Pranks for Nothing
Any of the Louds could tell you why the first of April was one of the most dreaded days of the year for the household and for good reason. April Fools Day was well known for being Luan's day to go wild and almost nobody was able to escape her wrath. The general rule for when 1 April rolled around was to stay barricaded in your room or leave the house to avoid instant humiliation. Since Luan was known to be absolutely ruthless, April Fools Day was even more terrifying than Halloween for the Loud House. While most of the Louds tried finding ways to avoid Luan's pranks, there was one sibling who had no qualms about helping her.
Young Lio Loud was quite the impressionable boy. Lio already looked up to Luan as it was, but following one particularly hectic April Fools, Lio had adopted the age-old philosophy "If you can't beat em', join em"" and had formed a partnership with his zany older sister. From that day forward, the duo had played many a prank on their siblings.
As we open this story, Lio can be heard laughing. The source of his laughter is soon revealed to be Lynn restraining him while Lola and Lana tickle him mercilessly.
"Stop!" Lio pleaded as he laughed and struggled, trying to break Lynn's grip. "HAHAHAHA! STAHAHAP!"
"Tell us what she's planning, Lio," Lola demanded, "we know that you know!"
"We won't stop until you tell us!" Lana told him.
"She's not planning anything!" Lio promised, laughing. "It's the truth, I swear!"
"Bullshit!" Lynn retorted. "There's no way that Luan's gonna let an April Fools go by without playing a major prank on us!"
"I'm telling you!" Lio insisted, still struggling and laughing his head off. "She's not planning anything!"
"What do you say?" Lana asked as she and Lola continued to tickle Lio. "Do you think he's telling the truth?"
"Hmm…" Lola pondered, "normally he would've cracked by now, but so far he's held out."
"You're not actually buying this, are you?" Lynn asked, holding Lio tightly, "He's just trying not to get on Luan's bad side.l
"I swear on my Devil's Fruit and my Sailor Moon figurines that she's not up to anything," Lio said.
"I'm starting to believe him," Lana said as she stopped momentarily. "You know how serious he can get about his Sailor Moon figures."
"I still don't believe him," Lola said, tickling Lio harder. "What's Luan's big prank?"
"NOTHING!" Lio swore up and down.
"What are you guys doing?" Lincoln asked as he walked by the twins room just as the girls were ceasing their torture to allow Lio to catch his breath.
"We're trying to get Lio to tell us what Luan's end game is tomorrow," Lynn filled him in, "but he won't fucking tell us."
"That's because…" Lio said panting, "there is no prank. I swear."
"Hmm?" Lincoln murmured before asking "Did he swear on his Sailor Moon figurines?"
"He swore on those and his Devil Fruit replica," Lana answered.
"I hate to say it," Lincoln said, "but I think he might be telling the truth."
"Yeah right," Lola scoffed, "Do you honestly think that this traitor doesn't know anything about what Luan's plan is tomorrow?"
"I told you, Luan isn't planning any-," Lio said, starting to get a bit agitated, but only getting a few words out before Lola started tickling him again, causing him to explode into laughter.
"Did we say you could speak?" Lola barked. "The only thing we want you to tell us is what's Luan planning!"
"HELP ME!" Lio pleaded to his brother as he laughed and writhed. "OH MY GOD!"
Meanwhile, Leni is "borrowing" some of Lynn's protective sports gear and wrapping herself in bubble wrap. There is no way she's going to get caught off guard by Luan's antics tomorrow. Lucy on the other hand is marching up and down the halls of the Loud House.
"The end is nigh, the end is nigh," Lucy said, ringing a bell akin to a town crier, "fucking run away, the end is nigh. Sigh."
"Boo boo Bear, if I don't make it out of tomorrow," Lori said, in the middle of a phone call with Bobby. "I want you to know that I cherished every moment I got to spend with you and that I love you."
Luna meanwhile, is also suiting up for tomorrow, wearing padded clothing to cushion the blow of whatever prank she may fall victim to. As she is doing so, Luan accidentally bumps into her while being preoccupied texting.
"Oh, sorry Lu-," Luan started to apologize, only for Luna to shout "Stay back!"
"What's gotten into-," Luan started to ask before Luna cut her off again.
