Author's note: This is my first fanfic ever! I got motivation to write a fanfic about Grunkle Stan because there are only few stories focused on him! The GF fanfics seem to always focus on Dipper and Mabel or Bill. And season 2 hasn't been too good for Stan either, but I'm sure that will change soon! If you spot some odd choice of words or grammar madness in this story, it's because I'm not a native English speaker. But my English is pretty decent comparing to the 's quality in general, heh. I hope you enjoy my little story!
Grunkle Stan was in an usually good mood that morning. He had woken early that day and was humming "Stan wrong song" in his raspy voice in the kitchen. A sleepy Waddles waddled from the door tilting his head a bit questioningly when Stan said to him: "Oh hi ya there, pig! It's a glorious, sunny day! Look what I'm making for the kids!" and showed proudly the pig a plate full of tasty looking blueberry pancakes. Waddles sniffed the air approvingly, his pig snout jiggling. Stan had become a little better cook during the summer, normally he just ate canned meat as that was cheaper. His summer budget was bigger because of the tourist season. "If you're lucky, you might get the leftovers. But I doubt it, these are so tasty that Mabel and Dipper will probably hog them all! Hehe, you probably understand that, being a hog and all."
Stan was excited. He had planned all kinds of fun activities for the kids to do with him that day. He had never had so fun summer than he now was having with the twins. But he wasn't very good at saying that out loud, so he had decided to show that through action rather than with words, to show them how much he really appreciated having them around the shack.
He heard his great niece's cheerful chatter following with his great nephew's laughter. Stan saw them coming to downstairs looking perky, even Dipper who normally looked like a zombie in the mornings, with dark circles under his eyes that he got because of his late night summer reading (the kid was way too obsessed with that journal). Now he was looking energetic. Stan was happy about that fact, the boy needed that energy to have fun today. It was funny how different twins were considering their rhytm, Mabel was a morning person and Dipper definitely wasn't, at least normally.
"Morning kids! I made you some breakfast!" Stan said smiling and put plates full of pancakes and omelettes on the table for the kids. He had also poured fresh orange juice in the glasses. "You know, today I have some great plans for us!" he said a bit nervously. "I thought we could first-"
His sentence was interrupted by Dipper who took something from the fridge without even looking the delicious breakfast Stan had made carefully: "Sorry Grunkle Stan, we are just going to take these packed lunches for today's expedition!" Dipper was holding a plastic bag that probably had some snacks in it. Grunkle Stan was confused. "Expedition? You mean our fishing trip? Or the picnic I planned? Or going to the pool?"
"Huh?" Dipper said frowning. "No, we are going to go to search for deer-rabbits! Wendy said his dad had seen them once in the woods! They are a bit rare but this time of the year they can be found a little more easily, or so the journal says. It'd be awesome to get a photo of them!" Mabel was bouncing of excitement. "Deer-rabbits! They are like a cute animal combined with other cute animal, so that make them double-cute! I WANT TO PET ONE!"
"B-but won't you eat my pancakes? They aren't stancakes this time, I promise!" Stan said still not quite realizing what the twins had said. "Sorry Grunkle, but we gotta run now! We promised to meet Wendy at 9 am near the stream." "We can also go to bowling if that is what you want!" Stan tried to shout but the twins were already running out of the shack.
Stan looked at the front door that was closing, seeing a glimpse of distancing backs of the twins. He stood there a while before he said in a small voice: "But... we were going to have a family fun day today..." The twins hadn't told him anything about a deer-rabbits trip yesterday, so Stan had assumed they didn't have anything planned for today. He had been planning this special day over a week now and had wanted it to be a big surprise for Dipper and Mabel. But it ended up being a big surprise for him, and not a nice one. Of course the kids had something better planned than hanging with their old weird uncle. Stan felt tears forming in his eyes and tried to stop them. His shoulders slumped and all of the happy and content mood he had earlier had vanished in a second.
