How about the basement?

Lori side-eyed the washing machine churning away before her. It was chore day, and as always Lori found herself beset by mounds of dirty sibling stained clothes to be dumped by the fistful into the machine to make them all fresh for re-ruining.

Of course while digging through your siblings' nasty socks and underwear would turn almost any girl's stomach, Lori's arduous task did have a distinct advantage. While she did have to touch the used clothing of twelve other people, she also had plenty of off time between loads to text her Bobby Boo Boo Bear, watch some videos or in this case…

Distract herself with more exciting means!

Specifically one small, pink, bullet like object with a fresh battery. Oh yes, Lori Loud had replaced her little friend after The Motel Incident and she was ready to put it to good use, a good use helpfully disguised by the sound of an active and ancient washing machine working through thirteen people's worth of dirty clothing.

But before she got to enjoying herself she looked around just in case….

The basement door was locked? Check!

The room was clear of any suspicious siblings? Check!

Luan's cameras were safely capped again (she was actually going to start smashing them if Luan kept making weird videos about her, no; just because she had the 'good grace' not to upload them didn't mean making them was okay!)? Check!

The vents…

She marched over and pointedly shoved the half filled clean laundry basket over the covering. No peaking from Lucy…

Another quick scan to ensure that Lucy herself wasn't hiding for some reason, and that no other sibling had come in…

She was free.

Quickly she tried to get as comfortable as she could in a corner, nice and close to the wall so no one could peak in through the windows lining the ceiling. She got down as low as she could in a semi-comfortable crouch (because there wasn't actually such a thing as a comfy crouch) and pulled open the front of her shorts.

She jammed in a corded set of earphones (corded on the off chance the Bluetooth failed or someone else somehow caught the signal) and put one in her right ear, so she would be able to listen in case of an intruder. Grasping the phone with one hand she pulled up a saved certain video (volume turned down of course), positioned her 'friend' at just the right place and…

She had a good time.

She had a really good time.

A whole two and a half minutes in fact before Leni and Mom came bursting in, prompting her to jump and fall over with a squawk.

"Oh hi Lori, totes sorry about interrupting like this but Linky forgot to put his cute Lace Faffy costume in the was-" Leni noticed that Lori had faceplanted, and was seemingly preoccupied with her pants. "Oh no! Did you break your zipper in the fall?"

"No- No it's totally fine," Lori pushed herself up with a sticky hand and quickly buttoned and zipped shorts, but stumbled back a bit-

She winced as a crunch came from under her foot.

She could still feel her phone in her right hand (just switching that off before they see that …), but her slightly slippery left fingers clenched on nothing. It was difficult to tell with the washing machine still going- but the steady buzz of her friend was absent too.

Dang it.

Her mother was standing behind Leni with neutral features that formed into a tight smile as the ditzy sister carefully fitted Lincoln's stupid costume in with rest of his washing. "I was wondering why the basement door was locked closed dear, I knocked but no one answered."

"Oh, I just wanted to talk to Bobby without being interrupted," Lori flubbed with a nervous smile. "He's just been so busy lately that-"

"Oh it's fine dear," Rita Loud's eyes said it was very much not fine. "You clearly just didn't hear me over the washing machine, but Leni was coming down with Lincoln's costume anyway so she got the door open for me."

Leni Loud; the wildcard. No plan survived a meeting with her strange mind and weirdly varied set of skills.

Well okay; she could have guessed that she could pick the lock after the 'snake' incident, but she didn't really have anything to block the door with. Nothing that wouldn't have been way more suspicious than already locking the door anyway.

"Yeah it's like; a really easy lock too," Leni's now empty hands assumed their 'Leni stance' in front of her. "I totes thought it was hard, but it's just old!"

"I'm very proud of you Leni," Mom smiled and patted her second eldest on the shoulder. "Could you go and make us some smoothies, I would love anything-"

Leni squealed, "O! M! Gosh! I was just thinking the same thing, just give me five minutes and I'll have something to exfoliate you from the inside!"

And like that, the golden haired girl sped up the basement stairs, leaving the door to swing closed behind her.

Instantly the room temperature seemed to drop with Rita Loud's smile dropping to a neutral line. Lori felt sweat roll down her back, but affixed her own uneasy smile with firm resolve.

She'd fallen over in shock the instant she heard the door burst open, and while her hand was suspiciously sticky she could just chalk that up to… sweating from shock?

Maybe.

She was pretty sure that Mom hadn't seen the naughty video either, and her shorts were good and tough enough that there wasn't any 'leakage' to be felt when she'd zipped them up. All she had to do was play it cool…

Even if Mom was wearing that 'I'm done' face.

The old washing machine finished its cycle, Lori maintained her awkward smile and shoved her phone in her shorts pocket before opening it and preparing to-

Touch the clean clothing with her sticky hand.

She froze over the washing, Mom was still staring in silence.

She didn't want to touch the clothes with her nasty hand, but Mom would ask why she was only using one. If she used both then she'd have to do the load again or have to look her siblings in the eye knowing that they were wearing her dried 'special sauce'.

She hesitated, Mom was looking right at her…

"Well at least you have enough decency not to ruin the washing." Mom finally said.

"Hunh?" Lori smiled turned to Mom. "What do mean-"

"I can see what your hand is like dear," Mom's lips tightened. "I think I can smell it too."

Oh no...

"And another thing?" Mom suddenly stepped forward, prompting Lori to instinctively step back. As her foot rose it revealed the wreckage of what had been an expensive toy. "I've used this machine since before you were born; I know that kind of buzz isn't one of its sounds."

Lori's mouthed opened, then closed.

Then opened again. "I-"

"Am very sorry I'm sure." Mom sighed then pointed at the toy. "Clean that and your fingers up. After the washing's done we're taking a trip to the garage."

A/N: A short chapter, but there's more on the way soon. This was actually meant to be part of a compilation of three, but outgrew the other two it was meant to accompany by a large size, so it gets its own little chapter instead.