The Velazquest House kitchen. Tommy walks to the fridge to grab a soda while singing quietly to himself, "Rock and roll is running through my veins- " He notices Charlie and Delilah wearing earmuffs, "Hey, what's up with you guys?"

"Luna is practicing again. You might wanna cover your ears." Delilah said.

Cue a massive guitar being shredded that jolts all three Velazquest, sending Delilah and Tommy to the ground.

"Dude! Luna is doing this again? I told her mom and pop let me turned the basement in a soundproof studio." Tommy said and got up, "I better talk to her and remind her." Tommy left and Luna shredded again sends Delilah and Charlie reeling again. Outside at the garage, Tommy made his way next door.

Tommy was the third oldest son of the family and he was about 5 '9, a few inches shorter than David. While not as built as his two older brothers, Tommy was still pretty strong due to hauling his musical equipment around all of the time. They would tease him that he was a one man band and while technically true, Tommy just liked to be hands on when it came to managing his instruments. He wore a black and purple racing jumpsuit with black boots. His white hair was styled in long tight dreads that were bound into a ponytail at the end. Yes, even though he was just fifteen and still in high school, he was a full fledged NASCAR driver! Okay, he hadn't been in any races only the races in the ARCA Menards Series, but he had a contract and was part of the NASCAR training camp.

Oh, and he made a lot of noise.

Tommy didn't care who you were, no matter what your age you were noisy. Even when he tiptoed he was loud. He didn't mean to be, honest, but he was. It's like his volume was perpetually stuck on eleven and had a defect so that it only turned up instead of down. His siblings had this problem too. When they ran around they sounded like a stamped. They were so loud that they could wake people in their grave.

The Velazquest were noisy, but the Loud siblings were ten times worse. When they got up in the morning to use the bathroom, it sounded like a herd of elephants on a rampage. The whole house shook, and Tommy was certain that one day, it would all come crashing down on them like a sloppy pile of Jenga blocks. The click of Lori typing on her phone echoed through the house at night like the clack-clack-clack of an old school typewriter, and every time Tommy passed by Lisa's room, he could hear the whir and hum of her machines and the constant creepy bubbling of her various techo potions. Lucy turning the page of a book was enough to make your ears bleed, and every two seconds, Lana and Lola competed to see who could scream loudest. Seriously, those two little blonde white girls fought worse than Larry and Charlie did. A couple times, Lincoln had to step in-between them to keep them from tearing each other to shreds. Leni's sewing machine sounded like the rumble of a passing jetliner, Luan's jokes (and subsequent laughter) was clear as a bell from three rooms away, and Tommy jumped every time Lynn bounced her ball against the wall.

They really lived up to their last name lmao.

Out of them all, the worst offender was Luna. Luna was the rock star of the family. She was actually a very talented musician who could play a dozen instruments with absolute professional perfection, but her two favorites just happened to be the two noisiest in existence: The drums and the guitar.

Electric version, of course. See, the acoustic version would be way too humble and quiet. Humble and quiet were not two words anyone would ever use to describe Luna Loud. At all times of the day and night, she would be shredding her beloved "Ax." Sometimes she'd break out in an impromptu cover of an Aerosmith or AC/DC song at midnight, and other times she'd wake the whole house with a tune of her own devising. She wrote her own music as well, a process that involved her screaming the lyrics at the top of her lungs, then changing, adding, and subtracting as needed.

Tommy liked loud music as much as the next guy, but not 24/7. There is a time and a place for everything, and then there's a time where said thing is not appropriate. For instance, he loved him some good gallows humor, but your grandpa's wake probably isn't the best place to start telling jokes about grave robbing (why didn't anyone want to play cards with Ed Gien? They were afraid he'd come up with a good hand LOLOLOLOLOLOL!). Likewise, a peaceful Sunday morning at 6am isn't the best time to whip out your best Slayer impersonation. Nothing against Slayer, or your talent, Lune, but in the words of the great Joe Brandon: C'mon, man. People are trying to sleep. Can't you save it for after breakfast?

He wasn't alone in his feelings, his family hated when Luna got really loud. Lincoln didn't like it much either, but he convinced his family to chip in and buy themselves pairs of noise cancelling earbuds that rendered them virtually deaf when you put them on. The Louds were so used to it by now that they could sleep right through it like nothing was happening. Luna could play Chevelle on her guitar with her amps cranked all the way up, and Luan would lay there snoozing like a champ.

