Genre: Angst, friendship

Rated: PG

Word Count: 1.3k words

Pairing: Baeksoo

Requested by: N/a

Short Description: Kyungsoo's parents tell him that it's all in his head. He just tells them that it's under his bed.

You know what they say about the monsters under the bed? They always find a way to stay inside your head.

In Kyungsoo's case, he's been afraid of monsters hiding under his bed ever since he could remember. And because of this, he's always hated the dark and anything to do with it.

His best friend, Baekhyun, knows all about his worst fear and used to come over with flashlights or pretty fairy lights to help illuminate his room during their video-game-sessions-turned-sleepovers. (And tell him spooky ghost stories 'cause he was an like that.)

But, that was then, and Baekhyun's long since moved away to another area since he's a military kid. They still talk, of course, but Kyungsoo really misses seeing his best friend in person and vice-versa. Misses Baekhyun's clingy arm-grabs and snarky insults, his loud boisterous voice that twinkles and his wind-chimey laugh that could probably defeat any creature of the underworld.

With shaking hands, just like any other night, thirteen-year old Kyungsoo plugs in his nightlight into the outlet beside his bed and shivers when he hears a receding growl coming from underneath him.

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Sometimes he thinks he's what causes the monsters to appear in the first place. Like they're tied with his emotions every night. Other nights, he wonders if he really is some sort of lost underworld prince like Baekhyun had joked one time.

When he's mad about something, black swirling tendrils peek out from underneath his bed-frame, seeming to beckon for him to join them. When he's sad, the tendrils expel a transparent goo that smells faintly of the ocean. And when he's happy before bed (which isn't as often as he'd like), the tendrils die out and recede back under after they try to grab for his ankles like they always do.

Despite all of this though, he tries to remain vigilant and has learned to keep his emotions in check lest he set off a different reaction from them. As long as he doesn't cry, he won't suffocate from the moisture in the air. As long as he doesn't get angry, he won't have to cower in fear as they call his name. And as long as he's happy, well, they won't have any effect on him.

So, Kyungsoo figures that it's best to try and always be happy. At school, whatever he does or wherever he goes--it's with a smile. No matter if it's fake or genuine, if he's mad--he'll smile. If he's sad, he'll smile, and if he's hurt...he'll smile twice as hard.

Smiling so much though ends up giving him a certain reputation and he ends up becoming known as the weirdo of the school. People see him and quickly avert their eyes like he's Medusa, teachers ask him if everything's going okay at home and his confused responses (with a smile, of course) only further worries them.

It gets to the point where he drifts away from even Baekhyun, who doesn't go down without a fight and tries to stay in contact as best as he can. Phone calls, texts, emails, even letters. Everyone else seems to not want to be in his presence for too long, and it's during too many nights that he tries holding in his sniffling only to wheeze-cough because of the salt-water in the air.

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