Chad had grown up as an only child, as well as the only boy in a house run by women. His childhood home was generally rather calm and quiet, especially with his mom and Oma having quieter personalities. The two could raise hell when they wanted, don't get him wrong, but they just both preferred a peaceful home atmosphere.

Living with the Addams was basically like living in an amusement park and haunted house in one.

Considering how he hadn't really ever experienced the odd sibling bonds some of his friends had, it was surreal to just be dropped directly into essentially having five of them. Six if you counted Uncle Fester, which sometimes he did.

For all the fun of Bren and Wednesday's overt bickering and Uncle Fester's antics- even April's pleasant discussions on stuff like the symbolism of impalement in literature or helping Pugsley with essays- it was starting to grate on him after a month.

The house was never quiet. Peaceful, yes. Quiet? Never truly. Even in the middle of the night if he woke up there was always something.

Well, there was one spot in the household that was somehow quiet on the rare occasion he entered, but...he never knew exactly how welcome he was there. Fin and Bren had gotten closer lately, and April seemed to get along with the tall, lanky guy just fine. He also wanted to be good friends, but, somehow he always seemed to put his foot in his mouth around Fin. So, generally he left him be.

But today...today, he was exhausted and desperate.

Fin called for the quiet but firm knocker to enter, finding a save point in his game before turning to see his visitor. Today was a streaming day, but most of the Addams' household aside from Bren didn't know about his side hustle. So he could forgive the intrusion. Besides, his followers were aware he's in a shared living situation and there may be interruptions. Bren had even hopped on and played with him once.

It was harder to convince them all that Kitty was actually a dog wearing a lion's mane costume since the cat would come and go as it pleased, but whatever.

Chad stared for a moment, confused. "Your hair is purple."

Muting his mic, Fin nodded "Its a wig. One of my friends back home taught me how to put it on. Realistic, isn't it? Now, did you need something?"

Finally noticing the popular streaming platform on one of the monitors, Chad groaned. "Sorry, man, I didn't mean to interrupt anything! It's nothing important, I'll jus-"

"Chad, you never come in here alone. Is everything okay?" Chad froze before looking down as he fidgeted in the doorway.

"Yeah, I just...I'm not used to all this noise around here. Been having trouble sleeping and your room is somehow always quiet." He admitted sheepishly. "I was gonna see if I could just sit in here for a bit but I see that you're busy."

Fin gave a soft almost-smile. "Come in and close the door behind you. Stay quiet." With that he flipped his mic back on before looking back at his camera. "Hey guys I'll be right back. Helping out a friend...no, not Mayhem. They're not playing with me today, sorry guys. Should just take a second." With that he stood, abandoning his chair to come closer. "You're going to want to stay on that side of the room if you want to avoid being on camera."

"Oh, I don't mind if you don't. Kinda got used to the stage after all my opera stuff." Chad shrugged "But I'm happy to stay off camera if it's better for your stream, dude. You didn't have to stop it."

"Its okay. I had gotten to a good save spot before the next quest. So I'm not sure how peaceful it will be in here considering I'm gaming, but I've got a white noise machine and an old noise canceling headset if you'd like to hang out in here for a bit." Chad's head snapped up, shocked.

"Wait, for real? I can stay?"

"Yeah. Just don't put your shoes on any furniture. You look exhausted." Chad groaned, fighting the touchy habits he had developed with his hometown friends. Fin didn't seem the sort to appreciate being hugged out of nowhere and clung to like a koala.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Even my vocal instructor noticed. Starting to effect my voice a bit." He admitted reluctantly. "Im just not used to all this noise just yet, ya know?"

"Well, you can borrow the noise machine and headset for your room if you want, or you can crash and take a nap in here. I just put new sheets on the bed so they're clean, but its in view of the camera so-"

"Fin, you're a saint." Chad insisted fervently, forgetting as he flung himself at the tall guy for a hug, squeezing happily for a moment before kicking off his shoes and heading for the bed. "Its quiet enough in here already, don't worry about me and just focus on your stream." Already he was fighting yawns, the calm soothing him as a bemused chuckle sounded softly.

"Okay. Get some rest. What do you want me to call you if people ask? Got an online tag or just have something you like the sound of?"

"No tag. Call me Princess for all I care." Chad mumbled as he eagerly burrowed under the blankets, ignoring another chuckle from Fin. Was he being ridiculous? Yes. Was he tired enough to not care? Also yes.