The few times he tried to ask Luna to tone it down, she pretended not to understand what he was asking. The last time he told her he brought up the soundproof studio, she promised that she would "chill a little on the noise and play there," but the first chance she got, she went right back to it. Ugh, why, Luna? Why do you hate me so much? Haven't I been chill to you?

Seriously, at this point she was about to catch this fade. Tommy didn't want to kick her butt inside out, but he didn't know how much longer he could go on like this. He had a pair of earphones on and had been listening to music on his phone as he walked next door.

You should be concerned

I'm big and I'm deformed

We'll reuse your bones when you are gone

Cuz I just killed your friends, pulled off all their skins

Then cooked and smoked their meat right off the bone

Nothing like a catchy little ode to cannibalism to start the day right.

I can tie your arms, attack and cause you harm

You're -

Apocalyptic white noise filled Tommy's skull and he stumbled forward so fast that he smacked head first into a mud pie Lana made. The sound came again, and Tommy ripped the headphones off, only it wasn't coming from them.

It was coming from Luna's room.

Alright, that tears it.

Rubbing the mud of his face, he got to his feet, made his way to the door and knocked loudly. Leni greeted him but he politely told her he came to talk to Luna and stormed upstairs. A crack of light shone underneath Luna's door and the sounds of her strangling her guitar jangled his nerves. His brain pounded against his skull and he fell against the wall, his hands going to his head. He pushed away from the wall and staggered to Luna's door, grabbing the handle and holding on for dear life.

He jerked the handle and went in like a cop with a warrant. Luna was in the middle of the room, banging her head and decimating the guiar, her fingers working feverishly along the fretboard. Her amps, both ten feet tall and looking like the Twin Towers only more purple, were facing him, their speakers thumping loudly.

"Luna!"

His voice was barely audible over the din.

"LUNA!"

Not hearing him, Luna jumped into the air and landed, knees bending. She hit a power cord so epic that the speakers exploded in a shower of sparks, plastic, and wiring. The force knocked Tommy off his feet and flung him into the hall. He hit the wall, landed on his butt, and slumped over. A second later, Luna was kneeling next to him looking scared. She ran her hands over his face like a worried mother checking her child for visible signs of injury, and Tommy's head spun. He blinked and looked up at her, and that's when he realized something.

Even though Luna's lips were moving, Tommy couldn't hear her. All he could hear was a loud, ear piercing ring. His heart squeezed in fear and he sat up. "I can't hear," he said, or thought he said. "I'm deaf!"

Panic filled Luna's eyes and she tried to calm him, her lips moving faster. Suddenly, the Louds stood around him, each one of them looking worried. They spoke to each other and to him but he couldn't hear anything. Mr. and Mrs. Loud helped him to his feet and Mr. Loud said something that Tommy couldn't make out. "I can't hear," Tommy said. He was beginning to hyperventilate. "I don't even know if I'm talking dudes."

Leni and Lori helped him to their couch and sat him there. They both spoke and he thought he could make out a few words but wasn't sure. Mrs. Loud poked her head in and said something. Lori spoke and Tommy shook his head. Her brow pinched in thought, then her face brightened. She whipped out her phone, fired off a text, and handed Tommy his phone. He picked it up and read the screen.

-Mom is taking you to the doctors-

Tommy nodded.

An hour later, Tommy sat on an exam table while a doctor so old he probably sat behind Moses in the third grade checked him out. Tommy had hoped that his hearing would return but so far, the ringing persisted. It occurred to him that he might be like this forever, and his stomach churned like a stormy sea. The doctor pressed a cold stethoscope to his chest, listened, then took the earpiece out. He said something and Tommy favored him with a blank stare. The doctor leaned in and spoke very slowly, carefully enunciating each word, "Your eardrums are damaged. They should heal on their own but you might be deaf forever."

Tommy's heart sank.

Deaf forever?

He accepted and tolerated deaf people, but that didn't mean he wanted to be one of them. He wanted to listen to music and watch TV without having to divide his attention between the action and subtitles. He wanted to hear the tweeting of early birds and the lazy chirp of crickets at dusk. He wanted to listen his tunes he made as he jammed out with Luna.

He didn't want to be deaf.