"You aren't fooling anyone!" Luna said, "I'm not letting you sneak up and spring anything on me!"
"For the last time," Luan said, rolling her eyes and letting out a sigh, "I'm not doing anything for April Fools tomorrow."
"Oh please," Luna scoffed, "you don't expect me to believe that crap, do you?! You're the Devil incarnate on April Fools Day! It's like Christmas to you and you're telling me that you don't have anything planned?! HA!"
"Laugh all you want," Luan said, insisting "it's the truth. I have more important things to do tomorrow."
"Like what?" Luna asked.
"If only you knew," Luan muttered under her breath.
Lincoln decided to drop in on Lisa and see how she was preparing for tomorrow.
"How's that decoding coming along, Lisa?" Lincoln asked.
"I've been reading through the most recent pages of Luan's diary for hours," Lisa told him, "but for the life of me, I can't figure out what these euphemisms mean?"
"Give me an example," Lincoln said
Lisa obliged and began reading a passage of Luan's diary. "This week has really been looking up. I just found out I passed my physics exam with an A, I got the lead role in another play for drama, and the week isn't even halfway over yet. I'm just so excited for what's to come. I feel like there's nothing that can go wrong!"
"When was this passage dated?" Lincoln asked.
"Just this past Monday," Lisa informed him.
"And not a single mention of April Fools?"
"There isn't even a single allusion to the holiday," Lisa answered. "I just know that this has to be some kind of complex code."
"You know, Lio says that Luan isn't planning anything and Luan says the same thing," Lincoln told her.
"If you believe that, then you're either more foolish than appearances would suggest," Lisa said, "or you're in cahoots with the both of them."
"What?!" Lincoln responded incredulously. "No way! I'm not working with those two demons! Not in a million years!"
"That might be what they say," Lisa warned him, "but you should know better than to trust their words."
"All I'm saying is that Luan has always been upfront with the fact that she has a plan for April 1st," Lincoln pointed out, "She's never denied it. The fact that for once she's actually telling us that she has nothing in mind just strikes me as odd."
"That's because she's trying to lull us into a false sense of security," Lisa argued, "It's a common deception tactic. I'd almost compare it to the Trojan Horse."
"Well keep up the research when it comes to figuring out what she's up to," Lincoln told her, "Let us know if you find anything."
"Roger that," Lisa said, giving a thumbs up.
Practically none of the Louds have an easy time sleeping that night, being too afraid of the approaching dawn and the chaos that will likely be brought along with it. Lincoln, in particular, is curled up in a ball on his bed, rocking back and forth as he eyes the clock on the wall. The time reads as 11:59 PM. Each passing second feels like a full year and Lincoln imagines himself as Faustus during the last hour of his 24 years before eternal damnation. Lio, in contrast, is sleeping peacefully, unconcerned with the approaching doomsday. Luan wasn't planning anything, his ass. That she devil had to have something up her sleeve. The clock strikes midnight and Lincoln instinctively braces for impact. Lincoln awaits the sound of maniacal laughter, but strangely… he hears none.
"L-Luan?" Lincoln questioned as tiptoed out of his room and found his other sisters waiting in the hallway.
"Lemme guess," Lori said, "you couldn't sleep either?" Lincoln shook his head.
"Is this- is this really happening?" Lynn asked.
"Is what really happening?" Leni asked.
"Are we really standing out here in the open unscathed and unpranked?" Lynn answered.
"Normally by now, Luan would've pulled some practical joke on us or something," Lucy pointed out.
"She's right," Lori said before turning to Leni. "Leni, go check the kitchen."
"What?!" Leni exclaimed "Why me?!"
"Because that's the only way that we can be sure she hasn't set anything up," Lori told her.
Leni gulped and said "O… okay…" before she slowly started walking downstairs, going one step at a time as slowly as possible.
"Go!" The other siblings commanded her.
Leni sighed and said "Alright…"
The siblings listen closely as Leni descends down the stairs. They expect to hear the front door open as Leni falls for the annual "Kitchen This Way" sign prank. Instead, a few moments later, the siblings hear Leni say "It's all clear guys!"
"She didn't set up the sign prank?" Lynn stated, confused.
"But that's like a staple of April Fools Day," Lana said, "Leni falls for it every time."
