When Byun Baekhyun was 5 years old, he started to notice strange sounds coming from under his bed. Screeching, banging, snivelling, whimpering, and groaning sounds all originated from under his bed. Even with his night light on, he was too scared to investigate it, so he would grab his favourite teddy bear that grandma gave to him and burrow under the covers. He was kept up all night, every night, which meant that he would begin to fall asleep in classes so much so that his teachers had to call in his parents.

"Baekhyunnie, why are you falling asleep in your classes?" his mother asked him after the parent-teacher conference.

"I think there's a monster under my bed mummy." Baekhyun said with watery eyes and wobbly lips.

Mr Byun rolled his eyes. "Don't be silly Baekhyun, there's nothing under your bed. And if you fall asleep in classes again, you will be punished."

They drove him to his grandmother's house and dropped him off, promising to be back to collect him later. Noticing that her grandson wasn't in his usual cheery mood, Baekhyun's grandmother baked him his favourite blueberry and chocolate muffins topped off with strawberries. Baekhyun rushed in to the kitchen as soon as the delicious smell reached his nose. Grandma Byun laughed as she watched her grandson devour 3 muffins in a minute.

"Baekie, will you tell grandma what's wrong?" she asked after he was fully stuffed.

"Ok grandma." He climbed on to her lap and burrowed against her chest. "There's a monster under my bed and I can't sleep and mum and dad don't believe me and they said they were going to punish me if I don't sleep but I can't sleep if there a monster under my bed." He said in one go.

His grandmother hugged him tightly and rubbed his back soothingly. They stayed like that for a while until she pressed a kiss on the top of his head and placed him on the chair before exiting the room. She came back a while later with a silver bracelet in his hands.

"This used to be your grandpa's." She tried to put the bracelet on his right hand but it slid off. "It gave him strength and courage because it has 'Fearless' engraved in it. It will make you fearless too Baekie, it'll help you defeat the monster."

Baekhyun's eyes widened in awe as he reached out to take the bracelet from his grandmother. The bracelet had very simple design and some English writing that Baekhyun assumed said 'Fearless'.

He quickly hugged his grandmother. "Thank you grandma. I'll always keep it with me and when I grow older, I'll wear it."    

That evening, Baekhyun's parents returned to take Baekhyun home. When it was time for bed, Mrs Byun checked under the bed before tucking Baekhyun in and kissing him goodnight.

"That's nothing under the bed Baekhyunnie. Please get a goodnight's sleep." she said before exiting the room.

Baekhyun knew his mother would never lie to him but he also knew that the monster appeared later on in the night. So he waited. He was just about to fall asleep when noises started to appear from under the bed. He clutched his bracelet tightly and got off the bed. Before he could chicken out, he knelt down on the floor to peer under the bed.

"Show yourself monster!" said in a hushed shout.

Something began to move in the darkness under the bed. Two red eyes appeared followed by a brilliant mop of red hair that seemed to be moving and razor sharp teeth. A tanned face appeared with very sharp features and Baekhyun saw that there were black circles around the red eyes. Baekhyun was already shaking by this point but when it opened its mouth, Baekhyun whimpered.

"Please don't hurt me." it said in a frightened tone.

Baekhyun was taken aback. "What?!"

"P-p-please don't hurt m-m-me." it begged and it sounded like it was going to start crying any minute.

"Who are you?!" demanded Baekhyun.

"My name is Tao." He said quickly. "Please don't hurt me."

Baekhyun puffed his chest and used his big boy voice. "I won't hurt you if you tell me why you're always making noise under my bed!"

Tao looked like he was going to burst into tears. "It's really dark and dusty and there's bugs under here and I'm afraid of the dark and bugs and that's why I make a lot of noise and I can't even leave here so I'm sorry for disturbing you please don't hurt me." He said very quickly.

Baekhyun was baffled. What kind of monster was scared of bugs and the dark?

"You're scared of the dark?" Baekhyun asked. A watery eyed Tao nodded. "And you're scared of bugs?" A whimper escaped from Tao but he nodded nonetheless.

Baekhyun took this all in and came to a decision. His grandmother was telling him that he should be nice to people no matter what because it's not nice to hurt anybody.

"Do you want to sleep on my bed?" Baekhyun offered. "It's big and soft and there's no bugs."

"Thank you but I can't leave from under here."

Baekhyun nodded in understanding before grabbing his pillows and blankets and crawling under the bed.

"Budge up." He said to Tao before handing him a pillow. "I'm Baekhyun, by the way."

"It's nice to meet you." Tao smiled showing off all his sharp teeth and Baekhyun was proud that he didn't flinch.

"Sometimes when I get scared, I sleep with my mum and dad. I think sleeping with someone makes all the scary things not so scary anymore. So I'll sleep with you tonight."

Tao pulled him into a hug. "Thank you."

The two fell asleep bundled next to each other under the bed and when morning came, Tao was gone again.

Today, Baekhyun made it his mission to tidy his entire room. He put everything back in its rightful place, dusted everything and called his mum to spray all the bug hiding places with an insect killing spray. When asked why he was doing this, he replied that a clean room meant a clean mind and body and surprisingly, his parents thought that it was just their son growing up and taking more responsibilities on.

He waited 10 minutes after his mother had tucked him into bed that night to put his plan into action. He grabbed his pillows and blankets and arranged then neatly under the bed. He then arranged the assortment of mini torches he had collect discretely around the bed and waited for Tao to appear. He didn't have to wait too long because as he was getting comfortable, Tao materialised next to him.

"Hi Tao." Baekhyun said enthusiastically.

"Hi Baekhyun. What's all this?"

"Well, I spent the entire day cleaning up my room so you wouldn't get scared and uncomfortable under the bed. I also got some lights because you're scared of the dark." Baekhyun said honestly.

Tao couldn't believe what the human had done for him, he was deeply touched. "Thank you." he said in a wavering voice.

Baekhyun panicked. "Oh my God, don't cry. I'm sorry if I did something wrong."

Tao giggled and waved him off. "No it's just that I'm really touched. No one's ever been nice to me before."

"My grandma says it's good to be nice to everyone because hurting people it's nice."

"You're grandma sounds nice."

Baekhyun nodded in agreement. "She is. What about yours?"

The two boys stayed up to chat until they both inevitably fell asleep. They soon became fast friends as they began to bond every night. Baekhyun soon realised that the monsters underneath the bed weren't all that scary and with a little courage, he could face even his biggest fears and worst nightmares.