Five years had passed since "Weirdmaggedon", or the "Odd-pocalypse" as some Gravity Falls residents referred to it as. Five years since the summer Dipper and Mabel Pines had come to live with their eccentric con-man of a Great-Uncle, Stan Pines. In that time, the tiny Oregon town had settled back into its normal level of strangeness.

The Mystery Shack, though no longer run by Stanley Pines, was still open and operational thanks to the dedication and hard work of former handyman Jesus "Soos" Ramirez. Donning Stan's old fez and eyepatch, Soos embraced his role as "The New Mr. Mystery".

…..

As with every tour, Soos brought his latest group of customers over to a large wooden sculpture (done by Wendy out of boredom) of the Pines family. It featured both Dipper and Mabel, the two of them being held by Stan Pines. Mabel held her favorite grappling hook while Dipper had a large journal in his hands. Perched at the feet of the carved family was Waddles, Mabel's pet pig. Underneath the statue was a plague that read "The Heroes of Gravity Falls."

"And over here, we have a monument dedicated to the heroes of Gravity Falls, the Pines family, who saved our fair town from the 'incident' that occurred five years ago. While they are no longer with us now, their spirit lives within all of us forever. Trust me it's a lot less creepy than it sounds."

The patrons all clapped, a few even whistling. Soos smiled at the cheers as he passed around his fez, his customers willingly handing over wads of cash for the show. As one little kid came and placed a wadded up five in the fez, he looked up at Soos with wide eyes.

"Mistah Soos?" he asked in a cute, little kid voice. "Where are the Pines family now?"

Soos bent down and ruffled the kid's hair.

"I'm afraid that's privileged information little dude." he told him. "I can't tell you that Stan and Ford went to explore the world and solve all of its weird and interesting mysteries."

The kid went wide eyed as Soos continued.

"I also can't tell you that Dipper and Mabel have recently graduated high school and are about to go to college at Alex Hirsch University back in Piedmont California. It's all hush hush and all that."

"Cool!" The little kid exclaimed as his mom scooped down and picked him up. "They're my heroes!"

Soos watched them leave as he slid the eyepatch off his eye and looked down at the fez in his hand.

"Mine too, little dude. Mine too."

…..

Soos finished locking up the Mystery Shack, flipping the sign from open to close and untying his bow tie. With a smile, he passed through the curtain leading into the house part of the shack. Inside, he found his wife Melody watching "The Squirts" with his 2-year old son Stan.

"Evening Melody." he called, placing his coat on a nearby coat rack. "Hey Stan."

Little Stan grinned, running over to his daddy and throwing his little arms around him. Soos scooped him up, holding him close and kissing his face over and over. Stan giggled, trying to push his dad's face away with his tiny, child sized hands. Melody laughed at the exchange, placing a kiss of her own on Soos' cheek.

"How did you do today?" she asked, taking Stan back.

"Pretty good." he replied. "I figured we should celebrate tonight with some dinosaur shaped cookies."

Little Stan cheered at the thought of his favorite treat. Even Melody smiled.

"That sounds like a great idea."

Slipping out of his suit, Soos pulled on his favorite tee-shirt, the dark green question mark shirt that Stan Pines had given him the first day they met. Grabbing his ball-cap, he took the day's earnings and prepared to walk out. As he opened the door, he was surprised to see a familiar red head at the door, fist raised to knock.

"Wendy!" he called, hugging her tightly. "What's up dudette?"

Wendy accepted the hug, giving an equally strong one in return.

"Not much." she replied with a shrug. "Just got off work at the lumber yard, thought I'd come see how the old place was doing."

Both Wendy and Soos took a few steps back, looking up at the shack. It was in much better shape than it had been in the past. The 'S' that constantly fell down was now permanently attached to the large sign on the roof. The paint was fresh and all of the woodwork was well-fitted and smooth.

"I guess Stan was smart to leave his handyman in charge." she commented.

"Yep." Soos replied with a happy sigh. "Living the dream. Got a beautiful wife, a cute little boy of my own, and I have the job I have always dreamed of."

Wendy looked over and raised an eyebrow.

"I thought your dream was to be adopted by Stan."

Soos shrugged.

"This was a close second." he replied.

They stood there for a minute as Wendy placed her arm around Soos.

"You miss them too, doncha?"

"Yeah." Soos nodded. "I just wish something would bring them back. Gravity Falls just isn't the same without the Pines Family."

"You said it dude." Wendy agreed.

All of a sudden, the sky went dark. The cheery, late-summer evening turned an ominous shade of grey. The wind began to whirl, shaking the trees, the totem pole, and even the shack itself. Both Soos and Wendy braced themselves as a stream of blue fire suddenly came shooting out of the skies, scorching the earth directly in front of them. Then, just as quickly as it had come, the fire disappeared, taking with it the sudden gloom and wind. Standing in the circle of ash was a strange man. He wore a black trench coat over a discolored white shirt and a pair of torn cargo pants. He seemed to be missing his left shoe, a grey sock with a hole in the toe serving as his only protection. A large pair of glasses with cracked lenses were perched on his nose and a red knit cap was pulled down over his hair.

