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I WOULD UNIRONICALLY WATCH 7 SEASONS OF THIS HDKDHDK
Also damn y’all REALLY liked him huh
SJDJSKWKSJFJD YES YES YES YES
part 1 | last part|
this one is cute, but it also broke my brain a little. Ford doesn’t know shit about kids, and he’s so scared of embarrassing himself in front of an audience (a 5 year old). Lola is a hater frfr. No.1 Ford hater.
I love that for her.
Ford and his surprise niece sign a peace treaty.
Breakfast was awkward. Lola was sitting directly opposite Ford, eating the only good thing left in the house. A plain slice of bread. She kept glaring angrily at Ford, who couldn’t meet her in the eyes. She clung to Fiddleford, who was focused on some programming. The tension was palpable.
“Um” Ford started, “I guess I haven’t properly introduced myself-“
“Don’t worry, you don’t need to” said Lola, cutting Ford off with a deathly glare. Fiddleford stifled a giggle, not looking up from his work.
“Come on Lola, I feel bad tha-“
“Good.” Lola stuffed the rest of her bread in her mouth. She tugged on Fiddleford’s arm.
“Mr gucket, let’s GO!”
“Lola, stay!” Ford said, perhaps slightly louder than he ought to, standing up suddenly. Lola looked up at him, with terror in her eyes. She clung to Fiddleford and started to cry.
Ford felt bad. He hadn’t meant to scare her. He sheepishly sat back down as Fiddleford comforted the girl. he gave Ford a glare and Ford flushed.
“It’s ok, miss lola. He didn’t mean it” Fiddleford said, rubbing Lola’s back. She was wailing now, so Fiddleford took her to the living room to calm down.
Ford just stared into his coffee, at a loss for what his life had become. He was tired, having not slept at all in the past 24 hours. His body ached and he could still taste the spiders in his mouth. He had risked the world, doomed his BROTHER to a fate worse than death.
Ford always figured that he and Stan could be brothers again, one day. Maybe after Ford had gotten famous, Stan would come back into his life. Ford would’ve insisted Stan grovel for forgiveness, and would accept. He’d show Stan all the amazing things he had done, and Stan would’ve been proud. And they’d talk over drinks, and tell each other all about their lives. And Stan would stay.
It didn’t seem likely that Stan would want anything to do with him now. Ford still remembered the last thing Stan had said to him. Don’t fucking speak to me, Stanford. They hadn’t spoken in a decade, but it hurt all the same. Ford never considered a world where Stan wouldn’t want to talk to him. He remembered the look on Stan’s face as he fell through the portal. It haunted him. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see it. Stan must’ve hated him.
Ford’s eyes welled up with tears. He wished he had something to do, something productive to distract from the pain. He and Fiddleford were pretty much done with project Mentem. Fiddleford just had to sort out a few bugs in the program, nothing major. But that left Ford with nothing to do except drown in his own thoughts, contemplating just how much he screwed up.
Fiddleford re entered the room, looking tired.
“Ford, ya gotta be more careful with her. She thinks yer possessed by a demon”
Ford looked at his friend, wide eyed.
“She knows about bill?”
Fiddleford shrugged.
“She told me she’s was hungry when I tried to ask her.”
It took a few more hours, but by lunch time they were ready to encrypt Ford’s mind. Ford wanted to do it instantly, but Fiddleford insisted they eat first.
“Ford, seriously? There’s nothing to eat! When’s the last time ya went to the store?”
“I’ve been preoccupied” Ford scowled. “Maybe we should just do the encryption now!”
Just then, Lola ran in, holding Lizard in one hand, and a sheet of paper in the other.
“Mr Gucket! Lizard is hungry!” She yelled, standing in front of Fiddleford. “It lunch time.”
“Oh is he, now!” Fiddleford said in a sing-song voice. He was looking at Ford. “And what would Lizard like to eat?”
Lola considered this, then held up Lizard.
“Pizza!”
Fiddleford went to pick up the pizza, leaving Ford to watch Lola. He sat awkwardly, whilst Lola drew on the crumpled sheet of paper she was holding with a blue ball point pen. Ford felt tense, he could feel himself sweating. It took far too long for him to speak.