"Maybe Luan really doesn't have anything planned this year," Lincoln said.
"Dudes, come check this out!" Luna yelled from down the hall.
The other Louds gather in Luna and Luan's room, where they find Luan sleeping soundly in her bed without a care in the world. She doesn't make a single move and instead snores while turning over. Suddenly, Luan sits up, causing the other Louds to jump in fright.
"What are the strongest days of the week?" Luan asked, sleep joking. "Saturday and Sunday, the rest are week days" Luan then giggled before turning over and going back to sleep.
"She's been like this all night," Luna informed the others. "She hasn't made a move at all."
"I'm starting to wonder if maybe there really is nothing going on," Lisa pondered, "Maybe Luan was telling the truth."
"I'm still not convinced," Lynn said, with Lucy agreeing "Neither am I."
"Me neither," Lana said.
"If you guys wanna believe it, that's fine," Lynn said, "Just don't be surprised when you find yourselves with pie in your face."
"I don't know if I fully believe Luan's not planning anything," Lori admitted, "but if she hasn't sprung her move just yet, maybe we aren't in as much danger as we thought."
"So what are we going to do?" Lucy asked.
"Hmmm…?" Lori thought for a moment before instructing Luna and Lincoln, "Luna, Lincoln, you two keep a close watch over Luan and Lio respectively. Make sure they don't make a single move, got it?"
"Got it," Lincoln and Luna said, nodding their heads.
"I'm gonna kill my sleep schedule," Lincoln lamented, "but if it means keeping Luan from pulling the biggest joke on us, it'll be worth it."
"Just let us know if either of them try anything and most importantly stay on guard," Lori told them.
"You can count on us," Luna promised before the Louds returned to their rooms.
"Guys!" Leni yelled from downstairs. "Can I come back upstairs now?"
Lincoln and Luna each set up their stations, keeping a close on their respective roommates. However, the job proves to be more… boring than the two anticipated and after two hours of watching their roommates sleep, Lincoln and Luna both fall asleep themselves. Their errors aren't revealed until the next morning.
The time was 9:45 AM when Lincoln and Luna woke up the rest of their siblings with a scream.
As the siblings rushed to Luna's room first, Lynn was the first to arrive, with Lori right behind her.
"What's going on?!" Lori asked, "Are you alright?"
In a state of terror, Luna pointed at Luan's empty bed and exclaimed "Sh-She's gone…"
"I thought I told you to keep a watch over her!" Lori argued.
"I-I tried," Luna tried to defend herself, "but I guess I must've dozed off!"
"You had one job, Luna," Lola said, "ONE JOB!"
Lynn then turned to Lincoln and asked "Lemme guess, you fell asleep on the job too?"
"Well, to be fair…" Lincoln said nervously, "you try doing nothing but watch a weeb sleep and see how long you can last before dozing off."
"D-d-does that mean?" Leni started to ask before Lori answered for her "Yes, Leni, that means that both Luan and Lio are gone and could be planning god knows what."
Leni was about to scream before Luna clamped a hand over her mouth and tried to defuse the situation.
"Alright, everyone just calm down," Luna said, "we don't know for a fact that-," she said before she was interrupted
"Come on every pony, smile smile smile! Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine! All I really need's a smile, smile, smile! From these happy friends of mine!"
The siblings nearly jump out of their skin and let out a scream before realizing that it's just Luan's alarm clock going off. None of them dare approach the alarm for fear of it being a prank.
"What do we do?" Lola asked.
It only took a couple seconds before the siblings all simultaneously declared "Not it!" and put their fingers in their nose. As usual, Leni ended up putting her finger in her ear.
"Dangit, every time," Leni cursed before cautiously approaching the alarm clock to turn it off.
"Wait!" Lynn said before tossing Leni a rubber glove. "Just in case the clock's electrified or something."
"No, that's dumb!" Lana said, "just unplug the damned thing."
"Good idea," Leni said, still being nervous. She closed her eyes, turned around and braced for the inevitable prank as she reached towards the outlet and unplugged the clock. Much to her relief, Leni escaped unharmed.
"Phew!" Leni breathed a sigh of relief as Lori exclaimed "At least that wasn't a trap."
