Sanders Sides Oneshots

Imaginary Friend {Patton!centric}

Third Person

Imaginary friends are a strange thing. Some kids never have them, because they have real friends or siblings to keep them company. Thomas though, was an only child living in the country. Since he was too young to go to school, he had to come up with people he could talk to or play with. There was Sir Squiggles the Brave, a hamster knight that helped him overcome his fear of the dark by standing guard at his bedside. He created the dragonwitch, who wasn't necessarily an imaginary friend, but she made for a good opponent in many treacherous battles. His favorite imaginary friend was Patton, who was always there for him. When they played together it wasn't exactly as interesting as with the others, but he and Patton felt more like actual friends.

If Thomas was ever sad, Patton would show up and talk to him until he felt better. While it wasn't the same as venting his childhood frustrations to an actual person, it still helped. They would watch TV together, with Thomas preferring the more action-packed shows Patton liked the ones jam-packed with life lessons like Arthur.

He gave Patton glasses, similar to his father's with their boxy shape and single, solid color. No matter the season he always imagined Patton with a light blue shirt, khaki shorts, with a light gray sweater tied around his neck. Not the most...typical fashion choices for a child but it was how he imagined him.

The two were practically best friends, given Thomas's convincing imagination and Patton's lack of competition. While they couldn't exactly play games like hide and seek, Thomas still had fun finding ways to play assorted board games with the imaginary boy.

Everything changed in one day; Thomas's first day of kindergarten.

Today, he didn't have time to play with Patton, he was too busy getting ready for school. The bus, or the twinkie of travel as Thomas called it, would be showing up in fifteen minutes and he couldn't miss it. If he did, he would be stranded in the metaphorical wasteland that all kids who missed the bus had seen before. Simply put; if he missed the bus his mom would be mad and have to drive him to school, making her late for work.

Thankfully, he was able to get ready in time for the bus. No one was really on yet so he took a seat alone near the front. After a couple stops, where many more kids got on the bus, no one had chosen to sit with him. But salvation came in the form of a simple question.

"Can I sit here?" Thomas looked up to see a kid with short hair and relatively nice clothes, having been forced to dress up for the first day.

"Sure," The kid smiled and sat down next to him, setting their own bag on the dirty floor, "I'm Thomas."

"Joan," The other boy says proudly.

(Before y'all come at me I know Joan is nonbinary but kindergardeners wouldn't know that stuff yet)

The two got to talking, and Thomas had to admit that conversation with a real person was much more interesting. It was safe to say that they were friends by the time they got to school. As it turns out, neither of them had made friends in their class before the school year started, but they were fine with that. They already had each other, how hard could it be to make more friends?

"Do you think Ms. Szell will let us sit next to each other?" Thomas asks, not wanting to be separated from his new friend.

Joan shrugs, "Maybe, but my brother told me that the teachers tell you where to sit. We could ask?"

"Okay," He agrees, really hoping their teacher agrees.

Teachers come out to the small crowd of children that have yet to be given instructions. Each teacher gathers the students that are supposed to be in their class, and show them off to their respective classes. Thomas and Joan begin to follow Ms. Szell, the former failing to notice the boy behind him.

The thing about imaginary friends is, a kid won't need them forever. At some point, they'll grow up or get real friends, and not their imaginary ones anymore. Now Thomas had a friend, a real one, and Patton couldn't be more proud of him for it.

"Take care of yourself kiddo," Patton says, a single tear falling down his face as he watches Thomas walk off with Joan, knowing he didn't need him anymore.

A/N: Little short, fairly angsty, I'll take it.