“So… uh… Lola!”
Lola stopped drawing, and looked up. Ford wiped the sweat from his brow. He didn’t realise kids could be this scary.
“Well- um… I-“ he stuttered, under the pressure of Lola’s unmoved stare.
“Wh- what are you… um - what are you drawing?” Ford asked. He rubbed the back of his neck as Lola stared.
Eventually her face softened, and she showed him the picture. It was a number of crudely drawn people in a line, each with a single defining characteristic. Ford was sure he was a much better artist at her age. He pointed at the smallest figure, which had a triangle for the hair.
“Is- um is that you?” Ford said. Lola nodded
“I’m going to draw Lizard too. I ride him into battle. That’s why I got a sword, see!”
She pointed at a line she drew next to her self portrait. Ford nodded.
“That’s very efficient. Who is everyone else?”
Lola pointed at a scraggly looking figure next to her. “That’s Stan. He like you, but less evil.”
“…right”
Lola continued, she was on a roll now.
“And here is Mama. Stan told me she used to be queen of the pirates before she got sick. That’s why she got a eyepatch and a pirate hat.”
“Your mother was a pirate?”
Lola nodded vigorously, with more confidence.
“Yeah! That’s how she met my papa! Stan said he was a star sailor. That means he came from space.”
“… and Stan told you that?”
Lola nodded enthusiastically. Ford sighed.
“Right. Anyway, I thought Stanley was your father?”
“Stan is my dad because he look after me since mama got sick and died.”
“But you have another dad.”
“Noooo I have a papa. Stan said he got kidnapped by mermaids before I was born. That’s why he can’t look after me.”
Ford looked at Lola confused.
“Lola, mermaids don’t kidnap people. Actually, it’s quite fascinating, see, mermaids are closely related to sirens and-“
Ford blabbered on, and Lola stopped listening pretty fast. When Fiddleford re entered the room, this time with Pizza. About halfway through eating, Lola remembered that she hated Ford, and stopped responding to him.
They all went down to Ford’s secret study. Lola waddled behind Fiddleford, seemingly unnerved.
“Mr gucket… what are we doing?”
Fiddleford and ford passed a look between them.
“Well, Lola, ya know what ya said about Ford…” Fiddleford started.
“Hes evil.”
“No, Lola about the- well um…” Fiddleford stuttered as Lola clung to his leg. She buried her face into his leg.
“You’re not gonna let him hurt me, right mr gucket?” She said, voice quavering.
Fiddleford kneeled down beside her, and offered a hug. Lola crawled into his arms.
“No one here’s gonna hurt ya.”
Lola looked up, straight at Ford.
“But… what about the demon?”
Ford was shaking. He couldn’t bear the fear in Lola’s eyes.
“I’m going to destroy him.” Ford said.
Fiddleford picked Lola up, and they kept walking.
“Hows’about ya tell me about this demon.” Fiddleford said, “like what did he look like?”
“He looks stupid,” Lola said, “like a nacho, he got a silly hat and he pretended to be my friend. But Stan said to not trust strangers, so I said no. And then it went scary”
“Bill…” Ford whispered. “When did you first see him?”
“Um… when I was dreaming I think. In the car.”
Ford rushed closer to Lola. “What did he show you, Lola! This is important! You didn’t make a deal with him, did you? Why did he contact you?”
Lola started to cry. Fiddleford comforted her, glaring at Ford, who looked embarrassed.
“Be gentle, Stanford! She’s only little!”
Lola had calmed down by the time they got to Ford’s study. She still refused to look Ford in the eye. Ford couldn’t blame her, but he also couldn’t risk her being used by bill. He needed to talk to her properly, but she despised him. He wondered about this as he fiddled around with Project Memtem. They hadn’t figured out a way to make it not project memories, but that gave him an idea.
“Lola?” He said, tentatively, “do you really think I’m evil?”
Lola nodded. Ford sighed, before continuing.
“Do you know what this machine does?”
She shook her head.
