Chapter Text
Mark was pretty sure he heard some sort of creaking sounds and hushed voices coming from his kids' room as he was ironing the clothes. He hoped the children weren't fooling around past their bedtime again, yet he knew sometimes they couldn't be trusted. Lately, they were getting more and more disobedient, nearly always coming up with some ridiculous excuses for their mischief. The most unbelievable and somehow the most common one was blaming everything on the monster from under their beds.
Sam, Mark's daughter, would claim that it lives under her bed and likes to play with them in the evening and at night. The parent had only himself to blame - he made the whole story up when his kids were afraid to sleep in the total darkness. Back at the orphanage, they'd been told that various monsters lurked in the closets or under the beds, sometimes in the bathroom and that they waited there to eat naughty kids at night.
Mark couldn't exactly get rid of that pointless rumour when he'd adopted Sam and Tim but he could try to influence their thinking. So he'd told his kids that the monster living in their bedroom was harmless and they could befriend him. He even came up with a name for it - Anti. Surprisingly, the kids had quickly accepted that idea and became less and less scared until the fear was completely gone. Well, except that this idea backfired completely and now Mark was stuck with his kids putting blame on an imaginary monster they insisted was real.
So as soon as he folded Tim's shirts into a nice pile, Mark made his way to the children's room to put them away in the closet. The closer he got to the door, the surer he was Sam and Tim weren't asleep yet despite the fact he'd told them good night over an hour ago. He frowned when he heard a shrill voice that he couldn't quite identify. It was too high-pitched to be Tim's and yet too masculine to be Sam's. But his son tended to get squeaky when he was giggling and judging from the tone of the voice, they must've been rather amused.
Mark, however, was not. He silently opened the door and when the light from the living room's lamp poured into the room, he glanced at his children, who seemed to be asleep. Sam, whose bed was closer to the door, was facing her dad with a relaxed face that indicated she was deep into the land of dreams. That didn't stop Mark from squinting his eyes and inspecting the angelic expression, looking for any sort of a twitch that would give her away. When nothing like that happened for a minute, the parent only sighed and walked over to the closet to put the clothes away.
Once that was done Mark quietly shut the door of the closet, making sure he didn't slam it like usual. Maybe it was just his imagination and his kids were actually asleep. He sighed. Perhaps sometimes he was too strict and overprotective of them. He'd always tuck them earlier to sleep so they wouldn't be tired in the morning but maybe it was time to let them pick their bedtime themselves.
Something decided to take advantage of him getting lost in the thoughts. Suddenly, Mark felt something grab his ankle and yank at it harshly. He squawked in surprise, falling over and landing butt-first on the floor. But just as his eyes focused on his feet, he saw nothing. Both of his ankles were free, no signs of any sort of a wire or rope he could've got tangled in. For a second, he thought he saw something flash under Sam's bed, green and blue dots. Though they disappeared as soon as he noticed them.
"Huh," Mark murmured to himself as he proceeded to get up and then he was sure he heard giggles. He instantly snapped his head upwards to look at the children, and sure enough, the small frames under the covers were shaking with laughter.
"What are you doing awake?" He whispered in a stern voice. "Both of you, go to sleep, now!"
Both Sam and Tim hid under the covers and soon Mark heard overdone and too loud fake snoring noises. He shook his head and smiled to himself. They really were mischevious at times. He did feel a bit ashamed that his children had to witness his quite ungraceful moment, though their good mood indicated they might've had something to do with all of this. Mark made a mental note to himself to question them in the morning.
When he was about to leave, the hand already resting on the doorknob, he was sure he heard some rustling. He furrowed his brows, convinced that the source of the sound was located under his daughter's bed. Checking wouldn't hurt, so he kneeled beside Sam and inspected the suspicious noise. To his surprise, and slight relief, there was nothing there save for a small pillow, two teddy bears and a couple of hair pins. Mark fished it all out and placed on the girl's bedside table. He'd have to talk to Sam about cleaning up after she was done playing, too.
When he took the last toy from under the bed, he heard another sound. This time it was the closet door. He looked to his left and narrowed his eyes. Did he leave it open? He was sure he closed it, yet there it was, slightly ajar. So he got up from his knees and closed the furniture, not paying attention to the fact that the similar green and blue lights were staring at him from the inside.
So Mark walked up to the doorway once more, glancing at their children one last time. Wait, did he hear a giggle again? He sighed heavily. The kids were unbelievable sometimes but he still loved them with all of his heart. But then, he noticed something odd.
There was nothing on Sam's bedside table. Mark didn't see a single thing he was sure he'd put there just a moment ago. He shook his head in resignation. The exhaustion must've been catching up to him, he needed his rest as well. So he closed the door to head to the living room and finish pressing the clothes.
"Is Daddy gone?" Tim peeked out from under the covers to look at his sister in the darkness.
"Yup," Sam confirmed in a hushed voice. "Anti, you can come out now."
The door to the closet opened with a low creak and some sort of a shadow slithered out to it to form into a proper figure between the children's beds. Shaped like a lithe man, it had dichromatic, glowing green and blue eyes. It smiled with a sharp-toothed grin as it crouched to ruffle Tim's hair with its clawed fingers.
Sam sat up on her bed, kicking the legs up in the air playfully.
"Daddy looked so surprised when you pulled on his leg!" She giggled, though her laughter was stifled by a hand over her mouth.
"Shh, do you want him to come back and catch you two not sleeping?" Anti smirked.
"Nooo," Tim whined, though he yawned right afterwards. The creature tsked and stood up.
"Well, I think it's time for you both to sleep anyway," he hissed quietly.
"What about you Anti? You never sleep!" Sam joined her brother's complaining. "I want to stay up with you!"
Anti sighed and grabbed the covers on the girl's bed, lifting it a bit so she could get back under it.
"Your father will be upset if you don't get enough sleep."
Sam puffed her cheeks but she laid back down, letting the creature tuck her in. But as Anti got back on his knees, ready to crawl under her bed, she grabbed the hem of his shirt to get his attention.
"What is it?" He cocked his head, mismatched eyes boring into the girl's dark green ones.
"What about a goodnight kiss?"
Anti chuckled as he leaned forward to press his cold lips against Sam's forehead. Afterwards, he did the same to the boy in the next bed.
"Goodnight, you two."
"Goodnight, Anti," they replied in unison, both wearing the biggest smiles on their faces.
The monster got under the bed, where the pillow and two plushie toys were waiting for him. He rested his head on the soft fabric and curled up.
Some day. He will reveal himself to Mark someday. But for now, he was enjoying the little time he could spend with the human's kids. With them, he could feel like at least a tiny fraction of the void in his heart was filled up. They made him feel… complete.
And the whole world should know, he was ready to protect this feeling at all cost.