Chapter Text
It was a beautiful summer day in the sleepy town of Gravity Falls. The birds were singing, the sun was shining, and it seemed everyone was out and about outside. Well, almost everyone. Inside the library, she scanned the shelves of dusty books. The librarian said it was supposed to be right here on this shelf. It had a deep purple cover and gold accents. It was so dark and dingy in the library that it was nearly impossible to even read some of the books. Most of the spines had split and torn. Man, the government really needs to put more funding into this place .
Walking past an aisle, something caught her eye. A man at his own little table in a dark, secluded corner. He was surrounded by towers of stacked books of varying size and shape. He was looking over multiple open books around him, bent over writing in some sort of journal in one hand. His other hand tangled itself in his hair. The light from the little lantern he brought with him reflected on his glasses. Wait… he must be that guy that lives in that shack in the woods.
She glanced at the books on the table. One on the very top of a tower caught her eye. Bingo! Just the exact one she was looking for! She shuffled over and placed their hand on top of it.
“Uh…” she cleared her throat. “Excuse me.”
His head snapped up, seemingly out of a trance. His eyes were wide. He obviously wasn’t expecting company.
“Are you using this? Currently, I mean. It’s on your table and-“
“Oh, yes, uh… go ahead,” he cleared his throat, looking back down at his journal. Though his pen simply hovered above the page, not making contact. Up close, he was kind of cute. His curly brown hair was a bit messy and he had big, expressive brown eyes. He glanced back up at her.
“Why do you want it?” He asked, curiosity in his inflection. She was taken aback by it for a second. Why is he asking them? He had it in the first place, didn’t he? She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, praying she doesn’t sound stupid for what she was about to say.
“Don’t laugh, but I’m a cryptozoologist.”
His eyes got wide and he straightened his posture. It seems she finally piqued his interest. He finally set down his pen, placing his hands on the table. He looked her up and down, studying her.
“Really?,” he mused, crossing his arms and leaning forward, pressing his weight onto the table “You study the anomalies in this area?”
“Well, yes. I try to anyway.” Who was this guy? She started to shrink into herself. She did not need another person in Gravity Falls making fun of her for her work.
“Well… I do, too.” The man said awkwardly. “I didn’t think there would be someone out here like me doing this.” He chuckled shyly. Man, his laugh was cute, too.
“Oh, I… I guess that explains all these, then,” she responded, picking up a book and analyzing its cover. It was titled Anomalies Unknown. She had read it before. The man pulled out the chair beside his own, looking up with inviting eyes.
“Would you… like to chat?” He asked bashfully. He looked more confident than he actually was. It was at this moment she noticed the hand on the chair had six fingers. She tried not to look surprised, but he noticed and carefully put his hands back on the table, curling them into balls to hide his fingers. Her eyes came up to his.
“Can I know your name first?”
“Oh… Stanford Pines. And yours?”
“____,” she replied with a smile. ____ took his offer and sat in the chair, placing her hands carefully in her lap. They sat down and chatted. He really was as smart as he looked. He had more PHDs than she had utensils in her kitchen drawer.
“Tell me,” he said “what have you seen around here so far?”
“What haven’t I seen?” She replied
“I grew up watching Gnomes try to steal my trash at least twice a week.”
“So, you’re from here.”
“Yeah. Why else would I love the weird?”
Stanford chuckled at that statement, adjusting his glasses.
“I didn’t think someone here would be like me. I’ve always had an affinity for the strange and unnatural. I didn’t think anyone else would get it.”
“I didn’t think anyone else would understand, either,” she replied. ____ looked out the window and saw the daylight beginning to fade. She stood up and tucked the book under her arm and smiled at Stanford.
“We should go out and look for some cryptids together.” Stanford perked at that, seeming excited. A smile spread across his face.
“Really, you want to do it together?”
“Yes, I do!” She picked up his pen and took his hand, which was weirdly sweaty, and flipped it over and wrote her number on his palm. She set his pen back down on top of his journal.
“I’ll see you around, Stanford Pines.”
“Oh, uh, please just call me Ford.”
“Alright, Ford.” ____ said sweetly with a tilt of her head. As she turned, she could feel his eyes on her back, watching her leave.
As she walked away, Ford felt his face get warm.