"Exactly," Lisa agreed, "which is why if you need me, I'll be hiding out in my bunker."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Lucy said.
"Why not?" Lisa asked.
"What if Luan's already gotten there?" Lucy pointed out.
"Don't be preposterous," Lisa scoffed, "My bunker is heavily fortified and has a top of the line security system designed to keep anyone unwanted from getting in."
"Since when have security measures like that ever stopped Luan on April Fools Day?" Luna pointed out.
"Oh dear," Lisa said, realizing that Luna was right. "We might be in a bit of a sticky situation here."
Leni's stomach suddenly growled, startling the siblings once again.
"Hmm, I don't know about you," Leni said, "but I could really go for a blueberry muffin right about now."
"Of all the times for a muffin button not to be an actual thing," Lincoln joked.
Leni started walking towards the door before Lori stopped her. "Slow down, Leni!"
"What?" Leni asked.
"We still don't know whether it's safe to leave this room or not," Lori said, "Luan literally could've set up another prank while we were all in here talking."
"Do you really think so?" Asked a very scared Leni.
"I wouldn't put it past her," Lincoln said.
"Alright, we know what to do," Lynn said before saying "3 2 1, not it!"
This time, Leni got it right and it was Lincoln who ended up being too slow.
"Crapbaskets!" Lincoln cursed before peeking his head out the door and into the hallway.
He instinctively ducked his head in case Luan had set up a bucket to go flying into his cranium. Fortunately, no such trap awaited him. Lincoln was about to step out into the hallway, when he took a good look at the rug running through the hallway. Once again, Lincoln considered the possibility that Luan had booby trapped the rug and thus, he ripped up the rug and rolled it down the hall to make sure there was nothing hiding underneath it, such as a hole in the floor leading directly downstairs. Satisfied when he saw nothing, Lincoln stepped out into the hallway and took a few steps around before determining that it was safe.
"All clear!" Lincoln yelled.
"Alright, we stick together," Lori instructed her siblings. "We keep an eye out from all angles and make our way downstairs, okay?"
"Let's do it," the others declared in stereo.
Huddled together for safety, the siblings slowly made their way downstairs. With each creak of the floorboards, the siblings became more on edge, feeling the urge to run away. Of course, the one thing that keeps them from running away is the fact that there could very well be pranks waiting in each corner. The siblings are halfway down the stairs when Lynn realizes they're one step away from a particularly creaky floorboard.
"STOP!" She yells, nearly gripping up the others.
"What?!" Lola asked, jumping into Lana's arms. "Do you see something?! Are we about to be creamed?!"
Lynn pointed to the creaky floorboard and asked "Doesn't that one stair seem like the perfect place to hide a loaded spring?"
"You don't think?" Luna asked as she and the others imagined themselves stepping onto that particular stair and being propelled up into the ceiling.
"What are we going to do?" Lucy asked.
"Easy," Lincoln said, "we just skip *that* stair and go onto the next one."
"But what if that's what Luan wants us to do and the step below it is the one that's booby trapped?" Lana pointed out.
"One two three, not it!" Lincoln said, with all siblings being on point this time.
"Sigh," Lucy said, "I guess we're all taking the risk."
"So we're only jumping two stairs?" Lynn said, cracking her neck. "Easy peasy."
"Alright, let's wait a second so that we're all on the same page before we-," Lori said, unable to complete her sentence before Lynn took the jump.
Lynn's sudden move caused her other siblings to reach out to try and grab her to stop her. This resulted in them losing their balance and sending all 10 siblings tumbling down the stairs. They attempted to grab the guardrail to stop their fall, but all they succeeded in doing is pulling it down with them and destroying it.
"Nice going, Lynn," Lincoln said sarcastically as all of them laid in a heap on the floor.
"Oh, shut up Stincoln," Lynn retorted, "we wouldn't be in this mess if you and Luna hasn't fell down on your jobs."
"If you think it's so easy, next time you give it a whirl," Luna argued.
"Guys, stop it!" Lana said, "this is exactly what Luan wants. She wants us to argue instead of working on the same page so that she can pick us off one by one."
"Lana's right," Lori said as the group picked themselves up, "let's just try and stick together."
"So what now?" Lisa asked.
