Chapter Text
Dipper took down one supernatural problem today, but while he ate his second slice of pizza after a long day's work, his mind took off with thoughts of his other mysteries.
Both of which had family at the center.
The simpler yet somehow stranger one involved Grunkle Stan. The only reason there was a mystery was because his weird great uncle was acting, well, weird. Like a bizarro version of himself!
Okay, so buying everyone pizza for all their free labor in fixing the gift shop after an anomaly destroyed it wasn't too weird. But offering free merchandise? Not just once but twice!
He tried to rationalize it the first time around, especially since Penelope was the one to rally everyone together and get them fixing everything. But afterwards when she tried buying her younger sisters their bribe for helping out, he kept trying to say it was on the house too!
The only reason he didn't end up covering it was because she insisted on paying, said she didn't want to take advantage - although she did accept a discount. Grunkle Stan didn't push the issue but Dipper wasn't sure what to make of the way he looked afterwards. Glum? Disappointed? There was just something sad in his eyes he couldn't pin down. He just didn't get why, his favorite type of customer was a paying one!
(It was easier to think of things as a mystery instead of wondering why his grunkle seemed so sad.)
Mabel poked him whenever Stan and Ms Flores were interacting with one another during their dinner. Saying things like “see Dipper, he's just being nice to her kids so she'll like him” and “scrapbook-urtunity!”
It's amazing how she was able to sneak all those pictures while announcing them.
Ultimately he could admit she had a point and yet he couldn't shake the way Stan looked…
And then there's the other one, the more complicated mystery was definitely the one surrounding Grunkle Ford. Dipper thought things were back to ‘normal’ in the shack but it didn't last long at all.
“I… Maybe it's better if you ask your uncle. I don't think I can explain it now.”
Yeah, it can't remain a mystery, even if Grunkle Ford tries to keep it that way. He didn't stick around long, Dipper wasn't sure if he even grabbed a slice of pizza before hiding out in his lab. The lingering thoughts left behind kept taunting him: What happened between his new friend and Grunkle Ford? What new info from that cursed book made them react like that?
Those questions kept playing on loop throughout as they finished up working in the giftshop, while they ate their pizza dinner, and as the Flores family eventually left their residence, giving Wendy a ride back to her place. As soon as it was just him, his twin, and Soos left at the kitchen table, Dipper had to speak up.
“Guys, I know I brought it up before but have you noticed, it feels like there's something going on.”
“Hmm,” Mabel said, considering. She made a face scrutinizing him, as if trying to see if he was hiding something. “Have you been worried ‘cause of Stan's memories?”
“I,” Dipper started, then cut himself off. “I didn't think about that but now I am.” That's such a huge variable and he didn't consider it! It's not like Stan would ever be honest and tell them but he definitely remembered some stuff with Ms Flores.
“Well don't worry Dipper! I thought of it and I'll keep my eyes peeled for anything,” she exclaimed self-assuredly. “Besides, I'm sure that Ms Flores is a really nice lady. Grunkle Stan would be fine if they started dating.”
“It's not that I don't think she's not a nice lady,” he trailed off. It's really not that at all, he doesn't actually have a real opinion on her. They haven't spoken yet either. The last thing he's heard her say from a broader conversation was her insisting on helping out in ‘Operation Fix The Giftshop Again’ - while Stan and Penelope kept telling her she didn't have to.
So she probably is a nice lady, and Grunkle Stan did seem happy reuniting with her. (That was until he started getting that sad look in his eyes, not just around Penelope but her mom too now that he thought about it.)
“Maybe writing some fanfiction would help dudes,” Soos added, chipper as usual. “It'll turn all those worries into creative writing and help you think through everything that's possible. I'll have to add her to my Stanfiction if things really become serious between them.” He looked like he was thinking about where to fit her in whatever storyline he already created.
“Oh I've been thinking about the possibilities alright! Picture this Dipper,” his sister said. “If we get a new grauntie, our family gets bigger. I don't think they can have babies ‘cause they're old, but that's still four new cousins we'll get! And one of them is already your friend that likes nerdy stuff too.”
“The idea of it sounds nice,” he responded, which was sort of true but he still felt unsure of it - but that didn't matter now. “What I'm trying to say is that some things aren't making sense to me. I know you guys will say I've been focusing too much on this but I think there's something upsetting Grunkle Stan. And something else might've happened with the curse because-”
Just as he was about to mention how off things were with his friend after talking to their grunkle, and how Ford just shut himself away so suddenly, he appeared again. It was just his uncle popping through the doorway. There probably wouldn't be an issue if he did overhear, but it was embarrassing how often he'd been caught today.
“Ah, good you're all together,” Ford said. “Just wanted to say make sure you're all in one place. We're having a family meeting in a brief moment so stick around.” He didn't even fully enter the room when he spoke to them, just left once again presumably to look for Stan.
“Whoa, Ford called for a family meeting and it sounded like I'm included too,” Soos said, awestruck. Of course he would be, he's practically family, no one would expect him to just go off to his side of the house. “Do you think it's about what you were talking about?”
