PROLOGUE
For as long as Stanley can remember, he has always valued the importance of family and maintaining close connections with those who know you the best.
He often thinks back to when it was just him and his parents, without a care in the world and when his individuality was encouraged instead of cruelly mocked by those who he thought were meant to love him the most.
He has fond memories of that time, when his faith and trust in a higher power was heartened and his family showed him how to be apart of something bigger, a church community where he learned so much about the world around him.
He remembers his parents. They taught him so much, cooking, cleaning, sucking it up when life slapped you in the face, he learned it all and was grateful.
He particularly remembers whenever he was faced with hardship, his father would always tell him "don't ever be scared to ask for help, it doesn't mean you are weak, it only means you are wise". It was a phrase which Stanley's father had lived by, so much so that he had even gotten it painted on the main feature wall of their diner for all of the customers to see because of its significance to him and who he had become.
Stan also recalls being told by his parents at a young age about eyes and how they are often the windows into a person's soul. His parents would say that you can tell a lot from someone based just on their eyes and the feelings and emotions that are often hidden within them.
It was just like yesterday for Stan, when his parents first opened "Kosher like me". It was the first kosher diner in all of shitty Derry and his parents worked so hard each and every day to make it the most successful it could possibly be.
Stanley recalls spending a lot of time there as a child and now as a teen practically lives at "Kosher like me" when he doesn't have to go to school. He works, cleaning and flipping burgers, counting down the days until his 18th birthday when he can escape this shithole and move someplace better and never ever look back.
For the most part, when looking back, Stan is grateful, he had a great childhood, filled with joy and the endless love and support from his incredible parents.
But when he digs deeper into his memories there is the smaller and darker part of his childhood which brings him sadness and sorrow. Where he remembers watching his father, bed ridden and so ill that each day his words were often treated as his last.
Until they were, and all Stanley remembers are the countless services he attended while clinging to his poor mother's hand for dear life as she tried to contain her weeps into her lacy handkerchief.
Stanley learns for the first time, that bad things happen to good people, to good and unassuming people who don't deserve any of the pain and suffering that they are ever faced with. He learns this from his mother, as he watches her sob herself to sleep. When she puts on a brave face each day, but he can see deep down that she is drowning without the love and support of her husband.
Stanley remembers after this a lot of time goes by, its almost like a void of time just passes and he and his mother cope, they really do.
But then, she starts smiling again and has stars in her eyes which she hasn't had for the longest time and she throws herself into even more church and community based activities.
Apart from running the diner, she also shifted her focus to being the best mother she could and introduced Stanley to birdwatching, teaching him everything about the different types of birds and how to spot them. Stan remembers completely falling in love with it and wasn't surprised in the slightest when it quickly became his favourite pastime.
Though, Stanley observed her happiest was when she had returned from her weekly volunteering at the Derry soup kitchen. She would often downplay her happiness, but Stan was so elated for her and this newfound joy that she had somehow gained. Stan was even starting to have hope, for the future and for their happiness, maybe there was such a thing as faith and second chances after all.
That was until he met Butch.
Stan was shocked when his mother, who was the least spontaneous person Stanley knew, apart from himself had announced to him, one day while birdwatching together that she was engaged. She was to be married to a man named Oscar 'Butch' Bowers who she had been dating for the past six months.
What surprised Stan even more was that she had never mentioned the name Oscar or Butch before, or even let alone mentioned that she was seeing someone. Stanley didn't understand, this behaviour was completely out of character for her because ever since his father had died they promised to tell each other everything, though apparently everything seemed to be too much for her to handle.
Despite being rather upset at his mother for not telling him sooner, he could tell that she was desperate for his approval and so Stanley tried to push aside this shock because he knew his mother deserved happiness, more than anyone on the world and if this man was going to give it to her, so be it. Though he couldn't help wondering, would whoever this man was, ever really be a match for his father?
Expecting an argument or at least a few curse words, Andrea Uris was rather relieved and even slightly concerned by her son's acceptance of her out of character behaviour. But regardless of this, she had hurriedly set up a meeting (or "an informal get along") for Stan and Butch to get to know each other before the wedding which they (being both Andrea and Butch, but mainly Andrea) had hurriedly decided would be in a month.
Stan distinctly remembers the first time he met Butch and is still able to recall the Cheshire cat grin that was spread across Butch's face, by now it is imprinted in his mind. It was a Saturday and his mother had scrubbed his skin squeaky clean and laid out his best clothes for him to wear, despite being a more than capable twelve year old.