"Leni, Lynn, Lucy, Lincoln and I will check out the kitchen," Lori said before Lincoln cut her off.
"No way," Lincoln refused, remembering April Fools past, "I am not going in the kitchen. That's the unsafest area."
"You can count me out too," Lynn said.
"Fine," Lori huffed, "Leni, Luna, Lucy, Lola and I will check out the kitchen." She said, "The rest of you stay here in the living room."
As Lori, Leni, Luna, Lucy and Lola head into the kitchen, the first thing Leni does is match towards the refrigerator. She is about to open it before Lori stops her.
"Leni, what are you doing?" Lori asked.
"Getting a blueberry muffin," Leni answered, "I told you I was starving."
"We *told* you, Leni," Luna said, "we don't know what could or couldn't be safe. We have to stay on guard."
"But I'm hungry," Leni whined.
"Would you rather be pranked?" Lucy asked deadpan, finally getting Leni to step away from the refrigerator.
"Fine, I'll just grab a fruit off the counter," Leni said.
"No!" Lola said, grabbing the fruit bowl and tossing into the wall, shattering it into pieces. "Those fruit are probably paint bombs or chalk bombs or something disguised to look like fruit!"
"Then what am I supposed to do?" Leni asked.
"Alright," Lori relented. "We'll let use the fridge, just be careful."
"Sure thing," Leni said before attempting to open the fridge door, only to find that it was stuck. "Hmm, that's weird."
"What?" Luna asked.
"The refrigerator door is stuck," Leni answered.
"Leni, get away from there!" Lola instructed her, tackling Leni to the ground as if a bomb were about to go off.
Unfortunately, Leni is still holding onto the fridge door and with the force of Lola's tackle, accidentally pulls the entire fridge door off of its hinges.
"Leni, what did you do?" Lori scolded her.
"Don't blame me," Leni said, "Lola's the one that tackled me!"
"I was trying to save you from being pranked," Lola argued.
"By causing her to rip the door off?" Lucy deadpanned.
"Well your efforts were for naught," Luna informed her, finding the refrigerator to not having anything out of the ordinary. "No pranks on here at all."
"Sigh," Lucy said, "I'll check the cabinets for super glue"
As Lucy searched the cabinet, Luna let out a sneeze, causing Lucy to grab a knife out of reflex and hurl it behind her. Fortunately, no one got hurt, but the knife ended up becoming embedded deep within the wall on the other side of the room.
"Sorry," Lucy apologized.
Back in the living room, Lily is trying to crawl up onto the couch, only for Lynn to stop her by literally flipping the couch over.
"Sorry, Lily," Lynn apologized, "but you can never be too safe. For all we know, the couch could've been set up to move on its own and catapult us through the window."
"Don't you think you're being just a little too paranoid?" Lisa asked.
"Would *you* put it past Luan?" Lincoln came to Lynn's defense.
"No," Lisa admitted.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Lynn said, reaching for the remote to see what was on TV.
"Don't touch that!" Lana warned her, springing up and roundhouse kicking the remote out of Lynn's hands and into the TV, destroying it and leaving a huge hole in the screen.
"What the heck, Lana?!" Lynn asked.
"Could've been a trap!" Lana rationalized. "Could've been a remote to a hidden paintball gun or something that was switched with the TV remote."
"Right, right," Lynn agreed. "Good looking out."
"I still can't believe we haven't come across a single prank yet," Lincoln said. "Is it possible that we could go through a single April Fools without getting pranked?"
The five of them thought about that for a moment before all of them, even Lily, simultaneously declared "Nah!"
"I'm thankful for the seeming reprieve," Lisa admitted, "but constantly looking over our shoulders wondering whether or not we're going to get hit isn't exactly how I want to spend April Fools either."
"This has to be done, Lisa," Lynn said. "It never hurts to be cautious."
Lincoln suddenly sneezed, causing Lynn to instinctively karate chop the coffee table out of fright, destroying it as well.
"Sorry," Lynn said, "force of habit."
It was only then that she noticed something. Sitting on the TV stand, just underneath the TV itself, was Luan's camcorder, plugged up and seemingly charging.
"Hey, is that what I think it is?" Lynn asked, pointing it out to the others.
"Ha!" Lincoln laughed. "I knew it was too good to be true."
