Sanders Sides One Shots

Maybell's Menagerie (Analogical)(Fluff-ish)

C.W. manipulative parental figure.

Go stan Goodnight Moon. She's an ASMRtist and she has a series called Babblebrook that is actually amazing. She makes her own set and storyline and characters and does her own costume and makeup and she's amazing and really pretty and I might be a bit gay for her. AND she has two versions of each video, one with music and one without. Fuck, I love her.

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When it's past midday and the shop bell rings, you never expect much. Maybe a tourist passing by, maybe an animal butting its way in. Virgil was hesitant to spare the door a glance to see the 'customer' but knew his mother would kill him if he didn't.

"Welcome to Maybell's Menagerie. How can I help you?"

It was at this point that Virgil looked up. At first, he saw a woman. She looked to be in her 40s, with prominent stress lines and a friendly facade. She looked slightly lost at the sheer amount of trinkets lining the walls. She wandered away from the door, seemingly forgetting about the man behind her.

The second he saw him, Virgil felt a wave of heat flood to his cheeks. He was gorgeous, with glasses that fit his face perfectly and long hair tied back into a man bun. He had a bookbag strapped around his chest, leather strained from the amount of books inside. Fortunately, calling him a man seemed to be somewhat of an overstatement as he looked closer to Virgil's age of 16.

He had a look of awe on his face, much brighter than the woman's overwhelmed expression. His fascination with the ornaments made him even more attractive, if possible. Virgil watched him glance all around the room, occasionally locking onto something that he would reach out to touch, but recoil from at the last minute. He seemed scared to touch anything but desperate to at the same time.

When he locked eyes with Virgil, a similar look locked onto his face but this time, it was more intense. His face turned red and he clutched the strap of his book bag just a bit tighter. He seemed captivated, like Virgil was one of the ornate trinkets, something to be treasured and admired. Virgil had never seen anyone look at him like that before.

The woman brushed past him and he broke his gaze. She mumbled something to him and, from the expression on his face, it wasn't anything good. They turned away from Virgil and walked out of the menagerie, but not before Virgil noticed the tight grip his mother had on his arm.

When Logan got home that night, he went straight to his room. He had three new books to read and he wanted to finish them quickly so he could go back into town and hopefully see the boy from the menagerie again.

Previously, he hated going into town. He would always do something wrong and would have to listen to a lecture from his mother the whole way back. This time it was about gawking, his mother's interpretation of finding any sort of wonder or joy in the world. Apparently he was 'gawking in an uncivilised way' at the 'knick-knacks' in the menagerie. Logan was just glad that she didn't realise he was 'gawking' at the boy behind the counter.

Logan grabbed the first book, 'The Screwtape Letters' by C.S. Lewis. If he was going to finish all three books by the next morning, he may as well start now.

By the end of that night, Logan could confirm that 3am was not a very elegant time to finish reading. With heavy and aching eyes, Logan put away his glasses and his third, finished book with the promise that he would see the menagerie boy later that day.

The next morning, Logan's heart pounded along with the rattling of the carriage. His composure was barely sustained but, with his mother next to him, it was second nature. They passed by the menagerie on the way to the town centre and Logan's chest tightened just a bit more.