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“I can’t believe you fucked a triangle. An evil triangle that tried to kill us. All of us.”
Ford just shrugged. “Lemme just say, you would do it too if you were there.”
Stan rolled his eyes. “I don’t think so. My judgement is better than that.”
Ford raised an eyebrow. “Really now? I’ve seen some of your past partners. I think that if either of us has questionable taste, it’s you.”
Stan is about to tell him that he’s wrong…but then he remembers that one fling. The one person…or troll…that he can’t get out of his mind. It’s been 15 years and he still misses him.
John Dory.
The blue troll was so much like him. He’d never expected the two of them to get along as well as they did but from their first meeting their friendship was set in stone. But friendship didn’t stay friendship for long. Soon Stan’s feelings for John Dory started to blossom into something more…at first just attraction but then infatuation. Before he knew it he was head over heels for John Dory. It shouldn’t have happened…John was a troll but well…that didn’t deter Stan. He’d been living in Gravity Falls for a while by that point and was no stranger to the creatures that lived in the forest. Sure he’d never met a creature like John Dory before but it wasn’t that weird to him.
“So, where does a creature like you come from?” Stan questioned one night. They were a couple Busch Apple’s in and Stan was feeling chattier than usual. Neither of them had shared much about their families yet. Stan couldn’t, seeing as he had stolen his twin’s life after accidentally banishing him to some kind of hell dimension.
“Trolls Village.” John Dory answered, taking a swig from his troll sized can of Busch Apple.
“So there’s just a whole village of things like you?” Stan asked.
“So what? There’s a whole village of things like you. The rest of them just aren’t as ugly.”
John had gotten to see a lot of the human world through the tourists that came through the Mystery Shack. As soon as he and Stan struck up a friendship, Stan recruited him to help with his scams. John fucked with scamming people. He thought it was really funny to sit in a model house with a bunch of Troll Dolls then start running around and scaring people. He made really weird noises, like 100 men fighting a gorilla. He didn’t need to do that, he was just weird. Stan couldn’t complain. It was making him money, and they were using that money on Busch Apples.
“But like, do you have a family or something?” Stan asked the one question that he hadn’t broached yet. He and John kept things professional for the most part. Stan knew that if he asked about families then he would have to answer and he wasn’t sure how much he wanted to share. Still…for some strange reason he trusted John Dory.
“I did. Once.” John looks into the distance. “I had four little brothers but they’re all dead.”
“I’m sorry.”
John shrugs. “It wasn’t your fault. It was mine. If I never left, my brothers wouldn’t be dead.”
“I…understand.” Stan whispered. “I hurt my twin. And now he’s gone. I don’t think I’ll ever see him again.”
They look into each other’s eyes. The moment of truth between them breaking the last of the walls. They don’t start their relationship just then, but it’s the beginning of the closeness that they come to share.
Within the next week Stan knows he has to make a move. He cares about John Dory more than he’s cared about anything in a long time. He orders the good takeout while he gets ready to confess.
After they have their food and are chowing down Stan is ready to speak, but before he can John Dory stands up, all 5 inches of him, and clears his throat.
“Stan Pines, I have something to say.” He declares. “I really like you, and I want you to know that.”
“Oh John, I like you too.” Stan says. “I just didn’t know how to tell you.”
“I know exactly how I’m going to tell you.” John Dory says before he breaks into song.
”I yelled back when I heard thunder
But I'm down to one last breath
And with it, let me say
Let me say
Hold me now
I'm six feet from the edge and I'm thinking
Maybe six feet ain't so far down
I'm looking down, now that it's over
Reflecting on all of my mistakes
I thought I found the road to somewhere
Somewhere in His grace”
Stan has heard him sing before. It’s kinda all that he does but this time it feels different. More intimate. From that night foreword they were more than friends.
It hurt a few months later when John Dory had to return to his home. Stan knew that it would have to happen eventually but still, this was the closest he’d let himself get to another person in a long time and now he was going to lose him. He didn’t know if he would ever see John Dory again.
And he never did.
Ford listened intently as Stan told him his own story.
“So…I’m weird for getting freaky with a triangle, but you get to fuck a troll and that’s normal?”
“It was an era.” Stan argued as he blushed. “And he wasn’t evil.”
“Sure…………..”