#this was a neat exercise! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ivi-prism · 2 months ago

Text

Family Log

A Shermie Pines character study/Family Pines chronicle fic thingy I did cause I couldn't get it out of my head haha

Words: 6199 ⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

You are Shermie Pines. You aren’t close to your baby brothers because they are twins and a matched set and they did everything together and you always just had other things to worry about. Being the eldest son of a father who could not be pleased was a full-time job.

And your summer jobs to support the family while trying to survive high school were a whole other matter entirely.

Community College was not easy either, your mom used to joke that Stanford hoarded any smarts left on the family. You had to agree that schedules were easy and studying was just a matter of repeating enough times to remember, but nothing clicked the first, second, or even third time.

Still, you managed. Didn’t get you any praise from your father but your mother would always appreciate what you did for the family. Especially if it was a dull desk job that provided a steady income for them. The twins didn’t say much, not that you expected they would. You lived in a different world from them.

By the first five months of your job, you would have cursed your life and quit if it weren’t for the odd coincidence that you’d meet the love of your life in that boring place.

Annie was perfect. And she thought you were too since it didn’t take long for the both of you to start dating.

Your father couldn’t care less about her, your mother welcomed her warmly but made it clear you weren’t relieved from your duties towards your family just because you’d decided to start a future with her.

It was never part of your plans to leave entirely, but you had to leave. The twins would need the space more than you. And frankly, you needed space from all four of them.

By the next summer you were married. It was just you, Annie, and her family at the wedding but you didn’t care. It could be just you and her in the entire world and you’d be just as gleeful.

You moved out. Finally, you’ve moved out. And now you have a house for a family of your own away from the New Jersey chaos.

Getting away from that dump was something you’d discuss at times with the twins. They would escape too. Stanley was resourceful and Stanford was really smart. If you could get out they could too.

And thinking about them while you waited for the birth of your kid was bizarre. You weren’t that much older than them and yet it felt like a lifetime stood between you.

You shared this discovery with Annie, she laughs. You’d look after the twins all your life, as well as your family. It made perfect sense, and perhaps once the baby arrived it could be a chance to reconnect with them.

You’d find it to be a fine idea.

A very enthusiastic phone call home left the doors open again.

Well, it left it open to keep contact going with your mother. Your father as always didn’t care much and the twins didn’t reach out but you didn’t mind, they were going through high school, and that was enough to worry about.

The sporadic calls from your mom requesting money were less pleasant but she took the time to travel and help out Annie once Mathew was born. You couldn’t ignore her requests especially if they were made to help the twins in some way. You’d hope they were alright, and that once they graduated they would visit you.

That never happened.

Annie’s family had an emergency that needed immediate care. Thankfully it was back in New Jersey and your mother agreed to watch Mathew. It was tedious and stressful but by the end of the week, everything was under control.

You go pick up Mathew, hopefully, you can greet everyone and talk a bit.

Stanley is gone, your father doesn’t want to talk about it and your mother is inconsolable, you ask Stanford what happened but he angrily tells you to not bother him.

You worry about what happened. But no one gives you a clear answer. You ask where Stanley went and your father’s “to make something for himself” makes it clear you wouldn’t see him in a long while. You are tempted to look for Stanley and stay to fix things but you have a family of your own to look after so you have to keep going. You leave New Jersey reluctantly this time, something about this feels final.

The dread takes a back seat to your family and career, that is what’s important now. And as years go by the information you managed to scavenge doesn’t make the situation any clearer but it's enough for you to put the issue aside.

The year after Stanley’s departure you learn he was banned from New Jersey. You found no way to contact him.

Two years after the fact you learn what happened. Stanely broke Stanford’s machine and cost the family a fortune. That’s why he was kicked out. It doesn’t clear things for you.

Next fall you learn Stanley has gone off and turned into a criminal, a real fraudster.

By New Year's you learn Stanford has been studying and is working towards some sort of scholarship.

In May you hear Stanely has been banned from yet another state.

The following year your mother laments that Stanford has left for Oregon. It sounds like he left to study and left a phone to call. He never picks it up.

Just two months later your mother complains about Stanley calling her to bail him out yet again.

You keep getting this news but you tune in less and less. Your brothers chose their lives and you chose your own and you are busy raising Mathew and working. Some days you want to tell your mom to maybe let go of the twins. They are grown and she is just breaking her own heart worrying this much about them when they never contact her if it isn’t just to worry her. But she is lonely and you know she wants to talk with someone, your dad was never that good of a listener, so you keep taking her calls.

