The Sun Also Smiles - Chapter 5
Chapters - [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Summary - With Mabel and Dipper's 16th birthday party on the horizon, Grunkle Stan takes to online dating to find a date for the party. Things start to get real weird real fast.
Word Count - 3,582
Pairing(s) - Stan Pines x OC
Genre(s): Romance, Comedy, Mystery
~~~~~~~~
“Sixer, is this really necessary?” Stan panted as he was running on a treadmill in their lab. He was keeping up just fine but of course he was a little winded. Being on a boat nonstop for two years will do that to you.
“Yes, it’s extremely necessary because I don’t want to wake up tomorrow morning and hear that my brother died from over exerting himself if he…” Ford cleared his throat with his fist over his mouth. “Happens to “get lucky” the night before.”
“Why do ya talk about sex like you’re the kids’ ages? Like ya don’t sneak off in the dead of night to be with Fiddleford,” Stan said loudly, unable to control the volume of his voice from running so much.
“Shut it!” Ford snapped as his face reddened from Stan’s words. He was completely unaware that his brother knew about that and now he was self conscious.
Stan cheesed, pleased with himself that he outed his brother the same way he outed him to the kids. “How much longer do I gotta run?? I gotta take another shower cuz of ya!”
“You should wanna freshen up before a date. Anyways, you can stop at any time. Nobody told you to run. I told you to just get on the treadmill. You’re the one who started running like there were demons chasing you,” Ford said in a snide tone.
“Oh for fuck’s sake…” Stan growled, immediately turning the treadmill down to a comfortable speed before hopping off. “Are your tests conclusive?” He asked as he went to the fridge that was in the lab. Ford spent long hours down here since they were back and Stan thought to get a fridge installed so he could stay hydrated at least. He saw a jug of water and sighed in relief.
“Yeah, yeah,” Ford said with his back to Stan, waving his hand dismissively. “You’ll do just fine if you get lucky tonight. I have no doubts. Just watch that your heart doesn’t start feeling funny,” he explained while he wrote on a piece of paper.
Meanwhile, Stan was chugging the water and let out a loud sigh then burped loudly. He put the half finished jug in the fridge and closed it. He wiped his mouth followed by his forehead to get rid of what sweat he could for the moment.
“If I do get lucky, can I bring her down here? Don’t wanna scar the kids. Not somethin they need to be around honestly,” he half joked.
“Yeah, sure,” Ford said, waving his hand again. He wasn’t paying attention in the slightest anymore. He was too focused on what he was doing to hear any of what Stan was saying.
“Loser says, yeah?” Stan said quickly.
“Yea- Oh, good grief,” Ford groaned, putting his head in his hand in defeat. Stan’s obnoxious laughter could be heard receding as he went upstairs to get ready for his date.
Mabel was sitting in Stan’s recliner when he came up from the lab. He walked into the living room.
“Hiiii, Grunkle Stan,” she said cutely.
“Hi, Pumpkin,” he said, ruffling her hair affectionately as he walked past her. “Bein good?”
“As alwaaayyyssss,” Mabel said with a grin.
“Good. Take care of your brother tonight for me, alright? He seems like he needs a lot of support right now.” Stan started up the steps then stopped and looked at Mabel.
“Can I ask you somethin?”
“Anything for yooouuuuu!” She chirped happily.
“What should I get her for our first date?” He asked shyly, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,” Mabel hummed for what felt like centuries.
“Cmon kid, I ain’t got all day,” he said playfully.
“She looks like the type to enjoy flowers if they were very specific flowers,” she said honestly.
“Specific flowers?” Stan asked, intrigued by this thought process now.
“Yeah like don’t get her just any old bouquet of random flowers. I’ve seen rose and sunflower bouquets. The red and yellow look soooooooooooo good together. Also! She just seems like a sunflower kinda lady. You know that special fact about sunflowers right?”
“No?” Stan said in a tone that gave his confusion away immediately.
“Sunflowers always face the sun no matter what. And I think, if I remember correctly, if there’s no sun, they face each other. So you could be all corny, hand her the bouquet, and say, “wow! I didn’t know you were the sun with the way these sunflowers are facing you!” Or something like that,” Mabel mimicked in her best Stan voice.
Stan stared at her with a deadpan expression, not buying it in the least bit. “I’ll get her the flowers but there’s no way in hell I’m sayin all that.”
“Why nootttttt! It’s cute! I think she’d appreciate it!” she pouted cutely.
“I think she’d laugh me out of house and home,” Stan chuckled.
“Noooooo! She’s really nice! I don’t think she’d do that to you,” she said, nodding to emphasize her point.
