
"Lincoln, what did I missed?" Luan asks.
"Oh, uhmm Mr. Coconuts got fed up from puns, so…he walked out," Lincoln says, "But I get to beat him with a set of punchlines, straight to his face."
"Man, that was indeed clever, from what you said," Luan comments.
Then having impressed her with his own set of puns, Lincoln asks, "So, would you like to play Final Fantasy with me?"
Luan knows that Lincoln passed her test of wits. In response, she replies with a grin to her face.
For the whole night, the two Loud siblings finish the whole stage set of Final Fantasy VI for the entire night. None can stop them from being glued to the TV screen and finish every creature they encounter.
As the 9 o'clock mark strikes, a knock comes on the door.
"I'll get that," Lincoln responds.
"No, I'll get it. You find more items," Luan insists before she abandons her controller and approaches the door to answer it. She then opens it to see, to her absolute surprise, Waldo (from the story "Thinking About Luan Loud") carrying a radio player and a set of cue cards.
"Who is that?" Lincoln asks from the living room.
Then Waldo flashes a sign that says, "Tell him it's just choir singers asking for donation."
Not knowing what to answer, Luan nonetheless follows what he said. "Uhmm they're just choir singers asking for donation."
"Well, give them a dollar or a fruitcake or something," Lincoln replies, "Hurry up Luan! We have to still battle the boss."
Luan afterwards shifts her attention to Waldo, who is the doing one of the most clichéd gestures that a Hollywood love story-inspired suitor would do. Ironically, he flashes "I know this is clichéd but this is the best thing I can do."
He then switches on the radio, which plays a choral rendition of "God Gave Me You" by Bryan White, and puts down the present card to flash another: "I have to admit something."
Then he flashes another: "It took me a month to rehearse this." Luan giggles at this.
Out comes another card: "It should take a Skype message for this."
Then another card: "But hey, there are loads of popcorn back home. Might as well go cornier and pop out what I need to say." Naturally, Luan chuckles at Waldo's clever use of puns.
Seeing her laugh is sheer delight for Waldo. So, it becomes motivation for him to go along with his plan and flips another card. "In comedy, I may not be the very best…"
Then he quickly flashes another card: "Like this guy ever was." This card shows a pasted photo of Sans from Undertale, which Luan takes a laugh at since she relates to the character.
Waldo then flips another card: "But the best thing I can do is…"
And he flips this: "Make you laugh." Luan feels touched by what it says, though she replies in the more comedic touched, like watching a clip of whimpering puppy in a funny dogs video compilation.
With that out of the way, Waldo continues another card that says, "And laugh, and laugh, and laugh" and ends with an infinite sign.
Then he flashes this cheesy remark: "Because laugh is all we need." In response, Luan laughs at this referencing while trying to cover her mouth from eventual snorts.
Waldo continues flashing. "It's just your LAUGHS ACTUALLY…" and then flashes a continuation of that line with "…shine brighter like the pun." Luan cannot stop laughing that she causes to massage her cheeks from feeling delighted of Waldo's subtle, chivalrous gesture.
Continuing with the referencing, the 15-year-old Asian flashes this statement. "And it had go through your thousand smiles just to ask you tonight…"
Then finally, Waldo transitions to the next stage where he will ask out Luan to be his prom date for the school's February winter formal. But even still, he is hesitant to go on. His hands begin to tremble from carrying his cue cards. He then flips to another card, "If…" His trembling become more evident, feeling the heat of the moment to embrace another moment to ask from the girl of his dreams.
Luan begins to notice Waldo's usual nervousness. "Uhmm Waldo, are you okay?"
Waldo then quickly pulls out a marker and writes on an extra card, "Good" to flash it to the 14-year-old jokester. After that, he flashes: "Are you ready? Nod yes if you are."
Luan then nods bewilderingly so that Waldo can proceed on his true intentions.
Slowly, Waldo flashes a pictogram card instead, showing a picture of an aluminum can for corned beef, a human eye and a woodchuck's axe. This is clearly just to both amuse and confuse Luan more and more, to keep her anticipated for the surprise.
But as Waldo is about to flip the final card, Luan's siblings call her from inside, "Luan!"
"Guys?" she utters.
"Luan, we need your help!" Lincoln enunciates while he and his other sisters try to pull Leni out of the pet door to the backyard. "Leni's stuck on the door!"
"Why did you even literally pass by where Charles passes by?!" Lori interrogates her scatterbrained sister.
"I tried to find him. And I saw him go through this door," Leni explains with her topmost body stuck outside, "So I followed him."
"Great, you are really are a genius, aren't you, Leni!" Lynn reacts complainingly.
"Wait, is that a compliment or a complement? Because I am confused between the two," Leni responds, making her siblings groan more.
"Luan, come here now!" Lincoln calls her again.
Hearing the need from her siblings, Luan says to Waldo, "Hold on Waldo. I'll be back." Just like that, Luan leaves Waldo by the door in the outside cold and goes to assist her siblings. As for Waldo, he quickly picks up the cue cards he flipped to the floor and walks out of the Loud house premises, with the insecurity and introversion motivating him to leave. He is just bothered that he had done something out of his comfort zone that he predicted will be the source of his embarrassment.
