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Chapter 1: Discovery
It started out like any other playthrough of The Stanley Parable. Stanley was sitting at his desk, pushing buttons and waiting for the Narrator to start talking. Stanley had done this hundreds of times before, but today was different, he looked away from his computer and examined his desk. He saw a phone, a folder with a pen and a pencil next to it, and three trays in different colors where he would place papers. Everything seemed to be fine but, in the corner of Stanley’s desk was something new, something unexpected. It was a framed photo of two men kissing, one dressed in a brown suit with gray hair and glasses, and the other wearing a purple turtleneck with blonde hair. The photo was beautiful, Stanley couldn’t resist picking it up and looking at it closer.
“This is the story of a man named stan-STANLEY!?!” The Narrator was shocked to see Stanley holding one of his prized possessions
“HOW DID YOU GET THAT??!” Due to Stanley's inability to speak, he simply pointed to the corner of his desk.
“I didn’t notice that it had gone missing…” The Narrator pauses for a moment “...Would you like to hear the story behind that photo Santley?”
Stanley contemplates his decision, this could be the only and last time he sees this photo, this beautiful photo of The Narrator and an unknown lover. He nods his head, ready to learn about The Narrator's past.
“Well, I suggest that you take a seat, this story is going to take a while to tell” Stanley was still sitting in his chair, but decided to stand up and sit back down to become extra ready for the journey.
Chapter 2: Greetings
The Narrator took a moment to collect his thoughts before beginning
“Ah yes, that’s where it started.” He chuckled a little
“I had gone out to Tesco to buy groceries, despite what you may think, I am not just a disembodied voice. I had gotten what I needed and was walking out of the store when I accidentally bumped into a man wearing a purple shirt. I was terribly sorry about the inconvenience I had caused but he insisted that it was nothing and helped me pick my groceries back up. While we were picking up the items, we accidentally touched each other's hand. As if it were some cheesy romance movie, we moved our hands away, and seeing the other person pull away, we reached for the item again, touching hands again.” The Narrator stopped for a moment
“I looked up to apologize, but when I did, I saw that he was blushing. He said something along the lines of “I-I didn’t mean to…” then he looked directly at me. His gaze caused me to become a little flustered, making my face turn a soft red. He stopped in the middle of his sentence and turned his head away. I did the same because…I…I didn’t want him to see me so flustered after just barely meeting him.”
The Narrator paused for a moment, trying to calm down a bit. Retelling the story brought back emotions he had forgotten. He cleared his throat and carried on.
“We stayed like that for a minute, looking away from one another to avoid the elephant that had just appeared on both of our faces. I slowly turned back to him, but as soon as I saw that he was doing the same, I turned away again. I felt my heart rate pick up, I… I didn’t know what to do. It was silent for a moment, then I heard his voice again
“U-Uhmm… We’re just picking up your groceries, i-it’s not that big of a deal, right?” He nervously chuckled as he finished his sentence. I wanted to say something, anything to respond but the words failed me. All I could utter was
“R-right…” I turned back to face him, but still, I couldn’t look him in the eyes. Something about the idea made my heart race and I didn’t want to accept the idea that I was feeling so strongly about a stranger. We finished picking the items up, he handed me the last bag and I took it back slowly. He turned away from me as it left his hand, but I felt the need to know more about him, so I asked with a slight shake in my voice
“W-what’s your name?” He stopped, turning his head to me and saying
“M-my name’s Terry…Terry Boot…” I responded to him quickly, I didn’t want to see him leave yet.
“Well then Terry…Would y-you mind going out for lunch?” His expression changed to a shocked one, responding to me with a simple
“sure…” I set the bags down neatly to reach for a pen and paper I had in my pocket, I wrote down my number and gave it to him
“...just reach out when you have the time..” I said, he reached out and took it from my hand. I felt my heart rate pick up as he took the paper, but tried to remain as calm as possible. He simply responded with
“I-I will…” and walked away. I picked my bags back up and walked down to my car, my heart felt like it was going to rip out of my chest, my face felt like it was on fire. Was this…was this love?”
Stanley waited with great interest, wanting to hear more.