“It’s a device designed to read brain waves and translate them into coherent thought. Fiddleford and I repurposed it so it can also encrypt your thoughts to prevent outside influences from interfering.”
Lola looked confused. “I’m five.” She said. Ford felt embarrassment flush on his cheeks. He was glad the room was dark.
“Um. Yes. Well, to put it simply, it reads your mind. And uh…” Ford stuttered trying to think of a simple explanation. Luckily, Fiddleford was there.
“It stops demons from Gettin’ in yer brain” Fiddleford said. Lola nodded in understanding. Ford continued.
“Yes, thank you Fiddleford. I’m hoping that this will keep Bill out of my mind.”
Lola looked Ford in the eyes, confusion etched in her face.
“bill said you was his friend?” She asked it like it was a question. Ford’s face went grave.
“He isn’t my friend, Lola. He used me, tormented me for months. He tricked me into building the portal when I was lonely and vulnerable. I thought he was a muse, but in reality, I was just his puppet.”
Lola looked confused. She turned to Fiddleford.
“Mr gucket, what did Ford say?”
“He said that Bill is a bully, sweet pea.”
“Oh. That’s mean.” Lola said, seemingly gaining a new level of understanding.
“Stan said that I gotta punch bullies.”
Ford sat himself in Project Mentem, and put the helmet on. It was actually just a repurposed colander, Ford’s only one.
“Lola” he said, his thoughts appearing on screen, “I know you don’t trust me, but it is my hope that by reading my thought, you will know I am being honest.”
Lola squinted. “Sounds like a scam.”
Thoughts of embarrassment appeared on the screen, things like ‘Lola thinks I’m uncool’ and ‘that’s exactly what Stan’s daughter would say’. Lola couldn’t read very well yet, but she did recognised Stan’s name.
“Stan!” She said, pointing. “Can you show me pictures please?”
“What?” Ford responded. He was expecting her to demand that he prove his allegiance to her. Not… this.
“I want to see pictures of Stan. I miss him” she said, matter of factly.
Ford thought about Stan, trying to keep his anger and annoyance out of his mind. He remembered the good bits of Stan, the bits where he stuck up for him, where he was loyal to the end. The Stan he trusted when he could no one else. A picture of Stan and Ford as kids appeared on the monitor, happy and smiling, having been caught in some harmless delinquency.”
“Stan’s a baby!” Lola said, coming closer to Ford. “He’s not as cute as I am.”
Ford laughed. “Stan was a bit of a trouble maker.”
“Stan said I need to be more like a trouble maker. He said I need to be Im-be-ten-den”
“He would say that, wouldn’t he.” Lola nodded.
“Did Stan REALLY fight the jersey devil?” Lola asked, and pictures of Stan and Ford hunting the jersey devil appeared. Lola laughed.
They went on like that for a while, with Lola asking Ford questions about Stan, and Ford telling her stories of their childhood antics. Lola sat on the floor in-front of Ford, lizard in tow. At some point, Fiddleford had left them down there. Neither of them noticed. Lola didn’t seem afraid of him anymore. But she still looked a little sad.
“Ford…” she started, “… do you love Stan?”
Ford wasn’t expecting that. His thoughts when quiet almost instantly, before flurrying to life, faster than anyone could keep up.
Of course he loved Stan. They were brothers, twins. As much as they fought, as much as they haven’t talked in a decade, Ford still loved him. Still trusted him with his life.
But there was that sense of betrayal, the anger. Stan was a cheat and a crook, who would do anything to get his way. If Stan listened once in a while, if only he had been more responsible, more mature. They wouldn’t have had to spend 10 years apart from each other. But Stan was self centred, he didn’t think about anyone other than-
Ford looked down to see Lola, staring up at him. Lola could see all his thought, his ugliest ones. She didn’t look impressed.
“That’s mean.” She said, simply. And Ford sighed.
“You’re right, Lola. I’m sorry.”
Lola shook her head. “It’s ok. Stan said he loves you even if your mean.”
