Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You jolt back awake when the side of your shoulder smacks against the car door, the road turning into bumpy terrain as a paved street turned into a dirt path that scaled up the mountain.

The long drive was nearly over.

When summer finally came around the corner again, both the Pines twins had returned to Gravity Falls after their extended time away; the younger twins visiting during summer break as per seasonal tradition, and the older twins returning from a long trip at sea.

While one might have expected everyone to stay at the shack after being away from it for so long, a spontaneous decision made by Stan diverted said expectations.

A week-long vacation in the mountains just across state lines.

The details were… obscure at best, Stan simply claiming it was cheap and to not question him further on it.

Knowing him, you don’t, other than asking why you of all people had to pack a bag as well.

It was supposed to be a family vacation, for the Pines .

A week for all the twins to spend time together and catch up about everything that’s happened since they all saw each other last.

As it turned out, it was Ford’s doing.

While you were under the impression that being in a relationship with him did not automatically get you a spot in every family function, according to Stan:

“He missed ya too much, he just won’t say it, and who am I to make ‘em beg? He’d just twist my arm.”

And that was that.

You were officially in on the family vacation.

Straightening your posture against the back of your seat, you tried to look more awake than you felt and hoped nobody had noticed you were half asleep.

From what you could tell, no one had noticed.

… Or they just pretended not to.

You were sat in the back row with the kids– well, now teenagers .

Mabel sat between you and Dipper as they both played on their handheld devices to pass the time during the car ride, the older twins up front as Stan drove and Ford helped navigate directions.

Yep, everyone was totally distracted.

No one to see you grossly wipe the drool from the corner of your mouth as you glanced out the window, practically fighting to stay awake.

Thankfully, the road soon led to a clearing in the middle of all the trees and the incline levels out, a cabin nestled into the side of the mountain coming into view.

The long drive was finally over .

Barely a second after Stan puts the car into park, the kids are already grabbing the stuff by their feet and darting out the door, leaving you as the last one in the back as they took survey of the surrounding wilderness and high altitude.

You took your time collecting any trash left behind from the gas station pitstop as a courtesy for getting to tag along, but your attention is brought to the door when someone opens it for you.

It was Ford, holding the door open and looking a little shy as he waited for you to collect your things and step out of the vehicle.

“Oh, hello.”

You greet with a sleepy smile, quickly gathering up your things and wrangling empty soda bottles and candy wrappers into the plastic gas station bag.

“Thank you.”

You step out of the car and give your boyfriend a quick peck on the cheek, then turn your head when you see Stan opening the trunk of the car to unload everyone’s suitcases.

“ Kids , come get your bags!”

Stan called out as he began pulling out luggage, the twins bounding over to grab their suitcases and race to the cabin door.

Wordlessly, you grab yours, its weight feeling much heavier than when you helped pack it into the trunk hours earlier, and you blame it on your sluggishness.

Suddenly, you feel a hand on your back.

“You look tired.”

Ford gently caressed your back with his thumb as he quietly spoke to you, and while the comment would have annoyed you if anyone else had uttered it, you know he’s saying it out of a concerned observation.

You leaned into his hand, but when you opened your mouth to speak, Stan had beaten you to it,

“Yeah, tired from all the driving you didn’t do? ”

The back of your hand lightly smacked against Stan’s bicep in playful retaliation to his jab, and the man doesn’t even flinch but has the audacity to joke back,

“Elder abuse.”

“You could punch me out in one swing, you know how to defend yourself.”

You scoff as you drag your luggage to the cabin door and wait with Dipper and Mabel, who had already made themselves comfortable on the porch swing as Mabel sat upside down and attempted to make it swing by kicking her legs.

It worked, and by “worked”, the swing was jerking around sharply whenever she kicked her legs around and swung unevenly.

A tiny huff of air escaped your nose in a tiny, disguised laugh, and before you could step over to join them, the older twins were already stepping onto the porch as Stan punched in the combination code to unlock the door.

“Alright, everybody in.”

The kids immediately got themselves up and off of the porch swing and darted inside, and you step in after them and take a second to look around.

Immediately visible from the door was the kitchen and living area with a sliding glass door leading to an outdoor patio, a closed off hallway that presumably hid a staircase or two and rooms on the far wall.

You were already aware this was a cabin with three floors, the entrance seeming to be the middle floor, as when you looked up at the high ceiling, you could see the banister and ceiling to the open attic space, which the younger twins had already claimed as their area for the trip.

Of course.

Stepping up beside you, Ford looked around the cabin and nodded to himself before leaning in to speak to you.

“Seeing as there’s one couple on this trip, I believe that means the master bedroom goes to–”

“ Me. ”

Stan shouldered past his brother and quickly shuffled with his luggage to the walled off hallway, no doubt to claim the wanted room in the childish rules of “finders keepers”.

“Wh– Stan! ”

Ford left his suitcase by you and chased after his twin, hoping to get to the room faster without anything slowing him down, but Stan had the advantage of entering the narrow hallway first.

Yep, no way you were getting that master bedroom, not that you were expecting to get it in the first place.

Having long accepted that fact, you dump the gas station bag into the trash and grab your luggage, finding the staircase to the bottom floor and slowly making your way down to the tune of the Stans arguing loudly.

Yep, they were going to be at that for a while…

Being as careful as you could with your heavy luggage and sleep bogged brain, you make it to the bottom of the stairs and turn the corner to see an open space and another sliding glass door to another outdoor patio.

The bottom floor was more of a game room than the floor above; a pool table right by the window and an open mini theater setup where the floor stepped even lower.

How much was that discount Stan got?

Is the only thought in your brain as you step into the room and nearly trip over a random step you had missed in favor of surveying the room.

You spot a room immediately, nestled between the staircase and the wall holding the glass panels to the patio, but quickly disregard it by its placement alone.

Stuck between the staircase where you can hear all the commotion upstairs and a glass pane that a bear could easily break through? No thanks .

You walk further in, towards the mini theatre area, and see another room hidden just behind the staircase, and already you know it's the one you’re picking.

It’s mostly hidden, it’s away from the glass door.

It’s perfect.

Stepping inside, you look around the room and are instantly validated that you had made the right call; queen sized bed with a TV in perfect view of it, plenty of room to set your stuff down, and there’s even a decently sizable private bathroom with a shower.

Hell yeah, this vacation was going to rule .

But first…

Now that you had successfully claimed a room as your own, you closed the door behind you, set your suitcase aside…

And proceed to ungracefully flop onto the bed.

You’re still so tired from the trip, and for a multitude of reasons.

Firstly, you had barely slept the night prior.

Too hopped up on both excitement for the trip and anxiousness about possibly leaving anything important behind, you had stayed up to an ungodly hour, and spent most– if not all – your time in bed tossing and turning like a heartbroken fool.

Secondly, with little to no sleep under your belt, the slight movements of the car while on the road had just been so soothing.

It was like being rocked as a baby, and you had no chance to fight against it.

Thirdly, traveling in itself was just exhausting .

As spacious as Stan’s El Diablo was, being stuck in a car for over five hours would render any vehicle cramped, especially with the kids’ travel bags full of car activities at your feet.

Hours of being stationary with the only break being the brief pitstop at the gas station had let your body relax and yearn for all the sleep you had missed out on.

So your first order of business after claiming a room?

Taking a nap before someone seeks you out.

After flopping onto the bed, you only scooch up just enough to keep your feet from dangling off the edge, and you shut your eyes, not even bothering to get under the blanket or rest your head on a pillow.

If you did, you would probably be out cold for the rest of the day.

The bed was… comfortable enough .

It’s honestly hard to tell when any surface you can actually lay on feels like a billion dollar tempurpedic mattress, and you can deal with complaining about being stiff later.

Sleep is already starting to drag you under, and while you can still hear the muffled arguing of the Stan twins upstairs, it almost acts as calming white noise as their voices become muddled together with the mild deafness sleep brought.

…

Knock knock knock…

Your entire body twitches as your eyes open, feeling disoriented and unsure of your surroundings or what was going on.

An unfamiliar wall with a low window greets your vision, and you stare at it blankly as alertness builds and you slowly remember where you are.

Oh right, the cabin… You must have dozed off.

You’re not entirely sure how long it’s been– there is a clock on the wall, but you hadn’t bothered to check it and keep track of time when you had thrown yourself onto the bed and passed out instantly.

You had more pressing matters to focus on, like passing out .

It could have been minutes, it could have been hours …

Hell, it could have been an entire day .

But your body still felt heavy and your mind was still sluggish, and the mere thought of getting back into the realm of the unknown caused your eyes to slowly shut again.

Until you hear the creak of a door opening.

Someone was seeking you out…

With a tired mumble, you slowly lift up your head and turn towards the door, blinking your eyes to clear your vision and make out the blurry figure poking their head in the room.

When your vision cleared, you could see it was Ford, eyes scanning over you as though analyzing the best approach to the situation at hand, until he notices you’re awake.

“Sorry,”

He apologized quickly, voice mindfully quiet.

“I didn’t mean to wake you, I was only wondering where you went.”

“S’ok…”

Your words come out a little slurred and tired as you roll into your side to face him properly, slowly lifting yourself up onto your elbows.

“Was just resting my eyes…”

“Uh- huh .”

Ford stepped into the room and made his way towards you, a fond yet teasing smirk across his face as he sat down on the edge of the bed by you.

“Being completely conked out is just ‘ resting your eyes ’?”

“Who said I was ‘ conked out ’?”

“Me, based on my own observations, that’s who. Because I highly doubt you even heard me knock on the door.”

Ford chuckled softly as he reached a hand out to card through your hair, pushing it out of your face in the process.

“You can go back to sleep, if you want. I truly was only curious about where you snuck off to, I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“Mm… Nah. I can get up.”

You slowly move to sit up, inching yourself closer to sit by your boyfriend’s side, and when he wraps an arm around you to pull you closer, you kick your legs up on top of his lap and lean against him.

He leans in to kiss the top of your head, his thumb caressing your arm.

“You don’t have to. It’s vacation, and everyone's a little tired. I don’t think anyone’s going to be upset if you slept the rest of the day. … Maybe a little worried, but not upset.”

You shrug against him.

“Eh, I’ll be fine. How’d getting the master bedroom from Stan work out?”

“Oh. That. ”

His tone falls flat at the mere mention of the situation.

“No dice. He’s not budging, which— Was it presumptuous of me to think we would be sharing a room on this trip? I… I can take the other room down here if not, I just assumed…”

Ford started to stumble over his words, clearly embarrassed and only growing more so the more he spoke.

It was cute.

Tilting your chin up, you give him a peck on the cheek that makes him clamp his mouth shut.

“We can share a room.”

“Really?”

His tone perks back up like a puppy, though he keeps his expression schooled.

A playful scoff leaves your mouth and your reach up to flick a few stray hairs from his face.

“Yes, really. It’s our first vacation together, and you’ve been away at sea.”

A hell of a combination, one would say.

It was practically a radioactive mix: distance with him away making the heart grow fonder like a long zinc soak, and then immediately being shoved onto the hot plate of close vacation proximity.

The result: the copper penny of your relationship shining into a pretty gold.

“I’m stealing every private moment I can get with you on this trip.”

You smile as you nuzzle up to Ford, completely unaware of how unintentionally heated your words could have been interpreted, and Ford’s posture stiffens as he awkwardly adjusts his glasses without needing to.

“Well then, I’ll, um…”

He takes a moment to calm himself, slowly starting to stand from the bed, gently moving your legs off his lap.

“I’ll go get my things.”

Carefully, Ford stands from the bed and gives you a quick peck on the forehead as he leaves the room, and you take a moment to stretch and try to wake up more from your ambiguously timed nap that you guessed was only a few minutes.

Laying back, you sprawl out on the bed and stretch your limbs out like a starfish, relaxing with a satisfied sigh and closing your eyes as you wait for Ford to return with his luggage…

… And suddenly there’s a hand sliding underneath your back.

“Huh…?”

Your body jolts at the touch and your eyes snap open, being greeted to the sight of Ford leaning over you, and he pauses his movements as you stare up at him, bewildered.

“What are you…”

“Just ‘ resting your eyes ’ some more?”

He chuckled, clearly teasing you and throwing your own words back in your face, causing you to huff.

Your sarcasm had greatly rubbed off on him, and you don’t know how to feel about that.

“I thought you were grabbing your- rrr …”

Your words falter when you lift your head up and see Ford’s suitcase fully in the room and opened wide, a few items already unpacked from it; most notably being his first aid kit laying on the dresser and quantum physics book on one of the two nightstands.

“ Oh , you already did …”

You didn’t even hear him bring it into the room or start taking things out, and the thought of you completely sprawled and passed out while he quietly did so is both humorous, and utterly embarrassing.

“Yes. You were out the entire time.”

There’s a little too much amusement in Ford’s tone when he confirms what you already suspected.

“I was just trying to move you to lay more comfortably.”

“Well, congrats, you did the opposite.”

You quip back a little sharper than you intended, but the thick sarcasm in your tone makes it known you were only trying to be playful.

It worked, but the slight bite of your tongue made the corners of Ford’s lips twitch up and eyes narrow in a familiar way that makes your stomach drop.

“No, please— ”

You immediately backpedal, trying to avoid the inevitable.

“I’m sorry, I love you, please don’t.”

“Too late.”

He slides his hand from your back to your side, and you try squirming away in vain.

“Honey, please, have mercy .”

“Nope.”

Ford doesn’t let you get far, and a gasp overtakes your body before squealing out as he tickles you .

Freaking tickles you, like a school bully .

“Ford, please , no…!”

You try pushing him off, but he’s relentless with that stupid little evil smirk he has.

For as much as you love him and don’t want to hurt him (which you doubt you could physically ), you have to restrain yourself from smacking it off his face.

Maybe a sneaky kiss could work the same, but not while you’re currently wheezing with laughter.

“ Mercyyy…! ”

“Since you want to be awake so badly, let me assist.”

“ I am, I am, pleeeaaase…! ”

Another gasp of air fills your lungs as the tickling comes to a stop, Ford chuckling as he watched you catch your breath.

It wasn’t something he did often, thankfully, and he always took care to stop before it became upsetting.

He really only did this when you were being particularly bratty towards him and starting to get on his nerves, a small retaliation to make you rethink your smart tongue.

To try and soothe you over, Ford leaned down to peck your cheek.

“If you truly are awake now, would you like to step out onto the porch with me?”

The mountainside view was beautiful .

Trees as far as the eyes could see and beyond as the mountain sloped down and gave you a vantage point from where you were perched on the bottom floor patio, arms crossed over the wooded railing as you looked out into the wilderness.

You took a deep breath in and let it out in a pleased sigh, enjoying the mountain air and sights with Ford right next to you, his eyes darting around the landscape and drinking up every detail to commit to memory.

“So weird,”

You start speaking, breaking the silence.

“We have all this back at home, and yet… It’s different. It feels different.”

“Well, technically , nature is different wherever you go.”

Ford responded as he continued gazing out over the mountain, and you internally sigh that you just set off the rambling bomb.

Please no , you love when Ford rambles, but you are currently in critical mode .

If he rambles at you in that deep baritone voice, he’s going to soothe you right back into a stupor.

“The different climate and altitude is going to have some slightly different wildlife… … Especially with what we have back in Gravity Falls… … I wonder if these mountains have any of their own abnormalities…”

You try to listen, you really did try , but the nice weather and nature sounds on top of your nerdy boyfriend rambling excitedly in that sinfully smooth voice leaves your mind muddled, his words fading in and out of your brain and it takes you an embarrassingly long time for you to realize when he actually stopped .

Somehow , your eyes were still open, though just barely .

It was enough to see Ford was just staring at you, waiting for some reaction, and you only realized that when he waved a hand in front of your face.

“Impressive.”

His brows raised as he watched you jolt back up to attention, having slumped down slightly without realizing.

“Didn’t realize you could ‘ rest your eyes ’ while keeping them open.”

“Yeah, yeah… ”

You rolled your eyes, waving a hand to brush away his sarcasm, but nearly jumped when you saw him wiggling his fingers at you as though threatening to tickle you again.

“Shall I retry my wake up method?”

“ No! No…”

You held your hands up to protect yourself, slowly moving them towards Ford’s and entwining them together, successfully capturing them and giving them a loving squeeze.

“ No. ”

Ford quietly laughed to himself and quickly let the idea go, enjoying the moment as he looked out over the mountain again.

“Perhaps we need to keep you moving, then. I’m sure being stationary for so long only makes your body want to rest, so let’s try to stimulate it.”

He let go of your hands to walk to the side of the porch, looking over the railing, and proceeded to climb over it.

“Uuuh… What are you doing?”

A confused laugh bubbles from within you as you watch Ford climb over the railing and jump—

And a thud comes very quickly, signaling a shallow drop.

Hurrying over to peer down from the railing, you noticed the ground wasn’t too far from this porch.

Ford was still very much within reach and could easily climb back up when he wanted to.

Which, that only made your earlier concern of a bear climbing up and breaking the glass door that more plausible.

“Come on!”

Ford stretched his arms out to you.

“Let’s explore the scenery, get your blood pumping. I’ll help you down.”

“I dunno, sounds like study work, and I thought anything regarding my apprenticeship was banned on this trip.”

You grinned cheekily down at Ford, who rolled his eyes.

“Think of it as a reset. We’ve been studying the oddities back at home for so long, we should re-immerse ourselves in what a ‘ normal ’ ecosystem looks like. Appreciate what’s out here so we can better appreciate what we have back at home.”

How poetic , you think to yourself sarcastically, but you don’t disagree.

It’s sometimes easy to forget that Gravity Falls is its own little bubble of weirdness when you’ve been studying in it for years.

Some non-anomaly infested nature time would do your mind some good.

Kicking a leg up onto the railing, you carefully climb over and lower yourself down to Ford’s waiting arms, feeling him take you by the waist and gently set you down onto the uneven ground.

“Easy does it… There we go.”

He gave you a little pat on the head as though confirming you were secure on the ground.

“Let’s see what we can get ourselves into.”

Ever the leader in situations like this, Ford takes charge of direction and starts making his way down the mountain on an open path with fewer trees, leaving you to tail behind him.

The terrain was rocky and terribly unsteady, fallen tree branches snapping under your feet and pebbles beginning to roll down the incline as your footing disturbs them.

It takes you a great effort to keep yourself upright, holding your arms out at your sides to keep balance, while Ford is doing it with ease .

It barely even looks like he’s breaking a sweat, while you’re actively fighting for your life.

Eventually, your heel catches on something that slides out from under you, and you make a startled yelp as you nearly fall down the mountain’s slope, but Ford quickly catches you by the arm and yanks you carefully back to your feet.

“Careful,”

He nervously laughs in relief.

“A bit steeper than what we have back at home. You can… Hold onto me, if that’s easier.”

Ford let go of your arm to offer you his elbow, and you greedily slip your arms around his and take full advantage of the support.

It made the trek much easier, taking away the physical strain of needing to balance, though you know the trek back up to the cabin was going to be difficult.

You were probably going to pass right out once you went to bed tonight.

You nuzzled up to Ford’s arm as you practically hugged it to keep yourself upright, and you know Ford loves the affectionate attention.

His sweater sleeve is soft against your cheek— he had left his coat back home in the spirit of “no working on vacation”, and it was nice to see this more relaxed side of him while surrounded by nature.

It felt more like a calming nature walk than a field study.

Just as the cabin was beginning to disappear behind the sea of trees, Ford had stopped when he happened upon a shady spot as the forested area grew thicker.

“I think this is far enough. And the cabin is still within view, so we can easily return without getting lost.”

Ford looked back and moved his head side-to-side to see past the trees, and you raised a brow.

“ Far enough…? ”

You chuckled.

“I thought this was a research reset walk?”

“Oh, it is.”

Ford nodded as he confirmed your confused statement, sliding his arm out from yours to place his hand at your back.

“But perhaps I don’t want prying eyes.”

“Prying eyes? Prying at…?”

Your words trail off as Ford leaned in closer, gently nudging you against the closest tree.

“ This… ”

His lips meet yours, and he cradles the back of your head to keep it protected from the rough tree bark behind you, and you melt into him as your eyes shut.

Quite the dangerous game you're playing, shutting your eyes for longer than a millisecond blink while this sleep deprived, but you’re too caught up in the moment to care if you fell asleep right here– it was a perfectly comfortable place to fall asleep, mind you.

You grip the front of his sweater, and Ford breaks the kiss breathlessly to duck his head into the crook of your neck.

