#guilty ford au

[babyblankyerror]

That one Bluey episode

[salmon-vive]

can will be let out of the cage? as a treat?

Why he tried to check his powers when he came out. Is because he's a menace?

[tinfoil-jones]

Jerk Ford AU: Silliness V

If you mean Watchdog Ford by @nowimjustastranger, whom is sometimes called "Guard Dog Ford" Those two aren't friends. They just happen to run into each other a statistically impossible amount of times in the multiverse.

Any and all reports that they've saved each other skin at least once, and hang out sometimes are just rumours spread by their mutual ally (ALLY not friend) the Anti-Ford.

If you mean Guard Ford from the AU by @skeptiql... it's their AU, I'm not imposing on it.

If there is a cosmic security guard out there monitoring the Fordverse, considering that all Jerk Ford does in the multiverse is be a total jerk to everyone and cause trouble (and then get banned from dimensions for the two aforementioned reasons), I imagine reactions to him are typically going to be:

He's not heinous, malicious, or evil, he's just a really big jerk for no good reason.

---

Me and @nowimjustastranger are in the process of proper crossover, don't worry.

In the meantime...

Pre-Weirdmageddon:

Jerk Ford: Watch, this is Stanley. Stanley, this is Watchdog Ford and Lee.

Watchdog Ford: ...

Lee: ...

Stan: Well heya pal. It's nice to see Stanford's made more friends! I knew he had it in him to be nice and compassionate.

Jerk Ford: Stanley, I swear to God.

Watchdog Ford:...You're-

Lee: You're tall.

Stan: *looks between Watchdog Ford and Jerk Ford in an exaggerated up-and-down to annoy his brother*

Stan: *to Watchdog Ford* So are you.

Lee: *grinning* Oh, we're going to get along just fine. Let's chat.

---

Watchdog Ford: You... You aren't suffering?

Stan: If you don't call grading two hundred student assignments without assistance suffering, then sure.

Lee: ...nothings wrong?

Stan: Right now, no. I did miss my brother for the thirty years he was gone. It wasn't easy... the townsfolk truly believed I murdered him, and thought that was a good thing. And then acted like I was wrong for missing him.

Lee: So everything went okay for you?

Stan: I don't know what to tell you, pal- excluding not having Stanford in my life for thirty years and the issues that comes with that, things are going fine. If I'm having trouble I can just ask someone for help, and if I have problems emotionally I have friends and family that would lend me an ear or two. Also, I am medicated and seeing a therapist for stuff.

Lee: ...

Meanwhile Jerk Ford is in the corner sipping from his #1 Big Brother mug, and Watchdog Ford gets suspiciously misty eyed.

[Dialogue primarily by @tearosepedall]

---

It's a misconception at that Jerk Ford does not experience empathy (or at least not any for anyone besides his twin brother). This misconception is one of the reasons why The Ford Hate Club is always tripped up by him - they don't understand him. They think he's unfeeling with little to no emotional intelligence.

He has a surprising amount of empathy, you can see in this post he even says that most other Fords do not hate their Stanley, what they really have is resentment.

Jerk Ford just uses that empathy to know how to get under peoples skin and really hurt their feelings. Can't hurt feelings very well if you don't know what they are or how they work!

What he does lack is compassion, as in he doesn't help, support, or uplift people. That's a Stanley thing.

---

Jerk Ford: Your attack misses.

Dipper: Misses?! With my bonuses I had a total of twenty-three to hit!

Jerk Ford: That doesn't even touch the monsters THAC0.

Dipper: THAC0? Great Uncle Ford, 3.5 Edition is over! It's armour class now!

Jerk Ford: I'm the DM, and I rule your attack misses.

Dipper: *flips the battlemap, forgetting that the infinity dice is there*

---

Jerk Ford had such a bad habit of getting engrossed into his research and study that he would overlook things like finances (and showering). Stanley managed the finances between himself and and his brother, and he did send money back to the family, not millions but it was something.

Jerk Ford also had most of the money because he had his grant, and also a few patents, but Jerk Ford only cared about anamolies and terrorizing humanity so money wasn't something he thought about very much as long as their basic needs were being met.

