A/N: This little skit was originally published on July 10, 2023, and was obviously written in response to the episode, "Force of Habits" - a very stellar outing, and perhaps one of the few season seven offerings worth watching... even if it did miss some opportunities (no, I don't mean Shannon and Ruby; I mean Benny and Luan).
Speaking of which, to address some of the critiques that were previously addressed in this story's reviews: yes, I still missed that opportunity to explore what sort of annoying habits Benny could possess that may annoy Luan... but, this was written on a whim, so not much thought went into the writing process outside of focusing on Shannon and Ruby. Also, Amy's annoying habit actually was addressed in this, albeit in a subtle manner that wasn't directly addressed; you have to pay attention to the others' reactions (particularly Rex) to catch on.
Luan and Ruby had lunch in the cafeteria of Royal Woods High one afternoon. At that point in the school year, they were the only ones among their group of drama friends whose classes dismissed for lunch at the same time, but it wasn't bad at all, as it gave them the opportunity to become better acquainted with each other, since their friendship was mostly built on Shannon being their mutual. That particular afternoon, Luan regaled Ruby in the tales of the little episode her oldest sisters recently went through with their romantic partners regarding calling each other out on their annoying habits, and the affects that it had on their relationships – all of which Ruby found most humorous.
"Are you, like, for real?" She asked the comedienne with a chuckle. "They nearly ended it for something like that?"
"What can I say?" Luan responded with a shrug. "We Louds are a proud bunch."
"They could've learned a thing or two from us," noted Ruby as she entered flashback territory.
Ruby was fully aware that neither she, nor her girlfriend, Shannon, were without their faults. After they had been dating for a while, she eventually picked up on an annoying habit that Shannon possessed, in that she would make unnerving wheezing sounds – wheezing sounds that one Helga Pataki was not at all unfamiliar with whenever she would discover Brainy was stalking her: it was always what gave him away, and treated his face to contact with the back of her fist, Old Betsy. It was something that Ruby could, under most circumstances, ignore and overlook; it was whenever the two would try to spend a quiet moment together that drew more of her attention to it, and it could get rather irritating.
It finally came to a head one day after school. Mrs. Bernardo had been called away on a theatrical emergency: she was workshopping yet another new one-woman show, one that included an animal act, and the super intendent of her condominium had contacted her to inform her that an elephant she rented had gotten loose. With this alert, and a suggestion from Luan to call on her little sister, Lana, for help, Mrs. Bernardo took flight, and left her drama students to study their lines while she was gone, which is exactly what they did. As was the usual custom for many of the thespians, they broke into pairs of two's to study their lines. Of course, Ruby and Shannon had broken into a pair of two, and as they read over their scripts, Ruby's concentration was broken when Shannon began to make that rather throaty wheezing sound of hers again.
"Shans… do you have to do that?" Ruby asked her girlfriend.
"Do what?" Shannon asked in confusion. "I'm just reading over my script."
"So am I, but can you do it a little more quietly?" Ruby requested. "That habit of yours is, like, super annoying."
"What do you mean?" Shannon asked. "What habit?"
Ruby gave Shannon a demonstration by imitating the wheezing that she always did, which understandably made her shy girlfriend blush in embarrassment.
"Oh… I'm sorry, Rubes," mumbled Shannon. "I'm a mouth-breather, I have a lot of sinus problems; always have."
"Oh… well, that sucks," said Ruby sympathetically. "But could you try to be a little quieter, at least while we go over our material?"
"Okay… I'll try for you, Rubes," said Shannon.
"That's my girl!" Ruby beamed while we playfully pinched Shannon's pinkened cheek.
And she did try. Shannon closed her mouth, and tried to breathe through her nose, but that was easier said than done for her; trying to breathe through her nose felt like trying to suck air through a clogged straw. Obviously, she did not want to asphyxiate, but she also did not want to disturb her girlfriend while she tried to study her lines, so this called for a little aid. Ruby's concentration was broken again when she heard an unusual noise that sounded like muffled squirts, and she stole another glance at her girlfriend to see that she was squirting nasal decongestant up into her nostrils. She tried not to use too much of it unless in absolute emergencies, and it was mainly because she couldn't stand the awful taste of the nasty nasal spray dripping into the back of her throat afterwards, but in this case, she wanted to comply with her girlfriend's request. When Shannon returned the bottle of decongestant to her skirt pocket, Ruby thought would be the end of that, but it only persisted from there. Her concentration was broken again this time by rather loud and wet snorting, which came courtesy of Shannon sniffing the decongestant further up into her sinuses before any of it had any chance to trickle out of her nostrils and go to waste. When that was said and done, Ruby thought that finally, finally, that would be the end of it, and she could study her lines in peaceful quietness… until her concentration was broken yet again by an incredibly strange honking sound.
"Does Mrs. B. also have a goose on the loose?" Rex asked when he also heard the strange honking sound.