“I’ve missed you…”

His voice comes out deeper and with some gravel, and your knees almost buckle at the mere sound of it– you’re suddenly grateful for the absence of prying eyes .

Instead, you let out a pathetic little whine as you keep yourself upright.

“I missed you too…”

You reach up to wrap your arms around Ford’s shoulders, and he lifts his head up to kiss you again, deeper this time, and you oblige happily .

It’s a sensation like no other, your drowsiness mixed with Ford’s general him-ness makes you feel floaty, body feeling weightless even though you're most likely sinking to the ground in a heavy heap.

However, the moment is ruined when your stomach growls. Loudly .

Ford slows himself to a stop and pauses for a moment, and you feel a deadly amount of embarrassment wash over you as he lifts up his head to look at you.

Heat floods your face and you’re pretty sure you’re blushing from the shame, and Ford very clearly holding back an amused smile does not help in the slightest.

“I, uh… Suppose the gas station chips are not a sufficient food source…”

You explain awkwardly, and hear the disguised laugh from Ford as he exhales from his nose.

“No,”

He speaks, his tone far too amused.

“I suppose not.”

In what should be a sweet moment, you only feel further embarrassment as Ford pulls you away from the tree and properly onto your feet.

“I noticed there was a grocery store just down the mountain. Perhaps we could grab a few things, just to keep us ,”

He gestured to signal not just you both, but everyone back at the cabin.

“Held over, at least for today. We can make an actual shopping trip another time.”

…

Getting in the car again was a grave error .

After Ford had hoisted you and him back up the porch railing, you both went back upstairs for you to ask the twins if they wanted anything from the store, and for Ford to steal Stan’s car keys.

The trip was meant to be a quick one; just you and Ford, in and out, to grab a few snacks and something simple to whip up for dinner.

And getting back in that damn car was a mistake .

The drive was barely five minutes, but the second you felt the soft movement of the car along the road, you were struggling to stay conscious.

By the time you had made it to the store, you felt like a zombie.

“We’ll be quick.”

Ford tried to assure you, or perhaps was trying to manifest a speedy trip if he just spoke the words into the air.

“Let’s just go straight to the snack aisle and frozen food section, I’m sure we’ll find something to scrape up for dinner.”

Hand in hand, you both walk into the store.

Or rather, Ford half drags you into and through the store.

At least one of you was clear of mind…

Reaching the needed aisle, Ford grabbed a shopping basket while you began picking up requested items.

Sour gummy worms for Mabel, two different bags of chips, a box of cereal for breakfast tomorrow, some candy for yourself…

Dipper had only asked for soda, so when you both turned the corner for the beverage section, Ford instinctively reached for a two liter bottle of Pitt until your sharp gasp startled him into concern.

“ What? ”

He quickly turned to you, seeing you had a four pack case of Pitt in tiny glass bottles.

“We should get the kids this.”

You grin with pure, sleepy mirth.

“Let the kids feel cool with their fancy bottles.”

“It’s not going to take them long to finish those.”

“Yeah, but they’re cool. Make them feel like adults. We can get the giant bottle later.”

As much as Ford wanted to be logical, and for him being such a practical hardass, he relents. It was nothing to seriously fight over, and you were right.

This was only a small grocery run, and it wasn’t like the store was far from the cabin.

You set the mini bottles of Pitt into the basket and nab a small case of beer for Stan, Ford finding an extra large frozen pizza to pop into the oven for dinner and claimed everything you both had gathered was “good enough”.

Time to check out and head back.

… Which was easier said than done.

While waiting in line for a register, your sleep bogged mind became subject to the grocery store’s greatest trap: last-second checkout merchandise.

“Oh my God, Ford, look. Mabel’s gonna die if she sees these.”

You held up a sheet of 3D, light up star stickers, of which Ford is not amused by.

“My dear—”

“Oh, and look , invisible ink pen for Dipper. He can be just like you.”

“My love—”

“And what about—”

“ My darling… ”

Ford slightly raised his voice just enough to catch your attention, and you can see his shoulders and chest move when he takes a deep breath in once he realizes he was successful.

“I adore you with every fiber of my being, but your physical fatigue is making your decision fatigue rather…”

His voice trails off, very carefully choosing his next words before inevitably giving up.

“Endearingly… Mildly… I want as little bags to carry as possible.”

He eyes you as though awaiting your reaction, and he has a rather familiar expression, making sure he hadn’t upset you by saying the wrong thing despite he had clearly danced around what he wanted to say.

The two of you had made a relationship pact to be honest with each other, especially with Ford’s difficulty in emotional communication.

You had promised him you wouldn’t be upset if he ever grew frustrated with something you did, as long as he vocalized it calmly and not suffered in silence until he blew up in anger.

Despite this, he always seemed to feel guilty whenever he had to admit something you did was beginning to irritate him.

But as promised, you didn’t take it as an insult.

You know he’s probably growing frustrated with the shopping trip, especially with you in this state, but he did describe it as endearing, even though you’re sure it’s anything but .

“Oh, sorry.”

Is all you could come up to say, your big, adult words eluding you at the moment.

You go to put the stickers and pen back where you found them, but are surprised when Ford takes them from you and puts them into the basket.

You look up at him, awaiting some explanation, and he’s actively avoiding eye contact.

“Luckily… These are small enough to be squeezed into a bag.”

He says with a huff.

“And, yes… The kids will like these.”

A smug little smirk creeps up onto your face when it has no right to be there, and you cheekily tilt your head to rest against his arm.

“I love you.”

“I never once doubted that.”

“I looove yooou~”

A faint blush dusts Ford’s ears as he tries to keep his expression neutral, but you know you’re getting to him, and he begrudgingly mutters,

“I love you too…”

There’s a sudden warmth that spreads in your chest when you hear the words come from his mouth, and a sick sense of satisfaction takes over as Ford gives in to you when you’re half-unintentionally being a little shit.

Luckily for Ford , a register opens up, and you both check out of the store and quickly leave.

… And to get back in the freaking car.

You are practically dead on arrival once you get back to the cabin.

Barely out of the store’s parking lot, you had slumped against the door of the car, and only jolted back to attention when Ford tried to carry you out of the car and back into the cabin.

You snapped upright in your seat when you heard him clinking off your seatbelt, only to find him at your door with a defeated smile, seeming a little disappointed he had accidentally woken you up.

“You… Are going straight to bed after dinner.”

He says with a little too much mirth, and you scoff quietly as he helps you out of the car.

Hypocrite…

The rest of the day goes by in a sleepy haze.

The kids were absolutely thrilled with the little gifts you had gotten them, and Stan almost showed some gratitude over the case of beers, but he mostly just jeered at your blatant lethargy.

Wanting to speed through the evening and get you to bed sooner, Ford hastily tossed the frozen pizza into the oven, and dinner for you was half actually eating, and half sleepily spacing out until Ford nudged you back to attention before someone else teased you over it.

Though, it did not save you from any more of Stan’s jokes. Asshole.

Despite his mild irritation at the store and him acting otherwise, it seemed Ford rather enjoyed doting on you while you were in this state.

Seemed he missed you more than he cared to admit while he was out at sea.

“Time for bed.”

Ford nudged your shoulder as you put your plate in the sink, and your head whips up to look at him.

“Excuse me?”

“Time for bed, say goodnight.”

Ford gently takes you by the arm and starts to pull you towards the staircase, and you quickly bid Stan and the kids goodnight before you’re fully removed from the living area.

If you were more awake, you probably wouldn’t have appreciated being treated like a little kid, but currently, you can’t find it in yourself to care.

Especially when Ford is treating you so tenderly.

He holds onto you while you both walk down the stairs to keep you from falling, and doesn’t let go when you both reach the bottom.

When you both reached your shared room, he picked you up like a baby kitten and gently set you on the bed.

“There you are…”

He smiled to himself, having gotten you where he wanted safely.

“I’ll join you in just a moment, but don’t wait for me to make yourself comfortable.”

“Fiiine…”

You huff as you watch Ford head to the private bathroom your room offered, and you flop yourself back onto the bed.

Despite all your lethargic mishaps, today was a pretty good first day of your family vacation with the Pines.

With warm food now in your belly, you barely have time to pull the blanket over yourself, and Ford returns to the bed to find you comfortably curled up and fast asleep.

Chapter Text

“Get over here and brush your teeth.”

You squint your eyes and glare at Ford from the bathroom, watching him as he makes no attempt to get up from the bed, nose buried in his book.

God, you feel like a parent…

After your near twelve hour slumber, you woke up much more alert and were practically bustling with excitement over the trip, being (arguably) the most energetic person at the breakfast table while assisting in killing the entire cereal box from yesterday and going over the plan for the day.

The plan involved, not to your surprise, an actual shopping trip to make sure there was enough food in the cabin to last a week with the gluttonous Pines Family.

With the younger twins now in their mid-teens and still with many growth spurts left to go through, they both had become little food goblins with ravenous appetites that nearly put Stan’s to shame.

Nearly .

So getting enough food to last five people a week was a must .

However, while you were trying to get ready to go, you were having a little hiccup with your boyfriend.

“You sound like my mother.”

Ford idly turns the page of his book as he just sits and waits for you to finish up in the bathroom.

“I already told you, while I was in the multiverse, I had–”

“Your teeth enamel polished with some fancy-shmancy alloy that prevents any kind of decay and requires no up-keep, yeah yeah .”

You finish his sentence sarcastically with a roll of your eyes, and Ford’s brow barely furrows as you interrupted him.

“But what about your gums , huh? Did those get magically enchanted too? What good are enhanced teeth if you don’t have gums to keep them attached to your skull? What then?”

You know you’re playing into it a little thick, but you couldn’t care, hopped up on sugary cereal that left your nerves jittery and mind with a loose filter.

This wasn’t going to distract you from Ford’s terrible personal hygiene, though.

You were going to whip this man into shape whether he liked it or not.

“Well, unfortunately, ”

Ford turned the page of his book.

“I forgot to pack a toothbrush, so unless you can magically materialize one into existence—”

He’s cut off as his hand automatically reaches up to catch something that you threw at him, his reflexes reacting before he even knew what he was grabbing, and when he holds it up to his face to see, it’s a toothbrush.

He then looks back up at you, seeing you smirk while waving your own at him.

“ Well , fortunately, the travel toothbrush I bought before the trip was a two-pack.”

Your grin grew impossibly wider.

“So get your ass in here and brush.”

Ford stared up at you for a moment in silent shock, but then seemed to be rather impressed as his brows raised slightly.

He then closed his book and stood up from the bed.

“ Now you sound like my father.”

“Whole family tree, huh? Heh… Pines. ”

You chuckle to yourself, a little too proud of the unintentional connection.

Ford simply rolled his eyes and copied your actions of prepping his newly acquired travel toothbrush, and it feels… pleasantly domestic.

Despite all the huffing and puffing he had given you, standing side-by-side in front of the same mirror as you both take on the mundane task of personal hygiene is oddly calming.

You glance up at him through the mirror to see if he’s actually doing what you’ve asked, and you catch him staring back before his eyes darted away, embarrassed he had been caught, and you nearly snort out toothpaste from having to stop yourself from laughing.

He nudges you with his elbow, and you nudge him back with a chuckle.

This was nice…

You both finish up, and you wrap up getting ready by making sure your hair is neat, laughing quietly as Ford just runs a hand through his instead of a comb and leaving stray curls to fly wherever they wanted as long as they were away from his face.

“We should get you a summer outfit.”

You suggest with no provocation, just something you thought of randomly as you playfully pick at your boyfriend’s sweater.

“Something fun for vacation.”

“… Is there something wrong with what I’m wearing?”

Ford looks at you curiously, having taken the suggestion much more seriously than you thought he would, and you quickly try to ease his mind.

“Oh, no , not at all. Just, it’s hot out– I thought something more breathable would be more comfortable.”

You shook your head, slipping your hand into his.

“But if you’re comfortable in a sweater, you can wear it.”

He gives you a hum of acknowledgment, walking with you hand-in-hand back upstairs, regrouping with the rest of the family, and it’s off to the store with you all.

…

The grocery store is not as busy in the morning as it was yesterday afternoon, or at least, you think it isn’t.

It was hard to remember when you were half asleep last time.

Either way, the lack of patrons leaves plenty of room for Dipper and Mabel to wheel the shopping cart up and down the aisle wildly; Dipper pushing the cart with his foot before stepping onto the back to ride it down the aisle, while Mabel stood at the front as if on the bow of a ship.

The squeaky cart’s wheels along with their laughter became as much white noise as the barely-noticeable music playing on the store speakers, and you pick up two boxes of pasta as Ford browses the shelves beside you, then turns his attention to your selection.

“What are those for?”

He asks with genuine curiosity, tilting his head to catch a glimpse of the label.

“Thought I’d make dinner one night for you guys,”

You show off the boxes and watch as Ford looks them over as he listens.

“As thanks for letting me come along. Figured Dipper and Mabel can devour a box by themselves, so I gotta double the recipe.”

“Put those back.”

Ford rolled his eyes and tried to take the boxes from you, but you quickly moved them away and held them close, shielding them from him, and his expression to your dramatics is rather humorous.

Your sugar infused nerves must be quite the sight to him compared to yesterday.

“You don’t have to thank us, we wanted you to be here.”

“Okay, but maybe I wanna do something nice.”

“ Hey , whatever gives me a break from cookin’.”

Stan hopped into the conversation, having been just across from you both and clearly listening in.

Drama loving bastard…

Ford’s head whipped around for him to glare at his brother, pointing at him dramatically.

“You have no say in this.”

“I got us the cabin, I think I have all the say.”

Stan raised a brow with a smirk.

“And I say, we’re takin’ the free meal ticket.”

“You’re still paying for the ingredients!”

The older twins bicker between themselves and practically forget that you’re still standing barely five feet away from either of them, and when you notice the younger twins coming back down the aisle with the cart, you deposit the pasta boxes into it.

The sound of the pasta rattling in their boxes catches Ford’s attention, and he reaches to try and remove them from the cart, which you gently bat his hand away.

“Nope. They’re in the cart now, that means they’re safe. No take-outsies.”

You stare up at Ford and watch his brows raise in utter confusion of what you had just said to him.

However, he doesn’t have much time to think about it, as Stan jumps in with a cocky smile,

“Yep, them’s the rules. Once it’s in the cart, it stays in the cart.”

“Oooh really? ”

To Stan’s surprise, he found his previous smug smirk on the faces of the twins as they stared at him from where they parked the cart, right in front of shelves of candy.

Simultaneously, they both grab a fistful of plastic candy wrappers, and dump them unceremoniously into the cart.

Stan’s jaw visibly clenches, though his expression remains neutral, and he clears his throat in preparation to speak.

“Well played. On second thought, gimme that cart! ”

The twins let out yelps of panic as Stan starts to give chase , Dipper pushing the cart down the aisle as Mabel held on tight to the front, the cart taking a sharp turn out of the aisle that made the wheels screech painfully.

You wince at the sound, standing in the aisle with Ford as you hear the chase continue outside your view.

The wheels rattle, Stan sounds out a warning, there’s a shrill shriek of a random woman.

“Should we intervene?”

You look at Ford, who shrugged and looked back at you.

“No, I think–”

His eyes go unfocused from yours as there's a crash in the next aisle over, followed by Stan’s cackling, and he regains focus.

“I think Stan has it handled.”

You stare at Ford for a moment to catch if he’s joking, but another crash from the neighboring aisle makes him begin to walk the opposite way Stan and the kids went, placing a hand on your back to nudge you along.

“Of course, we could try and cross paths with them and regroup.”

A knowing laugh escapes you at Ford’s quick change of mind, and you both circle around the opposite side of the aisle to hopefully collide with the other Pines.

Preferably, without any real collision.

Thankfully, it seemed Stan had managed to stop the chase mid-aisle, having managed to wrangle the cart from the kids as he was the one now behind the handle.

“Is it safe?”

You ask half jokingly, half warily, hearing Stan huff and shake his head at the absurdity of the situation.

“Teenagers, amirite?”

He let out a chuckle, though quickly held a hand out to stop Dipper from putting a bag of mini chocolate donuts in the cart.

“Put those back, I am not—”

Stan cuts himself off when Mabel sneaks behind him to put her own bag of mini powdered sugar donuts into the cart, and when he turns his head to give her a disapproving look, Dipper takes the distracted opportunity to successfully put his selection into the cart as well.

“ Get away from the cart!”

Stan shooed the kids away and they darted off in different directions, and you quietly chuckled to yourself, knowing that despite sounding annoyed, Stan was going to keep to the hastily made rule and buy everything that was placed in the cart.

… Or steal them, that was an option too.

“Looks like you taught them too well.”

You joke at Stan’s clear dismay, and he grumbles.

“Tell me about it, even usin’ it against me. Me! The nerve!”

Stan scoffs and rolls his eyes, though you can see the ghost of a smile tug at his lips.

He finds it just as amusing as you do.

Looking over to Ford, you see him eyeing the shelves full of cereal boxes and other breakfast items, and there’s soon a glimmer of recognition in his expression.

He reaches out and pulls an off-brand cereal box from the shelf and stares at it, then shows it off to Stan.

“They still make this?”

He asked, a hint of genuine, child-like excitement in his tone, and Stan gave him a half-hearted shrug.

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t we ever buy it back at home?”

“‘Cause it don’t taste the same. They changed the recipe somewhere in the 90’s.”

Your eyes ping-ponged back and forth as the older twins talked, and Ford stepped closer to the cart to add the cereal box.

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

“I am not buying a whole box of cereal that you won’t like.”

Stan swats a hand at his twin to keep him from putting the box into the cart, and you snort out a laugh when Ford slams it in like a child having a temper tantrum, maintaining direct eye contact with his brother as he does it.

It was so unbelievably childish and yet… Somehow fitting considering who he was acting out against.

The brothers just stare at each other for a moment before Stan scoffs and reaches into the cart, to which Ford stops him with,

“No take-outsies.”

You nearly keel over as you suppress a violent laugh from escaping, turning your body away to hide the fact you have to cover your mouth with your hand.

Hearing your own sarcastic words coming out of Ford’s mouth so seriously left your stomach convulsing painfully as you tried breathing through the silent laughing fit, your breaths coming out as little hiccups as you tried and failed to stay neutral over the situation.

Stan just gaped at his brother, no doubt just as shocked as you after hearing Ford’s serious use of modern slang, and he disguises a laugh as a scoff and calls out to you.

“Come get your man before he pisses me off.”

That only made you laugh harder, wrapping your arms around your stomach as you don’t even attempt to hide it anymore.

Ford merely lets out a small scoff at his twin’s words before he reaches out to gently take you by the shoulders and pull you back upright, and he starts slightly in surprise when you lean back against him.

“Deep breaths– you know, you’ll breathe easier if you straighten your back.”

Ford tries to help you out of the laughing fit, his attention completely on you as Mabel walks back up to the cart with a small aerosol can.

“Grunkle Stan, should we buy sunscreen for the waterpark tomorrow?”

She asked while shaking the bottle to get Stan’s attention, and he shrugged a shoulder.

“Did you pack any?”

“No.”

“Me either, put it in the cart.”

Mabel set the can into the cart, and while you weren’t particularly paying attention to the exchange, Ford clearly had .

His grip on your shoulders loosened just enough for you to notice, and a part of you thinks he’s about to go off about the differences between spray and cream sunblock.

Instead, he asks inquisitively,

“ Waterpark? ”

“Yeah, tomorrow.”

Stan answers as Mabel wanders away again, and something feels… Off .

You can’t exactly describe it, but it was like the air around Ford shifted– you could feel the tension building.

Though the only visible hint of it is the slight furrow of his brow, and you slowly stop laughing.

“You didn’t tell me.”

“I told ya to pack swimwear, didn’t I?”

“Well, yes , but…”

Ford huffs.

“I thought, maybe, we were going to a lake, or there was a private pool or hot tub at the cabin, I wasn’t thinking waterpark .”

“Hey, I said bring swimwear. You were just supposed to do that.”

Stan rolled his eyes, then looked to you.

“You packed swimwear, right? ”

“Uh… Yes?”

You answer honestly, but awkwardly, not sure why you were being dragged into this.

“And you didn’t know about the waterpark either?”

“No?”

“See? Packed ‘em with no context, kid knows how to do things without asking questions.”

Stan turned back to his brother with a pointed look, and you can feel Ford’s grip on you tighten again.