Soos came in the Mystery Shack whistling a happy tune. It wasn't even noon quite yet and he had already finished one of the tasks of the day. He saw Waddles lying on the floor on his back looking like a stuffed animal that had too much stuffing. Mabel's pet oinked lazily. "Hey Waddles, you look like you had a very nutritious meal!" Soos laughed and then saw a piece of a pancake near Waddles. "PIG LEFTOVERS!" Soos gasped and looked around him before quickly taking the slightly damaged pancake and put it in his mouth. "Mmm!" After he had munched that, he started to call: "Oh Mr. Pines! I finished fixing the shed already! Mr. Pines! What should I do next?! Mr. Pines?"
There wasn't any response. That's weird, thought Soos. Usually he was in the shack around this time of the day. Unless there was some unexpected tourist tour? But then Soos remembered that Mr. Pines had told him yesterday that he had a day off today. Suddenly Soos started to hear some muffled voice. It sounded like sobbing, Soos realized. He approached the sound, it seemed to come from the porch. He opened slowly the door and said: "Oh Mr. Pines, I finished fixing the shed you wanted me to repair! It's good as new! What should I do n..." he stopped in a mid-sentence as he saw a miserable sight in front of him. Stan was sitting on a bench, his back on the shack so Soos couldn't see his face but the older man's slumped body language told Soos he wasn't feeling good.
"Mr. Pines, are you all right?" the handyman asked hesitantly.
"Thank you. Good work, Soos", Stan answered in a thin and weak voice ignoring Soos's last question. He wasn't looking at Soos. Soos's eyes frowned with worry, Mr. Pines never sounded like that. "Are you all right, dude?" he repeated approaching slowly his boss. "I'm fine", Stan said so queitly that it almost sounded like a whisper. He was still avoiding the eye contact with Soos and his eyes were fixed in the ground. Soos sat next to Stan, uncertain what to do. "Clearly there is something bothering you, Mr. Pines. Could you tell me what it is?" he tried. Stan turned his body more so Soos couldn't his face. "It's nothing, I'm fine", he said with a voice that sounded like he had been crying earlier. "Hey, where are Dipper and Mabel by the way?" Soos casually asked trying to change the subject.
Stan's shoulders started to tremble when he heard those words. For Soos's horror, Stan started to sob heavily. He had never seen his boss crying and never thought he would, Stan had been always secretive about his personal life, and didn't want to show emotional bursts (except fits of anger or frustration) in front of his employees. He wasn't the type who cried, so it was strange to see him do that. Soos panicked, he didn't know how he should react to the situation. Stan's hands were covering his eyes and he continued to cry hopelessly. Soos patted Stan's back comfortingly, uncertain what to say. "They...they had better things to do than to be with me", Stan finally said while shedding tears and hiccoughing.
"Oh", Soos finally realized what this all was about. "So they didn't want you to come with them?"
"Well, I think so as they were so busy that they didn't even eat the breakfast I made them!" Stan sobbed. Soos got an image of full Waddles next to an empty plate and added two plus two together. "I had so great things planned for us to do today, but they had some other, more important plans. Why wouldn't they? Who would want to spend time with a guy like me anyway? The kids are embarrassed of me, I'm sure they wouldn't want anyone to see them with me publicly", Stan continued full of self-pity. Soos heart sank by those words. "That's not true! The kids love you!" Soos objected.
Stan turned his head for the first time in Soos' direction, finally meeting his gaze. Stan's eyes were red and puffy from all the crying, and he had a defeated expression on his face. He looked fragile, something Soos had never associated with his sturdy boss. "I don't know, Soos. I bet they don't want to come spend summers with me, their old and dumb grunkle, anymore", Stan said and couldn't continue anymore, he bursted out crying helplessly. Soos put quickly his both hands on Stan's shoulders and tried to calm him down: "That's nonsense, Mr. Pines! Of course they want to come here in the future! I bet they never had such an adventurous summer before, and Mabel got a pig and Dipper found that spooky journal! They love to be here, man! I'm sure their parents will have hard time trying to get them leave here and their awesome Mr. Mystery uncle in the end of the summer!"
