The Feeling Of.

Rainy Day Woman PT 3

Pt 1 - Pt 2 - Pt 4

Young!Stan Pines x GN! Reader 

SFW!

WC: 2,423

As you walked down the stairs and into the mystery shack you were relieved to find Stan already there. You needed to get out what you planned to say before your courage was lost. He looked up as he heard you walk in but quickly looked right back down, trying to pretend he hadn't noticed you. 

The second you saw him. your courage started to slip. A part of you wanted to turn around and go right back to your room, but you couldn’t avoid him forever. His body language showed how uncomfortable he was, and you didn’t want him to think you were mad at him. You let out a sigh, and put aside you anxiety

“Hey Stan, sorry I didn’t lock the bathroom door earlier, I wasn't really thinking about the fact that I live with someone else now.” You laughed and smiled, but you knew your posture was giving away your anxious feelings as you wrung your hands together.  

As you talked he looked at you with shock, eyebrows raised and mouth almost hanging open. His look of shock made you wonder how his mind played out in this situation. Did he think you were going to come down here and yell at him for opening the door to his own bathroom? 

“It's ok, it's uh, I wasn't thinking either. Slipped my mind that I had a new guest this morning.” He mumbled, looking up at you only for a split second as he spoke. “But um, as far as the Mystery Shack goes, I was gonna let ya have some shirts from the gift shop to wear when you worked but I didn’t know what size ya were, if ya wanna just pick out a couple” He looked up at you finally after he was done talking, a hopeful but worried look in his eyes.

“Hey come on, you saw me half naked this morning. I think you could figure out my shirt size. Are you trying to get another look?” You were trying to lighten the mood but you think your joke went too far. Stan’s face got red as he started to stutter

“N-No I uh- I just didn’t wanna pick the wrong-um” he trailed off, a distant look in his eyes that refused to meet yours.

Well flirting made that worse. Won't do that again. Got it. The ‘Man of Mystery’ you first met when you walked in couldn’t be farther from the Stan you were getting to know now. This Stan was somehow soft spoken despite his raspy voice, and surprisingly easy to fluster. 

*Stans POV*

They’re sorry? They should be running out the door screaming about how much of a creep you are. Should have just come down here with their stuff packed and left. Guess they felt sorry for your dumbass when you ran like a coward. Always a coward. Always the worse twin. They can’t really like you can they? No, they just feel bad for you. Just wait till They know how horrible you are. You ruined your brother's life. Twice. They won't be pitty flirting with you much longer. God, you can’t even form a sentence in front of them. No wonder they’re being so nice you're acting like a flustered girl. Get it together Stan. This poor person is probably just apologising cause they’re afraid of the stranger they live with now. They should be I guess. I bring everyone down with me eventually. Maybe they can sense that. 

Stan was snapped out of his thoughts by the door ringing as a handful of people with a touristy look of wonder in their eyes walked in.

Alright, showtime. Stan thought to himself. 

Stan can step into character no problem. In fact stepping into the mystery man persona makes him almost forget how his life has started to fall apart, about how he lost everything. Almost. 

*Reader POV*

After an awkward silence from your attempt to lighten the mood, the door rang and customers flooded in. Almost instantly the man you met when you first walked through that door was back. Standing tall with a cheesy smile and eyes shining. 

“Welcome everyone to the Mystery Shack! Tours are $20 a person! Now who's ready to see the wonders of Gravity Falls! We’ve got the world's most distracting object, the invisible man and more!” 

$20? You smiled, wondering why he said tours were $15 for you when you walked in. Maybe you gave a better impression than you thought. As much as you liked this man of mystery you still preferred the real Stan, and were excited to get to know that version of him better. Maybe he wouldn’t be so quiet once he got to know you more. 

As Stan led tours of people throughout the day. You began to turn into a conman in your own way, overselling the items in the gift shop. You tried to convince everyone who walked in there that they needed enough souvenirs for their whole family. Everyone needs a Mystery Shack bumper sticker!! You knew from your small interactions that Stan greatly valued money, maybe more than anything else, and you wanted to impress him. To show him that you were worth hiring. Maybe if you did a good enough job he would pay you decently. He had already been kind to you, even though the two of you had hardly spoken

*Stan POV*

As the end of the day approached, the mystery shack slowed down, and the events of the morning had finally stopped repeating in Stan’s head. However, he still wasn’t sure he could just have a normal conversation with you after this morning. Maybe he could ask about your past? What led you to Gravity Falls of all places? No, if you asked him about his past and why he was here he would have to start an elaborate lie. As easy as lying came to him, he knew lying to someone close only lasted so long before everything fell apart. 

It was always easier for Stan to talk to people when he wasn’t trying to make friends. If he was only going to know someone for a short time, he could be whoever he wanted. When it came to being himself he was so guarded he didn’t know how to be himself. How was he supposed to form a genuine connection with someone without mentioning his twin, who was his only childhood friend, or the portal that kept him up every night. He was never the smart twin, he couldn’t easily hide so much of himself, so he preferred to not be himself.

As Stan came back into the present world and out of his own head, he realized the gift shop had become empty. He was standing next to the door a few feet from you, not saying anything. He hoped he wasn’t staring at you. God how long had he been doing that? As he jumped back to reality and looked around the gift shop, he saw that you were counting the cash drawer.

Now money, money was definitely something he could talk about. 

*Reader POV*

Stan slowly walked into the empty gift shop, you looked up to ask how his day was going but he looked like he was lost in his own world. You figured you would just busy yourself counting the register until he came back to reality. Didn’t wanna scare him off twice in one day. 

