Knock-knock-knock!
Wirt murmured slightly, but didn't wake up.
KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!
He turned over and groaned. "Mom, it's still night," he mumbled loudly. "I'll go to school tomorrow."
"Wirt?! It's me!"
"Huh?"
Now properly roused, Wirt dragged himself out of bed, crossed the room and opened the door. Through bleary eyes he saw his little brother standing there in his pajamas, carrying a pillow under one arm and clutching a large bullfrog to his chest with the other.
"Greg?" he mumbled, rubbing one eye with his fist. "What are you doing? It's the middle of the night."
"Jason Funderburker had a nightmare. Can we sleep in your room tonight?"
Wirt quirked an eyebrow. "Jason Funderburker had a nightmare?"
"Uh-huh!" Greg nodded as the frog let out a loud "RIBBIT." "So can we? He's scared for us to be alone!"
Wirt hesitated for a few seconds. "Alright, I guess."
"YAAAY! Sleepover!"
"But you and Jason Funderburker have to be on your best behavior. No touching anything, and no bouncing off the walls for either of you."
"We'll be the perfect guests!" Greg said, and ran past Wirt into the room. The elder boy watched him thoughtfully. There had only been a handful of times when Greg had felt frightened enough to sleep with his parents, and he had never made that request of his brother before. Then again, Jason Funderburker probably explained that change—their mom would have had a conniption knowing that Greg took the frog to bed with him, let alone if he tried to do it with her.
Wirt pulled a spare blanket from his closet and threw it down on the floor, along with his pillow. "I'll sleep down here. Now let's turn in. I have a Math test in the morning."
"You got it!"
Wirt laid down on the carpet, pulled the blanket up to his chin and turned onto his side. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore how hard the floor felt beneath him.
A second later, Greg slid next to him under the blanket, resting his cheek on Wirt's shoulder.
Wirt opened his eyes. "Greg? I think you missed the point of this part."
He heaved a sigh, and a moment later the two brothers, plus Jason Funderburker, had all moved back to Wirt's double-sized bed. Greg was bouncing with nervous energy the whole time, which gave Wirt a bad feeling about how much rest he would be getting tonight.
"Okay, now calm down. We need to get to sleep, or else you're gonna be miserable all day at school tomorrow."
"You sound like Mom," Greg said, making a face. Wirt scowled, then stuck his tongue out right back before turning around and closing his eyes again.
For a blessed moment, he thought that Greg would actually remain quiet, but instead he said "This sure is nice, isn't it? Reminds me of when we used to go camping."
"Greg, we never went camping."
"Sure we did! We slept outside for a whole week, except for that night at Uncie Endicott's."
Wirt opened his eyes, but only briefly, and didn't turn around. "Oh, that. Yeah, I guess that counts."
"It was fun! Sleeping out under the stars, roughin' it in the ol' wilderness..."
"Well, maybe we can go camping in the backyard sometime. In the summer, I mean, when we won't freeze to death. Anyway, right now we need to sleep."
There was another moment of silence. Then Greg asked, "Hey, Wirt?"
He sighed. "Yeah, Greg?"
"You're sure that the Woodsman blew out the Beast's lantern, right?"
That got Wirt's attention. He turned, raising himself on one elbow and frowning at Greg.
"Well...pretty sure. I was more worried about getting you home than staying behind to check...but I sort of think the only reason we got home was because the Woodsman finally defeated him."
"Oh. Okay."
His tone was hard to decipher, and Wirt had a hard time reading his expression in the dark. "Are you scared that he's going to come back or something?"
"Oh, no," Greg said matter-of-factly. "But that tree outside my window sort of looks like him in the dark, and Jason Funderburker got scared when he woke up from his nightmare."
"RIBBIT," the frog said. Wirt could have sworn that he sounded indignant.
"Ah." Wirt leaned past Greg to tuck the blankets closer around him. "Well...Jason Funderburker...sometimes I have nightmares about the Beast, too. But I'm sure that the Woodsman blew his lantern out, and he couldn't get us here at home, anyway. Okay?"
"That's good to know," Greg murmured, finally closing his eyes and squeezing the frog tighter. "And even if he could find us here, you'd be here to fight him off again."
Wirt smiled wanly. "Yeah." Then, "Goodnight, Greg."
"G'nigh'," he murmured, as if Wirt's reassurance had been all that he needed to feel sleepy again.
Wirt laid back down and watched as Greg drifted off; even sleeping, he had a soft smile on his face that seemed to light up the dark room. Finally the elder boy pushed away his bad memories and closed his eyes, thankfully to hear the slow, steady breathing of his brother beside him.
Author's Notes: It recently occurred to me that, for all the traumatized Wirts that I've seen, nobody seems to consider the possibility of Greg carrying any baggage from their time in the Unknown. Granted, he's pretty unflappable, but he's also the one who came closer to dying, and given that he's, what, maybe eight at the most...