Work Text:
Stan Pines had been deliberately insulted multiple times throughout his life. By classmates, by his own relatives, by former girlfriends, by angry customers, by old business associates, by law enforcement, whatever. It was nothing new and he had long ago learned to not let it get to him that much. After all, just like his father had taught him, you needed to toughen up to get through life.
But he had never felt quite as insulted as in that moment when Soos had accidentally mistaken some hideous, hairy monster for him.
He remembered walking past the living room that night and spotting Soos and the kids, all of them crowded around his couch and watching TV with some weird, naked, little beast that was in the process of devouring all of their golf clubs. It had certainly been weird, but not as weird as some of the other phenomena around this town, so Stan had payed it no more mind and just walked onwards towards the kitchen to fetch a can of Pitt Cola.
That was until he heard Soos loudly gasp and exclaim: “Stan?! What - What are you doing over there? I thought you were here, I...” His voice trailed off and Stan turned towards his handyman, slight confusion and annoyance on his face.
“Yeah, I was about to grab a drink. Why do you think I'm in the kitchen? ...And what do you mean by 'I thought you were here'?”
Soos actually looked a bit sheepish as his gaze went from the little beast on the couch over to Stan and then back to the beast, before finally settling down on the floor, the handyman unable to look his employer in the eye. That's when it dawned on Stan. Soos had been mixing him up with that thing!
For a moment he was just standing there, completely gobsmacked, staring at his handyman in utter shock. Then he wordlessly grabbed his Pitt Cola and went back to his room, not even dignifying the whole situation with a response.
That night he laid awake in his bed brooding over the whole thing.
He felt personally insulted about Soos' mix-up. He felt angry to be compared to some ugly creature like that, frustrated over Soos' idiocy there... and strangely hurt that his own employee - one that had been working for him for so many years and was almost like family in a way - couldn't keep him apart from some creature.
He didn't let anyone in on how much he was bothered by the whole thing. The next day during work hours he had just been his usual self, treating his employees and the kids the same as always, even if deep down he still felt upset. Soos had also seemed affected after yesterday, being gloomier than usual, acting pretty awkward and embarrassed whenever he was around Stan and not once looking the older man in the eyes - something that also bothered Stan.
The weird atmosphere between the two didn't go unnoticed by Wendy and the kids. The three often threw weird glances in their direction and one time Mabel and Wendy actually pulled Soos aside to talk to him in private. Stan tried to ignore all of it, focusing instead on his work and his customers, which actually worked quite well.
But once the customers were gone and the Mystery Shack had closed, Stan's thoughts returned back to the mix-up. The old man just let out an annoyed grumble as he changed out of his suit into some leisurewear and parked himself in front of the TV - the same spot Soos and that creature had been last night, sitting together and watching that stupid movie!
Stan raised the volume on the TV to drown out his own thoughts.
For the next two days nothing significant happened. Work went on as usual and while Stan and Soos had still been a bit awkward around each other, it wasn't that noticeable. Stan still pretended that nothing was wrong and Soos clearly tried to leave that embarrassing moment behind them by playing along with his boss' charade. Everything was normal.
Until the day after that. Wendy had approached the Pines family and Soos first thing in the morning and had told them all about her upcoming family trip: About how her dad wanted to take her and her brothers on a little road trip over the weekend. About how they were planning on visiting different locations along the way: Some historic sites, some neighboring towns, some attractions... And then she asked the others if they wanted to come along for the trip.
The kids were immediately onboard with the idea, begging their Grunkle for permission to come along and persuading Soos - who still seemed a little bit down - to join them as well. They argued that it would be great to do a big family trip and Mabel especially insisted that road trips were like the best thing ever to just relax and take your mind off things. Stan had a hunch that the trip might have been planned by Wendy and the kids to cheer Soos up, but even if it wasn't the idea sounded good. Maybe a road trip was just the thing Stan needed to distract him from his own thoughts. And so he agreed.
The first few stops had been pretty fun and interesting. They had driven through some old forests, where Dan had told them plenty of trivia about trees and forestation and the like; they had visited an old neighboring town that had plenty of history and museums; Dan had taken them all out for dinner at a restaurant there that, according to him, he and his late wife had often frequented in the past; and they had camped out in the forest, where everyone told each other scary stories around the campfire.
Stan especially had been really good in telling all of his spooky tales and everyone had been quite enraptured by them. Well, everyone except for Soos, who still seemed half-stuck in his own thoughts. Stan did notice it, but didn't outwardly react to it, still sticking to the charade. Everything was normal.
The next day they passed through another town and Dan's boys begged their father for permission to visit the local zoo, which he ultimately granted. And so it came to be that Stan spend the next three hours being dragged from exhibit to exhibit by the kids. He didn't much care for looking at animals, unless they were weird enough to use as inspiration for his Mystery Shack, but he went along with it for the childrens' sake. Soos on the other hand seemed to lighten up in this environment, taking many pictures of different animals and even buying some souvenirs in the gift shop.
They all came upon a reptile house and Soos, who was in a much better mood now, automatically turned to Stan and asked him if he wanted to go inside with him and look at these reptiles. Stan couldn't help raising his eyebrow. Oh, now he was properly talking with him and looking at him, after being so awkward for several days. Stan couldn't hold back a snide remark:
“Why don't you ask that gorilla over there, I'm sure he'd be glad to join you. Not that it would make a difference if it was me or him, eh?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Especially after seeing Soos' face. The handyman's expression quickly switched from hopeful, to shocked, to hurt, to guilty, until finally settling on sad. He averted his eyes from his boss and gave out a weak laugh, trying to still play along with the charade and write Stan's words off as a joke:
“Hehe... yeah... maybe he would like it. I mean, I'm sure gorillas would love to look at reptiles... probably.”
