Sanders Sides One Shots

Under the Bed

The nearly-three year old Roman lay in bed that night after his dad had dressed him in his white, red and gold onesie, then read him a bedtime story about knights and castles. Patton had turned on the star night light beside his son's bed and kissed his head, wishing him a goodnight.

Roman snuggled into his red blanket as he relaxed into the comfort of his bed, patiently awaiting the wonderful dreams to suck him into sleep.

"Heeeeeeeeey toddles..."

His eyes widened when he heard the deep voice quietly speak. Roman sat up in his bed and looked out at his bedroom, expecting to see something. There was nothing there.

After staring for a few more seconds, Roman nestled back into his blanket, unsettled. He waited to see if he would hear something again, but he didn't.

He closed his eyes and clutched his dragon plush closer to him, and heard the voice again. "Psst... goodnight Princey..."

The toddler bolted upright in bed and jumped out and as far away from it as he could. He pulled open the cracked door and ran into his dads' bedroom where they had just gone to bed.

"Daddy daddy daddy!" Roman repetitively yelled as he climbed onto the bed, quite quickly for someone as small as he was. He climbed under their covers frantically as his dads woke up, trying to figure out what was happening.

Patton pulled back the covers but Roman tried to keep them over his head. "Roman! What's the matter? What's wrong?"

When he successfully got the covers off of his small son, Patton scooped him into his lap, cuddling him close.

"I-I..." Roman sniffled but accepted the hugs and kisses from his dad. "I heard a monster under my bed..."

Logan gave Patton a smile that said 'awe, how cute' over Roman's head, which Patton briefly returned. "Roman."

Patton got his toddler to look up at him before continuing to speak. "The monster under your bed isn't scary."

"He's not?" Roman sniffed.

"No, of course not," Patton giggled. "He's just misunderstood."

Logan nodded and scoots closer to his husband to join them in the hug. "I bet if you attempt to get to know the monster better, he won't seem as scary. He might just go away."

Although absorbing their words, Roman stayed on the bed for a few more seconds in fear. Puffing out his little chest, he valiantly slid off the bed and left the room, claiming that he would befriend the monster if it was the last thing he would do.

Patton chuckled. "Should we help him?"

Logan shook his head and snuggled back into the blankets, effectively spooning Patton. "Nah, he likes to do things by himself. I'm sure he'll be fine."

Upon entering the room, Roman had to suppress his fear and then walked slowly over to his bed, peering under it from the dim light of his star.

He made his way to his rug, far away from the bed, and sat down crisscross applesauce. Staying silent, Roman just looked and listened for the monster.

Gaining some courage after several seconds of inactivity, Roman scoot closer to his bed, still listening. When he got really close, Roman decided to try speaking to it.

"Hello, monster?" Roman spoke softly as he directed his voice to underneath his bed, still not getting within an arm's reach of it.

Eventually, Roman did move closer sometime after he got a response from the monster. He learned that night that the monster under his bed wasn't as scary as he thought, just like his dad said. Roman's monster was actually pretty nice and made Roman laugh.

It took a few conversations, but Roman finally decided he ought to name his monster, seeing as he didn't have a name.

"I like 'Virgil'," Roman proudly claimed to his dads over breakfast one morning.

Patton looked up from where he was flipping pancakes to look at his toddler. "Where did you come up with that name, Ro?"

"Daddy's stories." Roman pointed at Logan from across their dining table and Logan looked up from his newspaper.

He smiled at his son, silently glad that he seemed to enjoy the stories he told him. "I think that's a wonderful name, Roman."

Years later, Roman's room had been rearranged to update it from the nursery-style space decorations. It wasn't until nighttime when Roman started to fear that Virgil had left since his bed was moved.

Roman slid off his bed and peered underneath, looking for Virgil despite never seeing him. "Virgil, are you still there?"

After a few seconds, the monster responded, and Roman let out a breath in relief. "Virgil... My dad said that one day, you would go away. Are you going to leave?"

His monster promised Roman that he would never leave, and Roman was happy when he heard that.

Many years later, Roman graduated high school. He hadn't talked to the monster under his bed in a long time, and hadn't thought about him in nearly as long.

Virgil never broke his promise. Even after Roman went off to college and his dads sold the house, Virgil never left.

...

This drawing ^^^ is so adorableeeeee... it's my favorite out of all the ones the OG artist drew of the Sides.

I had an alternate ending to this that I'm not sure if I liked better, but I'll go ahead and leave it here...

Many years later, Roman graduated high school. He hadn't talked to the monster under his bed in a long time, and hadn't thought about him in nearly as long.

The night before he was set to move off to college, Roman dreamt of the monster under his bed. It woke him up with a sudden realization.

Roman slid off his bed, the same as he used to do many years before, and peered under the bed into the darkness.

"Virgil?" Roman waited and listened. "Are you here?"

He didn't receive an answer. Feeling silly for being eighteen and still trying to talk to the monster from his childhood, Roman got back on his bed and fell asleep.

Little did he know that Virgil was still there; he never left. But Roman had to. He was human, and Virgil was just the monster under his bed.

...

That's the end of the alternate ending. I had an alternate ending to this alternate ending, and that involved Virgil actually responding and telling Roman that it was okay that he goes off to college and Roman would tell him he would miss him and "goodbye Virgil" and all that sap.

Or Virgil could have followed Roman and been the monster under Roman's dorm bed...

But that wasn't the point. Virgil was kinda only as real as Roman envisioned him due to his imagination and creativity. Roman stopped believing in him. Virgil was only really there for him because he was a child.

Although... imagine Virgil had something from Roman, like the dragon plush or the star night light, and he would keep it forever to remember Roman. Awe...

(Not to toot my own horn, but I really really like this oneshot. A lot.)