This time, Lincoln has brought Luna, Luan, and the twins. They will be reading Hide and Seek, which begins with the Loud siblings trying to think of something they could do together while the parents are grocery shopping. Lincoln (the real one) points out that they don't have to do something together.
In fact, the story is pretty stilted so far. Fanfic Luan is making puns despite the house being in silence, and the Lana in the story wants to dig in the trash (as does the real Lana), but what's stopping her? The Lola in the story tells Lana not to get dirty, and the real Lana does a surprisingly poetic speech about how being dirty is who she is.
Fanfic Luna suggests they play boardgames, and the real Luan reveals that Lynn thought up a "game" called Twist 'Er, which just involves putting her in a Boston crab. The Lincoln in the story suggests hide and seek, which surprises everyone both in and out of the story, since even Lola feels too old for the game. Lana likes it, but only because she can hide in trash cans.
Fanfic Luan says that it could be fun, and the real Luan points out that you can indeed spiff up old games— for instance, her comedy college students play tag by whacking each other with rubber chickens. Fanfic Lynn thinks the game is too childish, but fanfic Leni, oddly enough, is excited. Fanfic Lori says no to the game, so Leni steals her phone, which the real Luna notes is a bad idea.
Eventually, all the siblings in the story decide to play, and the sisters decide to all be "it", which, as the real Lincoln points out, doesn't make sense. However, it turns out that the Lincoln in the story is it, so he closes his eyes and counts.
He then heads upstairs, then into Lori and Leni's room, where the latter is disguised as a lamp. The real Luna says that she once went as a lamp for Halloween, but no one recognised her.
The fanfic Lincoln calls Leni's name, tricking her into removing the lampshade very easily much to Lola's (the real one) chagrin. The fanfic Lincoln then finds Lori in the linen closet, understandably not really committing, and goes off to Luna and Luan's room, where he catches the latter out with a knock-knock joke. Luna in the story is doing an even worse job at hiding; she's just sitting on her bunk.
Fanfic Lincoln calls Luna, "young lady", and the real Luna points out that, while she is a young lady, she's four years older than Lincoln so him calling her that is weird. Then, the twins tease Luna and call her "old lady".
Back in the story, he goes into the twins' room, where Lola isn't even playing the game; she's just cleaning her side of the room. He leaves, without even bothering to look for Lana, and enters Lisa and Lily's room, where the former is just lying on the floor. Frustrated with everyone's lack of hiding competence, the real Lola hides under the couch cushions to demonstrate how easy it is.
As it turns out, the Lisa in the story was trying to cheat with an invisibility serum but it didn't work. Forgetting about Lily, fanfic Lincoln enters Lynn and Lucy's room. The former was hiding on the ceiling, but immediately gave up and put Lincoln into a headlock. Fanfic Lucy is also a terrible hider as she just appears in front of Lincoln, and then the real Lucy appears on the couch.
Lucy disappears, and fanfic Lincoln finds Lana and Hops hiding in the kitchen trash bin. The Lori in the story orders Lana to take a bath, even though, as the real Lincoln points out, it would take a lot of effort to bathe Lana every time she got dirty. As for the Lily in the story, she's asleep on the couch.
The parents arrive home and and ask Lincoln how his day was, and he says they played hide and seek, but for some reason, Lynn Sr. is tensing up. Fanfic Lincoln asks if he can call the girls down for lunch, and Rita says yes, but she's doing a fake smile. When Lincoln leaves, Lynn Sr. says, "I can't take it anymore!", to the confusion of the real Louds.
For some reason, fanfic Rita wants to move out, but Lynn Sr. thinks it's a bad idea. Then, for some reason, Rita accuses Lynn Sr. of cheating on her. The fanfic Lincoln comes down and tells his parents not to wake Lily, but Lynn Sr. gets mad at him for some reason. He then tells him that he has no sisters. This unnerves the real Lincoln and he pokes Luan to make sure she's real.