Chapter 3: Lunch
“It had been a full day since I had met Terry, I was worried that he had decided to not respond. I felt terrible, all I could think about was Terry. His messy hair, his eyes, and his purple shirt were all I had space for in my head. The idea that he would turn down our lunch was one I couldn’t stomach. But then, just then my phone buzzed. I rushed to check what it was, I prayed it was Terry. It was a message from an unknown number, and it read
“I’m sorry about taking a while : ( I slept in and didn’t wake up until recently.” I was ecstatic! I was glad that he hadn’t turned me down and responded within the minute
“No worries! I’m glad that you reached out : )” I sat down at my desk, waiting to see what he’d say
“So…uhmm…what place did you have in mind?” I then realized I didn’t actually plan anything past this point. I rushed to review websites to find a place that was casual, I didn’t want to go somewhere too fancy in case it would make him uncomfortable.
“Do you think The American Bar would be an acceptable spot?” I hoped that he would be okay with my choice
“Sure.” I was revived by his response. Next, to determine the time.
“What time works for you? If we need to push this back then I would completely understand.” I lied, I wasn’t sure if my heart could handle waiting another day to see him.
“Today at four would be good.” I could have screamed, but I managed to keep it together.
“Excellent! I’ll make sure to be there!” I proceeded to set three different alarms, if I managed to miss this, I would’ve…uhm…lets not think about ifs on second thought…
“Cool.” I reacted to his message with a heart, I then proceeded to turn off my phone and jump for joy. I soon stopped after I realized what I was doing, but still, I was extremely happy.
Before I knew it, the time to leave was soon approaching. I had gotten clean, shaved my face, picked out my favorite suit and double checked everything ten minutes before I had to go out the door. I was nervous, butterflies in my stomach and such, but I had to see Terry again. I walked down to the establishment, my head swirled with ideas. What should I say? What should I do? I was so distracted I nearly passed the place. I quickly turned around and entered the building, looking over every seat, hoping to see his messy mound of blonde hair somewhere around the building. I didn’t see him and my heart dropped, I rushed to look at the time only to see that it was 3:56 and I was early, a wave of relief washed over as I picked a seat near the entrance so he’d see me as quickly as possible. I watched the clock tick slowly towards four. It seemed like it would take an eternity. 3:56, 3:57, 3:58, 3:59 and then, finally, 4:00. My head shot over to the entrance, hoping to see his face. Terry hadn’t shown up yet, but it had just turned to 4:00 so maybe he was just running late… I sat there, looking at the clock again. 4:01, 4:02, 4:03, 4:04, 4:05, as the time passed I started to wonder if he had decided to not show, I hated the idea, I tried to get it out of my mind as soon as possible, but some part of me knew that it was a possibility. 4:06, 4:07, 4:08, 4:09, 4:10 and just then, I heard someone sit down next to me. I had gotten so focused on the clock that I hadn’t been checking the entrance, I turned to see who it was and saw him, Terry. He was dressed in a purple turtleneck, along with a large coat.
“Sorry for being a little late, I uhhhh, had some difficulties while trying to get ready.” I was stuck for a moment. I couldn’t form words for the life of me. It took a few seconds to spit something out, and without thinking, I said
“You look amazing” After the words left my mouth, I could feel my face getting red. I watched as a blush grew on his face, his head tilted down to look at the menu.
“Th-thanks…you too…” He continued to scan the menu as he said it. The comment made my heart race, I snapped over to the menu to seem like I was doing more than just thinking about him. Over the bars speakers, I heard that song, oh what was it?....Ah! It was Can’t take my eyes off you. The moment is something I look upon fondly, even now…Ahem! Anyways, let us continue.
“I think I’ll just have water…” I heard him say.
“We’re ready to order!” I told the bartender, he had an eye patch and a bit of a mad look in his eye, but seemed like he was trustworthy so I didn't think to much of his look
“I’ll be with ya in a moment sir.” The bartender replied, at that moment I realized a bar wasn’t the best choice. I didn’t even know if Terry was a drinker or not, so I asked
“Do you drink? I probably should have asked earlier but-” He started to chuckle while I was talking, I paused
“I decided I wouldn’t drink after I accidentally ate hand sanitizer.” His comment took me by surprise
“You did what?” I smirked as I asked
“Well you know, I had it on my hands and it got near my mouth. I ended up getting some on my tongue, it was disgusting.” He laughed as he finished his sentence
“That..that is quite the story.” I joined him in laughing, the bartender approached and asked us what we wanted
“Can we just get two waters?” I said to the bartender
“Sure thing…” He got two glasses and promptly filled them with water. While we waited for our drinks, I spoke to Terry
“I suppose that a bar wasn’t a great choice looking back…It does look really nice in here though.” I was really just looking for an excuse to hear him talk again, but the building did genuinely look good, not as good as Terry, but still.