When he lived back in Glass Shard Beach with his family, however...

"We should go graffiti Pines Pawns."

"Hell no, dude."

"What, you scared of Old Man Pines?"

"Forget Old Man Pines, don't know know what his son did to Crampelter? We don't need to be on his sh*t list."

[ray-of-destiny]

happy birthday @jacky-rubou!!! hope you enjoy these lil sketches for your icarus au :)

[nenoname]

(preemptive disclaimer of "i mean this in the most platonic sense yeesh") i just watched hadestown and now i've been thinking about my amnesiac!stan-getting-dragged-into-the-rift-and-somehow-ending-up-as-a-pirate au and how since mabel never got a chance to prove ford wrong about being trapped in a greek tragedy of his own making, ford is now stuck subconsciously associating his quest to "save stan from the nightmare realm" with the classic "save a loved one i failed from the underworld" stories and that a part of him is resigned that there's nothing but failure ahead....

[blinday]

Ok but listen.

Stan dies shortly after. Because canon must follow, and Stanley Pines did die, but this time it's not forged. The journal is buried with him.

Only Ford shows up.

[wokecipher]

Billy Pines AU

Say hi to an AU I started drawing right after the book came out, it's funny to see it show my art journey of learning to draw Bill Cipher over time.

(above being something I made yesterday vs the first time ever drawing for this idea)

This is an alternate universe of Gravity Falls, where during the collapse of Weirdmageddon, the Universe makes a teensy tiny mistake...

When Weirdmageddon was thwarted, the sudden release of chaotic energy accidentally flung a younger version of a familiar face right into Gravity Falls. This younger Bill Cipher stumbles around looking for his parents, lost and alone, until stumbling upon the statue of his "future" self.

He stays by the statue until he's found by Mabel Pines, who immediately panics and kicks him, not realizing that this tinier version of Cipher isn't the same as his counterpart.

(more doodles and huge infodump below! I plan on turning this all into a comic at some point, so, SPOILERS!! if I decide to do that, that is :P)

After the initial panic, Mabel ends up calming and realizing that this sobbing smushy version of Bill may... not be Bill. At the least, not in a way she's familiar with. She ends up retrieving Grunkle Ford who takes Billy away to study him, paranoid Bill somehow returned yet again.

Billy is frantic and confused, being in an entirely new reality is incredibly overwhelming and scary. He's also lonely and worrying, being away from his caregivers is intensely stressful and he is unable to go to them for help, comfort, or advice. Stanford is sadly not very nice at all to Billy, and sees him as a ruse by Bill to trick everyone into helping him... somehow.

Stanford and Stanley are both heavily against Billy and want him destroyed, Dipper wants him gone as well... but Mabel doesn't feel the same.

After awhile, Mabel becomes increasingly anxious over the scenario. She's worried that Billy isn't an actual threat, and starts wanting to help and understand him. Mabel is also feeling slightly guilty from kicking the kid. Meanwhile Dipper is frustrated and scared of Bill's potential return and fights against Mabel's various theories about Billy. One of Mabel's leading theories is that Billy is actually Bill's child, who just happened to show up at around the same time. She notes how young and confused he seems as evidence, alongside the obvious resemblance to Bill Cipher. Dipper thinks this is insane.

The two end up getting into an argument over the theory, leading to Mabel running out on Dipper because she's very upset over everything. It'd sorta go

Mabel would sort of start it, defensive, "He's just a baby, you guys can't do this to him without knowing it's Bill first!"

Dipper is frustrated "This is obviously a trick, Mabel! Bill is trying to trick us into... whatever this is!!" He'd probably waves his hands around, not sure what to do with himself.

Mabel is upset too, she wanted to defend the defenseless, "But what if he's not? What if he's just Bill's kid??"

"You'd take that chance?!" Dipper is very much done with this.

"... :(" Mabel doesn't really have a response. Because Mabel wants to say "YES!" but also she hates Bill too, and doesn't want him to hurt the people she cares about because of her again. So she'd probably get upset and just leave because this is VERY morally conflicting for her.

