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It starts, as most things do between the four of them, as a throw away idea.
A comment from Kevin about staying up late to play on his 3DS even though he knew his parents didn't want him to. Seconded by Roland's anecdote about him and his brothers staying up throughout not just the evening, but the entire night of the summer solstice, the four of them having gone from sleepy to bone-tired and then all of the way back to wired by the time the sun rose. Edgar had chipped in about the time he got his hands on a poetry anthology that he hadn't read before and stayed up all night with a torch reading it cover to cover and then back once more, and it was only natural for Monty to tell them about the time a few years ago when he was at his nan's and snuck into the kitchen after everyone had gone home to nibble on biscuits, which had kept him awake for long into the night.
As odd as St. Churnley's was, they still had weekends to do as they please—though first years couldn't do much as they were prohibited from adventuring into even the brightest parts of the surrounding Plagueground—and Friday after Enrichment had become a regular marker for relief and a jump into a couple days of freedom. Roland, sitting with his feet tucked under him for a bit of extra height, was perhaps the greatest example of anticipation for the upcoming weekend. He'd already spilled a spoonful of savoury porridge over his blazer in his haste and excitement.
"You eat like a dog," Kevin says, though not with a hint of unkindness. "And that's saying something since we have a dog with us!"
"I'm not a dog!" Monty immediately argues back, having already gone through this particular back and forth with Kevin many times before.
"You're not not a dog."
Edgar cocks his head to the side and points out, "You're more canine than the rest of us. And last time you transformed you fetched the-"
"Edgar!" In what is probably much closer to a stage whisper than an actual one, Monty continues, "You said you wouldn't tell!"
"Tell us what?" Kevin presses, leaning in closer.
Across from him, Roland drops his spoon back in his porridge and joins in. "Yeah, tell us what?"
"Nothing at all!" Monty quickly says. "I didn't fetch anything."
When two pairs of eyes land on Edgar, he shrugs back. "He said it. Not me."
"I didn't know you could play fetch!"
"I can't! I'm a- I'm a ferocious monster!"
A beat of silence, and then a quiet admission from Edgar, "He waited for me to throw the stick."
"Edgar!"
"Next time you transform we want to go with you!" Kevin says, entirely failing to not sound as desperate as he feels. "It's not fair that only Edgar goes out 'cause you live in the same room."
"Edgar's not even supposed to go with me. I'm supposed to go alone 'cause I'm a monster."
"You're not a monster, Monty," Roland points out, lisp catching on the second syllable of what's quickly becoming his least favourite word.
"Yeah," Kevin chimes in, "Monsters wouldn't play fetch."
"Kevin!"
"What?"
"You're not a monster because you're a boy," Roland clarifies. "And that's why Kevin and I wish we were also there! You two get to spend more time hanging out."
Edgar glances between Roland and Kevin before saying, "You get to spend extra time together in your room."
"Yeah, but we're asleep."
"We're also asleep."
"Except for once every two weeks."
"Ten business days," Kevin interjects.
Waving his specification off, Roland continues, "One of these days we'll go out to the Plagueground with you when you transform!"
"Well that's not fair either 'cause I can barely remember it," Monty says. "So it wouldn't feel like extra time for me."
The four of them think on the conundrum for a solid two seconds until Kevin comes to a conclusion. "So we do it when you aren't going to transform."
Edgar holds a finger up. "We'd get in trouble going into the Plagueground, then."
"Okay, so we won't go into the Plagueground."
"This is starting to just sound like a normal night." As he speaks, Roland shovels another spoonful of porridge into his mouth.
"But one that we spend together!" Monty says. "As four boys."
"We already spend time together before lights out."
"So we spend it longer than lights out!"
Edgar kneads the edge seam of his blazer. "What if Hexmaster Singh notices?"
"We'll be sneaky so Grandmaster Flash won't notice." Confident in his words, Monty even adds a few solid nods afterwards.
Kevin joins him a moment later, "Yeah, and I've got loads of practise staying up late in secret! I've got a 3DS—well, had, or I guess I still have it but it's at home—and my mum doesn't let me play at after nine but I'd gotten sneaky enough to get away with it. You just have to be quick to pull the blankets over your body and not think about your breathing 'cause that's what really makes it obvious."
"I've never had a 3DS but my brothers and I once stayed up late in secret!" Roland says, dropping his feet back from the bench onto the floor so he can lean closer over the table. "We celebrate the Summer Solstice in The Sunset Dawn but two years ago Rupert, Rodger, Rudy, and I all decided that we wanted to be awake when the day turned so we stayed up past when our mother thought we did. We even snuck out of the house into the back garden and made it all the way to the sunrise!"
"And they didn't notice?" Kevin asks.
"They probably suspected," he admits. "After church the next morning all four of us immediately fell asleep on the sofa. But it was worth it! And it was fun, and we did it for the Lord so He wasn't mad about it."
