Alright, main storyline again. I know how wrong it is to publish Christmas themed stuff around August, but what can you do? If you've got to this point in the story, then congrats! I must warn you, though, it might get a bit… 'hazy' going forwards, so you've been warned. Also, another heads up: 'L is for love' didnt happen in this story. Thanks in advance, and I hope you enjoy.
It was just another normal afternoon at the Loud House for Colin Gomez-Loud. If, of course, you could say that ANY day was "normal" there. To these people, 'normal' was a foreign concept.
Fighting, in fact, was pretty natural, as evidenced tjat there was a huge one happening in the living room between all the siblings (not including Colin.)
"Oh boy, another fight!" Colin said as he sat down on the couch in front of the squabble. He had never really cared to join fights between the sisters and brother, but boy, did he love watching them!
"Hey, Lana, incoming!" He yelled as a sister jumped on her. It sucked what had happened between the two, so they were both doing their best to watch each other's backs.
"Boy, do I love these fights!" He said to no one in particular. "I mean, I had my arguments with Chica from time to time, but this is like World War 3 when these guys go at it! And it's ALWAYS over something stupid, like the remote! Hah! ...Wait, am I talking to a 4th wall or something?"
He was so deep in thought that he didn't even notice Lynn Sr and Rita walk in.
"Ok, what is all of this about?!" He said in his loudest voice possible, which caused the fighting to cease.
"We all want to write letters to Santa, but there's only 1 piece of paper there!" Lola whined (Typical, he thought to himself…)
"Well, did anyone think about going to the basement, where there's more paper?" Rita said.
There were assorted murmurs of agreement from the siblings.
"Alright then, that solves it! Colin, would you go down and get us some paper, please?"
"No problem, madre!" He said as he went downstairs.
"Geez, those guys seem to be making a big fuss over an imaginary dude..."
Colin had never really believed in Santa, not even as a kid. The whole idea had always Seemed preposterous to him, even before he had found his mother placing the gifts under the tree when he was only seven.
"Well, who cares! I've seen crazier things in my world, anyway! Who knows, maybe the big guy actually exsists in this universe! Heh!"
He chuckled to himself as he got the paper and went back upstairs.
1 Hour Later...
"OK, is everyone's letter to Santa done?"
"Yeah!" The kids said in unison.
"Wait a minute! Colin didn't write a letter!" Lincoln said. In less than five seconds, all eyes were on him like a spotlight.
"Well, I don't really..."
He was interupted by 11 voices shouting out different tidbits of advice.
"C'mon, Colin!"
"Don't ruin the Christmas spirit!"
"Have a little fun, dude!"
Finally, he caved in.
"OK! I'll write Santa a letter!"
He got a piece of paper and jotted down a quick message:
Hey, Abuelo,
For Christmas this year, I would like a phone. Or tickets to a football game. Whatever you or your midgets can come up with.
Sincerely, Colin
"There! My letter is done!" He said as he put it into an envelope.
"Perfect! Now all you kids need to do is take your letters to the mailbox!"
The kids looked outside to see the mailbox, only it was obscured by a massive snowstorm outside.
"Uh, I think I'll pass," Lori said, to everyone else's agreement.
"Hey! Since Colin was the last to finish his letter, let's make HIM go out and do it!" Lola said, still showing strands of her green hair from Colins previous prank.
"What?! Oh, c'mon! I'm not-"
Once again, he was interrupted, this time with everyone giving them their letters and practically shoving him out the door into the cold.
"Wow, the nerve of those hijos!" He said as he checked the envelopes, soon noticing something odd about one of them.
"Huh. Someone didn't close their letter all the way," he observed, pulling it out of the stack and checking the name written on it.
"To: Santa. From: Luna Loud," He read out loud.
"Luna. She's been acting pretty strange around me lately, and I don't know why..." he thought. "Like when I went to get my revenge on Luan. Or last week at school..."
-FLASHBACK-
"Ugh, nothing but homework!" Colin said as he walked out of class with his friend, Waldo. "I mean, we're given a lot of it in math and english, but in CIVICS? come on!"
"Well, I think that it's pretty logical of the teachers. I mean, they need to put grades in the grade book, do they not?"