"You think you can fool us Luan?!" Lana shouted into the camera. "You're not slick! We're onto you and your little minion too! Show yourselves!"
Lana and Lynn then began tearing the living room apart, looking for Luan and Lio's hiding place.
"What is going on?" Lori asked, stepping into the living room.
"Luan's been playing us this whole time," Lincoln said, pointing out the camera. "She set up her camera to record us."
"Which means there has to be some traps set up for us," Lori deduced before calling the rest of her siblings. "Alright, all of you split up! Search this house for top to bottom and don't stop until you've found where those two are hiding!"
As the siblings split up again, Lincoln looked directly in the camera and said "I don't know what you're up to, but we're going to find out. Mark my words."
And that, my friends, is now the Loud family turned their house upside down trying to find out what zany games their sister was playing.
It was late in the afternoon when Luan and Lio returned to the Loud House. True to their word, the two of them hadn't set up a single prank for the entire day.
"It's not often that I get to celebrate like this," Luan said, "I'm definitely not gonna take a day like today for granted."
"I know," Lio said with a frown, "and that's pretty sad all things considered," Lio then smiled and said "but I hope that we were able to make up for that and give you a day to remember."
"Trust me," Luan said, ruffling his hair, "you guys did more than enough to make today perfect."
"You know, I still can't believe that Benny and Maggie went the whole time without arguing," Lio said to Luan.
"Well today is a very special day," Luan said, "they probably didn't want to risk getting on my bad side."
"A wise dec-," Lio said before noticing that the living room window was shattered, one of Luna's guitars lying on the porch, "whoa."
"Talk about having a small window of opportunity," Luan joked.
"Looks like our siblings had a little fun of their own," Lio mused.
"All this chaos and anarchy and they couldn't even invite yours truly?" Luan feigned offense, laughing and saying "Then again, I'm not surprised."
Lio went to open the front door, only for it to fall off of its hinges.
"Do we dare look inside?" Lio muttered before he and Luan stepped inside.
"Holy…" Luan said with Lio finishing the statement for her, "shit."
The house looked as if it'd been hit by a tornado and an earthquake before a bomb went off inside it. It was easier to count how many things *
weren't broken and in disarray than the things that were.
"Luan!" Cried out a voice and from the destruction emerged Lincoln, looking way worse for wear.
"Lincoln?/兄さん?" Luan and Lio both asked, surprised by what they saw, with Luan asking "What happened to you guys?"
"We tried figuring out what your master prank was," Lori said as she and the other siblings emerged from their hiding spots.
"But we couldn't!" Lola exclaimed.
"We looked all over the house, tore everything apart and we still couldn't find out what you were planning!" Lynn exclaimed.
"Listen, you win," Lincoln said, "you outsmarted us! Now please, just tell us what your master plan was!"
Luan and Lio looked at each other before saying "April Fools!"
"What?" The siblings asked, as confused as ever.
"Remember when I told you guys that I was taking this April Fools off?" Luan asked.
"And remember how I told you that Luan's plan was nothing?" Lio asked, glaring at Lynn, Lana, and Lola. "It turns out that that was the big joke."
"I'm confused," Leni said, scratching her head.
"We all are," Lisa said, trying to wrap her head around everything.
"Allow me to elucidate ya," Luan said with a mischievous grin, "it all started about a month ago when I was trying to figure out whether or not to play a prank on you guys or not. Truthfully, playing pranks on you guys every April Fools was getting a bit exhausting and played out so I was considering quitting. That's when my partner in Crime came up with an idea."
"I took a page from the Magic Conch and told Luan to do nothing," Lio said, looking a bit proud of himself.
"After all the years of playing jokes on you, I figured that the best prank for this year would be doing absolutely nothing," Luan explained, "I could go out and truly enjoy myself while letting your paranoia turn you into rabid animals." Luan then took another look around and admitted "though I didn't expect it to go this far."
"But why?" Lincoln asked.
"You guys really don't know what today is, do you?" Luan asked, sounding really hurt.
"It's April 1st-," Lori started to say before Luan cut her off.
"Aside from that?" Luan asked, leaving her siblings stumped. The 10 of them tried figuring out what she was talking about, but couldn't wrap their heads around it for the life of them.
