"Two a.m. Wow, Yakko, way to go to bed early!" Yakko let out a great sigh. It was the middle of the night and yet he still couldn't go to sleep. He turned onto his back, making sure not to jostle Dot and wake her up. She snuggled down closer to him, letting out a small sigh. Ever since she'd turned 5 she'd gotten into a habit of sleeping in the same bed as him. He didn't really mind, although he wished Wakko hadn't told her that there was such a thing as monsters. He remembered the fight so well.

"Dot, have you seen the monsters?" Wakko asked as he drowned his pancakes in syrup.

"What are you talking about? There's no such thing as monsters!" Dot replied. She had just stood up to get another piece of bacon and was now eyeing her older brother warily. It wasn't unusual for Dot to listen to everything her older brothers said. But when they came from Wakko, she was always cautious.

"Is too. I've seen 'em. Lot's of them hide underneath of beds. Did you know they prefer little girls' beds?" Wakko said in his Scouse accent.

"Do not!" Dot exclaimed, although her face showed a different response. She was actually starting to believe him

Wakko, seeing he had touched a nerve, plowed on. "Yeah, they do. Ask Yakko. He'll tell you. He's SEEN them. Real, live monsters."

Yakko, having not paid attention since he was reading a book that he had to do a report on for one of his tutors, muttered a, "Yeah, yeah, sure."

Yakko shook his head. He wished he listened more closely when his siblings got into arguments. Especially when it came to such ridiculous things as monsters. But they squabbled all the time. He usually just let them figure it out for themselves.

CREAK

Yakko sat bolt upright and cocked his ear towards the door to his room. He'd heard something. Not Dot's usual muffled sighs or Wakko's loud and obnoxious snores and groans for some sort of food. Like someone was creeping around the water tower.

CREAK

There it was again. Yakko slowly slid out of the bed, making sure Dot wasn't moved around in such a way that she would wake up and begin to cry. It would take hours to get her to go back asleep and Yakko didn't want her up all night. They had a shoot in the morning and Dot was cranky when she woke up as it was. He didn't want her to be extra grouchy and too tired to do the shoot. Then she wouldn't be able to go play with her friends and Wakko wouldn't get to go to the baseball game because they'd have to keep reshooting.

Yakko tip toed out of his room and went into the kitchen. He quickly looked around, checking and double checking all of the cabinents. No one there. He turned around. Was that a sniffle? He thought. He heard it again. It is a sniffle! Yakko walked closer towards the noise. He pushed open the door to Wakko's room.

And there was Wakko sitting on his bed, hugging his arms around his legs, crying. Yakko walked over to him quietly and slowly, so that he didn't alarm him and crouched down.

"Wakko? Buddy? What's up?" Yakko asked, resting his arm on Wakko's shoulder lightly and giving it a squeeze.

Wakko looked up and gave Yakko a watery smile, rubbing his runny nose on the sleeve of his pjs. "I-it's no-nothing. Just a bad dr-dream."

"About what?" Wakko was becoming known for his nightmares, especially after a big cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows. Yakko cursed himself for letting his brother have not one, but two cups before sending him to bed.

Wakko's eyes widened in fear. "Clowns." he whispered. He buried his face back into his knees and let out another sob.

Yakko looked Wakko up and down, studying him for a moment. Knowing that his brother was terrified of clowns, making him sleep in his room all by himelf would be cruel. "Would you like to come sleep with me and Dot? There's enough room." Yakko waited. Wakko paused for a moment, then nodded.

"Come on, then," Yakko said, helping Wakko to his feet. They trudged off to Yakko's room, making sure to be as quiet as possible so that they didn't wake up Dot.

But Dot was sitting up, waiting for Yakko's return. "What's wrong?" she asked groggily, trying to wipe sleep from her eyes.

"Nothing. Go back to sleep." Yakko whispered, pushing her back down gently.

Dot rolled back onto her side and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Wakko got into the bed on the outside and rested his head on the pillow.

"You're okay, Wak. Go to sleep." Yakko murmured, tucking the covers around Wakko and Dot.

Wakko looked up at Yakko and gave him a small smile before closing his eyes and slowly drifting off to sleep.

Yakko gazed upon his two younger siblings for a moment before settling down into the mattress as well. There were times when he enjoyed being an older brother. This was one of them. With that, Yakko rolled onto his side, throwing an arm around Dot and drifting off to the land of dreams as well.