Summary: Sam visiting Nathan at the orphanage at night just to read him bedtime stories (usually about treasures and pirates) but then he ends up falling asleep there after work and spending the night asleep in Nathan's bed.
Word count:1,971
Nathan had just settled into his small, twin-sized bed for the night, not long after Sister Catherine had turned the lights out for the evening. He had snuggled under his blanket while turning to face the wall and attempted to fall asleep, but after a few moments of squeezing his eyes shut, they snapped open again. Nathan tried again, and again, and even flipped over onto his other side, but it was no use. He was still wound up after the fight he had gotten into earlier in the evening with an older boy, Tommy, who had been pestering him over a cookie at dinnertime and demanded that he give him his dessert. Nathan of course refused and stood his ground, but unfortunately got a fist to the mouth before the sisters could get in and break up the fight. And even though he hadn't been the one to start the fight, he still got punished by having his dessert taken away, which he thought was really unfair. But sadly in his young age, Nathan had quickly learned that life was anything but fair.
Huffing a soft sigh, Nathan rubbed at his mouth with the palm of his hand, finding it still a little swollen from the hit that he took. Silently, he made a promise to himself that he'd get revenge on Tommy. He wasn't sure how or when, but he'd figure something out. He usually did. Nathan flopped onto his back in the middle of his bed, and stared up at the ceiling, wide awake. The moon shone light into his room, illuminating his bed as well as the other empty beds that were within. Since he was marked as somewhat of a troublemaker, even though most of the fights he'd gotten into weren't his fault, he didn't have any roommates. The sisters thought it was best that he was isolated from the other boys, so that he wouldn't give any of the other orphans any ideas. At least, that's what he had heard when he was listening in to one of the conversations in the headmaster's office while crouched around the corner. But it suited him just fine. The books that lined his dresser were better company than any of the other kids anyway.
Just as he turned over to try and go to sleep again, he heard a light tapping noise coming from the window. Nathan quickly shoved his blanket aside and sprung up from the bed. A smile spread across his face when he saw his older brother's face peering through the other side of the glass. "Sam!" Nathan exclaimed in a hushed voice as he hurriedly popped the lock open on the windowpane and tugged the window up with a little bit of a struggle. He managed it though, and soon Sam was climbing through the opening that he had made for him.
"Hey little brother," Sam said quietly as he gave Nathan an affectionate ruffle of his hair once he made it inside. "Might need to get some grease for that window there, huh? Seems like it's kind of getting harder to open."
"Yeah," Nathan agreed with a nod, unable to stop grinning at his older brother. He loved Sam's night visits. He wished that they were every night. "I'll have to ask Sister Catherine about it when I see her in the morning."
"Whoa, you sure you wanna do that?" Sam asked as he plopped down onto the bed to take a seat. "Don't want her to get suspicious or nothin'."
Nathan shrugged as he sat down on the bed next to Sam. "I can play it off as a safety thing. You know, in case of fire or something like that."
Sam glanced down at his little brother and gave him a grin while patting him on the shoulder. "That's pretty clever, Nathan. And here I thought I was the smart one."