"Well, yeah, but you think they'd give us some slack before Christmas and all! Like, it's not-"
He was cut off as he ran into someone in the hallway. Looking up, he saw Luna standing there, holding her books under her arm.
"Oh, sorry Luna! Didn't see where I was going."
"No problem, dude! Happens to the best of em!" she said, but Colin was now more focused on the piece of scrap paper that had fallen out of Lunas hands.
He picked it up and of flipped it over, where he saw a crudely drawn picture of two people holding hands. The one figure reminded Colin of Luna, and the other looked like a poorly drawn mini version of himself.
"Uh, I think you dropped this, Luna," he said as he held out the paper to her.
As soon as Luna saw which paper he had in her hand, her face immediately turned a bright shade of fire hydrant red. She reached out and snatched it from his hand, stammering over her words looking for an explanation.
"Oh, uh, thanks! Uh, that's just my, uh, project for art! Yeah, that's it! Nothing more than that! Heh heh!"
"Uh, OK then. Well, see you at lunch," he said as he walked away with Waldo., slightly curious about what had just happened.
-END OF FLASHBACK-
"...but I don't know what's gotten into her. Oh, well. I wonder what she wants from Santa..."
He carefully took the letter out of its envelope and read it to himself:
Dear Mom and Dad,
Yeah, I know it's you guys who read these letters. I'm not dumb. But if I had to get anything for Christmas, I would definitely want the new Dr. Bre headphones. They're coming out this Thursday at midnight, and they're expected to sell out in 2 hours! Hope you can get me a pair!
From, Luna
"Well geez, all she wants is headphones? What even are those?" He asked out loud. "Well, I'm sure that my padres will come through in the end. Now, off to Santa! Or, right back inside. Depends on who you ask."
4 Hours Later...
"Alright, alright! Thursday Night Football!" Colin said as he sat down on the couch to watch the game. He had to negotiate for a while with his siblings to watch the game, but it would be worth it to watch the Chargers take on the Browns in primetime.
As he settled in for the game, however, he overheard both of his parents in the kitchen, talking. Curious, he snuck over to investigate, staying just out of their sight.
"Wow, the kids are getting more expensive by the day, Rita! I mean, Leni wants a brand new makeup kit, Luan wants a new unicycle, and Lola wants a whole lot of hair dye..."
"Well, at least Lana stays consistent with her gift. But of course, getting a jackhammer would be risky..."
"Lincoln wants comic books and a video game, and Colin wants a cellphone! Seriously, expensive stuff!"
"Oh, we forgot to open Lunas letter, dear. Can you get that?"
"I'll read it... hmm, headphones? That might actually be possible. Look it up, Rita."
"Looking it up. Uh, Lynn, honey, come look at this..."
Lynn took one glance at the price, and he instantly did a double take.
"350 dollars? For a pair of headphones?! What kind of idiot pays that kind of money for that?!"
"Well, we DO have that money from my Christmas bonus..."
"No. No way. That is an insane amount of money for that. And besides, im not going on a stakeout at midnight at Walmart. We'll get her a new pair of drumsticks or something."
"Oh, ok, but don't come crying to me when she's disappointed in the morning," Rita said as Colin hurried back to the couch.
"Wow. $350?! That is loco!" He thought. "Well, I mean, drumsticks ARE better than nothing, though…"
His mind suddenly raced back to the very beginning, when Luna had suggested that he stay with them. It went through all the memories, from the many lunches and evenings shared together...
"But, of course, she's not gonna be happy when she opens up her gift on Christmas and gets them…"
He sat back in the chair, sighing.
But there isn't anything I-"
"I know what you can do."
"Good lord, Lucy!" He yelped as his goth sister snuck up once again behind him. "How did you even know what I was thinking?!"
"Simple. You were saying it out loud. But anyways, I know what you should do."
"Hmmm... Well, it's not like I have any ideas right now… I'm listening."
"You borrow mom's credit card and go to the Dr Bre store in Detroit. Then you camp out and wait for the store to open, buy the headphones, and no one will know. It sounds good to me."
He stared at her for what felt like eternity.
"That… is insane, Lucy. Steal mom's credit card? Head to Detroit? It sounds too risky."
"But wouldn't it be worth it to make Luna happy?"
