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The sun rose in the sky, shedding light upon the pine covered hills and valleys, and turning dew drops into tiny beads of gold upon the grass. The rain from the night before had awoken the rich smell of green and earth, and the birds were chirping in their nests, perhaps celebrating that the storm had ended. It was a perfect morning really…
Unless you were Wendy Corduroy, who was currently walking down the path to the Mystery Shack.
“Okay Wendy,” the red-head said aloud, trying to build herself up. “You can do this. Soos said that everything was fixed up. No more agents swarming around, no gravity anomalies, nothing. The only new thing is that it turns out Mr. Pines has a twin who trapped in a portal for the past thirty years. Nothing weird about that. Also, there’s a chance that Stan’s efforts to get him back may have set off a chain reaction that could lead to the apocalypse; but hey we’ve all been there before.”
The teen slowed down and drew in a few deep breaths. This was okay. She would make it be okay. She had to, for the good of the group.
Because frankly, when push came to shove, she really cared about those guys. Dipper was a witty little genius that she could always talk smack with, Mabel was just about the cutest, most thoughtful kid ever, and Soos was that one guy that you could always count on to have your back. Heck, Wendy even had to admit that she liked Stan - the old man practically robbed people and got off scot free on a daily basis. How could you not respect that?
Yeah, she cared about them. And that was why no amount of stress was going to keep her from going back to work.
“Listen up Wendy,” she ordered herself, “you are going to go in there and man the crap out of that register! You’re gonna talk to Soos and the kids like everything’s normal. You’re gonna maybe meet this Author guy. And you will not let any of it stress you out. Remember, stress is for losers. Are you a loser? NO! Are you gonna do this? YES!”
And with that she found herself breaking from her usual steady stroll into brisk jog, her lunch box clanking up and down as she went. After a moment or two, she rounded the bend to find that, sure enough, the Shack was intact. She picked up the past and bounded down the driveway and up the steps, flung the door open, and landed with a thud onto the floor of the Gift Shop.
“Hey guys!” she called, panting slightly. “I’m here!”
The shop was devoid of people, and for a brief moment Wendy stood in silence, her eyes trained on the swinging wooden door that led to the living room. Then, without ceremony, a blur of color, yarn, and brown hair burst the door and made a beeline straight for the teenager.
“WENDY’S BACK!!!” Mabel cheered as she reached her. She jumped and wrapped a hug around the (much) taller girl’s legs, while jumping up and down in excitement. “I missed you so much the past two weeks! You won’t believe everything that’s happened! First the FBI showed up and Grunkle Stan got arrested, then they tried to take me and Dipper away, but we escaped thanks to your dad’s love of Sev’ral Timez, and then - !”
“Whoa, whoa,” Wendy laughed as she bent down to Mabel’s height. “Slow down there, kid. First off: come here and give me a real hug.”
Mabel happily complied, squeezing her friend tight. Wendy felt herself relaxing; if Mabel could still be her usual bouncy self after all of this craziness, then they were sure to get through okay. A moment later they were joined by Dipper and Soos, who gave equally excited greetings.
“Okay,” Mabel said after they’d all calmed down a bit, “so here’s what happened. We-”
“No worries, Mabel,” Wendy interrupted. “Soos actually told me everything already.”
“Wait,” Dipper asked, “even the part about the Author?”
“Yes, even that,” Wendy said with an exasperated eye roll.
Soos gave a sheepish chuckle and said, “Sorry about that, dude. Wish I hadn’t been so excited when I first told you. Otherwise I wouldn’t have called at 3 am. Or have had to retell the story twice.”
“Yeah. I wish that too. But anyway,” Wendy went on, brushing it off, “now that I’m all caught up on the wacky part of things, what’s been going on otherwise? You guys adjusting to things pretty well?”
“Yes!” The twins said in unison. Wendy smiled and leaned against the counter, preparing herself for what was sure to be a barrage of glee.