Things settle down in a routine, the sparse news you get from the twins is just background noise at this point, and taking Annie and Mathew for vacations is far more urgent. Some holidays you don’t visit your mom anymore since she has to worry about your dad’s health and he is less pleasant to be around now. You wonder if she would move in with your family so she isn’t alone sometime in the future but save that conversation with Annie for later.

And then one Wednesday you open the newspaper. A page of the Oregon Times falls out of a torn open envelope sent from your parent's apartment to your house. It says in big bold letters that Stanely Pines has died in a car crash, and there is suspicion that someone tampered with the car.

When did Stanley reach Oregon? Did he go to ask Stanford for help? Did Stanford send this news clipping to their parents instead of calling?

Stanley is dead?

You immediately go grab the phone to dial your mother. It takes three times before she answers screaming at you to leave her alone. You ask her to calm down and once she realizes it’s you she breaks down crying. You have to call in sick for work and stay on the phone all morning with your mom while she wonders how this could happen.

You have to figure out how to get out of work and make this trip. Annie asks if she and Mathew should go. You conclude that no, Mathew didn’t know his uncle, and making him do the trip when he has school made no sense.

You leave out the fact that Stanley might have been murdered because his criminal life caught up to him. Is shameful and you hates your brother but really you are more hurt and in disbelief than anything.

After lunch and some more phone calls with your office, you say goodbye to Annie and ask her to explain to Mathew what happened.

It is only in the drive to your mother’s place that the reality settles in. Your baby brother made a mistake when he was in high school and he was pushed away into a life of crime and fraud and he is dead now because of it. Stanley is gone. He doesn’t exist anymore.

And with him, gone is the chance to ever properly talk to him again to understand better and maybe even mend your family.

You’d thought there would always be more time for a perfect opportunity to materialize so all of you could talk. When you were less busy and the twins were willing.

That day would never come now.

You cry. With the road as your only companion.

It is awful when you get to your mother’s place. Your dad mumbles about money and being a waste and other such nonsense while your mother is inconsolable. You do your best to make sense of this and figure out the logistics. Your father refuses to leave but your mother insists on going. So you arrange for her to go while you look after your father.

He complains about Stanford not sending aid, and how Stanley didn’t amount to anything important.

You remain quiet. It is unfair but it has always been like this with him. And you are tired and the guilt is eating at you. The guilt of not doing better back then so things went better, and guilt now for not going. But this is probably one of the last times you are expected to be the eldest son. So you stay put so at least someone can go and grieve Stanley in peace.

Maybe Stanford would go too. They were twins, after all, they were always closer to each other. You shouldn’t get in the way of their farewells.

Your mother returns and confirms Stanford was there. That he kept away and refused to be near her. She tried to convince him to return but he refused. His place is in Gravity Falls for whatever reason.

It takes about an hour after getting in the car to start it and make the drive back home. Just like before you have to keep going. You have your own family to worry about.

You drive back home to Annie and Mathew, you take them out for pizza to talk with Mathew in case he has questions. He doesn’t, his uncles don’t cause him much interest. It makes sense. You feel hurt by it regardless.

The only thing Mathew asks is if you’ll have to make that trip again for Stanford in the future. You explain that you won’t.

The image of a very scared and downtrodden Stanley crosses your mind. You have trouble sleeping for a month but slowly everything settles back to normal.

Two years later you have to drive to New Jersey again. This time to bury your father. It is a shorter visit now, your mother doesn’t dwell on it for long and neither do you. You don’t hear anything from Stanford.

Mathew is now approaching high school and he talks about college, a lot. California is brought up multiple times. You consider it, first to prepare everything for Mathew to go on his own. But then you wonder if maybe you and Annie should move too. You bring it up to her and she agrees, she’d like a warmer place to retire and if Mathew is going to California it makes sense to keep close to him.

But to move to California means leaving your mother behind and you can’t be so far away from her. Not now. Not until you talk with her and she thanks you for thinking of her and not leaving her behind like the twins. You tried changing the conversation then but she asks you to bury her in New Jersey, and afterward to go to California to start anew. Away from all the tragedy and sadness.

You agree California will be good for Mathew, Annie, and you. There are many possibilities there. California is closer to Oregon as well. Maybe Stanford will reach out someday. Maybe he’ll find it easier to reach out.

That day doesn’t come.

You are the one to call him when your mother passes away the next summer. Stanford picks up, he sounds far cheerier, far from the shy recluse you remember. He sounds just like Stanely. It is something good to hold onto while navigating grief once more.