“That’s-… That’s hardly fair, you should have told me .”

“ Hey , ain’t my fault you didn’t want to listen and assumed otherwise.”

Stan moved to start pushing the cart, clearly over with the conversation, and he shouts a warning to the kids that he was going to be in the next aisle over.

As he passes you and Ford, he points to his twin with directed words,

“I gave ya a week to get somethin’ together. If you didn’t listen, that’s on you.”

You watch him wheel the cart away and wait until he’s out of sight before you look up at Ford.

His eyes were also fixated on Stan until he turned the corner, then stared down at the ground in thought; brows pinched together and a scowl across his face.

It isn’t until you make a miniscule movement that he even seems to remember you’re right there, and his eyes dart to you and widen in embarrassment as he carefully stands you back upright before letting go of your shoulders.

“Come on… We’d better go follow him.”

“Are you okay?”

You ask with clear caution in your tone, and are very unamused when Ford starts walking away with only a “ mmh ” as his response.

“Hey, talk to me.”

You try to catch his arm to stop him from moving away, but he doesn’t, and since you’re not about to give up and let go, you’re instead dragged along with him.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

He says with a low tone, and you feel the slightest jerk of his arm like he wants to shake you off, but doesn’t have the heart to commit to it.

You know when to take the hint, and you let go of him, still following alongside him.

“O kay … I don’t believe you, but okay .”

You make it abundantly clear that his attempt to placate your concerns are not working, though you understand if he doesn’t want to air out his grievances in the middle of a public store.

“If you don’t want to talk about it right now, you don’t have to.”

“There’s nothing to talk about…”

Ford ducks his head down and picks up his pace after his brother, not at all wanting to discuss this further, and ever the graceful partner you are, you know when to take a hint.

If this was how he wanted to be, fine.

You could be patient.

…

Ford was quiet for the rest of the shopping trip, uncharacteristically quiet.

When picking out snacks, when Stan shoved things into his pockets to steal them– he didn’t even attempt to stop you from collecting more ingredients for your pasta dinner.

He just tailed behind the cart with his eyes trained to the ground in thought.

However, with Stan and the kids around to fill in the silent gaps with banter, it was hard to tell if you were the only one who noticed, or if they were all just ignoring the issue until it solved itself.

It wouldn’t be the first time; it was rather known in the family that Ford had a tendency to… complicate things in his head, and sometimes, bringing it up only made the situation worse .

He was usually good at resolving his own issues with a little time.

Key word: usually .

But as his partner , you wanted to show him support, but it was sometimes so hard to figure out when to step in and when to leave him be.

You helped store away groceries when you returned to the cabin, being in charge of putting away anything that required refrigeration while the younger twins brought the bags inside from the car, and the older twins pulled everything out of the bags and separated it all.

Once you all were done, Ford tried making a quick retreat, though not before the twins made a request.

“Grunkle Stan, can we go to the arcade for lunch?”

Mabel asked sweetly as Stan scrunched up shopping bags to throw into the trash, and he quirked a brow.

“Arcade? Where’d ya see that?”

“It was down a few blocks from the store.”

Dipper answered with a smile, Mabel jumping back in with her original question,

“So can we go? Please, please, please? ”

Stan let out a long and suffering sigh that morphed into a grumble, and you smirk, knowing full well he’s going to give in.

“Yeah, sure, fine.”

“Yeah!”

The twins let out simultaneous cheers of victory and gave each other a quick high five before darting back outside to the car, Stan pinching the bridge of his nose before turning his attention to you and Ford.

“You two taggin’ along?”

“ Pass .”

Ford hardly allows a beat of silence to take form before he answers, and he swiftly retreats to the staircase to the lower floor, leaving you and Stan in the living area.

Your brows raise as you watch him go, soon turning to Stan with a questioning look, silently asking if he saw the same thing you did, and he shrugs.

“Eh, whatever. You comin’, or are you stayin’ with… That .”

He gestures a hand where Ford left, clearly aware of the sour mood his twin was currently in.

You quietly sigh, shoulders sagging.

On one hand, you did want to go and make the most of the trip and spend time with Stan and the kids.

On the other , you didn’t want to just up and abandon Ford when he possibly needed you.

“I-… I think I’m gonna stay here. Make myself something little.”

“Y’sure? He’s a grown ass man, he can be home alone for a little bit.”

“ Yeah , I’m sure.”

“Suit yourself.”

Stan gave you a curt nod before twirling his car keys on his finger, stepping out of the cabin to have some solo time with the twins.

It was now just you and Ford in the cabin…

As you had told Stan, you grab yourself a plate and help yourself to some of the snacks that were just bought, the sugary cereal from this morning already starting to crash your energy and make you crave something with a sliver more of sustenance.

Or, at least, just anything with a fraction less of pure sugar.

You take your first few bites of your hodgepodge lunch alone, waiting for a kick of energy before you even attempt to open whatever can of worms was going on with Ford, and once it hits, you take your plate downstairs to your shared room.

Unsurprisingly, the door is closed, but you doubt that it’s locked.

You knock twice and give an obligatory “ it’s me ” before entering at the sound of permission from the other side of the door.

Ford was sitting at the edge of the bed with his book, hunched over as he read and didn’t look up when step over to him, until you held your plate out to him and shook it just enough for the snacks on it to make a noise.

“Mh?”

You hum as you make a peace offering, and you watch as Ford glances at the plate before his eyes return to the book.

“Not hungry.”

He mumbles out, and you shrug and sit next to him, enjoying the whole plate for yourself.

“More for me.”

“I thought Stan was taking the twins to the arcade for lunch.”

Ford asked with only the slightest hint of confusion, and you bring your legs up to cross them on the bed and place your plate in your lap.

“He did.”

“And you didn’t want to go?”

“I wanted to stay here with you.”

You answered truthfully, not wanting to give your reasons away and risk making Ford feel guilty, but you see his brow furrow further and his scowl grow deeper.

It felt like you said the wrong thing, and that he had already caught on to what you really meant.

“But did you want to go?”

“Eh, a little, but—”

“Then you should have gone.”

Ford huffs, and you can tell he’s no longer reading the book and only using it as an excuse to not face you, and you scoff at his interruption.

“Excuse you, I told you yesterday I wanted all the private time I could get with you, and what is this? Private time, we have the whole cabin to ourselves.”

“Yes, but—”

“But nothing , we have all week to go back to the arcade another day, and I wanted to be here with you .”

“That’s not—…”

Ford slammed his book closed and let out a long breath, running a hand under his glasses to rub his face.

“That’s not it… I know you, you only stayed because you think I’m upset.”

“I don’t think you’re upset, I know you’re upset.”

“This is your vacation too, you should do what you want without worrying about me.”

“News flash, babe, you’re in a relationship, and you knew beforehand I’m a worrier.”

You casually shove your snacks into your mouth as you give Ford a look, and he finally turns to you with slight exasperation of how nonchalant you’re acting.

You continue,

“You kinda brought this on yourself. You’re stuck with me. Boop .”

You tap his nose playfully with a clean finger, and he moves his head back with a roll of his eyes to dissuade you from doing it again.

“I’m well aware…”

“So, c’mon. What’s up?”

You offer the plate again, which he still ignores.

“What’s got you so upset?”

Ford flexes his hands and he looks away, fingers tapping against his book as he’s trying to very carefully think of what to say.

“If… Hypothetically , if I don’t go to the waterpark tomorrow, what will you do?”

He glances at you from the corner of his eye, awaiting your answer with clear anticipation.

“What does this have to do with—?”

“Just… Answer the question.”

“ Okay… ”

You take a moment to think.

“Any reason you’re not going?”

“No context– and it’s hypothetical, what’s your answer?”

“There’s gotta be a reason, and my answer might change depending on it.”

Ford takes a deep breath and lets it out as a huff, his shoulders slumping like a teenager, and you decide to nip it in the bud.

“Ford. Honey . What's wrong? If you just want a day alone, fine. I’ll go. It’ll suck to be there without you, but I’ll go if you really want me to. But if there’s a reason you don’t want to go, I want to either fix it, or stay with you.”

“I just want to know what you’d do. It’s a simple question.”

“Okay, but even the simplest equation has limitless answers depending on the why variable.”

You quip at him, feeling proud of the sharp comeback, and even prouder when Ford turns with his mouth open to say something, then closes it, obviously holding back a smile.

“ First of all… ”

He holds a finger up to you, trying to hide his mirth.

“Do not try to charm me right now, I’m trying to stay on topic.”

“C’mon, it was clever. And you need a little humor to loosen up, I just want to know what’s bothering you and if there’s something I can do to help. I love you.”

You bump your shoulder against his, leaning against him.

“So what’s up? I promise I won’t laugh, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Ford’s shoulder tenses against yours for a moment, and he fidgets with his hands absentmindedly; fingers threading between each other that make you want to replace his hand with yours, but you let him have this.

He can’t be distracted , after all.

“I just… I don’t want you missing out on things you want to do on this trip because of me .”

He finally explains, though it’s not the explanation you’re looking for.

“I didn’t realize a waterpark was on the agenda, and I’m ill-prepared for that and would like to avoid it entirely. But, I also don’t want you to skip out if you want to go.”

“Ford… You realize I’m only on this trip because of you .”

You rub your cheek against his shoulder affectionately, and he shifts slightly.

“Which means I’m sticking with you most of this trip. Maybe if you just explain why you’re not going– Did you not pack a swimsuit, we can just buy you one at the store, there was a summer section with swim stuff.”

“Could you just… Think about going? Without me?”

The slight smile that had been on your face slowly faded when you heard some finality in Ford’s tone, it seeming like he was adamant about his decision; both in not going out tomorrow, and for not discussing what his reasons were.

There was something he wasn’t telling you, either out of embarrassment or because it was something sensitive, but it seemed he was reaching a limit, and you didn’t want it to escalate into a fight.

With a heavy feeling in your chest and a bitter taste in your mouth, you sigh.

“… Fine … I’ll think about it.”

You relent, letting Ford think he’s won. For now .

There was still plenty of daylight left for you to get to the bottom of the issue.

However, that didn’t mean you were going to reward his lack of communication, especially since you were feeling rather hurt.

You lean off of him, putting some distance between you two, but still sit on the bed with him; still close so he knows you’re not terribly upset, but just enough distance to show you’re mildly irritated.

He glances at you briefly when he sees you move, but is quick to reopen his book and resume his reading.

“Good. … I hope you make the best decision for yourself.”

“Mmh.”

You copy his response from the store, and that seemed to get his attention.

He fully turned his head to give you a once over, realizing he may have upset you.

His mouth opens to speak, but it seems he can’t bring himself to say anything.

Looking a little uncomfortable, he goes back to his book, and you to your food.

…

It isn’t too long before you finish off your plate of snacks and pull out your own book to read alongside Ford, still keeping your pointed distance from him as you lay next to him, though your irritation was starting to simmer down.

Seems you might have been a little hangry, plus the sugar crash.

Hell of a combo.

Ford had remained silent the entire time, his mood not at all improved with the added thought that you’re upset with him, and he has tried remaining as still as possible with the only exception being when he’s inevitably forced to turn the page of his book.

He was still hunched over, exactly as you found him earlier, and when you reach a good stopping point in your own book, you decide to try and break the ice.

“You should probably stretch your back.”

You tried speaking with pure neutrality, no hint of irritation or judgement or trying to lecture him, but Ford still scoffs.

“A bit hypocritical from someone who doesn’t stretch their legs during a field study.”

He was clearly trying to mimic your tone, but failed, the bitterness of his mood seeping through.

You try to take it with humor, a little laugh escaping you.

“You’re older, you need it more.”

“Absolutely not.”

He was unappreciative of your amusement, even more so when you gently poke his back and take on a more parental tone.

“Sit up straight.”

“You are being oddly parental today.”

Ford closed his book and set it aside, looking ready to stand up from the bed, and you playfully scoff.

“It’s called love, genius. You prefer I tease you? I forgot your family’s love language is verbal insults.”

You grin to yourself, singing out a tune from an early 2000s bilingual kids’ show.

“ Shrimp back, shrimp back~ ”

“Would you quit—?”

Ford cut himself off as he stood up straight, freezing on the spot with a sharp intake of air.

He stands there frozen for a few moments as he quietly breathes through his nose, and he eventually lowers his spine back down into a hunch slowly.

You watched him curiously, not understanding what happened, but then it clicked when you noticed the hint of pain in his eyes.

“Oh… Oh shit , Ford? You okay?”

You sit up from where you were lying on the bed, watching as Ford tried to straighten his back again, placing his hands on the back of his hips and bending his spine backwards to try and stretch out a crack.

Nothing…

Man, today was really not his day.

“ Ford? ”

“M’fine…”

Ford grumbled out as he moved his shoulders uncomfortably, and you can see the way his face is scrunched up.

He’s hurting.

“Here, lay down, lemme take a look.”

You pat the spot on the bed next to you, trying to coax him to let you help, but ever-stubborn Ford was doing what he did best: being stubborn.

“I said I’m fine.”

“ Right , like I can’t see the clear pain on your face.”

You quirk a brow, and Ford turns his head away as if that’ll help him, but it only proves your point further.

“ Lay. ”

You say more firmly, pointing to the spot again, and Ford grumbles as he shifts on his feet…

… And proceeds to lower himself onto the floor instead.

What the hell.

“On the bed , Stanford.”

“The ground offers more support.”

Ford shifts a little to make himself more comfortable on the hardwood floor, and you roll your eyes, unsure if he’s doing this to be purposefully difficult, or if this was him just being… Him .

Okay, fine .

If he was going to be a smartass, so could you.

Swinging your legs over the side of the bed, you pressed your foot down on the center of Ford’s back, and you can hear him bite back making any sound as air sharply leaves through his nose.

“Right here?”

You ask while adding some more pressure, Ford clearing his throat before responding,

“Little higher, and you can go harder.”

You nearly fail to suppress a snort of laughter, wanting so badly to make an inappropriate joke, but you keep it in.

Your boyfriend was clearly in pain, focus .

Pressing your foot down harder, you trail up Ford’s back and stop just below his shoulder blades when he speaks,

“Yep— right there… ”

“The pressure good?”

“I can take more- Are you stepping on me? ”

Ford turned his head to look at you while speaking, finally realizing that you were still on the bed, and you tried to hold back a smirk.

“Maybe.”

“Not ‘ maybe ’, most definitely!”

“Fine, you’d prefer my hands?”

“… No , actually.”

There’s a look in Ford’s eye when he gives his answer, a look of him having an idea pop into his head, and you’re suddenly worried what brilliant plan he’s concocted.

“Put your whole weight on me.”

“… Whaaat? ”

You give a look of disbelief, unsure if you had heard him correctly.

“ No , I’m not doing that, that would probably kill you- if not paralyze you.”

“I am not that fragile. If I can lift you, you can stand on my back.”

Oh, okay , sure .

Weighing out the risk and embarrassment of possibly throwing your boyfriend’s back out more and having to break the news to his family on how it happened, you decide why not , and grab a pillow for him to keep his face off the dirty ass floor.

Though, as the petty and still mildly annoyed partner you are, instead of handing it to him nicely, you drop it over his head.

Wordlessly, Ford takes the pillow with a huff and places it under his head, sinking his face into it as you slowly stand from the bed.

“Just tell me if it’s too much.”

You tell Ford as a heads up that you were starting, slowly shifting more of your weight to the foot on his back and waiting for any kind of signal to stop.

He stays mostly quiet, aside from what sounds like a sigh of relief as you sink your weight onto him, and eventually, your other foot joins the first as you’re fully standing on top of him.

It took you a moment to balance yourself atop your boyfriend’s back, and once you found yourself steady, Ford quietly spoke up.

“You can keep going…”

“Uh, Ford… ”

You called out quietly, watching as Ford lifted his head up from the pillow to see your figure looming over him, then trailed his eyes down to see both your feet planted onto his back, your full weight on top of him.

“… Oh…”

“Here, I can do this.”

Carefully, you start shifting your weight back and forth on your two feet, essentially walking in place on his back and kneading at his muscles.

It’s hard to tell if he likes it or is just enduring it for the sake of getting his back to loosen up, as you watch as Ford squeezes his eyes shut and plants his face back into the pillow without any pleas for you to stop.

You watch for any minuscule movement or noise that signals he wants a break, but the more you knead into his back, you start to notice the tips of his ears growing much redder than normal.

“You’re blushing .”

You say with perhaps a little too much amusement, and you feel Ford jump underneath you as he presses his face into the pillow more.

“M’not…”

“ Careful , you’ll damage your glasses.”

“ Not blushing.”

“ Yeah— You’re kinda into it, huh?”

“ No. ”

Ford vehemently denies your accusation, and just to jab at him, you gently dig your heel into his back and move it in a circular motion.

It draws out a surprised grunt from Ford that he quickly suppresses.

“Yeah? You sure about that? Tell me to stop if you hate it so much—”

“ What the fuck. ”

Ford’s entire body jumps and nearly knocks you over when someone barges in without knocking, though you manage to catch yourself on the top of the dresser.

You must have severely lost track of time, because it was Stan ; looking a little more festive than he did earlier with a crooked paper party hat on his head, and an arcade band and cheap beaded bracelets on the opposite wrist from his giant golden watch.

“Is this what you kids do without adult supervision?”

“Excuse you, I’m older! ”

Ford argues childishly, blushing horribly from the mix of your teasing and Stan’s invasion, and his sour mood had clearly returned full fledged with a new irritant added to the mix.

You step off of him carefully, feeling Ford moving underneath you as though preparing to stand back up to his feet, and he does so awkwardly while wincing.

“And could you not barge in!? I’m not the only person staying in this room!”

“Yeah, sure, cute way of sayin’ you two were up to no good. There’s locks on the doors, use ‘em .”

Stan smirked as he watched his twin grow flustered, most likely thinking he had walked in on an embarrassingly intimate moment.

However, when his eyes fall to you, he sees how very not embarrassed or flustered you are, and you can see the cogs in his brain working as he realizes something else was taking place.

He looks back to Ford, who’s standing with a hunch.

“What, you throw out your back or somethin’?”

“ No –”

“Yes–”

You and Ford answered at the same time, his defensive “ no ” sounding odd against your casual “ yes ”, and he shoots you a glare of betrayal that you ratted him out to his twin.

All you do is stare back at him, wondering why and where the defensiveness is coming from, and before you can ask, Stan taps him on the shoulder.

“Aight, c’mon. Lemme give ya the ol’ back-breaker.”

“ No. ”

Ford huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, pouting immaturely, though didn’t pull away or protest when Stan wrapped his arms around him.

He was most likely expecting Stan to just do it anyway in annoyingly brotherly fashion.

“Yeah, wasn’t exactly askin’.”

It’s all the warning Stan gives before he lifts his brother up, and you wince when you hear multiple, simultaneous cracks alongside your boyfriend’s brief grunt of discomfort.

Ford’s brow pinches for just a moment as all his sore spots are popped, and he grits his teeth as he’s carefully set back down on the ground.

You’re about to ask if he’s okay. Hell, even Stan looks like he’s about to ask the same.

But before either of you can say anything, Ford turned on his heel and marched out the room.

“I’m going outside.”

“Coulda at least thanked me! Jackass…”

Stan called out with a shake of his head, not sounding particularly surprised by the lack of gratitude from his brother or even bothered by it.

He barely even acknowledges his outburst.

You, on the other hand, feel a twinge of panic that Ford may be seriously hurt or upset, and you called out to him while trying to go after him, but Stan held out a hand to stop you.

“Leave ‘em.”

“ What? ”

You give Stan an incredulous look, and he’s far too calm for your liking.

“What do you mean ‘leave him’?”

“Just leave ‘em alone. He ain’t gonna listen when he’s like that. Take it from his twin– the expert , if you will,”

Stan points to himself with his thumb.

“When Ford gets like that, best thing to do is to leave ‘em alone for an hour or two. Let ‘em blow off steam and calm down, ‘cause he gets waaay too wound up to listen.”

You just stare at Stan in both exasperation and desperation.

It made sense , every time you tried talking to Ford, it only seemed to wind him up more; making him dig his heels stubbornly and deny his negative mood.

But you dislike the idea of just… leaving him alone and have the problem solve itself.

Sure, Ford was an overthinker, and you knew well enough that emotional vulnerability was not his strong suit, so it made sense to let him sort out his own thoughts alone and return when he’s ready.

It didn’t mean you had to like it, it felt like you were ignoring him .