Later, Mabel decides to sneak into wherever Ford's lab is, and starts attempting to communicate with Billy. She draws and lets him draw too, but she does her best to be cautious. Mabel doesn't want to make a mistake and accidentally trust Bill again, she feels enough guilt for "starting Weirdmageddon" the first time (regardless of if its really her fault, regardless of how many times others reassure her).

(To note, Bill Cipher is still very much around, and very stuck in the Theraprism! I'd like to think he, at some point, found out about this "impostor" version of himself as a child through some doodle either Billy or Mabel made. He was probably flabbergasted and furious.)

Ford would eventually conclude this is probably not some evil plot by Bill, at least if it is, it's very convoluted and doesn't make too much sense for him to actually believe it.

Mabel eventually takes Billy home with her and Dipper because Ford can't handle being around Billy without acting very disturbed, and she can't in good conscious abandon the literal child. It also helps that she seems to be the only person Billy trusts at all.

Ford only allowed this with frequent visits and check ins.

To make this VERY long plot summary a bit shorter, what happens after this is general shenanigans a la the OG Gravity Falls show (minus the Bill Cipher drama, just fun hijinks and adventures)(there's still huge drama when it's discovered that Billy IS just Bill as a kid though, that sure won't end up deeply traumatic for any reason)!

But eventually, people grow up, people die, and Billy is left with an extinct world and alone, similar to his predecessor.

I don't think he'd turn out okay what so ever given he was ripped away from his home reality, got stuck in a place where he's hated by everyone, and raised by a family that was deeply traumatized by an alternative version of him so he's always eternally guilty for things he literally never did. Also, constantly not being able to interact with society, participate in things like school and being with people like him his age... yeah this kid isn't growing up stable I'm sorry.

Don't worry! After millions or billions of years, he ends up in the... exact same place as his counterpart. Good job Billy! Get better soon. Bill hates his ass so much.

That's all byyyyeee!

[artisiumstudios]

Au where Stan finds the duffle bag.

HEAR ME OUT-

Basically it’s like a week or two before the science fair, Stan is minding his business (sort of) and while he’s going through a closet/cabinet trying to find some supplies, either for the Stan’o’War or his car, he finds a duffle bag. Curious he rummages through the bag, inside are some toiletries, 20 bucks, and clothing- wait a second. Those are his; his shirt, his pants, his socks— all stuff he has been missing for a couple of weeks. He’s confused, scared, and worried.

Why would his stuff be in here? Why are there toiletries? Why is there money? And who put them there? Unfortunately he already has his answer. Pa was always clear that none of his children would continue leech off of him. If you had nothing to prove then you had nothing to take. The conversation behind the principal’a door swarmed through his mind. How long had pa had his bag packed? Was this always the plan? Was Stanley really that worthless?

But that didn’t matter because Ford wouldn’t choose a school over him! They were going to sail the world together and that would be that, to hell with Pa if he wanted Stan gone then fine he didn’t need him, he didn’t need anyone but his brother and the sea!

At first Stan wants to tell Ford about what he found, but decides not to because in the end it won’t be important. So he keeps quiet and decides to take the bag into his car, after all hey 20 bucks and he gets his stuff back! He can’t leave it in his room cause if Pa finds out he was snooping through his stuff, well he’d rather not think about that.

Then the conversation on the swing set happens, and Stan’s head starts spinning. So it wasn’t just Pa who wanted Stan out, Ford was willing to ditch him too. Stan feels betrayed and hurt, he doesn’t know what to say or what to do. He starts to question his theory, did ford help pack his bag? Was that why he had been so distant lately, feeling guilty for letting his Pa kick him out and even helping him with the bag?

Did ma know? Eventually Ford leaves, huffing from Stan’s lack of enthusiasm and response, mumbling about being jealous that he has a better future up ahead, not just some silly childish dream. Stan snaps, not physically, not with his words: just emotionally.

Fine if they don’t want him there then he’ll just leave. That night while everyone is asleep he grabs all of his money, more clothing, a sketch book, his comics— a picture of him and ford on the stan’o’war— and some other things he thinks might be valuable or just handy. And he drives away.

