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It wouldn't be long before he fell asleep, Vegard could see it in his face. He kept talking quietly, whispering every fact he'd ever learned about dormant volcanos, waiting for Bård's big blue eyes to lose their focus on him and flutter shut.
Sooner or later he'd have to disallow these mid-night transfers to his own bed. Bård was getting way too old for this kind of pampering, even their parents had already told them so, but he couldn't help obliging him. Vegard liked that Bård still felt so comforted by his presence that he needed it when he woke up in the middle of the night. There was something so adorable about the sight of him standing gingerly in the doorway, asking permission to come in, if Vegard was awake at the time. If he wasn’t, he would just be awoken by the weight of Bård’s body climbing into bed with him. “No” wasn’t exactly a word he heard very often from him, so it was pretty safe to assume that he was welcome. The only thing that kind of bothered Vegard about this ritual was the lack of assurance of privacy. He had no real way of knowing whether or not he was alone for the night or not. Sometimes it would seem like Bård was off the habit, not showing up for almost two weeks, but he would always come back eventually, claiming to have had a bad dream or just felt he couldn’t handle the shadows on the wall coming through the window with the street light.
And so, on nights like these, Vegard took it upon himself to make sure the boy’s mind was at ease. Emotional comfort not being his forte, he did it the only way he really knew how; distraction. Vegard found himself storing away information throughout the day, things that might be interesting enough but also relatively unexciting to tell Bård at night as a bedtime story. Conveniently at such times, Bård seemed to give him free reign, never disallowing a topic that Vegard chose to tell. This was unlike the rest of the day when he would sometimes refuse to listen to his older brother’s “nerdy crap”.
Bård didn’t just listen with his ears when he was being talked to, his whole body seemed to be paying attention. His eyes watched Vegard’s mouth as it spoke, his hands when he gestured, nothing seemed to escape his notice. Such attention was to Vegard’s advantage, for it took effort and tired him quickly, and the telltale drooping of the eyelids finally signaled the nearing end of the night.
A subtle thud sounded from somewhere in the house, cutting off Vegard's words and caught both of their attentions. Their family had been asleep for hours and the sound came from the opposite direction of their bedrooms. They listened for more but the house stood still, allowing them to believe for a minute that they’d imagined the sound. Then they heard more movement and Bård's fingers slowly curled into a fist, clutching the white fabric of Vegard's shirt.
"Is someone in the house?" He whispered, his eyes darting back and forth between his big brother's face and the slightly open door. Vegard didn't answer but only kept listening.
They didn't have pets, and no lights were on, so a burglar was a logical conclusion. Whoever it was was doing their best to move as quietly as possible, and seemed to be searching through the furnature. If the boys had been asleep as they should have been at that hour, they probably wouldn't have heard a thing. Vegard thought of this and figured it was doubtful their parents or Bjarte would wake up themselves.
"Should we wake papa?" Bård asked and Vegard hissed in response, "No, shut up."
He heard slow, careful steps coming into the hallway that led to the all bedrooms. His was the first door to the left, and at the far end were the other bedrooms across from each other. They heard a drawer being opened slowly in the hall cabinet and, without a word, Vegard pushed Bård's head down, covered it with the heavy winter blanket and turned around to face the door, away from him. Bård pressed himself against his brother’s back and tried to be at one with the bed. Vegard felt it necessary to hide him for some reason, and he wasn’t about to question his judgement just then. He was breathing very deeply, more than was natural in fact. If Bård hadn’t known better he would have thought him asleep, and he figured that perhaps that was precisely the impression Vegard was trying to give in case the intruder came into the room.
Vegard tried to calm himself with deep breaths. He knew acting scared right now would just make it worse for Bård, he had to be brave and clever. He hoped the duvet was heavy enough to hide Bård’s body between him and the wall behind them. He had no time to check however and he closed his eyes as naturally as he could the moment he thought he saw the door begin to open. He heard the stranger breathe, heard the almost silent friction of the carpet with the soles of their shoes. He dared a peek and watched through slitted eyelids, a dark figure pacing carefully into the room. It paused when it saw him, and it was all Vegard could do to keep breathing and shut his eyes completely again. He felt Bård against his back, thankful for how perfectly still he was being. He may as well have been another blanket rolled up behind him. He could feel the stranger coming nearer and fought the urge to flinch as he felt it reach for something on his nightstand. Then it left, closing the door almost completely behind it.
His breath was back to normal, but a tightness stayed in Vegard’s chest, knowing that the intruder would probably be moving on to the rest of the rooms. He willed Bjarte not to wake up, wish he could reach through the wall separating them and pull him into his own room, the safest room of the three now, as far as he knew. At least Bård was with him and he had one less to worry about. Just then he felt a slight movement behind him and he decided it was safe for him to turn around. As he did, he glanced at the nightstand and noted that his wristwatch was gone. ‘At least my glasses are still there.’ he thought. He lifted the covers and Bård peeked his head out, appreciating the better air he could now breathe.
"You okay?" Vegard mouthed soundlessly.
Bård nodded, but jumped slightly when they both heard another noise.
Vegard shut his eyes tight, trying to clear his head of the fearful mist floating through it. He laid his head back down on the pillow, this time facing Bård, and his younger brother did the same, lying lower down in case he’d have to be covered again. They stared into each other’s eyes, drawing comfort from one another, the excitement taking its toll on what little energy they had left from the day before. They were still scared, but they were also very tired.
“It’ll be over soon.” Bård whispered, wrapping an arm and a leg around Vegard. The older brother nodded slightly, looking down at him with half closed eyelids (drowsiness getting the better of him), and placed his hand on the boy’s head, caressing the light brown hair affectionately.