“If you say so kid. Anyway, I’m gonna go get dressed. Don’t let the tv or the phone rot your brain,” Stan said, walking up the stairs.
“Suuuurrreeee!” She said before whipping her phone out immediately and texting the group chat she had with Grenda and Candy.
Mabel said:
Guuuuyyysssss
Candy said:
What’s up Mabel!
Mabel said:
My Grunkle Stan is going on a date tonight and I kinda wanna spy on them 😼😽
Grenda said:
Spy on them?? How would you do that?
Mabel said:
Welllllllllll the driving age is 16 here and Candy is 16,,,,,,,,,,and she has her driver’s license,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Mabel said:
😼😼😼
Candy said:
I don’t think my parents would let me drive this late in the day
Mabel said:
That’s why yooouuuuuuuuu sneak ouuuuttttt. Just this one time! Please please please please please please pleeeeaaaassseeeeeeereeee 🙏🏻
Candy said:
Sighhhhhhhhh fine. This one ☝🏻 (1) time
Grenda said:
OOOOOOH SPY MISSION SPY MISSION!!!
Mabel said:
Operation Date Night is a go 😈
Mabel hopped up from the chair then hurried up to her and Maze's bedroom. "Maze! Maze, Maze, Maze!" She repeated excitedly but enough to where Stan couldn't hear if he happened to be listening too hard.
"Whaaaaaaaat?" Maze asked in an annoyed tone. He was laying on his bed and reading a comic book when Mabel jumped on his bed.
"Wanna go on a spy mission with me and the girls?" she asked as she got extremely close to Maze's face. Her nose was pressed against his cheek which made her breathe heavily on him over and over again.
"A spy mission? Who are you spying on?" he asked, looking out of the corner of his eye so he didn't move to look at her.
"Grunkle Staaaaaannnnnnnn."
Maze fully turned his head to look at his insanity driven sister. "Mabel, isn't that a little...extreme?"
"Well yeah but don't you wanna make sure that this lady isn't some weirdo freak?" She retorted simply. "I wanna make sure Grunkle Stan is happy and taken care of in his old...er...age. That's all."
Maze sighed heavily. "Okay, even if I agreed to go along with this insane plan, how would we even get there?"
"Candy has her license," Mabel said in a singsong voice as she grinned from ear to ear.
He stared at Mabel for what seemed like 117 business days. "Fine," he said simply. "But if this goes downhill for us, I'm gonna say I told you so. Deal?"
Mabel laughed at that. "Deal!"
"Do you even know where they're going?" he asked.
"I asked Grunkle Ford and he said that they're going to some...wine tasting event at the art gallery. I dunno. Adults are weird," she explained.
"Huh. I knew Grunkle Stan was the artsy type but I didn't think he'd share that so readily with someone he just met. I only found out from Grunkle Ford recently in a correspondence from when they were out on their voyage."
"Mhm, mhm," she responded, nodding her head with her arms folded across her chest thoughtfully. "I'm gonna tell Candy to come get us after Grunkle Stan leaves. I know exactly which gallery they're going to. It's so nice from what I remember."
"Okay. Come get me when they're here and you're ready," Maze said, giving her a quick nod before going back to reading his comic book.
"You're the best little brother I could ever ask for!" Mabel said as she tackle hugged him.
"Hey, hey! Easy on the little stuff!" He said in a strained voice, starting to blush.
"I thought you were over that stuff??"
"Sometimes," he grumbled in response.
"Maze, you're always gonna be the little brother. You just have to learn to live with it at this point," Mabel teased, poking his side which caused him to flinch from being ticklish in that spot.
"Yeah, yeah. Sure," he laughed gently.
About an hour passed before Stan emerged from his room. There was a tolerable smell of cologne wafting off of him and his hair was done perfectly to his standards. He had on a black button up shirt with a fancier than usual, but still simple, gold chain adorned around his neck. His pants were simple but he definitely put on his best pair of shoes for this event. He even put in some old earrings he forgot he had.
Nobody ever really noticed except Ford because his hair was shaggy majority of the time but Stan had six piercings. Three on each ear. One on each lobe and two going up the outsides of his ears. There were two gold hoops and four gold studs. The man even shaped up his beard of all things. He felt amazing and most of all, ecstatic, about this date.
"Kids?" Stan called to the twins in the hallway. "I'm headin out! Be nice and try not to kill each other. Take care of Ford too!" he yelled out to them as he started down the hall to go down the stairs.
"Grunkle Stan!!" Quick and heavy footsteps could be heard closing the space behind Stan. Mabel held up her closed fist at him with her fingers facing upwards. "Give these to her," she said sweetly.