“You two get in a fight or somethin’?”

Stan’s voice breaks you out of your thoughts, sounding softer than usual, and you can hear the genuine concern that he’s trying to hide.

“ No… No, not a fight, just… I was trying to figure out why he was so upset about the waterpark.”

You fidget on the spot where you stand, trying to ignore the guilt of letting Ford rush off without you.

“He’s been upset since the store, and I thought I was getting him to warm up, but…”

“It’s ‘cause he didn’t pack a swimsuit.”

Stan moved across the room to Ford’s open suitcase, carelessly digging around, and the action startled you.

“I-Is that– Should you really be doing that?”

“Kid, we’ve been close-quarters on a boat for who knows how long , it ain’t nothin’ I ain’t seen before.”

Stan waved you off as he continued to search his brother’s bag, not taking very long until he stood back up straight.

“ Yep , figured as much. Nothin’ for swimmin’. I did give him a week’s notice, just so you know .”

“Is this really over a swimsuit? We could’ve just… bought him one at the store– there was a summer sporting section!”

You toss your hands up in the air, feeling like the simplest answer to the dilemma was right there , and Ford, the smartest man you know, completely overlooked it.

“Hell, I’ll buy him some swim trunks right now– ”

“He ain’t gonna wear that .”

Stan interrupts your flow of thought, effectively pointing out that you had misplaced a piece of the puzzle despite how nicely it fit into place.

You give his face a once over, trying to tell if he’s being serious or not.

All you can find is sincerity.

“He won’t? Why not?”

A small smirk started to creep up onto Stan’s face, one that looked inappropriately jovial and gave you the feeling he’s about to say something to tease you.

“ Stan… Why won’t he wear them– Why are you making that face!? ”

“ Nothin’ , it’s nothin’.”

He waves a hand at you, schooling his expression as he senses how desperate you are.

“`Case you haven’t noticed, which, I’m pretty sure you’ve noticed ,”

Stan started to explain.

“Ford doesn’t exactly wear anything less than his sweaters an’ pants. I mean, even around me , ‘cept for a few times it was hot as balls out at sea.”

“ Oh .”

It’s the only appropriate response you can think of to give.

Of course you noticed, especially during summer; you always had the distant curiosity of how the hell Ford could stand wearing a sweater and his jacket in sweltering temperatures.

A part of you figured his time in the multiverse just made him adapt better to extreme climates, and the other part assumed the sweaters were more of a comfort thing than a deliberate and calculated decision.

Which only begged the curiosity further: why was he so adamant on covering himself up?

Was it a personal choice? Was there a reason ? An insecurity? Did he have an issue with other fabrics and just ordered multiple of the same brand sweater?

You know these are all questions you should be asking Ford, and you feel a little stupid for not inquiring sooner, but it wasn’t like you were thinking it was a serious issue, and Ford had never voiced anything relating to the topic.

“Yeah, findin’ him a swimsuit is gonna be hard . Almost impossible on short notice.”

Stan doesn’t mince his words, something you’re thankful for, but it also only serves to make the task that much more daunting, especially since you don’t know the specifics.

“Real question is, why are you so upset? You already said y’brought yours, so you’re all set t’ go.”

“ Yeah , but…”

An unsure frown stretches across your face, and you shrug.

“Ford was talking about not going tomorrow, and… I dunno, I’m in an awkward spot where he wants me to go and enjoy myself, but if I do, I feel like a shitty partner that left him alone to go have fun, y’know?”

“You ain’t gonna go if he doesn’t?”

Stan raised a brow, eyes squinting as he listened to you, and he’s very obviously not pleased.

“I dunno, I guess? I-I don’t know what to do…”

Your head shakes, hating having to admit that you’re at a loss.

It feels like there’s no win for you; you risk making Ford upset by staying with him, but you’re only going to worry about him if you go.

The dilemma must be clear on your face, because after a few moments of tense and awkward silence, Stan lets out a heavy sigh.

“Aight, c’mon. Let’s go.”

He starts walking out of the room, patting your back to nudge you along, and even gives you a push when you don’t immediately start walking with him, making you sputter.

“Uh– What? What? Go? Go where, where are we going?”

“Thought it was obvious.”

Stan takes out his car keys, jingling them in your face.

“We’re gonna find your prissy princess of a boyfriend somethin’ to swim in.”

Chapter Text

The thick treeline of the mountain began thinning out as Stan drove closer to the main road leading to civilization, your fingers drumming against your lap as you stared out the passenger window, thoughts spiraling.

It was just you and Stan going back to the store, the kids preoccupied with the prizes they had won at the arcade, and Ford off doing who knows what alone in the mountain.

The thought of him upset and alone in an unfamiliar area was not exactly a calming one, but knowing he was a skilled outdoors man helped make the nervousness for his well being more tolerable.

“ So ,”

Stan broke the silence in the car as he kept his eyes on the road, the radio kept off due to the mountain’s iffy reception only projecting static.

“What are we thinkin’? What’s the plan?”

“Uuuh…”

You drag yourself out of your thoughts to attempt a response, and you internally facepalm at the noise that came out of your mouth.

That was a good question, what was the plan?

“Well… I kinda need to know what I’m working with here.”

Words finally started organizing themselves into sentences into your mind, and you try to approach the situation with as much tact you can manage.

“Without telling me what the problem is, can you– Why do you keep doing that? What is so funny!?”

Stan is making that smirk again, just like when you asked him about getting Ford swimming trunks, and he waves a hand at you to brush off your question.

“Nothin’. Nothin’s funny.”

He says, despite the smile staying strong across his face.

“Then what’s with the smirk? Huh? Is me being in the dark amusing to you?”

“It is, considering why you’re in the dark.”

You squint your eyes at him, and after a few seconds of him not elaborating, you realize he can’t see your glare while he’s focusing on the road.

“ Excuse me ?”

“Nice you two are takin’ things slow, ‘cause, uh…”

Stan chuckled, and you know he’s about to say something to either annoy or embarrass you.

“You’d know what the problem is if you had, uh… Tangoed together.”

Your eyes squint further, just knowing there's a double meaning there, and when it hits you, you gasp at his audacity as your face grows hot.

“ Stan! ”

“I can’t imagine that not bein’ a conversation. Unless you two are, like, doin’ it fully clothed.”

“ Stop .”

“At least you two like each other outside of that. Probably makes the relationship more interestin’ or whatever.”

“Shut. Up! ”

A long and suffering sigh leaves you like steam from a boiling kettle, which you might as well be with how unbearably warm your face has grown, and you’re fighting back a strangled squeak.

Stan just cackles at your suffering, a proud grin across his face as he’s far too jovial for this particular situation; a situation that you had labeled as very important in your mind.

Though, it really wouldn’t be a trip with Stan if he didn’t make fun of you once .

Sucking back in some air and part of your soul that left you out of embarrassment, you attempt to focus back on the main task.

“ So… Ford keeps himself covered… I know I should be asking him this, so don’t go into any sensitive detail, but…”

Thankfully, Stan lays off the jokes now that he’s gotten them out of his system… For now .

He can hear your attempt at trying to be serious in your embarrassment-laced tone, and he waits for you to finish speaking.

“What exactly… Is he trying to cover? Like, does he just need his skin covered? Or does he… I dunno, have a problem with…”

You gesture vaguely to your body, and Stan quickly glances at you to see what you mean.

He shook his head as he focused back on the road, the store now within sight.

“Nah, nothin’ like that. Just coverin’ his skin is fine.”

“Oh, okay .”

Some relief washes over you that the issue isn’t as depressing as you intentionally thought.

“That’s manageable, actually. I think I can find something for that.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“A full-body wetsuit.”

You look out the window as Stan pulled onto the parking lot, driving around slowly for a spot.

“It’ll fully cover him from the neck, to his ankles.”

“Eh, I dunno. Y’don’t think that’ll look a little weird where we’re goin’?”

Stan circled the car around to drive into the next row of parking spots.

“Maybe it’s good for the beach , but a waterpark?”

“You rather him go in a sweater ? Or not go at all?”

“Eh, touché .”

Stan finally spotted an open space and hit the gas, and you held on for dear life as he took a sharp turn and parked haphazardly in the handicap spot.

“Stan, this is a–”

You’re cut off as Stan magically pulls out a handicap placard from somewhere and hangs it on his rearview mirror, and you can already tell it’s fake.

Fake, but a very convincing-looking one from a distance.

Stan just gives you a sleazy smile, and you know there’s really no questioning what he does.

You can only accept it and just roll with it.

“ Okay .”

You give a sarcastic smile back as you get out of the car, walking alongside him as you both enter the store for the second time that day and beeline it for the summer goods.

The two of you walk through racks of various pool floaties and brightly colored picnic utensils before you reach the wall lined with multiple types of swimsuits, organized between men and women with varying degrees of skin coverage, and you quickly turn to the men’s section.

“Oh baby , look at these !”

You turn your head when you hear Stan’s joyful tone, clearly finding something that he’s about to make fun of.

Sure enough, he’s holding the tiniest speedo you had the displeasure of seeing with your own eyes, stretching the waistband to test the elastic.

“Nearly fifty bucks for a man-thong? And they call my prices criminal. Imagine how much a full body suit is gonna be.”

“ Eeeh… ”

You shrug, trying to brush off the covert concern.

“It’ll be fine… If he doesn’t like whatever we find, I’ll keep the receipt. I either return it, or he’ll finally stop having an excuse to skip out on pool days. No losses.”

The remembrance of the pool back at home made you think back of all the times Stan had taken the kids there in summers’ passed, and whether or not you were available to join, Ford always stayed home or went out researching that day.

And it didn’t stop at the pool, the thought spiraled to any moment Ford was hesitance to wear anything less than his usual pick.

It made you worry that your earlier suggestion of a summer outfit had accidentally offended him.

You brush the thought away. You were here on a mission.

If you stood here thinking about all the possible times you were unintentionally insensitive towards Ford’s problem, you’d be here all day.

Thankfully, you found the full-length wetsuits fairly quickly.

They were tucked away in their own, nearly empty section from the other swimsuits, and you immediately locked your eyes onto one and pulled it from the rack.

It was a bright turquoise one with the sleeves and sides a bright yellow; a little flashier than what Ford normally wore, but you fully believe he can pull it off.

Excitedly, you show it to Stan.

“How about–?”

“ Nope .”

He cut you off immediately, shaking his head.

“No yellow.”

“… Really? ”

“Just trust me on this.”

There was nothing in Stan’s expression that gave the hint he was joking or being disingenuous, so you take his input seriously and put the wetsuit back on the rack.

“O kay , how about…”

You take a long look between the other limited options, and pull out another from the collection.

“ This one?”

It’s a dark red one with black accents.

Not as flashy or eye-catching as the previous one, but it fit the usual dark tones that Ford seemed to prefer wearing.

“That one’s good.”

Stan took a long look at your new pick, nodding in approval until he picked up the tag.

“ Woof , if it was in his size.”

“ Dammit… ”

You yank the wetsuit back and put it back on the rack with frustration.

That was two out of the few that were left– about twenty of them, and that was a generous estimation.

“Okay, so has to be in his size, and no yellow.”

You verbalize the criteria of the task, and Stan nods.

“ Yep . He’s gonna have one ugly lookin’ swimsuit. If we can even find ‘em one.”

You and Stan stare at the near-empty rack for just a moment, then start rummaging through it.

Stan quickly went through each suit, checked all the sizes on the tags, and handed you the ones he approved of.

In the end, there were only three that were in Ford’s size, two of them being the cyan and yellow one you had first picked, and a singular solid black wetsuit.

“Well… At least it’s a neutral color.”

You run your hand over it a few times, checking the quality.

“And it seems pretty well made, too– Oh come on , there's a hole!”

Disappointingly, your finger pokes through at the hip of the wetsuit where a seam had come undone, and it’s definitely big enough to notice.

“ Ugh , great … We have nothing.”

“Hey, I told ya findin’ somethin’ on such short notice was gonna be impossible.”

Stan shook his head as he watched you put the ripped article back onto the rack.

“Sorry, kiddo. Can’t say we didn’t try.”

“ It’s fine… Thanks for coming with me and helping me out.”

You give proper gratitude to Stan, who really didn’t have to help you, but you know deep down he did it for the love of his brother.

… And maybe just a tiny bit for you.

Turning on your heel to leave, you give the summer section one last glance to double check that you hadn’t missed anything, and sure enough…

There’s something of a similar material to the wetsuits poking out from a metal barrel full of pool noodles.

Realistically, you don’t expect it to be the “ perfect wetsuit ”, but the hopeful and desperate side of you is begging wildly: please please please pleeeaaase!!

You grab the fabric and yank the carelessly discarded item up, and lo and behold… It's another red and black wetsuit.

A gasp of both surprise and hopefulness hits you involuntarily, and you quickly run your hands over it to check the quality.

No holes, perfect!

With a glimmer of hope shining in the distance, you instinctively find the tag for Stan to check the size.

You must look like a crazed maniac, because he flinched back when you turned to him and held the tag out, but he does what you want without needing to be asked, likely too over it to try to tease or fight with you.

At first, his expression doesn’t change, and you’re already resigning yourself to hearing it’s not a fit.

It would’ve been a long shot anyway…

Stan just stares at the tag, then glances up at you and looks back and forth between you and the tag without changing his expression.

Oh, the asshole, he’s purposely keeping you in suspense.

After an agonizing second, Stan lets out a long sigh, and you already feel your own building up from the inevitable disappointment you’re sure to face.

But quickly, Stan’s mouth turns up into a smile.

“We have a winner!”

“ Really!? ”

It’s like your body got zapped with electricity with how fast the excitement hit you, buzzing in your veins and you have to fight the urge to bounce on your toes.

“ Yep . It sure is. We should hit Vegas after this, because that was impossible luck.”

Stan let out a laugh, and he playfully smacks your shoulder in victory of finding a suitable swim outfit for his twin.

“Now let’s get the hell outta here before security recognizes us.”

…

“So basically , we got free pizza ‘cause Mabel schmoozed her way into some twerp’s birthday party, an’ any time the punk got too close t’her, Dipper nabbed the loose tickets from his pockets.”

Stan filled the silence of the car ride back to the cabin by retelling what had happened at the arcade, having a mix of amusement and mild concern in his voice at various points.

“Anyway, if you see some sleazy, pretty-boy teen around the cabin askin’ for Mabel, you let me know. I’ll make it look like the bears got to ‘em.”

“ Stan! ”

You barked out an incredulous laugh at Stan’s shotgun-dad overprotectiveness, though you know that he was only joking.

… For the most part, at least.

All he gives you is a shrug, and the car jerks a little as it reaches the incline of the mountain and up the dirt road leading back to the cabin.

You’d be back soon to show off your little present to Ford, which was secured safely in a flimsy plastic bag on your lap.

You rub at the material of the wetsuit over the plastic, your earlier excitement starting to die down now that you realize… You don’t know how to approach Ford with it.

What if he was still upset? If he didn’t have enough time alone?

He would surely dig his heels stubbornly and refuse to listen to you if you made yourself sound like you had insensitively “ solved ” the waterpark issue without understanding the problem.

Plus, would he get suspicious on how you knew the wetsuit would work?

Would he think Stan had told you something he shouldn’t have?

The car slows to a stop in front of the cabin, and your eyes dart to it, your hand tightening around the shopping bag in anticipation of this confrontation.

How did you even begin a conversation like this…?

Despite the car being put into park, neither you or Stan rush to get out, and he glances over at you when a few moments have passed and no one had reached for their door.

“What? Y’look stressed, yer not supposed to be stressin’ on vacation. Kinda defeats the purpose.”

He calls you out on your souring mood immediately, and some tiny part of you is glad once you get past the initial embarrassment.

“I know… ”

“So stop doin’ it.”

“I can’t , what if Ford’s still mad?”

“It ain’t you he’s mad at. He’s more mad at me for not mentioning the waterpark, and maybe at himself for not pickin’ a swimsuit out after I told him to.”

Stan leaned back against the carseat, looking out at the trees in front of the car before checking his watch.

“Eh, he might still be a little pissy, but I’m sure it’ll be fine if it’s you who talks to ‘em.”

“You think so?”

You perk up a little, some hope shining through the anxiousness, and Stan gives you a confident nod.

“Yeah. Kid , you’ve– and you didn’t hear this from me – You’ve been on his mind a lot . All out at sea, he was wantin’ to bring you back samples and pictures of monsters that were too big t’bring back home.”

A warmth spreads across your chest and face, and you’re not sure why you’re surprised to hear this little tidbit of information– it sounds very much like something Ford would do– but having Stan’s outside observation on Ford’s behavior when you’re not around makes you all sappy.

“ Oh .”

Your voice comes out quiet, and you’re struck with the urge to find Ford and just be near him.

Stan tapped the steering wheel idly as he quietly thought to himself, soon reaching into his pocket to pull out his wallet and start digging through it.

“Look, go talk to Ford. See if he likes the wetsuit and if he’s willin’ to go to the waterpark. An’ if he doesn’t , well… Have that conversation with ‘em about what his problem is.”

He plucks something out of his wallet and tosses it into your lap, which ended up being three individual plastic wrappers that land in different spots.

“And then have some fun while the kids an’ I are away. Use protection, on the house.”

“ What– ”

You pick up one of the stray packets and laugh in confused humor.

“What the fuck? ”

Stan’s eyes widen in amusement when he hears you swear at him, which you always tried to keep at a minimum out of respect, but it slipped out in the moment.

He laughs with you, and you wave the packet at him.

“Why– Why do you even have these with you!? Tryna pick up one night stands on vacation!?”

“ Hey! It’s the perfect time for that! Plus, keep ‘em around just in case, you just never know!”

Stan scoffed, looking rather proud of himself.

“Ford’s got the medical emergencies covered, I got the social emergencies.”

“ Right, “ social emergencies ”– What other “ social emergency ” items you got?”

You smirk, truly thinking you had put him in a corner, but Stan’s smile doesn’t leave him, and he tilts his head to the glovebox.

“I got somethin’ for the girls too, asshole , I’m inclusive. Why don’cha check the glove compartment?”

You raise a brow, and Stan once again tilts his head to point where he wants you to check.

Sure , fine, you’ll take the bait.

Reaching for the glovebox, you pop it open and are rather surprised to find… Stan was not bluffing.

Alongside his car information and paperwork, he had a small box of hygiene products with sparkly packaging.

You open your mouth to say something, then close it when nothing comes to mind.

There’s nothing you can really say, no clever comeback or snarky remark, because it is , admittedly, very thoughtful of him.

You try a few more times to say something, but you end up just silently closing the glovebox and collect your “ generous ” gifts from Stan to shove them in the shopping bag for safe keeping, and finally exit the car as Stan laughs at your lack of response.

“Yeah? Bet ya feel real dumb now, huh?”

“ Shut up , I didn’t say anything.”

You make your way back to the cabin with Stan shuffling behind you, and you actually feel much better about talking to Ford.

All you needed was a pep-talk and a laugh.

Heading down to the bottom floor, you first check your shared room to see if Ford had returned while you were away, and when you find it empty, you leave the shopping bag on your suitcase and move to the porch.

Unsurprisingly, the latch is unlocked, and you step out and gaze at the endless trees that dip lower on the horizon the farther you look.

No doubt Ford is somewhere amongst the vast span of the trees, the only challenge was to find him .

Just like yesterday, you climb yourself over the side of the patio railing to start your search.

Unlike yesterday, there’s no one to help you to the ground, which is just barely out of your reach no matter how much you try to lower yourself to make the distance shorter.

Normally, such a little drop wouldn’t have bothered you, you’ve jumped from much higher before during your studies, but the incline of the mountain makes you hesitant, especially since you’re all alone at the moment.

It would be a real shame to roll your ankle on the second day of vacation, or worse, roll down the mountain and end up as bear food.

Oh well , you think, I’m not finding him just hanging here from the patio…

Mentally preparing yourself, you kick yourself off from the railing and let go, not feeling any extreme pain when you land on the ground (oh good, your ankles are fine), but you gasp and feel your stomach sink when you slide down the incline a few inches before you dig your heels into the dirt and stop.

Your arms flail as you nearly faceplant from the sudden lack of motion, but you manage to catch your balance with your arms fully stretched out at your sides.

Taking a second to catch your breath and contemplate how good of an idea this is, you realize that you can’t climb back up the railing without help, and you don’t want Stan knowing you chickened out by climbing up the mountain and re-entering the cabin through the front door.

