This is the start of the main storyline again. I might do a Lily one shot later, but the main storyline kinda involves Christmas, and I don't want to be publishing Christmas stories around March 2017. So enjoy.
It was just another normal afternoon at the Loud House for Colin Gomez-Loud, if you could say that ANY day was "normal" there. Fighting, in fact, was pretty normal, as 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. "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! Wait, am I talking to a 4th wall or something?" He said as Mr and Mrs Loud walked in.
"Ok, what is all of this about?!" Lynn Sr 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!" Someone said.
"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, they seem to be making a big fuss over an imaginary dude." Colin had never really believed in Santa, not even as a kid.
"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 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.
"Well, I don't really..."
Colin was interupted by 11 voices saying this like, "C'mon, Colin!" or "Don't ruin the Christmas spirit!" Finally, he said, "OK! I'll write Santa a letter!"
He got a piece of paper and wrote:
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 to see 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 with her green hair from Colins previous prank.
"Oh, cmon! I'm not-"
Once again, he was interuppted, 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 earlier today 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.
"Oh, sorry Luna. Didn't see where I was going."
"No problem, dude! Happens to the best of em," she said, but Colin was 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, saying, "That's nothing! I mean, 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 said as he took the letter out 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! Tuesday 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 Patriots in primetime.
As he settled in for the game, however, he overheard Mr and Mrs Loud 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. "but, of course, she won't be happy when she opens up her gift on Christmas and gets drumsticks. But what can I-"
"I know what you can do."
"Good lord, Lucy!" He said to his sister. "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... 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 be the wiser."
"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?"
"Colin, think about your previous encounters with Luna. Does anything fell 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 an the hallway on the last day of school before Christmas break. "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!"
"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?"
"I guess that's a way to put it, yeah. Do you know anyone that could drive me there?"
"You're looking at him, bro! I just got my license last week!" Bobby said as he held up his new drivers license.
"Awesome! So you'll help me?"
"Hell yeah! I've never actually been to Detroit before, but it's not very far away or anything. Only like an hours drive or two from here."
"Thanks, dude. I can't believe that I'm actually doing this!"
That Same Night, 10:00 P.M...
"I c-c-can't believe that I'm actually d-doing this," Colin said as he sat on a Detroit street corner 5 blocks away from the Dr. Bre store. It was negative 5 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?" Bobby asked Colin, who was shivering mightily.
"N-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 8 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-"
"Colin? Bobby?" A voice called out. Looking around, Colin saw Pete and Herb, his friends from school, walk down the street towards them.
"W-w-what's up, guys?" Colin said.
"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."
"Uh, you sound cold, dude. There's a fire up there. Let's get you warmed up, buddy."
"Thanks," he said as they huddled around the fire. "I should've asked for a jacket for christmas, instead of a phone," he laughed.
"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?"
"Oh, they aren't for me. They're for Luna."
"Heh, Luna? The queen of rock and roll at Royal Woods High School?" Someone else said around the fire.
"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."
"My what now?" Colin asked confused.
"You know! Why else would you be out here for her if you weren't a couple?"
"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 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 felt 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 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.
"Oh, forget this," Colin said embarrassed 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?"
"Maybe I do like Luna. 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?"
"Wait, 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.
"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 said. "We have to go fast if we want those headphones!"
"Cmon, Colin. This could be the start of something big."
Colin thought about it. He could see a future with Luna. He was happy with her. And she was happy with him.
"Fine. Let's run like the diablo and get those headphones.
"Now THATS 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. Catching his breath, he panted, "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-"
"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.
"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."
"You got it, kid."
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.