Dipper Pines sat on the tattered couch on the front porch of the Mystery Shack. He intensively finished writing his most recent entry in Journal 3. He perfected the sketch of his Grunkles, Stanley and Stanford Pines, from a much distant time. Dipper diligently illustrated Stan chasing Ford around with paint, the two of them wearing playful grins, gracing the top right corner of the page. The young artist looked at his latest illustration with immense satisfaction.
Over the past week, Dipper and Mabel walked past the living room each night to find Ford talking with Stan as he described their childhood at Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey. Stan started to remember after hearing the vivid details from Ford's descriptions, even laughing heartily at the more amusing anecdotes from their youth. As Stan began to recall certain events from their youth, Ford listened with a tearful smile tugging his lips.
But when Ford talked about the science fair from his senior year and their subsequent falling out, he apologized to Stan for accusing him of destroying his future and ignoring his pleas after getting disowned by their father. Stan easily forgave his twin, even recalling the moment he brushed aside Ford's feelings after admitting he had accidentally broken the perpetual motion machine. Dipper and Mabel exchanged knowing smiles afterwards. The twins were glad that Stan was finally getting his memories back and were equally glad that Ford was doing his best to reach out to his twin brother.
The other night, Dipper was about to go up to bed when he noticed the elder Pines twins on the couch watching an old home movie of them, they appeared to be no older than twelve in the footage. Ford continued to tell Stan more stories from their past in Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey, his heart filling with sentiment. Stan listened intently to his brother recounting their memories. Dipper could never forget the way his Grunkle's eyes lit up when pieces from the past began to resurface.
The boy caught glimpses of the eight millimeter footage of Stan and Ford diligently working on the Stan O' War, giving the boat a coat of black paint. Dipper remembered Stan explaining how much he wanted to sail around the world with their brother on the Stan O' War, just as he remembered the same title lazily painted on the broken-down boat Stan used during the family fishing trip earlier in the summer. When the boy curiously watched the grainy technicolor film on the screen, he saw Stan flicking some paint on Ford. The older brother looked at the splat of paint on his chest and Stan's chuckling. In a swift act of revenge, Ford dabbed his paintbrush into the bucket and flicked a wad of paint onto Stan's hair. Stan was shocked at the glob of paint in his hair. The boys immediately engaged in a paint fight, flicking each other with blobs of black paint.
Dipper softly smiled at the tender scene as he attempted to capture the beauty and childhood innocence of his older relatives. With a click of his ball-point pen he began to write his thoughts onto the page.
Ford's been working at it the hardest. Seeing Stan's memory erased is the only time any of us have ever seen Ford cry. There have been several nights we've found them fallen asleep on the couch next to Stan, exhausted from a marathon of describing their childhoods together - and from apologizing for his mistakes.
The boy smiled contentedly as he finished his recent entry in the journal. The sun sank beyond the horizon and more bugs began to fly about around the deck. Figuring that it was time to call it a night, he lifted himself up off the couch and began to walk back inside his summer home.
Dipper entered the Mystery Shack, Journal 3 in hand. As closed the door behind him, the sounds of youthful laughter reached his ears. Dipper walked over towards the living room and noticed Stan and Ford seated next to each other as they watched their childhood memories caught on eight millimeter film playing on a screen from an antique projector. The two old men smiled sleepily as they watched glimpses from their past replay before their weary eyes.
Dipper quietly sat down on the edge of the room, opening Journal 3 to the most recent page. Retrieving his pen from his vest pocket, the boy began to sketch the fleeting images from the screen as they played out before his eyes.
The reel of footage showcased the twins dressed as explorers, riding around in a cardboard van labeled Monster Hunters. Stan and Ford really were like himself and Mabel back when they were kids. Goofing around together in their free time. Seeing Stan and Ford wearing giant helmets pretending to go on an action-packed adventure out on the safari reminded Dipper of the time he and Mabel dressed up as futuristic people out of cardboard to fool Soos into thinking that he had somehow woke up in the future after a long nap. The kids dressed up in pots and pans and cardboard to prank Soos in a Rip Van Winkle-esque scenario. Much like how Stan and Ford had dressed up as adventurers in their own makeshift outfits.
Once more, Dipper silently wrote another entry in the journal.
Ford even found an old film reel of them as kids, which he amazingly saved after all these years. There are clips of them playing on the beach, goofing around at the dinner table and pawn shop, and dressing as explorers in oversized helmets trying to find the "Jersey Devil".
Once he finished writing in the journal, Dipper looked back up at the screen. Young Stanley and Stanford got out from their fictitious adventure truck and gave each other a high six. The technicolor memory abruptly cut to black, ending the home movie. Dipper looked over his shoulder to find his Grunkles had already fallen asleep. Stan wore a contented smile on his face with his hands folded while Ford leaned his head onto his brother's shoulder. Both men slept peacefully.
With the Grunkles deep in their slumber, someone had to turn off the projector or else the film would catch fire. Dipper quietly got up and shut off the film projector, saving the precious relic. He gingerly took out the film reel and quietly took the the sacred footage back to the poker table, placing it alongside alongside the pile of other old films. He inspected the titles of the other home movies written on old scotch tape, such as "Chanukah", "Halloween", "11th Birthday", "Boxing Practice", and "Middle School Graduation". As much as he wanted to watch these old movies with Mabel and Soos, he realized that this was for their Grunkles and theirs alone. After so many years of conflict, separation and personal hardships, Stan and Ford more than deserved their chance to reconnect and watching old film reels that captured the highlights of their childhood was one way to start. Dipper gave another glance at his snoozing Grunkles resting next to each other. Stan and Ford never looked so peaceful.
He tiptoed back to his spot on the living room floor and opened up the journal again. Dipper lovingly sketched Stan and Ford calmly sleeping as the antique film projector played their old home movies. Once he completing his illustration, Dipper made his final notations for the night.
Stan + Ford are downstairs in the living room watching the home movies right now. As much as we want to watch too, we think this is something they should do on their own. They've earned it.
With a contented sigh, Dipper softly closed the journal. He gave one last look at Stan and Ford comfortably sleeping on the couch before deciding to give them their space. Dipper quietly turned off the living room lights and carefully exited the room, allowing his Grunkles to continue their well-earned rest.
I decided to post this fic to celebrate Stan and Ford's birthday, which is on June 15th, so happy birthday to the Stan Twins! I hope you enjoyed this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please leave a review if you can.
Thank you!