#some with fidds and some without :))

[noodles-and-tea]

How does Ford react to Fidds taking Stan with him on a creature hunt? A sea based hunt at that.

He gets a lil jealous

[keen-eye]

McGucket: i’ve abandoned my own professional aspirations and have been neglecting my wife and our young son to be with help you make yours come true, i’m utilizing my mechanical genius just for you, here’s a gourd and an axolotl that remind me of you, here’s a snow globe of our lab, here’s six-fingered gloves I knitted for you, i’ve stayed by your side despite being repeatedly traumatized by these terrifying monsters, i’ve put my mental and physical health in jeopardy for our project, i’ve built a memory erasing device so that I can fix my anxiety and continue helping you, *erases your memory* forget I said that, here’s a thesis paper I’ve written for you so you can publish your research and end this dangerous and isolating endeavor, i've sacrificed so much, did I mention I left my wife to be with you

Ford: *keeps truth about project a secret*, *throws gourd away*, *puts you in harms way*, *dismisses your fears*, *frustrated by your lack of commitment*, *takes you for granted*, *breaks snow globe*, *suspicious of your intentions*, *questions your loyalty*, *releases axolotl*, *prioritizes and trusts a triangle over you*, *accuses you of betrayal*, *calls you weak-willed*

(^ imagine the vine boom after each one)

[pix-writes]

Gravity falls AU idea I've had

Bill cipher is just some (charismatic, psychopathic) guy, except! He runs a cult at the time that Ford is deep in his research in gravity falls.

I'm calling it the Ciphertology AU (if someone comes up with something better I'm all ears tho)

Rest of it under cut (mentions tbob and same level of dark content as is in the book/website, just as warning) ⚠️

So, the university contacts Ford to ask him to investigate the psychic claims that this group deep in the forest, not too far from the falls, has. Ford grumbles that he isn't much of a people person to carry out such research but he's the one nearest to the area and they've agreed to send over Fiddleford, since they're friends and as his assistant he can act as an objective observer (since he didn't study parapsychology) and it pays well.

They both inadvertently get sucked into bill's cult in different ways! Ford is drawn in by his seemingly high intelligence and helpful nature, assured within himself that he wouldn't be fooled by fraudsters or fakes due to his background/intelligence, ends up treating Bill reverently (his 'muse' and one he trusts, because it fills the loneliness he feels, especially because before he began interviewing ciphers group, he felt guilt for not contacting his brother) before coming to a fast and cruel awakening that he's not who he says he is! Bill isolates him from his parents and tries to make him believe he's the only one who understands him, he obstructs his work being sent to the university too.

Meanwhile, poor Fidds had been pulled into addiction from the cultish hippie use of drugs in the group, but ended up slipping into mental health issues and realising that his friend is being manipulated and leaves. tries to persuade Ford to leave, trying to convince him that bill's evil but it doesn't go well ofc and he leaves and tries to set up a counter protest with a load of other people in gravity falls to get rid of the cult, which ends up kicking him out when he has a mental breakdown. By this time the FBI is alerted and they have the cult on their watchlist.

Ford is tortured, similar to how he is described to in tbob and journal 3 (except probably without the possession side of it, haven't decided if that's something he'd be able to do/is real in this au) and he's kept at the isolated cult camp against his will. But he does manage to get hold of a phone and call his brother. Stanley to the rescue! He isn't told fully just how bad it is but sensing bullshit, he high tails up to the falls as fast as possible ❤️

Stan is horrified by the way Ford's been treated and angry that he's still making excuses for the group (poor ford is so sleep deprived so the coercive control is going to take a little while to be unconditioned from) and quickly manages to get him out of there!

Takes a while, and not many people believe the stan twins story, but eventually Bill is caught for other crimes and is sent to a max security psychiatric hospital (basically a prison). (Stan and Ford in the aftermath keep close eyes on the cult from a distance to try and get justice.)

They end up forgiving each other and settling their home base in the falls, since now the rest of the town either hates bill or wants to forget he existed. Stan sets up his own tourist business in the falls whilst ford heals and eventually he ends up working as a lecturer and travels about to a few different colleges in the area for work. After the trial where Cipher is put behind bars decades later, the stans make their childhood dream happen and go sailing around the world for 2-3 years!

Oh, and Ford ends up reconnecting with Fidds, as after some time his son Tate tracks him down and gets him to a place where he can recover and be treated for his mental health. Their contact helps them both get through the trial because now they can finally talk to someone else who experienced the cult. Maybe they even contacted some others who were also drawn into the cult who were victims?

Dipper and Mabel come for the summer like in the show, except now they know of their two eccentric grunkles, though the whole cult story is kept from them for a while (they end up finding out somehow).

...And that's as far as I've got with this idea! I think there might be room for Bill to escape and the pines family coming across him during a future summer? Like maybe because of Ford's involvement with the cult he still has possession of some of Ford's journals/information after he escapes/is set free? Idk. What do you think?

[thelastspeecher]

Fun Fact #1: String players and pianists tend to have long fingers. Not because those instruments attract people with long fingers, but because the repetitive stretching of fingers required to play lengthens players' fingers over time.

When the adult tasked with helping Angie with her powers in Pollution Powers AU finds out she can play fiddle and piano, she is tasked with practicing those instruments to work on her power control as it impacts her fine motor skills. Angie didn't bring her fiddle with her to the school, but there's a piano there, so she practices piano while she waits for her fiddle to arrive. The first time she sits down to play, she practically has a panic attack at how much her fingers stretch.

Fun Fact #2: Vocal pitch is determined by size and thickness of vocal cords. Lower voices have larger, thicker vocal cords, while higher voices have smaller, thinner vocal cords.

Once Angie gets some general control over her powers, she's given exercises of higher difficulty, one of which being adjusting her vocal cords to change her vocal pitch. She's able to give herself a crazy vocal range by using her powers, without changing her outward appearance whatsoever.

[fordtato]

Alex Hirsch will imply or say through text and subtext of books about FiddAuthor and BillFord, while Dan Povenmire and Swampy Marsh will just have Perryshmirtz moments on Chibi shorts and tiktoks... and you know, sometimes I'm glad I get to live in this world. (I made this weird train of thought connection through the ending joke in Bill's interview in the book.)

SPOILERS: Look, no matter how one feels about it, Hirsch used terminology associated with romance and breakups throughout nearly every interaction between Ford and Bill. "Attracted-to," "will-they-won't-they," "were we even partners?," starting a conversation after a fight with "Can we talk?", calling Fiddleford a "third wheel," etc. - THESE ARE QUOTES.

Also, Bill uses language that is INCREDIBLY tied to abusive relationships when talking to Ford: "who else will make you feel like this?" etc.

Hell, Bill goes on a drunken bender after the breakup. Mabel calls Ford Bill's ex, and tells him to "get over" her Grunkle.

I've seen some discussion on the timeline on whether or not it's problematic to make BillFord canon and my thoughts are: this book DEPICTING an abusive pairing (or at least using language that echoes an abusive relationship), and then framing it through the lens of an unreliable abusive narrator is not the same thing as glorifying, romanticizing, or supporting the pairing. The people reading this recognize that Bill is a villain and not to be trusted, you know? It isn't even shades of grey, it's 100% depicted as the most ruinous thing in Ford's life. Hell, I think it's just very compelling writing. I love this. I think it's so interesting. Books should be able to tackle this.

