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Resets. Narrator isn't unfamiliar with them. End of story. Reset. A bug in the office? Reset. Something not going quite along with his plans? Reset. They were boring, unavoidable, but still quite tedious and while the Narrator had lots of patience, truly seas of it, even it couldn't avoid the embrace of boredom slowly latching on to them.
“Already, this was uncomfortable, and Stanley decided that as soon as he found a new space he felt safe in, that he would never leave it again in his life.”
Narrator recited, for the first time in a god knows how long while, not particularly interested in leading his own story. He waited along for Stanley, stretching themselves in a cat-like manner and undecided yet on what ending they wanted to do now.
“Say you wouldn't happen to know any way to lighten up this run, Stanley? I'm afraid this- Is giving me too much of a recognized sense of deja vu.”
[Oh really? I wonder why.]
His eyes glittered slightly, amused by the comment of their Narrator, but continued on past the offices and finally reached the, quite familiar by now, set of two doors. They yawned once again, stealing a glance at the ceiling to see if the Narrator was in the mood to continue narrating.
While yes, neither of them could get exhausted, they didn't need any fluids or food, these two were still very prone to getting bored. And that caused one of two scenarios;
Number one: Stanley doing every ending possible to get on Narrator’s nerves and the Narrator spilling out rivers of snide remarks at every step.
Number two: Stanley would lay on the floor and bicker, and talk to the Narrator about the most idiotic, unbelievable things they could both attempt to imagine with the help of the internet.
The office worker chuckled lightly at both of the options, unaware of the crisis the Narrator would experience in less than a minute.
[I suppose you don't have any new ideas, do you hun?]
They sat down, letting out a somewhat content sigh, happy to take a break. And for those few seconds when Stanley executed that action, he didn't hear the horrible creak of a chair nearly toppling back, didn't hear the sharp intake from Narrator nor its nearly silent “no-”.
(Oh- Nono, no, no, absolutely not possible-)
Narrator fixed his posture, pushed its glasses slightly up and with almost fear, put a hand on his cheek. Warm. He was- No. No. The Narrator wasn't flustered by a mere petname. Impossible. Unreal. Scandalous.
Yet there it was, clear as day.
It was beet red. Embarrassed. Almost blushing.
(I couldn't have- Certainly they were just teasing me. Nothing more. Nothing- Oh. OH. Oh no. Unless-)
“Oh God. I'm- I've fallen in love with-. Oh dear.”
Stanley looked up, finally acknowledging the distressed stutters and unended sentences. They nearly jumped at the frustrated cut off:
“-oh fuck me- This is terrible, awful-”
They tuned in to the Narrator's muttering, until signing an uneasy [Are you okay?] to the sound of a groan and possibly Narrator's head hitting its desk. Stanley waited for an answer, slowly growing more concerned with the quietness. It wasn't rare for the Narrator to experience internal crises over Stanley's actions, however this time, they didn't know what they had done to cause such a reaction.
[You okay?] He asked again to get a shuffle and somewhat disgruntled response.
“Peachy!”
[Alriiight, that certainly does sound very convincing.]
The sarcasm didn't move the Narrator, only making him push away its mic more so, to avoid spilling out too much.
Stanley leaned against one of the office walls, silently dipping into their thoughts and wondering what they had done. Insult? No. The earlier ending? No, he did the Confusion one. Was it just the growing boredom? Possible, but unlikely.
“Stanley, stop scheming down there and drop it.”
[Pff, as if he'd ever lose a chance to play with the Narrator.]
[Wait, the- . My last sentence. Narrator did you-]
“Absolutely not.”
[But-]
“No! As if I'd ever get flustered by something as pathetic as a-”
[- darling?]
A whimper.
The next up following silence was nearly overwhelming.
[ O h .]
The Narrator had promptly shoved a hand over his mouth, praying that the office worker would let it go, just this once. [-Very unlikely.]
Stanley could certainly work with this.
— 🗝