Misery washed over him, and as Mrs. Loud led him out into the waiting room, he let out a deep, watery sigh. Luna was sitting in one of the chairs with her shoulders slumped and her head down, and when they came in, she jumped to her feet and rushed over, her lips moving at a rapid fire pace that Tommy found impossible to follow. Her mother put her hand on Luna's shoulder and said something to her. She nodded, and when she began to speak again, her lips moved much slower. "I'm so sorry, Tommy. I didn't mean to. I swear, dude, please forgive me."

Part of Tommy wanted to snap on her because this was totally her fault, but the sorrow and anguish in her face was so raw, so genuine, that he couldn't bring himself to do it. He drew a deep breath and said, "It's okay, Luna, I don't blame you."

Do you have any idea how weird it is to speak and not be able to hear the sound of your own voice? Tommy had never considered how important it was to hear yourself. Not being able to was like fumbling blindly through the dark.

"I'm...make it up to you," Luna vowed. He missed the second word of her promise, and it took him a little while to figure out that it was most likely gonna.

Mrs. Loud took him straight home from the doctor's. Mom and Dad were waiting and when he came in, Mom hugged him and smothered him in kisses and Dad laid one massive bear paw on his shoulder. He slipped Tommy a Post-it note and Tommy read it.

Don't worry son deaf or not we'll never love you any less.

Tears filled Tommy's eyes and he almost broke down crying at his father's kind words.

Later he was resting on his bed. He was so depressed by all of this that he just wanted to cry into bed and die. Luna came over and entered his room and they ended up sitting on the edge of the bed together, "I'm going to help you." she said.

"How?" Tommy asked.

"I'll be your ears."

That made Tommy want to smile and sob at the same time, "Thank you but I want my old ears back."

"Mom said it should be a week."

"Or never," Tommy said and sighed. He hung his head and stared down at the floor. Eventually, Luna put her arm around him. He got the feeling that she was talking to him, but he didn't have the energy to lift his head and see. After a while, she shook him and he looked up at her, "I have to go." she said. "I'm late for band practice but when I get home...on lip reading, okay?"

What about lip reading?

Oh, who cares?

He nodded, and she patted his back. She got up and left the room.

Now he was alone.

For most of the day, he laid in bed and stared at his phone. The ringing gradually faded until it was low and almost inaudible. His hope that his hearing would return soared, but then crashed because it didn't. He searched "temporary deafness" and a bunch of related stuff on Google, reading entire threads where people like him discussed their deafness. Some got better, some didn't; there seemed to be a roughly equal amount, but Tommy focused on the ones that didn't get better, convincing himself that they were the majority and that he, too, would remain deaf forever.

After a while, he got bored and started wandering the house. Dad and mom, and most of the kids were gone for the day; Tommy had never seen the house so empty, and tbh, it was kind of creepy. Even creepier was the crashing silence. The only thing he could hear was the crashing beat of his own heart and his own ragged exhilations.

At 3, Luna came home and pulled him into her room. They sat across from each other on her bunk and she spoke slowly. "Can you understand me?" she asked.

Tommy held up his hand, palm facing down, and dipped it quickly from side to side. Kind of.

"You should keep talking. Talking is impotent.

"Talking feels and sounds strange."

"I know but you Gretta keep doing eat."

Tommy chuckled and Luna, understanding, chuckled too. "Okay. I will teach you to read lips."

"You know how?" Tommy asked.

"Not really, but I can try."

Well, he supposed that was better than nothing,.

For the next three hours, Luna helped him through the literal ABCs of lip reading. She would say a letter and he would repeat it. Next, they moved onto simple phrases. She spoke slowly at first, then normally. In the beginning, Tommy had trouble understanding her, but then he gradually got the hang of it. He missed a few words here and there but he could read enough to know what she was trying to say. Luna's face brightened as she watched him learn, and they laughed together. At least Tommy thought he was laughing.

Depression overcame him again and he sighed. Luna's face dimmed and she sighed too. "I'm really sorry, Tommy." she said. "Dude, I feel so bad. It's all my fault."

Tommy shook his head. "No it's not. It's just something that happened. That's all."

Now it was Luna's turn to shake her head. "It didn't just happen. It was done. By me. I should have known better than to jam out that loud.

Well, yeah, she honestly should have, but like he said, stuff happens.

"I'm going to make it up to you again," she said again. "Don't worry about anything, I got you."