Nobody notices Stanley’s disappearance the next day, not until night has fallen. Ford cheerfully excited with his new full ride scholarship, goes and tells his parents. Caryn is happy, tears of joy falling down her face as she hugs her intelligent baby boy, his father gives a small smile and a nod— he gives his approval. But the mood changes once he questions where Stanley is. No one has seen him in hours, actually his car has been gone since early morning. They wait awake all night, hoping for some sign, some clue!

Filbrick grunts as he walks up to the closet, his eyebrows furrow ever so slightly, his lips pressed in a tight line. He sighs deeply.

Eventually a report is filed, but there is not much they can do, if Stanley ran away then he isn’t missing, and the police refuse to do anything about that.

Anyways thats like yk the beginning of how this whole thing happens but here are some other thoughts and ideas:

Stan:

Without Filbrick telling him he’s not allowed back into the family without a million dollars, Stan isn’t as driven by money as in canon. He doesn’t have a need for large amounts of money therefore he doesn’t have a need to do sketchy jobs just to satisfy his need to have his family back. In other words he doesn’t have as much trauma as in canon and is actually more able to settle down without being on the run or in survival mode. The first couple of months he just spends driving as far away from the East as possible making his way over to New Mexico where he settles down, first as a bar tender then eventually as a mechanic, he lives comfortably in a crummy apartment but hey he doesn’t really need much

Unfortunately he does get bored, even if it’s not with his brother he does crave adventure. And while fixing a this guys truck he overhears of a town called Gravity Falls, where weird creatures tend to reside in. So you guessed it, he picks up and drives from New Mexico over to Gravity Falls Oregon.

He gets a small but nicer apartment this time around and first he works as a mechanic. Immediately he starts to get a sense of the place and its weirdness and he loves it! (Ford would love it here-) .

Since the blind eye isn’t a thing people have two reactions to the weirdness of gravity falls: freak tf out or shrug and go on with their day. Stanley being Stanley gets the great idea to act sort of like a monster hunter/ putting small attractions up with the less violent creatures, not the mystery shack, but more like the mystery circus!

Eventually Stanley gets the name Monster-Lee for his ability to be able to fight off creatures so easily (mostly through bribery or fists)

Ford:

He still leaves for West Tech, but now he's fallen into extreme stress/anxiety and a bit of depression. Why did his brother leave? Why didn't he say anything? Is he okay? Why did he ever let their father get between them, he should've spent more time with him when he had the chance-

Unlike canon, Ford has no resentment/grudges to hold over Stanley, rather he holds that anger towards Filbrick especially when he found out that he had planned to kick Stanley out-- for being the reason Stanley left.

While Ford does still want to study anomalies, he also takes engineering classes, he wants to develop better technology and hopefully resources for run away teens/homeless teens.

While he doesn't meet Fiddleford as his roommate, he does meet him at a robotics convention where they instantly become friends. After college they develop a small company based around the idea of being able to find people, now expanding into different areas.

Ford is a lot more open with the fact the not only is he a twin, but he likes to talk about his younger twin brother who supported him and always stood up for him.

Part of the development with the technology involved finding people in forest dense areas, especially with a lot of caves (please tell me someones seen that one chart) Which then leads them to gravity falls as their first test area, small enough to test their tech, but still forest dense to get sufficient results.

and then these three bozos find each other lol. anyways thats all i got , i thought of this in the shower like 30 minutes ago and decided to procrastinate on my HW writing this lol. anyways

[interestingturnofthetables]

I’m about to go off about this in the tags. I didn’t know there was a tag limit until it got out of hand. Very intriguing idea dude!

Stan Pines once fantasized about traveling the world on boat with his brother.

But ever since that brother died to a rogue wave while the two were swimming at the beach, he's had a fear of the ocean and never intends to set foot on a boat.

Fiddleford McGucket is pursuing his hobby of making personal computers, after having a normal college life, getting married, and having a kid. He has it good.

The town of Gravity Falls lives cult-free, and get to keep their memories of all the mysterious happenings. Bill Cipher was never summoned.

Stan is on the run from the law and people he's crossed with his scams. One night, he hears a strange noise from his closet. He grabs a baseball bat and opens it, and it's almost like looking in a mirror. Almost, because the person staring back has glasses, a cleft chin, and looks like he's been through hell, among other universes.

