#or memory

“I want to talk to him. Where is he now?”

“Upstairs.”

He then proceeds climbing through the staircase. If it’s something about his memories, then he won’t miss in what he is remembering or what is worth telling. After all, he couldn’t fully comprehend the images that kept flashing inside his head.

Good thing that Ford is there to clarify his events in his life.

Or maybe he is excited to tell Stan their childhood. He loves telling stories with his brother since it’s one of the ways he spends best with him at long last for thirty years they’d been separated. Even if it’s bad to admit that he is pleased to have his mind erased, either way he can finally have a longer conversation with him.

He always deserves to know.

He passed by Stan’s bedroom, only to walk back after finding him silently looking at the mirror. Ford stepped inside as he calls out to him.

“Stan.”

Stan darts his eyes towards him and smiles, “Oh hey, Ford. Done with the luggage already? Or maybe you’re just slackin’ off.”

“Am not! It would be done by now only if you’re helping me.” Ford pouts in which Stan could only laugh at his reaction.

“Heh. Really sorry ‘bout that…”

Stan went silent again as he looked up in the ceiling with an unknown emotion. Ford took a long, worried glance at his brother and sighed lowly at the realization.

Maybe… he’s not ready to tell me. I should buy him some ti-

“You know, I’m gonna miss this place…” Stan abruptly says as he faces Ford.

Ford grins in return as he places his hand on his twin’s shoulder, “Yeah, me too.”

“And the whole Gravity Falls, too. You know, at first… didn’t like this place. Well right now, I’m glad to stay ‘ere for much longer.”

Ford felt relief at his words, “Felt like home, isn’t it? Despite everything else that’s around here… ”

“Heh, weird vibes ‘n all, no kidding. I hated this place because of what this place did to yer fingers after you were born.”

“What” Ford couldn’t believe what he was hearing, or maybe it’s just his metaphor gone wron–

“I don’t what Pa sees in this place, even we both born ‘ere. ” Stan chuckled weakly.

He couldn’t say anything. Listened to his brother with his eyes widen in shock and his chest throbbing as if it was being punch by Stan– with just mere words acting like rock-hard fists.

Something’s wrong here. No, Stanley ! You weren’t born in this place. I DRAGGED you here ! Oh God…  Could this be my fault? !

“I hated this place so much that we sneak out to the beach a lot of times.”

“There’s no–”

“We even ran away from that… hey, umm what was that again… well, it doesn’t matter, I guess we’re being chased by a lot of monsters just to get to that be- ”

“Stanley, just.stop.” Ford interrupted him, gripping his brother’s shoulders just to face him.

Stan pulled away his hands from him, “Hey, ahh… Ford just what– you-you okay”

He stayed silent as he lowers his head.

“Is this something about the monster’s name I know you’ll be mad if I don’t know it correctly– ”

“No. That’s not it…” Ford muttered while clenching his fist.

Stan noticed he was trembling, “Hey, I… know you liked this place ‘cause it’s weird. I’m sorry if everything I said seemed so offensive.”

Ford couldn’t take it anymore, none of that really happened to him… both of them. Why does he really have these kind of fabricated memories inside of his head???

Unless…

“Stanley, you don’t understand. You weren’t born here ! ! ”

“P-Pardon??”

Ford bit his lip, glancing over Stan’s surprised face. Ford avoided his gaze again when Stan narrows his eyes mixed with confusion and anger, “You’re… not… from here. This place is not…where you came from.”

Stan propped his hand on his forehead, “W-what d’ya mean, Ford? I stayed here for like 60 years… ”

“Stanley… ”

“We both stayed here. This is our HOME, you know that!! ” he is beginning to raise his voice.

“Stanley, please.. ”

“That’s what I remembered!!”

“That’s what you remembered, Stan. You remembered WRONG ! ! ” Ford snapped back which made Stan look at him with surprise .

Stanley steps back away from him with utter perplexity etched in his face, then began sitting on a chair behind him, “That’s not true… ”

“Stan… ” Ford knelt down in front of him. He lets out a long silent sigh and said,  "You’re trying to forget what our dad did to you, aren’t you ? “

“No… that’s not true… I never forgot about Pa… ” He replies with his quivering voice.

Ford places his hand on his shoulder, “… and why is that?”

Stan sobbed, “B-because he loves me, he’s proud of me… I reminded myself every moment of my day to keep on living, because he does everything right for me… even if it means living here. This is my home.”

“Stanley… you legally never lived here. You lived at New Jersey… we both are. But you… well, not for long. Pa kicked you out, because you destroyed my project and he was thinking you were only getting in our way. ”

“…Is that how you thought of me ? ” Stanley asked his brother but couldn’t look at him.  

“That’s what Pa wanted you to believe. I used to be, honestly. But looking back to all those good things you did to me, I would never gone this far without you. You were right about having a silver lining, Stan. ”

Ford leaned forward to hug his twin brother,  "I wish I could’ve said it… about you letting you live here thirty years ago, then finally you will have a home again. I’m so sorry, Stan. This is all my fault. I knew that you lived in car by just looking at you for the first time after a decade we’ve have been apart. I was just… too carried away… by mm-my research… I…  ”

Ford tries to stifle his cry but failed, he let his tears fall from his eyes as he gripped his brother’s back harder. He slightly jumped when Stan wrapped his arms around him as well.

“ It’s okay, Poindexter. I dun need a building for a home. Look at us, Stanford, we’re home because he had each other. Guess, I don’t need to know how I got here in Gravity Falls in the first place. ”

Ford sniffs one last time as they both let go. He wipes his tears and look at his brother with a smile.  "Yeah, I guess… but I wanted to tell you, so you would know it. “

Stan replied with a grin, “Nah, maybe not this time, okay. I may have went too far this time, even when its not real. I’ll just tell you when I’m ready for another trip down through the memory lane. ”

“Sounds good to me. ” Ford chuckled.

CRAAASHH

Both old men shifted their attention from each other towards the source of the sudden noise.

“Soos!??” Both of them yelled from the room in unison.

“Sorry, Mr. Pines-es! This thing is really…heavy… ” Soos replied as another loud thud can be heard downstairs,  "Oh, no. “

Stan looked at his brother and said, “Welp, I guess it’s time to help him before he breaks our fishing equipment. ”