So, you press on, arms out to keep your balance and taking very slow steps as you shuffle down the mountain.

“Fooord! Ford? ”

You try calling out into the wilderness, hoping to draw Ford closer to you, rather than moving at a snail’s pace on a wild goose chase.

“Oh love of my liiife~ Where aaare yooou~?”

There was no way he went far, right? You hope…

You’ve barely made it ten feet away from the cabin, and you have no clue which direction your boyfriend had even gone.

“Oooh, this is such a bad idea…”

You mumble to yourself before raising your voice to call out to Ford again, hoping he’s within hearing range.

Glancing around embarrassingly desperately, you eventually see a face poke out from behind a tree, and despite the fact you are currently searching for someone, the sight of another person within your close vicinity startles you, and your foot slips.

“ Shit–! ”

Both your legs spread out in an awkward split, and just when you’re about to hit the ground and possibly dislocate a hip, you feel a familiar, strong grip grab onto your shoulders and carefully lift you up.

“ Easy… ”

A deep baritone soothes your panic as you’re lifted just high enough for you to safely regain your footing, and when you look up, of course, it’s Ford.

“Steady…”

“Thank you.”

You sheepishly verbalized your gratitude, briefly checking his expression.

While his brows are pinched together, he doesn’t seem angry, more… Embarrassed , if anything.

“Are you hurt?”

He asks without hesitation, still holding onto you, and he quickly follows with,

“Can you stand?”

You use his leverage to your advantage, shifting your feet comfortably on the ground, though you feel something on your leg that makes you look down.

It’s a fallen twig, your leg stuck between the brittle branches, but when you kick your leg out to shake it off, it easily falls off with a mild sting against your ankle.

“I’m fine. I can stand.”

You answer him quickly so he doesn’t worry, feeling his grip on your shoulders slowly loosen as he lets you stand on your own, swiping his fingers across your forehead to push some unruly hairs from your face.

“Good…”

He steps back from you to give you some space, looking rather sheepish as he folds his hands behind his back and averts his gaze from you.

It’s hard to tell if he’s doing it for you or himself.

“I’m sure you’re… Upset…”

He eventually started speaking again, awkwardly.

“About how I’ve been acting…”

“ What? ”

You tilt your head, and a part of you wants to step forward and close the distance between you two, but you keep put in case he needs it.

“Ford, I don’t mind if you’re upset and act as such. You’re human, that's pretty normal. I was upset you wouldn’t talk to me.”

Ford averted his gaze to the grass, and judging by the way his arms move, he’s fidgeting with his hands behind his back.

You continue,

“I just want to know what’s going on in your head, okay? I just wanted to help, and if you needed space, I would have respected that.”

“I know…”

Ford sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“I know you would have, and at first, it’s what I wanted, but…”

“But?”

“But then you came looking for me, and I didn’t want you to go… Funny how that works. I wanted to be alone, but still in your general vicinity.”

You try to disguise an amused scoff into a sigh as a small smile stretches across your face.

Yeah , you know that feeling.

Wanting to be alone, but not alone- alone; to be left alone, but not be alone.

“I get it.”

Your head nods, and you let the silence linger as you try to think of your next talking point.

At least Ford is calmer than he was earlier, more willing to set his stubbornness aside and listen to your perspective.

However, before you can think of how to address the problem at hand, you see his head whip down to look at the ground, staring at it for a moment, and you see a familiar twinkle in his eye.

He’s found something .

Your eyes try to follow his, though your attention is brought back to his head as it twitches to the side, seeming to have locked on to whatever he spotted.

Glancing back down, you then see fallen leaves and blades of grass moving as though something small is running through them, and Ford takes off in chase.

It’s rather humorous, watching Ford dart across the tilted plain hunched close to the ground, his hands out in preparation to catch whatever he was chasing.

He was like an odd mix of two opposites: his expression that of an excited puppy, and his body language that of a vermin-hunting cat.

You stay put as you watch, not wanting to risk slipping again, though you jump a little when it looks like Ford himself nearly slides into a tumble, but effortlessly corrects himself and lunges at whatever he’s after.

“Gotcha!”

He shouted triumphantly, standing back up to his full height and turning back to you with a smile, adjusting his cupped hands as whatever he caught is no doubt squirming to get free.

You quietly clap your hands in congratulations as he runs back to you, clearly being mindful of the creature he’s holding, and he carefully tries to loosen his hold enough for you to see, but not let the critter escape.

“What is it?”

You lean your head closer to peer into his palms, and through the small opening between his thumbs pops out a tiny head with black, tan, and cream stripes, the shape looking both lacertilian and serpentine.

Lizard or snake, you can’t see the body to tell.

“It’s a western skink.”

Ford beams brightly with excitement, and you internally laugh at yourself.

Neither lizard or snake. A skink .

And a very irate one at that.

You watch as the freed head of the skink thrashes about in Ford’s hands, then bites down on his finger in demand to be free, to which Ford doesn’t even react.

“They’re not common in these parts, but they’re not uncommon either. You just have to know where to look for these little ones.”

Ford rattles off, unbothered by the little reptile trying it’s hardest to utterly assault his hands with tiny bites in rapid succession.

A snort of laughter leaves you at the humorous sight of Ford’s utter excitement juxtaposed to the skink’s wrath.

“You should see her tail.”

Ford continues, trying to carefully handle the tiny creature to show more of it off without it escaping him just yet, somehow managing to gently hold the skink’s body between his fingers.

“It’s a vibrant blue, to make predators think she’s toxic to eat.”

Just as he said, the long tail of the skink is a brilliant blue, almost to the point of looking fake.

Though, your attention is soon focused on something else as your eyes trail up.

“ Oh–! ”

“ Yes , it’s quite a sight, wouldn’t you say?”

Ford gives you a warm smile, but you shake your head and point to a specific spot.

“No, not the tail, look at the back legs .”

“Hm?”

Ford moved his hands so he could take a closer look, and his eyes widened when he saw it.

On the back legs of the skink were two sets of feet on each leg.

A mutation.

An anomaly .

“She’s like you!”

You smile when you see the realization across your boyfriend’s face.

“She’s got extra toes.”

“ Incredible… ”

Ford almost sounds breathless as he carefully inspects the extra appendages on the skink’s back legs, using his own extra digits to gently prod and observe how she instinctively moves them.

“I’m sure they give her extra balance, but do they slow down her speed…?”

You chuckle as Ford thoroughly admires his very irritated specimen, and it’s only when the skink lets out a very wheezy-sounding hiss does he kneel down to let her go.

“Okay, okay , I hear you. You’re over it. I wore out your limited patience. Safe travels, little friend.”

Gently, Ford released his hold on the skink and lowered his hands to be parallel to the slanted ground, the critter slinking off immediately underneath the shelter of fallen leaves, and you watch her moving trail until it’s too far to see.

A wistful sigh leaves Ford, and he leans back to sit on the grass as he watches his creature of extra limp comradery go, and you carefully lower yourself down to sit next to him.

He seemed to be in a better mood after observing the skink, and you let him bask in his good mood before you had to bring up the conversation he had been ignoring.

You hold your hand out to him for him to hold onto, and it takes him a moment for him to see it and hesitantly take it into his with an uncertain look.

A part of you thinks he might be worried if you’re still upset with him, but once his hand wraps around yours, he holds it tight as though afraid you’ll run off similarly to the skink.

“ Ford… I know you’re probably tired of me asking, but can you please tell me what’s making you upset about the waterpark?”

You’re trying to be as cordial as you can, keeping your voice soft, but when Ford huffs and tries to stand up, you yank him back down by the hand.

“Do not .”

Your voice turns stern on a dime, and Ford looks utterly shocked, and perhaps a little mortified by your assertion; eyes owlishly wide and mouth partly agape.

Whatever he’s feeling, he remains sat.

“ Look , I might have made an… Educated guess on what the issue might be, but I don’t know the specifics.”

You’re trying so hard to not throw Stan under the bus and risk the two getting into a bigger fight.

“But based on my observations, you like to keep covered with your wardrobe, and swimsuits are not exactly… Made for cover. Quite the opposite.”

You briefly glance at him to gauge how he’s feeling, and yeah , he’s scowling, but he doesn’t look mad.

It’s more… Contemplative, and maybe shameful.

“Uh, well, with these observations in mind…”

You press on, and you know you’re speaking painfully similar to him, but you figured a more clinical and scientific approach was the way to go.

“If I, perchance… Found something that was both swim appropriate and covered you as you preferred… Would that… Help? ”

The little clinical act you’re trying to pull off falters as you watch as Ford becomes increasingly uncomfortable, averting his gaze and using his free hand to rub at his neck.

“ Look… ”

You drop the act altogether, speaking as you normally would.

“You don’t have to tell me why you cover up if you’re not comfortable sharing. I understand. But can you tell me what you’re worried about? What’s the worst case scenario for you?”

Ford’s lips press into a fine line as he’s clearly thinking over it, measuring out his fears between his overactive thoughts that occasionally reach unrealistic ideas, and the reality of what would actually happen, but still be terrifying if realized.

“… I would attract negative attention…”

He answers quietly, squeezing your hand tighter.

“Or people would stare… My idea of fun doesn’t exactly include being watched or judged every moment of the day by strangers.”

“Is that anyone’s idea of fun?”

You try to add some humor to lighten the mood, a small relief to the tense situation as thanks for being honest with you.

You’re about to reassure him, thank him, maybe even reveal what you got for him, but Ford’s eyes look over you for a moment, then dart back to one particular spot, brows furrowing.

“You’re hurt.”

“What?”

You try to follow where he’s looking, unsure what he’s talking about.

“I’m not?”

“You are .”

Ford reached out and gently touched your ankle, and when you look, there’s a scratch.

It isn’t a concerning size, though it had clearly bled and already stopped, but you don’t remember getting it.

It must have been the twig that was caught on your leg– it’s the only thing you can think of.

Your adrenaline from nearly falling must’ve been so high you didn’t notice.

“ Huh… ”

You turn your foot to get a better look, tilting your head down to better your view.

“Didn’t even feel it.”

“Does it hurt?”

Ford let go of your hand to move closer and carefully inspect the nick, and you shake your head.

“No. But I guess it’s a little itchy.”

“We should get it cleaned and covered. I would hate for it to get infected while we’re this far from the lab.”

Ford picked himself up from the ground and wasted no time in helping you up as well, taking you by the arms to lift you to your feet, and helping you climb back up the mountain to the cabin.

“It’s a tiny little scratch, I think it’s fine.”

You try to protest, fully knowing it wouldn’t work.

Once Ford had his mind set to something, it was nearly impossible to shake him away from it, and when it came to your wellbeing, it was fully impossible.

“Nope, doctor’s orders.”

Ford dragged you along back to the cabin with such serious conviction that the slight humor in his tone is a warm welcome, and he bent down to lift you up and help you climb back over the patio railing before climbing up himself.

You scoff at his joke, teasing back,

“Oh yeah? Which doctor?”

“I believe, as you used to call him, ‘ Dr. Pines ’.”

“Oh yeah, the guy with twelve doctorates. Were any of them medical, perchance?”

“I fail to see how that’s relevant.”

You roll your eyes with a smirk, knowing all too well Ford is enjoying the banter as much as you are.

Well… Perhaps a little more.

“Since you’re injured , I very well can’t let you walk.”

“Wait, Ford—! ”

You yelp as Ford lifted you up into his arms with a cheeky grin, trying to balance you onto one to open the patio door, and you throw your arms around his neck to keep yourself balanced.

Oooh, he’s doing this on purpose, you know it. He wants you flustered.

It’s either to distract you from the previous conversation, or it’s an apology for his earlier behavior, and it’s hard to tell which it’s supposed to be.

Maybe both.

Either way, he takes you back inside the cabin and to your shared room, sitting you on the bed with your feet dangling off the edge, and he goes to wash his hands in the bathroom before even touching your minuscule “ injury ”.

“I could’ve just cleaned it with water, y’know.”

You call out from the bed as you watch Ford scrub his hands quickly before drying them off.

“Yes, but you’ve been trying to help me all day.”

He grabbed his first aid kit and knelt down by your feet, popping it open and taking out a smaller box from within.

The first aid kit was a perfect blend of professional, medical-grade supplies, and items that most folks outside Gravity Falls would consider to be snake oil holistic medicine: potions and magical ingredients carefully curated by Ford that he knew would be useful in a real emergency.

For your current situation, he was only using the normal stuff, pulling out a disinfectant wipe packet from the box and ripping it open.

“So let me take care of this. Slight sting.”

“That’s hardly fair.”

You roll your eyes and resist pulling your leg back when the alcohol pad stings a little more than you were expecting.

“You took care of me all day yesterday when I was half asleep.”

“That’s different. You weren’t hurt, you were sleep deprived.”

“That’s not at all different.”

Ford lets out a quiet “ tsk ” as he finishes wiping your ankle down, not dignifying your response with a reply, and he pulls out two different bandaids.

“You want the plain, or the glitter one?”

“ Hm… Decisions, decisions… ”

You pretend to muse over the decision thoroughly, even faking a distraught expression.

“If I pick plain, Mabel will surely say something about my lack of style. But if I pick glittery, then what if we run out for her to use? You think I want to deprive Mabel of a sparkly bandaid?”

The theatrics you’re playing up makes Ford roll his eyes with a smirk, and he sticks the glittery one on you without waiting for your response.

“There. You’re all better.”

“ Aw , no kiss for my boo-boo.”

A smirk crosses your features as you tease, using plenty of sarcasm to let your sweet scientist know that it isn’t an expectation.

You really doubted he would, given the placement of your injury, and especially when you see Ford’s expression turn bashful as his ears start turning pink.

How cute .

However, your smugness leaves you when he gently takes your ankle and lifts it up, his voice coming out hushed,

“I think… I can manage that.”

As though he was the prince from Cinderella reuniting her with the glass slipper, Ford presses his lips over your covered scratch, and instead of transforming into a beautiful princess with a pumpkin carriage, you instead turn red in the face as you get hit by the flustered carriage.

“ Oh… ”

Is all you can muster out, and Ford sets your foot down before rising up to be face-to-face with you.

“And how terrible of a doctor to not have a lollipop after you were the perfect patient.”

He says with a steady voice, but taking one look at his face, he is nowhere near as confident as he sounds.

Ford is just as flustered as you, perhaps a little more after realizing what he had just said.

It nearly makes you chuckle, seeing him like this, but your eyes are soon fluttering closed as he leans forward to press his lips against yours.

The initial kiss was quick, shy, more of a question of if you wanted to continue it, and you happily answer by tilting your head and leaning back in for more.

The bed dips next to you as Ford rests a hand by your hips to keep his balance, ghosting the other over your knee, and he presses more into you as though ushering you to lie back.

Before your brain catches up to comply with his silent request, you raise a hand up to push his glasses safely atop his head, but you pause midway as the spell is broken when Stan calls out from a distance,

“Hey, nerds! Come upstairs!”

He’s clearly at the top of the staircase, his voice just loud enough to travel through the entertainment area and to the hidden room you both occupy, and Ford huffs before whispering,

“Maybe if we just pretend we’re not here–”

“I know you both are back! I saw ya from the upstairs patio!”

Stan called out again as if knowing exactly what his twin was thinking, and Ford’s head dropped into your shoulder as he groaned in irritation.

“Can you see what he wants?”

“ Wooow , I thought you couldn’t let me walk .”

You tease with thick sarcasm, watching as Ford leaned off from you to crawl into his side of the bed and flop onto his side.

“I’m only ‘ better ’ when it’s convenient for you, huh?”

“You barely even felt it, I doubt you would have even noticed if I didn’t point it out.”

Wow, what a brat.

“Wow, okay , sending me to your brother because you’re upset with him?”

You scoff, standing up from the bed to back out of the room as ominously as you can while childishly keeping your hand behind you to make sure you didn’t bump into a wall.

“I’ll remember that. Next time I get into a fight with my mother, I’m putting you on the phone when she calls.”

Ford just scoffs at the absurd threat you both know you’re not going to follow through on, and you turn to properly exit the room and go up the stairs to the second floor.

“Yeees?”

You call out once you’re at the top, seeing Stan and the twins sitting at the bar table in the kitchen in wait, Mabel looking ready to take off like a rocket in excitement.

Before anyone spoke, Stan looked past you to perhaps see if Ford was following behind you, and when his twin is nowhere to be seen, he asks,

“Where’s grumpy?”

“In our room.”

You answer as you step closer.

“Why?”

Mabel hopped off her chair and held her phone out to you, the screen showing pictures of some buffet-style restaurant that mainly served desserts.

“Since Grunkle Ford was upset earlier, we thought we’d take him here for dinner to cheer him up! You know he’s got the Pines’ Family sweet tooth.”

That, you do.

However, you wonder how you’re going to convince him to drop his little grudge against his twin and drag him up the stairs to go.

“Oooh, looks good. I’ll go get him, I’m sure he’ll love it.”

“Tell ‘em t’hurry.”

Stan barks out before you turn to go back down the stairs, moving towards the front door.

“We got the last reservation of the night– just for him – and we gotta leave, like… Now , if we don’t wanna lose it.”

“Yep, gotcha, can do.”

You backtrack down the steps after making the unbound promise, having to hold yourself back from saying “I’ll try to get him” because you are going to drag him up these steps, even if the man is stronger than you and could easily thwart your plans.

He hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and you’re very certain the empty belly is making his irritation towards his brother worse.

Reentering the room, you find Ford laying propped up on his back with his book open in his hands, and he doesn’t look up when he addresses you,

“What did he want?”

“I think you should come see for yourself.”

You beckon him to join you, wanting the kids to unleash the surprise on him, but stubborn Ford doesn’t budge.

“If he’s trying to apologize, he can come to me.”

“It’s something the kids want you to see.”

That seemed to soften his mood, as Ford let out a soft sigh of defeat.

Ah , his soft spot for the kids, it always works .

“Fine, tell them I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

“Why not now?”

You question a little too defensively, and Ford finally looks at you to quirk a brow at your tone.

Damn, he’s going to start getting suspicious if you don’t cool it. Play it off.

“Actually, no, it’s fine, take your time.”

You lie, already concocting a devious little plan to get him up the stairs.

Seeming none the wiser, Ford turns back to his book and flips the page, hardly noticing your approach until he feels you ducking under his arm to nestle onto his chest.

“Oh– hello .”

“Hi.”

You greet back innocently, looking up at the book.

“Whatcha reading?”

“A textbook on advanced theoretical quantum physics.”

He answered without a hint of suspicion to your ploy.

“Fascinating topic, though the ‘ theoretical ’ part rubs me the wrong way.”

“Mh, gotcha. Can I see?”

You hold your hands out for Ford to place the book in them, and though there’s a moment of confused hesitancy, he complies.

“Thanks. Ooo, diagrams.”

You casually sit up from your boyfriend’s chest and feign focus on the book as you slowly move away from him, and it’s only once you start standing from the bed does Ford prop himself up on his elbows to eye you curiously.

“Uh, where are you going?”

“Huh?”

Feigning confusion (because you are clearly doing nothing wrong), you keep moving towards the door as Ford sits up.

“Can I have that back, please?”

“Oh, this?”

You wave the book at him, and you would feel bad about closing it without a bookmark, if you didn’t know Ford had already burned into his memory what page he left off on.

“Mm, no . Mine now.”

Turning on your heel, you leave the room, knowing Ford was going to follow you to get his book back.

What you weren’t expecting was the sheer speed he was going to display in his attempt to get it back, as you’re barely halfway to the staircase before he’s marching out of the room and nearly catches you there.

With a yelp, you break into a sprint and go up the stairs two at a time with the help of the handrail, Ford swiftly copying your pace and moving up the stairs with ease.

If you didn’t have the knowledge to know he wasn’t going to hurt you, the rate that he was catching up with you would have been terrifying .

You would not want to be seriously chased by him.

Though, somehow , you just barely make it to the top of the steps and a few paces further until you feel a tug on your sleeve.

He had caught you.

“Got you, weasel .”

Thankfully, Ford sounded like he was taking the chase with some humor, a chuckle escaping him as he nabbed the thick book from your hands.

“You’ll need a larger head start than that to–”

“Grunkle Ford!”

Mabel ran up to the both of you, waving her phone at her great uncle much like she did with you earlier.

However, with the time limit of having a reservation to show up to, she grabbed onto his sweater sleeve and began pulling him to the door.

Aaah yes .

