HAT: Sorry that it didn't come out yesterday- I did say hopefully and I was right to do so since we went to stay the weekend at a house with a nice TV, DVR, and no internet. Basically, that's why none of the stories got updated until today. *hides behind Stan* I'm sorry.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls because if I did: 'Ford would have that couch be a pullout bed and I'd show him sleeping before last night's episode (he was just so adorable!). Anyway... I just own the plot and... I have OCs in this one, right? Yeah, and the OCs.
Sweet, Moses, this is getting out of hand, Stanley thinks after waking up for the third time in a row a few nights later.
He hasn't gotten a decent amount of sleep in a week and it's starting to take its toll on him- again- but at least he's not trying to stay up for days at a time anymore and actually attempting to get a full night's sleep.
He throws his legs over the edge of the bed and puts his slippers on before getting up with a grunt. He hates to admit it, but he's getting old. He can't stand to do stuff like this much longer if he wants to be alive long enough to see the twins do stuff like graduate high school or have their own families- not that he expects to live that long anyway.
He goes straight to the kitchen and turns on the light. He pulls out the milk from the fridge and checks the date. About a week before this milk's expiration date- which is sufficient enough for him most of the time, but he still pours a little in a cup and smells it just to be sure- one can never be too sure with milk. When he's satisfied he pulls out a small pot and pours the milk inside and turns on the stove to heat up his soon-to-be midnight (more like 4 am) beverage.
Note to self: Get Soos to fix the microwave.
"Grunkle Stan?"
Stanley turns and sees Dipper rubbing his eye and squinting form the light from the kitchen. Obviously he's still a little groggy from just waking up and the blinding light doesn't help him distinguish the fact that it's Stanley- though considering his outfit it's obviously Stanley.
"Yeah, kid... what're you doing up this late?"
"I had a nightmare..."
Stanley gulps and licks his dry lips before speaking. "What about?"
"That you and Great Uncle 'Ford died," he murmurs, eyes going distant.
Stanley's heart squeezes painfully. "Yeesh... c'mere kid." Once Dipper's in front of him he puts a reassuring hand on top of his head. "Don't worry, it's just a bad dream. I've had plenty back in my day. Nothing bad's gonna happen your Grunkle Stan and I'm not gonna let anything happen to 'Ford either."
Or you and Mabel either.
Dipper smiles. "Yeah, you're too tough to let anything bad happen."
"That's right! Now, want some warm milk?"
"Sure."
Stanley adds a bit more milk to the pot and stirs the milk a little. A few minutes later and the milk is sufficiently warm and he carefully pours the milk into two glasses and puts the pot in the sink and fills it with water. He sits next to his nephew and the two of them drink their warm milk in a comfortable silence.
"Feelin' tired, yet?" Stanley asks when the milk is all gone.
He shakes his head. "Not really."
The same goes for Stan, but he's more concerned with getting Dipper back to sleep. "Let's watch something on TV. Go put on something."
"Okay," Dipper says, going back to the living room.
Stanley takes the cups, washes them, dries them, and puts them away. No need in adding to the mess he's going to have to clean up once everyone's done with breakfast in... three or four hours. Once he walks out, he sees a mindless cartoon playing and Dipper sitting in his chair.
Wow, he's small, Stanley thinks when he sees how large the seat seems compared to the child sitting on it. He can only imagine how large he seems to his nephew when he's standing up. He can nay hope that he's not intimidating the boy like he was intimidated when he was a boy by his-
"You kids are too comfortable taking my seat," he grunts and picks up the boy and sets him on his lap while concentrating on trying to understand what show this is that he's watching before realization hits him. "What do you know about Popeye the Sailor Man?"
The boy shrugs. "We used to watch it with mom and dad a lot."
Stanley smiles. "Good to see that they showed you kids some good-quality cartoons."
As the familiar song is sung Dipper bounces a little and sings along under his breath, reminding Stanley of a younger child seeing their favorite cartoon in the world and singing along to the memorized theme song. He will never admit it, but it's actually kind of adorable.
For about an hour of watching tow episodes the two of them laugh and have a good time spending quality time with one another before falling asleep on the chair with Dipper using his great uncle's stomach/chest area as a pillow and Stanley keeping a protective arm on the boy much like one would with a baby sleeping on their chest to make sure they don't roll off.