And then the Fiddauthor fodder. The FIDDFODDER. He handmakes Ford two xmas presents, and makes nothing for Emma-May??? HE COMES BACK FOR FORD AFTER HIS FIGHT WITH HIS WIFE? AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES IN COLLEGE? AND FIDDS MADE 5 PROTOTYPES TO HANDKNIT FORD GLOVES??

The book also has a reference to Ford possibly being ace. Ford has nightmares about a pop quiz asking him what he's attracted to. He answers "planning and preparation." So, I have layered feelings about these tongue-in-cheek references to asexuality without just SAYING asexuality, you know? Like when it's wrapped in a joke, I think it affects how meaningful it is, but I'm not ace, so it's up to ace people to decide how they feel about this. But I do think it's interesting.

At the very least, this book adds queer undertones to the way Ford and Bill interact. Book of Bill gave more queer undertones in the TEXT, not just subtext, to how Ford interacts with others, and while that experience is translated through an abusive relationship, it's still there.

Y'all, this man is queer. I can't believe I'm not seeing everyone talking about this. Ford is queer. I don't know how to define his relationship with Bill Cipher, but it isn't straight.

[cricket-of-the-hill]

So what's the deal with Fiddleford McGucket? Why's he like that?

Fiddleford as a character is so FUN because he's so complicated and tragic and honestly a little pathetic. On one hand you have this absolutely brilliant scientist with the potential to have been the in universe Steve Jobs who figured out that the universe is a hologram and built an honest to betsy transdimensional portal (with Ford's help, yes, but let's be honest: as mathematically brilliant as Ford was, I think his intelligence laid more in the theoretical side of things, really doubt he could have actually built the portal himself).

On the other hand, we have this man who up and leves his FAMILY to chase after a college friend who calls him one day saying "hey, I'm out in Oregon building a portal to another dimension. Little help?" and he doesn't even think twice before being like "bet" and getting his ass to Oregon. And even if you take in the context clues that things weren't going well with his marriage before he left (as pieced together by the brilliant @divorcedfiddleford in this post), he still had his son and McGucket Computermajigs and he just sets all that aside for this guy, which... 😶

I am gonna write this whole post on the assumption that Fiddleford was in love with Ford, but look, even if that's the case it doesn't make any of his actions less unhinged. Break here, because the post gets kinda long 😶‍🌫️

So here's the thing: in the fandom, it's fun to think that Fidds knew about Bill and they had some sort of taunting rivalry/love triangle thing going on and that's really fun to mess with, but FIDDLEFORD HAD NO IDEA ABOUT BILL. Ford never told him! So even if Fidds leaves California thinking he's gonna have his hot girl summer/queer arthouse romcom where he reconnects with the love of his youth and they spend the summer working in this secluded house in the woods where they can finally live out their romance, what he actually gets is a fucking psychological horror thriller where the guy he loves and is kinda trapped with is either slowly going insane or straight up getting possessed.

Now, all that is 😵‍💫 enough, but it gets worse because instead of doing the normal person thing and getting the hell out of Dodge, Fiddleford stays. He continues to help Ford to build the portal despite how weird the other man is getting, he continues to go cryptid hunting even after the nightmare goblin almost eats him, even if Ford clearly doesn't appreciate the work he does (research assistant? Not even partner? Come on), and never reciprocates the kind of gestures Fidds has towards him (like the infamous double Christmas gift bonanza).

Here's where the duality of Fiddleford Hadron McGucket kicks in: the thing is that he is incredibly brave in some ways and obviously really smart but also kind of a coward and an idiot when it comes to his relationships with others. He'll hit Thee Krampus upside the head with his banjo one day to save his friend and run away to Oregon instead of discussing divorce with this wife the next. He will leave everything he knows to pursue this one guy, but he will never ever ever confess to feeling anything other than friendship towards him. He'll put up with Stanford's creepy as all hell behavior but will never confront him about it even as Ford loses more and more of himself into his project (so no little intervention not even to help this man he's giving so much up for). Like, what was he expecting to get out of all this? If he was never planning to confess to Ford or leave his wife, what was he going to do once the portal was completed? Just keep on bouncing between wherever Ford went next and his family? Did he really think his wife and son wouldn't mind him leaving them behind without so much as a thought?

Operating under the assumption that Fiddleford is a closeted queer guy from rural Deep Down South Hillbilly County Tennessee (said with love, I'm also from the south, but we all know what homophobia looks like here) during the '80s (height of the aids pandemic which would have made everything worse) one can maybe understand why Fiddleford is like that. Why he is so so so afraid and why he ultimately chooses to erase his memories rather than just go back to his family.

So picture this: you are in love with your best friend but you can't tell him 'cause best case scenario he leaves you out to dry and worst case scenario maybe someone finds your boots down by the river and lets your parents know (and we know Ford is sweet and fruity himself and with a thing for outcasts and would never. Fiddleford probably knows that himself, but let me tell you that when you grow up with that fear it goes deep. Because you've most likely seen people who are kind get absolutely bent out of shape when confronted with the mere idea of someone like you existing in their near vicinity). Eventually, you get married and have a son because that is what you were supposed to do all along and even though you love your son and maybe even love your wife everything feels wrong. They expect you to be something you are not, you can never let your guard down, never be yourself, not even in your own home. So then that call comes and it's like a golden thicket: you can leave, give it a rest for a little while, go see your friend, stretch out those inventing muscles.

As much as the fandom clowns him for it, I honestly don't even think he went out there with the intention of cheating (emotionally or otherwise). BUT I do think he was hoping something would happen. It's just that it all depended on Ford taking that first step because Fidds sure as hell wouldn't. And then Ford didn't because he was too busy doing the sin cos tan with his trigonometry homework, but if he had, we could have had a brokenback mountain situation on our hands, lads. Then Fiddleford could have just gone along with it, and done all sorts of mind parkour to convince himself that that's somehow less bad than "outright" cheating on his wife.

So he gets to the cabin, right? And maybe things are good for a little while, like when they were in college. Fiddleford lets loose a little, Ford is happy with the company, they're friends! And I get the sense that they're the kind of friends that mesh really well, like their energies really match. As much as the fandom paints Fiddleford like a sweet cinnamon roll, that man is also a freak. He's out here building psychotic post divorce revenge pterodactyl robots and drinking abducted cow milk just to see what it's like. He's a bit unhinged! He and Ford are the two people in the world that can be like "I think the universe is a hologram." "Cool! Let's prove it mathematically, bro" and "I want to build a portal to another dimension. Just cause." "Catching a ride to your place with my toolbox as we speak, buddy." (My own personal head cannon is that Fiddleford didn't really become such a shaky jelly until the nightmare goblin got him. Like, he was never as adventurous as Ford, but I think before that particular traumatizing event he was all right for it).