But as soon as he heads to the sidewalk pavements, Luan rushes to him. "Waldo wait! Why did you leave? I was just inside there for a second. Turns out they don't need help. Why did you leave so fast?"
Starting with a deep sigh, Waldo says, "I just think saying this will bother you."
"How would I even know if what you'll say will embarrass me if you haven't said it?" Luan retorts, "What is it you're going to say?"
However, Waldo takes more deep breaths, just to remove his insecurity. But in one blurt, he finally asks this: "Can I take you out to the winter formal?"
Hearing this makes Luan more unnerved and uncertain of how she should respond, or what matter she should respond. This is not the first time that she hears Waldo reveal something unexpected or related to romance. But his sudden knock on her house just makes it even awkward for the two.
Upon pondering this, Luan hears commotion from inside, bringing up concern to her. "I better go back," she says, leaving Waldo again and unnoticeably making him dumbfounded. Nevertheless, he walks away disappointed from his failed prom-posal plan. But suddenly, Luan pops up again before she returns to the house, "Waldo, I'll not leave you hanging. If I show up there, that's a yes."
Still, Luan's words leave Waldo confused as to what she means. Yet, he feels secured with her promise: "if I show up there, that's a yes." But even though Luan's promise leaves Waldo with confused signals, Waldo anticipates for the day of the winter formal dance to arrive, whether or not that promise is true.
The day of the winter formal arrives, and every high school student with their partner converges in the auditorium for an all-night dance galore. As for Waldo, he is just seated at the side, sipping on a four season punch in a paper cup and passively listening to contemporary pop music being played in the hall.
His best friend and wingman Ralph walks to him after seeing his worried face. "Hey man, why the long face? It's winter dance. Come on, let's celebrate."
"You go ahead," Waldo insists, "I'll just be here. Shouldn't you be dancing with Lauren?" Waldo is referring to Ralph's current girlfriend Lauren. (Get it?)
"Dude, is this about Luan?" Ralph asks, to which Waldo never responds, meaning he is still despondent from his failure to ask out Luan. "Waldo, I know you failed but you shouldn't let that put you down. Seize every moment. Come on. Get up!"
"No seriously," Waldo is adamant, "I'll go to you guys. I will just finish this drink."
"You for real?"
"Yeah," Waldo answers after he takes a sip on his cup.
"If you say so. I'll be seeing you on the dance floor." With that, Ralph heads back to Lauren and their round of friends who are dancing to "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" by Usher featuring Pitbull.
For now, Waldo resumes to his cloistered self-moping. But as he blankly stares to the enjoying teenage crowd, Mr. Coconuts suddenly pop out in front of him. "Greetings there laddy!"
Of course, Waldo gets surprised with the dummy's sudden appearance. "Mr. Coconuts?"
"Yeah, who else you think? Kermit?" the puppet utters, or the clear puppeteer under the black sheet utters.
Waldo suspects this as another work from none other than his jokester friend. "Luan, is that really you?"
"You ever see Luan right in front of you? Gees, don't be a dummy. And a dummy has to tell you that."
The Asian teenager knows it is Luan perpetuating this scheme. But nevertheless, he goes along with the play as of the moment. "Okay…Mr. Coconuts, what brings you here?"
"Your friend Luan sent me here to give you a certain message. But she wishes to ask you something. Of all the girls you want to bring to the dance, why her?"
"I just want to dance with the funniest girl of the planet."
"Isn't Sarah Silverman the funniest girl of the planet?"
"Luan can never outmatch Sarah Silverman."
"Okay, we have Luan. Good. But why you end up being shy about it?"
"I already embarrassed myself in front of her once. I hate doing it again."
"But do you think quitting would mean losing her?"
"I never thought it that way."
"Alright, I'll give you a chance there. If she were here, what would you say to her?"
"Indeed, I would say that it is a great pleasure to have a dance with one of the best friends I have. No matter what she looks like, I want to spend this moment with her."
"Well, she said 'yes'"
After that, the comedienne reveals herself from underneath the black sheet about Mr. Coconuts. However, her appearance is different than usual. Right now, she has her hair down, with her locks curled. She has a yellow clip by her left bangs. And for the outfit, she is wearing a yellow cocktail dress with black dots in all sizes and white sandals.
"Luan, you really shine bright like the pun…" Waldo compliments sweetly.
"Man Waldo, I don't what's cheesier: my dress that looks like a cheese or to how you compare me to Sarah Silverman or your pickup line," Luan jokingly asserts.
"Maybe, the way you make Mr. Coconuts say 'yes'," Waldo teases, "He sounds kinda husky. Hehe. Get it? But still, you really shine brighter than a thousand puns."
"So, how will you pick up from here?" Luan replies humorously, "Ran out of fuel from pun making?
Waldo then unexpectedly kisses Luan by the lips to capture such an intimate moment. "So, Luan, is this it?"
But Luan sways to something greater. "Well, you want to dance with me. Come on! Let's dance!" With that, she gladly drags Waldo to the dance floor. And the two spend a great night in the winter formal. It is unclear where the two go from here on their relationship. But one thing is definite: Waldo shuts up and dances.
