Lincoln is on the couch, but this time, he's brought his five best friends instead of any of his sisters. It turns out that the other friends wanted to be on the show ever since Clyde told them about it, and Lincoln promised his sisters strawberry muffins if they could stay upstairs and be quiet so as not to interrupt him and his friends. They will be reading How Many?.
It begins with Lincoln and his friends going home from school, and Rusty suggests going out for pizza, but as the real Stella and the story's Liam point out, they've already had lunch. Then, the boys in the story want to go to the arcade and play a video game about submarines in space, but Stella doesn't watch the show that it's based upon. The real Stella points out that because "sub" means "below" and "marine" means "water", it doesn't make sense to have a submarine in space. Clyde points out that submarine sandwiches exist, but Stella thinks the correct term is "heroes".
The Clyde in the story explains that it's a body of water in space, which makes the real Stella wonder what keeps it together, so Zach suggests that it's creatures called "gravity gnomes". He cites these as the reason the planets stay in place, and when Clyde points out that it's actually the sun's gravity that does that, he amends it to the gnomes keeping the sun in place, which Clyde can't refute.
In the story, Rusty points out that the arcade is closed, then suggests going to a new cafe to leer at girls, but Stella turns it down. Rusty thinks it's because she's a girl, but the real boys note that their group dynamic didn't change drastically when Stella joined in. In the story, Stella sees a note on Lincoln's rear, so she kicks him, which amuses the real Stella. It turns out to have been a "kick me" note.
Clyde in the story wonders if Luan did it as revenge on Lincoln for spilling sauerkraut on her clown wig, which confuses the real Stella since she got Luan confused with Lucy. This prompts a conversation between Lincoln's friends over which sister is which.
The Lincoln in the story explains who Luan is and Liam suggests going to the "biker bar" to ride a mechanical bull. Clyde is unsure because Liam has just eaten and may get a cramp, and he doesn't trust biker bars. Liam suggests a country festival, but the real Liam would prefer a bluegrass festival and the tickets are sold out anyway.
The story Clyde suggests a trip to the movies, but they can't decide on what to watch, and Rusty passed out when he saw a 3D movie. Liam suggests a trip to "the mudhole", but Zach thinks Lana would probably already there, confusing Stella because she can't keep track of all the Loud sisters.
She then suggests meeting at the arcade when it's open, which reminds some of the others that they have to do yesterday's homework (Rusty), do work on the farm (Liam), and babysit Lily (Lincoln). Liam suggests hanging out right then, which the real Lincoln points out is a bad idea, since he can't leave Lily unattended.
Story-Liam asks the others if they have any ideas, but Stella is looking very confused and wondering who Lily is. He explains who she is, and that Lori and Leni are unavailable as they're driving Lynn to a soccer match and shopping with Lola respectively. The Stella in the fanfic is now thoroughly confused and trying to remember some of the sisters, but not very well. She asks him how many he has, and when he tells her, she thinks it's crazy.
The boys in the story then sum up the Loud sisters and go back to thinking of what to do together. Clyde suggests playing games at his house, but Rusty's afraid that Clyde's dads would get mad if they dirtied anything. The real Clyde points out that his dads get "upset", not mad, but Lincoln finds that worse as it makes him feel guilty. The Stella in the story is oddly confused over the idea that Clyde has two dads, and the story ends.
Lincoln asks the others what they thought, and they enjoyed it. Then, the sisters come downstairs. Lisa wants information about Zach's "gravity gnomes" theory, Lynn compliments Liam's biceps, Lola wants to be tall like Stella, Lily initially flirts with Rusty but gets offended when he calls her Lincoln's "baby" sister, Luna considers giving Clyde vocal coaching but he declines, and Lincoln gets trampled by someone unknown.
This episode provides examples of
- Accidental Misnaming: The Stella in the fic calls Leni "Lena", Lana "Lyla", and Luna or Luan "Lulu".
- Adaptational Jerkass: The Stella in the story seems kind of homophobic as she says, "Clyde's... dads?" when she finds out about them.
- Ambiguously Bi: Stella says that she'd consider kissing Rusty if he brushed his teeth, but she also agrees with Zach that Mollie is a "cutie".
- Berserk Button: Lily hates being called a baby so much that she kicks Rusty in the shin. Justified, since toddlers often have irrational hatreds for things.
- Big Eater: The story's version of Rusty wants to have a second lunch.
- Book Dumb: Rusty's GPA is a 1.9 because he can't be bothered doing his homework when he forgets, since he's going to be in trouble for turning it in late anyway.
- Continuity Nod:
- Lincoln's guy friends still feel guilty about how they behaved towards him back in "Making the Grade".
- Lynn calls Liam "Cow Pie Kid", the nickname he had in the eponymous episode.
- Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: Lily calls Rusty "Wusty" and herself "Wiwy".
- Facepalm: Everyone on the couch facepalms at the revelation that story-Lincoln never told Stella how many sisters he has.
- Faint in Shock: Apparently, Rusty passed out the last time he saw a 3D movie because a meteor was coming towards him.
- Filthy Fun: Discussed in the story. Liam wants to have fun at a place called "the mudhole", but Zach thinks Lana would probably be already there with her friends.
- Food as Bribe: Lincoln promises the sisters strawberry muffins if they can go thirty minutes without interrupting him or being too noisy.
- Immortality: Discussed. Zach believes in immortal "gravity gnomes", which keep the sun in place.
- Less Embarrassing Term: Rusty insists that he didn't "faint" at the movies but rather "passed out" because only girls "faint"; despite the fact that they're both slang terms for the same thing.
- Literal Ass-Kicking: In the story, Stella kicks Lincoln's butt after seeing a "kick me" note. The real Stella finds this funny, to Lincoln's annoyance.
- Mistaken Identity:
- On the couch, Stella gets Luan confused with Lucy and Zach gets Lana confused with Lucy.
- In the story, Stella gets Luan and Mollie confused.
- Nosebleed: Discussed when Zach says that despite what the Lincoln in the story said, Stella doesn't look like Clyde when he sees Lori as her nose isn't bleeding. Clyde points out that he doesn't do that anymore.
- Out of Character: While Lincoln is mainly in-character in the story, he goes against his responsible personality when he doesn't go home to babysit Lily after remembering she's alone.
- Pie in the Face: Discussed. The Liam in the story once got hit by one of Luan's pies while walking past the Loud house.
- Puppy Love: Lily flirts with Rusty.
- Road Apples: Discussed when Liam says that his story counterpart should be glad the pie which hit him wasn't a cow pie.
- Shout-Out: When Lincoln's friends are trying to identify which Loud sister is which and referring to them as "the [adjective] one", Lincoln says, "Are you talking about my sisters or the seven dwarfs?"
- Theme Naming: Discussed when Clyde wonders if Rita and Lynn Sr. will keep having daughters until they run out of four-letter, female L-names.
- Toilet Humour: When the Liam in the story complains of being hit by a pie, the real one says that at least it wasn't a cow pie.
- You Are Grounded!: Discussed when Liam says he'd be grounded for a month if he forgot to babysit Lily.