The man strong enough to take on anomalies could be so easily dragged around by the gentlest pull from his great niece.

“We know you were upset earlier, but we found this dessert buffet to cheer you up! I know that probably doesn’t fix the problem, but who can stay mad when surrounded by sweet treats?”

“Wh—…”

Ford followed along as he was led to the front door, looking back at you with scepticism.

“Is this why you made me chase you?”

“Yep.”

You nod, trying to hurry him along by wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling him to the door quicker.

“And we have a reservation to make, so we gotta leave now .”

Ford silently complied as you and Mabel dragged him out to the car, Dipper and Stan already waiting inside, and Ford rolled his eyes as he sat shotgun, which Stan copied.

Grumpy old brothers…

Once everyone was buckled into the car, Stan floored it down the mountain and onto the main road, making your stomach flip as though you were on a roller coaster.

Impressively, you’re all able to make the reservation just in time, but it’s not nearly as impressive as the impossibly tall stack of sweets Ford had managed to balance on his first of many plates.

…

“Hypothetically, I bought you a swimsuit that covers your entire body.”

You look over at Ford from where you’re perched on the bed, watching him rummage around his suitcase for his sweatpants to sleep in.

After the buffet, Ford’s mood had lifted completely, and he had even held conversation and laughed with Stan by the end of the meal as though their spat never happened in the first place.

All was forgiven, it seemed, but you still had to figure out if the wetsuit was going to be helpful.

So when everyone had retired to their respective rooms for the night, you decided to bring up the swimsuit topic for (hopefully) the last time.

Ford’s head perked up and he turned to look at you, raising a brow.

He knows this isn’t a hypothetical.

“You… Bought me a swimsuit?”

“Maybe.”

“When did you even do that?”

“After you stormed out. Stan took me to the store to find you something.”

You slid yourself to the floor next to him, grabbing the shopping bag from earlier and pulling out the wetsuit, holding it out to him.

“Ta-daaah. Stan helped me find your size, but this was all my doing, so if you don’t like it, it’s on me.”

Ford eyes up the red and black wetsuit before he carefully reaches out to take it from you, rubbing his thumbs against the smooth fabric.

Adjusting his glasses, he inspected it further, looking over each stitch and testing the elasticity, and then he looked up to you.

“You bought this for me?”

“In case you wanted to go to the waterpark.”

You rubbed your arm nervously, feeling a little bashful about being so presumptuous that he even wanted to go in the first place.

“Look, you don’t have to go if you don’t want, and if you really want me to go without you, I’ll do that. But… I really just want to spend time with you, Ford. If you don’t want to go, we could stay here and watch movies, or explore the mountain, or even just read in the same room together…”

You started going off in a ramble, wanting Ford to know how important his wants were to you in case you misjudged them, and you abruptly stop when he stood up from the ground.

“Well, I’ll, uh… I’ll go try it on. See if it’s a good fit.”

He steps past you to walk to the bathroom, but pauses at the doorway to look back at you.

“And, for the record… Your ‘ educated guesses ’ based on your ‘ observations ’ are getting scarily accurate. Stop that.”

He quickly retreated into the bathroom and slammed the door shut, and you snort out a laugh.

So dramatic… He wants to be so mysterious so badly.

Well, too bad for him, you care too much.

One day, you’ll unpack all his dirty little secrets.

… When he was ready, of course.

Waiting for him to get changed and maybe give you a front row seat to a little fashion show, you crawl back onto the bed and sit at the edge facing the bathroom door, listening to the quiet shuffling from within.

Not having to wait for long, the door reopens, and out steps Ford in the wetsuit.

You’ve already prepared your praise, you were going to tell him he looked good no matter what, especially since you were still partially wearing the rose-tinted glasses that would have to be violently ripped from your face.

But when you look Ford up and down, all words fail you.

The wetsuit does not leave much to the imagination.

The sweaters Ford usually wears have given you a hint of what’s underneath, but the softness of them hide the details.

The wetsuit does the opposite.

The material hugs his body nicely, displaying the muscles you knew were there, but can now see the full definition of.

“Uh…”

You’re snapped out of your thoughts when Ford makes a sound, and you realize you had been gawking for too long.

“Does it look that bad…?”

He asked, looking a little self conscious, and you aggressively shook your head.

“What? No! No, you look great!”

You squeak out, brain scrambling to say anything .

Good lord, focus .

This was about helping him, not being a little deviant.

As you expected, the wetsuit covers all of him; his arms to the wrists, his legs to his ankles– even the lower part of his neck where the turtleneck would usually be.

Your eyes dart down to his clavicle, and you tear them away as heat builds up in your face.

Stop gawking! This isn’t about you!

“Does it feel okay? Can you swim in that?”

“I can swim in anything.”

Ford answered automatically, eyeing you suspiciously.

“But, yes. It’s quite comfortable.”

“Great! I’m glad.”

God, your brain is fried .

“So, uh, so… You uh, good to going to the waterpark, or…”

Yep, deep fried…

Ford squints his eyes at you, clearly suspecting something, and then they widen in realization.

Crap , he must’ve caught on. You must be blushing.

“Hm, I’m not sure.”

He speaks flippantly, adjusting his glasses, and you can see the tips of his ears starting to burn.

“Are you going to behave yourself?”

Damn . He got you.

You open your mouth to speak, then press it in a firm line as you let out a grumble, then finally say,

“Not any more than anyone else in this family. I’ll be age-appropriate.”

Ford’s head tilts back as he lets out a hearty laugh, and you bite your inner cheek to keep yourself from staring at his neck.

“I expect nothing less.”

He says with a smile, retreating back into the bathroom to change “ before you change the rating ”, in his words.

Despite that, when the pair of you snuggle under the blankets for the night to sleep, he very deliberately presses the side of your head to his chest.

Oh, he’s so lucky you’re too cozy to do anything about it…

Chapter Text

“You are so lucky I shoplifted this, I told you you wouldn’t like it!”

Stan scolded his pouting twin upon watching him take a single, excited spoonful of cereal, and immediately wilted at the taste.

Aaah , it would not be a morning with the Pines if someone wasn’t in an argument.

Before you all had your day out at the waterpark, breakfast was a must to have enough energy to “ climb the stairs to ALL the slides ”, as the younger twins proclaimed.

And, as predicted by Stan, when Ford tried the cereal he was so insistent on getting, there was no nostalgic joy presented in the flavor.

A fond little giggle of pity quietly slipped out between your amused smile, having some empathy for your boyfriend’s disappointment.

You cut off a piece of your microwaved waffle and offer it out to him on your fork, to which Stan now points his loud words to you instead.

“Don’t feed him like a baby! He wanted the cereal, let him finish it like a man!”

Before you could even try to retort back, Ford had quickly leaned over and snatched the piece of waffle off your fork with his teeth like a rabid dog, then stared in defiance at his brother while chewing on it, a silent challenge.

God these two acted more like children than the actual kids in the room.

Perfect way to start your day.

Listening to the back and forth between the two pairs of siblings, you quietly picked off bites of your waffle with a little help from Ford (the thief), until your plate was empty and it was time to start getting ready.

Like a gentleman, Ford allowed you to use your shared room to change while he did so in the other downstairs bedroom, and even though you knew it would take him some time to put the wetsuit on comfortably, you still hurried to put on your own swimwear and a change of regular clothes on top of it.

You couldn’t wait to go, you didn’t even know Stan had this planned until yesterday, but that was neither here nor there.

When you were told to bring something to swim in, you took the initiative to also pack some sunblock and your favorite beach towel– the necessities.

A quiet knock interrupted your shuffling through your suitcase to find all your needed items for the day, and it’s only after you grant verbal permission that the door opens with Ford stepping into the room, changed into his wetsuit and no doubt coming in to grab his overclothes.

Don’t stare , you tell yourself, despite doing the exact opposite, as though you’re physically unable to look away. You’re supposed to behave.

… But might as well get all your staring done now BEFORE the waterpark.

Yes, brain, you are correct, excellent plan .

Shamelessly, you watch your boyfriend as he steps past you to get to his own suitcase, and squat down to his haunches, and one of your canines sink into your inner lip.

Do NOT smack him , your brain warns you as your dominant hand twitches with restraint.

The man fights when startled, he will knock your ass out before realizing it’s you.

As you silently hold yourself back from your devious thoughts, you let out a startled gasp as something soft hits and covers your face, darkening your vision.

Ford had clearly noticed and threw something at you.

“ Hey! ”

You whine childishly, making no attempt to pull off whatever was on your head.

“Rude.”

“ No , it’s rude to stare . Didn’t anyone ever teach you that?”

Ford jabbed back, and you can hear him shuffling with cloth as he changed into his outerwear, hearing the distinct sound of a zipper before the mystery fabric was pulled from your face.

It was one of his sweaters, which he quickly pulled over his head.

Dramatically, you cross your arms and pout with a huff.

“What? I can’t stare at my boyfriend who I love so much anymore? I’m being denied to look? To perceive? Do you hate me? ”

Ford rolled his eyes and didn’t dignify that with a response, knowing you’re just trying to get a rise from him.

“Come along, don’t want to keep the kids waiting.”

“Yooou haaate meee!”

“I’m currently wearing something you bought for me , what does that tell you?”

“Haaate meee!”

You repeat yourself over and over until the bait works, and it works a little too well, because Ford’s eyes narrow in that particular way that makes your stomach drop.

No, not again.

“No, please , no, I’m sorry, I take it back.”

“Too late.”

Ford says that all too familiar phrase, and you know it’s over when he steps closer to you.

He’s gonna tickle you.

And for some reason, despite knowing full well you can’t outrun this man, you spring to your feet and try to book it out of the room.

Unsurprisingly, you don’t make it past a few steps before you feel your elbow being caught.

Yep, here it comes…

Ford carefully takes hold of your arms in a deceivingly firm grasp as your back is pressed to his chest, and you’re preparing for his hands to move down to your sides.

However, his arms then move to wrap around you, and he pressed a kiss to your temple.

… Wait, what?

“Allow me to show how much I supposedly hate you.”

You can feel Ford grinning against your temple as he spoke quietly, then trailed down to kiss your cheekbone, cheek, jaw…

His hold on you tightened when he nuzzled in the crook of your shoulder, his stubble scratching against your neck ticklishly, and you squeal while trying to lean away.

Oooh, that sneaky bastard, he knew exactly what he was doing.

Sensing you were trying to squirm away, Ford’s hold on you only grew tighter as he nuzzled his chin against you further like an affectionate cat.

It ticked, but in a different way– sweeter.

And you could actually still breathe relatively normally between laughing.

“Ford, nooo!”

You try lifting your shoulder to your ear with a shrill laugh, trying to block him from his tickle assault, but Ford is ruthless and keeps it up with a chuckle.

“Oh what’s the matter? Am I not allowed to be close to you anymore, my dear?”

He teased as he kept you captive, nothing but mirth and affection in his voice as he held you close and threw your own sarcastic words back at you.

All things considered, this was nice, and you wished it went on a little longer.

Too bad it got interrupted.

From above, three loud stomps rattled the ceiling above you, which caused you both to pause and stare up.

Soon after, Stan’s muffled voice shouted from somewhere in the cabin,

“ I can hear you two doin’ SOMETHIN’! Quit flirting and hurry up! ”

Ford let out a quiet “ tsk ” as he begrudgingly let you go so you could grab your things, and you’re just left standing there trying to think what part of the cabin is directly above the room.

You hope to whatever higher being there is that it isn’t Stan’s room.

With a sigh, you grab your towel and sunblock, then reach your hand out to Ford.

“Ready?”

You ask in earnest, and he gives you a small smile as he takes your hand into his.

“Ready.”

…

Between the traffic and the confusingly unfamiliar roads, it takes nearly an hour for you and the Pines family to arrive at the waterpark, and you can already tell from the view in the parking lot that it was decently sized with a fair number of tall slides.

Climbing all those was going to be a nightmare…

Having your few items stuffed into the unicorn-pattered beach bag Mabel had brought along, you follow along the Pines inside the park as Stan takes the lead to find the “ perfect spot ”.

It had to be somewhere equal distance between the bathroom and the snack bar, while still providing the perfect balance of sun and shade for him while he laid out and kept watch of everyone’s stuff whilst the rest of you were in the water.

Thankfully, it doesn’t take long to find The Perfect Lawn Chair that’s situated under the shade of a poor, underwatered decorative tree that’s surrounded by germy, chlorinated water, and Stan wasted no time to plop himself down and get comfortable in it.

He then fished around the numerous towels in the beach bag to pull out a pair of sunglasses, the rest of you shedding your overclothes in preparation to hit the water.

“Aight, sunscreen up and go have fun.”

Stan dropped the giant beach bag down by the lawn chair and nestled further into it, leaving you to take the initiative to pull out the two sunblock options available, handing the aerosol can to Dipper as you stuffed your clothes into the bag.

“You two got it handled?”

You ask with a hint of offering to help, but the boy gives you a thumbs up and a confident smirk as though ready to brag about something.

“I’m pretty sure we got it. California, y’know?”

“Ah, yes. Silly me.”

You laugh at Dipper’s remark and decide to let the twins do as they wished until they personally requested assistance.

They were going to be adults in only a few more years, they should get some practice in being independent.

For now, you take your personal bottle of sunblock and apply it to yourself until only your face is left, and you so very innocently look to Ford.

“Help me get my face and I’ll do yours?”

“Oh, sure.”

Ford took the bottle from you as you handed it to him, and you closed your eyes to avoid getting anything in them as he squeezed some of the cream into his hand.

It’s only a few awkward seconds of standing there until you feel the cool gel being smeared across your forehead, Ford’s touch gentle as he takes care to cover every visible inch of your skin.

His fingers trace across your hairline, then gently down your nose repeatedly as though petting a small animal, and he devilishly squished your face to make your lips pucker out once he reached your cheeks.

You made a small noise of irritation, but Ford only chuckled in response, and he handed the sunblock bottle back to you.

“All finished.”

“Good, your turn.”

You smile brightly, though Ford doesn’t copy your enthusiasm.

He seemed a little hesitant, and a part of you knows it’s because he feels he doesn’t need it with how much time he normally spends outside.

“ Ford… ”

You warn playfully, and you hear him sigh while leaning his face closer to you.

“ Fine .”

You chuckle quietly, squeezing sunblock into your hand and carefully applying it to your stubborn boyfriend’s face– the only place you really have to apply it.

With most of his body covered by the wetsuit, he just needed his face and some of his neck protected.

You make quick work of rubbing the protective cream in as thoroughly as you can, starting from his neck and working your way up, and you pause at his nose when you realize something.

“Little risky to have these on, hm?”

You gently bump his glasses to show how easily they could be knocked from his face.

“Did you bring a spare?”

“ Oh , you just reminded me.”

There’s some excitement in Ford’s tone when he responded, and he reached into the beach bag and felt around before pulling out a hard shell glasses case.

“I brought a special pair with me, in case we did anything with roller coasters and the like. Anything with extreme movement.”

Ford opened the case and pulled out a second set of glasses from within, removing his current ones to swap them out, and you try to see what makes the other pair so special.

They look almost exactly like his normal ones, other than the lack of cracks on the lenses and the ends of the protective temple tips being slightly bigger and rounder.

You raise a brow, watching as Ford put his usual pair in the case for safe keeping and shoved it back into the beach bag.

“Those glasses… Won’t fall off as easily?”

“Nope. They’re magnetized.”

Ford squinted his eyes as he lifted the specs to his face and…

You gasp embarrassingly loud when they just snap in place as though pulled by an invisible force, and Ford shook his head a few times to test their sturdiness.

When he stopped, the specs had managed to not fling away from his face.

“See? Lost proof!”

“That can not be good for your skull…”

“Oh, don’t worry! They’re magnetized to the metal plate in my head.”

Ford knocked against his skull to make the metal clang against his knuckles, and you shake your head with a sheepish smile.

“Again… Probably not good for your skull.”

A nervous laugh mindlessly comes out of your mouth as you think of what you just witnessed, and you’re soon pulled away from your thoughts as Mabel calls out to you and Ford.

“What should we do first?”

She asked as she looked over all the attractions and slides from where you were all standing, then pointed to a slide with multiple turns and bends.

“Maybe that one?”

“No, no, we should work our way up.”

Dipper hopped into the conversation.

“Start from the smallest slide and finish on the tallest.”

Mabel’s eyes squinted in faux scrutiny, looking ready to argue for the sake of sibling arguing, then smiled.

“Good idea, bro-bro. Guess we just walk around and eyeball it?”

“ Actually ,”

You interrupted the twins’ discussion, pointing to something not too far away.

The lazy river.

“Why don’t we take a lap around the lazy river first? I’m sure it goes around most of the park, so we can see all the slides and make a game plan, and it’ll get us acclimatized to the water temperature.”

The twins gave each other a look as though thinking over your suggestion, and Ford nodded to himself, silently agreeing with you but still awaiting for the kids’ answer.

Luckily, it seemed they were in agreement.

“Yeah, fair enough.”

Dipper nodded along with Mabel.

“Mh-hm, sounds good.”

“Great.”

You wave off to Stan as you walk with Ford and the twins to a set of steps that give easy access to the lazy river, Dipper and Mabel rushing ahead to get into the water as soon as possible.

As you expected– judging by the twins’ reactions – the water was too cold to jump straight in; Mabel letting out a squeal as she stepped in far enough for the water to reach her knees, while Dipper was taking a snail’s pace to go down each step.

Though, of course , ever the show off, Ford stepped in without any pause and sunk himself down until the water went over his shoulders.

“Insane…”

You muttered fondly under your breath.

“Freaking maniac …”

Carefully, you take your first step into the water, and yep , it’s cold, but pleasantly so against your feet.

It’s only when you take the next step does the chill feel more overwhelming, the water nearly up to your knees, and you stop to take a moment and adjust.

“You know, it’ll only get better once you jump in.”

Ford called out in that all-knowing tone of his, and the smirk does not help him look any less like a smartass right now.

You squinted at him to let him know how you feel about that comment, and he stood up in the water to hold out a hand to you, the water waist-deep to him.

“Come on, it feels great! Just hop in.”

He’s got that excited, innocent smile on his face, the one that makes him look like a sweet puppy.

It made you extend your hand out to grab his, expecting him to gently pull you along into the water at your own pace, but the second your hand wrapped around his, his grip locked onto you as his sweet smile turned into a smirk.

You fell for his trap, you fool .

Lured in by adorable excitement.

“Ford—”

You try pulling back once you realize what he was doing.

“ Ford–! ”

Too late.

Ford yanked on your hand to drag you closer to himself, wrapping his arms around you and sinking you both into the water at shoulder-depth as you wriggle against him.

The initial shock of cold really was the worst part, but once it had passed, the water really did feel nice.

… Didn’t mean you immediately forgave your boyfriend’s treachery.

“ You–… ”

You started to scold playfully, about to call him something that both the twins and the other , much younger children around you shouldn’t be hearing, and you switch gears.

“... Are so gonna get it…”

“We’ll see about that.”

Ford chuckled as he slowly released you from his grasp, dunking himself down into the water just to soak the rest of his body and resurfacing barely half a second later, shaking the excess water off his hair like an animal and splashing you.

Oooh, this little shit was going to get it…

During your little distracted spat, the twins had gotten themselves fully into the water, and your little group of four started to slowly make their way around the park on the water’s artificial current.

It was rather relaxing, though you were still plotting your revenge for being pulled into the water as Dipper and Mabel looked at all the slides that passed by, arguing which ones were taller and where on the list they were to go.

You just watched as Ford tried helping the twins with their slide ordering, taking notice how his legs folded underneath himself to keep his entire body submerged.

It gave you an idea.

A devious, evil , little idea.

Something you know you couldn’t do on land, but you could now do while in water.

Subtly, innocently… You reach an arm around Ford to wrap around his waist, and though he starts at the touch, he quickly relaxes once he turns his head and realizes it’s just you.

He just gives you a soft smile, none the wiser to your plan, and turns back to further engage with the twins.

Perfect…

You let him bask in the comfort of your hold, waiting for his discussion with the twins to hit a brief pause, and when it does, you lean into his ear when the twins aren’t looking to whisper,

“You’re gonna geeet iiit~ ”

Ford just rolled his eyes, clearly thinking you’re not going to do anything, but then he looks at you curiously when you reach down to hook your free arm underneath his inner knees.

“Aaand—”

“What are you doing?”