"Aw geez." The strange man muttered in a familiar voice. "I can't see squat through these things."

The man took off the glasses, squinting in an attempt to see farther.

"Great. Now I'm gonna need to get a new pair of glasses."

Both Wendy and Soos stared at the man. They recognized his voice all too well, but it was impossible. Still, weirder had happened, so Wendy stepped forward.

"Mr. Pines?" She asked.

The man perked up, meeting Wendy's eye.

"Wendy?" he asked. "Soos? What in Sam's hill are you-?"

An ominous crack suddenly emanated from the large Mystery Shack sign. Acting quickly, Soos grabbed Wendy, pulling her back seconds before the large 'S' came crashing down on their mysterious visitor.

"Hot Belgian Waffles!" The man cried out in pain.

Both Wendy and Soos recognized that particular brand of swearing, and they recognized the next part even more.

"Wait… you're adults. I can swear for real. Son of a-!"

"Stan!" the two cried out.

Just then little Stan came to the window and waved at his dad.

"Not you little Stan!" Soos called back.

Little Stan seemed to sigh, then he walked away from the window. Soos grabbed one end of the S while Wendy grabbed the other. Together, they lifted it up so Stan could crawl out from under it. Once he was clear, the two dropped it once more to tend to their former boss.

"Mr. Pines." Soos called. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah… I'm fine..." he replied. "What are you two doing here?"

Wendy and Soos exchanged glances before looking back at Stan.

"Umm, you're the one who needs to answer that question." Wendy replied. "What are you doing back in Gravity Falls?"

Stan blinked, standing up.

"Gravity Falls?" he repeated. "That's not right… I was in Dimension 36 with Ford and-"

That's when he seemed to get a bit worried. He started looking around frantically.

"Ford... Where's Ford?"

"Sorry Mr. Pines." Soos replied. "You're the only Stan that's fallen from the sky today."

Stan grumbled, ceasing his frantic search and punching the fallen 'S'.

"Great. Just great. I've only had him back for five years and the multiverse snatches him from me again!"

In anger, he grabbed his knit cap, throwing it on the ground and stomping on it.

"This! Is! Just! Perfect!" he exclaimed with every angry stomp.

Wendy and Soos just stood there, their jaws practically on the ground at what they were seeing. Stan's once grey, neatly trimmed hair was now dark brown, coming down to his shoulders in the back. After a minute, Soos raised a finger, pointing as Stan.

"Mr. Pines..." he said in a state of shock. "Your hair..."

Stan looked over in confusion.

"My hair?" he asked, placing his hand on his head. "What's wrong with my-?"

His own words caught in his throat as he ran his hand through his long brown locks, his eyes going wide.

"What the… Since when do I have this much hair?"

He pulled some around so he could look at it, and then practically screamed.

"And since when is it brown?!"

He began patting himself down, as if trying to feel if anything else was difference. One thing he noticed was the distinct lack of fat on his stomach, an unfortunate side effect of the sedentary lifestyle he adopted after taking his brother's identity. In fact, he could easily say that he looked the same way he did the day he showed up at his brother's doorstep nearly 35 years ago.

"Holy Mother of Sassafras, I'm 30 again!" he finally realized. "I have my ugly mullet and everything!"

Soos came over, rubbing his hand on Stan's face and marveling at the smoothness of it.

"Wow, Mr. Pines." Soos murmured as he continued to stroke Stan. "Your skin is so smooth. Are you using some sort of interdimensional moisturizer?"

"Can it Soos!" Stan shouted slapping Soos' hand away.

"In all seriousness, Mr. Pines," Wendy interjected. "How are you 30 again? You should be… like… 70 now."

"I'm 67, thank you very much." Stan snapped, then he honestly seemed to ponder Wendy's question. "But as for why I'm not… i don't know. In fact i don't remember much of what happened."

"So something, or someone, turned you into a 30 year old, then sent you back here." Wendy tried to rationalize. "And when they did, they sent you alone, and you have no memory of why and how."

Stan nodded.

"That about sums it up."

The three of them were quiet for a moment before Soos spoke up.

"So… what do we do now?"

"Easy. I find my brother." Stan remarked,

"But how?" Wendy asked. "I mean, last time it took you 30 years to find him, and you had his journals."

Stan just smirked, striking a heroic pose.

"I don't need the journals." he replied. "I've got something even better. Soos, fire up the Stan-mobile. I'm going to Piedmont."

Soos nodded.

"Ok but I'll need help getting it out of the shack." he explained. "I've been keeping it as part of the exhibit."

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