One of the things Stan and his niece, Mabel, bonded over was their love of causing mischief. Soon after she arrived at Gravity Falls, the two of them initiated a prank war with each other.

Most of their pranks consisted of them scaring each other: wearing scary masks and/or popping out of hidden locations. Mabel had the advantage of being small, so she had more places to hide (she even managed to squeeze into the fridge one time).

But Stan figured out the perfect way to get back at her.

Stan had bought a bunch of non-perishable foods to survive the apocalypse. Since the kids were with him now, he wanted to make sure he had enough food for them too. He wondered why he even wasted the money considering they were only here for a couple of months. What are the odds the apocalypse happened while they were here?

When he opened the cabinet, Mabel popped out and yelled, "BOO!"

But Stan was ready for her this time.

Stan clutched his hand over his heart and made moans of pain.

Mabel's mischievous smile dropped into a concerned frown. "Grunkle Stan?"

Stan dramatically fell on to the floor pretending he was having trouble breathing.

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel ran to her fallen Grunkle's side. "Grunkle Stan! Oh my gosh! Grunkle Stan!"

Stan couldn't contain his laughter anymore seeing how freaked out Mabel was. He sat up, pointing at Mabel and laughing. "Oh man, kid! You should have seen your face!"

Stan expected her to start laughing too, concede he had really gotten her, but promise she'll get him back.

Instead, he was shocked to see the girl was crying.

"Mabel…?"

"That…that wasn't funny, Grunkle Stan! I thought I gave you a heart attack!"

"Whoa, hey! It was just a joke, kiddo. No big deal."

"IT IS A BIG DEAL!" Mabel protested. "I thought you were gonna die because of me!"

Stan couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew the kid liked him enough, sure, but he never imagined she would be this upset if something happened to him. He didn't think anyone would be that upset over something happening to him.

"I'm sorry, kiddo. I didn't mean to make you cry." Stan put his hand on her shoulder. "I won't do it again, I promise."

Mabel nodded and wiped her tears. "Okay…"

Stan was surprised again when Mabel threw herself against Stan and gave him a desperate hug.

Stan tried to think when was the last time someone hugged him. Or heck, the last time he felt like anyone cared about him enough to miss him if he died.

He hugged his niece back, feeling a wide variety of emotions he hadn't felt since the night he was kicked out.

The kid might actually…love him.

And as he held her in his arms, he became quite sure he was growing to love her back.