“Grunkle Ford is so great!” Mabel announced.
“Yeah!” Dipper agreed. “He’s awesome! He’s totally into the same stuff I am like RPGs and puzzles. The other night we talked about Star Trek for like an hour! ”
“And he likes sweaters!” Mabel pulled out a ball of blue yarn and added, “I’m making him a ‘Welcome to the Family’ sweater to celebrate! I’m gonna do it right after I finish the sweater vest I’m making for Mr. McGucket!”
“Oh hey,” Soos broke in, “speaking of which, weren’t you dudes telling me something about McGucket before Wendy showed up?”
Mabel and Dipper paused in their excitement and went wide-eyed, making faces of joy and apprehension respectively.
“OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH!” Mabel squealed, jumping up and down. “I nearly forgot!”
“Forgot what?” Wendy asked.
“Okay, so yesterday,” Dipper began explaining, “I brought McGucket over so that Grunkle Ford and I could try to help him regain his memories. I thought maybe Ford would be able to help him, but it...didn’t go so well… Anyway, so after that, Stan decided to lighten the mood by letting us listen to some of his records. McGucket came to join us, and long story short he spent the rest of the evening with us.”
“Sounds like a party,” Wendy approved.
“But that’s not even the best part!” Mabel broke in. “Later, Dipper and I went downstairs after we were supposed to go to sleep, and we found them dancing!”
“Who’s them?” asked Soos, suddenly confused.
“Stan and McGucket,” Dipper explained.
“Wait, Stan and McGucket?”
“Yes.”
“McGucket and Stan?”
“Yep.”
“Stan and McGucket were dancing?”
“Not just dancing,” sang Mabel. “They were slow dancing!!!”
It was Wendy’s turn to be confused. “Whoa, hold up. You guys are saying that Stan was up late last night, slow dancing with Old Man McGucket? And this wasn’t some sort of Mabel Juice induced hallucination?”
“Nope, as weird as it is, it definitely happened,” Dipper confirmed.
“It was the cutest thing I think I’ve ever seen,” Mabel gushed.
“Stan and McGucket,” Wendy said slowly, trying to let it sink in. It was a weird image, to be sure. Weird, but…
“Y’know, if you think about it, it almost makes sense,” Soos said, voicing Wendy’s thoughts.
“I know, right?” said Mabel. “Dipper doesn’t seem to agree, though.”
“I’m just not sure if it would actually work,” Dipper explained in a reasonable tone of voice. “I mean, first of all, McGucket’s still working to get back on his feet after all of the terrible things he’s been through, while Stan’s a wanted criminal throughout most of the US.”
“Sorry Dipper, but I can’t hear you over the sound of LOVE!” Mabel threw her arms in the air for emphasis.
“Stan in love? Now there’s an image,” Wendy snickered.
Just then the wooden door swung open again, and out stepped the man of the hour.
“Morning everybody,” Stan grunted as he rubbed leftover sleep out of his eyes. “Hope you’re all ready for another wonderful day of scamming suckers.” When there was no reply, Stan took a second to focus on the group of four, who were all staring at him with blank expressions. “What, is there something on my face?”
“Huh?” Soos woke up from their collective trance just then and started babbling, “Oh no Mr. Pines, nope, nothing on your face. Nothing unusual at all. Not that anything unusual would happen around here, that is. Nope, everything’s normal. How are you this morning?”
Stan blinked. “Soos, have you been in the Mabel Juice again?”
“Speaking of juice,” Mabel broke in, “Dipper and I forgot to eat breakfast! We need to go fix that!”
“She’s right,” Dipper agreed nervously as Mabel started pulling him through the door. “It’s the most important meal of the day after all!”
With that the two escaped, most likely to both avoid work and continue talking about their uncle’s prospective love life. Stan shrugged and turned back to his employees. “Alright knuckleheads,” he announced. “Because this is our second reopening this summer, I’ve got a feeling that business might be slow today. Nevertheless, we’re gonna run things like we usually do: Soos, I need you to go straighten the last of those shingles on the roof. Wendy, you’re on counter duty. Capisce?”