Fanfic Lincoln freaks out and starts crying, but then the girls appear and cheer him up. The story ends, and Lana throws Lincoln to prove she's real. Grammy then asks if he's real, confusing everybody.
This episode provides examples of
- Adaptational Dumbass: Everybody in the story (with the exception of Lana) can't even play hide-and-seek correctly: they think being "it" means being the one hiding, Leni gives up after being called once, and the rest of them are no good at hiding. Lisa at least was trying to cheat, and Leni is already dumb, but still.
- Batman Gambit: Story-Lincoln tricks Leni into removing the lampshade by saying, "Where are you?". As Lola (the real one) points out, this is a little unnecessary, since he could have just taken it off and said, "I found you", and Leni was even dumber than usual giving up after being called once.
- Character Exaggeration:
- Sure, Luan loves to make puns, but in the story, she just sits there and makes them while everyone else sits in silence.
- Leni may be dumb, but in the story she immediately gives up her location in a game of hide-and-seek upon being called once.
- Comically Missing the Point: When the Lana in the story says that she'd rather be digging in the trash than sitting quietly in the living room, the real Lincoln tells her to go ahead. The real Lana nearly goes off, until Lincoln tells her that he meant the story's Lana.
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: Lincoln covers the twins' eyes during the parents' fight scene.
- Dark Fic: The story ends with a revelation that the girls aren't real.
- Death Glare: The Rita in the story glares at Lynn Sr. when she thinks he's cheating.
- Do Androids Dream?: None of the Louds know how to answer Grammy's question "Am I real?".
- Dope Slap: Discussed when Lola says she wants to smack her fanfic counterpart for being bad at the game.
- Facepalm: The Luna in the fanfic facepalms when she realises she revealed herself.
- Insult Backfire: When Lana chastises Lola for being a "game snob", the latter replies that she's an "everything snob".
- "Knock Knock" Joke: Exploited. The Lincoln in the story says, "Knock knock" so that Luan will say, "Who's there?", giving away her hiding place.
- Lampshade Wearing:
- The Leni in the story disguises herself as a lamp.
- Luna once went as a lamp for Halloween, but nobody recognised her costume; they thought she just looked normal. This is a reference to the meme of Luna hiding behind a lamp, though under normal circumstances, it would imply frequent drunkenness (incidentally, Luna was established not to drink in After Dark: 4).
- Mistaken for Cheating: At one point, fanfic Rita inexplicably wonders if Lynn Sr. knocked up a woman without telling her.
- Nose Nuggets: The Lana in the story picks her nose at one point.
- Plot Hole:
- At one point in the story, Luna suggests board games, but then Lynn looks around to see if anyone agrees.
- As Lincoln points out, the Leni in the story holds up Lori's phone above her head so she can't reach. But that won't work, since Leni isn't taller than Lori.
- Pun:
- Discussed when the Luan in the story was apparently making puns while everyone else sat in silence.
- Played straight when the real Luan says that disguising oneself as a lamp is not the "brightest" hiding place.
- Self-Deprecation: Lola identifies as a "snob" at one point.
- Senior Sleep-Cycle: Lana tells Luna that it's time for her nap when she's calling her "old lady".
- Smart Ball: Lana says, "To be dirty is to be Lana. When you scrub away the dirt on my face, you're scrubbing away who I am." This is, as Luna points out, surprisingly poetic for Lana.
- Surprisingly Creepy Moment: The story starts as a normal story of the Loud siblings playing hide and seek, but then it turns out that the girls don't exist.
- Toilet Humour: Lana thought up her poetic spiel about "to be dirty is to be Lana" while taking a whizz.
- Twist Ending: There was literally nothing in the story suggesting that the girls weren't real until it's revealed.
- Waxing Lyrical: When Lincoln remarks that his fanfic counterpart was only trying to help, he has a familiar-sounding exchange with Luna:Luna: Mmm? What'cha say?
Lincoln: That I only meant well.
Luna: Oh. Well, of course you did.