Anyways, things are good for a bit, but the real world is still out there. Fiddleford has to make trips home every now and then, and every time he comes back it seems like something is different. A little off. At first it's nothing big, just a smile a little sharper than usual, a coldness in a look, Ford calling him "Specs" where before he was always a variation of his name. Then it's pointed comments that Fidds chalks up to a lack of sleep (is Ford even sleeping at all? Because he could have sworn for the past three nights he he has appeared in the same place Fidds left him when he went to sleep). Then it's a flash of yellow eyes, a maniacal laugh that Ford never used to make before, spells where he seemingly forgets how to use his body (bumps into things, tries to drink soda with his eyes?). As time goes on it starts to become more and more obvious that something is seriously wrong with this friend. And things back home are just getting worse and worse, Emma May isn't happy about Fiddleford skipping town so often, Tate wont stop asking for him, and look, was Fiddleford even making money while he was with Ford? He gettin' paid? Is Emma May back home trying to bring home the bacon while virtually single parenting? (How was Ford even supporting himself while studying anomalies? I can't imagine there's a lot of grants for that.)

But Fiddleford can't leave his friend and he can't really own up to how much messier things are at home because of this whole thing. So he keeps coming back to Gravity Falls, where he also can't really face up to Ford and either demand a clear answer as to what is going on or try to get him some help (an exorcist, maybe). Because if he does say something and Ford decides that he doesn't want Fiddleford around asking questions he's gonna have to go back home where after the Christmas thing he's honestly not sure he's really wanted anymore, not really sure he deserves it if he still was. So he keeps on doing his thing, telling himself "this is fine 🙂," while he sits in a room on fire with a bill-possessed Ford hanging from the ceiling like a spider and an disapproving Emma May looking in through a window.

I think the portal incident was what finally opened his eyes to the reality of his situation, in an ironic way. He destroyed his relationship with his wife and left his son for nothing. Left his own dreams and aspirations aside just to find out that when push comes to shove his opinion and well-being matter so little to this man he was ready to break the laws of physics for. He can't stay with Ford, and he sure as hell can't go back home, because that would mean having to face that he's done burned down all his bridges. So where do you go from there? Let me tell you, if I had the chance to forget the lowest, most selfish, stupid thing I did for a person who didn't even notice it, I'd do it in a second.

[artisiumstudios]

PART TWO

Part one (OMG I FIGURED OUT HOW TO DO THE LINK THING WITH WORDS LMAO)

Anyways people want context so here it is:

Separation at birth AU (name is a work in progress) where Filbrick Really didn't want twins and lies to Caryn saying that only one of the twins made it out. Here he decides to keep Stanford because he thinks that maybe he can use his deformity (having 6 fingers) as an attraction, especially considering his wife is a psychic. So Stanley is given away and Filbrick is the only one who knows about this. Until now. so a couple of things:

Stanley: Despite him always being portrayed as being a people person and very charismatic, which he is when he wants to be, he was actually a loner as a kid since he struggled a lot in school (dyslexia). Without Stanford, Stanley had no one to help him out academically, not to mention his "adoptive" parents were quite neglectful resulting in him feeling like an outcast and even joining a biker gang during his early teenage years (13-14). Until he met Fiddleford Mcgucket, his only real friend (and more) who helped him which lead to him actually realizing that he was actually very intelligent. Which ends up with both of them going to West Coast because of it (both as engineers, Fidds for computers and Stan as a Mechanic) (also Stan does have glasses but he either refuses to wear them or just wears contacts.)

Stanford: Has a role much like Gideon, where basically he is some sort of psychic and is called the Psychic Sixir (yes spelt like that) and becomes a rather famous tourist attraction for the Pines, even resulting in getting a couple of commercials. Unfortunately, he hated the role he had to play. Yeah he was famous but he was a social outcast especially with his peers. His only sanctuary were books and an old boat he found in the beach. Ford is still very smart, and while he had always dreamed of sailing away on that boat he found and repaired growing up, it was far too lonely and his parents (specifically Filbrick) would never allow him to, so his best choice was leaving to a high leagues school. And here we are

anyways thats all I got now.

Next

[fridgrave2-0]

I'm tired of pretending that I'm okay with ford being an absolute asshole towards fiddleford and basically abusing him.

first of all, yes, it's not ford's fault that he was manipulated (doubtful tbh) and abused by bill, but that doesn't give him the right to be a jerk who closes his eyes on his friend's deepest traumas. the traumas fiddleford got only because stanford completely ignored his warning and got fidds involved into bunch of shit. like his monster hunting which wasn't even the reason fiddleford went to gravity falls in the first place. he was there to help ford build the portal, not to be a part of ford's anomaly quest. and when fiddleford spoke out against it he was ignored because ford doesn't give a shit about anyone else but himself or his muse. fiddleford got traumatized physically and mentally so deeply that in the need to be able to sleep at night peacefully he completely destroyed his mind to the state that even bill was scared to be in there. and what stanford did? he (the one who couldn't care less about fidds warning him about gremoblin) critiqued fiddleford for using the memory gun and didn't even bother to apologize or say that he's sorry in the journal. god, what am I saying, he didn't even took fiddleford to the hospital after fiddleford feel from the sky through the roof of a fucking barn with a dozen of poisonous quills in his body AND A BROKEN ARM. ford described what happened to fidds in the journal, said he "took him home for a treatment" and the next two paragraphs on the other page is "good news the hyperdrive works" LIKE IS THAT THE ONLY THING YOU CARE ABOUT WHAT THE HELL??? "despite our fortune, I have become worried about my assistant... I myself have survived many monster attacks without trauma, but perhaps F is more sensitive that I realized". no shit sherlock, who would've imagine that seeing your worst nightmares and being poisoned can leave a mark on your mental state. sure it's just fiddleford, he's just overreacting because he's "sensitive"))) /src

ford was ignoring fiddleford's concerns all the fucking time that mcgucket was there with him, he took a superstitious and religious guy with anxiety into the forest with real ass monsters who's no one but ford is used to see. fiddleford was warning stanford about shifty and got kidnapped with his identity stolen by the shapeshifter because ford didn't listen. well, at least this time stanford had bothered to apologize for another traumatic event- ah no, next thing ford said is that when the portal is finished all the traumas fiddleford had been through were "worth it". ford just finds ways to make everything worse

we all know that fiddleford has an addictive personality and that the memory gun is the biggest example of that. what we don't talk enough about is that ford at some point decided that sleeping is for losers, but didn't stop at himself and made fiddleford drink 13 fucking cups of coffee, not allowing him to sleep, what in the future made fiddleford a caffeine addict. ford is not only an overworking idiot who gladly damages his own health, no! he wants fiddleford to be the same and quote "gets frustrated" when fiddleford cares not only about his own, but their both basic needs. fiddleford had to work on the portal, get in the trouble with monsters because of ford, but also babysit this manchild to prevent him collapsing from exhaustion (which is more impossible than building a giant portal into the multiverse)

and here we are, the portal testing. once again (and as always) fiddleford did warned ford about everything. fiddleford was working without breaks for days to make sure if the portal will work, and when he found the flaws, he wrote a whole fucking thesis paper, putting all ford's research into a solid work (not taking even smallest credit even tho he was the one to build the portal. when fiddleford had his own theory in the university, ford helped him to only proof that fidds wasn't going crazy by checking the calculations and ford bothered to take the credit for the whole theory, but fiddleford who was a part and a victim of this monumental theory of weirdness didn't took it because he unlike ford doesn't care only about fame). but what did stanford do? he assumed that fiddleford wanted to steal his fucking fame and backstab him. ford didn't even bother to look at something fiddleford was making for three days without resting to make sure that portal won't hurt anyone in the town and that ford won't end up with empty hand if the portal was indeed a lost cause. stanford coldly dismissed fiddleford like they weren't friends, said that he doesn't really waiting fiddleford for the test of the device that fiddleford did built, and even knowing that the portal was dangerous fiddleford chose to come for the test

and then fiddleford got in the portal and it was the biggest traumatic event for him. it was the breaking point for him from which he couldn't stop using the memory gun. it damaged him so much, that he turned from that bright 30-y.o. man into the familiar to us old man mcgucket in the span of two years. his life was ruined for another 30 years, a half of his life he was a mad lonely guy who lived in the junkyard. the man who could've become someone like steve jobs but much better if only he didn't go to help stanford. his family could've been full, tate could have his father. the incident with the portal was the moment of no return for fiddleford, and what did stanford do?