None of the other three know quite what to add to that, but Edgar breaks the silence first by offering, "I- I've also stayed up late. It was before Poe- before Poe was there so before he woke me up in the middle of the night. My grandfather had just come back from the library with a new stack of books and there was an anthology of Byron's- Lord George Byron, you see, of his work, and I wanted to finish it as fast as I could so I took my father's emergency torch into my room and read under the covers until I had finished it at three in the morning. I don't think either of them noticed."
Kevin sends him a look. "Would they have even minded if they did?"
"I don't know. It was a school night, though."
"I've never stayed up late," Monty interjects. "Not since before my curse."
"Not even once?"
Holding his chin up high, Monty confirms, "Nope. The only time I was ever out of bed when I shouldn't have been was when my nan made biscuits the day before and I was still hungry so I snuck out. But then I went right back."
"And you didn't get caught?"
"I was sneaky," Monty reiterates.
Kevin nods back. "I think Roland's got us all beat. A whole night that you didn't sleep? I know some of the boys from my other school would have sleepovers where they'd try to not fall asleep, but I was never invited." At the end of his sentence, he turns toward his porridge, staring daggers into the meal as if it were its fault.
"I've never been to a sleepover, either," Roland confesses. "Unless you count that night with my brothers."
"Sleepovers are with friends, not brothers."
"What if my brothers are my friends?"
"Doesn't count."
Monty interrupts them with a quick, "Me neither. Nobody ever invited me."
"I- I suppose I haven't, as well." Furrowing his brow, Edgar adds, "Though I can't say that I've wanted to go to one. I don't think I've ever had friends close enough that I would voluntarily leave the comfort of my bed for."
"You leave your bed to keep an eye on me when I transform," Monty points out.
"You're a much better friend than any other one I've had."
"Me, as well." Kevin pauses as soon as he closes his mouth, a slight red flush starting from under his collar up into his freckles, embarrassment clear as day on pale skin. "I mean, I've had friends. Just not… not close ones, I guess."
"So none of us have ever had a sleepover?" Roland asks, with just enough innocence that Kevin thinks it actually is a genuine question and not a knock at the lack of close friendships that the four of them have managed to procure their entire lives.
"Erm. No."
"We should have a sleepover!" Monty exclaims.
"Shh!"
Back to his stage whisper, Monty says again, "We should have a sleepover. We all know how to be sneaky about it."
"Whose room?"
The four all exchange glances with each other, gazes swapping among gazes, until Roland proposes, "Noughts and crosses? Me and Roland against you two, best two out of three, and whoever wins gets to choose the room."
Despite the fact that it's just the four of them that have been talking amongst each other, Edgar still raises his hand. "Would it help if I said that I don't care which room? As long as Egg can come."
"Of course Egg can come, Edgar," Kevin replies. "Does anyone else also not care?"
"I care," Monty says.
"Okay, well, we can go to your room, then."
"No, I want to not be in my room. Like a real sleepover."
Backtracking, Kevin corrects himself, "We can do mine and Roland's room, then. Good?"
A murmur of approval cloud the conversation. A very sneaky plan, indeed.
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"Edgar's too bony. He'll elbow me in the night."
"That's why I said you should sleep on my bed with me!" Kevin replies, already about two seconds away from pulling his hair out with logistics. Perhaps they could've figured some of this out before it was lights out and going between the rooms started becoming a game of risk. "He and Roland will even each other out."
Nodding enthusiastically, Roland turns to Edgar and confirms, "Your elbows won't bother me in the night!"
"Or I could just- I could go on the floor."
"You're not going on the floor, Edgar," Kevin says, exasperated. "Nobody's volunteering to put you on the floor except you."
"If it would make it easier-"
"It wouldn't! Because then you'd be on the floor!"
Edgar opens his mouth to argue, but ends up closing it before anything else can come out.
Sighing, Kevin turns back to Monty. "Do you want the side next to the wall or away from it?"
Completely circumventing the question, he answers, "I sleep with my head on the other side."
"What?"
"My pillow. Our rooms are the same except I sleep with my pillow on the other side."
A long few seconds pass while Kevin simply blinks at him. "Why on Earth would you sleep with the pillow not against the wall?" Both beds are pressed up against the far corners of the room, and he and Roland keep their pillows furthest from the door, against the wall, like a normal bed.
"Sometimes he changes it," Edgar offers.
"What about your blankets? D'you untuck them when you change sides, too?"
"I don't sleep with my blankets tucked in." Pulling a face, Monty explains, "It makes me legs feel trapped."
From his position sat on the floor, Edgar provides even more context with, "His bed's never made."
"Mine always is!" Roland says, as if it weren't obvious from the neatly made bed that he currently sits upon.
Every morning, when Kevin gets a few more minutes of sleep, Roland crawls out of bed, prays, and then makes it up perfectly nice and neat. Usually Kevin will at least smooth out the worst of the wrinkles, but he's definitely not at Roland's level.