"I don't know, would she even care if I got her them?"
She sighed, this being a real one instead of her typical ones.
"Colin, think about your previous encounters with Luna. Does anything feel odd to you about them?" She said in her monotonous voice.
"Hmmmm..." he thought hard about his previous meetings with his punk rock sister. "No, not really."
"Sigh… you'll figure it out eventually. Do what you think is right, Colin. And if you decide to take my advice, I'll cover for you."
"That's very nice of you, Luce. I'll think-" he turned around to find Lucy gone.
The Next Day...
"And I don't know what to do!" Colin said to Bobby over the home phone. The family had gone to visit some aunt of theirs, leaving him free at the house.
"I mean, I don't want her to be disappointed or anything, but at the same time, I don't want to get in any trouble!"
"Hmm… it sounds to me like you care an awful lot about making Luna happy, dude. You want to sneak out, camp out on a street corner for a cold night in December, just to get these for her?"
"Well… I guess that's a way to put it, yeah. She's always been there for me, I figured I'd return the favor!"
"...Right. So, what do you need?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah! Do you know anyone that could drive me there?"
"Uhh, you're talking to him, bro! I just got my license last week!" Bobby said as he pulled out his new drivers license.
"Awesome! So you'll help me?"
"Hell yeah! I've only ever been to Detroit twice before, but it's not very far away or anything. Only like an hours drive or two from here."
"Thanks, dude! You're a lifesaver!" he said, hanging up. He began to jump on his heels in excitement.
"I can't believe that I'm actually doing this!"
That Same Night, 10:00 P.M...
"I c-can't believe that I'm a-a-actually doing t-this..."
Colin mumbled the words to himself over and over as he sat on a Detroit street corner only five blocks away from the Dr. Bre store. It was around negative fifteen degrees that night, so it didn't help that all Colin had was a pair of blue jeans and his Michigan hoodie on.
Bobby, however, had come much more prepared to face the weather, wearing a coat, gloves, and a Lions baseball hat.
"You cold yet, bud?" He asked Colin, who was shivering mightily.
"Not at all!" he lied, trying to surprise his shivers. He wasn't just shivering from the cold, however. He was shivering because he had also "borrowed" his mom's debit card, snuck out past curfew, and had walked to Bobbys house eight blocks away from his.
"Well, I told you that it would be cold. Take my gloves," he said, taking them off his hands, which he shoved into his pockets when he threw them to Colin.
"T-t-thanks," he muttered as he put them on. "I-i didn't expect t-t-this many p-people."
"Well, this IS the headquarters of the Dr. Bre company. And the factory is here, too. So I figured it would be a big-"
"Colin? Bobby?" A voice called out from the dark. Looking around, Colin saw Pete and Herb, his friends from school, walk down the street towards them.
"W-w-what's up, guys?" He asked, holding his arms to his face so his breath would warm them.
"Oh, we're just here to get these headphones! They're ranked #1 in rock magazines survey of best headphones of the year!"
"C-cool. I'm here to get then too."
"Uhh, you sound cold, dude. There's a fire up there. Let's get you warmed up, buddy."
"Thanks," Colin said as they huddled around the fire. "I should've asked for a jacket for Christmas, instead of a phone. Ha!"
"You sound a lot better than before, I'll give you that. Now, if you don't have a phone, Colin, then why are you buying headphones?" Herb asked as he pulled out a raw hotdogs from his pocket.
"Uhh, more importantly, how long did you have that there?"
"Uhh, I don't know, few hours? But that didn't answer the question!"
"Oh, well, they aren't for me. They're for Luna."
"Heh, Luna? The queen of rock and roll at Royal Woods High School?" Another man asked from across the fire.
"Yep, she's the one. She really wants these, so I figured-"
"That's real cute, dude. Staking out the store get your girl these headphones."
"Yeah, it was the least I could- wait, my… what now?" He asked.
"You know! Why else would you be out here for her if you weren't a couple?" Pete asked.
"Yeah! It seems kinda weird if you weren't!"
"Oh, no, guys, you got it ALL wrong. I'm just..."
He suddenly thought back to his first day of school, when he sat down at the lunch table with this 4 oldest sisters. He remembered seeing Luna laugh, how he had almost fallen out of consciousness after gazing into her eyes…
He thought of the night he went to take revenge on Luan, how his sister had tried to talk to him before he left, but had failed miserably...
