The doorbell rang. Bertholdt jumped with a start. He had just started to settle onto the couch in Reiner's living room when the young guests arrived. Was he ready? Was he really doing this?

He didn't know why he let himself get roped into this by Reiner, but he always found a way to compromise and make everybody happy. He was supposed to supervise his little cousin Gabi's sleepover with her friends originally on this Saturday while his mother and Gabi's parents were out of town for a high school reunion party for the weekend. But then Reiner's other friend Eren begged him and Bertholdt to come to a screening of a new horror movie that night with his friend Armin.

Thing is, Bertholdt didn't like Eren. He was too hotheaded and whiny. He complained his parents never gave him freedom to do anything, and for once when they did, he didn't want to go out alone. He thought it made him uncool. He considered Reiner cool, and of course, Reiner never knew how to say no to a friend in need. And then there was Armin. He was such a know-it-all type of nerd. He thought that watching CinemaSins made him prepared to make his own films one day. Plus Bertholdt hated horror movies. They were so over the top gory and pessimistic.

So, to avoid disappointing anybody, Reiner goaded him into watching a group of middle schoolers get loaded with sugar and pizza and watch flashy movies for tweens in exchange for his allowance money while he hung out with two of the class weirdos in a dark theater filled with people screaming at every jump scare.

The only one of these kids Bertholdt knew was Gabi, and she alone could be a handful. She was a motormouth who thought she could boss anybody around to do her bidding. Reiner doted on her like she was a little sister. Bertholdt had no experience with younger relatives, being an only child with only one older cousin somewhere on the other side of the country. He could only speculate what this boisterous girl's friends were like.

Well, there was no going back now. He made a promise to Reiner that he would take up this job for him. It was only for the night, a couple hours at most. A couple of eleven and twelve year olds here for a sleepover weren't that difficult to watch. And it's not like they were all like Gabi, were they?

"I'LL GET IT!" Gabi screamed at the top of her lungs and dropped her Gameboy on a vacant beanbag chair as she dashed toward the door, nearly tripping over her flannel pajama pants that were slightly too long for her. She flung it open without glaring through the peephole. "You're here!" Feet shuffled into the doorway.

Bertholdt got up to help her greet her friends. "Uh, hello, guys. How are you doing?"

All three of the kids looked up at him and then Gabi. Oh man, they were tiny next to him, and he was only about four years older than them. That's the first sight they just had to see.

"Hey, not Reiner." A girl with very light blonde hair asked with a touch of sassiness. That must have been Sofia. Gabi mentioned something about her bringing her Silly Bandz over to sort and trade.

"I'm his friend. My name is Bertholdt. You're Sofia, right?"

"It's Zofia, with a Z." She walked in with a small backpack and a purple sleeping bag. Bertholdt felt a hot flash. Way to go, he thought. I embarrassed myself in front of a twelve year old.

"Don't be so rude, Zofia," a fair haired boy scolded as he walked in after her. "We don't know him that well. Hey, I'm Falco." He turned his head to also acknowledge Gabi. It was like he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. Bertholdt knew what that was like.

The last one in was a slightly taller boy with dark hair and an olive complexion. His eyes blinked rapidly behind his glasses. His disposition was rather mousy. He shuffled his feet under the weight of his backpack and some nervous tension.

"Udo, come on! Don't be such a party pooper! We're gonna have fun!" Gabi grabbed hold of him by the shirt.

"Why does my mom think it's okay for me to go into a house where there's a stranger? Doesn't she watch enough crime shows to know it's dangerous?"

"Bertholdt isn't a stranger. He's Reiner's best friend. He's over all the time after school. And he knows me, don't you?"

"Yes, Gabi. I do. You'll have to help your friends get to know me. I'm not good with names." Udo looked up at him again before Gabi practically dragged him to the living room space and boasted about having a new game to play she wanted his help with.

Falco and Zofia were busy unrolling their sleeping bags in front of the television. Falco was placing his right next to where Gabi placed hers. "Hey, uh, Falco, Zofia?" He made sure to emphasize the pronunciation of the Z. "Reiner said that boys have to sleep opposite to girls. Falco, you and Udo can sleep on the left side. Girls can sleep on the right side."

"Mr. Bertholdt? What's wrong with sleeping next to the girls?" Falco asked so innocently. He was like a little deer seeing its first car on the road.

