Epilogue

Halloween was in the air, and Ford could hear the shrieking of sugar-hyped children already down the road. It was almost time to start the Mystery Shack's Halloween special, a Gravity Falls tradition by this point. Apparently, Stan started the tradition a couple years after starting the place up as a means to get back at the punks who tried to vandalize the place, and it stuck. Two generations' worth of kids grew up to anticipate it, and Stanley didn't feel the need to end it just yet.

A knock on the door made him look up. "You done in there, Sixer?" Stan called through. "I'm about to open!"

"Just about, Lee," Ford replied, adjusting his glasses and for the umpteenth time wondering how he got roped into this.

Oh yeah. Because he was dumb enough to let Stan know he secretly enjoyed doing The Twin Thing.

It was slow during the school season, and Stanley wanted to spruce things up for the off-season crowd. Somehow—Ford was certain his mind was going for him to agree to this—Stanley convinced him to change into one of his spare outfits and spook out the incoming tour. It happened to be a day that Ford had absolutely nothing to do other than reorganize his research papers, and oddly enough, he wasn't bored enough for THAT.

He'd spied in on a couple of Stanley's tours and would deny it to his dying day that he would emulate Stanley's showmanship whenever he had the house to himself. Soos caught him once, but Ford knew the guy was nice enough to not embarrass him like that by telling Stanley.

Either way, he managed to pull off a convincing tour that day, and headed inside with Stanley right as Wendy was coming in for the couple of hours she worked after school for some extra pocket money. Seeing her book bag go airborne when she saw them made that whole day worth it.

Oh, he HAD to let Stan know he still liked doing The Twin Thing…

Ford stepped out of the bedroom, rolling his eyes at the overly-eager expression on Stanley's face. "Oh would you grow up, Stanley, it's not like we haven't done this before!"

Stan was unperturbed. "Yes, but this is for HALLOWEEN. People LOVE twins on Halloween!"

"We're not begging for candy, we're gearing up to attempt to frighten children and enthrall adults."

"…..still the same crap we did when we were kids on Halloween. And I'm calling the candy the brats leave behind in their terror."

Ford groaned, running a hand down his face. "Of course you will." He sighed, straightening up. "Let's do this, then." He reached out and caught the duplicate 8-ball cane Stanley tossed to him.

"Give you an extra hour in D 'n' D 'n' More D tonight."

"You're on."

Stan beamed, tugging on his eye patch, heading out to the mini-party outside.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Presenting THE MYSTERY TWINS!"

THE END

And now to sit back and await my inevitable demise with the upcoming episode. It's been nice knowing you, see you all in therapy!