The Stanley Parable Oneshots

Chapter 1: The Elevator

Stanley rarely followed The Narrator. To be honest, he found this "true ending", as he had dubbed it, quite boring. However, this time, Stanley decided to listen. When Stanley walked into his boss's office, he began tugging on all the doors. To his surprise, one of the sets of doors opened! Looking up to the ceiling, where Stanley assumed The Narrator was, he signed, 'Since when did these doors open?!'

The Narrator laughed, "You see, this is why you should listen to me more often, Stanley! You get rewarded!"

Ignoring the way the last sentence nagged at him, Stanley continued forward. Coming to an elevator, Stanley did the thing he did best, press buttons! The doors whished open and Stanley stepped into the cold metal box. The doors shut with a quiet thunk and Stanley felt the elevator shake as it began to move. He was pleasantly surprised to hear music! Stanley began to unconsciously tap his fingers against his thigh.

The Narrator, realizing Stanley was going to be in there for a while, decided to do other things. He was a busy man, he had scripts to write and new endings to create. The Narrator muted his microphone in an attempt to not disturb Stanley with his keyboard clicking and paper shuffling; However, The Narrator failed to depress the button all the way, leaving him unmuted to Stanley. As The Narrator focused on his work, he began humming along to the elevator music. It was very catchy.

Stanley hadn't noticed that The Narrator had begun humming until he heard his name whispered. Stanley raised his hands to question why but stopped when he finally heard The Narrator's humming. Stanley smiled, he did very much enjoy The Narrator's voice.

A few minutes passed, and The Narrator was still unaware Stanley could hear his humming, which had become loud enough that Stanley could pick out the words The Narrator sang in between humming. Stanley's favorite was probably when The Narrator said, "All together now." causing him to chuckle softly. At that moment, Stanley was worried The Narrator would hear him and stop, but The Narrator was focused.

After another few minutes, Stanley decided to tease The Narrator. 'I can't believe I've never heard you sing before!' He signed. When there was no response, Stanley shook his head and giggled, then tapped on the metal walls of the elevator.

This is when The Narrator finally realized that Stanley had heard everything. Out of sheer coincidence, The Narrator just happened to be looking at the monitor that displayed Stanley. However, he had only caught the final word. Confused, The Narrator tried to unmute himself, a belated success. "I'm sorry, Stanley, what was that?"

When The Narrator saw Stanley shake his head and laugh, he was utterly lost, until Stanley banged a fist against the walls, looking up expectantly. Looking down at his microphone, The Narrator noticed the red light indicating he was muted. Quickly unmuting, The Narrator began to frantically explain, "Stanley I'm so sorry I didn't realize you could hear all that. I hope I wasn't distracting you too much!"

This earned a laugh from Stanley, who repeated himself, 'I can't believe I've never heard you sing before, Narry!'

The Narrator blushed. Not just of embarrassment, no, Stanley had called him 'Narry.' Stanley had given him a nickname. The Narrator couldn't believe it, but he liked it very much. "I - Stan - But - Uh..."

For the first time, The Narrator was really, truly speechless. Proud of himself, Stanley decided it was his turn to hum along. The humming was a bit of an overstatement, Stanley was essentially just breathing, but some quiet, albeit shaky, notes did come out.

The Narrator stared in disbelief, mouth agape. He was still recovering from his new nickname. Without his omnipresent hearing, The Narrator probably wouldn't have been able to hear Stanley. But he could, and he was so elated. "Stanley... are - are you humming?"

Stanley thought that was a stupid question, but he looked up and happily nodded, continuing to hum.

"I... Well, Stanley, that's incredible!" The Narrator hadn't heard Stanley say anything, and he was genuinely proud of Stanley.

Then, Stanley had an idea. 'Join me!' He signed.

"Join you? Stanley, what do you mean, join you?" The Narrator quirked an eyebrow up.

'Hum with me,' Stanley grinned, 'please!' he added, hoping he wasn't crossing a line. When he got no response he was worried.

The Narrator was frazzled by Stanley's suggestion, but after a few seconds' thought, he decided to sing along with Stanley.

Instantly, Stanley smiled, still humming. The Narrator was slightly louder than when he wasn't aware of what he was doing.

The Narrator and Stanley sat in the elevator and hummed together for another hour. Both of the men felt happy.

When another slight pause in the music came, The Narrator knew just what to say.

"And they were happy."