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“Pesky thing!” Ford yells out as he chases the escaped creature he had held captive in the basement. It was some sort of octopus. Gross.
It quickly flees towards the stairs, knocking over furniture and other strange objects that the Mystery Shack has laying around. Ford swiftly runs after it, avoiding all of the cluttered items while trying to catch the creature with some kind of techy-glove.
It darts up the stairs, and starts heading towards Dipper and Mabel’s room. Luckily for Ford, Stan had gone out with the kids to Greasy’s Diner to grab some food, which makes his job a whole lot easier.
The twins left their door open, which meant that the creature had easy access to the bedroom. It rushes inside and scurries around the room. It slithers inside a box of photos which was tucked underneath Mabel’s bed.
Ford enters the room, which has a variety of different things such as clothes, random trinkets, and other items scattered around the floor.
He’s not sure whether it’s because their room is just dirty, or the octopus did it.
He reaches for the box and pulls it out from under the bed, which he then proceeded to quickly open, and successfully capture the creature. It writhed around in his grasp before accepting defeat.
Before leaving, he noticed that a photo had fallen out of the box. The photo was flipped upside-down, hiding whatever it was that was on it. Ford walked over and picked up the photo, flipping it around. His eyes slowly widen as he stares at the photo.
The flimsy piece of paper shows Dipper who is seemingly kissing another boy, passionately at that.
He quickly regains his senses, and instead of returning the photo, he tucks it in his pocket. He decided he’s going to have a talk with Dipper.
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“That food was soooo good! I can still taste the flavours in my mouth!” Mabel exclaims, cupping her own rosy cheeks out of delight.
“Well what can I say! I am the best grunkle after all.” Stan states proudly, recently he’s been trying to out-best Ford at... being the best grunkle?
“What is up with you recently?” Dipper sarcastically (but also jokingly) asks.
“What? Is it bad to be the best great-uncle you could ever ask for?” Stan defensively responds.
“‘Best’ is an overstatement.” Dipper mutters under his breath.
Mabel cuts off any possible drama that could happen when she suddenly yells out.
“Great-uncle Ford!!!”
She runs over and wraps her arms around him, which he then reciprocates. “How was dinner?” He asks with a smile before redirecting his gaze to Dipper. The boy noticed this and felt a little uneasy.
“It was great! We had these big burgers with fries! And then we had these really tasty pancakes. They were so sweet and fluffy!” Mabel excitedly rambles on.
“That sounds like it was fun!” Ford says, turning his gaze back to Mabel, who had let go of him to demonstrate the sizes of the food they were served using hand gestures.
“It was!” Mabel happily replies, her hands still distanced in the air.
“Well, you and Stan should go head inside, it’s getting dark.” He advised.
“What about Dipper?” The girl asks curiously.
“I need to talk to him about something.” Ford sternly but softly says.
Mabel shrugs and her and Stan walk inside the Mystery Shack. Stan gives Ford a suspicious glare before walking out of sight.
“Dipper, I think we should talk.” He said as he wore a slightly concerned expression, which didn’t help calm Dipper’s nerves. Before he could muster the words to respond, Ford had grabbed his hand and they were walking down to the basement. As per usual, it was dimly lit, accompanied by strange, little souvenirs from the multiverse. Ford sits down at his desk and gestures Dipper to sit down on the chair opposite his. Hesitantly, he takes a seat. If it was possible, he was sweating more than usual. Which according to Mabel, is like a tsunami but more gross. Dipper, who was tapping his fingers on the arm rest of the chair to keep himself occupied, opened his mouth to ask something.
“S-Soooo... what did you want to talk to me about?” He asks nervously, the pace of his tapping slowly picking up. Ford doesn’t really know how to start. ‘How do you confront a 12 year old about the fact that they’re gay?’ He thinks to himself. It probably would’ve been helpful if he prepared beforehand instead of skipping to the actual conversation. He takes a deep breath and slowly exhales, staring down Dipper with stern, but somewhat empathic eyes. It only made Dipper’s anxiety grow.
Ford clears his throat, “Okay... before I say this, I want you to know that the way you feel is completely normal, and you shouldn’t feel ashamed about it!” He says gently. Dipper raises an eyebrow. ‘What is he talking about? Oh God... Is he giving me the.. talk..!?’ He thinks to himself, panicking internally. He doesn’t want to talk about that! He’s basically sweating bullets now. The smell of sweat mixed with Dipper’s unwashed clothes makes Fords nose wrinkle.
“I found this in yours and Mabel’s room,” Ford states as he places down a photo of something that will haunt the young boy to his grave. A photo of Dipper and Mermando... with him giving the other CPR... He feels his heart drop as he studies the picture closely. “and no, I wasn’t snooping in case you’re wondering. I was simply capturing an escaped experiment when I came across it.” Ford reassuringly states. Which brings a little bit of relief for Dipper. Who knows what would’ve happened if he found the box with all those photos of Wendy?? Or even worse...
His search history.
He shudders at the thought, but it’s not long before he wakes up to reality. The anxiety quickly rising again. “H-How... W-When did you get that!?” The boy spits out with obvious fear in his voice. No, he wasn’t gay, but the fact that Mabel has had a photo of that day, hiding in their room for God knows how long, really doesn’t help. Later, he’s gonna have a serious talk with his twin about a little phrase called “some things should be left in the past”.
“I found it earlier today. Dipper, there’s nothing wrong with being gay, I’m gay myself, so take my word!” Ford admits. Dipper felt the gears turning in his head as he processes what his Grunkle just said. Grunkle Ford is gay? How come he didn’t know this!
“I’ve kissed plenty of boys and men in my time, my boy, so if you ever need tips or advice then ask-”
“Grunkle Ford!!>/em>”
The man gets cut off by his great nephews (who was now standing up with his hands firmly pressed on the table) sudden interruption.
“I’m not gay! I was giving him CPR because he was dying!” Dipper loudly blurts out with his eyes shut firmly. He slowly opens them to be surprised with his Grunkles shocked expression.
“You’re not gay?” Ford asks with his eyes wide open. He had just come out thinking his nephew was gay too, and turns out he’s not? He had to double check that his old age wasn’t affecting his hearing.
“No, I’m not.” Dipper responds, looking directly at Ford. Silence fills the air for a moment, and time feels like it’s slowed down. They both stare at each other for a minute or two, waiting for the other to say something.
“Grunkle Ford...” The boy pauses for a second, looking like he’s thinking of something to say. “It’s fine if you’re gay, and the others would be totally fine with it too! You don’t have to keep it a secret, y’know.” He added on. Ford felt a weight get lifted off his chest. He thought that his nephew might not accept him, but turns out he was wrong.
“Really?” He asks, wanting to make sure the younger boy wasn’t just lying to make him feel better.
“Yeah! I don’t wanna pressure you or anything, but seriously, if you told them you’re gay, then they’d accept you before you even can say ‘Dungeons, dungeons and more dungeons’!” Dipper chuckles lightly. Ford can’t help but laugh too.
“Thank you, Mason. I needed that.” He smiles gently.
“No problem, Grunkle Ford.”