"You're always Miss Doom and Gloom! Would it kill ya to smile once in a while?!"

"It would."

Oswald found the majority of his siblings gathered around the door to Lynn and Lucy's room, "What's going on?"

"Don't get involved, Ozzie," Lori told him, "Just trust me, don't," before pointing him in the direction of his own room.

Minutes later, he and Lincoln were getting ready to go to sleep when they heard a knock on the door.

Lincoln got out of bed and opened it, revealing Lynn, carrying a pillow, "Hey, Lynn, what's up?", he tiredly asked.

The jock huffed, "There's no way I'm staying in the same room with the Duchess of Darkness," then paused to soften her tone, "Can I switch bunks with one of you guys tonight?"

Lincoln shared a surprised look with Oswald, then stared at Lynn again, "Sure…just give us a few secs, ok?"

Then, he approached Oswald, sitting in bed, "Listen, Ozzie, how 'bout you and I have a thumb war: the winner stays here, and the loser goes to their room."

Exhausted from the day prior, Oswald agreed, "Okay."

The two began a thumb war. With Oswald putting in little effort, Lincoln easily won.

He announced, "All right, Lynn, you can stay," while Oswald got out of bed and gathered his own pillow.

Lynn gave Oswald a hug before he went out of the room, "Thanks, Ozzie!"

As the door shut, Lynn added, "And thank you, Lincoln!"

Oswald cringed as he heard Lincoln's yelp of pain, "Two for flinching!"

He approached Lynn and Lucy's room, where he was greeted by Lucy, sitting upright in her (coffin?), who growled, "I thought I told you-"

Upon seeing it was Oswald, Lucy's tone was brought closer to her usual monotone, "Oswald? What are you doing here?"

"Lynn and I switched bunks for tonight," Oswald paused before nervously adding, "Is that ok?"

"Ok?", for one of the first times since he'd met her, Lucy grew a smile on her face, "It's perfect…"

Feeling more awkward now than ever, Oswald set his pillow down on Lynn's bed, "Good, then…I'll just get on here."

Oswald's inner germaphobe cringed when getting under Lynn's blanket, but he decided to soldier through it. After all, it would only be for one night.

"Good night, Lucy."

The light went out.

"Good night, Oswald."

Oswald was lulling to sleep when he caught some little traces of light staring down at him in the darkness. He gulped as he realized that these were Lucy's pet bats.

The bats. The bats…

The bats that he had been trying his best to avoid ever since he moved into the Loud household. There was just something about these creatures that made him feel…ill at ease.

…

At sunrise, Oswald awoke to Lucy, all dressed and alert, looking down on him, "Good morning, Oswald."

Spooked by the goth, Oswald stuttered in reply, "G-good morning."

They heard a cry of "Hey!" in the hallway. A second later, Lynn entered the room-as if she was pushed.

Lucy spat, "What are you doing here?"

In response, Lynn only confused repeated, "What am I doing here?"

Breaking her monotone, Lucy bellowed, "Get out!"

"What do you mean 'get out'? Fine! I'll just stay in Lincoln's room again! He's a way cooler roomy anyway!", Lynn incredulously stalked out of the room.

Lincoln's "But-!" resounded through the hallway before his door slammed.

The white-haired boy appeared in the doorway, "Lucy, please make up with Lynn!"

Lucy turned her head, "I'd rather wear pink."

Lincoln let out a defeated sigh before walking away.

With the distraction over, Lucy returned her attention to Oswald, "Now then, would you care to hear some of my poetry?"

Oswald shrugged, "Sure…"

…

Lincoln and Oswald sat next to each other at breakfast.

Oswald made the first move,"So, how was your night?"

The elder spitefully spat, "Two words: Dutch. Ovens."

Oswald was confused, "What?"

Lincoln whispered into Oswald's ear. The younger boy jerked his head, "Ew!"

"How 'bout you?"

Oswald shrugged, "Alright, I guess-well, except for that bat."

"Yeah, watch your back when you're around Lucy's bats. Sometimes, they like to…", Lincoln took on a whisper, "get bold."

Oswald paused, fear gripping him, "Bold?"

Lincoln continued, "Bite people."

"What?!"

…

The darkness was all around him. Oswald was running for his life. Behind him, flew the bat-a demonic creature with blood-red eyes and razor-sharp fangs-just waiting for the chance to feast upon his blood. The bat was catching up to him when he tripped and fell…

"Aaaah!"

"Are you okay, Ozzie?"

Oswald had fallen out of bed onto the floor. He looked up to see Lynn, standing in the doorway, with concern in her eyes.

Lucy, too, was awake, "What is it this time?"

"Just here for my stuff- ", Lynn covered her sad expression with a smirk, "since I just got the best roommate ever! Goodbye and good riddance!", as she packed her things and walked away.

