Chad smiled, eventually getting a quiet-ish moment with Fin. He threw his arms around him, giving a big squeeze as he startled. Fin's confusion quickly turned into an amused smile.

"Um, not that it's unappreciated but is there a reason for the sneak attack or just because?"

"I'm just happy for you! You're absolutely killing it with Claire! Putting yourself out there and being confident about it!"

"Confident? No way, I'm terrified." He admitted, glancing over at the girl in question. "I just...it's been so long since I let myself relax around anyone. But, Claire...she just makes it feel like the world is kinder, somehow. When we first met I didn't even consider her as anything more than maybe a friend. Then we spent more and more time together and just-She feels like home, as odd as it sounds. She's so many things that I'm not and it doesn't make sense but she makes me feel safe and wanted and seen. I just-If she can do all of that for me just by existing, I can force back my fears and try to let her know how wonderful she is. Right?"

Chad gave another squeeze, hearing the slight shake in his friend's voice. "Hey, you're doing great, Fin...but if she cares for you like that, I'm sure any genuine effort you put forward is going to be more than enough. You are already more than enough, Fin. For real." He held tight until the larger man let out a long breath, slowly relaxing.

"Yeah, I guess so. You know, you're pretty good at this sort of thing."

"Hugs? Yeah I'm a cuddler." He felt the chuckle rumbling through Fin as much as he heard it.

"No, this pep talk stuff. Encouragement. Support...we really don't give you enough credit. We always point out when you're being a goofball but never really give credit where it's really due." Chad let go as he felt Fin push him away, assuming he was finished with entertaining the physical affection. Only to grunt slightly in surprise as, as soon as his arms were free, Fin absolutely crushed him in a bone-crunching hug. "Thank you, Chad. For all of it."

Chad grinned once he caught a proper breath, squirming until he could wriggle his arms free and hug him back "Happy to do it anytime." He assured, enjoying the moment before breaking the comfortable quiet. "You should just go ahead and tell her how you feel, you know. As entertaining as all this overt flirting is to watch, I think she'd appreciate you just being open and honest." He felt the other's sigh rise and fall from where the side of his face was still being squished against his chest.

"Yeah, you're right. I just-how do I say it?"

"You just tell her how you feel. Harder than it sounds, but it's worth it once you figure it out."

"No offense, Chad, but you were quite possibly the last one I expected to get love advice from." Fin mused, still not moving to break the embrace much to Chad's delight. Because he was, indeed, a cuddler. He basically lived for Nap Day.

"Yeah, I surprise a lot of people."

"Well, thus far it's all been pleasant surprises. Keep it up as far as I'm concerned."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"As touching as the Hallmark Moment the two of you are sharing is, we've got a pile of pillows waiting for us to wage war with." Jace called out. Fin laughed as Chad grumbled a bit, enjoying the final squeeze before the lanky man let go.

"Chad, how could you?!" Kazarious demanded dramatically as they made their way over. "I thought I was your great Bromance?" Bren gave a sly smirk.

"Sorry, man, but he and I have regular appointments to get tangled up in the sheets together. Fin's just the bit of fun on the side." Kazarious's gasp was loud as he clutched over his heart.

"What am I, then?! Your filthy little affair?!"

"We never put a label on anything." Chad insisted with a grin. "Everyone knows I'm not a one bromance kind of guy. Besides, you're my greatest showmance, not Bromance."

"Oh that means you're the messy one." Purnima informed giddily, earning Jace's confused attention.

"Wait, what's a showmance and why is it automatically messy?" He asked. The guy was decent by Chad's standards. A bit blunt, but sincere. He could always appreciate that in someone. He could see why he got along with Bren so well...as well as why April was mildly exasperated at his language at times. She was a good sport about it, though.

"Ah, he is uneducated." Purnima hummed jokingly. "A showmance is a colloquialism used to describe the phenomenon where two actors playing opposite one another in romantic roles continue that romance off stage during the process of rehearsals and the actual run of the show."

"Question: The run of the show means like the actual performances or something like that, right?"

"Correct." Purnima assured.

"Damn I'm smart. Continue."

"Indeed, great use of context clues. Anyways it's kinda a thing that once the show ends they realize all the chemistry was actually just from them having to stare longingly into each other's eyes saying sappy stuff for hours on end constantly and they actually don't like each other at all. Which leads to either a quiet little breakup, OR a big messy one because drama and theatre are basically legally bound to each other by the laws of the universe."

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Chad nodded, backing her up. "One of my high school buddies played the candlestick dude in Beauty and the Beast at our high school. Started dating the girl playing the French maid during rehearsals and like two days after the show ended their relationship took an epic nosedive. It was messy. Like, cheated with his stepbrother messy. Also loud and very public reveal and breakup. It was like watching reality TV without the awful scripting."

Jace nodded, clearly taking a moment to process the new information. "Huh. Yeah guess that makes sense. So Fin's your Bromance, Bren's your...honestly no clue how to categorize it from their description other than Hoemance, and Kazarious is your Showmance?"

Chase shrugged slightly "Guess so."

"Damn. The fuck is Purnima, then?"

"Please don't bring me into this little harem of his." The woman in question groaned jokingly. "The boy's got an ass like a pancake and the personality of a golden retriever. I'm more like his handler than anything else."

"I mean, she keeps me on task during class pretty often, so that's accurate." Chad mused, taking his place next to Jace in the loose circle around the pile of pillows.

"What happens if your girl or guy or person or whatever isn't cool with how cuddly you are with everyone? Like, is jealously not a thing you deal with?"

