#look dude. I’m currently getting super pissed off by the process of patching my jacket so I’m gonna cope by imagining gravity falls fluff

[cleocatrablossy]

Silly thought: what if Stan had an old leather jacket. Say, Shermie’s their older brother by around a decade or so and joins the military to fight in Vietnam. He’s originally put into the air force before being changed to some other part of the military. But he got the issued bomber jacket, and decided to send it back to Stanley. And Stanley cherished the thing, wearing it whenever weather permitted. Usually to the beach on windy days since it actually kept the gusts out. Usually he dressed for the weather, but if he was going to be caught by a sudden chill or breeze(or even rain though he generally tried to avoid damaging the jacket) it served him well. So at some point he started keeping it in his car when it was warmer.

When he got kicked out, it was the last gift from a family member he still had. So Stanley got even more protective of the jacket, but wear and tear always happens so as time went on he had to patch it up on occasion. Really whoever decided to put sleek loosely bound fabric in the lining was an idiot, because he ended up having to replace most of it. When he could he’d try to make the patches prettier or at least like a fashion statement, though most of them ended up being made of cheap- if not hardy- shirts and pants that reached a point of no return.

At some point though he decided that 1: it was likely becoming more expensive to fix the jacket then to just save up to get a new one and 2: he really didn’t want to lose that gift from the only member of his family that wasn’t there that night- and didn’t just let it happen. So he went back to storing the leather jacket once it hit spring and he ended up saving for the red hoodie. Sure it wasn’t quite as good against the wind or at general insulation, but it could survive getting wet just fine and when he zipped it up all the way didn’t jab into his jaw when slouching. Plus it had a hood and so offered some extra warmth for his head and neck.

After the portal incident, when he eventually moved his stuff from his car to the shack he brought the jacket inside. It went to the back of a chair for a while, but at some point he started using the closet and decided to free up some space by moving it there. He’d wear it down in the basement on colder days, and as the Murder Hut began to turn a mild profit he sat down and made sure it was in as good a condition as he could get it. He even sewed in a few patches in the lining using merchandise he couldn’t sell. Every piece of fabric in there was already tied to one event or another, so it only seemed fitting to have some from the tourist trap he was running now.

As the Mr. Mystery character evolved and he got clothes that were actually good for the weather he wore the jacket less and less. By the late 90s it was rare to see him in it.

But when he was called up for the birth of Dipper and Mabel he wore it. Shermie obviously had questions on why ‘Stanford’ had the jacket that he’d given to Stanley, and about the origins of some of the patches. Stan waved it off as the patches being mostly from highschool and it having been left in their room. Shermie let him off the hook, but they both knew that it was just him.

The jacket officially entered retirement to the closet after that.

Until one summer when the twins were twelve and came up to visit. Mabel was working on some project or other and was struggling with some stitches, and Stan offered to help. Mabel said she didn’t trust him with knowing how to sew things on properly, and he said he could prove it. So out came the jacket, old patches and all. They got to finish Mabel’s project together.

When Waddles got snatched by a pterosaur and Mabel insisted on getting him back, and then sticking next to the pig at all times, Stan decided that Mabel was absolutely going to wind up in danger in some way shape or form.

So he gave her the leather jacket, explaining it was passed down to him at around her age when he was starting to get into all sorts of trouble as well. He doesn’t say it was from his brother because no one knew if they’d see him again. They go through the history of each patch, and he makes some stories up when the actual explanation wouldn’t be good for Mabel to hear. She held onto it all summer, even if she didn’t wear it too much- it got hot and she was already always in a sweater.

But he and Ford managed to visit the twins in Piedmont during their spring break, and Mabel was wearing the jacket. Proudly she went ahead and showed off the new patches she’d sewn in. Of course there was a rough outline of a pig that she’d gone and embroidered some finer details on; then a pine tree, shooting star, fish, and six fingered hand; some general cryptid patches(at least one of which was stolen from Dipper), and cute vibrant patterns wherever there was something that genuinely needed patching.