Stan sniffled, his crying somewhat lessened. "You are just saying that", he said faintly. "No I'm not, Mr. Pines!" Soos exclaimed. Mr. Pines didn't answer. "I mean it, Stan!" Soos normally never used Mr. Pines's first name, but now he wanted his boss to realize he really meant what he had said. Stan seemed to notice that and smiled warily. "Heh, I guess I kinda overreacted... but I just feel so lonely sometimes... and the kids have been the first relatives of mine who tolerate me. I just fear they will get tired of me eventually", Stan confessed.
Soos picked Stan's fallen fez up from the ground and said: "I'm sure they will never do that! Too bad they did have other plans for today though, your plans sounded so fantastic!"
" A lot better than trying to find some deer-rabbits. When you have seen one, you have seen them all", Stan snorted sounding a bit more like his usual self. Soos pondered a while how he could cheer up Stan, he really liked his boss and didn't want to see him sad. Then it hit him.
"Hey Mr. Pines, if Mabel and Dipper didn't want to have good time with you today, how about you would go with me instead? It would be a pity if all of your planning went to waste." Stan raised his head in surprise. "With you?" "Yeah! It'd be Stan and Soos'd epic adventures!" Soos beamed eagerly. Stan face darkened. "You are just doing that ouf pity, aren't you?" Soos panicked. "What? No! I would love to do some fun things with you! That'd be so fantastic!" Geez, the older man really didn't trust others much, Soos thought.
Stan's face softened. "Oh... well then, you wouldn't mind go on a picnic with this old man? And to fishing! And bowling?" he said a bit shyly. "LET'S DO IT! JUST YOU AND ME, DUDE!" Soos yelled joyfully. Soos had always secretly wanted to do spend some time with Stan alone besides work, he thought Stan as his own uncle or even a (weird) father figure of some sort. Stan smiled first time genuinely after his disappointing morning. "All right, we better start packing then!" he said with a litte bit more gusto. "Let me drive the car!" Soos offered. "Uuh, my own chauffeur, how fancy! Oh lala!" Stan said looking pleased.
They decided to go to bowling first. Soos was driving and chatted happily. Stan was sitting next to him and his mood was getting better as Soos' childish glee was infectious and occasionally he would chuckle slightly something Soos said. They arrived at the bowling centre and payed for the entrance, then got their own bowling track. "You can go first", Stan said to Soos. "Oh thanks! I'm not really good at bowling but here goes!" Soos swinged a bowling ball, threw it and it went straight to the gutter. "Hehe, see?"
"Your strength is good, but you could work on your aiming", Stan encouraged. "Here, let me show!" Stan took few steps, stopped and leaned forward, then carefully threw the ball. It hit six of the pins down, and two more of them fell after the bowling ball had disappeared. "Wow, Mr. Pines! That was amazing! I didn't know you were that good at bowling!" Soos cheered looking surprised. Stan was just about to say something when an eerily familiar voice spoke: "Haha, that was probably just dumb luck. Heh, what other kind of luck could a dumb old man like you have, right, Stanford?" Soos and Stan looked in the direction of the sound. Their arch-nemesis and ex-child psychic was standing there in his orange prison jumpsuit with a big, malicious grin and he would have looked more convincing if he wasn't wearing cute red and blue bowling shoes. "Gideon! What are you doing here?!" Soos was first to react.
"Oh, we juvile delinquents just got a sport day in the prison today and they decided to take widdle ol' me and some others to play with a ball that have holes in it. How delightful to bumb into you here", he said with a mean expression on his face. "Why I'm not surprised to see you two dumb heads in this dumb?"
Stan's shoulders stiffened. Great, this day didn't seem to get better. He sighed mentally. "Is your vocabulary decreased in the prison, kid? That was the fourth time you used the word 'dumb'. You are losing your touch, Gideon." He tried to sound more confident and unmoved than he really was. Gideon's cheeks reddened. "Very clever, old man! Please, do not let me interrupt your game! Continue, I'm sure you will get more of those hits", he answered smoothly. Stan raised one of his eyebrows suspiciously. "It's a wonder you are even able to hit one pin with those cataracts", Gideon added harshly.
Stan's posture got less confident. He was holding a bowling ball and was going to throw it but he stopped and his hand started to shake a little bit. "Don't listen to him, Mr. Pines! He just tries to tease us!" Soos said angrily. Stan throw the bowling ball, but his aim wasn't good this time and it went to the gutter. "Haha, see? You suck!" Gideon laughed.