"Nah, I'd need a partner for them to be jealous. It's all good. Besides, why would I want to be with someone who wanted me to change big parts of who I am, anyways?" He dismissed. "Now are we going to have a pillow fight or not?"

Chad knew he was...different. Not that it was a bad different. He just never really felt what other people described as romance. Sure, he loved his friends, but, not in the way that made him want to, well, be romantic. It was like reading a fairytale. One where true love and magic existed. Over time, somehow everyone else around him managed to find this story book feeling while he was left just trying to understand how a fictional circumstance came true all around him. Somehow magic felt more like it could be real than all the romance stuff for him. Which made seeing people experience romantic love all the more special and confusing.

He'd tried dating. Meeting new people was amazing, and he was lucky to have so many good friends from those attempts. He just never felt anything different than friendship for anyone he'd met. He was incredibly affectionate, open, and caring with his friends, and that had always been enough for him. Maybe in ten, twenty, thirty years he'd think differently, but this feeling just felt settled in his bones. Like a part of what made him, well, him.

Still, it felt like he had been assembled missing a puzzle piece that everyone else had, sometimes. He felt whole and right, but seeing all the people around him made him question if he just hadn't found where the piece was missing, yet. He'd looked and looked but hadn't noticed anything out of place.

Then again, he was bad at jigsaw puzzles so that analogy probably wasn't the best, but he wasn't really that creative, so it'd do in a pinch.

His musings were broken as he was smacked squarely in the face with a pillow. Stumbling back, he gasped mournfully as he saw Bren snickering while a guilty-faced April clutching the weapon responsible.

"I'm so sorry!!!! Bren was baiting me, A-And I went to hit them but they moved at the last second and- I swear I didn't mean to hit you in the face!" She squeaked out. He straightened dramatically, letting the silence stretch for a moment before smiling despite his efforts.

"You just declared war. Better run." With that he lunged forward, snatching up a pillow and going after her as she ran away with a little shriek. Soon, the chaos of battle raged around him. The crescendoed cries of victory underscored by the wails of defeat. Feathers floated through the air like tumbling ash, some pillows leaving hands to soar towards victims like cannon shot.

Eventually in the chaos, he happened to notice Pugsley go down kinda hard. Not concerning, these kids played rough as a norm. What was, though, was the face he made shortly after.

"RAINBOW!" He shouted, every Addams immediately freezing much to the confusion of their guests.

"The fuck?" He ignored Jace as he hurried over to Pugsley, kneeling next to him.

"You good, man? Saw you go down pretty hard." Pugsley carefully moved his leg and ankle, looking displeased.

"I think so, just twisted it a bit. Should be fine in a minute." He assured, leaving Chad to let out a tiny sigh of relief as he stood.

"Good. C'mon, let's get you out of the fighting zone while you recover." Once Pugsley grasped the offered hand, he hauled him to his feet before helping him to an out of the way spot to observe the chaos.

"Well, I suppose I must fight for vengeance, now." Wednesday observed calmly, a light chill creeping up Chad's back at the tone. From the look on everyone but Jace's face, they all felt it, as well.

So now he knew who not to have on his apocalypse/disaster team. No decent survival instincts, it seems, in that one.

Shame, he wasn't going to last long now that Wednesday decided to take off the kid gloves. It was nice knowing him.

"After all," She continued, nonchalantly hefting the black and red brocade pillow in her hand, already looking as if it were elegantly blood splattered as it caught the low light. "-only I am allowed to maim, torture, or murder my brother. Since there's no way to know who struck the felling blow I must simply dispose of all possible suspects." A cold glint entered her eyes as she almost smiled. "Allez."

From his spot watching next to Pugsley, Chad watched as the battle raged anew with the desperation of the doomed raising the tension. There was no escape, simply the eventual bittersweet release of defeat. Wednesday was merciless, cutting down opponents one by one with ruthless determination. By the end, the final ones standing were Kazarious and the dark queen herself. Though shorter than her opposition by over a head, she held herself as if she were ten feet tall as she stood in the midst of her glorious destruction. Kazarious stared her down warily, chest heaving as they faced off.

"You may surrender, if you wish." Wednesday informed coldly, appearing to not even be winded, though her hair was now a bit of a mess from pillows and static. "I will be merciful."

"Never!" Kazarious ground out, fist clenching around his pillow. "You won't take me alive!"

"I never said I would be letting you walk away from this." Wednesday informed cruelly, that almost smile brushing her lips again. "I simply would have ended your suffering swiftly rather than continuing to toy with you like a marionette until I decide to cut your strings."

"Wednesday, Mother said to play nice with the guests." Pugsley piped up next to Chad, eliciting a sigh from his younger sister.

"Very well. I will end his torment quickly."

Kazarious never stood a chance. None of them had, to be fair. It was over in a matter of moments. A final duel ended with a few brilliantly placed hits before the man hit knees that had been swept out from under him by that cursed brocade pillow. Chad saw it, the moment of defeat in his eyes. It came swiftly, the vanquished's eyes closing, weapon falling from his grasp as he simply accepted and even embraced the final blow of the pillow against his chest, toppling him like a crumbling pillar.

"Do you consider yourself properly avenged, Pugsley?" Wednesday queried.

"I would say so. Especially considering no one pushed me or anything. I just tripped over a spare pillow I hadn't noticed." The indifference in the boy's tone had the fallen staring from their various prone positions in horror as they realized that he had orchestrated a massacre for his amusement as Chad just burst into laughter.

It was nice, having such interesting people to love.