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Fortunately, Mabel seemed to notice that something was wrong as she hugged his arm and smiled at him. He had decided long ago that he hated colors, that all they ever did was bring him pain. He still stood by that. But… he thought, looking over at Mabel and Dipper, covered in colorful stickers, and bright colored clothing as they stood -or rather, sat- by him. Sometimes -just sometimes-, they weren’t so bad. He smiled back.
~~~~~~~
No matter how long he stared at the card, he couldn’t focus and his vision swum. Eventually, he gave up on trying to read it. He just felt so… out of it. Like some part of him was controlling him, but he didn’t know where the rest was. Maybe it was tucked away in his head, or it was looking through countless memories for… something. He’s not sure if he wants to know what that something is. It all seemed distorted, just a bit unreal. Stan had a feeling it had something to do with so many memories dragging themselves out of where he’d hidden them. Everything just seemed… wrong.
Sighing, he looked at the doctor, “Sorry, I can’t seem to focus right now.”
Dr. Medicine simply nodded and responded with, “Well, our time is about up anyways. You’ll probably be able to focus better at our next appointment. For now, is there any more questions you’d like to ask?”
“Yeah, let’s start with ‘next appointment’?” Stan asked warily, not sure where this was going.
“Ah, yes, things like this aren’t going to be helped in one session. We will need several to actually help.” She explained patiently, but her words seemed to have a double meaning, one that Stan couldn’t pick up as he was feeling a little lightheaded.
“Right. Right, what about the rest of the fonts?” He was actually concerned about that, seeing as they were the one thing that had helped him read.
“We’ll go over those in the next meeting. We’re through most of them anyway.”
“Okay. Hey, why do different fonts work?”
“That is because the letters that typically look alike have been altered in some way so that they are more distinguishable to people with dyslexia.”
Dipper spoke up next, a sticker almost falling off his nose before Mabel noticed and stuck it on his hat, “Is there any way for him to get the correct prescription for his glasses?”
Dr. Medicine smiled at him before she spoke up, “I actually have an idea for that. By using the outlines of common animals, there shouldn’t be any problem with letters. All he has to do is guess the correct animal, and we should be able to get a more accurate prescription. However,” She continued, looking at her clipboard, “You seem to have cataracts. I’d suggest cataract surgery before looking at prescription glasses.”
When Stan made a noncommittal noise, Ford glanced over before saying, “Yeah, we’ll do that.”
Stan may have glared at him. Of course the clone/blackmailed Ford would agree with the doctor. He didn’t want to pay for surgery, or for anyone else to pay it for him. He hated being in dept, and was perhaps a bit stingy. Okay, make that a hoarder of money. When Ford saw him glaring, however, he huffed and rolled his eyes.
“Relax, I’ll pay for it, Lee.” He said, affectionately.
Wait. Hold up. No way. His nickname? ‘Affectionately’? As in ‘brotherly affection’?! Clone. It’s a clone. Glad to have sorted that out. That’s one less problem to sort out, but it seems that a few more have cropped up. How would he get the kids away from the clone? Where was his real brother? Why was this happening? Wait… if it was a clone, how did it know his nickname, but not how Ford acted? Well. He was no longer able to tell, and now his head was slowly spinning. Great. It wasn’t enough to make him sick, but it was uncomfortable and disorientating.
“Nah, wouldn’t want to take your money too.” ABORT. ABORT. ABORT MISSION. He DID NOT mean to say THAT.
For his part, Ford looked confused and hurt a moment before saying, “Stan, you may have done some questionable things, but you got me back. And I’m glad that you did. Of course I’ll pay, it’s the least I can do.” The ‘also you saved the world’ went unsaid because the doctor was still there, but everyone else heard it.
Stan teared up a bit. Clone or no clone, that was possibly the one thing he wanted to hear from him. That he was at least happy he’d been brought back.
“It-” He cleared his throat and pretended his voice didn’t break, “It was no big deal.” He didn’t refuse to be treated this time.
His twin grinned at him before turning back to the doctor.
“Alright, I believe that is it, you can make another appointment at the desk,” Dr. Medicine explained, making her way to the door and opening it, “Also, this is my contact information if you have anymore questions.”
She handed them a business card as they walked out the door, but pulled Stan aside. Waving his family on, he turned to her.
“Stan. While this was about dyslexia, I saw many signs of abuse. You don’t need to tell me anything right away, but I’m always here if you need to talk to anybody.” She spoke softly, looking him in the eyes.
Waving his hand, he opened his mouth to deny it. But found that he couldn’t. Sincerity shimmered in her eyes while determination hardened them. A lump formed in his throat, and he looked away, nodding minutely.
She let out a small breath before speaking again, “If you’d ever like to, you can also discuss it in our meetings. Now, go on. Be with your family.”
Grinning at her, he nodded and walked off before stopping and looking back at her.
“Sooo, did you replace my brother with a clone or…”
She laughed, motioned for him to keep going, and went back into her office. Stan was… you know what? Stan was going to take that as a ‘no’. Which made everything a bit more confusing, but when wasn't it confusing in this family. Walking towards them, he saw dozens of stickers littering his brothers back, making Stan grin as he saw Mabel discreetly stick another one on. He was so proud. He still felt the world sway gently under his feet, but that was okay. He walked towards them, somehow feeling lighter than he has been in years. Joining up at them, he ruffled Dipper’s and Mabel’s hair before they walked out together, after he made another appointment, of course.
As soon as they reached the parking lot, Mabel passed him two stickers. One was a ducktective sticker and the other was the franken-sticker he’d saw her working on. He felt his eyes water as he passed her a -very colorful- kitten sticker. She gasped when she saw it, and immediately stuck it into her sticker scrapbook. Then Stan got another surprise. Ford wrapped his arms around him. And though Stan would deny this, he squeaked. Mabel squealed and bounced, tugging at Dippers arm, who was similarly happy. After a moment, Ford let go, adjusted his glasses, and looked away.
Looking back at Stan, Ford cleared his throat before saying, “Thank you. For, you know, bringing me back. It must have been difficult.”
Stan could not remember going back home. All he knew was that he was conscious for the trip. Stumbling into the house, he looked at everyone, and he knew one thing. They were going to make him go to therapy, whether he liked it or not. Not that he was arguing.