The mysterious man says, "Stanley?"

"How the hell do you know my name?" Stan raises the bat, ready to beat up this uncanny stranger who magically appeared in his closet.

Then he spots his hands.

Six fingers.

"I must be high out of my mind..."

(Or: AU where Ford died as a kid and then at some point in the portal he encounters a universe where he doesn't have to worry about meeting his alternate self. As long as he can convince his brother he's real.)

[babyblankyerror]

Theres always the absolutely wild combo of Old Lady Mabel, Post Kickout Stan, 80s Ford, and regular age dipper

I call this "Ford is guilty and Mabel beats the shit out of Bill" Au

[helis97]

A glorified hamster wheel for an oversized hamster.🐹

The aftermath of this comic:

[alexthebordercollie]

oooo, if you're taking doodle requests for the dad ford au, i'd love to see something with Ford + Tate and or Stan + Tate.

Ford, cause it'd be interesting to see how he handles being a stepdad on top of Newt and Nick. Stan cause while he'd obviously be fiercely protective of the twins, i feel like he'd understand Tate's motivation the most between him, Ford, and Fiddleford

Thank you so much for my first proper ask/prompt. So you asked for Tate with Ford or Stan and I decided to give you both. Ford is a genius but he's not a pediatrician and Fiddleford still insisted on finding a real proper doctor to help with the twin's general medical care. But the person they found willing to help them with their alien babies without freaking out is out of town so these trips are a bit time-consuming and Fidds is the best at keeping the beans calm for their shots. Mostly I just needed to come up with an excuse for Tate to be stuck with the Stan twins for the day.

I imagine this to take place while Fidds and Emma are still in the process of getting divorced. Custody arrangments are still being worked out. This is Tates first time coming to stay in Gravity Falls with his dad's new family and he has a lot of complicated feelings.

Fidds generally is very clingy with Tate when he comes to stay with them. Showering his eldest with affection out of a mix of missing him and feeling guilty. As a result Ford and Stan rarely are put in the position of having to look after Tate and Fidds initially doesn't make much of an effort to actively include Ford in his father-son time with Tate. Again Fidds feels guilty and like asking Tate to give Ford a chance is an unfair imposition.

Ford makes genuine attempts however to get to know Tate when the opportunity arises. At first, Tate wants nothing to do with him. He's overheard his mom occasionally talking about the divorce when he's supposed to be in bed and the bits and pieces he has picked up basis him pretty strongly against Ford.

Emma isn't trying to turn Tate against his dad or even really against Ford. Don't get me wrong she really doesn't like Ford for obvious reasons but she doesn't want to expose her son to the adults interpersonal drama. She didn't mean for him to hear her talking about Fiddleford leaving them for Stanford.

I think you're suggestion that Stan would understand Tate in this situation better than the other two is pretty reasonable. Tate feels abandoned, and maybe even replaced by new babies. Stan knows better than anyone how it feels to be abandoned and he knows enough to reassure Tate rather confidently that that isn't what's happening here. Tate also finds it a bit easier to open up to Stan because he's mostly a bystander in all of this.

[ceaselesswatchersspecialboy]

NOW I NEED TO KNOW HOW HE ACTED WITH SHERMIE/THE PARENTS XD i love this soo much i'm chewing on your au like plastic btw

Thank you!!! I wouldn’t recommend chewing on plastic though, please have some molten lava to gnaw on instead!

As for how he acts, he certainly tries his best imitating Ford, and he and Stan do practice before meeting with family, but it’s almost uncanny. He tries to smile normally — not too wide, not too blank — but he can never find the right balance. He can match Ford’s tone of voice, but there’s always an air of fakeness to it, like something trying to poorly copy a human speaking.

He’s always too twitchy, a little too eager, and Bill’s personal madness and twisted humour tends to bleed through, enough that Shermie expresses concern to Stan, which is how the cover story of ‘Ford lost his mind in isolation’ began.

Caryn definitely knows something is up, and always glances at ‘Ford’ suspiciously. He seems uncomfortable around her, which he often fails to hide, and she swears his eyes seem off in certain lightings. When she asks Stan, he’s a little more honest with her, because he knows she’ll maybe believe it a bit more, admits something supernatural got to him, and he’s just not the same as he was (technically not a lie).