when fiddleford got sucked in the portal, he thought only about the success of his work, that for fidds it was "a remarkable opportunity to confirm or deny the theory" (which he already did with his pre-test research). he didn't think that it was dangerous on the other side, that the portal wouldn't just disintegrate fidds on atoms. and when stanford saw him speaking in a non-human way, shaking and twitching in shock like fiddleford did after the gremoblin incident, ford decided it was nothing. when fiddleford warned him about the apocalypse because he was in the portal and saw it with his own eyes, ford, as always, didn't listen. he didn't just not care about fidds' condition — he diminished everything fiddleford was feeling and everything he witnessed only because it didn't fit in ford's believes which were based just on bill's words (and for stanford it's not something new to belittle things related to fiddleford. he wasn't taking fidds' dream of creating a portable computer seriously, believing that his weirdness theory was much more important)

and after this, stanford insults fiddleford and his family in the journal. he says that he doesn't regret their partnership (it's not really a partnership if stanford didn't count fiddleford as an equal) and friendship breaking up. "to think I considered him a friend!" I doubt he ever did. stanford doesn't know shit about being a good friend (or even a decent person) to someone who sacrificed everything for him. who did put his life aside to be with ford, who cared enough to stay despite stanford again and again putting him in danger, constantly waving him away and feeling no remorse for that. fiddleford was breaking himself for this guy, he canonically was going through "I am nobody to ford if I don't build stuff for him" (and in the end this is exactly what happened). fiddleford didn't tell ford most of his fears and concerns because he didn't want to bother him. fidds was constantly scared and kept in inside because he wanted to be a "better partner". "if I have an anxiety, I will pop anxiety pills", "I'm gonna get through this". and then he didn't

fiddleford was abused by stanford. he was to stanford that ford was to bill, in some ways even worse. it's fucking wild that fiddleford did forgive ford after 30 years of a neverending madness nightmare with his mind being destroyed so much as like it was the earth in the times of the dinosaurs after being hit by the meteorite. fiddleford had lost literally everything, he wasn't even himself for a half of his life and still fidds found the strength to forgive someone who is responsible for it and who used him with regular emotional neglect. and you know what? fuck this. ford would never forgive bill and fiddleford had every right to stay mad at stanford. ford needed to be stuck in the portal to get his head out of the ass and by that time there were only crumbs of someone who fiddleford once was

fiddauthor and billford both are about abuse and toxic relationships. it's up to you what you like to ship, but we need to acknowledge the fact that fiddauthor isn't some fluffy healthy thing where both are happy. fiddleford was never happy and stanford didn't care about fiddleford and his feelings. they made each other worse and ford ruined fidds' life. THIS is the real fiddauthor

[pinespinespinespinespines]

UM what if... Fidds met Stan during the college years when he comes to apologize to Ford. Like-

Like hear me out-

At some point while Ford is at Backupsmore and Stan had been running around the country for a couple years, (lets say 4ish yrs after Stan is kicked out?) Stan attempts to apologize to him by visiting his dorms. Ford ignores him/ calls security on him until Stan is just loitering out by the entrance with his car.

Seeing all this, Ford's kindhearted roommate Fiddleford tries to coax his friend into giving his brother a chance, to which Ford stubbornly refuses. Exasperated and pitying Stan, after a few days of this, Fiddleford approaches his roommate's twin himself.

Stan is of course not a pretty picture since he's been living out of his car, and when he sees Fiddleford he assumes it's to shoo him away. When Fiddleford instead introduces himself and apologizes for Ford, a confused Stan begins to ask questions that he would be asking his brother: how he's been, what he's studying, is he any better with girls?

After a while of this, Fiddleford begins to feel guilty about having a conversation that really should be with Ford himself, not him. He tells Stan this, and promises to find a way to convince Ford to speak to him again at least once. Stan agrees to stay in town until that happens.

Ford isnt happy when Fiddle tells him he talked to Stan. Hes a petty sore loser so hes still adamant about not seeing his brother, and grows more upset as Fiddleford sees Stan every couple days to chat/update. Without cellphones, Stan just comes by whenever and hangs out until Fiddle spots him.

Fiddleford thinks Stanley wanting to reunite with Ford endearing. He also finds Stan's, let's be honest, meat-headed suave, to be a refreshing change of pace from his roommate's constant obsession over formulas and theories.

Besides having a friend of Ford's on his side, Stan is just thrilled to have someone who listens to him and doesn't mind his company. Fiddleford even trims Stan's hair for him one time, and other little things that he sees as simple decent favors for a nice guy down on his luck, but Stan sees as the most generous things a guy's ever done for him. He's starting to feel indebted to Fiddleford, and he's not sure what to do about it other than give up on Ford and drive off so that he isn't bothering them anymore.

When Fiddleford buys some extra groceries a few days later and gives them to Stan, the poor guy has a near-panic about being a burden later that night. On a whim, because he's freaking out and that's how Stan operates, he flees the town.

A month passes before Stan feels stupid and returns to the college. He still wants to see Ford- he'll just turn down all of Fidd's kind gestures this time. Stan pulls up outside the dorms and parks, falling asleep in the driver's seat until a banging at his window startles him awake.

Fiddleford, pounding on his car window, looking mad. Uh oh. Stanley gets out of the car, expecting a well-deserved punch to the face for accepting those groceries and bailing without warning. Instead, Fidds shakes his shoulders while rambling with exasperation.

"I was THIS close to gettin' him to talk to ya, ya know that? What were you thinkin', runnin' off without a daggum word to me, makin' me think somethin' bad happ'nd- what was I s'posta tell yer brother, huh?" Etc etc while Stanley just stares blankly and let's himself get shaken for 3 minutes straight while Fiddle scolds him.

The whole time, Stan is wondering why the hell this guy is worrying over him. He's distracted when fidds tells him that Ford too was worried. Is this progress with his twin? Or did he ruin it all with his fleeing stunt?

-

UHHH God I typed so much. Much more than i thought. Idk maybe I'll have more brainrot to continue this later??

[dimonds456]

Billford and Abuse: An Analysis

Honestly, as someone who ships both Billford and Fiddauthor, the thing I like about the toxic yaoi ship is the fact that it IS toxic. Like, the jokes are great, but its depiction of abuse is so, like... genuine. Without getting personal, I've been in a really fucking bad toxic (platonic) relationship before, and Billford deadass helped me come to terms with it.

Cuz here's the thing: most fictional abusive relationships just start with the abuse itself. It shows the victim and the perpetrator at the height (or almost at the height) of the abuse, and we see as either one of them is destroyed by it or the victim becomes free. But Billford actually shows the WHOLE timeline.