“I guess so?” Dipper really couldn't believe it - he imagined himself snooping, eavesdropping, maybe even interrogating before considering either of his grunkles just tell them without being asked. “Unless there's some secret third thing going on.”
“I'm sure there's nothing else happening,” Mabel replied, her normally cheerful expression changed to a more thoughtful, considering one. “Is something really upsetting Grunkle Stan?” Her brows furrowed, she hadn't noticed at all and felt bad for not seeing it herself.
“Hey, I'm not even sure exactly what's going on with him. You know how he is, he doesn't even believe he has feelings!” Dipper quickly said to cheer up his sister. He only just happened to notice something but he still couldn't pin down what that something is. “Whatever the family meeting is about we'll ask him point blank.”
She nodded back, but Dipper could tell she still had some doubts in mind. Doubts she couldn't hold back when a few minutes later she blurted them out, once both of their grunkles were sitting right in front of them at the kitchen table.
Grunkle Stan wasn't looking all that confident in whatever he was planning to say, until hearing Mabel's blurted out question: “Is Ms Flores making you sad?!” It took him by surprise but whatever was making him hesitate left him, and he answered her with a grin.
“Were you two knuckleheads worried about me?” He spoke in his gruff yet reassuring way, “You kids don't gotta worry about a thing, I just got a lot on my mind. And as for Mari- Or well, Ms Flores, no she hasn't done anything to make me sad.”
When he said her name, it almost looked like his cheeks got a little red before he turned his face away. If Dipper wasn't paying so much attention he probably wouldn't have noticed.
“Really?” Mabel asked, she definitely saw that their grumpy old grunkle blushed.
“Then what's been on your mind, did you remember something bad or did something happen?”
The mystery he thought he found couldn't just be old people relationship stuff right?
“It would be good to disclose some details about the past Stanley, it'll better explain the matter at hand,” Grunkle Ford said gently, yet it still sounded like it was part of a conversation they've had before.
“Yeah, yeah,” he sighed in response. “I can't remember everything in the middle but my memories's good enough for this conversation at least.”
“You're seriously gonna tell us?!”
Dipper wasn't as excited as his sister to hear about his grunkle's dating life, he thought the topic was dodged yesterday but it looks like it's back. I guess this family meeting is a ‘our family is going to be different now’ type of conversation.
He supposed this was better than the last time this happened.
“So I met Marisela way back at a diner she worked at. We became friends, helped each other out- Well it felt like it was mostly her helping me out, but still we watched each other's backs,” Grunkle Stan recounted. “Anyway, I won't bore you all with the details but we ended up dating, actually got pretty serious together.
“As serious as we were about each other, both of us had problems outside our relationship. We tried but I didn't want my problems to become hers so… we separated, lost contact with each other. I ended up coming to this town a couple of weeks after that and yeah that sums up our history.”
“Oh, Mr Pines, that's awful.” Soos looked like he wanted to comfort him after hearing that, but Grunkle Stan didn't look like he'd want that now. It was almost like he was being hard on himself but Dipper didn't understand why.
He gets that his grunkle simplified his story by a lot, was it because of whatever problems he had in the past?
“Are you two going to try again? Both of you found each other, so you can be together now and everything will be okay,” Mabel practically insisted. She definitely agreed with the sentiment that it was a terrible situation; maybe she could also feel the reminder of what's happening back home.
“Sweetie, it's not that simple,” Grunkle Stan said, gentler than he usually is. Maybe he can tell where their minds were going with this conversation.
“Why not? It can work this time!”
“We're getting a little off topic from the family meeting,” Ford said firmly yet still soft, trying to take control of the conversation. “It'll make more sense after we reach the topic at hand.” His face looked like he was hoping things wouldn't escalate.
“But don't you two like each other still?” She hadn't meant to raise her voice and it showed with how unusually meek her response now was. At that point Dipper honestly wanted to stop whatever this family meeting was about and go back to the attic with his sister.
“We do, I can't see us being together like that but we're still friends,” Stan reassured, before looking a little more serious, like he was about to rip off a proverbial bandaid. “Kids me and Ms Flores have been talking since we met again, and there's more to the story I told. I've been trying to find the best way to phrase it.
“You see, she started looking for me around the time I started going by ‘Stanford’, it wasn't easy to find me”, he explained, then spoke faster before he was cut off. “It took her until now to see me but it was too important to forget about. She- She wanted to tell me that we have a kid together, I have a daughter.”
Nobody would've cut him off anymore, it was like you could hear a pin drop. The only one that wasn't surprised was Grunkle Ford, who seemed to be quietly assessing everyone. Mabel definitely looked shocked. And Soos always had his heart on his sleeve, but whatever he was feeling he was still processing, his face expressionless.
Dipper was likewise also shocked and processing, the gears in his mind rapidly spinning. “Wait, you mean Penelope?! But hold on-” He thought about the adult he had technically met just yesterday but only started to know this afternoon, trying to see if there were similarities.
