From Linzerj: "I don't want to bug you, because you just said you have a lot of requests to do still, but your writing is absolutely amazing and I absolutely love the way you manage to delve into the minds of the characters - especially characters as diverse as the Gravity Falls cast. When you get the chance, though, could you maybe do a Monster Falls AU where Stan gets super protective of Dipper and Mabel but then starts questioning how he's going to explain this to their parents? (Or just Monster Falls in general, if that's a but much for you?) So, yeah, thank you very much for writing all these wonderful one-shots!"

Thank you! It's alright, I'm slowly plowing my way through the one-shots right now, as well as working on WitD. I'd love to do more Monster Falls au (and protective Stan is the best). By the way, apparently a cervitaur is the proper name for a deertaur so I will use that from now on in this au.

So Dependable

The kids always went out into the woods. Stan Pines, their caretaker for the summer, knew this better than anyone. Despite how they tried to hide their routine sometimes ("What? N-No! We're not g-going to the f-f-forest! Why would you think that, heh...?") he definitely knew.

He tried to stop them sometimes, putting them to work or telling them they simply couldn't go. The latter usually caused issues, particularly with Dipper, so he didn't use it unless he was frustrated or had no choice. After all, he was only trying to protect them. The river had turned them into these monsters and he shuddered to think about what would happen if they got injured - or worse - on his watch. The forest was full of other creatures that would think nothing of devouring a young cervitaur and mermaid.

The reason Stan was thinking this over had to do with the fact that the twins had been gone for over three hours in the woods, and it was almost time for dinner. Wendy had gone home an hour ago and Soos had promised to keep an eye out if he saw them around town instead or whatever.

For some reason, this caused his stomach to churn.

Where were they? Had they gotten hurt? Were they...? Could they be...?

Get a grip, old man, Stan snapped internally. They're probably fine. Calm down.

He never was very good at remaining calm.

He hit his stone head on the wall twice before groaning in both pain and annoyance. The worry was eating away at him. He had ordered a pizza for tonight to surprise the kids (they hadn't had time to buy groceries due to the last few days being chaotic, which he had - no, definitely not - felt guilty about) and now it was growing cold.

Should he go look for them on his own? Why was he trusting Soos with protecting and watching over these two, again?

Because he's doing a heck of a lot better job than you.

Well, that stung.

The front door opened and his eyes widened as it shut quietly. Could it be - ?

"Grunkle Stan!"

Stan whipped around, relief and worry filling him as he spotted a very sweaty Dipper pulling his twin sister into the kitchen in a sparkly red wagon (she had insisted on it being sparkly, and the old man hadn't found it in his heart to deny her). The latter seemed extremely cheerful, a sharp contrast to the boy's pants and glares shot at his twin sister.

"Where the heck have you two been? You've been gone for almost three hours!"

"Well, someone," Dipper glared in the direction of his sister, "wanted me to walk them around the woods and we ran into some, uh, unfriendly mountain lions."

"Mountain lions?"

Mabel nodded, still smiling widely. "Yep! Dipper ran really fast, though. That lazy cat's got nothing on him!"

"Thanks, Mabel," came a grumble as the cervitaur stretched out his back. The kid certainly looked exhausted and had various scrapes on his legs, most likely from the running.

Stan gave a soft sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Could you both not get in trouble for just one day?"

Mabel shrugged after a serious moment of thought about the inquiry. "Hmmm... Nope!"

"Is...Is that pizza I smell?" Dipper sniffed cautiously before zeroing in on the kitchen table with the pizza box on it. "What's this?"

"You just said what it was yourself," Stan said, heading to grab some plates. "It's a pizza."

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I just mean... what's the occasion?"

The gargoyle found himself unusually flustered about the question. "Uh, no reason. We needed groceries but I didn't want to go to the store. So instead we're going to be having pizza; no ifs, ands, or buts about it."

"Alright." The preteen seemed to be holding back a smile, but it must have been Stan's imagination. Dipper turned back to his sibling and pulled her to the table, both ignoring her excited rambling about the greatness of pizza. The mermaid was practically bouncing up and down inside her wagon, nearly splashing water onto the kitchen floor.

"Calm down there, kid," Stan chuckled, handing them both plates. "Save some for me. I'll be right back."

Neither of the twins paid him any mind as he headed to his office to make sure he had his tax records in order. They were gong to be due soon and with all of the chaos that had been occurring regularly ever since the transformations, he just hadn't had much time to finish the task. Stan flicked on the lights, sighing before crossing to his desk. The painting above the desk seemed to mock him with its grin.

Oh, shut your yap. Stan turned away, reminding himself to put that somewhere where he wouldn't have to look at it. Something akin to guilt filled him every time he met those eyes.

What am I going to tell their parents about this situation? he would wonder often. Heck, am I even going to tell them?

They were the twins' parents, of course they deserved to know. It was just... neither were accepting of the supernatural, no matter how many times before he had tried to tell them. The fact that they trusted him with their children was a big deal and completely astounded him even now. Mostly because he felt as if he were doing the worst job in protecting them.

He had to call them. Soon, maybe before the month was over.

You know if they believe you, they'll want to take the twins back home. Away. Where they'll never come back again.

He really needed to shut his conscience up.

It wasn't as if it were wrong, though. Stan definitely feared this option, and it was a big possibility if their parents knew just what their children were experiencing all summer long.

"Grunkle Stan!"

Mabel's loud call snapped him out of his thoughts. The gargoyle realized he had been standing there with the records in hand for a good ten minutes.

"Hurry, she's eating all the pizza," groaned Dipper tiredly from the kitchen.

He glanced back down at the tax records before hesitating. He listened to them argue and Mabel moping over how she couldn't eat without their great-uncle. Her words sent an unnatural warmth to his chest.

"Hey, kid! Slow down or you'll end up inhaling the whole table, yeesh!"

Gosh, I'm tired. You guys have such awesome requests, I can't wait to get to some of them that I've been spotting while scrolling through the reviews.