“ Scoop. ”

Without warning, you lift Ford into your arms in a princess hold, causing him to make a startled gasp as he tried to fight against the new position of his body.

Unluckily for him, the buoyancy of his body made his usual strength null against yours; the first time you’d ever be able to pull something like this off.

Ford just stared up at you in utter bewilderment, tips of his ears burning red and the bridge of his nose was starting to turn a pretty shade of pink, spreading to his cheeks.

It’s not the full tomato-face you were hoping for, but it’s getting there, slowly but surely.

“ Hey .”

You smirk cheekily, thoroughly loving seeing your egotistical boyfriend at this angle.

“You look good like this.”

And there was the full face blush you were looking for, Ford looking around nervously to see if anyone was watching.

As you expected, not a soul was paying you two any attention.

The twins had preoccupied themselves with splashing each other with “ waterbending ”, and all the other park patrons were too focused on themselves or their kids to see what shenanigans anyone else was up to.

The only people who knew about this were you and the flustered man in your arms.

“ Put me down .”

Ford hissed through his teeth.

“ I’m too old for this .”

“Oh, I’m sorry? ”

You raised a brow, deciding to take it a step further and carefully rock him from side to side. Like an infant.

“Sounds like someone forgot to use their manners.”

You have to hold back a cackle when you can feel Ford take in a deep breath and huff it out in embarrassment, lowering his tone as he gestured for you to lean closer.

You followed the silent request, leaning your head closer to his, and he pressed a kiss to your cheek.

“ Please , could you put me down.”

“Hm…”

You smiled like a lovesick fool, then quickly leaned down to peck at his lips before smirking.

“ No. ”

“ Please let me down… ”

Ford’s voice lowered into something playfully dangerous , and you feel him wrap an arm around your back, and…

Your breath hitches when his fingers ghost over your side, just underneath your arm, and Ford gives you that signature look.

“Or else.”

You take in a deep breath as you try to calm down from the preemptive giggling that would surely ensure if his hand stayed there.

There was no choice but to admit defeat. For now .

You could always get him back later.

“ Well played. ”

You carefully released your boyfriend from your arms, pouting silently to yourself that you couldn’t hold him like that for just a little longer.

It was nice, being able to hold him like that when he’s easily able to do it to you.

Hell, he just did it yesterday because you had a little scratch on your leg.

It wasn’t fair.

Ford must have noticed your pouting, because the next thing you know, his arm is around your upper back to pull you closer to him, kissing your temple as his thumb caressed your shoulder.

“If we find a private pool sometime this summer…”

He leaned in close to murmur into your ear.

“You can do that all you like.”

“Oh?”

You turn your head to catch his expression.

“I figured… I thought you didn’t like it.”

“I didn’t say that.”

Ford shook his head, some of his blush not fully leaving his face, and still fully visible on his ears.

“Just… Not in public.”

“ Oh. ”

A warm feeling blooms in your chest when you hear the enjoyment was mutual.

Ford was not one for public displays of affection, anything more than hand holding or brief kisses had him nervously looking around to see if anyone was ogling, so hearing it was just the setting that bothered him was quite the boost to your mood.

You could be patient, if it meant you could hold him like that again.

The thought swirls in your head for a few moments, until the twins point to something in the distance and start standing up in the water.

“We should do that one first!”

Mabel looked back to your and Ford, pointing to a waterslide, and Dipper jumped in,

“There’s no line right now, we could just run up and get one slide down.”

Looking at the slide, it was on the shorter end, as the twins wanted the first few to be, and not a single person waiting to go down it.

You shrug, a silent “ sure, why not? ”, and stand up in the water while moving to the closest set of steps to climb out of the lazy river.

Being the excitable teens they were, the twins rushed off ahead to get a spot in the nonexistent line while you and Ford walked at a normal pace, and once you reached the steps, you took a glance up.

Despite it being one of the smaller slides in the park, it was still a decent height, and you could barely imagine what it was going to be like climbing up all the steps of the tallest slide.

“Come on.”

Ford took your hand to pull you up the steps with him, and you realized you had stopped in your tracks right before going up the first step.

“We wouldn’t want to keep the twins waiting, we are in charge of them while Stan’s playing hooky.”

“Right. Of course.”

Your voice comes out a little robotically, and you try to keep up with Ford’s pace up the steps to regroup with Dipper and Mabel, his pull on your hand giving you some lift and making the climb a little easier on your legs.

Just don’t look down , you tell yourself, focusing more on Ford’s grip on your hand.

Don’t look down, and you’ll be fine.

Unsurprisingly, the trek up the stairs was short, the top in your sights in less than a minute of climbing. 

The twins had waited for you and Ford to reach the top, standing on the landing and watching you both climb up before plunging themselves down the slide.

“Took you guys long enough.”

Dipper playfully jabbed at you both, his face soon turning to disgusted horror when Mabel added,

“You both get lost in each others’ eyes?”

She smirked at you both, completely ignoring her brother until he spoke again.

“Ew, no, gross, I’m out.”

Whipping himself around, Dipper wasted no time in sitting himself down on the slide and practically shooting himself down it to remove himself from the conversation, causing Mabel to laugh quietly at her brother’s disdain for romance talk, completely unaware of how her comment had affected you and Ford.

Ford had rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly while looking out at the view from the top of the slide, a shy smile on his face as he gently squeezed your hand tighter, and you’re just thankful for the distraction from remembering how high off the ground you are.

The extremely bored-looking slide attendant then signaled to Mabel that she’s free to go down the slide, and she quickly set herself down before turning back to you and Ford.

“Don’t do anything naughty up here.”

She laughed, inching herself down the slide until the water current and gravity dragged her down, her excited squeals filling the air and growing quieter as she got closer to the bottom.

And then there were two.

Two very embarrassed scientists in a relationship.

“You go first.”

Ford jostled your hands together to get your attention, causing you to look at him.

“What?”

“You can go first. I’ll see you at the bottom.”

He gave you a small smile, letting go of your hand to pat your back when the attendant signaled for the next person to go.

“Go on, I’ll be right behind you.”

Ford nudged you to the slide with a smile, and you stepped over to sit yourself down, glad to finally be getting back to ground level.

Scooting yourself down the slide and leaning yourself back, gravity pulls you down and you gain some speed as you descend, but the mild thrill of it doesn’t last long.

The shortness of the slide makes the ride barely last a few seconds before you’re dropped into a deep pool of water to break your fall, Dipper and Mabel waiting by the shallow end and waving you down once they see you.

You swam over to them to make room for Ford to slide down and regroup with you all once he finally had his turn, and when you finally see him splash into the water, you can’t help but chuckle when he resurfaces with a big smile on his face and shook the water from his hair.

God, he’s like a labrador.

Whelp, that was one slide down… About a dozen more to go.

…

You were starting to feel like a hard boiled egg…

After spending the past few hours going down multiple slides with increasing heights, your little group of four eventually stumbled upon a small pool that the twins insisted on trying out, quickly discovering it contained warm water.

A hot tub, you supposed, though you hesitate to call it that due to the fact it looks like the other pools in the park. Hot pool?

At first, the warm water felt nice, especially on your legs.

You were starting to grow a little sore from climbing all the steps to the slides, especially since you usually had to swim away from them once you slid down and reached the pool at the bottom.

Oh well, good leg exercise, you supposed?

However, having sat in the warm water for a few minutes while the sun was now directly shining on you, you were growing uncomfortably warm, and… Feeling like a hard boiled egg.

It was making you feel a little sluggish, and the little nag in your brain briefly worried about possible heat exhaustion or an oncoming fever, but the thoughts are dashed away when Dipper speaks up.

“Looks like we did most of the slides.”

He looked around the park and mentally checked off which ones you all had gone on, and you let out a silent sigh of relief.

“I think there’s only one left we didn’t do.”

“The doozy-doozer?”

Mabel asked for confirmation, smiling when her brother nodded.

“The best one for last!”

You try to force out a little laugh at the twin’s antics, still trying to shake off the gross feeling you had of being too warm and… something else you couldn’t quite place.

Unsure if you should voice your concerns to Ford quietly and risk ruining the moment, you hear a low, barely audible rumble, and Dipper turns his head to Mabel, who laughs.

“Lunch time.”

She smiled while standing up in the water to step out of the hot pool.

“Gotta recharge from all those slides!”

Ah, that was the feeling you couldn’t quite place.

You were just hungry.

An empty stomach while cooking in the hot sun and warm pool…

Absolutely a great way to make yourself feel awful .

“I suppose it’s about time for a break.”

Ford looked up to tell the time solely using the sun’s placement in the sky, which you still find impressive despite knowing it was rather simple.

“Come on, kids, let’s dry off and get you all something for lunch.”

“Yeah!”

The twins shouted in unison while stepping out of the hot pool and getting a head start back to Stan, Ford taking a moment to stretch out his back in the warm water before climbing out himself.

You lagged behind him, movements slow as your body felt heavy from being in the heat, and just as you try to exit the small pool on your own, Ford holds a hand out to help you.

Of course, you take it, and are a little startled when he yanks you up before you could get your footing to push some of your weight yourself, causing you to stumble a little on your feet.

Ford didn’t seem to notice, or chose not to mention it if he did, and he tugged at your hand to get you both walking and trying to catch up with the kids, which… They did slow down enough for you and Ford to reach them.

However, you felt like you were tottling along and dragging everyone back from getting to the snack bar faster.

You needed to cool down, just take a quick dip in some cold water, and you’d at least remove some of the problem.

Thankfully, a solution is right in your sights: a wave pool, just a few feet from where you currently were.

“You guys go ahead.”

Your voice comes out more winded than you expected it to, and you slowly let go of Ford’s hand.

“I’m gonna hit the wave pool to cool off and meet you guys in just a minute, alright?”

The twins made some vague sounds of acknowledgement as they continued their way back to Stan, but Ford slowed his pace when he saw you moving toward the wave pool without waiting for a response.

You were going to be quick, in and out, they would barely notice you were gone.

Shuffling as fast as you could, you make your way to the shallow incline of the pool and feel immediate relief when your feet first touch the water.

It was nice and cold, at least, against your warm skin it was cold.

You slowly make your way down into the deeper section of the pool, the controlled waves splashing against you and accelerating the cool down process, and you stop moving forward when the water is up to your shoulders.

You take in a slow, deep breath, savoring the cool water and letting your body soak it in before you would have to quickly get out and alleviate any worrying.

Before that, though… You wanted to duck down into the water to completely submerge yourself to finish the cold soak.

You take a breath to hold while you go under the water, but right when you were going to sink down, there’s a hand around your waist.

Ugh , gross, some pool creep.

You go to snap at whoever just grabbed you, but you hear a familiar,

“Are you alright?”

Turning your head, you see that it’s Ford, eyeing you with what he thinks is neutrality, but you can see he’s concerned.

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

You give him a little smile to ease his concerns, leaning closer to him.

“You startled me, though.”

“Sorry.”

Ford apologized automatically, like a pre-programmed response on an automated answering machine, but his voice goes back to normal when he speaks again,

“I didn’t want to ask in front of the kids earlier, I figured you didn’t want them to worry, but I noticed you didn’t seem well.”

His eyes dart over you again, and he quickly adds,

“But you seem a little better now.”

“I just needed to cool off for a moment.”

You laugh awkwardly.

“I think the heat was getting to me.”

“You could also be dehydrated, which…”

Ford snorted quietly, looking around the wave pool.

“Ironic…”

“ Hah… ”

A dry laugh leaves you, and you look back to the edge of the pool.

“Where are the kids?”

“With Stan. I made sure they made it to him safely before following you.”

“Smart boy.”

You playfully pinch Ford’s cheek and watch his face turn pink from the praise, and judging by the way his eyes dart around, he’s trying to compose himself before he speaks again.

“Are you ready to head back?”

“In a second. Wanna dunk down to get my face.”

“Oh, in that case.”

Ford smiled as he pulled you closer to him, having his free arm join the other around your waist.

“Bend your knees.”

“What.”

Your palms press against Ford’s biceps to balance yourself in the water as you’re pulled closer to him, chest to chest.

“Ford, what—”

“Deep breath.”

Ford quickly breathed in, and without warning… Pulled you down into the water to completely submerge you both.

You barely manage to gasp in some air before you go under, the water refreshingly cold on your face and scalp as your hair floats upward.

For a moment, you worry Ford might keep you down longer than you could hold your breath for with minimal warning, but by the time your brain registers that you’re submerged, Ford is already pulling you back up to the surface.

Some of your hair gets in your face, getting stuck to your skin and making water trail down into your eyes that you try to blink away, and you soon feel Ford remove a hand from your waist to carefully push your hair back.

“Better?”

He asked earnestly, perhaps with some teasing mixed into his tone, and he laughed quietly when you splash some water at him.

“Ass, warn me next time.”

You scold with no heat, watching him shake off the excess water.

“… But yes, thank you.”

“Good…”

Ford gently caressed your waist with his thumb, eyes warm as he savored the moment for a few seconds before tugging you to the shallow end of the wave pool.

“Come on, let’s dry off and get you something cold to drink.”

“Slushy.”

You look at him to see his reaction, which is a slight raise of his brow.

“… I was going to say water .”

“ Slushy .”

You repeated yourself, and again, even slower and more pointedly,

“ Slu-shy. ”

“Alright, alright.”

Ford held his free hand up in placation.

“If it’ll get some water in your system, fine.”

“Hell yeah, let’s go.”

You take Ford’s hand from your waist and interlace your fingers with his, pulling him along now that you have a small burst of energy from the cold soak, and with the promise of a slushy of your choice.

Chapter Text

“You are going to get a sunburn if you don’t put on more sunscreen!”

You argued for the umpteenth time while shoving your sunblock bottle to Ford, who, for the umpteenth time, resisted.

“You put on enough when we got here, I’m fine.”

“You have to reapply it after you swim, some could have washed off!”

You had gotten a second wind of energy after sitting down to grab some food from the snack bar.

… And an extra large slushy that you almost slurped entirely down the second it was in your hands– until Ford ripped it away from you and scolded you to slow down.

It was just what you needed to get through the rest of the waterpark trip, which you knew would be ending once the sun started setting and the water got too cold to withstand, so time was of the essence.

The problem: your boyfriend is a stubborn ass .

God forbid you care about him. Perish the thought of trying to help him.

If he wants a sunburn that bad, fine , you’d let him.

“Most of my time is spent outside anyway, and I’m just fine.”

“Because you’re usually in the forest surrounded by trees !”

You try to keep your voice calm, not wanting to argue, because:

One, you were in public.

Two, you were on vacation.

Three, the kids were nearby.

And four, it was for his health.

You were frustrated, yes, but you knew the more you pushed, the more he would dig his heels; like a dog resisting being pulled on a leash.

“Uh oooh, lover’s quarrel.”

Stan whispered loudly to the twins, clearly wanting you and Ford to hear him, either to get under your skin, or to hopefully stop you both in the most irritating way possible.

“You think it’ll sell if I record it and post it on the interwebs?”

“ Stan. ”

You warn playfully as you turn your attention from one twin to the other, the frustration clear in your pinched brows despite your efforts to force a smile.

The retail smile was never your thing…

Typical for Stan, he’s unfazed to your irritation, holding his hands up in mock surrender.

“Whoa, hey, save that look for your man. He’s the one you’re mad at.”

Ford’s shoulders tensed as he bristled at the playful comment, and if it was Stan’s intention to annoy you both into stopping your little argument, it worked.

You shoved your sunblock bottle back into the beach bag, having already applied more to yourself, and started motioning to the kids to lead the way to the final slide.

“Fine, get a sunburn. Just know I’m gonna rub it in your face while I’m rubbing in aloe on your face.”

“Ooo…”

Stan and the kids playfully chaffed like a group of school children teasing their friend for getting called to the principal’s office, causing Ford to roll his eyes as he tried arguing back.

“I’m not going to get sunburned.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“Five bucks he does.”

Stan betted to the kids loud enough to be heard, soon getting an icy glare from Ford.

“You’re betting I get burned!?”

“You’re the one gamblin’ with the sun, I’m just tryin’ t’profit from it.”

Stan shrugged as he leaned back into the lawn chair after applying his own layer of sunblock onto his arms, crossing them behind his head as he relaxed.

Ford just gave a huff, waving his brother off as he followed alongside you and the twins, the kids leading the way to the last slide.

It wasn’t far, thankfully, just passed the toddler play area, which the twins cut through to get to the slide quicker while also getting themselves back in the water, ducking under giant umbrella fountains and kicking water at each other in the ankle-deep pool.

Not a bad idea , you thought, walking yourself underneath your own umbrella fountain and letting the water wash over you, a small relief to walking around in the hot sun, and you turned back to see if Ford would do the same.

He was following behind you quietly, looking a little out of place and on guard, especially when some distracted toddler full-body bumped into his leg and immediately ran off to some adult woman who you assumed was their mother.

Ford’s eyes had widened owlishly, obviously startled and unsure how to handle the situation with some unknown child, but he calmed down once the tot waddled away without issue, and you laughed when he turned to you with a sheepish smile.

Quietly, he ducked under the fountain to stand next to you, seeming a little hesitant.

“So you’re… Not actually mad?”

“Mad?”

You tilted your head.

“Mad about what?”

“The sunblock.”

“ Oh. ”

Your eyes rolled as the irritation reared back up again, but you quickly pushed it back down because… You know you’re only irritated because you’re worried.

It wasn’t like this was the end of the world, people get sunburns.

“I mean, yeah , but it’s not argument worthy. I’m not that mad about it, I just want you to take better care of yourself.”

“I told you, I’ll be fi–”

“I’m gonna be that mad if you keep bringing it up, though.”

Ford’s jaw clicked shut as he abandoned his statement, shrugging in surrender with a quiet,

“Duly noted.”

“Good boy.”

You say without thinking, and get some satisfaction when Ford looked down and away from you, trying to hide his blush and failing.

You tried holding back a laugh, though it still came out as a snort, and you playfully smacked his arm to get his attention.

“C’mon. The kids are probably dying to get on that last slide.”

You step out from underneath the concrete umbrella with Ford following behind you, and you both catch up to the twins as they look up at the slide.

“Aw, man… ”

Dipper grumbled as he held his hand up to shield his eyes from the sun.

“There’s a line.”

Indeed, there was.

With the increase of people who came to the park mid-day when the sun was at its hottest, lines to the slides were becoming more lengthy, especially the taller ones.

For this being the tallest slide in the park, there was a line waiting halfway up the steps.

You were going to be stuck on the stairs for a considerable amount of time…

Great .

“We gotta hurry before anyone else gets ahead of us!”

Mabel tugged at her brother’s wrist to drag him to the steps of the slide, an attendant standing there and handing them a two-person pool tube before they darted up the stairs.

Ah , a dual-rider slide.

Fun.

The idea of being able to experience the slide with someone else– Ford, of course, who else? – almost made the wait high above the ground more worth it in your eyes, and you stepped up to grab a double pool tube and get yourself in line, Ford following behind you.

Much like the other slides, the first few steps up weren’t all too bad, even if going up each one all day still had your legs tired, but you pushed through for the kids.

However, just as the twins are getting into your sights, you stupidly look down, and…

Your foot nearly misses the next step, as realizing just how high up you are disorientates you for a moment, and you make a clumsy stumble as your vision spins for a moment.

Luckily, Ford wasn’t too far behind you, and you feel his large hands grab on to your shoulders to steady you.

“Easy.”

His voice soothes you over as he holds you in place for a moment to catch your balance, then steps up next to you to get a better look of your face.

“You alright?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

You awkwardly laughed, trying to defuse any concern and brush it off as a misstep.

“I just tripped.”

“I saw that.”

Ford chuckled quietly, removing one of his hands, but keeping the other wrapped around your back to keep you steady.

“Too many stairs today?”

“Maybe.”

“Hm, perhaps I’ll have something to help with that back at the cabin.”

A small shock of excitement fired in your brain, knowing that meant one of two things:

He’s either talking about a pain reliever medicine, or he was promising a leg massage once you two had a moment alone together.

And you really hope it’s the latter.

Trying to pull yourself back together, you walk side-by-side with Ford up the stairs until you finally reach the twins, who were both holding up opposite ends of their double floatie to try and block out the sun with whatever shade they could get.

“ Ugh , so hot…”

Dipper grumbled to himself, Mabel nodding along in agreement as she fanned herself with her hand.

“Where are all the clouds?”

“I do think it’s supposed to rain later in the week.”

Ford scratched at his stubble as he seemed to think, perhaps trying to calculate exactly when the rain would come.

