Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Stanley covers his ears and shuts his eyes tight. A siren blares for what feels like forever. It’s loud and overwhelming. It’s terrifying. He wants to open his eyes but he’s scared that, if he does, he’ll see something he doesn’t want to.

Then it stops.

It’s not completely silent. There’s a ringing in Stanley’s ears that slowly fades and Stanley can hear himself breathing. He opens one eye and immediately noticed that some things have changed.

There was a man. 

He was About Stanley’s age, lying on the floor, eyes shut tight, and his hands over his ears. Stanley blinked at him with wide eyes, taking his hands off his ears and just staring. The man breathed heavily before he slowly opened his eyes.

The man sat up and looked around. Stanley cautiously took a few steps forward and reached out his hand a bit, ready to help the man up. Then, the man spoke.

“Wh- Where am I?” His eyes met Stanley’s as Stanley froze in place. “Stanley? Is that you? I-I’m… It’s me. It’s me, Stanley! I’m- I’m The Narrator! You’re-- Oh my god! Am I- No, you’re- We’re…” The Narrator was thrown from fear to excitement to fear. Stanley felt like he couldn’t move. The Narrator rose up from his spot, moving himself towards the other man. 

“Do I have a phys-- Oh my.” The Narrator said as soon as he was standing, a dark pink coloring his face. “You’re um… You’re… You’re quite tall , aren’t you?” Stanley smiled wide and put a hand over his mouth. 

“Or, maybe, you’re just short,” Stanley signed with a wide smile on his face.

“I’ll have you know I’m at average hei--” The Narrator was cut off by a loud siren again. This time, however, the screen flashed a bright white light that filled the room until Stanley couldn’t see The Narrator and The Narrator couldn’t see him.

Then Stanley couldn’t feel anything. He couldn’t move and everything had gone to black.

Did he die? Stanley couldn’t tell. He gazed into the void, waiting for something to happen. Anything to happen.

“Stanley,” A faint voice called.

He didn’t answer.

“STANLEY,” It called louder.

He didn’t answer.

“STANLEY, WAKE UP, PLEASE!” His eyes shot open to see the bright blue sky above him. He hadn’t seen that in such a long time. He put his hand onto his pounding head as he sat up, seeing The Narrator on his hands and knees in front of him. “Thank the gods, I thought you might’ve died!”

Stanley shook his head and stood up, helping The Narrator up with him. “You’re okay right? Are you hurt anywhere?” The Narrator took up Stanley’s hand and inspected it.

“I’m okay, just a headache,” Stanley signed, but that didn’t stop The Narrator from quickly checking Stanley’s body for any injuries. “Where are we?”

“We’re…” The Narrator looked around with Stanley. “We’re… outside. We’re free!” The Narrator grinned and almost hopped in place. “We’re outside! In the world! Unrestricted! No more endings! Just us and-- Oh  god, Stanley, what are we going to do?” Again, The Narrator jumped from excitement to fear. Stanley grabbed The Narrator’s face in his hands and stared into his eyes for a second. The Narrator gazed back, breathing slowly. They just gazed for a few seconds, calming down.

“Hey!” A woman called, snapping them out of their semi-trance. The Narrator pulled away just as 2 women came running up to them. “Everything okay?”

“Well, yes, but--” The Narrator was interrupted when one of the women, a tall woman with a white bob and pale blue eyes, pulled the other one, short with a brown blazer and a blonde ponytail, closer. The taller woman started whispering to the other, who thought for a moment. Then, a face of realization crossed across her face.

“You’re Stanley!” The shorter woman yelled. “427!”

The Narrator grabbed Stanley’s hand and pulled him closer protectively as the women approached them. “Who are you? Do we know you?” The Narrator asked, looking her up and down.

“Sorry, sorry, I should have introduced myself. My name is Mariella. I was employee 432!” 

Stanley gasped and then grinned. The Narrator stood there with his mouth agape. “You… You disappeared, though! The facility tried to control you and- and-”

“I just left.” Mariella shrugged. “I made some choices that ended up making my narrator physical.” Mariella grabbed the other woman’s hand and looked at her, smiling affectionately. “And we escaped. We left.”

“That- You- We did… We did that. Did we do that, Stanley?” The Narrator looked to Stanley for a second. “We heard- We heard a siren and then I was… I was alive and I saw - like actually physically saw - Stanley and now we’re…”

“The same thing happen? I should’ve assumed!” The taller woman laughed, “We heard a siren, after all.”