She had lectured him about being on his best behaviour but Stanley knew that it was totally ironic, considering how well behaved he was anyways and as she fussed around in the kitchen making some unnecessary baked goods, Stan had heard the doorbell ring.
After taking a few shaky deep breaths Stanley opened the door and was met with the surprisingly warm brown eyes of a man in probably his late forties. This man did not look at all like Stanley had imagined and he immediately felt bad for thinking that his mother was engaged to a psycho or worse a complete idiot.
He had faint greying stubble and a rather large stomach which Stanley spotted right away alongside the dark green uniform he was adorned in that was akin to one a Derry policeman would wear. His profession was something that this mother had mentioned to him beforehand when filling Stanley in on about almost every detail of his very soon to be stepfather.
Stanley also immediately noticed that Oscar, or Butch as he insisted to be called was not alone and that behind him were two boys who looked to be the same age as Stan. Despite informing him about nearly everything, his mother seemed to have completely forgotten to mention that he was going to have stepbrothers which absolutely astounded Stanley.
He had never seen her this scatterbrained or forgetful ever in his entire life.
After being let in, Butch walked over to Stanley's mother and planted a wet kiss on her cheek before plopping himself down on their sofa and gesturing to the boys behind him to follow his actions. A grin has made its way across Butch's features and Stan wasn't sure what to think about it. Stanley's immediate opinion of his soon to be stepfather was starting to shift from initially positive, to more uncertain and even suspicious.
Clenching his fists Stanley hovered by the kitchen with his mother as she finished pulling out the pastries from the oven, he was trying to be patient for her sake, but knew that he was not ready or prepared for any of this.
After a few nudges from his mother, he slowly walked over to the living room and seated himself as far away from Butch and his two sons as possible, who Stan had by now dubbed as Thing 1 and Thing 2.
Awkwardness filled the space as Stan's mother fluttered around the guests, offering them drinks and whatnot before Butch cleared this throat.
"Darling, would you mind if you leave us boys alone to have a chat and go fold laundry or something," Butch had directed at Stanley's mother, complete with a cloyingly sweet grin. As if in a complete daze she nodded before hastily dashing off into the laundry.
Butch then moved his eyes over to Stanley who immediately felt scrutinised under this man's gaze, but he tried to smile for the sake of his mother.
"So, Stan its good to finally meet you. Tell me, what are you interested in?"
But before Stanley could even respond, Thing 1 and Thing 2 had started laughing and whispering to each other, probably ready to judge him and whatever he was next going to say.
"Boys, pay attention" Butch snapped before whacking both Thing 1 and Thing 2 on the arm, rather roughly. Stanley watched as it immediately silenced them and together in a rather practiced unison, they replied
"Sorry Dad".
Expectantly turned back to Stan who was trying not to freak out in front of this clearly manipulative man. He also made a mental note to never get on Butch's bad side or to make him angry in general.
"Well, I enjoy reading, spending time with my mother, doing homework and birdwatching" Stan responded determined to appear as confident as possible.
Butch snorted at his answer and without thinking or letting himself get embarrassed Stanley felt himself immediately blurt out afterwards.
"Okay Butch, can you tell me what you exactly see in my mother?"
Butch's brows rose in surprise, clearly not prepared for Stan's sudden outburst and after a pregnant pause he finally replied
"I guess you can say the good thing about your mother is that she does what she's told and she is very good at cookin and cleanin. Coz god knows if I had to do any of that, it would make me gay just by sole association" he explained as he chuckled, as if he had made a hilarious joke and after a brief moment, his sons started to join in as well.
But instead of laughing along with them Stanley just stared at him in complete disgust. Not only was this man full of shit, he was also homophobic, how wonderful.
But Stanley knew that despite disagreeing with Butch and everything that he stood for, he needed to sacrifice his own opinions and values for the sake of his mother's happiness. He had never seen her this happy in his life, maybe except for when his father was around and he knew that she deserved this more than anyone.
So, he sat forcing himself to not roll his eyes at their bigoted attempt of humour. After their laughter had finally stopped, Stan observed that the room was starting to feel thick and heavy, in some ways it felt like the inside of a Sauna, sweaty and overall unpleasant.
Though, luckily for Stanley, the tension was disrupted quite quickly by Butch who asked
"Say Stan, can you show me where the bathroom is?" already highly suspicious of this family, Stan pointed in the direction and saw that instead of following his direction, Butch had walked into the laundry, where Stanley's mother was currently situated.