“Most likely near the end of our trip.”

“While we’re still here? ”

Mabel squawked, no doubt dreading having a day on vacation “ wasted ” by the rain when there was so much to do, and…

You sighed quietly at the thought.

There sure was a lot to do around here, apparently.

Perhaps a little too much for you, and too much to accomplish in one week-long trip.

You brush the thought away in favor of enjoying the now, which was waiting in a stupidly long line that felt like it was taking forever in the hot sun, you and the twins trying to find the best technique to fan one’s self to not bring about carpal tunnel.

How Ford seemed unfazed by the heat was beyond you…

Though, after what felt like forever (thirty minutes) of slowly inching up step-by-step, the top platform of the slide was finally coming into view, about a dozen of paired riders in front of you four.

Yes, finally , you could finally go down the slide and get off this high tower that clearly needed updating, and get the bickering couple standing too close behind you off your back.

The end was in sight.

All you had to do was not look down and risk passing away on the spot– that was a sure-fire way to ruin family vacation.

However, keeping your head up and looking straight ahead had you noticing something else.

Mabel was awkwardly shifting her weight back and forth between her two feet, rocking herself uncomfortably.

“Mabel, you good?”

You asked out of concerned curiosity, and she responded with a very clipped,

“Fine!”

“She didn’t use the bathroom during lunch.”

Dipper cut in without hesitation, and he yelped when his sister’s elbow connected to his arm.

“ Dipper! ”

“ What!? I told you to before we got in line!”

The twins bickered, and ever the problem solver, Ford tried looking around for a solution, but came up with nothing but a grimace.

“I think waiting to go down the slide would be quicker at this rate…”

You saw he was looking down at the stairs, and despite having told yourself to do the opposite, you followed his gaze and nearly toppled over.

Not just because you realized just how high up you are, but because the line behind you was now down to the ground.

Yep , better to wait, it would be too much hassle to try and maneuver around all those people.

Maybe even cause a human domino accident…

You feel Ford tighten his arm around your shoulders to keep you from falling and breaking up the very heated argument between the couple behind you.

“ Careful. ”

“Thanks…”

You held on tighter to the pool float, as if it’s cheap plastic would anchor you better than your boyfriend who you swear is pure muscle based on how casually strong he is.

Or maybe you just had the urge to squeeze something to chase away the slight claustrophobia from being so surrounded by people– seriously, why was that couple so close behind you that you can hear in gross detail about the supposed cheating with five other people named Hank??

You try to block them out, focusing on what you can do to distract Mabel long enough to reach the top, but Ford beat you to it.

“Just calm down, and try not to think about it.”

He so very clearly is trying to help, and you almost poke fun at his very obvious solution, but then he adds,

“Perhaps we can people watch to keep your mind off it? I’ll show by example, I see a blonde girl with an interesting hairstyle and a rabbit pool float.”

You peer over where Ford is pointing, and immediately catch sight of who he’s talking about.

Some blonde girl with a rabbit-shaped pool float and space buns that tailed behind her.

It was hard to make out any more details than that with how high you were, but it was enough to get Mabel to settle down and focus on something else.

“Ooo, and she’s with a guy too! Maybe they’re on a date .”

Mabel ogled at the people below, and eventually pointed to someone else she saw, and it became a game to see what type of interesting people were at the park.

It’s the perfect distraction, the four of you barely noticing the number of people in front of you dwindling until it was finally time for the twins to go down.

“Yes, finally! ”

Mabel whooped once the attendant called the twins up, tossing the double pool float down and climbing onto it before the attendant pushed both the twins down the slide.

You do not envy these poor slide attendants at all, being stuck in the sun all day, you’ll stick with studying potentially deadly oddities, thank you very much.

You stood there with Ford while waiting for your turn, feeling him jostle you by the shoulder playfully.

“Ready?”

“Oh yeah.”

You nodded at him, getting the signal from the attendant that it was now your turn to go down.

Setting the float down, you and Ford took your places to be facing each other and within easy hand reach.

And, of course, you greedily snatch up Ford’s hand before you even get pushed down the slide, which caused him to chuckle.

“Nervous?”

He asked teasingly, which you huff at.

“Nooo.”

“You sure?”

“Oh, if you don’t want me holding your hand…”

You trail your sentence off as you loosen your grip on your boyfriend’s hand, but he tightened his grip before you could pull away.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You sure were implying .”

“I was not .”

Ford smiled at the playful bickering between you both, then looked up when the attendant began pushing your shared float down the slide, and you grip his hand back once the float gets taken by the water current and begins going down.

And at first, it was fine, holding onto Ford’s hand and feeling water splash around you as you both went down the slide.

… Until the slide takes a sharp turn that spins your float, now forcing you down the slide backwards .

You yelp out some explicit mindlessly as you grab onto Ford’s hand with both of yours, and you hear him laugh as his grip tightened and he used his free hand to pat your hands in reassurance.

He looked like he wanted to say something, but the slide cut him off as it dipped down lower, and you swear you got some air time off of the float and nearly flew off of it before slamming back onto it.

Ford tried again to speak, but you both had reached the end of the slide and the float nearly skidded across the pool’s water surface like a skipping stone, splashing up water and completely soaking you both.

Ford sputtered and tried spitting out any pool water that had sprayed into his mouth, and you laughed quietly at the ridiculous amount of water droplets on the lenses of his specs.

Luckily, he recovered quickly, wiping his lenses clear and standing up from the float to help you up as well.

What a gentleman…

With a smile and a hand from your boyfriend, you get up from the float and return it to a nearby attendant, quickly finding the twins waiting for you by the edge of the pool with Mabel frantically waving you both down.

“Hi, cool, you’re both here, where’s the nearest bathroom??”

She asked with clear urgency, Ford turning his head to look around before pointing off in a direction.

“I think there’s one–”

“He’ll show you.”

You nudged Ford softly with your elbow, cutting him off as you took notice of something, and he looked at you with confusion.

“I’ll show her?”

“Yes. You’ll show her .”

You state in a tone that hints he should just follow with what you say, but in true Ford nature, he doesn’t get the hint.

He just stared at you with blank confusion, and you tilt your head to a small group not too far away from you four.

There was a group of teenage boys who were not being subtle where they were looking, and you reiterate again,

“ You’ll walk with your niece to the bathroom, right? ”

Ford looked where you had indirectly pointed, and you can tell you made your point clear when you see his expression darken and his jaw clench.

“Yep– come along, Mabel. I’ll show you where it is.”

He managed to speak in a steady voice that didn’t match his expression, holding his hand out for his great niece to take.

“Good. Don’t kill anyone.”

You lightly smacked him on the back as he began walking off with Mabel in tow, adding on,

“Dipper and I will be in the lazy river! C’mon, Dip.”

You beckoned the boy to follow you, the two of you separating from your respective partners in crime and climbing into the slow stream of water.

“… Did you just seriously volunteer Grunkle Ford to escort Mabel to the bathroom?”

Dipper asked with some heavy judgement, to which you nodded.

“Yep.”

“ Why? ”

“‘Cause he’s frickin’ scary when he’s protective.”

“No, I mean because Grunkle Stan taught us boxing for self defense last year.”

Dipper explained as hopped into the water after you, sinking himself to his shoulders.

“She can handle herself, she even punched a senior twice her size in the face for bullying a freshman she was friends with.”

Your face morphed into a mix of utterly impressed and mildly horrified at that news, and the only question you have is,

“Did she get in trouble?”

“No, actually. It didn’t happen near any school cameras, and we booked it the second he hit the ground so he couldn’t retaliate. Plus, no other witnesses.”

Dipper explained as he floated along with you, soon noticing two random donut floats drifting in the water near you both.

They clearly belonged to the waterpark, likely abandoned by some lazy park-goers that couldn’t bother to return them to whatever attraction they were used for.

Oh well, they were here now, and no one else was using them.

You grabbed onto one and hopped onto it, gasping when you may have used a little too much force and nearly tipped yourself over, but the float stills, and you’re safely atop it.

Taking the more careful route, Dipper ducked underneath the other float and popped back up through it, draping his arms over the side to keep himself afloat and using his feet to slowly spin himself around.

The action made you chuckle, and you stared up at the sky.

“… So, how was sophomore year?”

You ask without any real reason– perhaps you’re just remembering your own experience in high school and hope the kids were having a smoother time.

It likely wasn’t the case, high school wasn’t easy for anyone , especially with your’s and the Pines’ caliber of weirdness, but you were not above hoping.

“Eh, less scary than freshman year, I guess?”

“Yeah? Still planning on being a ghost hunter with a TV show?”

You chuckle at the memory of when he first told you what his plans were after high school, and you wondered if any of that had changed at all; Mabel couldn’t even pick a singular plan with all the hobbies she loved to pick up.

“Eh, not sure…”

Dipper shrugged, stopping his spinning to face you while he spoke, and you got the feeling he was getting serious, the fond smile slowly leaving your face.

“Oh? What changed?”

“Not really changed , just… I dunno.”

Dipper nervously ran a hand through his hair.

“I’d probably have to travel a lot… And Mabel doesn’t really know what she wants to do yet, and… What’s gonna happen if she wants to do something that keeps her in one place?”

“Whoa, hey.”

You lifted yourself up on the pool float by the elbows.

“That’s still pretty far away, you and Mabel will have plenty of time to figure that out, after you two have grown a little more.”

It’s a scary thought for him– for both of them, you’re well aware. The thought of being separated after spending their whole lives together.

“You both don’t need to worry about that yet, trust me. Right now, high school is all about finding yourself, and making dumb mistakes you can only get away with while you’re still technically a kid. Worry about all the adult crap once you actually turn eighteen and have to worry about college or working.”

You’re trying to be helpful, trying to say the things you wish someone told you when you were his age, and yet…

It somehow felt like it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

“I dunno…”

Dipper slumped more onto his float, going back to slowly spinning in it.

“Sometimes I just think it would be easier to just… Move to Gravity Falls after we graduate and become Grunkle Ford’s apprentice while Mabel figures out what she wants to do. Then we’d at least be in the same town.”

“You could …”

You shrugged, leaning back onto your float.

“But would that make either of you happy? Hey , don’t forget that Ford won’t let you be his apprentice if he thinks you’re just doing it to please him. He loves you both too much to let either of you sacrifice your happiness.”

“ And he has you now, so I’m sure that spot’s filled…”

Dipper sighed sadly after his little sarcastic remark, and you lifted your head to squint your eyes at him.

“Ford would make room for you, and you know it.”

“I guess.”

“Oh my– Stop it .”

You splashed water at him, and Dipper looked up at you in surprise.

“No teen brooding on vacation. Your family loves you, deal with it. Ford would clear off an extra table in a heartbeat to make you your own work space in his lab, if this is truly what you want to do.”

You explain as seriously as you could; no bullshit or sugarcoating it, because you know it’s true.

“Look, Mace…”

You calm your tone down, and Dipper froze at the nickname you only use for him when you’re trying to be heartfelt.

Keyword: trying . You’re not sure how successful you’re being.

“I dunno… What’s going on at home with your folks… But you and Mabel are tough kids, and you both need to do what makes you happy, even if you both might be apart. I mean, we have new technology to keep in touch now, and I know that the second one of you needs each other, you’ll both drop everything and run .”

Dipper nodded shallowly, silently agreeing, and you continued,

“ And … If being apart really makes you both that miserable, or if the ghost hunting show isn’t everything you’d thought it would be, and oddity-based academia– if you can call it that – is more to your liking… You know you both have a safe place to land in Gravity Falls. I’ll even get you a real nice journal and set it right on top your new workspace.”

You offer a reassuring smile, and after a few seconds, it’s reflected on Dipper’s face.

“Thanks…”

“Yeah, of course, dude.”

You held out a fist to him, and he bumped it softly.

A relieved laugh leaves you, and you relax back into the float.

“And, hey, we can talk more about this when we get back to Gravity Falls, maybe bring the grunks and Mabel into it. Form a game plan, if that’ll ease some concern for you.”

“Yeah, it might. Thanks.”

Dipper nodded and let the silence linger for a moment, and you were okay with that.

He was still a teen, probably too cool for sentimental talks.

… Until he decided to turn the questioning around.

“How’s your apprenticeship going, anyway?”

“Good! Great, I have more freedom around the lab now, so I can start my own projects. Still can’t use it when Ford’s gone, though– he sent McGucket to ‘ babysit ’ me while he was out at sea so I couldn’t sneak in.”

“Yeah? Not thinking of quitting?”

Dipper gave you a smug smile, and you slowly lifted your head up to glare at him before splashing him again.

“That was one time! And in the beginning of my studies. And he didn’t even let me quit, he ripped up my letter of resignation and said I could pick my next study session to be in the lab or in the field.”

“How does he ‘ not let you quit ’?”

“Same reason he won’t let you be his apprentice just to please him. He wouldn’t let me quit just because I thought I wasn’t good enough, I had to actually want to quit.”

You chuckle fondly at the memory, even if it terrified you at the time.

You were shiny and new and so scared of your mentor and even more scared of disappointing him.

… Funny how times had changed.

Dipper laughed and splashed you back at your explanation of things, then looked up behind you at something.

“… What?”

You laughed, curiously turning your head to see what he was looking at, until you felt yourself lean backwards as something puts pressure on your float to tip you back.

… Or rather, someone , as you see Ford’s face appear in your vision, upside down and staring down as he loomed over you.

“There were a plethora of other reasons I didn’t let you quit, but that was the main one.”

“ Jesus! ”

You yelp and thrash on the float as you're startled by the sudden appearance of your boyfriend, and you topple over and splash back into the water.

Thankfully, and perhaps apologetically, Ford is quick to catch you and pull you back up so you don’t accidentally drown, and when you wipe the water away from your eyes, Mabel had already taken your float for herself.

“We’re back!”

Mabel waved to you with a smile, soon squealing as Dipper splashed her with water and making her retaliate by splashing back.

You quietly laughed under your breath at the twins’ antics, then shivered slightly from falling back into the water after being in the warm sun.

It was still warm out, despite the day getting later and the water starting to feel colder, or perhaps you had just been swimming around for too long.

“Are you alright?”

Ford asked as he sank next to you in the water, which you quickly nodded at his question.

“Yeah, just getting cold…”

“Hm… Well, I suppose it’s about time to leave, anyway.”

“No!”

The twins stopped their splashing to object, shaking their heads.

“We gotta do one last slide!”

Mabel protested, and Ford raised a brow.

“But we did all of them.”

“Just one more, then we’ll go! Pleeeaaase!”

Mabel begged and even pulled out the big guns: the puppy eyes .

The utterly unresistable sad puppy eyes.

And you know she’s won when Ford lets out a deep sigh.

“Fine, one more , then we leave.”

“ Yes! ”

The twins highfived each other, Mabel speaking in the most sickly sweet voice you’ve ever heard,

“Thank you, Grunkle Ford.”

God, what a master manipulator she was, knowing exactly how to pull at the heartstrings.

You chuckle to yourself and stand up from the water at the first sight of a staircase leading out of the lazy river, giving Ford a quick kiss on his head.

“You guys go ahead, I’m gonna dry off and try to warm up.”

“Be safe.”

Ford caught your hand to give it a small squeeze before you separated yourself from the group, the twins waving you off, and you looked around before making a beeline to where Stan had made himself comfortable.

Luckily, he wasn’t far from where you exited the lazy river, and you started squeezing and shaking water from your hair before you reached him.

In all honesty, you were expecting him to be asleep in his chair, but when you stepped up to grab your towel from the beach bag, he lowered his sunglasses from his nose to give you that signature, cocky look of his.

“Forget somethin’, or didja just miss me?”

“Drying off, but close.”

You laughed as you immediately began rubbing your towel against your damp skin, trying to at least get most of the excess water off before you sat and let the sun get the rest.

“Water’s getting too cold, so Ford and the kids are doing one last slide before we’re ready to go.”

“Ah.”

Stan gave a curt nod, pushing his sunglasses back up his face, and you sat yourself down on the empty lawn chair next to him.

Looking up at the sky, it was just starting to turn into shades of orange, meaning the day was coming to a close, and the park would soon be asking people to leave.

You let out a tired sigh, pulling your towel to your head to try and dry your hair more, and you decide to make conversation with Stan.

… And by conversation, you immediately go for a tease.

“What, no hot date with you? You couldn’t snag anyone at the one place it’s socially acceptable to be half naked?”

Stan broke into a wide grin and laughed, lifting his sunglasses back up to look at you.

“Nah, prefer the nudist beach, actually. Then you'd get to see what you’re dealin’ with.”

“ Ew .”

You laugh as your face scrunched up with some level of disgust, but you’re impressed by the comeback.

“C’mon, not one person here caught your eye?”

“Most the people here got kids.”

“But you like kids, rumor has it you even eat them.”

“Uh, kids usually implies a spouse or somethin’. My homewrecker days are over , got it?”

Stan scolded you with no heat, and you just laughed at the banter.

 “Fair enough. What about her? I don’t see her with anyone.”

You tilted your head to point to some random woman in the distance, who Stan barely glanced at before shaking his head.

“ Nope . Looks too much like an ex.”

“ Okay , then how about… Oh , that guy, you like ‘em rugged?”

You point to someone else, an older man around Stan’s age with long hair and a horseshoe mustache.

Stan grumbled at your insistence of finding him a date and looked, shivering at the mere sight.

“Nuh-uh, nope , also looks too much like an ex.”

“ Really? ”

You raised a brow.

Just how many exes did this guy have?

No, wait, this was Stan you were talking about, nevermind.

“Okaaay, hooow abooout…”

You scan the dwindling crowd, long and critical. Third time’s the charm, right?

There had to be someone here that didn’t look like an ex.

There was no way he’s dated every possible combination of human physical qualities.

Searching the crowd and trying to specifically choose someone around his age, you soon spot someone that seems promising.

Older woman, maybe a little younger-looking than Stan, but with long hair in varying streaks of grey.

She was laid out on a lawnchair just like Stan , and she had this aura of “ cool relative ” just like Stan , and was that a golden fang??

Not to mention her confidence in her swimwear, okay girl, you go .

“What about her? ”

You smack Stan’s arm excitedly as you tilt your head to the woman, and Stan practically grumbles as he looks.

“You’re three for three, kid, she also looks like–… Wait a minute…”

Stan sat up straighter in his chair, staring for a long moment, then reached into the beach bag to swap his sunglasses for his prescription glasses.

He squinted as he stared for a good minute, then stiffened his shoulders.

“No fuckin’ way…”

“What?”

“She don’t just look like an ex, she is my ex!”

“ What? ”

“That’s freakin’ Marylin, my ex wife .”

“ You were married!? ”

It's like every time this guy opens his mouth, you learn something new about him.

You gape at Stan as he got up from his lawn chair, holding the beach bag out to you.

“It was a Vegas wedding and she divorced me six hours later and tried to steal my car. Almost didn’t recognize her, she used to be a cute lil’ redhead, but now she’s almost as grey as me.”

“Please tell me you’re not the reason she’s missing half an arm.”

“What the fuck– no! ”

Stan forwent politely handing you the beach bag in favor of annoyingly throwing it at you, walking off in a huff as you held your hands up in surrender.

“I’m just asking , considering Susan–”

“I dunno how the arm happened, and I ain’t stickin’ around to find out. Tell the nerd and the kids I’m in the car.”

“Okay, okay, gees.”

You chuckled nervously, watching him go off, and you turned back to the woman– Marylin , and saw someone with glasses and facial discoloration sit beside her, wearing a long hat that covered their ears.

Judging by the way they smiled and leaned in closer to speak with each other, it was clear they were more than just good friends.

Huh… Seemed she was already taken after all.

You must have been staring for longer than you realized, because next thing you know, Marylin is looking back at you. … And winked before turning back to her assumed partner.

Whoops… That’s embarrassing.

Prying yourself to look away, you focus on digging through the beach bag to put your overclothes back on, as you were feeling dry enough to not completely soak them and make them cling awkwardly to your skin.

You find your shirt first and pull it over your head, and just as you were grabbing your pants, you see three familiar figures walking up to you.

Ford and the kids.

“Alright… We’re ready to head back.”

Ford proclaimed as he and the twins grabbed their towels to start drying off, though he looked at the empty lawn chair next to you.

“Where’s Stan?”

“In the car already.”

You explained, standing up to get your bottoms on more comfortably.

“Left in a hurry after seeing his ex wife.”

“His what!? ”

…