“If she’s Mariella, then you’re her…” The Narrator looked to her and cocked his head slightly.

“Her narrator, yes. You can call me The Curator.”

Stanley waved his hand to get The Curator’s attention. “You were the woman I heard in the museum?” Stanley signaled to her.

“You’ve met her?” The Narrator asked, surprised. The Curator smiled and nodded.

“Yes! Stanley is a very nice man, Narrator, you should be thankful that you have him.” Stanley beamed as The Narrator looked away.

“Well, I am, but… um…”

“Do you guys need a place to stay?” Mariella butted into the conversation, smiling.

“That’d be ideal, yes,” The Narrator responded.

“Curie, can they stay at our home?”

“I don’t see why not.” 

“Thanks, hon!” Mariella kissed The Curator on the cheek and then looked to Stanley. “C’mon, I’ll show you to our home!” She then spun on her heel and started running to a house off in the distance. Stanley smiled and ran after her.

The Narrator looked at The Curator. “Curie?”

“Yes?” She answered.

“No, she… Mariella called you ‘Curie’ and ‘hon’ and-”

“We’re engaged.”

The Narrator thought for a moment. “Is it weird?” He sheepishly asked.

“Why would it be weird?”

“I… I don’t know, it’s just…”

“Ah, I get it.” The Curator said with a know-it-all smile.

“You do?”

“Yes, you have a thing for Stanley.”

The Narrator’s face went red. “I- What? I’m- no! I’m not…”

“Relax, I’m only kidding!” She cackled, “Unless, you do have a crush on Stanley, hm?”

“N-No! Of course, I don’t. Our relationship is strictly professional.”

“Strictly professional, of course,” She said sarcastically as she walked with him to the house.

Chapter Text

“And this,” Mariella spreads out her arms into the air and grins, “This is your guys’s room!”

Stanley smiles stepping into the room and looking around. His eyes eventually land on the bed in the middle of the room.

The bed.

The singular bed.

Stanley looked at Mariella with a puzzled look. “One bed?” He signed to her, cocking his head to the side.

“Well, we don’t exactly have two beds sooo… One of you could sleep on the couch if you aren’t comfortable sleeping in the same bed.” Mariella motioned to a loveseat at the end of the bed. Stanley sat down onto the bed.

“I’ll leave you alone here to enjoy the room. Just call if you need me!” Mariella waved to Stanley as she walked out of the room and down the hall. Stanley smiled her way until she left the room. He let out a sigh and flopped his back against the bed. He stared up at the ceiling and got lost in his thoughts about nothing in particular. 

The world is more complicated than the office he’d been trapped in for who knows how long. In the office, he had limited choices. He didn’t have to think about them, he could just do what The Narrator told him to or not do what The Narrator told him to. Almost all of it was scripted. It was almost all scripted. Then it would end.

Then he’d be at the office again. He’d be in his small dark office and he’d take some steps out and The Narrator would tell him that his fellow employees were gone and-

And The Narrator was always with him. Always. He remembered how lonely he felt when he went to go find that escape pod. It was lonely. He hated so many endings that he refused to ever get again after the first time.

He cared about The Narrator. It never really occurred to him how much he cared. He didn’t want to be alone.

He didn’t  want The Narrator to be alone.

He didn’t want to be without The Narrator by his side.

His heart pounded in his chest thinking about The Narrator and he shut his eyes tight as his face got hot. He picked up a pillow and pressed it into his face.

Why did he feel like this for The Narrator?

Why did he feel like this?

Why did he feel?

Why?

“Oh- Stanley, don’t smother yourself, please,” The Narrator said softly. Stanley took the pillow off his face and sat up to look at The Narrator. The Narrator smiled at him and then looked around the room for a second. His smile dropped when his eyes landed on the bed. “One bed?”

Stanley nodded.

“Did Mariella… tell you if I could sleep anywhere else?”

Stanley motioned to the loveseat. 

“Oh, no, that’s… That’s too small for me, I think.” The Narrator laid on the couch and, sure enough, half of their legs and head dangled off the edges of the couch. Stanley smiled as he stared at The Narrator. “Yep, too big,” He said, laughing.

“You can sleep on the bed, if you want,” Stanley signed, trying to push back the blush on his face.

“I mean, we don’t… we don’t have to sleep in the same bed if you don’t want to. It’s up to you.” The Narrator got up and sat properly on the couch, turning around a bit so he could face Stanley.