The thespians turned to Shannon, who had a couple of her fingers pressed right between her eyes, while she made those strange honking sounds.
"Really, Shans?" Ruby groaned.
"I'm clearing my sinuses, Rubes," explained Shannon between nasal honks. "I'm trying to breathe through my nose so I won't disturb you."
"Well… as long as you're trying…" remarked Ruby.
"It's the least I can do since you've worked so hard on your annoying habit…" replied Shannon in kind.
That remark struck a wrong chord with Ruby as she rebutted, "Oh? And what's my annoying habit, Shannon?"
"Now, Ruby, we've been through this before, let's not get into it," pleaded Shannon.
"No-no-no, gimme a hard refresh," insisted Ruby. "What's my annoying habit?"
Shannon sighed, "You use the word 'like' all the time…"
"Oh, like, that annoying little habit, huh?" Ruby retorted. "Well, newsflash, Shans: I, like, have been working on it, but, F-Y-I, it's, like, a really hard habit to, like, break! Especially when a lot of the people I used to, like, hang with always talked like this!"
"It's not such a hard habit to break… Leni used to say 'like' all the time, too, and it annoyed all of us," Luan interjected into the conversation with a piece of trivia about one of her oldest sisters, and how that particular habit of hers bothered all of the Loud siblings. "But eventually, she just kinda stopped, and now she hardly ever says it anymore… although some people seem to think she still does… mostly fanfiction authors who don't really keep up with our show after certain seasons, and keep writing us like we're stuck in our one-dimensional first season personalities…"
It was then that Luan took notice of the annoyed glare that her curly-haired boyfriend shot her in that moment.
"Oops, I did it again…" said Luan; her sister and roommate, Luna's habit of quoting song all the time had definitely rubbed off on the comedienne… but it was not that particular habit that Benny glared at her for. "I went meta. Sorry, it's a hard habit to break. Remember when Grace hardly ever went meta in his writing?"
Yes, and it is a hard habit to break, especially when it runs the risk of turning into a cheap, overused gimmick… but, in my defense, the moment kind of called for it this time.
"I get it," said Luan.
Before the conversation had the chance to evolve into a heated dispute, Shannon attempted to cool things down as she reached out and took hold of her girlfriend's wrist.
"Look, Rubes… I love you… and when you love someone, you have to accept them the way they are, even with their faults… Yes, when we first met, I'll admit your habit of saying 'like' all the time annoyed me a little, but I got used to it… so much that when you don't say 'like,' it feels almost O-O-C for you! But, I also care about you, Rubes… my calling you out on your habit wasn't so much because it annoyed me, but because you wanted me to help you become a better actress, and I knew if you couldn't control your habit, it'd have a negative impact on your performances, and how you say your lines, and maybe even how you pass theater class… and you've done such a great job since then, and I'm really proud of you."
Ruby looked humbled as she lowered her head in shame and issued an apology to her girlfriend: "You're right, Shans… and I'm sorry… you've always accepted me the way I am, and I, li—ahem, I really appreciate it… I should be willing to accept you the way you are, because that's how I love you."
"Thanks, Rubes," said Shannon while she blushed some more. "But, you're right, too… I'm aware my mouth-breathing can be bothersome… I can still try to work on it so it doesn't disturb anybody…"
"You're both right," said Benny when he finally dove into the conversation. "A relationship is a give-and-take process that goes both ways… yes; annoying habits are something we all can work on – not just for our partners, but also for ourselves, especially if they may affect other things we do, like Shannon said. But even so, we should be willing to accept each other the way we are, because if you really love somebody, then little habits shouldn't annoy us so much."
"You said it, Ben-ben," agreed Rex. "After all, I've totally learned to accept Amy in spite of her annoying habit."
"WHAT?!" Amy snapped when she heard that statement escape her boyfriend's lips. "And just what annoying habit do I have, Rex?"
"Well…" Rex began to respond, only to be cut off by his irate girlfriend.
"Because if I had any annoying habits, I would think you'd have the nerve to tell me!" Amy spat.
"You see…" Rex tried to continue with his response, only to be cut off again.
"Because heaven knows I don't wanna annoy the heck outta you!" Amy continued to bark.
"You…" Rex tried in vain to speak his peace, but Amy would have none of it.
"So, come on, Rex, tell me what my annoying habit is!" Amy demanded.
"I think I see it…" Shannon mumbled to the others, who merely nodded in agreement.
Rex remained hopelessly silent for a brief moment, waiting until he was assured that Amy had given him ample opportunity to actually speak, but the second that he opened his mouth to say something, Amy jumped all over him again.
"Well?! Are you gonna keep beating around the bush, or are you gonna fess up?!" She barked.
"I…" He tried to say to no avail.
"I'm waiting!" She barked again.
"Ten bucks on the ginger," Ruby mumbled to the others with her bet on who would come out the winner of this dispute.