"THAT'S IT! I have had it with you!" Soos yelled. "Leave Mr. Pines alone, you walking hairspray commercial!" Soos walked angrily towards Gideon, a bowling ball in his hands. " It enhances my natural beauty!" Gideon screamed in his high-pitched voice. "Okay, you asked for it, dude!" Soos said smiling evilly and threw a bowling ball towards the child. "AAGHH! I'm not a bowling pin!" Gideon screamed in even more high-pitched voice and ran away hastily.
"Did you see that, Mr. Pines? I had a better aim this time!" Soos said triumphantly. "Now we can continue our game!" Stan didn't look too eager anymore. "Uh, I would prefer not to." he said melancholically while scratching his hand awkwardly. "What do you mean, dude?" Soos asked confused. "Don't mind Gideon, he's just a child jerk!" "I'm just not in the mood for bowling anymore", Stan dodged. "Besides, I'm starting to get hungry. How about some picnic food, eh?" "Oh, all right then", Soos said with a worrying expression. His attempt at cheering up Stan wasn't going very well.
They went back to the car and put their seatbelts on. "So, do you know some nice place for a picnic?" Soos asked tentatively. "Oh do I?!" Stan said, his face looking suddenly radiant. "I have actually a list of good spots for a picnic in Gravity Falls", he added a bit sheepishly and took a paper from his pocket. "Wow, Mr. Pines, I didn't know you were such a picnic enthusiast!" Soos said sounding genuinely amazed. "Hehe", Stan laughed looking abashed. "You see, as a young boy I always wanted to go on a picnic, but my parents never took me for a one." Soos eyes grew bigger. "REALLY?! So you have never been on a picnic before?! That's horrible, bro!" "Yeah... I always wondered what it was like...eating good food outdoors with family and having fun... that's why I thought Dipper and Mabel might have enjoyed that. You know, uh, a fun experience with family." He quieted after saying that and gazed down.
"Don't worry, Mr. Pines! I'm sure the kids will love to go on a picnic with you tons of times this summer! But let's go for a one now, it's about time you experienced the joy of picnics! The sun, the food, the wind that throws the blanket away, the kleptomaniac ants..."
"Hey Soos, stop here!" Stan interrupted Soos' quickly escalating ramble. Soos stopped the car, they were near a beautiful meadow filled with summer flowers. "This is a perfect spot", Stan declared with a satisfied smile. He unpacked the car and took the picnic basket and a blanket and started to walk briskly to the meadow. Soos had to hurry his steps to catch up Stan. "Hmm, let's settle down here", Stan said when they were on a flat spot that was surrounded by daisies. He put the blanket on the ground and opened the picnic basket.
"I must warn you, I made lots of food, so I hope you have some room or two in your stomach", he said in a gruff grunkle voice. Soos giggled. "Room or two, that's a good one, Mr. Pines! Don't worry, I have a whole apartment empty in my tummy!"
"Haha, how big is your rent? Well, you got some new furnishings now, I hope you have enough space!" Stan said jokingly. "I'm not even sure what are we talking anymore! Heh, let's just eat. Too bad Dipper and Mabel are missing this, I made their favourites." he said and his face got a bit sad when he said the last part. "Well, it's their loss! This food looks amazing!" Soos said drooling, Stan had really outdone himself (well, that didn't require much, but still). He had made three kinds of sandwhiches, roasted chicken legs, a small chocolate cake, tasty looking salad plus there were some fresh fruits and ice tea too. They started eating, Stan looked excited. So this is what a picnic is like, he thought to himself. A small summer breeze cooled his face and next to him he heard Soos' blissful chomping.
Stan was happy. He ate with a good appetite but not nearly as much as Soos and he finished earlier than the hungry handyman. He went lying on the ground, tall grass tickling his skin. He looked at cottony clouds that were slowly moving in the bright blue sky. His eyelids started to feel heavy and droopy.