He remembered Tuesday in the hall, the drawing that Luna had made of her and someone else that Colin could only assume was him... he thought of what Lucy had been trying to tell him Tuesday night…
He slowly began feel sick as he reached the stunning conclusion.
"Luna has a crush on me. And… I have a crush on Luna."
"NOW you realize that, Chico?!" Bobby said incredulously as he thought back to that first day in the cafeteria. "I mean, I THOUGHT it was weird when you said the fish sandwich was good, but I realized it later that day! And it took YOU about 3 months to get the message?"
"I don't know. I guess that I never really thought about her that way."
"Well, that settles it! Colin is getting these headphones for his future girlfriend!" Herb laughed, sending the rest of the group into laughter. Colin felt his cheeks grow red, and not from the cold. All of a sudden, the headphones didn't seem as big of a deal anymore.
"Oh, forget this," Colin said suddenly as he walked back to Bobbys car, feeling quite nauseous at that point.
"Dude, where are you going?" Bobby ssid, chasing after him.
"Home. This is pointless."
"I thought that you just said you liked Luna, and now you're going to leave her hanging?"
"Look, Bobby, maybe I do like Lun!" he said defensively, turning back to him. "But we can't be together, Bobby! She's my sister! I can't date my sister!"
"Umm, you told Ronnie Ann that Lincoln wasn't technically your brother. How is this any different?"
"Well, that's different! I've gotten to… uh, how do you know what I told Ronnie Ann?"
"Uh, news flash, dude, Ronnie Ann is my sister."
"Really? Gee, they way Lincoln described her, it sounded like she was raised by trolls or something."
"...I'm gonna forgive you that one time, Bro, but you like Luna back, don't you?"
"Well, yeah, but..."
"But what? If you like her, then what's stopping you from getting her those headphones?"
"The fact that I've never actually been in a relationship before? And if it gets far enough involved, then I'm afraid about..." his voice trailed off as he thought about rather… interesting things the two could do.
"Dude, you're over thinking this. Just buy her the headphones. That's all you need to worry about at the moment. Until then, you can just-"
DING! DONG!
"Dude, that's the midnight bell!" Pete shouted as he stood up. "We have to go fast if we want those headphones!"
"C'mon, Colin. This could be the start of something big."
Colin thought about it. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he could see a future with Luna. And as cheesy as it sounded, he was happy with her. And from what he was assuming, she was happier with him.
"Fine. Let's run like the devil and get those headphones.
"Now THAT'S the Colin I know!" Bobby said as they sprinted at full speed to the entrance of the store.
6 Hours Later...
"What. A. Night!" Colin explained as he got out of Bobbys car and walked to the front door. He quietly opened the door, sneaked inside, and had reached the kitchen when...
"How was it?"
"GAH!" Colin yelped rather loudly as Lucy scared him again. It took him a second to catch his breath before he panted out another sentence.
"You always find a way to do it, Luce."
"It's what I do. Did you get the headphones?"
He put the bag he held in his hand on the table and pulled out a large, white box with the Dr. Bre logo on the side.
"I may have had to punch some people in self defense, but it was worth it, Lucy. Boy, Luna is gonna be PUMPED!"
"Speaking of Luna, did you think about-"
He sighed, a frown coming across his face.
"Yes, Lucy, I did. I realized I like Luna."
"Colin, she really cares for you. I see her in her room when I'm up in the vents, and all she does is either write songs with your name in them or write in her diary. It's... sickening."
"I feel that this may be the start of something, Lucy. Something big."
"Me too, Colin. Me too."
And for the first time that Colin saw, Lucy smiled. It was a small grin, but still, anything counted.
"Thank you, Lucy. You gave me the idea to do this in the first place."
"You're welcome. Now get downstairs, because Mom and Dad could wake up any minute now. They tend to be early risers."
"You got it, Lucy. I'll pay you back for this one!"
"I accept blood donations. Not for me, though. Fangs prefers O positive…"
With that, Colin made his way downstairs, holding the bag and the headphones close, so they wouldn't be hurt.
And he thought about Luna the whole way down.