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[charlastan]

"Hi! You've reached Stan Pines' magic phone box thing or whatever. Leave me a message and maybe if I care enough about what you've got to say I'll actually get back to you. I probably don't, but hey! Test your luck! (Followed by obnoxious laughter until the BEEP)"

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[mviw]

[Ford looks Stan up and down.] Got all dressed up for me, huh? Heh...

[Awkward chuckling aside, Stan already asked him upfront and Ford can't back down now. He breathes in and lets out a sigh.]

While I was... occupied at home, I had time to think about things. Right after I came through the portal, I didn't stop to wonder what you had done to get it working again and what your life was like. I thought I was coming back to things being the same as they were thirty years ago, or the way they were at home.

[He pauses briefly and looks away--but then he makes direct eye contact with his brother. The least he could do is look him in the eye.] I was wrong, Stanley, about a lot of things. I didn't expect to live through dealing with Bill and I may not, depending on how things play out. What I thought was, if I did make it out alive, if the family makes it out alive... I...

[Ford breathes again.] If I kicked you out, you would have to relocate and start over again. No one should have to do that, especially at our age.

...

I'm saying I want you to stay.

[charlastan]

[Before Ford got there, Stan did try and guess what this news might be. He had no way to be certain, but is first guess would have been a breakthrough in the portal, or some other thing about Wonderland. It's one of the only things they've been willingly cooperating on again.

(A darker part of him was half expecting it to be something that wasn't great news at all, or something that would only be great news for Ford. Because that's just how life goes for him, right?)

But as Ford goes on, Stan stops being able to follow. It's what he's been waiting to hear, the apology he was convinced he was never getting, but now that he has it he doesn't know what to do with it. It isn't relief that comes over him, but...guarded confusion. He looks like he's waiting for a punchline he doesn't want to hear.

When Ford's done, there's an awkward beat where neither of them say anything. When it finally sinks in that that's it, Ford's done, Stan...Stan doesn't know what to think, honestly.]

Heh. You're sayin' you, uh...

[Stan can't help it. He glances around them, trying to spot anything else that might be different.]

...This. This is one of those event things, right? I didn't catch one of those creeps sayin' anything, but...

[But that's got to be it. He wants to believe, but it's the only possibility that makes any damn sense.]

[mviw]

... [He isn't even angry, or offended. The best he can offer is a shrug and a really small, sad smile.] No, no it isn't.

Come on, Stan. Have I ever been able to get anything past you or Ma?

[charlastan]

[Even Stan has to grin a little at the nostalgia that drags up.]

...Nah, you've always been a crappy liar.

[Or more accurately, Stan and Ma were always exceptionally good liars, and could usually pick out someone else's lies with ease.]

You're serious though? You really want me to stick around? Even after...y'know. Everything?

["Everything" encompasses a lot of things at this point. They'd be here all day if Stan asked about them all individually.]

[mviw]

[Ford scratches the back of his neck rather sheepishly.]

Are you sure you want to stick around after everything? ... Look. We're getting old. Who knows how long we have left if I even make it out of Bill's apocalypse? The last thing I remember is Bill going after you and the kids. I don't know what I would do if--

[He stubbornly scrunches up his face.]

--Don't make me say it. What do you want, a kiss on the cheek?

[charlastan]

[Ever since Ford mentioned that he was going to be kicking Stan out at the end of the summer, he's been mentally changing all of his plans. Not that he'd had a ton of plans for what would happen after Ford came out of the portal, but getting thrown to the street definitely hadn't been one of them. Sure, he probably wouldn't even remember that conversation when they got home, but it hasn't stopped Stan from thinking about it and trying to figure out what his life will become. The obvious first step is to make as much cash as he could before the summer ends (and damn it, that huge sum from the Mystery Mansion would've helped so much), and have a closing sale the second the kids got on their bus - everything must go, including Mr. Mystery himself. He'd figure out how to break it to Soos, and then...hit the road, probably. Leave everyone behind. Take up a new identity, since his old one is gone and Ford needs his life back. Probably fall back into harder crime, because what else could he do at this point? Maybe he'd wind up in jail again and maybe he'd break out out of habit. Or maybe he wouldn't.

Either way, Stan's stunned to have all of those emergency plans ripped away. No, to be told that he doesn't need them anymore. There's still that weird itch left behind, the sense that there's still something else he's supposed to do here. No one just...gives Stan things, or lets him off the hook that easily.

But Ford is.

Stan shrugs, and completely fails to look nonchalant about all of this.]

Eh. That sounds like even more of a reason to stick around anyway.

[He's spent most of his life without Ford. If they really don't have long left, then that's more reason not to waste the time they've got, right? He wants to stick around. Ford was the one who wanted him gone...but now he doesn't.

Stan should have a smart ass remark to match, but his face scrunches up too - for different reasons. Before he can say or do anything else though, he steps forward and pulls Ford into a tight hug.]

...Don't make me say it either.

[Slightly different "it" but same principle.]

[mviw]

[He knows it's a lot to take in. He knows Stan has every right not to believe him and that? That is a hard pill for Ford to swallow. He's grateful that Stan isn't making a big deal out of it, and the comment takes him by happy surprise.

The hug does too, even more so.

Because... it's a hug.

Ford stiffens up... and then... he hugs Stan back.]

Yeah, yeah.

[The realization that Stan could have and probably should have laughed in his face--or done something to that effect--is heavy enough to make Ford extend the hug a little longer.

Stan could have said no, could have told Ford to take this and shove it and he didn't.

He doesn't know what else to say, so this hug will have to do.]