Soos had finally finished his meal and sighed happily. He looked at Stan and noticed he had fallen asleep. No wonder, thought Soos. It must have been to a lot work to make all this food. And to cry that much. If only the twins hadn't had any plans for today, that would have saved Stan a lot of self-doubting thoughts, Soos pondered. Stan never told much of his true feelings, maybe he hadn't had told Dipper and Mabel how much he cared for them? But Soos noticed that without him even saying that, he saw it in the way Stan laughed at Dipper's smart remarks or when he called his great niece a sweetie softly, with a tone he didn't use for anyone else. But maybe the twins just didn't realize themselves how important they were to their uncle?
Soos had noticed Stan was overall less grumpy once the kids had arrived in the beginning of the summer. He was a rather lonely man, Soos realized. He didn't have any friends and only people he saw daily were his employees, Soos and Wendy. Of course he talked to the tourists but that wasn't the same thing. What a good thing the twins were here for the summer, Soos thought. Stan probably liked the feeling that someone needed him.
Stan face looked unusually peaceful when he was asleep. Soos looked at him a while and then started to blow seeds of dandelions to pass time.
After a half an hour Stan woke up and looked a bit disoriented: "Huh? Did I doze off?!" Soos said calmingly: "Yeah, only for a little bit! You looked pretty tired!" "Huh, I feel so much better now!" Stan said rubbing his eyes. "Say, whaddaya say about some fishing? I must warn you, I'm pretty crazy fisher!" Stan added making one of his mischievous faces and rubbed his hands together. "Oh, I'm crazy too, dude! Crazy like...umh..um..." Soos couldn't think of anything. "Haha, I guess there isn't any comparison to you, Soos", Stan laughed good-naturedly.
They went back at the Mystery Shack to fetch the fishing equipment and Stan wanted to change to his fisherman look. The twins hadn't returned yet. Stan also grabbed his jokebook, he remembered that Soos had laughed at them last time he had read them out loud. They went to the Lake Gravity Falls. When they reached the wharf Stan looked a little hesitant and said a bit ashamed: "Uh, my boat isn't very fancy, not as good as your big boat but I hope it will do?" Soos was a bit taken a back by this. "Oh of course it'll do! Besides, my boat got crushed by the lake monster and those beavers, remember?"
"Did someone say lake monster?!" said a hillbilly sounding voice behind them. "Say, I think I have seen that beast here a while ago!"
"Uh, Old McGucket, we know you built that giant robot, you told us that yourself", Soos said looking bored.
"Oh, did I? Oh banjo polish! Well, shoo, shoo! I'm trying to find some unwitting travellers to pester with my weird personal stories! Ahhahaha!" the old man said laughing hysterically and said the same thing in the hambone language as well.
Stan and Soos rolled their eyes almost simultaneously and hopped in the old boat. "Heh, sorry if it's a bit messy. This boat would need some fixing", Stan apologized awkwardly. Soos wrote a mental note to fix Stan's boat for his birthday. Fixing was his specialty, after all! Maybe he had managed to fix Stan's mood too. Stan turned the motor on (after several failed attempts) and the boat started to move towards the fishing waters. He stopped the boat on the spot that probably was a good location to fish. "Uh, what am I sitting on?!" Stan wondered and took a fisherman hat under him. There was a hand-stitched text that spelled "Dippy". His face went blank, his eyes looked empty for a second when he thought of the kids. "Um, could you show me how to put a worm in the fish hook?" Soos asked like a little kid in the nature trip. "Oh sure", Stan said, shaken away from his thoughts.
He showed Soos how it was done and then they fished in silence. Stan told Soos some crazy fisherman's tales (Gravity Falls' fisherman's tales were even more outrageous than normal fisherman's tales, and of course as a professional conman Stan was the best teller in the town, Soos believed everything Stan told him) and tons of jokes and they laughed until their mouths ached. After a while they started fishing again, both quietly focusing on the rods. They even got two fish. Stan looked like he was in his thoughts, eyes directed in the float but he seemed to be focused on something in his mind.
