Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls or any of its characters. Otherwise, we'd have more father-son stuff between Stan and Soos just because we can have it.
Graduation
It was Graduation Day and Soos couldn't help but think that he should be happier. After all, high school would officially be over within an hour, Abuelita was proud of him, and his cousin Reggie had even been able to make it back for the ceremony. It was perfect, except…
Right next to Abuelita, there was an empty chair.
Soos was used to there being an empty chair. There had been an empty chair at every birthday party Soos had had until he begged Abuelita to not throw a party any more. The empty chair had made an appearance at every holiday. There were plenty of times, but in the past six years or so, that empty chair had not been as apparent as usual.
Today, though, it hurt a bit more. Soos had been hoping that at the very least…
He sighed. It was a bit too late now. Pomp and Circumstance had been played, he and the other graduates were in place, and the principal was starting his speech.
"Thank you everyone for coming today." The principal said from his spot at the podium. "Welcome to our – "
SCREECH!
The scream of brakes rent through the air, startling everyone.
CRASH!
The squealing brakes were followed by an ominous crash, one so big the entire building shook. Everyone in the gymnasium looked in the direction of the noise. The sounds did not raise much hope for the driver.
Soos could feel his heart starting to pound though. Could… Could it be?
The thumps of hurried footsteps sounded from the nearest hallway, and as everyone watched, the double doors were slammed open.
Soos let out a delighted gasp as his grin widened.
In the doorway stood Mr. Pines. He was adjusting his fez and tie, but ultimately, he looked no worse for wear than usual. His eyes scanned the stage, stopping on Soos for a moment, before he turned to join the audience.
"'Scuse me. Pardon me." Mr. Pines excused himself without a hint of remorse as he waded through the crowd. Finally, he made his way to Abuelita and plopped into the empty chair next to her.
It seemed like it was only then that Mr. Pines noticed the entire gymnasium staring at him. "What?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Ah, uh, yes. Well…" The principal fumbled but quickly recovered, launching into the welcome speech.
Soos didn't pay it much attention, his grin stuck on his face and his eyes not straying from the sight of Mr. Pines sitting with the rest of his family.
The empty chair had been filled.
Stan had been nervous about coming to Soos's graduation. After all, weren't those just for family to attend?
Stan didn't know. He'd never even made it to his own graduation. This would be his first time attending any graduation ceremony.
It was… actually pretty boring. People gave speeches, droning on and on, and there were a few slideshows with pictures they all had to watch. Basically, the entire thing boiled down to "Wow, we sure had fun" and "Wow, our futures are so bright and shiny; what could possibly go wrong".
It took all of Stan's will power to not constantly roll his eyes.
The highlight of the ceremony was the walk across the stage where graduates shook hands with the principal and got their diplomas. Stan took delight in clapping for each graduate even after the principal asked them to hold their applause until the end. This was Gravity Falls after all; it's not like there were a ton of people in the graduating class.
Stan did make sure to clap the hardest and whoop the loudest when it was Soos's turn though.
After the giving of the diplomas, it was over in a snap and the graduates filed out. Stan followed Soos's abuelita to go meet him in the grass outside the school building.
He felt that uncharacteristic nervousness rising again. Maybe this was a bad idea. He couldn't help but think as they located Soos. He fingered the envelope in his pocket even as he felt a small smile on his face from the exuberant hug Soos and his abuelita shared.
Soos's eyes were starry as he pulled out of his abuelita's embrace. "Mr. Pines! You came!" He grinned.
"Eh. It's not like I was doing anything else today." Stan tried to shrug it off. Upon seeing Soos was going to hug him too, he tried to ward it off by pulling out the envelope and thrusting it towards Soos. "Here. Congrats on graduating, kid."
"Oh! You got me a card? That's totally…" Soos trailed off as he saw what was actually in the envelope.
Curious at his reaction, Soos's abuelita sidled up next to her grandson; her raised eyebrows were the only sign she had seen what was in the envelope.
Stan shifted from foot to foot at their reactions. That uncomfortable feeling was back.
Wasn't giving money normal for graduation?
"Mr. Pines." Soos's soft, awe-filled voice sounded out. "This is…"
"What?" He couldn't help his defensive tone.
"A lot of money." Soos finally said, fingering the bills as if they'd disappear at any moment.
Well, he wasn't wrong about the amount. It wasn't like Stan laid down 500 buck for anything outside of a casino. And Soos knew that all too well.
But this was a special occasion.
"Consider it a bonus." Stan replied, trying very hard to go for nonchalance. "Since this is your last summer at the Shack and all."
"What?!" Soos looked up from the envelope with wide eyes. His breath seemed to hitch slightly as his eyes frantically raked over Stan. "What do you mean?"
Stan blinked. Wasn't it obvious? "Well, you're going off to college, ain't ya? Isn't that what smart kids do?"
Or at least, that's what happened in his experience. Smart guys went off to college and left him behind. And despite what he may say, Stan knew that Soos was a lot smarter than he or others gave him credit for.
He didn't call him the best handyman he'd ever had for nothing.
"Mr. Pines…" Soos was tearing up, and it made Stan take a step back. What'd I do now?
"Mr. Pines!"
Before Stan could even take another breath, Soos had engulfed him in a bear hug, squeezing him tight.
"Ah, Soos," he managed to eke out as he struggled to take in air. The kid really didn't know his own strength sometimes. Luckily, Soos seemed to get the message and loosened his hold a bit, though he continued hugging him.
"Mr. Pines, I'm not going away for college."
"Eh?"
Soos pulled back enough so Stan could see the overwhelming smile on his face. "I was just going to take some classes online! I can keep working at the Mystery Shack.
"Oh." Now Stan felt a bit foolish. "I see."
"Besides, why would I want to leave Gravity Falls when I can stay here with you and the Shack?" Soos's smile somehow got bigger as he babbled on, but Stan wasn't listening anymore.
Soos would choose him and his rundown Shack over college.
"Come here, you." Stan wasn't grinning as he pulled Soos down to give him a noogie. He really wasn't. "This is what you get for making me think I was losing my best employee." His punishment wasn't as effective as he though since Soos was simply laughing through it.
Though Stan did notice Soos carefully kept a good hold of Stan's graduation gift.
For the first time, Stan considered that maybe after he got his brother back and he got too old, maybe Soos could be more than just an employee at the Shack.
Maybe.
What a graduation that's be for Soos.
For now though, Stan just contented himself with the fact that Soos, despite graduating, would be sticking around.
As Soos's abuelita joined in on the laughter, he figured this was enough for now.
AN: So this was a story that I was working on in my free time at work since, like, January. I finally got it all typed up and well, tis the season for this sort of thing. Personally, I think that Stan set up college funds for the niblings when they were born so they wouldn't have to deal with the same thing Ford did when it came to affording college. However, he wouldn't have had as much time to set up that sort of thing for Soos, plus he feels he technically isn't family, so he would just give him money as a graduation gift. Which in and of itself is a big thing.
Based on a comic by moringmark on Tumblr. You'll have to look through his Soos tag as I can't post a link here.