Monsters under the bed // vmin [✓]

9

Taehyung thinks he's heard wrong. But one look at the kid tells him he's probably not.

"The monster is in bed with your mother?" He asks.

And he sees it then.

He didn't pay much attention before but now he sees them. Sees the bruises littered on Jimin's arms, sees a slight purplish bruise under the kid's eye.

"Is he scary?" Taehyung asks softly.

And he hates it. Hates seeing that faraway haunted look in the child's eyes. He prefers the wide, happy eyes he saw when he first entered.

"Very scary," whispers Jimin and clutches Taehyung's pants.

And the demon's heart clenches.

He sits on the bed and tugs Jimin onto his lap.

"Why is he scary?"

"Appa hurts mumma. Hurts me too. Appa is nice in morning but is monster at night. Mumma says that is not appa, that is alco-alc— um."

"Alcohol?" Taehyung supplies.

"Yesh," Jimin shouts in glee then immediately shushes himself with a quiet, "Don't make appa mad."

Taehyung's heart hurts.

He was a monster trained to scare children. He'd never been prepared for this.

To be continued
29 October, 2022