Man Though You Know What Makes Me Sorta Sad Is When Nerdy, “quiet” Kids Latch On To Me During Camp

do u ever send smth in a chat thats not even risqué like “i luv salsa” but no one responds so u start overthinking it like…. maybe one of their parents died making salsa…… maybe they were all just talking abt how they hate salsa……. maybe salsa isnt evn real and they have no idea what im talking abt

Let’s go brass players

she’s five minutes older so she obviously has to call him five times in the day to remind him

hey. don't cry. stanlittle pines, okay?

sigh, today i'm thinking about ford settling back into the lab after he first comes home, and seeing the proof of how hard stan worked to bring him home

stan was always the "dumb one" between them, always riding on ford's coat tails and slacking off. but he was able to do, on his own, without help from anyone, what it took ford 12 phds, fiddleford's help, and bill's guidance to do. just based off of ONE of ford's cryptic journals and whatever scattered notes and blueprints he was able to find, all while having never graduated high school.

ford having to confront how hard stan worked, how far he pushed himself, how smart he actually is

EDIT: also, stan only had journal 1, that's NOT the one he was working with bill in! that's his first few years in gravity falls, when ford was just as ignorant as stan was! there probably isn't a lot for stan to work with in there.

Moment of peace inbetween observing/punching anomalies

You being. You thing. How dare you make such a beautiful au. I love you.

How does shermie/the kids react to Stan, and do Soos or Wendy have any roles in this au?

(Referring to Asylum Ford AU)

thank you! I’m so glad you enjoy it, it’s very fun to think about. I love you, random citizen!

The kids were never told much about Stan and Ford. They have no idea at the beginning that Ford allegedly killed Stan, and they only barely know about Ford’s history. They mostly see Ford as a kind of strange and unhinged old man, who just so happens to need constant supervision. Ford loves them to bits, and told them stories about him and Stanley, and about his time at gravity falls. Shermie told the kids not to believe everything that Ford says, but lets Ford tell them anyway. What’s the harm, right?

when they get to gravity falls, Ford tells the kids that this is where Stanley ‘disappeared’. Dipper becomes enraptured by the idea of solving the mystery of what happened to Stanley Pines, only spurred on by the discovery of Journal 3 (Shermie is doing his best to discourage this). So he and Mabel have spent the whole summer trying to learn more about him. Stan coming through the portal was still a shock though, because they had found Stan’s death certificate and Ford’s arrest reports. They were half convinced that Ford was going to end the world (probably based on something McGucket said). So finding out Stan’s alive and was in another dimension hits pretty similar to how it did in canon.

Shermie has trouble grasping it. He’s spent 30 years thinking Stan was dead and murdered by his own twin in a fit of madness. He’d seen Ford’s breakdowns many times, he’d had to learn to live with his insane little brother, and had to help him live in the world with other people. Ford had insisted that Stan wasn’t dead, but he also confessed in court. Shermie feels bad for big believing Ford about it. But also angry. A bit at Ford, a bit at himself, but mostly at the world. His little brother was alive this whole time, and his other brother was falsely arrested for murder. Needless to say, he’s shocked.

I like to think that, in lieu of not having the mystery shack, Soos starts a handyman business. He’s a plumber, electrician, mechanic and pretty much anything else you need him to be. He’s the best handyman in Gravity Falls, so he gets decent business. He spends most of it on Abuelita and anime figurines.

when Soos finds out Wendy needs a job for the summer, he offers Wendy a job as his assistant. Wendy kinda hates it, but Soos pays well, and he lets Wendy slack off and hang with her friends, so it’s not too bad.

the pines are living in the shack over the summer, which hasn’t been touched in 30 years. So Shermie hires Soos to do maintenance and make sure it’s livable. So Soos and Wendy are just generally around a lot.

just realised how much I wrote for this. Damn, my poor thumb.