"Uh…" He scratched his head. Oh for God's sake. Why did he have to ask this type of question at a sleepover? "Because girls need to have some space for… beauty sleep."

Gabi laughed. "I remember when I walked in on you and the guys when you had your sleepover! You were hanging off the couch like you were on a jungle gym! And Reiner and Porco were snuggled up together under the same blanket!"

Barely two minutes into the sleepover, and she just had to blurt out a secret they had agreed to not share outside their little circle. Well, at least the other three kids, having no context as to who they were, didn't even snicker. "Yeah, okay. Who wants pizza?" And his face was starting to hurt from a stupid grin. Wonderful.

"Me!" All four exclaimed in unison. Good. Maybe he could tame the hungry little neanderthals that way.

…

The kitchen countertop was a disaster zone. Three full sized bags of chips were open, pizza grease was spread out, and someone didn't bother to wipe up half the spilled bottle of grape soda. Even Bertholdt's own dog wasn't this sloppy of an eater. He sighed, wondering how to handle this. Did the kids need to learn for themselves, or should he be the responsible one and take care of everything like Reiner did?

While the girls and Falco kicked back and entertained themselves singing along to some Spongebob episode, surprisingly, little Udo stepped into the kitchen to get some more chips but stopped himself to help grab some paper towels and wipe it up.

"Hey little guy," Bertholdt greeted. "Thanks for coming to help with that."

"Aah!" Udo flinched. "Uh, I mean, uh, it's okay!" He blushed and sputtered on. "It's messy. My dad would get mad if this happened at my house. Where he's from, things are kept in order!"

Sheesh, he didn't have to write an essay in defense of himself. "Oh? Where's he from?"

Udo fiddled with his glasses. "He's from Germany. My grandma lived there while my grandpa was from America but stationed there in the military. He works for a big multinational tech company for supply chain analysis, so we go there a lot. The people there are very orderly. And they don't treat kids like little kids. We go there a lot in the summers."

"That sounds nice." Bertholdt grabbed himself an unadulterated slice of pizza. "I don't know if I could ever go to Europe. Lots of new things to learn about living there."

"It's not that hard. I know German and some Turkish. My mom is Turkish. Her grandparents were originally from Turkey, so I know lots about other countries." He threw the soaked paper towels away. The TV went silent.

"Udo! Are you going to spend all night talking to Bertholdt?" Gabi shouted.

"Uh, no. I'm just… getting more chips." He piled a hoard of cheese covered ones on his paper plate. "I'm sorry I was scared of you when I walked in. It was very rude of me. I'm supposed to share things that I bring with me, so do you want to have some cookies I brought in my bag?"

Wow, first he got a name wrong, and now he practically guilt tripped another kid by just standing here? Poor little Udo just wanted to be polite. "It's okay, buddy. Why don't you go share them with your friends?"

Udo smiled slightly and rejoined his friends in waiting. "Okay. The truth is, I just needed a break from my friends. They get pretty loud, so I like to hang out with nice and quiet people." He rejoined his friends in their circle. But he quickly cried out. "Hey! Who took my cookies?"

"You said you brought some to share," said Zofia.

"I meant when I was ready!"

…

Kid cartoons got boring rather quickly after their dinner, so the next activity for the sugar-filled kids they decided upon- mostly by Gabi's proclamation- was a Mario Kart racing game. There was barely enough space to have them all standing, but they tried it in multiplayer mode. It was going well until Udo freaked out over missing an obstacle that Falco's character surpassed, and whacked Falco in the face with his controller.

"What the hell, Udo? Do I need to tell Reiner you hit Falco?" Gabi shouted.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" Udo almost wailed.

Zofia just looked down at her fingernails which she had painted bright purple.

Falco held the side of his face, covering a red mark. "It's okay, calm down, both of you. You just got a bit competitive, Udo."

Bertholdt went to get a wet rag for the boy braving his way through his injury. Man, he hoped that wouldn't leave a mark. He'd have to tell Reiner everything so that the story was straight with the boy's parents. He brought Falco into the kitchen to get a better look in the light while Zofia got Udo to breathe back to normal.

"I'm fine, Mr. Bertholdt," Falco rolled his eyes. "I've gotten worse in gym class when we play kickball. I had to get stitches once skinning my knee sliding to the base. There was gravel stuck in it and everything."

"Turn your head this way," Bertholdt motioned him to turn to his right. "Okay, it looks like it will probably fade in a few hours. Are you sure it doesn't hurt?"