Stanford explains he won’t be going to your mother’s funeral. After Stanely, he just can't bear it. You understand, you’d do the same but you are the eldest and this is par for the course. Informing Stanford of the move to California and offering a chance to reconnect falls on you as well.

Stanford doesn’t sound convinced. He is busy. He can’t travel. You ask if you and your family can visit him for a summer then. He tells you no. He rather be alone, but he wouldn’t mind talking with you by phone.

You don’t understand Stanford. But he is family and you want to at least salvage your relationship, since your parents and Stanley are gone. So you agree.

Once or twice a month you set aside an afternoon to talk with Stanford.

He sounds happy even if he doesn’t share much of what he is up to. You figure he must be busy with his investigations and may have to keep things classified.

He asks about you Mathew and Annie, you update him. Mathew is all grown up now and going to college. You cheerfully ask Stanford if he has any pointers on how best to study you can pass on to your boy.

Stanford ends the call early.

You wonder if he’ll ever let go of that grudge. Mathew tells you to give it a rest. He knows about the twins, you’ve told him about them but he concludes that it would be best if you just let them go.

You remember the times you used to tell your mother that. You understand her refusal now. There are echoes of regret in your mind now. If you had tried back then how different would your life be now? Would Stanley be alive still?

You have trouble sleeping for a week. Saturday morning you call Stanford, you share your plans of retiring in California, and invite him to consider a similar plan. Stanford says he has no plans of retiring any time soon. So you change gears, you tell him you are planning to go to Oregon in October after Mathew has left for college and you’ve visited Annie’s family, and your parent's graves, and you plan to go to Oregon and visit Stanley’s grave. You ask Stanford to go with you. He says no.

You hang up.

It’s been so long. You don’t understand why Stanford holds onto his grudge. How he holds on. They were twins and their closest buddies and yet. You weren’t as close to Stanley and yet.

Almost a lifetime later things still don’t make sense.

Mathew has gone off to college, and Annie’s family was happy to see you both. Retirement won't come anytime soon so you take some days off and travel to Oregon. On your own. This feels like something you must do alone.

All the bus ride up north you are wondering what you’ll tell Stanford once you meet him. You never land in anything precise.

You found yourself much calmer than expected when you visited Stanley’s grave. Even if you did miss him more than you’d realize and the thought of Mathew getting to know him crossed your mind, it wasn’t as painful an ordeal as you’d prepared yourself for it to be. It was upsetting realizing how used you’d become to Stanley being gone, even if it had been almost twenty years.

It felt wrong despite being the best outcome.

You wonder if Stanford has dealt with something similar and if that is why he refuses to engage in any manner. Maybe the past just weighs too heavily on him. You get to the closest phone booth and call Stanford for the first time in months.

He is surprised to hear you and immediately goes on to apologize. You stop him and apologize first for pushing the issue of Stanley again. He doesn’t reply so you keep talking. You wanted to help somehow, make amends, and ensure Stanford won’t be alone, you are here now in Oregon, if Stanford wants you’ll go visit.

He declines, he’d rather be let alone. But he is thankful for the offer, and for the phone calls.

You return home, things are a little bit clearer, and even if it is confusing you feel less guilty. Returning to Annie and planning a vacation for the holidays certainly helps.

As the years go by, you receive constant updates from Mathew living it up in college. He has an easier time than you ever did, it is a relief. The phone calls continue, there are some gaps in summer but they return by fall. Is easy to settle down in a routine again.

Even with changes like Mathew meeting a girl at college and bringing her over during winter break, and a long-awaited promotion as well, the motions are easy to replicate, and everything keeps going as it should.

You plan some more vacations and make some sort of workshop to keep busy if only to break the repetitiveness shortening the years. One afternoon you sit with old photos and are reminded of the twins, and how they dreamt of traveling the world together. It occurs to you that maybe you and Stanford could do something similar. And just as quickly you leave the idea. A Stan o War didn’t sound like a place for a Shermie. It was probably something best kept between the twins, and besides you are getting old, what would you even do in the sea? At this time of the year with the temperature dropping?

You leave the idea aside, and there is no time to take it into account again, winter breaks comes around again and Mathew is back, to admit he got his girlfriend pregnant.