He doesn’t really interact with Filbrick, which is probably for the better. He almost snapped at him once, and Caryn had to pull him away.

As a whole though, they’ve become fairly used to his new quirks, but sometimes, Caryn still has her doubts on whether that’s really her son or not. She feels pretty guilty thinking that way, but she likes to think she’s got a good sixth sense for this stuff.

[moonesaiky]

‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ㅤ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ㅤ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ㅤ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ㅤWorld Falls at a glance! ₊ ⊹

⟢ First of all, what is this AU?

ㅤ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎OW is an AU where Stanford since his birth was manipulated by Bill Cipher, and when Bill offered Stanford to go with him to take over the world Ford accepted to go with him in the 80s. ㅤIn other words, this happens at a time when Stanford was originally trying to prevent Bill from opening the portal. In that case, Ford wouldn't refuse the real reason for the portal.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ Characters and Designs: ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ⊹★🔭๋࣭ ⭑⋆｡˚ Stanford ˚｡⋆⭑

ㅤㅤAn egocentric who feels like a freak. Ford was convinced that he would never be accepted on earth by Bill and gave up what humanity he had left.

ㅤㅤHe still cares about Stanley, his family and friends, but wishes to distance himself from them currently enjoys traveling through the multidimension with Bill while they're not busy taking care of the party on earth. Shares powers with Bill through a ritual.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤAlthough he seems cruel, he still cares a lot about living beings in general and is a very sweet person.

★彡 Trivia

ㅤ✧ Feel very guilty about having opened the portal, even though you're living your best life. ✧ Avoid talking to Stanley because he makes this feeling unbearable. ㅤ✧ Is obsessed with Bill, like a prayer. ✧ Has several tattoos of Bill-related symbols.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ٠ ࣪⭑ Bill Cipher ⋆⭒👁️˚.⋆

ㅤㅤThis Bill is still the same, but he knows how to look like a Muse in an impressive way, showing elegance and wisdom when necessary. A first-rate manipulator, even though he genuinely loves Ford.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ You wouldn't want him as a pal, much less a muse.

★彡 Trivia ㅤ✧ Ford made him love the stars again... ✧ Hates Stanley, he knows that his is the key to Ford leaving him. ㅤ✧ Doesn't know how to deal with feelings. ✧ Has developed a taste for painting pictures. ㅤ✧ Watch Ford from the beginning. ༘⋆ Stanley Pines ── .✦

ㅤㅤSpared when the “party” started. His mission became to save his brother from Bill Cipher. Learned to live in the multidimension, and well, he did well with his entrepreneurial streak.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤHe's now wanted in several dimensions and is a space pirate!

彡 Trivia ✧He wears a mask because, unlike Ford, he can't breathe in certain dimensions. This mask generates oxygen and stores it. ㅤ✧ The sunglasses are purely for style, honestly. Or is it to go unnoticed? ✧ He has a scar on his mouth because of Bill.

⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡ Mabel Cipher ★彡

ㅤㅤAll she knows is that she was brought up by Bill because Ford wanted his great-nephews - after all, what it is? ㅤㅤLoves partying with the Henchmaniacs, but doesn't understand why they avoid the “Earth”. She considers Bill and Ford her parents.

彡 Trivia

✧ Like Ford and Dipper, she has the surname Cipher and has always known herself that way. ㅤ✧ Doesn't know who Stanley is. ✧ Loves Bill, and Bill loves her, he considers her to have “chaotic potential”, she thinks that's a compliment.

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖࣪ Dipper Cipher

ㅤㅤDoesn't really mind that began to exist at the age of 12, but he is very curious about his origin. ㅤㅤ Loves exploring the multidimension with his sister and is completely inspired by Ford. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤHe still wants to understand what humans are. ㅤ彡 Trivia

ㅤ✧ He's very proud of his birthmark ✧ Copies Ford's style, even though he tells Dipper to create his own. ㅤ✧ Not very close to the Henchmaniacs, but likes talking to Pyronica, she's quite intelligent! ✧ Transboy 🏳️‍⚧️

༘⋆ Fiddleford McGucket ── .✦

ㅤㅤAlmost gave it all up after the Weirdmaggedon, but he still had enough sanity to carry on. ㅤㅤHe deleted details and stored them in his memory, currently wandering the multiverse with Stanley in search of defeating Bill Cipher.

