Blaza picked up one of the cardboard boxes and started towards the house, watching TBH climb into the moving truck as he did so. About a month ago, Blaza, TBH, Socks, Meme, and Laff had all decided that they were going to move in together. Socks had recently found a house in Florida that was big enough for all of them, and the friends had either driven or flew to the area.

Nadwe and Muffin had been messaging everyone in Discord for the entire duration of Blaza's flight. They probably would have come too, if it weren't for their age and the fact that they still needed schooling.

Of course, this had been the first time the SockSquad had met in person. It was a pretty big thing. All of Blaza's best friends lived oceans away from him. Laff was in the U.K., Meme somewhere in Newyork, and TBH floating around in the sea. 

Socks already lived in Florida, so it was easier for him to get to their new house. For Blaza, the flight had been pretty long, as he lived in the Netherlands. He'd woken up at 1:00AM to get to the boarding station on time, and he'd been on the plane for over twelve hours. Man, it'd been a relief when he'd finally landed.

However, he was still adjusting to the time difference being six hours behind. It should be 12:47PM right now, but it was actually 6:47AM. And everyone was using fahrenheit instead of celsius! Why was it so hot here? 

Well, none of that really mattered. Blaza was with his friends now. 

A sudden clattering noise sounded, followed by a shout. It snapped Blaza back from the memories, and he turned to see that a big pile of boxes had fallen out of the moving van. Memegod stood laughing his hyena-like laugh next to the mess, and TBH's hand was sticking out at the bottom of the pile. Blaza let out a small chuckle. 

"You alright?" he called.

TBH gave a thumbs up, and Socks- who was coming back from bringing something into the house- broke down into laughter as well. Blaza set his box down and ran over.

"A little help?" TBH's muffled voice sounded.

Meme started pulling the mess of furniture off of him, and Blaza quickly followed. 

/Moving here was the best decision of my life/ Blaza thought as he dragged TBH up from the floor.

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Blaza set the last little knick-knack on his desk, then walked to the door of his room to look at his work. He smiled, impressed with himself, as the way he'd set up the space was actually pretty welcoming.

Blaza's bed was in the back left corner, a window shining moonlight onto the covers. The closet door was opposite of the bed, along with a dresser. A desk was to the left of the doorway with Blaza's gaming set up and a few plushies of among us and Umaru, the character he'd based his sprite off of. 

Some fan art was hanging on the empty walls, making the room really feel like it was Blaza's. It'd taken two days to fix this together, along with the rest of the house, and the gang still wasn't finished. 

/I should go see if anybody needs help setting up/ Blaza thought, turning and walking down the hallway.

Moving into Socks' room, Blaza glanced around. "You in here, Socks?" he called from the doorway.

"Yeah, I was gonna go to bed," Socks said with a tired laugh, peaking out from his closet.

Blaza blinked, then looked out the window, realizing the time. He also glanced at Socks' alarm clock, which had '11:00PM' flashing on its screen. "Oh."

Socks chuckled. "Goodnight, Blaza! I'll see you in the morning."

Blaza turned to him and smiled. "G'night, Socks!" 

He then turned to walk out of the room, but while doing so bumped into the Brit of the house. 

"AH! Sorry, mate!" Laff yelped.

"No, it's fine. Why're you up?" Blaza asked, quietly closing Socks' door.

Laff blinked. "Well, eh..."

Blaza put on a skeptical look. "Laff?"

".... Youse want some chocolate milk?"

Blaza stared for a second before laughing. "No, I think I'm good, Laff. Thanks for asking, though," Blaza said, still chuckling. He patted his British friend on the shoulder and then walked past him, deciding it was a good time to head to bed.

Blaza changed his mind a second later, however, grabbing his Switch off the charger and pulling up Pokemon Pearl. He chuckled quietly, seeing his team of Bidoofs when he entered the next battle.

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Blaza had played until well past 1:00AM and was only now starting to feel drowsy. He sighed quietly, thinking of what tomorrow might bring. He decided to turn off the Switch, then proceeding to get up and put it back on the charger. 

He grabbed his pajamas, throwing them on, and laid down under the covers of his bed. A yawn emitted from his mouth as he closed his eyes. A small smile spread over his face as he quietly drifted off into a peaceful sleep. 

However, the peacefulness wouldn't last long. Something was coming. Or, a better way to say it was 'Returning'. It would haunt Blaza for the next few months of his life, until he couldn't take it any longer, and things would change. For Blaza, and for his friends.

(Hey, guys! Welcome to the first chapter of Quiet Times! It's been a while, but I've gotten back to writing, so that's great! I've posted a couple other chapters along with this one for different books, so you should go read those too, if you'd like! There isn't much else to say, but I'm glad to be writing again!) (Word count: 919)