You learn her name is Katie, you try and be as warm and calm as possible about this, even if you had assumed you wouldn’t see her around again, she and Mathew didn’t seem like they’d enjoy much time together and now they have a life ahead they have to share. You do your best to ease Mathew’s fears, but he seems determined to hold onto them. You don’t understand, but there is no time for that. By February you’ve met Katie’s parents, they seem to be a nice bunch even if they sound displeased at the situation, Annie suspects you won’t be seeing much of them in the years to come.

Nothing you say seems to help Mathew. He is angry at you now as if it were your fault, he doesn’t want to talk with you anymore. You’ve messed up again somehow. Twenty years later you are still as useless when it comes to looking after your family it seems. You consider calling Stanford and telling him about the news if only to figure out what you could say better. But you stop. That wouldn’t be of any use, you just can’t let go of the guilt from the past, and putting the present guilt into the same bag won’t solve anything.

You help Mathew and Katie find a house, and Annie offers to help the first year so both of them can finish college, you still aren’t sure how to talk with Mathew about the entire thing but Annie assures you he is just scared but once the shock wears off and they have a solid plan in place he’ll stop sulking. It is April and Mathew has had five months to come to terms with the situation, you suspect he won’t ever come to terms with it. You spend a month sleeping badly wondering where you went wrong.

An afternoon in May you call Stanford. You don’t know what else you could do.

He sounds cheery. He sounds like Stanley.

You ask Stanford if he’s been keeping away because he is angry with you.

He assures that is not the case. He explains that if anything you are the one he has the least gripes with. You wonder what gripes he could have after your parents favored him over Stanley. You don’t dig any deeper, but ask instead why he chose to be on his own, and why it helped him, he sounds happier now and you want to understand. If you can understand maybe you can understand a little about what Mathew is facing and find a way to support him even if it will have to be from afar.

Stanford admits being alone has made him no good. And he is alone because he has to.

You won’t get more answers. No concrete words will alleviate all the ways you’ve failed. To the twins, to your parents, and now to Mathew.

You try and wrap up the conversation but Stanford asks you what is wrong, jokingly of course, you wonder if the twins were always this similar.

With the question asked you are forced to answer, you can’t keep it for yourself.

Stanford listens and laughs after you are done. “Well we are Pines, tough as nails and impulsive, he’ll be fine”

You share your doubts. Stanford brushes them aside, those are Mathew’s problems to sort out and he’ll figure it out. Besides he has you close by, and you were always reliable. It will be alright.

It doesn’t alleviate the guilt but it is good to hear it.

You thank Stanford, he asks what for before laughing and asking to be notified once the kid arrives. He hangs up.

There is much to worry about still but that helped. Even the tiniest bit.

By July Mathew comes around to talk. He plans to get married after Katie has recovered enough after the twins arrive. Oh, that's right, they are having twins. Seems the Pines are supposed to come in pairs, huh?

Mathew wonders why that is, you wonder too. Maybe it's been long enough and things will go well this time. You wonder if Stanford will think as much about this as you are. You wonder too what Stanley might have said.

You go with Mathew to ensure his and Katie’s house is correctly baby-proofed because running after two toddlers will be a whole ordeal.

By the end of summer, Mabel and Mason Pines join the family. You asked Mathew if it was his idea to keep the twins named similarly, Katie clarifies that she heard about the Stans and thought it would be cute for this set of twins to share similar names too.

You wonder if it would be best they didn’t, but it wasn’t their names that led Stanley and Stanford to the lives they had, it was everything else. You don’t comment on it.

Mason has a birthmark on his forehead that looks just like the Big Dipper. Heh. An oddity, just like Satnford’s extra finger. What a coincidence, you wonder once again why the pattern repeated, but stopped almost as soon as you started. It wouldn’t be fair to saddle this kid with everything that's happened before, so you settle into calling Stanford and telling him the news.

He goes quiet after hearing that the new additions to the family are twins. You don’t ask if he is alright, is clear he is thinking about Stanley. The conversation moves awkwardly from there until it ends after Stanford considers visiting, he doesn’t sound committed. You can’t blame him.

Having him call more often to ask about the twins is a surprise. You do your best to keep him updated. It is easy with Annie being there for the grandkids as well as Katie and Mathew, and checking on them yourself during the weekends. Even with Annie by your side, it had felt quite lonely and you hadn’t realized. A part of you missed the crowded apartment from New Jersey. It is the same part that misses being useful to your family. You frown while holding the twins to give the others a break. Is something wrong with you?

Annie always thanked you for all your help, Mathew never said much. You’ve always been there for your family, why did the sense of satisfaction only return now? You look at the twins again. Is it about guilt again?