Something that bothers me about a lot of fictional abuse reps is the fact that you cannot sympathize with the victim aside from "aw that's horrible :(". Cuz it just starts AT the abuse. We don't see how they got there or what's causing the victim to stay. We just know they need to escape.

But with Billford, we see EVERYTHING. How it started out as something Ford genuinely loved, seeing Bill as a friend and someone he could trust, how it made him feel better because he was actually making progress on his research and he wasn't lonely anymore.

To Ford during those early days, Bill was the highlight of his time in Gravity Falls. We can follow his train of thought exactly to where he let Bill possess him with basically no strings attached (pun intended).

That's what makes it all the more devastating. Bill isolated Ford from everyone. He sabotaged his friendship with Fiddleford by planting that seed of doubt in the engineer and pulling Ford further and further into his plans. Then the thing with the portal happened and Ford had NOWHERE to go. Plus, Bill kept trying to get Ford to stop thinking about Stan, to move on and let him rot. So he kept planting seeds of doubt in his own brother as well, causing Ford to further and further slip away.

Then Ford confronts Bill. And the monster is unleashed.

Once Bill realizes he's lost control of Ford's devotion and the illusion has shattered, Bill just LEANS into it. In order to take control back, he started tormenting Ford and just being horrible to him, to try and make him fall in line. Love and fear ARE right next to each other in the brain, after all. And there's NOTHING Ford can do but just fall further and further into paranoia.

Bill demonstrates many real-world abusive/manipulative tactics on Ford, the big one being isolation, since that allows the rest of the everything to even happen, but the way he turns Ford against LITERALLY EVERYONE using paranoia is really true to real life.

Now obviously your toxic boyfriend cannot possess random strangers irl. But you know what he CAN do? Start spreading rumors behind your back. Stalk you. Harass you. Make you feel unsafe everywhere except home (which isn't safe either, but it's better than the outside world). He can spend your money or break your things. Slash your tires. In Ford's case, LITERALLY abusing his body. There's the sticky notes, the threats, the roof incident, all of it just piling one atop the other.

I cannot imagine how fucking terrified Ford must have been to finally send that postcard to Stanley. He was at a point where he assumed Stan would hate him, or at the very least wouldn't respond so why even bother, and he'd just gotten the "steal your eyes" threat. He was out of options, and was absolutely sure he was putting Stan in danger by getting him involved (another irl abuse thing that happens).

He was scared to reach out for help because 1) he didn't want others getting hurt (like Fidds had), 2) he was ashamed he'd let this happen, and 3) he, on some level, felt like he deserved this.

Justified? To a paranoid, scared, abused, irrational brain: Absolutely. In reality? Never. But HE'D built that portal. HE'D allowed Bill to possess his body basically freely. HE'D basically helped start the apocalypse. And that shame would have lead to SO much self-hatred and despair.

His reaching out to Stan was his last resort, his only way out. THAT'S what intrigues me about the ship so much.

I do not want them to make up and get back together. They're horrible for each other. But I do enjoy exploring the dynamic of it, fully seeing the cycle and how it happens, and seeing a whole new side to Ford that we only caught a glimpse of in the show and Journal 3. Plus Bill but his side is more comedic and sad to me I do not take him seriously FSDGHJ

The jokes are great and I love it here, but if I ever write a fic or draw art for these two it's going to be toxic as hell man. And not in the fun way fgsjd

[softersynths]

How did Shifty feel about Ford and Stan fighting?

Does he take a side? Or does he stand to the side, and hope they work things out?

Also weridmagedeon…?

Does Shifty ever end up having at least a decent relationship with Ford or Fiddleford or both?

How does he feel about his…would they technically be his niece and nephew? Uh—second cousins I guess? American family naming conventions are confusing. I say this as someone who is half.

Also do you have sweet moments to share about Uncle Stan and Shifty/Nicky?

I want to draw a lot of this but for now I'll answer in text........

Shifty reacts like a kid watching their parents argue: with worried helplessness. At least at first. He missed Ford terribly, but Stan was a father to him for much longer. When Shifty learns that Ford intends to kick Stan out at the end of the summer, it causes a great deal of friction between them. He’s no longer the clingy pet that Ford left behind, he’s a person who loves Ford’s brother deeply, which Ford struggles to understand.

As for weirdmageddon... I think maybe he ends up with Soos for most of it. When they reunite with Stan and the refugees at the shack, Shifty is able to reconcile with McGucket, and they help build the shacktron together.

Post-canon he has a good, if occasionally strained, relationship with both of them. Negative feelings and memories are difficult for him to let go of. But he still wants family in his life, and seeing the process of Stan and Ford (as well as Tate and McGucket) reconciling helps him a lot.

I think the first time they 'meet' after McGucket gets his memory back, Shifty calls him 'Uncle Fiddleford' without really thinking about it, and all of McGucket's paranoia gets blown out of the water. His wariness of Shifty dies when he meets him with a clearing mind and sees, in place of a monster, a frightened, lonely young man - one whose feeling of loss, and confusion over his identity, he deeply relates to. McGucket's guilt and Shifty's bad memories make them hesitant to reach out to one another (and McGucket's erraticisms still startle Shifty after 30 years of avoiding them) but after Stan and Ford leave for the Arctic, they spend a lot of time catching up. They could potentially get to the point where Shifty is calling him 'Pa' rather than 'Uncle Fidds'.

He loves the twins, and wants to be liked by them. The 'Nicky' identity is invented by Shifty and Stan once they learn the twins will be staying the summer, explicitly to be a "distant cousin" that their parents "forgot about" (him being anything other than a Pines never even crossed their minds). He's distant at the beginning of the summer bc he worries about revealing himself, but becomes like a big brother to them both as he gets more settled into the role. His modus operandi when interacting with them is “what would Stan do with me” - and then he does that. A lot of riding on shoulders and affectionate noogies. He tries to steer them away from Gravity Falls' weirdness with little success. He bullies Dipper a little too. LOL.

As for sweet moments...... As a kid, Shifty would occasionally turn into a dog (or some other furry animal) and sleep next to Stan in his bed. Stan kind of misses it (he would never admit this). Shifty can also turn into inanimate objects (albeit living ones) and in the first couple winters frequently turned into scarves and coats for Stan to wear. Yes, Stan found it strange and clingy - but when you’ve spent months freezing in your car, you’ll take what you can get. Stan also teaches Shifty a lot of best practices for shoplifting and identity fraud. Which he uses frequently. lol

[clarisimart]

So yeah I've been cooking an AU with actual lore (because I've lost control of my life...

I present you the "Who Framed Billy Cipher?" AU

Some bonus images and plot points under the cut

Support me on ko-fi or commission me if you like what I do

I will do a lore dump and more images later but for now 4 important things for this AU

1) Everything up to the 80s goes the same way as in show cannon EXCEPT:

A) Bill appears to Ford as a disembodied voice or possessing other people so Ford doesn't actually know his real form.

B) McGuckett publishes Ford's research behind his back so anomalies become known to the world.

2) Because McGuckett published Ford's reasearch without telling him, Ford is furious and Fidds' not there for the test, ergo Bill's betrayal is not revealed then, but when Ford goes to open the portal for real with the help of a Bill possessed corpse, McGuckett intervenes and tries to stop it, and gets killed by Bill.