My breakfast of one piece of 2 day old fried chicken and half a glass of milk will surely be enough to carry me until lunchtime

Saw de-aged Stan stuff and wanna join the Ford realizing Stan was a baby when he was kicked out bandwagon

-/-

Their niblings had just celebrated their seventeenth birthday a week ago and Ford couldn't help but think about just how young his niblings are.

Babies...the both of them. It didn't matter if they would be old enough to start college soon, Mabel and Dipper were still children and the thought of either of them on the streets, cold, hungry, and alone filled Ford with a rage so intense he genuinely scared himself.

How anyone could look at a 17 year old child and think that they could survive just fine on their own without a home, friends, family, or a high school diploma truly baffled Ford.

Seventeen...it was right there in the name. Teen. A child. Not an adult.

Seventeen year olds still needed guidance and correction. They still needed to be taught what 'better' meant because how could they know better if they had no reference for what exactly 'better' looked like.

A seventeen year old kicked out on the street nowadays would result in steep consquences for the offending party. There would be an investigation, law enforcement, organizations that didn't really exist back when Ford and Stan were kids would get involved.

Stan...

Stan was seventeen when he was kicked out. Ford used to convince himself that Stan had left willingly. He was too old now to delude himself with that lie.

Stan, little seventeen year old Stanley, was forced out of his home.

Ford tried to imagine Dipper and Mabel out on the streets. He tried to imagine them with Stan's scars, he tried to imagine their niblings scared, paranoid, ravenous hunger making their little teenage frames shake-

"It was wrong."

"Ford?"

"What Filbrick did," Ford growled, turning to face his brother. "What our father did was beyond inappropriate-" Ford gestured to where Mabel and Dipper were passed out on the lawn, napping in the noon day sun.

They wanted to spend one more summer in Gravity falls before heading off to their final year of high school.

They were so young.

Stan was so young.

"You were Mabel and Dipper's age," Ford continued, "It was wrong." To Ford's dismay his brother just shrugged.

"Yeah, well. Different time and all that." Ford pratically bristled at Stan's nonchalant response.

"If what happened to you happened to the twins you'd be furious-hell, I would be furious!"

"Keep it down, pointdexter, you'll wake the kids!" Stan hissed, his eyes darting over to their still asleep niblings. Ford clamped his mouth shut, slowly exhaling, and closed his eyes.

He felt a hand squeeze his shoulder.

Stan.

"Look, I appreciate you going all big brother mode but honestly, what could you have done?"

"I could have stood up to Pa."

"After you thought I had betrayed you?" Ford was silent.

Stan...Stan had a point. Ford was angry and hurting and not thinking about the reprecussions of his fathers actions or of closing the curtains on Stan.

He could have done something though!

...Right?

"Ford, we were the same age. You were a kid too when that happened. We were kids raised with being angry and terrified of our dad as something normal. We couldn't do better then because no one ever showed us what better looked like."

'Like the twins,' went unsaid but Ford already knew thats where Stan's train of thought was headed.

Ironically, their great niece and nephew had to be the ones to show them what an actual loving family looked like.

(No offense to Ma, Ford adored his mother, but she was also a woman of her time...and a compulsive liar...hm...maybe he should take up Shermie on that offer for a therapist recommendation...)

"...I just...seeing now just how young you were..."

"Again, we were the same age, Ford." Ford huffed.

"I still say it was wrong. What Filbrick did."

"I know," Stan said, reaching up to squeeze Ford's shoulder. "Give yourself some slack too, bro. Both of us were young and hurting. But now we're old and making things better." Ford sighed and lightly tapped his fist against Stan's chest.

"And people called you the dumb one?" Stan rolled his eyes and groaned.

"You killed the moment. Good job."

"I try."

Knowledge is understanding that Bill felt some type of way about Ford.

Wisdom is understanding that Ford is aroace and didn’t reciprocate it like that.

Humor is shipping billford anyways because “he fucked that triangle” is objectively funny and must be spread as far and wide as possible!