“The lights do look really nice.” Terry took a moment to admire the inside of the building, I continued to look at him. I was probably looking at him too much now that I think about it. The bartender returned with our drinks, setting them down in front of us.
“Enjoy yourselves and call me over if you need anything.” The bartender left us and I continued to talk to Terry
“...So what do you do in your freetime?” I asked him
“I do a lot of thinking… Apart from that, I don’t usually go out. This whole thing is kinda new to me, you could probably tell by the being late thing." He was clearly embarrassed about being late, but I didn’t want him to feel bad so I tried to comfort him.
“No, really it’s okay! I’m just glad that you decided to spend time with me.” I didn’t know if I was being too forward or not being forward enough, I prayed that he felt the same way.
“I-I umm…I guess I was just curious about where this might lead.” Terry grabbed his glass and started chugging water, I looked up to see his cup almost empty.
“A-are you alright?” I was concerned about him, at the time I didn’t know why he suddenly did what he was doing. He sat down the glass rather quickly and responded to me
“I-It’s just my face feels really hot right now and I don’t know why, I was kinda hoping the water would help. C-could I drink from your glass?” I was worried about him so I passed him my drink as quickly as I could.
“Did you eat something new or-” I stopped mid sentence once I realized what was going on. He set down the second glass gently, gulping down the water and turning to me after he did and asking me a question.
“A-are you seeing anyone?” My heart started to pound aggressively, I couldn’t think, I couldn’t move. It was as if I had died and the only thing that was left over was a statue of my former self.
“N-not currently…” I responded with the last few ounces of my soul that were still in my body.
“...Can I kiss you?” I looked him in the eyes as he asked, I knew he could see how hard I was blushing. Everything was happening so fast, and we had only had water!
“...yes…” I moved toward him slowly as I answered, he moved closer as well. I felt like I was gonna explode, my heart was beating incredibly fast, my head felt like it was on fire. We moved closer and closer, I closed my eyes and continued to move forward, and then I felt his lips touch mine. Then everything stopped, it felt like all the pressure that had built up dissipated as soon as I felt contact. It was spectacular. We stayed like that for a moment, then I heard him whisper to me
“Do you wanna…walk back to my place?” I was shocked to hear what he had to say, there was no way I could have refused. It took me a moment to put together the words.
“I-I-I think that’d be nice” We pulled away from each other and got out of our seats. Terry headed to the exit while I gave the bartender £20, I quickly reunited with him and exited the building. We held hands as we walked down the street, the lights illuminated our path as we walked. It felt nice to hold his hand, it was such a small thing but traveling together made me feel…incredible. It took us a few minutes to make it to his home, walking past several bars and restaurants, we had made it to our destination.
“Just give me a moment to grab my keys” he patted down each of his pockets, as he did, I continued to admire him. He finally found the keys, unlocking the door and opening it
“After you.” He said to me, I walked in and looked at all there was. The lights from the outside shined in and illuminated some of what there was to see, he turned on the lights and revealed everything that had been hidden by the shadows. It was a cozy place, the warm lighting felt right
“It’s quite relaxing here.” I said.
“Well, it’s nothing special. Still, it's an alright place” Terry responded. As he spoke, I took a seat and asked him if he had any ideas.
“Do you have something in mind that you want to do?” By time I was done speaking he had moved to another room.
“H-hey, if you don’t mind, could you come back here?” I heard him say from the end of a hallway. I got up and looked down the hall to get a peak at what was in the room, I noticed there was a purplish light emerging from the door. I walked down the hall, entering the room I saw Terry fiddling with a device. I looked around the room, seeing the purple lamp that was illuminating everything as well as noticing Terry's bed. Then I heard it, the sound of Jay & The Amaricans singing Come A Little Bit BJay & The Amaricans singing Come A Little Bit Closer.