Stan turned to see what Mabel was going on about. "What is it?" he asked with a quirked eyebrow as he stared at her closed hand.
Mabel opened her hand to reveal a pair of well made conversation heart earrings that read, "Be Mine" and "Sweetheart". One was yellow and the other was pink. "She seems like a conversation heart kinda gal. Tell her you commissioned me for these and watch how fast she swoons," she suggested with a wink.
Stan stared at the earrings then took them from her gently. He smiled at the gesture and closed his hand around them. "Thanks, Pumpkin. Appreciate this a lot." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head.
She giggled and blushed shyly. "Let me know how she likes them!!"
"I will. Solana's an artist too and I know she'll appreciate how much work ya put into this, kid." Stan smiled at her gratefully while he patted the top of her head lovingly.
Her eyes sparkled at that fact. "I'd love to see her work some time!"
"I'm sure she wouldn't mind showin ya. Just be patient, yeah?"
Mabel nodded quickly, pursing her lips at the same time. "I got ya!" She winked at him.
"Okay, I gotta get goin," he said as he checked the flashy time piece he had on his left arm. "Don't wanna be late to my first date in years." He chuckled. A date. That felt funny to say out loud.
"Yeah! Gogogoogogogogo!" She urged eagerly, pushing him to go down the stairs faster. "I wanna hear all about it when you get home!"
Stan laughed to himself. As if he'd tell her every single thing. Especially if things were to get a little heated like they did earlier at the store. He made it to the bottom of the stairs intact, no thanks to Mabel still pushing him. She didn't stop until they were at the front door. "Gooooooooo!"
"I'm goin, I'm goin!" he snorted, opening the door to leave. "Be good, kid." Stan closed the door behind himself and walked to his car.
Mabel whipped out her phone immediately and texted the new group chat that she'd made with Maze, Candy, and Grenda.
Mabel said:
Guys. Operation Date Night is a go. 😈
Candy said:
Got it. On my way. 🚗
Grenda said:
I'M SO EXCITED!! 🗣
Maze said:
Ready as I can be to spy on my grunkle
On the drive to the gallery, Stan sang along to the radio to every song that played. Either he listened to the radio too much or they needed to find new songs to play for once. Maybe it was both. He didn't really care either way. It was a way to work off the nerves he was feeling the closer he got to the gallery.
He'd already met her and kissed her but he still wanted to make a good impression on her anyway. He _had_ to. There had to be some way to make for his behavior earlier. Hopefully the earrings Mabel made for her would butter her up even more in his favor. Make it look like he loved his niece and believed in her work. Which does. Obviously.
Once he arrived, he parked the car and cut the radio off to sit there in silence. The nerves were creeping back up on him slowly the longer he sat there in deep thought.
Stan reached in his pocket for his phone to see if Solana messaged him. And by a stroke of luck, she did.
Solana said:
I'm inside whenever you get here. I'm the one in the long and frilly off the shoulder affair 😋🖤 It's all black
Stan 🖤🖤🖤 said:
Alright I'm here I'll be in
Solana smiled at the message before putting her phone back into her purse and waiting for Stan. She was just as nervous as he was, surprisingly. She started fidgeting with her hands to try and work some of the energy off.
Breathe in.
It's okay.
Breathe out.
He's a nice guy. He won't be weird.
Breathe in.
What's to be nervous about?
Breathe out.
What if he thought she was…promiscuous…for throwing herself at him?
Breathe in.
He definitely thought that.
Breathe out. Breathe in.
Oh God.
Breathe out. Breathe in. Breath out.
He does.
In. Out. In. Out.
He does???
In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In…
He does.
The speed of her breathing quickened alongside the speed of her thoughts. It started to become overwhelming almost immediately. Everything around her started to sound extremely deafening but unintelligible gibberish at the same time. Her head started spinning the longer she sat there with herself. It became unbearable.
"...ana?" A voice said through the fog.
"Huh?" She said softly, trying to figure out where it was coming from.
"Solana?" Stan's voice said clearly, snapping her back to reality promptly.
"S-Stan," Solana said softly as she tried to compose herself. She adjusted the strap of her purse on her shoulder. After shaking her head a little to reduce the fog in her brain, she saw Stan clearly. Smelled him too. He smelled so...*good*.
Stan was standing there with a bouquet of roses and sunflowers like Mabel suggested with a distressed look on his face. He was worried sick about the state Solana seemed to be in at the moment.
“Wow, you look fucking amazing,” she complimented as she looked him from head to toe a few times over. “The sexy black shirt. We just so happened to wear all black and match? That’s cute. And oooh, the earrings? You really pulled out all the stops,” she rambled, trying to get the residual nerves to go away at this point.