Stanley patted the bed next to him, motioning for The Narrator to sit. The Narrator got up from his spot and sat next to Stanley on the bed.

“You can sleep here, it’s fine,” Stanley signed. The Narrator sighed.

“As long as it doesn’t make you uncomfortable, Stanley.”

Stanley smiled sweetly at The Narrator, who tried his hardest to suppress the heat rushing to his face. The Narrator smiled back. He wanted to do so much more but all he could do was smile back.

“Are you two hungry?” The Narrator almost fell off the bed when Mariella popped her head into the room. “Curie’s preparing dinner, so if you’re hungry, get your ass out here!”

“Y-Yes, thank you, Mariella,” The Narrator responded, adjusting himself. Stanley stood up and held his hand out to The Narrator, to help him stand up. The Narrator reluctantly took his hand and followed Stanley out to the dining room, trying to ignore how hard his heart thumped. 

He couldn’t like Stanley.

That wasn’t allowed.

He wasn’t allowed to like Stanley in that way. They were like coworkers. Maybe friends, but at a stretch.

He couldn’t feel like how he was feeling right now.

He wasn’t allowed to.

Chapter Text

Curie left for her room first, giving a kiss on the cheek to Mariella before she slipped out. Then Stanley left, nodding at The Narrator and Mariella before he disappeared down the hallway. 

The Narrator had barely touched his food all night, picking at it and staring down at the plate. He didn’t talk a lot, just sat there and thought. At one point, Stanley scooted closer to him and held The Narrator’s hand for a minute. It made him feel better when  Stanley was with him.

“Mariella?” The Narrator looked up for once to see Mariella across the room, doing dishes. “How did you… know you were in love with Curie?”
“Just did, I guess. I was in love with her before we, y’know, actually met outside of that labyrinth, but I guess I just kinda noticed it later. We spent just a few nights together for me to realize I loved her, but it took quite a while for me to tell her I actually loved her… Why’d ya wanna know? Also, should I take your plate or...?”
“Oh, yes, here.” The Narrator held the plate out and Mariella took it, scraping the leftover food into the trash. “I just wanted to know because I, well… I think I might be--”

A loud groan shook the entire house and The Narrator covered his ears and shut his eyes tight. Mariella looked around with wide eyes, gripping the counter. When it eventually quieted, Mariella looked to The Narrator with her wide eyes and panted. She looked to the doorway and then looked back at him.

“Go get Stanley from his room and meet Curie and me outside,” She said to him as she ran out of the room.

And The Narrator was alone. He stood in the kitchen for a minute after Mariella ran out before he ran down the hallway and opened Stanley’s door. Stanley was on the bed, knees up to his chest and the base of his palms pressed against his temples.

“Stanley, are you okay? We need to go outside.” The Narrator walked up to Stanley and took his hand. Stanley took a deep breath and stood up, stumbling a bit and holding onto The Narrator.

The Narrator led Stanley outside and the first thing they noticed was the wind. It would’ve pushed The Narrator over if he hadn’t have gripped Stanley’s hand harder than he did.

Curie and Mariella were clinging to each other on the porch, staring ahead. The Narrator turned his attention to it just as a groan started up again. Stanley pressed one of his hands to his ear and scrunched his shoulders up, digging his nails into The Narrator’s hand. The Narrator flinched at the pain, but didn’t let go.

A large, white, blinding light was floating in front of the office. The Narrator couldn’t take his eyes off it. “D-Do you two have any idea of what’s happening?” The Narrator yelled over the noise.

“Just as much as you,” The Curator yelled back.

The groan faded and the light dimmed as it moved closer to the ground. The wind calmed and a small staircase came out of a pod in the sky. The light was just a small glow now, letting everyone figure out what it was. Stanley and Mariella looked at the pod, then each other, then the pod again in shock. It took The Narrator and The Curator a few seconds to figure out what it was.

 A pod. 

Specifically, a red and white escape pod.

The door opened and a figure stepped out, somehow shadowed in the light. As he got halfway down the stairs and he was able to be seen. A short and stout man with greasy, black, slicked-back hair. He was wearing a black suit with a bright red tie. He smiled with teeth that were slightly crooked.

The most notable part of him, which was harder to see with the glow of white light behind him, was his eyes. His eyes were glowing white, like the light behind him. 

“Hello, lady and gentlemen!” His words rolled off his tongue and his crooked smile was brought out with his words. Stanley hid behind The Narrator and Mariella clenched her jaw.