"I'm sure. You worry too much. You're worse than my big brother." He caught sight of his reflection in the silver-colored toaster. "Hey, are you sure this mark will go away in a few hours?"

"I'm sure. Why?"

Falco sighed. "Well… I almost never win anything. Gabi always does. I came in first place and now look at me! I look like a tomato!"

Ah. He sure wanted her attention. On cue, Gabi slid into the kitchen. Bertholdt winced, hoping she wouldn't crash into the dishwasher and break her toes or teeth, whichever end of her broke her sliding first.

"Bert, does he need first aid? I have my first aid kid from scouts if he needs bandages or antibiotic ointment upstairs."

"No!" Falco interjected before he could answer. "He said I'm fine."

"I just can't believe you beat me at something." Gabi lamented. "Congrats, I guess. But I'm warning you, you're not going to be able to beat me later when we play my new game! We have to wait until it's completely dark out."

Just what was this new game she was clamoring about? Reiner didn't mention anything about it in his instructions. Well, it couldn't have been anything too far out there. He knew Gabi and what she could handle better than he did. Not like she could get her hands on Call of Duty or anything. He took the two kids back to the living room. Udo seemed to be functioning normally again.

"Alright, I think Falco is fine enough to play another round. Just try to cool your engines a bit."

…

Well, nobody really cooled their engines. They just refilled themselves with some Turkish candies Udo hid in another compartment of his backpack. Their next set of battles featured them slinging some of Zofia's Silly Bandz across the living room. One that looked like a monkey flicked Bertholdt in the face.

"Aim them at each other, please." He glanced up from browsing at his latest text messages. He wanted to make sure Annie had received his message about meeting tomorrow with her for their science presentation next week. Mr. Ksaver had very high standards for them in grading, so they needed to get this right. Trouble was, Annie was very unresponsive. She kept to herself outside of class and at lunch and talked to almost nobody except her friend Hitch. She hated partner projects and did most of the work herself. She always took matters into her own hands, which was a great help to him who preferred to listen to all the rules others gave him.

He too was socially awkward, but he always had a good friend like Reiner since he was a little kid to stand up and take charge. He wanted to be more like her. After all, she was pretty cute. And fierce. She had a blackbelt in karate and could beat the crap out of most of the guys in gym class if provoked. But he wondered what she thought of him. Did she even notice he existed? He was quiet, but he was so tall that most of the teachers were shorter than him. He was long limbed like a marionette puppet- Or maybe a Muppet. Didn't help the other kids in middle school teased him and called him Bert, which he hated.

Maybe she'd never notice him. Maybe he just wasn't cool enough for her.

The sofa cushions shuffled as Udo crash landed next to Bertholdt. He quickly grabbed the monkey-shaped band and put it around his arm as a way of carrying ammunition. He went barreling after Falco who had long since gotten over his game console-inflicted injury. Zofia and Gabi had taken to doing this as a team. They snuck behind the sofa and aimed high at the boys.

The floor was littered with bands in the shape of animals and stars and fruit. And soon they were out of projectiles. It was time to call for a truce. "Alright, clean them up."

Udo was the most helpful of the bunch. He piled them up on the floor and resorted to how Zofia classified them. She went over to thank him, but then surprise attacked him with one she had hidden in her pajama pocket. She giggled. Udo grunted.

Bertholdt checked his phone clock. It was 9:30 P.M. already. "Guys, you have to be in bed by 10:30. If you're going to play the game Gabi wants you to, do it now."

"Let me brush my teeth first," Udo requested.

"Me too," said Falco.

"I'm getting my other pajama shirt," said Gabi. She spilled soda on it earlier.

Zofia was left on the floor putting her Silly Bandz in the correct bags. She even sub-categorized them to match by colors.

"Do you like collecting those?" Bertholdt asked.

Zofia nodded. "You look like the giraffe." She held it up for him. "You can have this one."

Wow. Kids could be cruel.

"Oh, thanks," he feigned gratitude for his look alike animal.

Bertholdt's phone buzzed. He opened his messages. It was from Reiner.

Hey. Movie just got done. Gonna get some food at the burger joint. Will be back by 11. Kids behaving?

Bertholdt typed a reply.

Mostly. Too much sugar. Gabi's running the place. Falco finally won a game. Zofia compared me to a giraffe. Udo really likes me.