You try to dismiss it, but the question stays on your mind. As you punch numbers for Mathew’s and Katie’s wedding, as you plan a vacation for the whole family, as you speak with Stanford through the phone, as you pick up the twins from daycare. It hammers constantly on the back of your head, you thought this had stopped but you’ve realized it cannot stop. It is not something you can understand and stop. Because it is not just a part of you. It is you.

You can’t help but find things to worry about and work to solve them or keep worrying. You need to be fixing things, you remain the eldest son even if you are an old man now buying wood to plan a treehouse for your grandkids' 4th birthday.

It is something difficult to come to gripes with. But hearing Stanford laugh and say how obvious it was makes it clearer that such is the case, and once you accept it you can sit down and piece together why you spent so many years not feeling like this. And it becomes clear while helping Annie wrap the presents for Mason and Mabel. You are looking after them the same you did for Stanley and Stanford. Back then your parents simply couldn’t focus. Now Mathew and Katie are too busy trying to find a way to live peacefully near each other so you are looking after twins again.

You try to speak with Mathew but he yells at you and stops answering your calls and turning Annie away from lunch. Trying to talk with Annie doesn’t work either, she just shrugs and tells you to not interfere and look after the kids yet another weekend.

You do, because how could you not? It’s been almost thirty years and you are still looking after a matched set of twins, one a very extroverted and loud kid, one a shyer studious one.

You laugh one day while reading with Mason while keeping an eye on Mabel and her mud pie-making business. It is uncanny. How did this happen?

Stanford remarks on the similarities too when the two of you two talk, but he changes the subject far too quickly. Annie argues it may just have to do with how stubborn the Pines are before kissing you and demanding you do something about the leak in the garage at last to prove her wrong. You go fix it while grumbling.

Next summer you find yourself looking after the twins again to give Mathew and Katie some space. How old are they now? Seven? They are both shaping out to be a handful in widely different ways. It is very familiar but it is getting difficult to keep up with both of them and break up fights. Even between you and Annie, the twins are running circles around you both. It is normal, they are children after all, but you hope Mathew and Katie will find a solution soon because it is becoming clear you don’t have many summers left as an effective babysitter. You could probably squeeze some more summers as just a cool grandpa supervising some teens but that didn’t sound like it would be fun for the kids.

Annie agrees, but not even your shared efforts convinced Mathew to change things enough.

The following year you had to pick the kids for summer again a whole week earlier as Mathew and Katie got in a big nasty fight. Big enough Dipper- right Mason liked his nickname better- had come to Annie and asked why his parents were fighting while Mabel was sleeping.

You show up the next day at Mathew and Katie's house to inform them that their kid had heard them and demand they do something. Mathew of course is mad you are demanding something from him and being nosey, but you’ve been warning them for years their bickering and resentment would get to the kids. They need to fix this somehow since Katie’s parents won't look after the twins, and you and Annie can’t keep doing it.

It just starts another fight. They were still arguing by the time you left. You’ve ruined it. Again.

Annie suggested you keep away and focus on helping the twins however possible since intervening would not work. You agreed with a heavy heart and made sure to remind the kids that if they needed anything they could call you.

The following three years were somewhat calm. The kids called but it was just a couple of times, sometimes just to say hi or visit you. You kept Stanford updated, he was gleeful to hear about them and every year he warmed up to the idea of having them visit. You encouraged this since the twins could use some more support, just like Stanford and Stanley, they didn’t seem to make friends aside from each other, but they needed more people in their lives. You hoped they could always rely on each other but you didn’t want a repeat of what happened to Stanley.

And then it was May. Suddenly things took a nosedive. Katie left their house after a fight and Mathew called announcing a divorce was on the cards. No surprise there, unfortunately. Mathew asked you to take in the twins for the summer but they were twelve now, almost teenagers, and you were a boring old man. Besides Annie had talked about going on vacations just the two of you, so you had to tell Mathew that you could not take the twins.

Mathew asked then if Stanford could take them. That surprised you, he’d never been close with his uncle. But it seemed natural to Mathew, he had to figure out lawyers and possibly how to split the house, sending the kids to Oregon by bus where they could stay with family was much easier and cheaper than setting up summer camp.

You weren’t sure Stanford would accept but you agreed to ask him.

He accepted immediately after explaining the situation. Saying he’d need help around the shop and would like to meet the kids.