He looked across the group and his smile turned to a frown. “Oh, no, you do not need to be afraid of me. I don’t bite. Often.” He cackled and Stanley’s grip on The Narrator’s hand tightened as he looked away. 

“Who are you?” The Curator yelled to him.

“Oh, no one you would personally know. Well, not anyone Narrator and Curator would know. Stanley and Mariella, however…”

“I said who are you? ”

“I hired Stanley and Micah quite some time ago. I rule over them. I control them. Well, I did, until you messed this whole thing up!” His eyes turned black and he took a deep breath, turning them back to white. “You can call me The Manager.”

Chapter Text

“Do not worry, I’m not here to cause any harm! Well, not unless I have to.” He gestures towards the group. “Just here to take back what rightfully belongs to me. If you comply, this should go smoothly.” The Manager pulled a clipboard and pencil out of seemingly nowhere and began writing.

“I’m not going back.” Mariella clenched her fists and stomped her foot as she spoke.

“Oh, Micah…” Mariella flinched at the name everytime he said it. “I still believe there’s hope for you, you know. Just do what I say and this’ll all go over sm--”

“Oh yeah? And what if I don’t?”

Curie quickly put a hand on Mariella’s shoulder. “Sweetheart.”

The Manager tapped his foot, put two fingers to his temple, and sighed, interrupting The Narrator. “You leave me no choice then.”

A white, glowing tendril with a claw at the end shot out of the escape pod, straight towards Mariella. She gasped and braced herself, but before it could reach her, Stanley spread himself out in front of her, taking the hit. It ripped through his shirt and wounds were opened against his chest. He fell onto his knees and held against his chest, hissing through his teeth at any small movement he made. 

“SEE WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!” His eyes turned black again and he stomped his foot. He turned away from them and took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair. “Don’t worry, you can fix this.”

The Narrator got on his knees next to Stanley and, trying his hardest to not put Stanley in any more pain, wrapped his arms round him and helped him up. Stanley leaned against The Narrator, flinching everytime he even breathed. 

“Well, I have business to get too. Didn’t expect this to take that long… I’ll come back to retrieve Stanley and Micah later.. Goodbye!” He said as the stair retreated and carried him into the escape pod. With a gust of wind and flash of light, the escape pod disappeared.

“Stanley, are you-- Thank you, I- I-” Mariella stumbled over her words in a panic. Curie put a hand on her shoulder. 

“You two help Stanley inside and up to his bed. I think we have some bandages in the bathroom I can go get, and I don’t think the cuts are too deep. Narrator, can you bandage Stanley up?” She said. The Narrator nodded and Mariella and him helped Stanley to his bed, laying him on it.

Mariella sighed after she helped Stanley on the bed. “Thank you for taking the hit for me, Stanley, that was very brave of you. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to make it up for you.” She said, leaving the room. She almost bumped into Curie, who was coming in with a first aid kit and wet cloth. She handed them to The Narrator and smiled.

“There’s a guide in there for bandaging wounds. If you need any help, just call, okay?”

“Will do. Thanks, Curie.”

Curie left the room and The Narrator helped Stanley prop himself up against the headboard. The Narrator looked over the instructions and then looked to Stanley. “We should… probably get your shirt off first.”

Stanley nodded and The Narrator helped him unbutton and pull off his shirt. He put the wet cloth onto Stanley’s chest to clean up some of the blood but quickly lifted it back up when Stanley flinched at the contact.

“Oh, dear. Okay, um… Hold my hand and squeeze it as hard as you need to whenever you’re in pain.” The Narrator took Stanley’s hand in his and got to work, cleaning the blood carefully and trying to put Stanley in the least amount of pain possible. When he was done cleaning it up, he moved behind Stanley and bandaged up his chest.

“Okay, you should relax a little till it stops hurting… or until it stops hurting enough that you feel fine.”The Narrator got up from the bed and walked to the door, standing against it for a second after he closed it. He sighed, pressing his forehead against it with his hand still on the doorknob.

“You okay?” Marriella asked, making The Narrator jump a bit.

“Yeah, yeah, of course. Just… I’m fine… He— the ‘manager’ called you Micah?” Mariella flinched a bit. 

“It’s my deadname.”

The Narrator shut his mouth tight. “Sorry,”

“It’s fine.” Mariella laughed awkwardly. “I need to talk to you a bit. Can we head to the kitchen?”

“Sure,” The Narrator nodded, following after her.