The first one to walk into the living room is Stanford and he blinks in surprise at seeing the two out so early- hell, he's surprised he's up so early. It's eight in the morning! It's too early to do anything by the Pines' way of thinking. It isn't until he hears soft snoring that he realizes that they are asleep.
"I'm Popeye the Sailor Man!" He glances at the TV and smiles fondly at the memories that come with that TV show.
He sits down on the ground in front of the chair and leans back to watch. As it turns out his body was far from ready to wake up so he ends up leaning against Stanley's leg and falling asleep.
This is perfect for Mabel who sees this as the best scrapbookertunity of her life! She had to kill any and all squeals that want to escape her body when she walked in on the scene of all three Pines males (in the house) asleep- two of them using Stanley as a pillow.
"Say family bonding," she whispers and then takes a picture of them.
Once the picture is safely in her scrapbook she goes back to the living room and falls asleep on her great uncle Stanford- might as well not be left out.
...
Stanley and Stanford wake up almost simultaneously and realize they're being used as pillows. While Stanley's sure that he can get Dipper off of him without waking him up, Stanford's a bit at a loss with his great-niece curled up against his chest.
"Help me," Stanford whispers quietly while his brother quietly laughs at his brother.
"Good luck with that," Stanley says, carefully standing up with the boy in his arms and going into the kitchen to fix himself a cup of coffee.
"Ass," Stanford hisses after his brother, earning a chuckle.
Several minutes of getting up with one arm holding the girl securely to his chest he walks into the kitchen and finds Stanley putting cinnamon rolls in the oven. He wonders what the special occasion is, but figures he'll figure it out later. He watches Stanley go around the kitchen making breakfast with a child in one arm- which he finds to be fairly impressive.
As soon as the bacon started to smell, the children stir.
"Breakfast?" Dipper asks groggily against Stanley's neck/shoulder that he used as a pillow to hide from the light.
"Yeah, kid. Gonna get down?" Stanley asks.
Dipper nods and once set down he stumbles over to the breakfast table and sits in his chair.
Mabel sits up and the weight on Stanford's arm increases. "Gre- unc- 'For?"
The broken english is easily translated so he replies, "Yes."
"Brek-fist?"
"Yes, sweetie, we're gonna have breakfast," he replies and then goes to the table to set her down.
"Nnnooo," she groans, gripping his pajama shirt tightly as he tries to set her down. "C'm'fy."
Stanley chucklesome not at all terrified for their lives at the moment with the "deer in headlights" look on his brother's face. "Mabel, sweetie, if you don't let go I'm sure he'll tell Waddles that you eat bacon."
"Nnnoooo," she groans. "Don' tell Waaaddles."
Stanford chuckles at the girl's early morning silliness while prying her hands off of him. "I won't tell Waddles, I promise."
"Thank you," she murmurs while putting her head on the table and falling asleep.
Stanley takes out the cinnamon rolls. "Well, ain't that nice."
"Have a nice night?" Stanford asks.
"Yeah, I guess I did," he replies.
"So you and Dipper watched Popeye the Sailor Man?"
"Yeah, turns out his parents and them watched it a lot when they were younger."
"We had some pretty good times watching that show didn't we?"
"Yeah, we did."
Stanford chuckles. "Remember when you ate all your spinach and you were so convinced you were strong like Popeye that you went and tried to pick up the couch?"
"Mom took a picture of that, didn't she?"
"I think she did."
The two share a laugh and Stanley thinks that maybe his dreams aren't premonitions at all. Maybe the stress is getting to him- after all, it's nearing the anniversary of-
No, don't ruin the moment with that... think about the now.
And he does and he and his brother really get along- much to Mabel's sleepy- and later wide awake- delight.
Mabel: It's-a me! Mabel!
HAT: Hey guys! I'm trying to get this to the plot that I had in mind... but that plot keeps changing so it's taking a while for this to get where I need to get it.
Mabel: What anniversary?
HAT: Um... noooooothing...
Mabel: I'll find out.
HAT: Probably, but then you'll blab it out to the whole world so I can't tell you.
Mabel: *pouts* Awwww...
HAT: How about I get you something to eat and we'll call it even?
Mabel: Yay! review! *drags HAT away*