LOL sounds just like them. Good for Falco. He's totally jealous of Gabi. Classic Zofia. She gave me a football one once. Knew Udo would like you. I'm sure Gabi will run out of energy soon. She crashes at sleepovers.

Maybe she'll be tired after one more game. Going to start here soon. They're all ready.

K. See ya.

The kids gathered around Gabi, the ringleader. Bertholdt just had to learn just what this game entailed.

"Okay, so, this new game. We need to all gather around the computer. Bring the bean bag chairs. Udo, you're going to have to sit toward the back or you'll punch the screen out. Zofia, you sit by him, but make sure he can still see the screen. Falco, you sit next to me. You can be on the lookout for Slenderman."

"Gabi, what kind of game is this?"

Good question, little Udo.

Gabi broke out into a conniving smile. "It's called… Slenderman. We have to get some pages of a notebook in the dark, cold forest at night. But we can't turn around, or Slenderman will get us."

Bertholdt swallowed rather hard. He knew what Gabi was talking about for sure. His classmates loved reading Internet horror stories. And he knew this one in particular was probably not for kids their age. He was older than them, and he didn't want to watch this game. So much for a horror free night.

"Uh, Gabi. Are you sure your parents would let you play this?"

"Bertholdt," she groaned. "It's rated twelve and up. I'm twelve. We'll be fine. It's not like there's blood or anything graphic. You don't even kill anybody. Call of Duty is so much worse."

"Does Reiner know you have this game?"

"Yeah, duh. He downloaded it for me. Now stop worrying and come on! We'll show you!" Her lackeys followed after her as she booted up the desktop computer and took their places. Zofia brought her stuffed unicorn out. Gabi rolled her eyes. "Bertholdt, turn off the lights."

"I need to leave one on so neighbors know people are here."

"Fine. The startup screen loaded. It read: Don't look… or it takes you.

Wonderful. Just wonderful.

…

"No no no no no no no! Gabi, don't turn around!"

"Why? We missed a note back there!"

"Didn't you hear the noise? That means Slenderman is near!"

Falco and Gabi were arguing over strategy whilst Zofia leaned back and played with her unicorn. Udo was huddled next to Bertholdt from the safety of the sofa and nice and happy images of Bertholdt's dog on his phone. He did not like the game at all, as evidenced by his mortal terror when the kids made a wrong turn and encountered the fabled man who stole children.

"I wish I got to have a pet dog. But dad says it would cost too much to board one while we travel overseas. And my mom's parents don't like them."

"They take a lot of work to train."

His phone buzzed. A new message. This one was from… Annie?

K.

What? She replied to his text? It was one letter, but it was a reply.

"Who's that?"

"Oh, she's a classmate. We have a project to do tomorrow."

Zofia turned her head in the mostly dark room. "She? Is she your girlfriend?"

"No! I mean, uh…. Bertholdt felt himself blush in the dark. "She's very nice, but nothing like that. Just a friend."

The familiar roar of the faceless man-beast resounded in the living room. Bertholdt thought he told Gabi and Falco to turn down the volume. But then, suddenly, the whole computer went dark, and the only light on in the house flickered off. Crap, a power outage.

Udo clung close to Bertholdt. Only his phone provided any illumination to the confused children.

"Okay, time for bed anyways."

"But what if it comes back in a minute?" Gabi protested.

"I promised Reiner you'd be in bed by 10:30. Do you want him to be mad at me?"

With his guiding light, he made sure all four children were in their sleeping bags from left to right: Falco, Udo, a gap, and then Gabi and Zofia. Other than some soft whispers between the girls lightly teasing an already sleeping Udo for being scared, there was no noise. Wasn't that what girls did at sleepovers? No reason to worry about that.

Meanwhile, Bertholdt quietly wandered off into the kitchen and wondered if there was a circuit breaker anywhere in the house. He didn't want to fumble with the Braun's appliances too much, but he wanted some light for Reiner when he got here. Then, his phone buzzed again. It was Annie.

Again? Really? He thought. This was so unlike her. He opened the message.

U want lunch tmrw after we study?

His hands got sweaty and shaky. Did somebody hack her phone and pretend to be her? She noticed him as a person? He didn't know what to reply. What if she was just leading him on? He mulled over and replied:

With who?

Hitch Mina Marlowe coming too. Idc if you bring someone too.