"Sigh," Lucy returned to her coffin while Oswald climbed back into bed, "back to bed then."

…

"Sigh…"

In the morning, this time, Oswald awoke to the sound of a ball being bounced against the wall.

Turning over, he saw, much to his shock, it was Lucy throwing the ball, "Lucy…"

Caught by surprise, Lucy threw the ball away, "Ball? What ball?"

"Okay…"

…

"So, how your night?"

Oswald and Lincoln were sitting down for breakfast.

"Terrible. I tried everything I could think of to get Lynn to switch back rooms-but it only made her want to stay even more!", Lincoln fumed, "You?"

"Had trouble sleeping."

"I'm sorry about that, buddy,", Lincoln looked at him worriedly, "Was it the bats?"

"Yes…", Oswald muttered, "and Lucy bouncing that ball against the wall."

"Wait…do you mean one of Lynn's balls?"

"I guess so."

From the expression on his face, Oswald could tell that his brother was hatching an idea.

…

Oswald was walking up the stairs when he noticed something. One of Lucy's bats dropped down from the ceiling. Headed straight towards him-with its fangs out!

"Aaah!"

Oswald was in a panic. Until he remembered one of the biggest predators of bats: owls.

He rushed into the attic, where his owl was sleeping.

"Chester! Chester!"

The owl's eyes opened at his owner's rousing.

"Help me!", Oswald opened the cage door and pointed at the bat that had followed him up there.

At the approach of the much larger owl, the bat made a quick retreat.

Relieved, Oswald called Chester back, "Good boy, good boy," and began nudging him below the beak.

"Oswald," his joy sunk when he heard Lucy call from downstairs, "get down here."

Oswald climbed out of the attic, where the goth was waiting, ready to plead, "Lucy, I can explain…"

Lucy interrupted, "Has Hans been bothering you?"

Resigned, Oswald admitted, "…Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Um…"

"Sigh…", Lucy paused, "I will tell him and the rest of the bats to leave you be."

Oswald couldn't believe his luck, "Really?"

"Oh, thank you, Lucy!"

Oswald threw his arms around Lucy. Though caught off guard for a second, she returned the hug.

"You're welcome."

…

In Lucy and Lynn's room, a table with food was set up. Oswald was sitting on the bed, observing. According to Lucy, Lynn had left a note for her in the poetry book, saying she wanted to apologize.

Oswald was relieved that this crisis was finally ending.

The two girls spoke at the same time, first pleased, "I'm glad you finally wanna apologize to me," then irritated, "What? Me apologize to you? You're here to apologize to me!"

This gave way to an argument with a scared Oswald watching.

"You are absolutely crazy."

"What, you're the one whose crazy!"

"You are being ridiculous."

"I'm not the one who started it! You are-"

Lincoln entered the room and cried out, "Hold it! Guys, I made this dinner so that you two would make up."

Lynn narrowed her eyes at him, "You did this?"

Lucy turned towards Oswald accusingly, "Et tu, Oswald?"

Oswald held his hands up, "I had nothing to do with this!"

"He's right," Lincoln stated, "it was all me."

Lucy asked, "Why?"

"Because I know that, for all your fights, you miss each other. But you're too stubborn to admit it."

Lucy admitted, "I guess I do have trouble sleeping without a ball banging against the wall."

Lynn had her head down, "And I guess I do miss hearing you sigh heavily as you write your poems."

Lincoln smiled, "See? Now, you two make up, because if I have to spend one more night with 'Snorezilla' over here, I'm going to go insane!"

Offended by this remark, Lynn threw a meatball in his direction, hitting him in the face.

Lucy chuckled, "Ha! Nice throw."

Lynn threw another meatball at Lincoln, "You like that?"

Lincoln caught the meatball and returned fire but hit Lucy instead. What ensued was a three-way food fight between the brother and sisters (Oswald hiding under the bed to stay out of it).

…

By the end, the room was trashed.

"So, I can move back in?"

In her usual monotone, Lucy answered, "Nothing would make me happier."

"Two for flinching!", Lynn held her fist up but was disappointed when Lucy made no reaction, "Dang, it never works on you."

The jock and goth hugged.

Once apart, Lucy stated, "I'm glad we made up, but there's no way we can sleep here tonight."

To this, the two looked at their white-haired brother, "Lincoln?"

"Do you think we could fit in your room with you and Ozzie?"

…

It was a tight fit, but all four of them were sleeping in Lincoln and Oswald's room. Lynn sharing Lincoln's bed and Lucy sharing Oswald's.

Due to the two girls' loud snoring, Oswald found it hard to fall asleep.

'Just for one night,' he thought, as a comfort. Just for one night…