Ford felt his eyes water, his breaths shallow and his heart beat. Stan came because he loved Ford, even after a decade of no contact. The first time he rang, he came, even when bill told Stan ‘I never loved you’ in Ford’s voice. And now he was stuck, in whatever fucked up dimension Bill was from, because Ford got tricked, got his ego boosted by a triangle. Ford sobbed. It was his fault that Stan was gone, that Lola had no one to look after her. He had to fix it.
He hadn’t noticed Lola had moved until she had crawled onto his lap.
“I miss Stan too” she whispered.
“I’m so sorry Lola. It’s my fault.”
“It’s ok. You can help me to rescue Stan. Lizard has a plan, but Mr gucket didn’t listen to me.”
Despite himself, Ford smiled. “I’d love to hear your plan, Lola.”
Project Memtem had seemingly worked. Ford managed to sleep through the night, and Bill couldn’t access his body! He still plagued Ford’s dreams, but his body could rest. He slept for 20 hours straight, and when he awoke, he took a shower. It felt good. He felt better than he had in a long time.
Ford found his house cleaner than it had been, with a plate of food on the table left out for him. He made himself a nice mug of coffee. He sat in the silence for a moment, breathing in the cold air. He needed to pay his heating bill.
The door swung open, and Fiddleford entered, swinging Lola on his arm.
“Ah! You’re awake!” Fiddleford said. “Lola and I went huntin’ for unicorns!”
“I punched him where the sun don’t shine” Lola said darkly. Then she stuffed her hand in her pocket and pulled out a bundle of unicorn hair.
“You managed to get them to give you some unicorn hair?!” Ford exclaimed excitedly.
“‘Give’ is a strong word. I showed Lola some of my old rodeo skills, from back in Tennessee”
“UNICORNS TASTE LIKE CANDY” Lola shouted. Ford looked confused, before brushing it off.
“Great! Thank you, Lola, now if you just give me the-“
“NO” she yelled, stuffing the unicorn hair back into her pocket.
“First you have to promise.”
Ford blinked. “Promise what?”
Lola pulled out a piece of paper from her other pocket, with scribble kid writing on it. She gave it to Ford.
“This is a peace treaty.” She said. Ford couldn’t make out what she had written.
“Okay… what does it say.”
“It said I will give you unicorn hair and stop hating you, if you promise to rescue Stan. And also let me help.”
Ford smiled.
“I promise.”
It's a DTIYS by @urdadsceilingfan. It was so fun to draw :D
Duude idk when you wrote this but chefs kiss. Here! doodles!
Stan adopts an infant child. I’m crying.
part 2 here
Tw: drugs, overdoses, allusions to suicide
and possible kidnapping. On accident.
Stan adopts an infant child.
Bumfuck nowhere, Nevada-1977
Stan threw all the drugs he had left down the toilet. He flushed 3 times, staring town the swirling water. Some fish was probably about to have the time of its probably quite short life, but that wasn’t his concern right now. His only concern was the screaming baby in the other room, and their dead mother in the bathtub.
Stan had been her dealer. Clara, her name was. She was a street kid, by herself for the past 5 years. Turned 20 last May. Stan had been dealing to her for a while. Watched her tastes shift to harder and harder stuff.
He had told himself that it was just a job. She was a junkie, who probably deserved anything that came to her. Like he was. Now, he reckoned with the fact that he never actually believed that. He just told himself what he wanted to hear, what would make it easier.
He didn’t know she had a child.
A child that would never know their parents. He looked into Clara’s eyes, misty with death. It had only been a few hours. They were getting high together. She hit more than she could handle, and Stan was too far gone to do anything helpful. He just fell asleep on the couch, only to awaken to the baby’s cries 3 hours later, hung over.
Stan knew he should leave. He’s the one who sold her the drugs. The neighbours would notice Clara wasn’t around, and surely they’d hear the baby’s screams. They’d come check, the cops would get involved, and Stan had to leave before they arrived. But somehow, he couldn’t.
Clara was young, so young. Too young to be lying in the bathtub, dead eyed and blue. Too young to be leaving her child all alone, without anyone looking out for them.
