What You Wish For
is a fanfiction of The Loud House by an author who goes by "themaninthecouch".
Its basic premise is that Lori is trying to have some alone time, but Lincoln inadvertently makes her angry. She hits her leg on his bike, then he breaks her perfume bottle and she gets really angry with him and (hyperbolically) wishes she didn't have any brother.
She then takes a nap and wakes up to find out that no one has heard of Lincoln and he has, in fact, been born, but as Carol's brother.
Lucy reveals that what happened was that a demon granted Lori's "wish", and that to get Lincoln back, they both need to exorcise the demon by "killing" the person, who Lori is pretty sure is Carol.
What You Wish For provides examples of
- Adventures in Comaland: The whole story turns out to be a coma dream.
- All Just a Dream: The story turns out to be a dream Lori had while unconscious as a result of breathing in noxious fumes.
- And You Thought It Was a Game: Lori initially thinks Lincoln is pranking her with his bedroom not being in the closet, but then it turns out that he really isn't living there.
- Baby's First Words: Discussed. Lori believes she can't have dreamt Lincoln up as she remembers many things about him, including his first words.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Lucy's supplies for kidnapping Carol and Lincoln are zip ties, duct tape, and handcuffs she found in Rita and Lynn Sr.'s bedroom.
- Death Glare: Discussed when Lori notes that it's unsettling seeing Lola with a concerned frown, since usually Lola is either smiling or doing an angry glare.
- Dirty Old Man: All the men at the country club have their eyes on Carol, even the elderly ones.
- Dream Within a Dream: Lori has a nightmare within her coma dream.
- Downer Beginning: Downplayed. The fanfic opens on Lori wanting some alone time, and her school life is described as "stressful".
- Emotion Eater: The demon is said to feed on negative emotions.
- Everyone Has Standards: Lori admits that she dislikes Carol and wants Carol to live in her shadow, but she'd never physically hurt Carol.
- Faint in Shock:
- Lori passes out from the shock of not finding Lincoln in the photo album.
- As it turns out, Lori was unconscious the whole time from a bad chemical reaction.
- Genre Savvy: Lori thinks Lucy was stupid for playing with a ouija board because it's a bad idea in horror movies.
- Guilt-Induced Nightmare: As it turned out, the whole story was All Just a Dream Lori had after falling unconscious due to cosmetics mixing together. She dreamt that Lincoln was Carol's brother instead of Lori's because she'd previously wished that she didn't have a brother and was feeling guilty about it.
- Homemade Sweater from Hell: Lori describes the Christmas sweaters in the cupboard as ugly.
- It's a Wonderful Plot: A variation. Lori makes a drastic wish involving Lincoln's absence, and we see what the world would be like if it were true, however, he was still born, just as a Pingrey instead of a Loud.
- Irony: The expensive perfume that Bobby got Lori that she was mad about Lincoln knocking over, was actually a cheap knock-off that caused her to pass out.
- May It Never Happen Again: At the end, Lori burns her sister Lucy's ouija board so that she won't end up summoning another demon. Played with, however, since the story was All Just a Dream so Lucy had never truly summoned a demon. Lori was just trying to play it safe.
- Mistaken for Brooding: When Lori wakes up, she can't find Lincoln, so she thinks he's probably avoiding her because he's still hurt and angry from her verbally destroying him earlier. As it turns out, however, he isn't even in their house at all because Lori's gone to an alternate universe where he's Carol's brother instead.
- Mistaken for Romance: A variation. Luna thinks Lincoln might be Lori's imaginary boyfriend.
- Mistaken Identity: Apparently Bobby was once mistaken for a guy who escaped from the psych ward, because they looked similar.
- Nightmare Sequence: Lori has a nightmare about Carol saying, "He's mine now."
- Noodle Incident: Luan pulled a prank on the school librarian, which somehow led to them needing a new one.
- Not-So-Imaginary Friend: In the alternate reality, Leni and Luna think Lincoln is someone Lori made up, and Leni wonders if he's her imaginary friend, while Luna thinks he might be her imaginary boyfriend.
- Not Where They Thought: Lori wakes up after chewing Lincoln out for accidentally destroying her expensive perfume. When Lincoln doesn't show up for dinner, she thinks he's avoiding her because he's angry with her, but then she learns that Lincoln isn't her brother because she's in an alternate universe where he's Carol's brother. (The reason it qualifies is because she thought she was at home) At the end, this is revealed to be All Just a Dream.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Lincoln gets very shaken up when Lori swears at him.
- The first sign that something is amiss is when Lincoln doesn't show up and won't respond to Lori's apology, and when Leni and Luna think she's behaving oddly.
- Lori is unnerved by Lola frowning in a concerned way, rather than smiling or glaring, and then looking shy.
- Precision F-Strike: A variation. Lori uses several profanities, starting with the word "shit", when yelling at Lincoln, which shocks him greatly because, while Lori does swear, she hardly ever does so in front of her siblings, and she's never sworn at them before.
- Priceless Ming Vase: Lincoln breaks Lori's very expensive bottle of perfume that Bobby gave her, which is what causes her to make her "wish".
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: When Lucy says that she granted Lori's "wish", the latter says, "WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?!".
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Lori goes on a massive, profane rant at Lincoln that ends up with her wishing he never existed as the result of him breaking her perfume.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Carol's eyes are red in Lori's nightmare.
- Say My Name:
- Luna scolds Leni by shouting her name when Leni brings up the fact that Lori thinks Lincoln lives in the closet.
- Rita scolds Lynn by shouting, "Lynn Junior!" when the latter swears.
- The Shrink: Rita and Lynn Sr. end up getting a psychologist named Dr. Matthews for Lori because they think she's delusional.
- Silent Treatment: Subverted. Lori thinks Lincoln is refusing to speak to her, but it turns out he isn't there.
- Single Tear: Lori cries "a" tear when remembering Lincoln at night.
- Tears of Fear: When Lori learns she has to stab Carol, she cries because she is afraid that it won't work and/or she is going insane.
- Too Unhappy to Be Hungry:
- Subverted. Lori initially thinks Lincoln isn't going down to dinner because he's too sulky from her rant at him, but then it turns out he just isn't there.
- Played straight when Luan is disappointed at being punished and loses her appetite.