So maybe Penelope was bossy like Grunkle Stan, and kinda sarcastic, and their attitudes were- “Okay, I can sorta see a resemblance now.” He didn't even notice that they sort of did look alike until now, before yet another puzzle piece fit in place. (If it was even a puzzle to be solved given his grunkle just gave the answer.) “And that's why you gave a gift to her in the shop earlier, you were trying to be nice to her!”
He was trying to not feel vindicated for being right there was something more going on. The look his grunkle had earlier with her was more obvious now, like something bittersweet being able to spend some time together.
“Why didn't she say anything before,” Mabel asked. Prior to all this she got along well with the woman they now knew was their cousin. Did she not want to say anything to them?
“I've spoken with her for a brief moment and I've, well, I also overheard her mother's conversation with Stanley. Penelope doesn't seem to know yet,” Ford said, speaking up for his twin that didn't quite hide the hurt from his own confession. In hindsight, Dipper could now see that Grunkle Ford was trying to be a sort of mediator/emotional support.
“Are you going to see her?”
“Of course I'm going to,” Grunkle Stan said, with no pause to even think about Soos's question. “I want to anyway,” he self-corrected. “Her ma said she's gonna tell her tonight, will let me know how it goes, what kinda pace Penelope wants to take. Heh, Mari would strangle me if I don't let her set her boundaries.”
Dipper didn't get why he kinda smiled at that last sentence, but he'll take it as his grunkle still being his usual weird self. It was kinda comforting to know that whatever changed afterwards at least that's still the same.
“So we're not seeing her again tomorrow?” Mabel sounded like she really wanted to see her as quick as possible, meet once again but now with the context of knowing they were family.
“Possibly,” Ford said, with Stan saying ‘hopefully’ at the same time. “This is very big news so let's give some time and not overwhelm her.”
He says that but Dipper overheard him ask Penelope if she had any interest in the paranormal. Dipper wasn't sure how to respond to that immediately - he's gotten better with his ‘hero worship’ but not to the point of challenging him that way - when Stan added on.
“I can see you thinking from over here and whatever it is, drop it. It wouldn't be fair to hide all this from you kids, just like how it wouldn't be fair to bombard her with too many questions right off the bat. Let's try not to scare her off- Scratch that, both her and Ms Flores, this situation is hard enough for them as it is.”
“Yeah, I get it I won't go overboard,” Dipper agreed to the firm boundaries his grunkle put up. He hadn't started formulating any questions for either of them, at least nothing too bad. If they have a conversation anytime soon he'll try to take it easy. He did want to know more about his long lost relative after all.
It was at least easy to promise right now; he didn't even know what he would want to start asking. Dipper just started realizing how tired he was, even if the time wasn't that late at night. The conversation may have been a bit of a rollercoaster, but he and his sister did also deal with some magical stuff and cleaned up after.
Their grunkles did notice, as they promised if there were any other questions or thoughts, they could talk more the next day. Ford was getting the younger twins to go upstairs, when usually it was Stan that did that, or both.
Instead Stan stayed behind at the kitchen table, asking Soos if he had an extra minute to stick around.
Dipper didn't get to hear the answer, and he wondered what they would talk about. Soos had taken on a seriousness that didn't fit him. He could feel both him and Mabel wanted to continue being there for both of them.
But ultimately he knew that they couldn't be there, so he continued his march up the stairs, getting himself ready for bed. Even as tired as he was, and he was sure his sister was as well, he didn't think either of them would immediately fall asleep.
“My dear, are you sure you want to do that now?”
Mabel was sitting on her bed and had taken out her knitting needles and yarn, he could guess easily what his sister was about to start making now. She answered Ford's question, “It helps me think clearly. Grunkle Ford, you think we'll see her again right?”
“I'm certain we will Mabel,” he answered confidently. “And for the record, Stanley and his old girlfriend think so too. Are you two alright?”
She nodded back but had her eyes glued onto the big sweater she was knitting. “Yeah, but Grunkle Stan's story- Everything that happened was so… tragic.”
Ford looked back at Dipper, who shrugged for his own response and said, “I'm fine but I don't even know what to say about everything. I'm still sort of thinking about it.”
Their grunkle just sighed, “Things will be better tomorrow, you two just need to rest.” He was bidding them both goodnight; it seemed obvious he was trying his best but still unsure what else to say, before Dipper spoke up again.
“Grunkle Ford, I actually wanted to ask you something, it's not really about the family meeting at all. Could we talk about it tomorrow?”
His great uncle didn't look surprised and a little glad he's not asking to talk about it now before he agreed then left their room.
It almost slipped Dipper's mind that he had another mystery before the one surrounding his Grunkle Stan was solved, or well, straight up just told to him. He couldn't forget that there's another one centering a different family member. Dipper rested his head on the pillow, not sure what to say if he decided to speak up about all this to his sister. Mabel likewise was busy at work with her needles, he started paying attention to the sound of it to try to fall asleep.
Maybe this other mystery will be as easily answered as Stan's, at least it'll take his mind off of the rest of the family drama. That's the hope anyway.