Trust me When I Tell You to Trust No One

Chapter 1

Stanford Pines openly gave the government flash drive to Gompers the Goat, sticking it in the creature's mouth and allowing it to run off with it. Right after doing that, Mabel ran out of the damaged Mystery Shack alongside her brother, straight towards their newly acquainted Great Uncle Ford. While approaching  the man, Dipper exclaimed jubilantly, "great uncle Stanford, that was amazing!" The boy was referring to his uncle's plan of erasing the memories belonging to persistent government agents. And that plan worked incredibly well. For being as smart as he was, it didn't seem that amazing to Stanford compared to what, if not all, he'd done in the past.

Grunkle Stan and Soos wandered outside not a moment after, with Stanley snarling, "let's not go crazy; it was serviceable."

"Haha, thank you, kids... but please, call me Ford," Stanford replied to his great nephew.

Dipper's face was lit up with excitement as he said, "sure! Thanks, Great Uncle Ford. So, uh, would you mind if I ask you a couple billion questions about Gravity Falls?" Dipper asked joyously, clicking the pen being held in his hand repeatedly and holding a notepad in the other.

"Um, well I... uh..."

"All right, kids," Grunkle Stan interrupted, "it's been a long day and me and my brother have a lot to talk about. Why don't you hit the hay, huh?"

Dipper was clicking his pen rapidly now, "but, it's the Author! I've been waiting so long to ask questions about--"

Stanley grabbed Dipper and Mabel's heads and shoved them both away, "I said. Hit. The hay!"

Soos awkwardly stepped away, "I'll just... let myself out." The man sidestepped out of sight and made a quick phone call to Wendy Corduroy, saying, "Wendy, I've got something amazing to tell you. Clear the next fourteen hours!"

Later that evening, Stanley and Stanford stood side-by-side together looking at themselves and each other in a mirror. "Look at us. When did we become old men?" Stanley asked, raising an eyebrow.

His brother then quickly replied, "you look like Dad."

"Ugh, uck, don't say that," they then chuckled at one another but suddenly stopped just as Stanford was about to talk again.

"Okay, Stanley, here's the deal," Stanford sighed, "you can stay here the rest of the summer to watch the kids. I'll stay down in the basement and try to contain any remaining damage. But when the summer's over, you give me my house back, you give me my name back, and this Mystery Shack junk is over forever. Ya got it?"

Stanley gave his brother a hurtful look and snapped, "you really aren't gonna thank me, are you?" But his twin brother refused to say anything in return. So Stan continued on and snarled, "fine. On one condition: you stay away from the kids. I don't want them in danger. Cause as far as I'm concerned, they're the only family I have left."

Stanford spun around and glared at the floor, while Stanley walked away from him and began to make his way upstairs. He gave one last, regretful look back at Stanford, but then continued to move forward and leave the man alone inside the shack. Stanford took one last glance back at himself in the mirror, then scoffed and stormed off towards the vending machine. He wandered down the stairs and took the elevator to the basement and, full of disappointment, stared at what used to be his underground lab meant to supervise his magnificent and powerful portal... which was now completely demolished.

So am I supposed to sleep down here now or do I get a proper bed upstairs? Ford thought to himself, still standing inside the elevator. He stepped out of it and ran a finger along a metal surface, with dust clinging to him shortly after doing so. I take it my brother wouldn't care. It is my house, after all. But I'll stay down here anyways. Besides, I've really missed my journals. He sluggishly searched both rooms for the other two journals, knowing that he already had the first. After a few minutes of that, and after he'd obtained all three journals, Stanford went to his desk and sat down, flipping through the pages in the journal.