“Capisce,” the pair resounded, both giving Stan a salute. For once Wendy actually didn’t half-ass it. Stan seemed to notice and gave her a wry grin.
“Nice to have you back, Lumberjill,” he commented as Soos rushed off to fix the roof. “Enjoy your time off?”
Wendy folded her arms and smirked. “Well, you should know by now that any time I spend away from you is enjoyable, Mr. Pines.”
Stan gave a barking laugh and Wendy smiled as she went to take her place behind the counter. It was good to be back.
“Oh, Stanley…”
Wendy looked up and saw the last person she expected to come out of the living room: Fiddleford McGucket himself, holding a steaming mug of coffee. This by itself was surprising enough, but adding to it was Stan’s reaction. The old man startled at the sound, before almost instantly switching to a bright smile.
“Hey there, Fidds,” Stan greeted. “Sleep good?”
“Better than I’ve slept in years,” McGucket replied happily. “That bed of yours is a lot softer than the old cot I have at the scrap yard.”
Wait...bed? Wendy tried to not to show any reaction, but...bed? McGucket had slept in Stan’s bed?
“Well, hey,” Stan said, drawing Wendy out of her myriad of silent questions. “I’m just glad I could, y’know, accomodate. Uh, that’s the word, isn’t it?”
“Yep!” Fiddleford replied brightly. “That’s it.”
Stan forced a chuckle to hide his embarrassment. “I, uh, don’t always use words like that, so…”
“Oh, I know what you mean,” Fiddleford said, shaking his head. “The other day I couldn’t think of a word, and it was driving me insane. I thought for a second that maybe it was another thing I’d lost, but then I realized I’d just gone brain-dead for a second.”
“So what was the word?”
“You’ll laugh.”
“Aw, come on, try me.”
“Okay… It was pulchritude.”
Stan bit his lip, desperately trying not to laugh, but a tiny snicker escaped. “I’m sorry,” he managed to get out, “it’s just, I can’t blame you for forgetting that. I mean, what does a word like that even mean?”
“Well, actually, it means beauty,” Fiddleford said, still wearing a friendly smile.
Wendy wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it, but just then, before her eyes, Stan Pines blushed. “Oh, uh, I see… Nice word. Kinda thought it was gonna be something gross, but, wow.”
“Yeah…” McGucket trailed off and looked down at his hands. “Oh! I just realized, I’ve forgotten something else: this is for you.” He offered Stan the mug full of coffee. “I was in the kitchen and the twins came in and told me you were looking tired. So I thought I’d bring you a cup.”
After giving Dipper and Mabel a mental high five, Wendy decided there was no way she could be imagining the sight of Stan awkwardly thanking Fiddleford for the coffee while deliberately avoiding eye contact. Nor the way Fiddleford just couldn’t stop smiling at the sight. Or the close proximity the two were maintaining.
Geez, she thought. Could you guys be any more obvious? At this rate she could’ve figured it out without the twins telling her anything.
“So where are you headed today,” Stan asked, noting that Fiddleford was already dressed to leave.
“Oh, well… I was actually planning on heading over to the lake to see Tate. He and I have a lot to talk about, and I think I’m finally ready to do it.”
“Stan raised his eyebrows, clearly impressed. “Dang. Well, good luck. I hope it goes well for you.”
“So do I,” McGucket replied, looking off into the distance with a face filled with apprehension. Stan put a hand on his shoulder, drawing his attention to the conman’s look of reassurance.
“Hey, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Fiddleford grinned and gave Stan a good-natured rib before thanking him once more for letting him stay the night. Wendy watched as Stan led McGucket to the door.
“Hey, and don’t be a stranger!” Stan called as McGucket made his way down the steps. “It’s nice having another old guy around to talk to, y’know?”