ᵗʰᵃᵗˢ ᵃˡˡ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ⁿᵒʷ

(yeah i changed the name..)

[garlicbread-mybeloved]

So. I saw @babyblankyerror 's post about Stan dying and being reborn in another Stan's body. And I thought of the potential this idea has. Like, Gravity Falls has countless AUs, Stan could have ended up in any of them! So, I decided to write a little something for the soul. Hope you enjoy :P

TW: main character death, passive/mentioned suicide ideation

Stan is prepared to die. He isn't happy about it, not like he would have been a few months ago, but prepared. The portal is dangerous, Stan is old, and those two factors don't really leave him with the best chances of survival. And that's okay. As long as Ford and the kids aren't hurt, everything would be fine.

His back hurts like Hell, though, and he can't feel his legs, which... Probably isn't good, but Stan can't bring himself to care because Ford is back. Through a slowly spreading haze, Stan can see the man approaching rapidly, six-fingered hand hurriedly pulling the hood off his head. The mask slides down his face next, and Stan can finally see Ford in all his sci-fi glory.

It's weird, seeing a face so similar to his contorted into such a desperate frown, while feeling the corners of his own lips pull up in a tired smile. A cascade of footsteps sounds from somewhere to his left, two skittish sets followed by a heavier, sturdier frame. Ford whips his head towards the noise, cracked lens of his glasses glistening in the dimming light of the portal. Stan tries to speak but can only manage a pathetically quiet wheeze.

"Grunkle Stan!" The voice is muffled, but distinctly panicked. It sounds shrill. Mabel? Maybe Dipper if he's scared enough? Stan's attempted laugh turns into a cough so strong that it feels like his ribs are cracking with the force of it. The metallic taste of blood fills his mouth and latches to his very much fake teeth. Ouch. That can't be good.

"Mister Pines?" Stan starts to turn his head towards Soos's trembling voice, but six stern fingers pull his face back to stare into the terrified eyes of Stanford Pines.

"Stanley? You have to stay awake, alright? Please, you have to stay awake." Ford's gaze trails lower, down to Stan's numb legs, and he doesn't manage to swallow a stuttering gasp. "Just- Just listen to my voice, okay? I need some time, please."

And Stan tries. He really does, but he's just so tired. His vision is blurry, even blurrier than it was before he finally gave up and bought himself a flimsy pair of glasses. His hearing isn't any better, getting fuzzier by the second despite his hearing aid. His brother's – Moses, his brother is finally back – voice feels far away, as if muted by a thick layer of cotton. But there's something else too.

"Grunkle Stan?" It's pretty obvious that it's Dipper this time, tone uneven with stress and puberty. He sounds scared, helpless, and... Guilty. Stan knows what that sounds like just as well as he knows that Dipper has no reason to feel that way. He's just a kid, scared of an unknown, gravitational-anomaly creating device under the house he was living in. Rightfully so, Stan might add. He can't be mad at Dipper for doing what he thought was right, now can he? Well, as tired as he is, the least he can do is tell the kid his last ever truth.

"C-c'mon now, ya gremlins. 'S nothin' worth cryin' about." His voice came out small and raspy, and it earns a stiffled whine from Ford. Maybe not just Ford. Stan can't really tell anymore. "You- you should meet the author 'f th' journals. Ya been excited 'bout it. He's my brother, y'know." Another coughing fit rattles his entire body, sharp pain flaring up in his side.

"Stanley?" Ford's hand touches his chin, six fingernails digging into the skin with a desperate urgency.

"Mister Pines?!" Soos's voices crackles, as if coming through a faulty radio.

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel's panicked face appears above him, blurring rapidly even through his newly cracked glasses.

"Grunkle Stan!" Dipper's hand finds his, and try as he might, Stan doesn't quite manage to squeeze back. The poor kid sounds and looks like he's on the verge of a breakdown. He's shouldn't look like that. At least not for someone like Stan.

