So been thinking about Stanswap Shifty and Stan.
Stan did still just dig up his egg and assume he was another creature, like a pet. A shapeshifter wasn't even that strange considering they were building a space portal for a geometry deity. So, assuming that Shifty was just something akin to a puppy they could raise and study, they kept him in the bunker in a dog crate.
And then the bug started talking to them.
Yes, at the time, Shifty could only mimic their voices in things they had said around him, so they just thought he was getting better at copying and started wearing face coverings around him. And then he started talking in a new voice, that was very much different from either of them.
Then one day Shifty asked if Stan was his dad like Fiddleford was Tate's and Stan had a moment of Oh. Fuck. This is a Child.
Stan immediately brings Shifty back to his house and sits in front of the TV and finds the Gravity Falls equivalent of Sesame Street. Didn't even cross his mind to deny that he was this grub's dad, just instant parent mode. He's still reeling when Fidds gets back to the Shack.
They argue about it because up until this point, they'd agreed that Shifty could turn dangerous if they let it get too close to them, but Stan makes the good point that they have been keeping an Actual Child in a dog crate in a dark room for at least a month. Also, this is Stan's house and he can bring his new strange grub son into it if he wants.
Fidds eventually folds because yeah, Shifty is talking and acting like a toddler and that's a little suspicious considering he's never been around one before. Stan immediately sets about getting a crib to put in his bedroom and figuring out how to raise a kid.
Stan is less hesitant to show off his family than Fidds is, and tells Shifty everything he can about his family and his childhood, with pictures when he gets them. (He's very very brief on his relationship with his own father, and on why he doesn't talk to anyone but his mom anymore. He does not tell Caryn that he's a father.) At one point, he finds an old picture of him and Ford that his Ma had sent to him. After making the distinction between which twin is Stan and which twin is his uncle, Shifty decides he wants to look more like his dad.
So Stan very suddenly has a copy of his younger self in his lap. It's. A shock, to say the least. Shifty usually changes into inanimate objects, since they have less details to mimic and therefore take less energy. Shifty says this is different, that this is how he wants to look. Stan's a bit hesitant, but agrees that Shifty can wear his face, as long as he doesn't forget that he isn't Stan. (He knows how it feels to lose yourself in another's shadow.)
Overtime, Shifty alters his appearance in subtle ways. His teeth are different, his hair has tighter curls than Stan ever did, his freckles are clustered more than Stan's are, and his eyes gain a red ring around the brown iris. Shifty prefers loose clothing like sweaters and sweatpants, because he has more room to shift when he feels awkward or wants to hide. When he's finally allowed to meet Tate, he doesn't change his face.
After realizing that Shifty will be needing to go to public school, or public in general, Stan wonders if he should rename him considering they thought he was just a pet when they did originally. Ultimately, since Shifty is already responding to that name, Stan just adds onto it to create Shifty James Pines(he just grabbed the first name he could think of). For the general population, he's now SJ Pines. When Shifty is older, he'll insist it stands for Stanley Junior.
Shifty is raised like a normal kid, if rushed due to his fast-aging mentality. He gets his own room in the Shack, gets toys and books and learns how to read and write and draw. He tries to help Stan cook, but the little grub likes to munch while helping and usually ends up eating more of the ingredients. Shifty also learns that he does not like the gnomes, but likes taking the shifts of possums and raccoons.
When Bill and the portal happen, Shifty is put back into the bunker to keep him safe. Not in a tube or in a crate like the first time, just in the main room with food and the bunk. He's about a year old, with the mentality of a maybe 7-year-old. He's left with a phone, a list of numbers to call in case of emergency, the TV, and plenty of coloring supplies. Stan promises to return soon, to check on him, to bring him home when all of this is fixed and he isn't a danger anymore. He doesn't.
Shifty knows that something happened to his dad. He knows Stan wouldn't leave him here, not if he could help it. When Shifty finally caves and called Fidds to come get him, Fiddleford hasn't heard from Stan either. When they hear about his twin's death a week later and come to the funeral to check on how Stan is taking it, Shifty understands immediately that Stanford is not dead. Because that's not his dad standing in front of the grave, next to his Grandmother.
This man doesn't have scars that Shifty knows are there, doesn't have the wideness of his father's shoulders, doesn't have his stance. This man hides his hands in gloves and awkwardly in his pockets, shoulders too far back like he wants to fold his arms behind his back instead.
This man looks at him with vague curiousity instead of recognition. This man has a dip in his chin, just like the child and the teen Shifty's seen in photographs.
They don't approach the family until the Man with his dad's face has stepped away. Fidds offers condolences while his Grandfather steps away to follow the Man. Shifty, with his stronger senses, can hear as his Grandfather falls for the trick and curses the Man under his breath. He can hear as Filbrick curses "Stanley" for not being the one in the grave. The Man looks horrified, then enraged, and begins to whisper-shout back in an almost-familiar raspy voice. It's not quite the same, a little too smooth and a little too strained, like an ill-fitting coat. He's almost sure that they'll start a fight right there in the graveyard.
They don't. Filbrick and Shifty's Grandmother leave, taking his Uncle and family with them, while the Man remains shaking at the grave. Shifty knows who this is, as he glares holes into Filbrick's head while they drive away, as he sits down next to the stone and whispers apologies into the empty air. Fidds takes him away from the scene, and Shifty doesn't look away until he can't hear the Man's cries anymore.