“I was thinking we could continue from where we left off at the bar.” Terry said to me as he took off his coat and turned to me. I could feel my heart rate pick up and noticed him walking towards me.
“That idea sounds phenomenal.” I said as I threw my coat on the floor. We continued the kiss we shared in the bar, although slightly more…uhmm…active.” The Narrator paused for a moment while explaining his story
“Stanley? Do you want to hear more about what happened in that room? I’ll explain it if-” Stanley started to aggressively shake his head
“Okay then, I’ll skip that part for your sake Stanley, although I'm pretty sure whatever you're imagining is much worse than what actually happened.”
Chapter 4: The Morning After
“We had stayed up later than I was used to, heading to bed at 12:45 A.M. When I woke up, it was 10:36 and Terry was lying next to me. He looked peaceful in his sleep and I tried my best not to wake him. Stumbling out of bed, I put my vest and dress shirt back on and made my way to the kitchen. I explored the breakfast options he had, seeing if I could make something we could eat together. Terry was great at a lot of things, but he did seem to put off going to the store. I looked high and low and emerged with eggs, butter, sausage, and some seasonings to mix in. I went to work, I wasn’t sure when he’d be up, but I wanted to thank him in some sort of way. I was cooking up one of the greatest breakfasts I had ever seen. I may be slightly exaggerating but I thought I did good for the options available. I had finished making my glorious gift to Terry and sat down in the living room, waiting for him to wake up. I then heard my phone ringing in Terry’s room, rushing to get it, I sprinted down the hall and snatched up my phone. Moving outside of the room, I looked at what it was and realized I had to go to the States for a business meeting I had set up months prior to all of this. There was no way I could reschedule the meeting and I had also already bought the plane tickets I needed. I should have rushed to the airport but I couldn’t just leave Terry without any answers, so I wrote down on a piece of paper the situation. I felt terrible for leaving Terry, I did like him and the time we spent together, but if I missed this meeting there was no telling how much trouble I would be in with my superiors. I picked my coat up off of Terry’s bedroom floor, glancing at him one last time before I left. I-” The Narrator paused for a moment, he could feel a lump forming in his throat
“Ahem, I…I’m sorry about that. I meant to say that I was unaware that that was the last time I would see him in person.” The Narrator’s voice started to become brittle
“During my time overseas, I didn’t get any messages from Terry. I reached out a few times but…but he never responded.” Narrator’s voice change was becoming more and more apparent
“When I…When I came back the first thing I did was visit Terry’s house. I knocked on the door and I got no response. I tried again and again but I got nothing, eventually a neighbor came out of their house to…inform me that Terry had moved. I asked them if they knew a way to reach him or if they knew his new address but I got nothing.” Narrator’s voice became slightly squeaky and high pitched. He attempted to hide it by clearing his throat and taking longer breaks in between his words, but Stanley could tell that The Narrator had not gotten over Terry.
“They…they asked if I was related to him or was in a relationship with him. I-*AHEM*- I said that we were…pursuing a relationship but work matters came up and…and uhmm… caused some difficulties. They said that Terry had something for me…I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a letter telling me how much he hated me or how he felt betrayed but it was a photo…it was one we took together in his room… I looked at the photo for a while on the neighbors porch, I uhmm, I cried when I looked at it. After all that had happened this felt wrong, we should have gone on more dates, hung out more, something, anything!” The Narrator moved away from his microphone for a moment
“So I bought a frame and put the photo in it. I set it in my office and sometimes I look at it and it acts as a pick me up of sorts…I still kind of hope I’ll see him again one day, it’s stupid, but…I wish that I had gotten to eat that…that breakfast with him… I should have woken him up.” The Narrator stayed silent for a while, Stanley stayed put in his chair and waited patiently for him to return
“...Anyways, this story isn’t about me. Would you be okay with me starting over Stanley?” Stanley noded, allowing The Narrator to start from the beginning. Stanley looked over to the corner of his desk to look at the photo again, but it was gone. So, Stanley did what he did best.
“This is the story of a man named Stanley.” Said The Narrator
-THE END-
(Just so that everybody knows, Terry wanted to reach back out to The Narrator but physically couldn’t. Terry loves him and misses The Narrator a lot)