“Sure do! See you later!” And with that, he headed off down the path, bound for Lake Gravity Falls.
“Bye!” Stan called after him, waiting until the inventor was completely out of sight before shutting the door. He turned around to find Wendy staring at him.
“What?”
“Nothing,” she replied, a sly, almost accusing grin slipping onto her face. “Nothing at all.”
“Hey, if you’re trying to imply something…”
“What?” Wendy widened her eyes innocently. “Me? Imply something? Never.” She gave a flippant wave of the hand before pulling out a magazine and propping her feet on the counter.
“Good!” Stan spat. “Because, for the record, there’s nothing going on! Me and Fidds just happen to get along well.”
“Uh-huh,” Wendy replied without looking up.
“We enjoy some of the same things, and he’s easy to talk to.”
“Mmhm.”
“And there’s the fact that we’ve both had it pretty rough for most of our lives. We understand each other. We respect each other. Not to mention that he’s really smart and easy-going…”
“I see.”
“B-but that’s it, okay? Just because all of that is true doesn’t mean there’s any funny business going on!”
“Huh?” Wendy looked up again. With a straight face she replied, “Oh, no, I totally get what you’re saying Mr. Pines. I mean, just because you guys like each other doesn’t mean that you like each other, right?”
“Right!” Stan crossed his arms and gave a smug grin, proud of himself for explaining things away.
“Just two old dudes being pals.”
“Exactly!”
“Yep. Probably a good idea, too, considering he’s way out of your league.”
“Yeah, he’s- wait, what?”
Stan’s gaze darted back to Wendy who peeked over the magazine to give him a cheesy grin. Stan stuttered for a moment, before finally letting his shoulders sag in defeat.
“Okay,” he sighed. “Okay, you got me. And now that you’ve got me, d’you think you could help me?”
Wendy paused in her satisfaction at winning long enough to raise an eyebrow. “Wait, what? Help you? What do you need help with?”
“Wendy, I’m gonna be honest here: I have no idea what to do. It’s been ages since I liked someone, really liked them. The last time I went out with someone, it didn’t go so well. And…”
“And?” Wendy prompted, still trying to understand what Stan’s problem was.
“And...I’ve never really felt this way for...for a guy.”
Wendy’s eyes widened. “Oh.”
“Yeah,” Stan said, looking embarrassed and almost ashamed. “I mean, when I was growing up you didn’t do things like that, y’know? I mean, there were people who did of course, but we weren’t supposed to talk about it.”
“I’m guessing your family wasn’t any different?” Wendy set her magazine to the side as she spoke, and took her feet off the counter. For once, Stan was actually opening up, and she felt she owed him her full attention.
Stan gave a bitter laugh in reply to her question. “Are you kidding? You should’ve seen my old man’s reaction when I wore a pink tux to prom.”
“Yeesh.”
“You said it, sister.” Stan looked at his feet and sighed. “I mean, I guess I could talk to him, but what would people think? What would they say? Not to mention that I don’t think Ford would take it too well.”
The old con man leaned heavily against the counter, fingering the sealed jar of eyeballs. “I mean, would it even be worth it?”
Okay, Wendy thought. That’s it. Screw staying calm; I’m gonna wake this old guy up if it’s the last thing I do!
With that thought, the red-head slammed her boots onto the floor and jumped out of her chair. Before Stan could process what was going on, she was leaning over the counter and staring him down.
“Seriously?” she barked. “That’s what you’re thinking about? That it might be too hard? That other people might not approve? Are you kidding me?” She reached up and smacked the fez off of Stan’s head, eliciting a grunt of surprise.
“What- Y-you wouldn’t understand,” Stan accused, as he fumbled to catch the fez.
“Okay, you’re right.” Wendy put her hands up in concession. “I’ve never dated a girl before. But I can guarantee that if I did, I would have to put up with a lot of crap not just from strangers, but also from my brothers. And yeah, that would be pretty awful. But if I really cared about her, that stuff wouldn’t matter. You know what would matter? Her! And the way I felt about her!”