He wasn’t in his daze for long, shortly after you started counting the cash he looked up and started walking over to you. 

“Woah what have you been doing all day? You start pickpocketing my customers?” Stan said as he walked up to see the amount of cash he had made that day.

“Just learning from the best” You winked at him and smiled “It’s honestly pretty easy to sell to the type of people who walk in here, they aren't the brightest”

“Hey, are you insulting my hand crafted attractions? It takes a long time to make those.” He pretended to be upset with you, frowning and crossing his arms,

“Hey don’t skip out on me calling you the best.” You smiled wide, glad Stan was finally acting normal with you.

“Alright ya got a point, I am the best con-man in Gravity Falls, more than that really, I would argue I'm the best con-man in the Country! My cons got me banned in over 30 states ya know.” He smiled, sounding proud of the fact.

“OVER THIRTY, Stan I hate to say it but I don’t think that makes you a great con-man. Con-men are supposed to be caught.” You laughed but you were secretly a little worried. You were pretty sure he was joking, but what did this man do before he ran this shack?

“Sweetheart, do I look like I've been caught.” He smiled and held up his hands “I don’t see handcuffs, think that's a sign I’m doing a pretty good job”

“I think you do better with a partner, look how much we made today. Now I don’t know what ya make on a normal day but based on what ya said earlier I think you're not the only one to thank here.” You showed him how much you had made today, writing down how many of each bill was in the drawer, and circling the total after you had finished adding it all up.

His eyes widened “Damn, alright I guess I do gotta pay ya. Didn’t think havin’ ya around would help me this much.”

He handed you $40 dollars, which was more than you expected. Honestly you didn’t expect him to pay you on the first day, you thought you would have to work a lot harder to prove that you were worth keeping employed here. You weren’t gonna tell him that however. You looked up at Stan with a beaming smile, “Pleasure doing business with ya Mr. Mystery”

“Hah, yeah, you too Y/N”

You and Stan closed up the shop together, restocking the shelves, turning off the lights, locking the door, and switching the sign to closed. 

As you cleaned the gift shop you thought about dinner, you didn’t feel comfortable raiding Stan's kitchen, but you also had limited money. You couldn’t go out to eat every night, but tonight you decided you would spare yourself the awkwardness of using someone else's kitchen. You kept looking at Stan in the corner of your eye as you both closed out the shop. You just had your first real conversation with him, but you just wanted to know more. If he really had traveled through so many states you're sure the man had some good stories. You also liked the way his eyes lit up when you started joking with him about him being banned in over 30 states. For your own sanity you are going to assume that was his way of trying to impress you and not the truth. 

*Stan POV*

As Stan helped you clean the Gift Shop, he found that his mind had for once, taken a break from insulting him. He smiled when he thought about how you brushed off his hint at his past. You probably thought he was joking, but he wondered if you had a colorful past like him. He finally did get to talk to you, but he only talked about himself. He was hoping to hear more about you too. Would be nice to know something about the person he is letting live with him. He wondered what you were planning to do after work. Maybe he could get to know you more over dinner? He wasn’t sure how to get to know you more without sounding like he wanted to go on a date with you, but he wasn’t too worried about it. He was just enjoying thinking about things that weren’t his own fuck ups for once. Maybe he wouldn’t ‘drag you down’ with him. Maybe he could let himself be pulled up.

*Reader POV*

You and Stan both wrapped up your cleaning and headed into the ‘home’ side of the shack. As you both were off to your own rooms you looked back at Stan, and found him already looking at you.

“Hey, i’m probably gonna go out for food soon, ya can join me if ya want, don’t know what your plans are.”  You asked, trying you best to frame it as a suggestion that he could back out of if he wanted.

Stan just smiled “Yeah i’ll go with ya, kitchens empty anyways”

“Alright, let me know if you have any recommendations, I'm sure there are some hidden gems in this town. Give me a second to get out of my work clothes and I'll be ready to head out.” You smiled. You hoped you didn’t look too excited.

*Stan POV*

Stan couldn’t remember the last time he was the one who got asked out, he knew you didn’t mean it as a date, but yet he couldn’t stop smiling as he got ready. He wanted to say he decided to dress casual, but in truth he really only had a few pairs of clothes, and of those few pairs not many were clean or in a place he could find. 

*Reader POV*

You knew you were a little too excited to be going out to eat with Stan, but you weren't going to dwell on that right now. You deserved to feel excited to make a new friend. Were you thinking about him a little differently than you would a friend? Yes. But you were still a bit in the denial phase. You could think those thoughts all you wanted, it was when you acted on them that you would start thinking about the risks.

As you opened your door to find him, you saw his door slightly open. You figured he just left it open and he was down somewhere but then you got a glimpse of him though the crack in the door. 

You didn’t see much, just a small glimpse of him walking across his room shirtless. but you immediately turned to wait in your room with the door open. You definitely weren’t sitting there wishing you got a better look at him. And you especially not thinking about how his arms would feel wrapped around you, about how pretty his eyes would look up close.

Ugh, maybe you should start to think about the risks of these thoughts. 

_____

Author's Notes: The writing block is slowly hitting me because I’m not sure how to get into the depths of Stan and how he would confide in the reader. Like this man would open up instantly, but I also wanna keep the story moving.

Also I’m kinda writing about the 2012 version of the mystery shack despite writing about young stan…we're gonna ignore those errors.

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