At dinner that night, the younger bros battered Tommy with questions. Luis spoke slowly but his lips were hidden, Frankie spoke slowly that his lips barely moved, and the gaps in Larry and Charlie's teeth threw him off for some reason. He answered the best he could but some of their questions were completely lost on him. "You sound funny." Charlie said gracelessly.

"I can't hear my own voice." Tommy said, "It sucks dudes."

"I have been working on a pair of hearing aids for you." Frankie said. "They should be done in the next several days I...major surgery."

Tommy's heart sank. "I don't want surgery," he said. "Unless it's a last resort."

"That's what I was saying," Frankie said.

Oh, was it?

"I'll keep you informed," Lisa said.

If it came down to surgery, the last person he'd let mess around in his ears was a four year old. He was a super genius, that much was true, but he was still a toddler. He wanted a grown adult to do it, not a kid. Didn't matter if they were black or white, gay or straight, man or women, just as long as they were a whole adult.

The next day, Luna came into Tommy's room and woke him up at his normal time, since he couldn't hear his alarm. He had hoped that a good, long sleep would restore his hearing, but he was wrong. All that morning, Luna was at his side, helping him when needed and giving him emotional support the rest of the time. She walked him to school and helped him get to class, where she explained the situation to their homeroom teacher.

Tommy sighed.

With not being able to hear Tommy felt isolated and alone. At lunch, Luna, Sam and Mazzy chatted back and forth, and he found that he wasn't quick enough to keep up with multiple people talking back and forth. He had to focus on one person, and by the time he darted his eyes to the other person, they were already well into their reply. He finally gave up trying to participate.

At the end of the day, Luna went outside and looked around. She went to band practice again had to ditch Tommy. Tommy was standing by the flagpole with his arms crossed over his chest. When he saw her, his face lit up and he gave a big, happy wave. Luna grinned and walked over, "How was your day, dude?" she asked.

Tommy shrugged.

"It's gonna take some getting used too, sorry about lunch and band practice." Luna apologized.

Tommy nodded. Yeah, it was going to take a lot of getting used to. Hopefully he wouldn't have to; hopefully in a few days, this would all be over.

They walked home together, and hung out for most of the afternoon practicing sign language. American Sign Language was kind of clunky, so they made up their own system, each gesture corresponding to a certain phrase. They tried it out at dinner when both families had a group dinner and had a full conversation without saying a single word. Feeling bold, he talked a bunch of smack about a donut hole teacher and Luna burst out laughing; everyone looked at her like she was crazy.

Over the next few days, he and Luna spent tons of time together. They practiced and refined their language and Tommy sometimes went for hours without speaking a single word, which was rare for him, being a loud, excitable teen and all. Sometimes when Milton or Mom would talk to him, he'd automatically reply with hand gestures, forgetting that they weren't in on his and Luna's system. That kind of sucked since he had grown so comfortable using it, but it was pretty cool too; he liked that he and Luna had their own thing, it drew them closer together. He had always liked the rocker but now he felt a special connection with her, like she was the only person who truly understood him. In a way, she literally was. Luna, for her part, seemed to enjoy it just as much as him, if not more. She would wait for him outside school, and they would walk home together, leaving lame-os in their dust.

That night, he and Luna reluctantly parted at bedtime and Tommy fell asleep to the light ring in his ears that had become an ever present lullabye.

For a long time, he drifted on tides of sleep. After what seemed like an eternity, he was jostled awake by the sound of the alarm screeching its morning call to arms. He sat up with a start and slapped the OFF button. His head spun and his eyelids fought to close. He smacked his lips and scratched his head.

All at once, his heart jumped into his throat and his eyes widened.

Could he…?

"Hello?" he asked.

His voice was weak and tentative.

HE COULD HEAR!

Tommy jumped out of bed like a rocket and started to dance. He could hear! He wouldn't be deaf forever after all!

Bursting with excitement, he ran out into the hall and saw Luna was already there, "Luna!"

She looked up.

"I can hear again!"

Luna's jaw fell open and then she broke out in a giant smile. "You can?"

"Yes I can!"

She let out a squeal of excitement and swept him into a giant hug. She was slender and warm, and something about being in her arms felt right. He hugged her back and she squeezed him, "That's great, bro, I'm so happy for you."

"I'm happy for me too." He hesitated, then looked at her with a blush, "We can still, you know, hang out and sign if you want."

Her face positively glowed. "I'd like that," she said.

So would he, Tommy realized.

So would he.

The End.