Edgar looks back up at him. "I make mine as well." And then, to the rest of the boys, "I really don't mind staying down here-"
"You're not sleeping on the floor, Edgar!"
"It's really no trouble-"
Kevin crosses his arms. "If you sleep on the floor, then I will too." There. An ultimatum that Edgar has to fold under because Kevin knows he'd never want to make his friends uncomfortable.
"And I will as well!" Monty adds, awfully cheerful to be in the spirit of a threat.
Hopping off his mattress, Roland sits down on the floor next to Edgar and leans against the rickety bed-frame. "I don't want to be the only one on the bed."
"See?" Kevin says. "Either you also sleep on the bed or we'll all stay on the floor."
"When my brothers and I stayed up late we all laid down on the grass and it was quite nice," Roland says.
"Grass is softer than the floors here."
Monty pulls weakly at one of the untucked corners of Kevin's blanket. "We could put the blankets on the floor to make it softer."
"Or- or!" Kevin starts, waiting to continue until all eyes are on him, "We could all just sleep on the beds! Like normal boys!"
"But we're not normal boys, are we?" Monty replies. "That's why we're all here, right? 'Cause we're weird."
Edgar's right hand moves toward the pocket where Egg lies safely. "I'm not… weird. Not anymore."
"Don't worry, Edgar!" Roland says, scooting a bit closer, "You're never going to just be a normal boy!"
Kevin drops his head into his palms.
But somehow, the words are exactly what Edgar needed to hear, because he gives a weak, albeit genuine, smile in return.
"We could bring the pillows down, too," Monty says, interrupting the moment between Edgar and Roland before it could truly begin. "The blankets and the pillows and then it's kind of like a bed anyway."
Even though Kevin's not quite sure why everyone gave up on sleeping on the bed so quickly, he does say, "Like a pillow fort."
"Yes! My cousins made a pillow fort before." Monty looks down. "Before I killed them."
"It wasn't you," Roland reminds him. "It was the wolf. And we can make a pillow fort in their honour!"
"We could get the pillows and blankets from our room, too," Edgar offers. "That way we'd have more cushions."
Giving up on sleeping atop beds entirely, Kevin replies, "If you think you could do it without being caught."
Roland volunteers to go with him, announcing that half of his motive is to see if Monty does in fact have his pillow on the opposite side of the mattress, and while they're both out Kevin and Monty pull the linens from the beds. The rooms themselves aren't particularly spacious, but the distance between the two beds is wider than if they had smushed the twin-sized mattresses together, so it's not so bad. With enough layering it might even not feel so bad sleeping on hardwood floors, either.
When Roland and Edgar get back the four of them manage to make a halfway nice looking resting spot, pillows arranged around the sides as if it were a nest of sorts. By the time they settle down it leaves their heads awkwardly draped over the sides, but that makes it impossible to talk to each other so slowly they all end up moving into some amalgamation of cursed boys, limbs twisted awkwardly over one another.
Every time one of them shifts, it causes all three to move in turn, and after Edgar pointed it out the fourth time it happened, the next movement sent them all into a fit of giggles. It's not even particularly funny, one of them shifting causing the three others to, but they're all tired enough where everything is a bit funny for no reason.
"I don't even feel Edgar's elbows," Monty announces, which once again sends them into giggles despite the obvious lack of humour.
When the four of them have calmed back down, Roland admits, "Don't tell my brothers, but this is more fun than when we snuck out into the garden."
"I don't even miss my 3DS."
"I wouldn't get up even for my nan's biscuits."
Three heads crane from odd positions toward Edgar expectantly. "And I don't wish I had a book of Lord Byron's poems with me?"
None of them even attempt to hide their giggles this time.
"This is much better than the forest," Monty says when quiet falls over them again.
"I thought you said you can't even remember your transformations?"
"I can remember walking into the forest as a human. And it's not as fun as this even when Edgar is with me. No offense, Edgar."
"None taken," Edgar dutifully responds.
"Maybe… maybe we could do it more often." It sounds stupid and childish coming out of Kevin's mouth, but rather than his friends making fun of him, they all make noises of agreement.
"Yeah. And next time we could do it in our room."
"You wanted to do it my room, Monty!"
"This time, yeah! But then you and Roland have to get the sleepover experience, too!"
"He's right," Roland agrees. "We have to do it at least once more."
"And then maybe once more after that," Edgar adds.
Kevin nods, accidentally rubbing his forehead against one of his friend's legs. "However many times. It's… nice."
"It is."
"I feel safe," Monty says from his curled up position. "Like… proper safe. I haven't felt that since before I killed my entire family."
Roland sniffs. "I feel safe, too. Like the Lord is keeping an eye out for us."
Beside him, Edgar looks toward Egg, carefully nestled in his overturned St. Churnley's cap. "Yeah. Safe."
Kevin's next exhale is quiet, but he echoes the sentiment all the same. "Safe."