Ten minutes passed before they heard the door to Yugo and Yuya's bedroom creek open.
Yuri thinks their parents' choice in who gets what bedroom was very deliberate. They gave the bedroom with the creaky door to the two sons who looked for adventure under the moon.
Yugo had a tendency to sneak a midnight snack every once in a while, something their mother looked down upon because it ruined his appetite in the morning. Yuya used to sleepwalk, specifically when he was about 4 years old. The creaky door used to signal to their mother that one of her sons was up to no good or about to fall down the stairs while chasing sheep.
Right now, the creaky door was their signal that their little brother had taken the bait.
Yuri quickly and quietly moved himself to his position right at the bottom of the staircase. He felt his other brother position themselves accordingly as well.
Yuya would check the bathroom upstairs first, and then he'd check Yuri and Yuto's room, finding it empty. Finally, their little brother would make his way down this very staircase, looking for them.
He'll find us, alright, Yuri thought, but not before we catch him, first.
Yuri could faintly hear the various doors upstairs open and close. Yuya was pretty good at sneaking around, but he had nothing on them. They remembered, whereas Yuya didn't.
Yuya was making his way to the staircase, now, his brothers remaining unseen in the pitch of the living room. Mom usually had a small night light in the kitchen to combat the darkness, but that was unnecessary right now. The darkness was Yuri's friend in this moment, more than his enemy.
Yuri started the countdown. Yuya was halfway down the stairs, now.
5... 4... 3... 2... 1... NOW!
"Wha-!"
Yuri lunged at Yuya, feeling Yuto do the same. Yuri grabbed Yuya's legs and pulled, now carrying half of his brother's weight while Yuto carried the other half, Yuya's cry being stifled by Yuto's hand.
They quickly made their way to the living room couch and, with Yugo's help, placed their brother inside.
The fairy lights inside the pillow fort switched on as soon as they got Yuya through the small opening. Blankets of blue, grey, and purple lay on top of the couch's displaced cushions, adding to the softness. Yuya's eyes fluttered as his body tried to drag him into dreamland while his mind was distracted by the fort that felt like sheep's wool and smelt like home.
Yuya shook his head, forcing his mind into the present once more. Yuri grumbled under his breath. Just a little longer and their little brother would have been out cold.
Guess we're going to have to go with the "talk Yuya to sleep" plan rather than the "shock Yuya to sleep" plan, he thought, I quite liked the former more. It would have been more dramatic.
Yuri and his brothers entered the fort themselves. It was just big enough for the four of them to fit.
"Uh, guys," Yuya started, looking at his brother imploringly, "what's going on? Why are we in a pillow fort?"
Yugo crawled over to Yuya in the cramped space and threw his body on top of Yuya's, effectively pinning the younger to the soft cushioning of the fort.
"You're gonna sleep, Yuya," Yugo said bluntly, "whether you like it or not."
Yuya sputtered, trying to get from underneath Yugo and failing spectacularly. "Gonna sleep? What would make you think I'm not sleeping?"
It was such an obvious lie, Yuri didn't think Yuya himself believed what he just said.
"Other than the fact that you can't even get Yugo off you when you can usually wrestle head-to-head with him?" Yuri said, ignoring Yugo's offended whines, "You haven't had a night terror in three days, Yuya. Did you think we wouldn't notice?"
Yuya looked to the side, avoiding eye contact. Despite this, all three of them could see the tears forming in the dimness of the fairy lights.
"Please," Yuya begged, "don't make me."
Yuri felt his resolve falter, hating to see his brother cry. But Yuya needed to sleep. His mind was already worn thin due to the nightly memories turned nightmares. Yuri didn't want to find out what zero hours of sleep added to that would do to Yuya.
Yuto crawled over, laying down next to Yuya and wrapping his arm behind him. Yuya's head rested naturally on Yuto's shoulder, and Yuri saw the younger boy shake himself awake again.
"We don't want to, little brother," Yuto whispered, his hand carding through Yuya's crimson and green hair, like their mother did years ago, to try and give some semblance of comfort. "God knows how it hurts watching you suffer, Yuya. If we could make them go away, you know we would in a heartbeat. "
Yuri crawled over to lay down on Yuya's otherside, and wrapped his arm behind Yuya as well. "We know you don't want to sleep, Yuya. And we don't blame you for it. But you need to sleep. You could barely walk today, let alone focus on classwork or dueling."
Yugo rolled over, and squeezed himself into the small space between Yuto and Yuya, wrapping both his arms around the youngest's waist. "You are going to sleep. And you are going to dream. There's no avoiding it, and trying to escape through never sleeping will only hurt you in the long run. That's something that, as your big brothers, we can't allow."
Yuya had tears running silently down his cheeks. He was shaking his head, his lips soundless pleading no to make his sleep, he can't he can't.
Yuri's hand slowly lifted to cover Yuya's eyes, forcing the latter to focus only on the softness of the blankets and the warmth of his brothers around him. "But you know what else you can't avoid, Yuya? Something that even these nightmares will never be able to outlast? Us. You're three brothers. No matter how many times you wake up screaming. No matter how much you thrash, and cry, and suffer, we will be there, like we've been since the day we came into this world. Be it five or ten or thirty years from now, if you need us to chase away the echoes of a dream, we'll do it, no questions asked."
"The nightmares will come," Yuto said, his hand continuing it's gentle carding through Yuya's air, "and when they do, when they shove you into wakefulness, scared and confused, we'll be here. Whether we're at your bedside or in this fort, we won't leave you. So please, Yuya. Let go."
Silence filled the fort, the fairy lights casting soft shadows inside, and the three brothers waited. Yuya, who's eyes were still covered by Yuri's warm hand, whose head felt pleasantly numb from Yuto's fingers, and whose tired body felt like it was floating in the clouds, supported only by Yugo's tightly wrapped arms. Yuya, feeling a serenity unlike any other at his brothers' insistent reassurances, nodded.
He let the darkness carry him under, and he slept.
YOU ARE READING
After Leaving the Bridge
General Fiction"Me and Gongenzaka were flying. But then he fell." Many lifetimes after the conclusion of The Bridge Between, Yuya is starting to remember his time in the Bridge Between during his life on Earth, just like his brothers did before him. What his broth...