"S'okay. Don' cry. Ford'll take good care o' ya." His breath feels shallow, and the world feels too far away. Everything hurts. Everything's numb. He's so tired. "'M sorry I didn' do better."

He let's his eyes close. He's okay with this. He deserves this.

Time to put an actual body in his grave, huh?

***

He's... Somewhere.

Or maybe nowhere.

He doesn't know.

He doesn't care.

Something is here.

Or maybe someone.

It calls itself the Axolotl.

It's saying something.

He doesn't know what.

He doesn't care.

He closes his eyes and plunges into the unknown.

***

He didn't expect to ever open his eyes again, and yet here he is, staring wearily at the blazing Sun above him. His head hurts. So does pretty much everything else. He's still utterly exhausted, limbs heavy with the weight of probably recent events.

Where is he, anyway? It seems terribly familiar-

"Lee? Lee, are you okay?" Woah, he hadn't heard that voice in decades. Little Ford's face swims into the view, blurry, but clearly concerned.

"Mmm," Stan hums noncommittally. His voice sounds squeakier than he remembers it being even at this age. That's weird.

"C'mon, you gotta get up," Ford huffs, hauling Stan into a sitting position. His face is red with sunburn, and judging by the ache in his cheeks, Stan's isn't any better. "Ma's gonna be so mad that you got into a fight again."

"At this point, it's kinda her fault if she wasn't expecting it," Stan snorts, stray hair tickling the junction between his shoulder and his neck. His hair wasn't that long at this age, was it? He couldn't quite remember anymore. "And at least Pa will approve."

"No matter how many times you say it, he really won't. He always says that girls shouldn't fight, you know." Ford doesn't seem to notice Stan's puzzled look, choosing to stare intently at his palms instead. He looks strangely ashamed, with his hands laid against the thick fabric of his jeans.

"What does that gotta do with anything?"

"Well, Pa's definitely not gonna be happy with you fighting someone for me again. He says that I should stop being such a sissy and that you should stop enabling it." Just as Stan is about to protest, Ford looks up at him with a smallest grin on his lips. "And Ma's pretty tired of patching up your skirt. I'm actually pretty sure it's more patch than skirt at this point."

His... His what now? Stan's eyes trail down to his legs, which are, in fact, covered by a white skirt with what looks like jeans peeking out from under it. Long curls spill over his shoulders, bouncing lightly at the disturbance. The wheeze he lets out sounds shrill.

Oh.

That can't be good.

***

And that's it! As a little note, Lee's name is supposed to be spelled Li since it's actually a Hebrew name, but the nurse wrote it down as Lee, and neither Caryn nor Filbrick bothered to correct it.

[fangirlingpuggle]

I am *living* for your twins being billford’s kids au. Especially fords reaction lmao

Thank you so much I'm so glad you like the AU!

Ford's reaction is initially fainting, the waking up and trying to remember a karaoke night. Especially after he's awake and looking at Stan 'What I... how do you know they're mine where did they come from I-" and then Stan shows him box the experiment was in and a sticky note with 'Me and My muses BABIES' written in his clearly drunken handwriting.

Ford is blown away...and he is angry/jealous at Stan at first. He stole his name, identity, house and he raised his kids. Stan shuts that down super quick though pointing out he found the kids after years their; experiment shoved away and Ford had forgotten about it... Ford also decides it's good he forgot and didn't find the experiment the kids came from during his paranoia era he doesn't want to think about what he would have done.

He is dealing with being back in his dimension and having kids.. kids who are 12 years old, nearly 13. He has no idea what to do with kids or how to connect and the twins have known about Ford all their lives but him now being here they aren't sure how to approach him at first. Mabel had built up idealized version in mind and Dipper was trying to connect through the journals.

The twins staying in human forms nearly constantly because they don't think Ford will like them in other form. Ford realizing when one of them changes back due and apologize to him and he feels so guilty and assures them he loves all of them and they don't need to hide a part of themselves. Him actually teaching them about how to use their powers from what Bill told him.

He loves both of them so much and is intent on keeping them safe from Bill or anyone else that would hurt them or use their powers.