“Wendy…”
“Look Stan: it’s the 21st century, gay marriage is legal, and Roy Cohn is dead. No, things are not perfect, but things are changing and getting better every day.”
“Okay!” Stan practically shouted. “Okay, I get it, gay pride and all that crap. Wendy, that’s only part of my problem. The other part is that...well I’m not sure if Fidds could ever return the feeling.”
“First of all, you’re wrong. Second, that’s not the point!” Wendy poked Stan square in the chest to get his full attention. “The point is that if you really like someone, you can’t just sit there and whine - you have to do something about it!”
“But he’s a genius!”
“And?” Wendy was on the verge of slapping herself if Stan continued to be this dense. “Stan, you’re one of the craftiest people I know. You’re stubborn as hell and you always find a way to come out on top. Not to mention that any blind person could see that you’re a great uncle to the twins. Not to mention a decent father figure to Soos. And for the record, I know for a fact that you knew that if I didn’t get a job this summer, my dad was going to send me to my cousin’s logging camp. You knew, and you hired me because of it.”
Stan looked away, unwilling to admit that he was that much of a softy.
“Furthermore,” Wendy continued, getting more adamant the longer she spoke, “Fiddleford McGucket may be a genius, but he’s also a tired old guy with a lot of love to give. And I don’t see any reason why that love shouldn’t go to you.”
“Gee, Wendy,” Stan chuckled. “The way you talk I’d almost think that you like this old boss of yours.”
“Of course I do,” Wendy said, rolling her eyes. “You’re cool, in your weird old man way. Now listen.”
She grabbed Stan by the lapels of his jacket and looked him straight in the eye. “Stan Pines, you are a gross, money-loving weirdo. You are also a giant marshmallow with a hard shell and gray hair. Now, I want you to quit this self-pity schtick, wipe that nervous look off your face, and go ask that McGucket to have dinner with you!”
Stan stared at her in pure shock. After a moment he said, “Y-you’re right…”
Wendy let go of him and Stan took a step back, putting a hand on his forehead. “You’re right! Wendy, you’re right!”
“That’s what I’ve been saying.”
“I can’t just stand here,” Stan announced, stomping a foot on the ground. “Not when someone who I actually have a chance at being happy with is out having to walk all the way to the lake! You know I’m gonna do, Wendy?”
“What are you gonna do, Stan?”
“I’m gonna go give that beautiful banjo-playing bastard a ride to see his son! And then I’m gonna pick him up and treat him to a night on the town, because damn it, he deserves it! And I’m not gonna doubt myself!”
“So what are you waiting for?”
“Nothing!”
“Then do it!”
“I will!”
“GO!”
“AAAH!!”
“AAAAAHH!!”
And with a mighty battle cry, Stan hurtled out the door, leaped into the Stanley mobile, and sped off down the road. Wendy stood on the porch and leaned against the door jamb, watching as the dust cloud faded. Her normal casual smirk returned to her face and she felt satisfied - all of that pent up energy had finally done some good.
“Grunkle Stan?” Wendy turned her head to see Mabel come through the door, followed closely by her brother. “Oh, hey Wendy,” she greeted the teen. “Have you seen Grunkle Stan?”
“Mabel thinks she came up with the perfect idea to get Stan and McGucket together,” Dipper said, his skepticism obvious. “So do you know where he is?”
“Actually, he said he had to run an errand and that we should close the Shack for the day.”
Wendy grinned at the sight of the twins’ jaws dropping. She was almost immediately assaulted with questions as to what was going on, and how it was possible that Stan would do such an unbelievable thing. Soos joined them a moment later, wondering if perhaps Stan had been replaced by an alien. Through it all, Wendy just smiled at all of them and looked back down the road.
Yeah. When push came to shove, she really loved these guys. And she wouldn’t mind a bit if another member was added to this kooky little family.