Bad End...Friends?¿

Wake Up Call

"Stanford!"
"Ford Pines!"
"Dr. S. Pines!"

"That's all of my name I'll ever need to hear, thank you Dipper." Ford grumbled sitting up. Dipper always seemed to have some ridiculous reason to wake him up at one AM.

'The fridge is haunted!'
'A ghost ate my sock!'
'There's a monster in the closet!'
Ford has heard it all.

The fridge was old and sometimes the light flickered out. That monster in the closet... it was a coat.
Ford could confirm, however that a monster did eat his nephew's sock, when he slept with his foot over the side of the bed.

He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He was ready to face whatever Mason had in store today.

But instead of Dipper, when he opened his eyes he saw his brother Stanley, Finn, and Wirt gathered around him.
They looked relieved but also...uncomfortable.

Stan spoke first, choosing his words carefully
"Sixer...Don't you remember? Dipper is-"
Ford suddenly realized what he had said.

He rushed to correct his mistake.
"For goodness sake Stanley! I meant..." he glanced around, as he tried to pick someone. "...Finn." It was rather obvious to everyone that he hadn't meant Finn but no one brought it up.

Ford tried to stand up but he was stiff from the long rest.
He liked to think he deserved it but...did he?

"How long was I out?"

"Almost twenty hours." Stan answered after glancing to the clock.

The room was silent for a moment until Stan spoke quietly "We thought you died."

The room lapsed back into silence and Ford's eyes widened.

I couldn't leave him after all he's been through. Not again.

The brothers looked down and then at each other.
"I'm sorry."

Finn had never heard anyone apologize for sleeping before
-If that was even what this was about.

Everyone stood or sat around the couch not speaking, just thinking. Everyone thought about something different, something important to them, something that really made them fear. And Stanley thought about Shooting Stars, and his Shooting Star.

It was strange to be this quiet for this long but no one protested, everyone had things they felt the need to think through, nobody wanted to leave.

Wirt was first to speak
"I...never read the note." He whispered.

And the dam broke.
"Beatrice put a note on my grave and I just threw it away. I threw it out of my life. Like everything else!" He looked so upset with himself, and angry.

"And now I'll never know if we were in love or if it was just me. Just me being stupid." Tears began to well in his eyes like Finn would've never imagined, he observed the spectacle in front of him in genuine shock.

Stan placed his hand on Wirt's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" He asked, genuinely concerned.

"Can I be excused?" Usually he didn't wait for orders, he was a leader. But he didn't feel like blowing up or acting superior when he knew he wasn't. They were equals. Unless the beast made him less, but over the pain he couldn't even hear the Beast.

Everyone in the room tried not to stare, a futile attempt.

"Whatever you need." Ford said quietly.

Wirt stood up and walked out the living room door.

"It isn't right...such a young boy...Having to leave someone so important..."
Ford remarked. When he looked up into Stan's eyes, glossed with budding tears he realized his words carried an underlying meaning.

The brothers drew nearer to each other, and Stan put his arm around his twin. Stanford looked uncomfortable at this at first, he wasn't the type for physical communication, but eventually he relaxed.

"I'm sorry." Ford said for the second time in what was barely five minutes.

Finn wondered what Stanford was sorry for, and why he felt like he had to apologize so much, this isn't Canada.

Finn leaned onto Ford and they sat there for a while almost like a real, non broken family.

There were so many questions to ask but for some reason he didn't. He couldn't.

Finn was surprised when Ford rested his arm over his shoulder too. It was strange, just days ago they were strangers but now they felt like friends. Albeit slightly odd it was nice, for once he didn't feel like a monster or a freak.

There was no sound in the room, and nobody could really tell how long they were there, until eventually Stan pulled away.
"I'm going to find Wirt." He announced.

Wirt and Stan had become somewhat close in the last day, well closer then anyone would have guessed. They bonded over talking smack about people they used to know, and their train wreck love lives. They were far more alike then they seemed.

Stan stood up and walked to the doorway, he looked both ways for a sign of the boy and when he saw none, he promenaded down the hallway.

Ford moved his arm so that it was no longer around Finn, and looked the boy in the eye.
"You can sleep in my room, if you want." He suggested, he then pushed himself off of the couch and groused something about his old bones.

"What about you?" Finn asked and was met with a loud laugh from Ford.

"This is all the sleep I'll need for weeks!" He cheerfully remarked.
"I can get so much done! And I don't even know what I'm doing!"
Ah yes, definitely a coffee person.

He jumped up, about to retreat into his lab to record research and observations. But as he started out of the room Finn stopped him with a simple sentence "Sorry about Mason. I bet he was a good kid."

Ford stood still for a moment. He didn't face Finn, he just looked forward.
"Thank you."

And then, as Ford meandered down the hall, Finn was plunged back into dark pit of loneliness.

He wasn't wearing his crown. He had left it in the attic where he slept the night prior. He didn't need it in the day, but at night...he needed it. Elongated shadows stretched across the walls, they were just from regular things like chairs and heaps of clothes but in the dark they took on the form of ghouls and monsters, Finn wasn't exactly scared, but with no one there to protect him the crown was tempting, calling to him in silvery, singing whispers.

It took all he had in his heart to not answer.

A/N This is my least favourite chapter so I think I'll be uploading one tomorrow and possibly one this weekend as well! No promises on any of this though! God bless you all, stay safe!