He decides then and there that, unless the Man had actually killed his dad, that he doesn't hate him. Oh, he's angry, furious for many reasons, but the Man was obviously regretful. And Shifty had been raised with stories of this Man, raised on his dad's love for his twin. And besides. Stanford had come when his dad had called.
That doesn't mean Shifty has to talk to him. He makes a point not to as he grows older, adjusting his shift to keep his father's face until the point he'd last seen him. He doesn't dare try and copy the Man's, it's not really Stanley's. He keeps his hair short, unlike Stan did, because the feeling of it dragging on his neck makes him shudder. He keeps in contact with Fidds' family, which is especially easy when they move to Gravity Falls shortly after his dad vanished. He even gets a few jobs around town after he graduates, placed in public school by Fidds, and sticks around, hoping that one day his dad will come home.
The children that appear one summer throw him very off-guard, one being almost a direct copy of his dad's young self. When he meets them, he understands that this is because they're his cousins. Cousins. When did that happen. Shifty assumes that they're from his Uncle Shermie, because there's no way the Man had kids, not with how exponentially awkward he is around people when not performing.
They're nice, Mabel is more openly friendly, and Shifty can tell that Dipper knows something's not quite human with him. It doesn't bother him, SJ knows that most people don't have fangs like he does or the red eyes. The other people in town have just gotten used to him.
He sees them a lot over the next month or so, and eventually he hears them going to the bunker. The problem is that he lives in the bunker, because he doesn't have to pay rent and it's away from that weird cult in the museum. Plus, he's used his base form to carve out a bunch of extra rooms and tunnels since he was a grub, so even though he's the only "specimen" to ever live here, the bunker itself is still dangerous to people that don't know their way around. He panics when he hears them in the security room and quickly improvises into the form of the guy on the cans of beans he likes.
When they step out of the decontamination shower, Shifty's hearts leap when he spots a familiar tattered red book in Dipper's hands. He knows that book, he knows that symbol. The Shapeshifter decides that he needs to get that book from Dipper in (almost) any way he can.
He pretends to be a monster, chasing them into a tunnel while staying out of their line of sight and then pretending to be the Bean Man killing the monster. He copies his dad's voice and leads them to his main bedroom, then plays up the skills he learned from Stan and pretends to have lost his books. It's astonishing how quickly Dipper believes him and hands the sketchbook over, and Shifty cradles it in his borrowed hands. Shifty ignores the drawings of creatures he's grown to know and flips straight to the blueprints he's never been allowed to see. He just... he knows that it had something to do with Stan's disappearance.
He knows they've caught on when Dipper's voice pitches up behind him, and Shifty hesitates before stepping away from them. He lets his form drop entirely, turning to try and scare them off before running through the tunnels when that doesn't work. They chase after him and he ducks into another tunnel when he hears Mabel and the gopher guy up ahead. He gets to the cryo room before the four of them catch up, the taller of the four running around to block him from leaving. Shifty holds the sketchbook to his chest, telling them that he needs it, they don't get it, he NEEDS it!
He doesn't realize he's returned to his child shift until he's pressed between two tubes, the same height as the twins and nearly crying as he clings to the last connection he has to his dad. Surprisingly, they're kinder to him when coaxing him back into his base shift, Mabel mentioning something about the kid from the videos. Right. He'd forgotten that his dad liked to record stuff.
Dipper and Wendy are hesitant of him when he turns the blueprints to them and explains what he knows of them, how he's pretty sure that's what took his dad. He's very, very hesitant to give it back to them, but agrees as long as he can still see it from time to time. He guides them back out of the bunker, apologizing for scaring them but asking them to please not come back into his home without warning, it's rude.
A few weeks later, when the gravity around town begins to reverse, Shifty dares to get his hopes up again. He recognizes the feeling of the artificial gravity. He can't help but pray he's right when government vehicles come to town, when the twins come racing to him asking for help. He follows them back to the Shack and nearly tears the vending machine off its hinges getting to the basement.
He's never seen the basement before, he wasn't allowed down here. The glowing portal in the next room is terrifying, especially knowing the history behind it, and he can't help but stare. This... This could be it.
When the Man comes in, begging them not to shut it off, his hope soars. He drops his shift to dig his claws into the ground, pushing the others away from the shut-down button as they're flung to the wall. The twins look at him with betrayal, but as he makes contact with the Man, he sees his own hope reflected back to him. Shifty holds on tight as the light becomes blinding and gravity threatens to collapse.
When Stanley Pines comes out of the portal, Shifty James Pines is the first to greet him. He can't help but change into his child shift when he runs towards his dad, sobbing when he's immediately drawn into familiar arms. Both of them are older and stronger than they used to be, and his dad really needs a shower, but he can't make himself let go, especially when he's lifted off the ground. There's new and familiar scars across his dad's face, and a small device in his ear, but he still hushes Shifty in the same gravelly voice he did when he was a grub, still calls him Slugger like he did back then.
He doesn't really bother to pay attention to the rest of the interaction, clinging to his dad's coat as he talks to the other people in the room, as Stanford lays a hesitant, 6-fingered hand on his back to join Stan's, and as they eventually go back upstairs. He just basks in his dad's presence until he falls asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.
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