"Hey Mr. Pines", Soos said smiling. Stan grunted absent-mindedly. "I think you are a really good grunkle!" Stan's wasn't expecting those kind of words and he blushed rapidly. "I mean Dipper and Mabel are really lucky to have an uncle like you!" Soos specified happily. Stan's cheeks were burning and he stammered: "T-t-thanks, Soos." He wasn't used to hear such praise. The sun was about set, making everything look beautiful from the big pine trees to the blushing uncle. "Oh, I think we should be leaving", Stan realized, his cheeks still pink. He had completely forgotten the time! "Uh, I don't know about being a good grunkle, what kind of a summer caretaker leaves the kids alone for a day?!" his voice sounded panicking. If something had happened to the twins while he was gone, he definitely wouldn't be allowed to be their caretaker for the future summers! "Relax, dude", Soos said casually, "I'm sure they are fine, besides Wendy is with them!" "That doesn't comfort me much", Stan muttered sarcastically, knowing how irresponsible the teen could sometimes be.
The boat proceeded back to the beach and they went to the car, Soos carrying the two fish rather euphorically. He drived them back to the Shack. They were joking again about something and Soos laughed loudly. "Haha, I have never had so fun day than today! You're the best, Mr. Pines!" Stan blushed second time that day. "Gee, I had fun too", he answered with a soft smile. They were near the front door. Stan stopped. Soos turned to look at him questioningly. "Listen, Soos", he said shyly. "Umh, I don't know how to say this, but umh, I really appreciate what you did today, without you my day would have been probably pretty miserable and lonely." Soos wasn't sure to what to answer and before he got a chance, he felt the older man's hands wrapping him into a hug. Stan hadn't hugged him before so Soos was a bit slow to react at first and then he hugged him back awkwardly. "Thank you Soos", Stan whispered timidly but smiling. "No problem, dude! It was my pleasure!" Soos said. He continued speaking while opening the door. "THIS WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE, MR. PINES!" Stan laughed his usual loud laughter at Soos' childlike joy.
Dipper and Mabel were in the living room, not looking like they had the best day of their lives. Mabel was in the armchair and moaned in pain, she had small scratch marks all over her body and her hair looked like tornado had hit her. Dipper was lying on the floor and rubbed his back. "Oh my back! Who knew those deer-rabbits had so sharp teeth and claws and aggressive nature?! I hope they didn't have rabies!" he whined. Then they heard the door opening and Soos's happy shouting and they felt instantly jealous. It seemed Soos had had a fun day with their grunkle. "Oh man, I wish we had gone with Grunkle Stan instead", Mabel sighed. "Yeah", Dipper said wistfully when he heard Stan's happy laughter. "See you tomorrow, Soos!" "Night, Mr. Pines!" Soos said while leaving the shack.
Grunkle Stan went to the living door and noticed the twins. "Oh hi kids, did you have fun day in the woods?" Dipper and Mabel got up and tried to smile convincingly. "Yeah! Hehe, of course we had! Tons of fun!" Dipper answered and laughed awkwardly. "Now we gotta go to sleep, we had a long day!" Mabel added and made a fake yawn. The twins climbed the stairs quickly. Stan looked after them a while and then sat on his chair.
A moment passed and he heard something from the doorway. Dipper had come back to downstairs. "What is it, kid?" Stan asked raising his eyebrows in surprise. "Umh, I was just wondering if you would make another fun day plan? Me and Mabel would like to go with you to do fun things like you did with Soos!" Dipper said nervously and scratched his head. Stan smiled for those words. "Why of course, Dipper! I would love that!" he answered gently. Dipper's face brightened and he smiled. He ran to hug Stan. "Oh thank you thank you!" he said happily while clinging tightly to his great uncle. "Hehe, no problem!" Stan petted the boy's hair and added: "Nothing could be happier than to spend a fun day with you and your sister. You two are the best thing in my summer, even better than any amount of tourists with money!"
So here was my first fanfic story ever! Soos was a bit challenging to write! I hope the ending wasn't too sappy, I added that tourist thing there to sound more like what Stan would say, coming from his mouth that is the highest compliment one can get! Those "deer-rabbits" were canon (I don't know what their real name is), you can see them in the opening credits in the part where are a pile of photos! Hehe, if they ever make a Christmas special, I bet they would use those creatures in that episode!