"Okay then. I'll wake you up once my stream ends in an hour or two. Don't wanna completely throw off your sleep schedule." Chad's only response was a non-committal hum, already half asleep as Fin settled back at his computer and turned on the mic. "Sorry about that, we're all good, now....yeah, just loud in the rest of the house and he needed some rest. No worries, guys...no, its not like that. He's a good friend and one of my housemates. I swear you guys ship me with everyone. Mayhem's going to get their feelings hurt at this rate." He joked.

An hour later found the little devil themself coming in. From a glance, seemingly just after practice as their hair was still wet. Though they looked a little worse for wear. Seems Chad wasn't the only one in need of a nap. Waving away Bren's shock at Chad sleeping in his bed, he focused on the dungeon he was going through. Not bothering muting his mic.

"He needed some sleep and this was the quietest spot in the house. Dont think to hard on it, Mayhem. The Chat is already taking care of the shipping." Hearing Bren's tired snort of laughter, he continued. "If he's okay with it feel free to join him. You look beat." Glancing at his feed in the lower corner of one of his screens, he saw Bren hesitate only a moment before humming an affirmative. In short order Bren had shaken Chad somewhat awake.

"Mind if I join? Headache's got it so my room isn't cutt'n it."

"Jus don steal all the covers." Chad grumbled back. "Not 'sponsible if I cuddle."

"That's fine, I've been told I'm a heat-seeking octopus in my sleep. If you kick I kick back, though."

"Ish fine..." Chad slurred, already falling back asleep as Bren kicked off their slippers and crawled under the covers. Fin just shook his head with a small smirk before getting back to his game, chatting calmly through his encounters and eventually chuckling at his next check-in on the two.

The chat had been cooing over them for a while and sure enough Bren and Chad were tangled up in a veritable, slightly drooling puppy pile after an unconscious battle for the blankets. Looking back at the chat, he shook his head with a soft smile. "Just friends, guys. Nothing wrong with friends being affectionate with each other. I agree its cute...Well sorry to disappoint, but I'm pretty positive we're not starting a polycule."

An hour later he shook the two awake, amused as he, sans purple wig, and April stood over the two bleary-eyed idiots. Fin had made an attempt to wake them on his own, but Bren had nearly yanked him down to become a tangled up victim of their napping cuddle puddle. Though how the two could sleep in such strange positions baffled him.

"Come on you two, time to get up. You had a solid two hour nap and you're going to ruin your sleep schedule if you don't get up. That's assuming it isn't ruined already." Bren was the first to respond with a groan to April's insistance.

"Bold of you to assume I have a sleep schedule." They grumbled, attempting to hide their face under a pillow, only to earn a whine from Chad as it smacked the poor blond in the face on it's journey.

"Five more minutes." Chad bargained. April sighed, but smiled despite her show of annoyance.

"Come on, up and at 'em." She insisted as she, much less inclined towards being gentle about it than Fin, yanked the blankets off. Chuckling at the twin squeaks about it being cold and her being mean as the would-be sleepers tightened their tangle of limbs.

"Why're you being so mean?" Chad pouted, only for Bren to hiss and further hide their face as she turned on the lights.

"Because otherwise you'll be half-asleep at the dinner table and Cleopatra might mistake you two for food." She teased as she continued rousing the two while Fin unhelpfully looked on with amusement. Once April successfully woke the two and began shooing them out, Chad hesitated before leaving.

Already, he felt so much better. "Hey, Fin? Thanks again, man. For real." Fin smiled.

"Dont mention it. Glad you got some rest."

Later that night in the library, Chad balked while the other kids all laughed at him, Fin just smirking slightly.

"Wait, you actually started calling me Princess to your chat?!"

"You're the one who suggested it."

"Chadwick, Chadwick! Let down thy man bun!" Bren cackled from their spot on the floor. Naturally just below where April sat curled up on the window seat. "You even sing in the fucking forest! Lost a flip-flop on the campus steps the other day! Its golden!"

April was giggling to much to bother fussing at Bren for cussing in front of the kids, who were also highly amused as Fin tried, and failed to keep a straight face, just enjoying the hectic banter as everyone started offering increasingly ridiculous nicknames for Chad.

Quiet is nice, but sometimes a room full of laughter and fun with those you care about is just the balm your soul needs.