Hmmm Alright I’ll Take Your Little Idea And Run With It Because Its A Damn Good One

Hmmm alright i’ll take your little idea and run with it because its a damn good one

“Death of a Pines” AU hope you don’t mind that I gave it a name @leo-artista

The plan was simple: fake his death, disappear, and finally be free from Rico’s gang. Stanley Pines had spent too long on the run, always looking over his shoulder, always scrambling for cash, and always one bad deal away from a bullet to the head. The moment he got wind that Rico’s men were closing in, he knew he had to act fast.

A wrecked boat. Some personal belongings left floating in the bay. A perfectly timed storm to wash away the evidence. Just like that, Stanley Pines ceased to exist.

It should’ve been easy. No more bounty on his head. No more desperate cons to make a living. Just a fresh start somewhere far away. But what Stan hadn’t accounted for—hadn’t even considered—was that news of his “death” would actually reach his family.

And that they would mourn him.

The Funeral of a Ghost

The news spreads fast. The body is never found, but the police rule it as a probable drowning. His name makes the papers—Local Man Presumed Dead After Boating Accident—but to the people who once knew him, it means a final, gut-wrenching truth: Stanley Pines is gone.

Ford finds out from a letter his mother sends, written in unsteady, grief-ridden handwriting.

“Stanley is dead, Stanford.”

At first, he doesn’t believe it. He can’t. His twin brother, the force of nature who had always been larger than life, couldn’t be gone just like that. Not after years of silence, not when they had unfinished business, not when Ford had spent so much time resenting him, regretting him, missing him in some twisted, unresolved way.

But then there’s a funeral. A small one. It’s just their mother, a few distant relatives, and some old childhood friends. The family doesn’t have the money for anything extravagant, and frankly, most of them had written Stanley off years ago. But their mother mourns. She clutches a framed picture of her lost son, crying quietly into her hands.

Ford attends, but he stands apart, watching from a distance, unsure if he even has the right to grieve.

And yet, he does. More than he thought possible.

Because if Stanley’s really gone, then that means they’ll never reconcile. Ford will never get to tell him how much he hated him, how much he loved him, how much it still burns that their last words to each other were thrown in anger. It means that all that’s left of his twin is memories—some bitter, some bright, but all of them tangled up in knots of guilt and love.

And now, it’s too late.

Meanwhile, Somewhere Else…

Stan is alive. He’s alive, and for the first time in years, he’s not running.

He takes odd jobs here and there, keeps a low profile, and tells himself this is a good thing. He’s out of his family’s hair. He’s not a burden anymore. They don’t have to deal with the screw-up son who lost everything. Hell, they probably don’t even care. He figures his mom would be a little sad, but she still has Ford, the golden child, the one who actually made something of himself.

And Ford?

Ford probably didn’t even flinch.

So Stan keeps moving, never checking the news, never making contact. He drinks a little too much, sleeps in cheap motels, and tells himself he’s free.

But deep down, in the quiet moments between grifts, he wonders why this freedom feels so much like being buried alive.

Random au idea: what if mullet Stan had decided to fake his death so that he'd stop getting chased by Rico's gang? And then it somehow ends up on the news and his family believes that he died- there's like a funeral and everything. Nobody is happy about it, but by far the one who takes it the hardest is Ford. After years of not hearing word from his twin he suddenly finds out he just died, and he has no idea how to feel about that. It's almost like a part of him died along with Stanley

Meanwhile Stan has no idea about what his family is going through because of his faked death. He just assumed that they would probably be fine, since it's not like anyone aside from maybe his mom would care anyways. He even considers it like he's doing them a favor, getting rid of the "useless" son who couldn't even make the fortune he said the would

Idk just an idea. If someone wants to use it or expand on it feel free to do so!