3) This causes Ford to shut down the portal midway while the part of Bill that was not possessing the body was crossing, causing Bill (without Ford knowing because the shack crumbles around them) to literally be split into three: Billy, the triangle with most of his powers but no memories after euclidia, William the humanoid form with Bill's charisma and perceptiveness but only basic shape-shifting powers and 0 memories, and Shadow Bill who later becomes Judge Birchtree, the Bill that was on the other side of the portal, who retains all memories but has no physical body unless he posseses someone. The barrier around Gravity Falls collapses, which means that anomalies are now free to roam and go around the world and are getting integrated into society somewhat 30 years later.

4) After all that, Ford moves to California, reconciles somewhat with Stan (he buys Stan a bar and Stan runs it and opens a museum of oddities as well) and abandones science to become an Anomaly (Anomalies here are Toons basically) oriented PI

BONUS: yeah because I am billford trash, ofc all three bills are obssessed/DOWN BAD for Ford

[scruncheduppaper]

if i see one more ford hate post on my tl im genuinely going to go insane

YES hes a dick but a) hes a fictional character b) he CHANGES and DEVELOPS and REDEEMS HIMSELF BY THE END OF THE SERIES and c) ITS COOL THAT HE HAS AN EGO. ITS COOL

and also im starting to lose interest in fiddlestan because at this point its becoming clear that people only ship it because they dont like ford and they think that fidds doesnt deserve him AS IF THE CONFLICT ISNT THE APPEAL OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP??? AS IF IT ISNT THE POINT??? AND AS IF THEIR RECONCILIATION BY THE END OF THE STORY ISNT A PERFECT ENDING TO FORDS ARC im gonna bite someone i swear.

look someone on twitter said that “some fiddlestan shippers are just fiddauthor shippers in disguise” and its PISSING ME THE FUCK OFF because IM SORRY DO YOU GUYS NOT SHIP CHARACTERS BECAUSE YOU’RE INTERESTED IN DIFFERENT RELATED CHARACTER DYNAMICS?? WHAT ARE YOU JUST HERE FOR THE LOVEY DOVEY SHIT??? the REASON why fiddlestan is INTERESTING TO ME in the FIRST PLACE is because it elaborates on both of these characters with respect to their relationships to ford!!! there’s nothing wrong with the fact that theyre connected to him!!! these arent real people, these are characters that act as vehicles to explores messages in stories!!! of COURSE i only ship fiddlestan in relation to fiddauthor, why would i cut ford out here completely when it’s SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING TO RECOGNISE THEIR COMPLEX DYNAMICS IN RELATION TO HIM???

and i hear people going like “oh well i just wanna see fiddleford happy!!” and im like. but without the conflict. like who is he. some twink you can just mold however you want?? without his Flaws and his Complex Relationships with his family and ford and his eventual descent into madness What are you Seeing in him?? not to mention the fact that i dont think stan would treat him better anyways lol

and also im getting the vibe that the reason a lot of people ship fiddlestan nowadays is because people like. dislike ford?? and i said this just now but like hes genuinely such an interesting character as well and it makes me sad to see that the only people who appreciate his character idolise him without seeing his flaws and literally everyone else just hates him like YALL TALK SHIT ABT LIKING MORALLY GREY CHARACTERS BUT WHEN A CHARACTER ACTUALLY IS MORALLY GREY YOU TURN AROUND AND GO LIKE “ehhhhh” like COME ON PLEASE YOU HAVE TO SEE THE VISION FORD IS STILL COOL AND IM GONNA DEFEND HIM WITH MY LIFE

its actually kinda pissing me off the amount of fluffy characterisation fiddlestan gets within the fandom, at the expense of ford, bc oh my fucking godddd PLEASEEE CAN WE HAVE THE ERA WHEN I FIRST DISCOVERED FIDDLESTAN BACKKK BECAUSE THE CONTENT THEN WAS SO FUCKING GOOD

[alexthebordercollie]

i'm always a sucker for the take that Ford does love kids, he's just not the best caretaker. i mean, he's immediately delighted to learn he's an uncle in tale of two stans, and he loves spending time with Dipper and Mabel, he's just kind of dense.

i think aus where he gets to be a dad with Fiddleford are so cute. and so interesting to see how he'd handle it. people always seem to forget what a softie he can be

Oh yes! It kind of bugs me how a lot of people act like Ford is cold when he really isn't. There are lots of little examples of him being an absolute sweetheart. He talks a big game about being logical and suppressing fear etc, but he's a deeply emotional person, and that comes through in his more personal journal entries. He's not some heartless robot. He loves sharing his joy and excitement with the people close to him. He craves human connection even though he's bad at it. He gets attached to weird little creatures like Shifty, he loves his niece and nephew and is genuinely happy to meet them. Not to mention Ford loves weirdness and creativity and kids are the weirdest most creative demographic of people out there.

I don't think Ford dislikes kids at all. I think his lack of emotional intelligence and tendency to be lost in his own world makes him a questionable caretaker. Not through apathy or malice, he's just kind of bad with kids. Making him a father is really interesting for this reason because I'm confident he'd love the shit out of his kids, but learning how to respond appropriately to their needs, keep them safe, and pay attention consistently when needed, would all be things he'd struggle with.

Ford also says as much in his journal that he didn't want to settle down and "start a family". I don't think he ever saw kids of his own as part of his future nor do I think he'd ever consciously choose to have them. That said these are the words of a young Ford with grand ambitions that children would have potentially gotten in the way of. I also think the way he shuts down the idea of "starting a family" is a response to the social pressure to get straight married which is also not something he would have wanted. I mean look how well that worked out for Fidds :/

But Ford's whole character arc is about humbling himself. Learning to let go of this fantasy of some grand destiny and find joy in just living life with the people he cares about. He learns to accept the love of others and to love himself without needing to prove anything.

Pictured above, is a combination of sleep deprivation and those little moments when you're a new parent and it dawns on you yet again that suddenly you have this tiny little human who's who world depends on you. That mix of fear and awe and overwhelming love that hits you in waves and turns your brain into mush for a moment.

Nik and Newt force Ford to put someone else over himself, forcing him to reassess his priorities much sooner.

Also I know this one wasn't really an ask but I really wanted to draw something for you because it was soooooo good seeing a real ask in my inbox. I would absolutely love to answer any asks people have about this AU. I'd love to draw more of Ford, Fidds, Stan, and the twins but it gets hard to decide what to draw with so many ideas in my brain. By all means, send me asks or suggestions for drawings and I'll do my best to respond to all of them.

[coffee-master]

IDEAS FOR FICS PART 1 [FIDDLESTAN]

-> #Free ideas to use (to find more similar things for fics)

Fiddlestan idea, where Stanley and Fiddleford work together to fix the and bring Stanford back.

During this time they come closer to each other and while feeling like mess they both help each other fix some things.

They both are basically a walking mess with Trauma.

Stanley helps Fiddleford during his panic attacks and calms him down when needed. Stan gives him attention and always listenes about his problems (the divorce and difficul situation with his son. Stanley also helps Fids with quiting his addiction (the memorygun).

Fiddleford made Stan aware that he isn't a worse copy of Stanford. He tells him that he is loved and once Stan opens up to him. Fidds explains how fucked up Stan's whole situation was. Moreover he shows affection to such a touch-starved person that Stanley was at that moment.