Once Butch had vanished from his sight, Stanley resettled into his chair and started to fidget with his fingers as both Thing 1 and Thing 2 stared at him rather intently.
"What are you wearing?" Thing 1 eventually asked as he snickered and whispered something to Thing 2 beside him. Stan watched as they started to critically rove their eyes over Stanley's attire, he noted that they had definitely gotten that from their father. Not only was Stan completely overdressed but he was starting to feel increasingly suffocated under their gaze.
"Uh, my mother chose it" Stanley tried to explain as he shifted nervously and tugged at the bottom at his sweater vest, praying that there would be some kind of accident so that they would never become his step brothers.
"Well you look like a dork" Thing 2 replied, before he started laughing hysterically with his brother following suit. While watching them laugh Stanley secretly thought they sounded like hyenas or lunatics and had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing at them.
Staring at the watch on his wrist Stan watched the time tick away in the silence that ultimately followed. After a while it felt like Stan's prayers of this family's removal had finally been answered as Butch returned from what Stan presumed was making out with his mother in the laundry room. Butch was flushed and proudly smirking like he had just won the lottery and had hurriedly announced to his sons that they needed to head home.
Time flew by very quickly after the first time meeting Butch and his sons and Stanley could not believe how different his mother had become now that she was dating Butch.
Despite this, Stanley found himself standing inside a grand cathedral several weeks later with a fake smile plastered across his features. He tried not to glare simultaneously at Butch as well as Thing 1 and Thing 2 who he had learned were actually named Henry and Patrick.
The priest was droning on and on and Stan's darling mother had tears of pure joy streaming down her face as she faced Butch in her poofy white ensemble, who himself was trying to keep it together for the sake of his sons, or his stupid macho male ideals Stan thought to himself rather stubbornly.
The empty pews stared back at Stan as he stiffly stood perched behind his mother in a brand-new suit.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife" eventually boomed the priest and Stanley knew that the life he had once lived would forever be different.
The first few months living with the Bowers had been hectic for short. Not only had Stanley and his mother completely changed their lives to accommodate for Butch and his sons, but since their marriage Butch had even become business partners with Stanley's mother, meaning they were now both co-owners of "Kosher like me".
But regardless of this, things were smooth for the most part, until one fateful day when the only stable thing left in Stanley's life was taken away from him in a single heartbeat.
He was sitting in the living room of the now Uris-Bowers combined household as he lazily flicked through the television, having finished his homework several minutes ago. The rest of the house was silent, and Stan was grateful for these moments of pure solitude when it was just him alone in the house with nothing to think or worry about.
His thoughts had been unfortunately disturbed though by the ringing of the household phone. Hesitantly he padded over to it and picked it up, listening to the man on the other end as he found himself freeze, overcome with a shit ton of emotions.
There had been an accident on Motorway 67 and both Butch and Stanley's mother were involved. Butch was currently sitting alive and being tested for any minor injuries in the hospital, while his mother had hit her head rather forcefully during the accident and on the way to the hospital, had passed away.
Stanley felt his insides crumble at the sad and unjust reality. As a surfeit of unshed tears began to stream down his face within a matter of what felt like seconds.
He had no one.
Fury seeped through his bones as more angry tears began to tumble out and he fell to his knees full-blown sobbing at this point, as he cursed his life and all that it was.
Stanley was never an angry person, he always tried to contain his emotions but now, his only hope had been taken from him. His only chance of happiness had been stripped away and that now meant for the time being, he belonged to Butch.
Stanley remembers wondering why. Why his mother who was such a good and kind person been taken from the world and from his life at a time when he felt like he needed her the most.
It was from this day, that Stanley relearned a very important lesson. One that he had been too afraid to seriously think about before. The passing of his mother had reaffirmed to him, that bad things happen all the time, to good and unassuming people and that there is nothing we can ever do to fix it, regardless of how we act and how we treat others.
Stanley knew from that moment, that shit was never going to be easy for him, but he was prepared to fight. So he could make his parents proud of who he has become, from where they are, watching down on him up above.
But now he waits, while he is still under the steel grip of Butch and prays, that his aspirations of Yale or Harvard will one day come true and that he can escape this shithole and run far far away and never ever look back.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Thank you so much for reading!
It's been a bit of a guilty pleasure writing this fic so I hope you enjoyed :)
If you want to please leave a comment/review it really helps me out.
(also there should be 8 chapters in total, including the prologue and the epilogue)