And it was all Stan’s fault. He sold her the drugs. He actively benefited from her addiction. He enabled this, and in that he ruined two lives. And the baby was still screaming, for a mother that would never come to comfort them again.
Stan figured someone at least should comfort them. So he crept into the bedroom, and saw the baby. They were tiny, couldn’t be more than a few months old. They were clearly malnourished, skinny and bloated like the babies in charity ads. It was a miracle they’d even survived. The baby’s crying subsided as Stan approached. They looked up at Stan with their wide baby blue eyes, begging for food, or comfort or any sign that they weren’t all alone in the world.
Stan met their eyes, and understood something about himself, something he hadn’t admitted in a long time. He picked up the baby, held them close as he rubbed their back. Stanley pines may be a liar, a crook and an overall asshole, but he was built to protect. And by whatever god looked out for crooks and assholes, he was going to protect this child.
“It’s ok baby” he whispered in their ear, “you’re ok. You’re safe.”
Stan went looking around, first for baby formula. He found a mostly empty box in the kitchen, but no bottle. He mixed some up anyway, and found a syringe without a needle that he didn’t think had been used. He boiled it anyway, and hoped to all hell that it was clean enough. The baby seemed to accept it, and calmed down a little in Stan’s arms.
He then changed the babies diaper, with much difficulty.
“It’s a girl!” He exclaimed, “now, kid. Do you got a name?”
The baby blinked slowly, and Stan noticed a scrap of paper on the bed, right where the baby was lying.
I’m so sorry I can’t take care of you, Lola. You deserved better than a mother like me.
The handwriting was shaky, the paper the back of an old receipt. Stan shoved the paper into his pocket, and looked down at the baby.
“I guess you must be Lola. Nice to meet ya, kid. Now let’s get ya to the hospital.”
Stan took Lola to a hospital in Las Vegas, made up some bullshit story about how his “bitch ex-girlfriend” had “abandoned their baby”. The nurses seemed to buy it, and they took her up to the NICU immediately. That whole week, Stan slept on the uncomfortable chairs in the hospital waiting room. Every time he saw her, Lola seemed a little healthier, and a little less stressed. She looked at Stan, wide eyed, any time the nurses would let him pick her up. Sometimes, he’d even convince himself that he saw a smile.
He thought about leaving often. Actually, that was his original plan. Leave Lola at the hospital. She was in good hands now, they’d find her a home. Doctors wouldn’t just let a baby die. But something kept him glued to that seat. He felt like he owed the kid, for killing her mum and ruining her life before it had even begun. It wasn’t a debt that Stan knew how to pay.
After a week, Lola was healthy enough to ‘go home’. Somehow Stan had stuck around an entire week, pretending to be her Dad. Stan wasn’t sure he wanted to take her. He couldn’t be a dad, he was too immature. He didn’t have a permanent place to live, or any money. He was pretty sure that Rico’s gang would be after him soon. And it’s not even like he knew how to be a Dad! He’d never actually met a decent one. Worst of all, Stan didn’t have any family that actually gave a damn about him. If Stan took her, wouldn’t he just be dooming her to the same lonely fate as himself.
But when Stan went to see Lola one last time, there was a social worker there. He explained that Stan likely wasn’t a fit parent, that Lola had been born addicted to opioids and that she was going to be taken into the system. Stan understood, he really did. He just asked for one last moment alone with Lola to say goodbye.
The next thing he knew, Stan had jumped out the window, Lola strapped to his back with a blanket, and was running to his car. He didn’t completely understand why he did it. Frankly, it wasn’t a stupid thing to do. However, he somehow couldn’t bear to let some stranger take Lola. He’d met kids that grew up in the system, and most of them weren’t particularly happy. So Stan moved Lola to his front as he jumped into his car. He could hear security yelling as he sped out of the parking lot, and out of the city, and out of the state.
5 years later
Forks, Washington -1982
Stan decided a long time ago that Forks was a shit town with nothing to do. He moved around a lot with Lola, having taken numerous part time jobs across the Pacific Northwest under the name “Stanton Pinesly”, but for some reason, Forks was their permanent address. It was where Stan had a cheap apartment, and it was the place Lola had become most familiar with.