Stan and Fiddleford get closer to each other during their bonding time, until they fall for each other and form a relationship.

[They smoke together, go out and Fidds even started teaching Stan playing banjo (with difficulties but still)]

For years they try to open the portal once again, but without the other journals this seems almost impossible. [Just a reminder that the whole portal thing was Bill's idea and he gave Stanford the project. In conclution very HARD TO DO]

And then years later Dipper and Mabel show up..!

Fiddleford and Stanley are in relationship for 30 years. They basically are the "old married couple" But historians will say that they are just 'roommates'.

Mabel basically can smell the romance from distance, while Dipper is ignorant/unaware until someone pointed out this to him.

Stanley & Fidds even have matching earings!

[Also Fidds likes to call Stan Darlin', Hun and Stan calls Fidds Cowboy eventually That's My Cowboy! When noone is around]

Fidds never went crazy or anything. He even repaired his relationship with son! Yes, he might have still got some brain damage from using the gun in the past. (So from time to time he can be forgetfull) But he is better now!

When Stanford comes back there is also a lot of mess. Ford punches Stan and Fidds is right behind him to help him. Stanford is mostly confused by everything that at first he doesn't even notice that Fiddleford and Stanley are in a relationship.(He's just as blind as Dipper)

There is some arguing and Fiddleford is pretty much pissed at Ford for being ungratefull.

Once he overheard Stanford "talk" to Stan that "at the end of this summer you give me back my identyti, my house and this all mystery shack is over"

And he confronted Ford immediately yelling at him that "the world doesn't go around him" And he had no idea how much sacrificed for him and how both of them suffered. (After that 'conversation' I think that Ford finally sensed that something was going on between Fidd and Stanley]

Shortly after Fidd "talked" with Ford, he immiediately went to Stanley, assuring him that everything is gonna be alright and they are both in this together. That he is NOT alone.

[I feel like everyone saw at least once that time of fiddlestan au in art or something BUT-]

LET'S FINALLY GET TO THE MAIN POINT!!!

In this au everything goes similar to the canon, so Weirdmagedon still happened. Everything happened in a similar way and in the end Stanley saved the town. (Pls no jokes)

Ford had to erase his memories, with the memory gun. The weapon that Fiddleford once created and almost ruined his life. And now it erased the mind of the man he loved.

Fidds after realised what happened he was devastated.

He was furious at Ford's action, even though it was the only way to save everyone.

He was heartbroken seeing the man he loves not recognising him. As if there was noone on the other side.

The guilt was eating him alive, knowing well that HE created the gun that took away his love of life.

And after learning that it was Stanley's plan to use the memory gun on himself and not Ford's.. Fiddleford was basically tearing up.

Seeing Stan's lack of reaction after waking up and seeing his 'loved ones' and not recognising them was heart-breaking. Stanley didn't seem to remember neither his nephews nor brother or even him.

When Stan looks at him. There is nothing.

It hurts to look at the man you love. You can't help, but see that he doesn't see you the same way or even recognise you. That there is nothing beside the lost gaze and lack of connection. No smiles, no love. Just confusion.

And even though the Stanley he once know was 'erased', Fiddleford takes a deep breath and with clear sadness in voice says:

"He was there for me when my mind was falling apart and now I'm gonna take care of him." And then hugs gently confused Stan.

I belive that it would take more time for them to bring Stan's memories back. (But that's up to you how you want it)

I imagine that there would be a lot more trouble with gaining back memory for Stan. Like maybe very slowly.

Their first attempts would be unsuccessfully. No improvement. Staley doesn't remmeber anything about his live. Fotos are blank for him. He even misstooks his photo with children, thinking that on the picture is Ford and not him.

"I'm sorry, I- I really don't remmeber any of this.." Stanley said, while holding the photo album.

Everyone would be devastated. Soos, Ford, twins and Fiddleford.

But suprisingly, Fiddleford would be the one who would 'seem' to be the calmest of all of them at least on the surface. He spends a lot of time with Stanley, not necessary trying to restor Stan's memory, but geniuently spend some pleasant time together.

But deeply inside Fidds is actually really strugling. Just instead of thinking about the pain, he tries to focus on helping Stanley. He had a first hand experience with memory issues and he doesn't want Stan to suffer the same.

He also tries make Stanley feel as comfortable as possible in the New situation, while trying to bond.

They drink coffee, they watch tv, they talk. Maybe not necessary about his past.. (Stanley feels pressured, every time someone tries to recall his memories without any results) So with Fidds, he feels more relaxed.

Stanley generally feels around Fiddleford most comfortable. (He doesn't feel any obligation) And he genuelly likes him and EVEN MORE he starts to like him to the point that he's questioning himself.

Stanley: I think, I might have a crush on Fidds..?

Mabel geniuently touched that even after loosing memories the true love still remained around around them, but also jealous due to the fact that he still doesn't recall her : ...

Mabel: He's literally your husband.

Stanley: He is?? I mean- But I don't even know him..?

[Sometimes someone needs to remind Stanley that he's married to Fidds. He forgets it often, since it sounds so unrealistic for him]

Also, when Stan starts 'crushing' on Fidds, Fiddleford is very aware of it.

He immiediately catches up on simple signals like

- Random nervousness

- Playing with hands

- Unnecesarry jokes at wrong time

Just the same behaviour as from 30 years ago, when Stanley started catching feelings for him. [It makes him happy to see this once again]

Fiddleford pretends that he doesn't know. He doesn't want Stan to freak out or something.

And it goes like this..

They spend some time. Twins still try to regain Stan's memory in any way possible. Ford feels helpless. And during this time they are rebuiling the mystery shack.. (because they need a place to sleep, am I right?)

Until one day..

Fiddleford was sitting outside, taking a break from repairing the shack. All of this still seamed unrealistic for him.

He was alone.

He needed to be alone.

He felt as everything was falling apart with him all together.. He just needed some time alone. If he was about to have a breakdown, he didn't want to anyone see it.

Not Ford, not kids and especially not Stanley.

He just needed to f̸̯̞̤̻̬̯̣͙͉̿̑̾͌ͅo̶̧̅r̵̫̹̟̱̖̺̝̐̾͌̄͋̈́͜͠ḡ̴̹̰̘̫͍͇̜͜ę̵̞̯̗̺̗͙̈́͑̀̓̓̆͠t̸̡̛̞̭̪͖̬̱̮͋́̋͝ chill a little-

Then as the man sighed, he saw in the corner of his eye his lying banjo. He hadn't played in a while.. It was his firt though.

So without overthinking, the man took his instrument and started playing some random nutes. After all music always calmed him down a little.

Before he could even notice, nutes turned into melody, into songs he once used to play often during this summer and not only..

It was like this until a familiar face arrived.

"Huh, I like this melody." Stanley said with a small smile, looking directly at his instrument.

Fiddleford looked at his partner, slightly confused and shocked by his arrival. Something made him stop playing, as he realised that what he was playing they both used to love.

They used to play it regulary.

So there was no suprise, that Fiddleford hoped that maybe just maybe would be some kind of recognision. Unfortunately as soon as he met Stan's clueless eyes, he knew the answer.

"Really?" But instead of shoving his dissapointment, Fidds just asked him kindly.

