Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at /works/16213202.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Fandom: Gravity Falls

Character: Stan Pines, Ford Pines, Fiddleford H. McGucket

Additional Tags: SEAL Stanley Pines, Stanley Pines is a Navy SEAL, Diary/Journal, Sea Monsters, Feelings, Jealous Ford Pines, Nostalgia

Series: Part 3 of SEAL Grunkle Stan Stats: Published: 2018-10-06 Chapters: 1/5

Title: Entries From the Sea by Merlin_Wolfgang_Trades_Hale

Summary: Three months after Joe White visits Ford in place of Stanley and tells him his brother is now a SEAL, Ford receives a package in the mail. It looks like a simple comprehension notebook used as a diary. On the surface, that's what it is. But on the inside...it's the life that could have been. For in it are the tales of his brother at sea, and all of the adventures, myths, and creatures that awaited him.

"Dear Ford,

I got your package. I gotta be honest and admit I hadn't expected that. But then again it's been a while.
We just don't know each other like we used to.

I'll do my best to honor your wishes as best as I can. Don't worry about me, I'm great!

But do me a favor and if you talk to mom, don't tell her. She doesn't know.

-Love,

Lee."

Ford read that letter over and over for the better part of an hour. To be honest with himself, he expected more. At least a full page. Before he would have thought it was because writing wasn't Stanley's strong suit, but now it was different. Stanley was a military man and had to keep things short and to the point. Ford was trying to read between the lines to see if there was something else his brother might be trying to say.

But there was no secret message.

The message was actually there in plain sight. 'We just don't know each other like we used to'. And Stanley was right. They didn't. It's been over a decade and Ford's guilt rises as he realizes how little he'd done to reach out to his family. His initial thoughts tell him that he wasn't very close with them, so it shouldn't matter. But it's a lie.

He wasn't close to their father. Filbrick Pines was only interested in making a fortune and getting out of the dump that had been their home. Ford couldn't say he cared much for the man as he got older, but he couldn't say that about his mother.

His mother who apparently wasn't aware that Stan had enlisted. Sure, he hadn't known either and it was more than unsettling that if it wasn't for the danger of Bill he might never have known himself. He has to sit down and let it all sink in.

Stanley enlisted.

His twin brother went and survived training and became a SEAL. He was out there in the world, on a ship, keeping their country safe.

That was honestly more honorable than what he thought Stanley would end up doing. Not that he thought of his brother a lot in the last decade. He spent most of his time focusing on his achievements and making up for lost time because of Stanley's mistake. He held resentment and that was the last thing he remembered thinking about his brother. The person who cost him his future.

Thinking about Stan now, and what he would have been if left alone...there wasn't much honor in his visions. Stanley was a mix of their mother and father. The anger and muscle of their father, and the con-artist but kind heart of their mother. His assumption of what his brother would end up doing reflected a lot on their parents. Running some sort of crappy shop in the middle of nowhere.

But it seemed like Stanley kept his dreams alive. Even if they didn't include Ford.

The amount of hurt he felt at that thought was illogical. Ford knew how stupid that dream was once they reached puberty. It held little merit and no real future! Not for him anyway. But it was real to Stanley.

With Ford out of the way and nothing else to stop him...or help him, Stan had to be creative. The Navy hadn't even registered as a solution, despite how obvious it was.

It had once been their dream. Along the way, Ford woke up and began to visualize his future. Was Stanley still asleep and still deep in his delusions?

Those were troubling thoughts considering the dangers of being out at sea in his circumstances. Ford was possibly across the world and even if he wanted to, he couldn't help Stanley if he got into trouble.

Why? Why was he suddenly feeling all of these emotions after not having them for a decade? Stanley was fine! He wouldn't be allowed to be a SEAL if he didn't know what he was doing, right? But then again, Stanley was one of the best liars Ford knew.

With a frustrated sigh, Ford forced himself to get back to his work. It only worked to distract him for a short while, afterward he sat at his desk and wrote another letter.

"Dear Stanley,

Why haven't you told mom? She'd be worried, sure, but also proud.

I know I am, as I mentioned in my previous letter. But I am also concerned. You're being careful, right?

The journal you have is dangerous and can't fall into the wrong hands. Tell me you've hidden it well.

Let me know in your next letter where you're stationed. Maybe I can fly out there.

-Love,

Ford."

It would be another three months before Ford heard from Stanley again. In that time he's recruited the help of Fiddleford and worked together on the portal and securing it. It had a lot of work involved but not without frustrating breaks where they reached a dead end of some sort.

In those breaks, he could only think about Stanley and his journal. He wondered if they were both safe. If one had caused the other harm in some way. When he confided his fears with Fiddleford he got a lecture for seeming to place equal value on both his brother and the journal. The journal held important thoughts and ideas, but they could be re-written and rediscovered. Stanley was a human being, Ford's twin, and a SEAL out doing God knows what sort of op!

Fiddleford knew that he wasn't cut out to be a soldier, but he has made payments on his home and student loans by selling patents to the military. He understands the sense of duty and loyalty of the military a bit more than Ford does.

They would bicker for a bit before Fiddleford got to the core of Ford's fear. The man had let a stupid mistake become anger and let it fester inside of him for over a decade. Even though he still made some of his dreams come true, the resentment he held on to that in a sense helped him push harder, seemed a bit childish. Especially more so as he realized that the person he once knew better than himself, who shared his face, was now a stranger. One he couldn't predict. One who he couldn't reach out to or even call.

Then the mail arrived.

It wasn't a letter.

It wasn't a nicely decorated or elegant journal either.

It was a run of the mill comprehension notebook used to take notes in school.

On the front in Stanley's handwriting was, "Stanely Pines: Sea Entries"

"What is that?" Fiddleford asked. Then he picked up a note that fell from the envelope the notebook came in. "Don't worry Sixer, your journal is safe. Even my Commander will have trouble getting to it, and that crafty sonnuva bee is hecka crafty." Fiddleford frowned and Ford knew that he had been censoring Stanley's actual choice of words. "I woulda wrote sooner but I figured you'd appreciate this more. It ain't as scientific as you'd make it, but here are some of my weird findings out at sea."

Ford's head snapped up and then opened the journal and skimmed through it.

"What's he mean?" Fiddleford asked.

"They're...journal entries. Sea monsters mostly I think. Stan...Stan wrote a journal for me."

"Well ain't that nice." Fiddleford smiled, but then frowned as he saw the look on Ford's face. "It is, ain't it?"

"Yeah...yeah..." Ford answered. It was nice. He should be excited to read what his brother has found, and he was. But there's a part of him that doesn't feel that excitement. And that weird feeling of resentment is back, but he can't place why. Was it resentment? Was it competitive worry? That Stan would find something grander out there than he's ever been able to find in Gravity Falls?

He was beginning to chide himself for being so stupid when he froze. If he could get into as much trouble with Bill here, what sort of trouble can Stanley find out there?

He opens the journal and begins to read.