Overall, it was a pretty safe town. Not much happened besides the odd rumour about vampires and werewolves or whatever, which was good. Rico would never find them here. Stan was pretty sure Rico couldn’t survive this far up north.
“STAN!” Lola yelled, running out of her room. It was early morning, the sun still hanging low in the sky.
“Morning kid. Isn’t it too early for ya to have that much energy?”
Lola jumped onto Stan’s lap, attacking him with the biggest hug she could manage.
“Nuh-uh. I like morning time, Stan. It’s where adventure happens.”
“Sure, kid.”
Lola had always called Stan ‘Stan’. It was her first word, in fact. Stan never referred to himself as her father, not unless they got something out of it. Nevertheless, Stan had raised her like his own. She held his surname (well, his fake one, but she knew she was a Pines), and he kept her fed and healthy. He taught her to read (badly) and to steal (incredibly well). In all ways besides the one, she was his daughter. But Stan would never let the idea settle in his mind for too long. Somehow, being a father for real was a step too far. Into what, Stan didn’t know, but it was too far nonetheless.
Lola jumped onto Stan’s lap, trying to get his attention.
“Staaaan! What adventures do we have today?!”
The kid loved ‘adventures’. Which usually amounted to whatever odd job Stan was doing, or going to the park. Luckily for Stan, he didn’t have anything to do today. His plan was to just lay on the sofa and watch TV. Lola of course had other plans. “Nothin’ today ” apparently wasn’t good enough for her.
“STAAAAANNNNNN!” She whined. Stan hated when she did that. “I wanna go on adventuuuuuure!”
He picked her up like a sack of rice and looked her in the eyes.
“Tough, kid. Ol’Stan needs a rest day. My bones are old.”
Lola giggled. “You’re not old, Stan!”
“Is that so? How old is old then?”
Lola considered this a moment.
“Uhhh…. 20!”
“HA! Gee kid how young do ya think I am?”
“12”
Stan guffawed. Laughed till he couldn’t stand, wiping tears from his eyes.
“Gee Lola. Ya really think I’m 12?”
Lola nodded her head.
“12 is grown up, but still fun”
Stan’s heart melted a little; as sat her on his lap.
“Sweetie, I am 32 years old.”
Lola gasped in genuine shock.
“Why aren’t you a skeleton then?” She asked. This set Stan off again.
Lola, it turned out, was incredibly funny.
The phone rang, and Lola rushed to pick it up. She was expecting her ‘Gammy’ - Caryn, who called occasionally to speak to her “grandbaby”. She was really the only one who called these days.
“GAMMY” Lola yelled, before she got quiet, and whispered “what are you, a cop?” Into the phone. Stan grew concerned. This can’t have been someone Lola recognised.
“Sweetie, pass me the phone”
Lola did so without a word. Stan stared at the receiver, he could hear faint maniacal laughing and the song “sweet dreams are made of these” on the other end.
“…hello?” Stan asked tentatively.
“HI BROTHER, ITS SIXER!”
“…Ford?”
“I SPOKE TO YOUR CROTCH GOBLIN, IT SOUNDED GROSS AND SNOTTY?”
“Ford, what the fuck?”
“LOOK I CALLED JUST TO LET YOU KNOW, IM JUMPING INTO THE FROZEN LAKE TOMORROW.”
“Wait Ford what’s going-“
“IF YOU NEVER HEAR FROM ME AGAIN, ITS CUS I NEVER LOVED YOU!”
“Ford you can’t just-“
The line cut out. Lola looked up at Stan expectantly. Stan figured that Ford must be having some sort of mental break. But he could leave his Brother in trouble. He knew Ford lived somewhere in Oregon. Not too far. Definitely drivable.
“Hey Lola, I think I might have an adventure for ya.”
Ughhh masterpiece
So this took way too long, and I have no clue where I’m going with this, but here’s one more of my reverse portal/drifting stars au! I did end up switching Mable and Dipper since I decided it might make it a bit more interesting.
Part 2
Also damn y’all REALLY liked him huh