"It's nice." He said as he sat next to the man with a banjo. "Keep going." Stanley encouraged him and how was he supposed to say no?

So he played. Just to see more smile on his face. Just to act as if this was normal. As they used to do.

After a while he noticed, how the other man started staring at his instrument. Fidds saw the curiousity in his eyes, and how paid attention to his movement.

Then he paused to Stans shock.

"Wanna try?" He offered with a gentel smile.

"Try?" Stan sounded suprised. "Nah, I'm gonna break this little thing." He said unsurely. "These hands are pretty clumsy recently." He joked.

"Break it? Such nonsense." Fidd chuckled with a smile and placed the banjo in Stanleys hands. "The least could happen is for one of the string to break. Don't worry."

Despite his first protest in the end Stan looked at the instrument and took it in his hands gently.

Then the man ran his hand over the instrument and all the strings rang.

"Nice." He commented. "How do you start?" Stanley asked and it took Ford a second to realise what he was asking for.

"You start with this one." He answered shortly, pointing at one of the strings. "You know.. you won't be able to play the same song at first try, it takes-"

Fiddleford was interrupted, as Stan started playing. To his suprise it wasn't any kind of weird noises by pulling random strings. No, nothing like that.

It didn't even seem as his first try, when they were young and Fiddleford started teaching Stan playing on banjo.

It was the same melody he played just a second ago.

And it wasn't just a mare try.

He did it perfectly. Just as if he knew this song.

As if he knew how to play it.

As if he remembered it.

And it didn't seem as if he was putting in this any kind of effort.

Stanley just played.

And he seemed so happy and relaxed, until he finished and the realisation hit him hard.

"How.. how did you do this?" Fidds asked first.

"I.." Stan started just as confused as he was. "I don't know." He admited trufully. "My hands were just moving on its own." He tried to explain, but seemed just as lost as him. "I didn't- I didn't think what I was doing. It just happened." He finished, looking directly at Fiddleford very confused, as if looking for the answer.

Fidds confused as him, tried not to give himself unrealistic hopes.

When it came to Amnesia it rarely affected motor skills, according to the researches. Just like walking or ridding a bike. So that would explain this 'phenomen'.

He did it instinctively.

"I teached you this one." In the end Fidds decided to be trufully. "We played it lots of times, until you didn't need the sheet music."

"Oh." Stanley said clearly dissapointment.

For a moment Fiddleford was afraid, that mentioning the past would made Stan uncomfortable, or make silent.

But fortunatelly Stanley fast showed that it didn't bothered him this time.

"Was I a good student?" Stan asked instead with a smirk. "Seems pretty easy for me." Then he added with cockyness, which made Fidds only chuckle.

"The worst one." He couldn't help himself, but taste his patience a little.

"Watch it Cowboy." The man said with smirk, so full of himself as he played a few random, but melodic notes on banjo.

And just then-

"Wait- What did you just call me?" Fiddleford asked rapidly, hoping that he didn't overheard wrong.

Stan looked at him again, taking a pause, as if trying to recall what he said.

"A Cowboy." He said slowly, realising he didn't know why he choosed this kind of words.

"Stanley, I've never mentioned that I am a Cowboy, nor that I'm a fan of them.." Fidds said immiediately and once he saw the expression on his partner's face , he knew. "Stanley." He said so hopefully and full of love. "You.."

He wanted to say You remember

He wanted to reach him..

"I-" The man in fornt of him sounded so confused, but also so hopefull at the same time.

But then rapidly grabbed his head, with a hiss.

"I- think I'm gonna have a headache-" He added painfully.

At once Fiddleford moved to him, taking him gently by his back.

"Shh.. Take it slowly, dear." Fidds said gently to calm him down.

Even though inside he bursting with excitement Stan's healt was his piority number one.

And then Stanley started regaining his memories back!!!! :D

This idea is free to use. If you want you can write a fic about it or just do anything.

Hopefully you enjoyed this idea!!!

[More Fiddlestan ideas]: Part 2(in progress)

[MasterPost]

[nowimjustastranger]

Heres a fun one (or to me at least) how would stcmo!Ford react to other Fandom AU and other Fandom AU Stanleys?

Like for example Relativity (The Stan Twins and The Pine twins role get swapped with each other), Monster Fall, Peace of mind AU by @/stanngeddon (basically that where the mystery trio role got Reversed, Fidds get portaled, Ford runs the shack, and Stanley becomes McGuket in the canon), Never Human (where “Stanley” became an a cosmic horror after making a deal, guarding all the Ford in the multiverse) and Blind Fate

Again, not gonna go super in-depth since I don't know the author's boundaries when it comes to their AU. But I'll still answer as best I can because it's really fun to put Ford 419"3 in other AU's!

Relativity Falls

Initially, Ford would be shocked by the role swap, but he wouldn't linger on the changes because he has a mission to accomplish. It wouldn't be until later that Ford actually wrote his first impression and thoughts on the dimension in one of his journals. All in all, Ford would just be considered an outlier among the vast majority of dimensions and not expend any more energy toward pondering it.

Monster Falls

The first time Ford came across this dimension, Ford accidentally shot Stan thinking he was a hostile anomaly. Stan had already been injured by a nasty fight with a Manticore, a jagged tear across his side from its horns and blood coating his mouth of sharp teeth. Ford's heart froze in his chest when he heard his brother's unmistakable voice layered with an angry roar as the shot hit the anomaly. Safe to say that the Stanford of that dimension wasn't pleased when he heard his brother cry out in pain and anger. Ford had to diffuse the situation before he had his throat ripped out by a very pissed off Stanford, frantically unclipping his helmet while dodging Stanford's attacks. As soon as his face was revealed, Stan called his brother off.

Peace of Mind @stanngeddon

Ford would be heartbroken when he saw what had become of Stan, furious with the Stanford of that dimension for allowing Stan to deteriorate so severely. Ford would do everything in his power to help Stan, but there's only so much Ford can do to heal such a damaged mind. I think the most that Ford could do -without uprooting Stan and bringing him back to his temporary headquarters for some brain scans- would be to make sure Stan was otherwise in good health and stock him up with some supplies. This would be a dimension that Ford would keep an eye on, occasionally popping in to fuss over Stan.

Never Human

In this case, Stanley would probably be the one saving Ford from meeting a premature death at the hands of some hostile creature in the multiverse between missions. Ford would be worried about Stanley making a deal, but it would be a bit of a relief that Stanley was harder to kill as a cosmic entity. Ford would absolutely ask to study Stanley, half curious and half concerned. Basically, Ford would look back on his interaction with a cosmic horror Stanley fondly.

Blind Faith (you said Fate but Blind Faith is what I think you meant)

Honestly, Ford would have nightmares after stumbling across the brothers in such a bad state. Stan would've just been freshly blinded by Stanford, the both of them inconsolable. Ford would address Stan's eyes first, using a salve to soothe the burns and fresh bandages. He'd also give Stan a dose of pain medication mixed with a mild sedative. Then Ford would shift his attention to Stanford, patching him up as well before checking his mental state. Ford would be unaffected by those watching them, protected by his helmet (the interior etched with sigils with unicorn hair embedded in the frame). Ford would end up bringing the brothers through a wormhole with him to get them out of that place, entirely unwilling to leave them there.