"Yare yare daze," Lio sighed, facepalming before spelling it out for them, "today is Onee-Chan's birthday!"
"It is?" The siblings asked.
"Yes!" Luan stated, "Today's my fifteenth birthday."
"So wait," Lana said, "you mean all those times you said your birthday was on April 1st, you were serious?" Luan nodded her head.
"I mean, haven't you ever noticed that we've never actually celebrated Luan's birthday?" Lio pointed out.
"To be fair, most of the time we're trying to survive because she's planning out our demise with her killer pranks," Luna argued.
"And do you ever wonder why I put so much effort into my pranks?" Luan retorted. "It's because I have nothing else to look forward to." Luan then muttered "since hardly anyone ever remembers."
"So all this time…" Lincoln said, "you've been lashing out because you feel forgotten?"
"Pretty much," Luan admitted.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Lori asked.
"I tried," Luan said, "several times, but you guys always thought I was just playing another joke on you."
"Yeah…" Lana said, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly, "Sorry about that."
"I still have one question," Lynn said, "If you really didn't have any pranks planned for us, then why was your camcorder plugged into the wall?"
"Oh, I was supposed to grab it to videotape today," Luan informed her, "but I kinda forgot it."
"Fortunately, I recorded everything on my phone," Lio said before asking Lincoln "Mind if I upload it to our channel later, 兄さん?"
"Not at all," Lincoln said before asking "What did you guys even do anyway?"
"Oh, Benny, Maggie, Lio, and Kat took me to this Japanese theatre," Luan said, "it was great. They even had an open mic where I got to tell jokes. The audience seemed to love me."
"I got to act as translator," Lio said.
"Oh, and then we all took turns singing karaoke," Luan said, laughing and saying "Let's just say that my performance didn't end on a high note and that I had to face the music and realize singing would never be my forte."
"Then after that, Maggie treated me to my favorite ice cream," Luan said.
"Glad you had fun," Lincoln said, feeling kinda scummy. "We're really sorry about forgetting your birthday."
"We'll definitely try to remember it in the future," Lucy said.
It was at that particular moment that Lynn Sr and Rita returned home, having spent most of the day hiding (or in their words, "working") at Lynn's Table to avoid the anarchy. They were expecting some measure of destruction, but nothing even close to the bedlam they returned home to.
"Is it, is it sa-?" Lynn Sr asked before getting a glimpse of the house and exclaiming "SWEET CREAM ON AN ICE CREAM SANDWICH!"
Rita's eyes immediately shot to Luan and Lio as she said "I hope you two had your fun because as punishment, you're both going to clean this house from top to bottom."
"Wait, it wasn't them!" Lincoln came to their defense. "It was us, we did this!"
"What?" Rita asked.
"You're telling us that Luan wasn't responsible for all of this?" Lynn Sr asked.
"It's the truth!" Lori said, with Lynn chiming in "They've both been out all day."
"Out all day?" Lynn Sr questioned before sighing, "How many people got pranked and how many damages are we going to have to pay?"
"They didn't do any pranks," Leni said.
"Then what were they doing?" Rita asked.
"Mother, Father, do you know what today is?" Lisa asked. "Aside from April Fools?"
"It's… It's…" Lynn Sr said before both he and Rita reached the same conclusion, "it's Luan's birthday."
"Onee-Chan and I were out celebrating her birthday," Lio explained, "because no one else seems to remember."
After a moment of silence, Lynn Sr said to Luan "You know, we've been so caught up in trying to survive your pranks that we tend to forget that it's also your birthday."
"We're really sorry, sweetie," Rita apologized, "we know that it can't feel good to have your birthday forgotten. We'll definitely make a note to remember it from now on."
"In fact, what do you say I bake your favorite cake and we throw you a party tomorrow?" Lynn Sr. proposed.
"That sounds like a cakewalk," Luan joked with a smile, "just so long as we don't have the party here because… yikes."
"Yeah, it's going to take us a long time to clean up all of this mess," Lincoln said.
"In that case, you might wanna grab a broom," Lio quipped.
"Who would've thought that by doing nothing, I could sweep you off your feet?" Luan joked, resulting in the family sharing a laugh. "Happy April Fools, everybody!"
FIN