You asked about the shop and Stanford gave a rundown of his business, the “Mystery Shack” as he called it. It sounded very different from what you’d expected him to be doing. Stanford explained he eventually got bored of his investigation and pivoted. The business sounded like something Stanley might have done back in the day, but you didn’t mention that. If this was an opportunity for Stanford to reconnect with the family, as well as for the kids to meet him then you’d take it.

You call Mathew and confirm Stanford would host the kids for the summer. The next weekend you take the kids for lunch and explain the plan, Dipper didn’t seem thrilled and asked why he couldn’t stay with you and Annie, Mabel was excited about the “summer adventure” as she put it. You could only promise some fun plans to Dipper once he was back, it didn’t stop his sulking but it was enough. You told the kids they could call anytime they needed using the landline, that's how you’d kept in contact with Stanford. Mabel assured you they’d be too busy to call so they’d share everything once they came back. You hoped it would go that well.

Annie and you left for their vacations in June and you returned by mid-July, by then the kids had gone to Gravity Falls already.

Things only worsened between Mathew and Katie, but you’d done your part. All that you could hope was that the twins would find a less tense house once they returned.

Stanford called and gave you updates, he sounded so happy. It made you smile. The calls dwindled in the later half of summer since Stanford was making renovations to his shop and too busy to talk, but even if the calls were briefer and shorter, everything seemed to be going well. You wondered if maybe next summer you could go with the twins and visit Stanford, maybe it had been enough time?

Annie liked the plan, she wondered how fancy Stanford’s cabin in the woods was, you had to explain Stanford had made it into some sort of shop so maybe not the most fanciful abode. She remained curious regardless. You suspected it was a preemptive plan since what followed for Mathew and Katie didn’t look all that bright but neither of you could do more aside from offering support. At least talks and agreements started going more smoothly towards the end of summer.

It would be easier for the twins like this. All in all the summer had gone well.

The kids returned, with a pig. You had to call Stanford for an explanation and he only said “Is your problem now”.

You came to learn that the pig's name was Waddles, since Katie didn’t want him in the house, Annie decided to move it to your backyard. It was a very odd pet, but Mabel seemed ecstatic that she could keep him. The little guy was cute, and the twins visited more often to look after him so it wasn’t a big “problem” to have.

What was a big problem was the twins inviting themselves to your house for a serious talk. That was new, but a talk on itself didn’t have to be a big problem. What was the problem were the declarations made.

Stanley was alive, and he’d been the twin you’d be talking with this entire time. Stanford had gone missing but he’d been found just this summer thanks to the kids.

Impossible.

Mabel tried to keep you calm while Dipper hurried to explain all and asked you not to share what they told you with their parents.

What followed was four hours of insanity. Of outright undiluted insanity.

You listened to it all. Trying to make sense of the tales of zombies and monsters they shared. But it was harder to reconcile with the fact both of your baby brothers were still alive and that Stanley was never lost but Stanford. But in a way you’d lost both of them. And you didn’t even know it. And now you had them back? Both of them?

You had to pace around the table and assure the kids you were fine while you felt your world shatter as well as the last 30 years enshrined in your mind.

Never mind your grandkids causing and surviving the apocalypse. You scolded them for it but then hugged them thankful they were alright and asked them to go home. They left worried. Annie asked what happened but the first thing you did was call Stanley and greet him as such.

The line went silent before he complained about the kids revealing everything so quickly.

You demanded to hear Stanford and to have them both explain everything. And for Stanley to allow you to visit.

He agreed and put Stanford on the line, he greeted you politely and with remorse.

Hearing him again made you wonder how you ever thought you’d been talking with Stanford for the last 30 years. It was suddenly clear, your memories of the twins, so many questions you’d have through the years. The sense of wrongness. You cursed them, tearing up, and demanded once more you be allowed to visit.

Both twins apologized and agreed. They wanted to see you, before leaving to travel the world.

They were leaving. They found each other and they would leave together. Of course, they were a matched set. Just like Dipper and Mabel.

Of course.

You laughed, still teary-eyed. It made you so irreparably sad to somehow be left behind again, but it made sense and you were glad they were both alive and well.

Both apologized and tried to explain. But you settled in cackling and complaining playfully. You were all a bunch of old men now, and yet. You would flick them on the forehead for all the trouble they caused, give them a good punch in the arm, and then hug them before they could disappear again. They agreed that was fair and talked about you coming to visit, as well as the kids. They were done keeping away from family.

At long last.

#gravity falls #shermie pines #pines family #why do i always end up with the most niche concepts for fics and why are they so long #anyways first time doing something in second person perspective #neat exercise #ivi drabbles #ivi writes

48 notes · View notes