He couldn't believe this. He was being invited out to something by her. Sure, with other people, but she noticed him! Man, she was braver than he ever was. If he asked her out first, she'd call him a creep for sure! Hitch was one of the kids who teased him in middle school, but she hopefully grew up by now.

Well, he thought he'd ask Reiner when he came back if he could come with him tomorrow or maybe Porco. He didn't want to take any risks of Annie's party ditching them and leaving him alone and humiliated.

He checked the clock. 10:45. Reiner would be home any minute. He took into account his wallet, his car keys, and then he realized he left his Silly Band giraffe gifted by Zofia on the side table by the sofa. He didn't want to disappoint that quiet but mischievous girl by rejecting it.

He tiptoed into the living room. His phone battery was running out quickly, so he had to search quickly. There was no sign of it on the side table, so he peered on the floor. It was right near Udo's head. How it ended up there, he had no idea. He dimmed his phone lighting, and just as he was about to lean over….

ROAR.

Bertholdt jumped and dropped his phone. The desktop flickered back to life, and just where Gabi and Falco had left off when Slenderman captured them for good too. The hum of the child snatcher did not go unnoticed.

"SLENDERMAN!" Udo screamed at the top of his lungs. "DON'T TAKE US!" He wailed out loud.

Thwack!

"GO AWAY!" Gabi screamed equally loud and she jump up and thrashed her pillow against Bertholdt. Zofia's unicorn hit him too.

"Gabi stop! It's Bertholdt!" Falco yelled. "Slenderman isn't real!" He dashed out of his sleeping bag and turned the desktop volume to mute.

Click. The door knob jittered rapidly, and the door burst open. Udo kept crying.

"What's wrong? Are you guys alright? I could hear you screaming outside."

Thank God. Oh thank God he was here.

"Reiner!" Gabi exclaimed. "We thought Bertholdt was Slenderman!"

"I didn't," Zofia chimed in. "I thought he looked like a giraffe. They're also tall and can kill you easily if they kick you." She looked at her unicorn at the other end of the living room.

"Reiner, the power went out," Falco explained. "We were playing the game and then it paused when the Slenderman caught us."

Udo wiped his face on his sleeping bag. Bertholdt kneeled over. "I'm sorry, buddy. I didn't mean to scare you. I dropped something on the ground and I was looking for it near you. Are you okay?"

The boy sniffled. "I'm fine. I just don't want Reiner to let us play games like that again."

"Huh? Wait." Reiner turned on some more lights. "I didn't say anything about that. Did you let them play that, Bertholdt?" He did not like Reiner's change of tone.

"Gabi said you let her and that you downloaded it for her."

"Gabi?"

Gabi tried hiding her face behind her pillow. It was no use hiding from Reiner though. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I lied to Bertholdt. I know you got that game for you and your friends to play, but it looked so cool." She sighed. "I wanted to be like you all."

Reiner sighed. "Well, now you've learned your lesson. Get back to sleep. Udo, are you sure you're okay? I can call your parents."

"No, it's fine. Bertholdt makes me feel safe." Bertholdt patted him on the shoulder. He picked up the giraffe that contributed to this problem. Everything was going to be fine.

…

Reiner made Bertholdt follow him to his room. It felt like a walk to a prison cell in a tower. Why had he been so stupid?

"You know, you could have asked me if you had a question about the rules. You've seen how Gabi weasels her way into things she's not ready for. Remember when she tried to skate a rail?"

Bertholdt hung his head. "Sorry, Reiner. I'm just not as good with kids as you are. I can only do one at a time."

"I get it. I'm not mad. You just gotta learn to stand up for yourself."

"I know. Say, uh… you know Annie? Well, tomorrow, she asked me out for lunch with her friends after we get our science presentation ready. She said I could bring a friend with me. Do you want to come?"

Reiner's eyes lit up. "She asked you out? Dude, I think she's the one who'll be wearing pants in the marriage one day. You need to show you've got a handle on things."

"Really?"

"Look, I can't go tomorrow since I don't know when my family gets back. But Udo's parents messaged me while I was out, and they both have to work very late shifts tomorrow. Why don't you bring your own little admirer with you? You said you could handle one."

"Udo?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'll let his parents know. His mom actually knows Annie's dad from work, and Annie's met him before. They'll know where he is."

Bertholdt smiled. Maybe this night hadn't turned out so bad after all.