The atmosphere suddenly seemed a lot more heavy. Wendy, Mabel and Dipper had gone quiet, having witnessed this scene from afar, and were now looking in their direction. Soos self-consciously rubbed his shoulder and even seemed to wilt a little bit, before forcing a weak smile back on his lips and exclaiming: “Well, I'm gonna go in there anyway. See what they have.”
And with that he quickly walked away from his boss and into the house, shoulders hung low all the way. Stan gave a long, suffering sigh once Soos was gone. Great work, Stan. Way to ruin the moment.
The old man stood there for a little while, hating himself and being torn on whether to follow Soos inside or just stay here. He looked at the house, then over at his niece and nephew, who were staring expectantly at their Grunkle and with a quiet “Screw it” on his lips he went inside.
To his surprise he found Soos sitting alone on a bench, completely ignoring the exhibits and just staring gloomily at the ground. The handyman only looked up when he noticed his employer sitting down next to him. Soos' eyes were glassy.
“Hey, look...”, started Stan and rubbed his neck awkwardly. He was not good at this emotional stuff. “That joke back there... it was stupid. Not one of my best ones. Just - just ignore what I said. It wasn't important.”
To his second surprise Soos vehemently shook his head. “No. No, it is important. It's my fault.”
His boss just looked over at him, perplexed, so Soos continued: “I'm a bad employee, after all. I mess things up, I get everything wrong, I'm no good, I'm not appreciative enough, I-”
Soos' voice was getting higher and higher as he spoke and he looked very close to crying. Stan quickly put his hands up and interrupted him: “Whoa, whoa, whoa! I didn't say that! No one said that! You're a good employee, Soos, you shouldn't-”
“But I'm not even able to recognize you!!”, cried out Soos and with that the tears finally came. He buried his face in his hands and continued quietly between his sobs: “You've done so much for me... Helped me so much... Gave me work... And I can't even recognize you! I totally mistook that creature for you! What kind of employee am I? I'm... I'm stupid!”
“What?! No, Soos, no...” Stan, overwhelmed by Soos' sudden outburst, immediately put his hand on the other's shoulder, desperate to calm him down. “You - You're not stupid, Soos. You are my most trusted employee, after all.”
“But I constantly mess things up!”
“No, you don't. You're doing a great job-”
“But I break so many things and get us in trouble all the time! I broke that window last week...”
“Well, that was just-”
“...I knocked over that exhibit of yours...”
“I mean, to be fair-”
“...I almost got us lost in that underground mine while searching for Mabel's pig...”
“Well...”
“...and now I'm not even able to recognize you!”
“...”
Stan was quiet for a moment, processing those words. It was true what Soos was saying: He did have a penchant for messing things up sometimes. And sure, more often than not it could be frustrating. But to hear his handyman talk about himself in such a demeaning and self-defeating manner... it didn't sit right with him.
The old man let out a silent sigh and moved his hand from Soos' shoulder over to his back, rubbing it in an attempt to calm him down. He did that for several seconds, all the while searching in his mind for the right words.
When he finally found them, he spoke slowly and calmly: “Soos. Listen to me. It's true that you sometimes mess up.” Soos let out another sob at that part. “And yeah, when you confused me with that thing... that hurt.” Another sob. “But I never said that you're stupid or that you're a bad employee. That's not true. You've been helpful many times and you can have moments of brilliance. It's just... sometimes you make mistakes. We all do. There is nothing wrong with that.”
When the sobs still hadn't stopped, he continued: “Look, I don't hate you for it. And I'm not gonna hold it against you. I mean, we've known each other for many years now and you've been helping around the shack for all that time. If I truly hated you or thought you were incompetent I would have fired you years ago. No, you're my best employee, Soos. Or maybe you're more like a confidant at this point, or some kinda friend or like a long, lost son I never had, I dunno.”
That got Soos' attention. He immediately lifted his head up and looked over at Stan with big, glassy eyes, his sadness momentarily forgotten. “W-what? Say that again.”
“Huh? Say what again?”
“That... that last part.”
“Oh. Well, like I said, you are my best employee.”, repeated Stan, thinking that that was what Soos was referring to.
But the handyman shook his head and spoke in a low voice: “No, after that. You said that I was like a confidant to you or a friend or......” He stopped at that point, wanting Stan to repeat that part again, half-believing that he might have even misheard. There was no way that Mr. Pines had said-
“... or like a long, lost son. Whatever fits best.”, completed Stan for him, shrugging. Soos just kept staring at his boss after that, awestruck, unable to say anything.
“Ehh... you alright?”, asked Stan after several long moments of silence, worried that he might have said something wrong there. Soos just nodded his head at the question, a legitimate smile creeping on his face as he wiped away his tears and answered in a shaky, relieved voice: “Yes... Yes, I'm alright now.”
Stan finally felt himself relax and retrieved his hand from Soos' back. “Well, I'm glad we got that out of the way. Now, we should probably go back. The kids are likely wondering where we are at this point.”
“Probably...”, agreed Soos, but then his smile grew wider: “But, since we are already here, we might as well take a look around first before going back. Don't you think?”
Stan thought a second about the offer, before shrugging: “Sure, why not?”
They were already here, after all. Might as well take a look at these reptiles.