HAT: Another chapter... lets go!
Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls or it's characters, only the plot. ONWARD, AOSHIMA!
Ugh, what happened? Stanley opens his eyes and is immediately blinded by white light. He sits up and rubs his eyes and and realizes two things. The first one being that he doesn't have his glasses on and the second being that his back is unnaturally cold. He reaches out naturally to his left to grab his glasses, but finds that this isn't the case. He growls and presses the heel of his hand against his eye and tries to figure out where he is.
"Here," a familiar voice says and he feels something press against his hand.
Stanley takes his glasses and puts his glasses on so he can see the world around him and finds that he's in the hospital- the one place he's tried to avoid his entire life. "Damn it, you know I can't afford this. Why didn't you just take care of me at home?"
Stanford narrows his eyes at his brother. "How much did you have to eat? Did you drink anything?"
"I had some coffee and some toast," he grunts. "What's the big deal? I've done it before."
"Damn it, Stan! You're too old to not to take care of yourself," hisses his smaller doppelgänger. "You could've died today. Do you know how terrified Mabel is right now to think that you're dead after those nightmares? How worried the rest of us are? You collapsed in the middle of a tour and had all the tourists hypnotized so they couldn't help you. You're lucky Wendy was there. What's wrong with you?!"
Stanley grows silent and rubs the back of his neck. "I dunno... I guess I'm not as young as I used to be."
Not that youth is much better than now.
Stanford observes him, making Stanley uncomfortable. It makes him feel like he's Stanford's experiment or something- he doesn't like it because he has to put on his best poker face so that he won't see anything wrong.
"The doctor said you can come home tonight," Stanford explains.
"Great! Let's go before we have to pay for everything," Stanley grunts as he spots his clothes.
"Stanley." The larger twin pauses to hear his brother. "Can't you do something right for a change?"
"Last time I tried, it didn't work out so well."
He gets up and goes into the bathroom with his clothes at hand and gets dressed as quickly as his aching bones will let him. That fall did a number on him, but he won't let anyone know- that's not his style. Once he's fully dressed, he walks out and adjusts his fez- no time to fix his hair if he wants to get out now. He looks at how far from the ground he is and thanks his lucky starts that they're on the second and there's a tree with a strong branch tickling the window.
"Stan-"
"Let's go, Stanford," Stanley snaps while pickpocketing his own brother for his keys.
He opens the window and jumps onto the branch using his natural upper body strength to keep from falling. Once he's sure he's secure he shimmies his way to the trunk and climbs down until he's about six feet from the ground and makes the final jump. Once he's through with that he searches for the car and finds it.
"You don't even have the keys!" Stanford calls with a low voice just in case.
Stanley holds up the keys and lets them jingle. "If you wanna get home, better come down within the next five minutes."
He turns and goes to his car and gets in the driver's seat and counts down how long his brother had before he leaves. Once he gets to one minute left he starts the car. He isn't playing when it comes to leaving his brother- if he were by himself he would be halfway to the Shack by now. Once time is up he backs out and starts down the parking lot to get out and as soon as he stops to check and see if any cars are coming there's a thump on the side of the car.
"Let me in," Stanford pants with a glare.
"Fine."
Stanley unlocks the car and starts driving away as soon as the door's closed. There's a long silence that hangs in the air that's broken halfway to the Mystery Shack.
"You know... I think it'd be best for the twins to be sent home early," Stanford murmurs.
Stanley's grip on the wheel tightens and he slams on the brakes and pulls over to the side of the road. His mind replays that sentence over and over again and the anger that he's been pushing aside starts bubbling in his chest.
"What do you know about what's best for those kids?" He demands.
"Well-"
"Let me try again... what makes you think that you know what's best for those kids? What makes you think you know better than me what's best for them?"
Stanford's brow furrows with frustration and confusion. "Well, it's obvious that you're in no state to take care of them anymore and their parents are more suited to the task."
Stanley's hands grip the steering wheel a bit tighter. "That just proves that you don't know anything about these kids..."
"I do know them!"
Stanley observes his brother's face fora few moments and sees that this man truly believes what he says. "Okay... what's Mabel's favorite hobby?"
"She likes to knit."
"Mhm," Stanley grunts with a nod. "Okay... do you know why she knits?"
Stanford seems taken aback by this, but after a moment or two of thinking he says, "Because she's a creative child and knitting happens to be the best- or maybe even only- way to express it."
Stanley chuckles without humor. "You got part of it right, poindexter, but that's something that anyone off the street can answer. Try again."
"What does this have to do with anything?"
"It has everything to do with what you just said. Mabel doesn't knit just because of that, but also because it it makes her feel closer to her mother. Do you know why Dipper is so into paranormal research?"
"Pure, scientific curiosity, just like me," Stanford answers boldly.
"Partially... he wants to forget about what's happening back home or find something in those damned journals of yours that can solve it..."
Stanford stares at his brother and sees something so raw that it makes his stomach churn, but it's gone so fast that he can't place it. "What's going on at home?"
The silver haired man turns away and looks towards the front of the car with his teeth- or rather dentures- gritted and his anger mixing with sadness at the thought of what he's going to reveal, but he keeps his poker face up. "Their family's falling apart at home, basically. James is a mess and Marg... she's dying... Going back in time to see her die and not in the condition they left her in will be the worst thing that could be done to them...
"You don't know what's best for these kids. You don't care for them like I do."
"I never got the chance to be around them and you won't let me!"
"Don't blame this on me, Stanford. You brought this on yourself. You built that portal, you go into every dangerous situation with no regard for yourself or others, you don't know when to stop doing anything... you're dangerous and I'm not letting either of them get hurt or killed because they were around you," the larger brother says coldly. "I would die for those kids without question... if there were a slim chance where I'd survive along with them, but the chances of them living were higher if I died, I would do it without question. The only thing I'd regret is making them cry... so don't you dare tell me that I'm incapable of taking care of those kids."
Silence falls in the car and after a few moments of killing the emotions inside his chest and stuffing them away Stanley pulls out onto the road and drives back to the Shack.
HAT: Getting a little more tense- and it also gives insight to what I have going on in Dipper and Mabel's lives back in Piedmont.
Dipper: You kill my mom?!
HAT: It's not like you two are going back.
Dipper: Why would you say that?!
HAT: There was this one comic on deviantart that said something like "More like single parent" for Grunkle Stan and in the caption, crossed out it says "the parents never come back" and I figured that might be something that we could work with.
Dipper: *eye twitches* You're cruel...
HAT: I know!
Dipper: ... we're done with this conversation. *turns to camera* Review.