Title: Consolation
Rating: k
Characters: Mabel Pines, Stanford Pines, Stanley Pines (mentioned), and Dipper Pines (mentioned)
Word Count: ~1100
Summary: After running into her grunkle after a nightmare, Ford decides to share something with her from his past in hopes to bring her spirits up.
A/N: Here have a short fanfic, haha (and it's longer than my last one!). This world could still use some more Ford and Mabel bonding fics. Hope you enjoy reading. :)
I also take on requests, so feel free to comment with some suggestions! (Or you could also send me a message on my tumblr as well. Url is the same as my fanfic username, haha
Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls!
Mabel abruptly jolted awake from her bed with a yelp, breathing heavily, heart pounding as she felt tears streaming down her face. Her grip on her blanket tightened for comfort as she glanced to the side with a frown. 2:30 am. While she checked the time, she also noticed that her brother was sound asleep on the other side of the room. She wasn't sure whether to be relieved that he wasn't awake to witness her outburst or not. Either way, she decided that she should try to leave the room and take her mind off the horrors she dreamt of and slid off her bed, silently making her way out of the attic and down the stairs to the kitchen. Maybe a glass of water could help calm her nerves.
She insentiently rubbed the sides of her crossed arms as she entered the kitchen, pushing a nearby chair to the counter so she could climb up and reach the cabinet filled with various glasses. As soon as she grabbed a cup she made a beeline to the sink, where she eagerly filled the glass up with water.
She swiftly chugged the beverage down, feeling somewhat relieved by the time she left the glass in the sink and started to make her way back to the attic. However on her trip back, something unexpectedly slammed into her in the hallway, knocking her onto the floor with a moan.
"Mabel?" A calm voice softly called out—Mabel recognized it as Ford's. "Are you all right? I didn't mean to ram into you like that." He added as he proceeded to extend his hand towards her, offering to help her back onto her feet. She accepted the gesture, pulling herself up.
Her lips trembled as she struggled to find the words to speak a response. "I-I...I..." A tear slipped down her face, thinking back to her dreadful nightmare.
"It's okay—you don't need to say anything if you don't feel comfortable." He said in a comforting tone as soon as he noticed her mortified expression. He immediately recognized the reasons for her behavior, and found the situation all too familiar. "Though I think I might have something that may help take your mind off things for a while." He stated with a small smile. "Come along, Mabel."
She gladly took his invitation and followed Ford into the room where he slept (when he wasn't randomly passing out against some table down in the lab from overexerting himself). Mabel lingered in the doorway as she watched her grunkle stroll over to a nearby bookcase.
"Let's see here..." Ford trailed off as he scanned the shelves, pulling out a thick brown book with a slightly worn spine. "Ah—here it is!" He exclaimed enthusiastically, smiling when he recognized the cover.
She slowly made her way over to her grunkle. "Wait, what is that?" Mabel chimed in questionably, blinking away any remaining tears as her brows quirked up in curiosity.
He lowered the item enough for her to observe it. "Childhood Memories," she read the cover's text aloud, tracing the letters lightly with her fingers. She glanced up, her face brightening. "You mean you have a scrapbook too, Grunkle Ford?"
He shrugged. "Well, more or less. My mother made it and gave it to me as a gift when I left the house." Ford smiled as he brought the album back up to his chest. "Wouldn't you know—the knucklehead actually kept this thing after all these years." He mumbled to himself with a slight shake of his head.
"I have one too! I've actually been working on it throughout the whole summer." Mabel said triumphantly, smiling widely. "I can show you it sometime, just like you're gonna show me yours!"
"Sure, sounds good, kid." He responded with a nod of approval, reaching down to affectionately ruffle her hair. Mabel couldn't help the grin that continued to spread across her face. "Now, let's get back to this, shall we?" He questioned while gesturing to the photo album.
And before Ford could say anything else, Mabel had already scurried over to the couch to have a seat, eager to get a peak of what her grunkle was about to show her. Her feet swung back and forth as Ford took a seat beside her. She snuggled into his side as she watched him open up the album's cover, revealing pictures of two identical twin newborns.
"Wow—I never knew you two looked so much alike when you guys were little." She commented with a grin, bringing her hands up to her cheeks as she gushingly added, "And you two are so adorable!"
Ford let out a genuine laugh as he continued to flip through the pages with Mabel. Most of the pictures she saw were filled with two children that were always near each other, all smiles and getting along, with the occasional rambunctious moments of Stan. The two carried on through the book, until Mabel picked up something and abruptly stopped Ford's page flipping. She pointed to a picture of two nine-year-old twins grinning ear-to-ear at the beach, noticing a slight difference in appearance between them.
"Wait a sec—how come you have glasses, but Grunkle Stan doesn't? Did he not have to wear any?"
Ford snorted in response, grinning smugly. "Oh, his eyesight was just about as bad as mine. He just decided not to wear any glasses. Thought he looked better without them, despite how much he really needed them."
"I think Grunkle Stan would've looked much better with glasses." She piped in with a smile, followed by a brief yawn.
Ford continued to go through the scrapbook, and found himself so absorbed in observing the remaining pictures that he didn't notice at first that his great niece had already started to doze off. Though as soon as he finished looking through the album, he then glanced to his side to check on Mabel, who had fallen asleep against him. He couldn't help but warmly smile at the sight. And before he could attempt hoisting the sleeping child into his arms to bring her up to her room, he felt a wave of exhaustion run through him. His lack of sleep the past couple days was starting to catch up with him.
Not wanting to risk disturbing his niece who was now sleeping soundly, he decided to stay put and found himself wrapping an arm securely around her as he started to doze off as well. He eventually joined Mabel in a peaceful deep slumber, taking comfort in the warmth their bodies shared.
The two found themselves covered by a blanket when they woke up later in the day.
A/N: And this ends the second drabble/short fic! Depending on how many reviews, favorites, and follows I get I may post some more in the future. Comments, favorites and so forth are appreciated.
Thanks and hope you enjoyed reading!
-Syd