Stan’s entire face turned red at the compliments she rapidly fired at him. He was completely speechless.
“I…uh…speakin of earrings. I…I had these commissioned for you. From my niece,” Stan said after clearing his throat. He pulled earrings from a little part on the bouquet and handed them to her in a decorative baggie. The florist did him a solid and gave him a mini bag for them.
Solana took the baggie gently and opened it then poured them into her hand. A soft look plastered itself on her face. It was an expression that held admiration for Stan and happiness that he’d even think of something like this so quickly.
“Stan, I…”
“Oh! It’s not me askin ya to do anything ya don’t wanna,” he said quickly, his embarrassment becoming much clearer the longer they stood there in silence. His neck and ears heated up.
Solana stepped forward then stretched onto her tippy toes in her heels to place a kiss on his lips. Stan cleared his throat to hide the pride he felt in getting another kiss from her.
“Thank you. I love these. I’ll put them on right now, actually.” And she did just that. As she was putting them on, she finally turned her full attention to what was in Stan’s hands.
“Flowers? For me?” She asked, tears clear in her tone. “Homemade earrings and a bouquet of flowers so delicately made and designed? For me?” She asked again as she started sniffling.
“WAIT, why are you cryin!” Stan said, holding his free hand out at her. Admittedly, he didn’t know what to do with her like this so he waited until she told him what she needed.
“Should I get ya some tissues??” He asked worriedly.
“No, no. I’m fine,” she said through her copious amounts of sniffles as she pulled a jet black and lace trimmed handkerchief from her cleavage. Stan blinked at that motion. That was…kinda hot. Solana started dabbing her the waterline of her eyes with the cloth then patted her cheeks dry.
“I’m sorry. It’s just so sweet of you to do all of this and I don’t have anything for you.”
“S’fine, toots. I don’t need anything,” Stan deflected quickly.
Solana rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I asked or said. Now I have to get you something as equally or even more amazing than these gifts. Can I?” She asked, holding her hands out for the flowers.
“Oh, yeah. Sure. They’re all yours,” he said while putting the flowers into her hands gently. “I got ya sunflowers cuz ya been lightin up my life like the purest ray of sunshine since we met and sunflowers always face the sun no matter what. So…yeah.” He took Mabel’s advice but he tried to doctor it up a little from what she originally said.
“Stan, that is…” She started sniffling again. “That’s the sweetest thing a man has ever said to me. You got game, old man,” she joked through her stifled tears.
“Yeah, you know, I try,” he said with a shrug and charming half smile that could only be interpreted as him trying to be humble but failing miserably.
Solana giggled at his attempt to seem nonchalant. “You’re so funny,” she sniffled once more, wiping her eyes and cheeks again. After she did that, she folded the handkerchief up and put it back in her cleavage.
“Are you…ready to get this show on the road? It’s a night of fine wine and fine art beside a fine man.”
“With a fine lady on my arm,” Stan added before holding out his arm for her to take.
She let out an excited but quiet “ooh” sound then took his arm just as he wanted her to. “Wanna get the wine before or after the art?”
“After. I don’t wanna be tipsy for this,” he said honestly.
“I respect that so much,” she said sweetly. “Lead the way?”
“Glad to do it, toots.” Stan started towards the beginning of the gallery with his date on his arm and his confidence through the roof. He leaned down closer to her ear. “Ya look great by the way. I’m diggin the whole goth vibe. It’s sexy,”he said in a low voice.
“Oh!” She said as her face flushed. “Thank you.”
As they walked deeper into the gallery, Mabel, Maze, Candy, and Grenda were peeking around a corner and watching from afar. Mabel and Candy were borderline crying at how Stan managed to pull everything together and make it cohesive.
“I am so proud of him!” Candy nearly sobbed.
“The sunshine line was my idea. He just dressed it up a bit,” Mabel said in a wavering voice as her bottom lip quivered.
Maze rolled his eyes and, of course, put his hands in his pockets. “You guys are so mushy.”
“Guys, they’re getting away from us! We have to focus!” Grenda said as she grabbed Mabel’s face and held it tightly in place. “We have to see,” she whispered.
“Grenda’s right. We gotta go!” Mabel said in a louder than she should voice. Maze immediately covered her mouth.
“Do you wanna ruin your own covert operation??” He asked her. She shook her head. “Then we gotta be quieter so we don’t get found out. Got it?” She nodded and he removed his hand from her mouth.
“Let’s go,” Candy whispered, sneaking forward to try and catch up to Stan and Solana at a reasonable distance. Everyone else crept beside her.
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