The following day, Mabel met Gideon at the fancy aquatic-themed restaurant named The Beau-T (pronounced "boat"). Normally, she would have loved being there - but not when she was being extorted.

Mabel didn't even bother changing from her Mrs. Mystery outfit. She checked in at the entrance and a waiter showed her the table Gideon had reserved. It was actually a booth, one of the best spots at the restaurant, and the man was already waiting for her.

Gideon stood as she approached. "Mabel Pines! Looking lovely as always." He indicated her seat next to him.

She sat down on the opposite side of the booth.

"I ordered us some champagne," He said, selecting one of the bottles from the table and serving her a glass. He poured another for himself and lifted it in a toast. "To our kids!"

"It's too early for this." Mabel muttered, but she grabbed her glass anyway and toasted. She took only the smallest sip, but the bubbles still burned on the way down.

A waiter approached, positively beaming with delight, and poured them more champagne. "Ah, Monsieur Gideon! So good to see you! What else can I get you today?"

"Lobster. Two orders." Gideon said, putting his feet on the table with his arms behind his head. Mabel frowned.

"Ah, the feet on the table! An excellent choice!"

"Jean Luc, what did we discuss about eye contact? Now bring us the lobster."

"Yes, yes, very good!" The waiter averted his eyes, backing away with the smile still on his face.

Mabel scowled at Gideon. "Please and thank you are words you can use, you know."

He smiled at her, almost gently. "Only one word from you, my sweet, and you can have anything your heart desires."

Mabel pinched her nose. "Gideon, I know we had a thing in the past, but it's over . You haven't changed at all! Just move on! You have a business and a grandson to take care of! There is more to life than fixating on what you can't have!"

Gideon took his feet off the table and leaned forward earnestly. "But, my lady...how could I ever move on from a woman like you? In my heart, you will always be my queen." He reached for her hand.

Mabel jerked her hand away. "I am not your anything, and I never will be!" She stood up and adjusted her fez. "I don't want to hurt the boys, and for Bud's sake I hope you won't forbid their friendship - but I'm leaving, Gideon! Now!"

Gideon narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure about that, Mabel?"

He snapped his fingers and a different waiter immediately bustled over, a newspaper in his hand. Gideon threw it on the table.

The front page showed a picture of her nephews and Buddy, hanging out together, smiling and laughing. The headline read "Li'l Buddy's Little Buddies".

Mabel hesitated. Her heart twisted. She knew Gideon would absolutely forbid their friendship if she so much as took a single step. It wasn't right to allow herself to be manipulated - but could she really take their friendship away from them…?

People gathered around the table, exclaiming about the photo.

"Well, if that ain't something!" A young man exclaimed. "Lil' Buddy got new friends!"

"They're so happy together!" Added the young man's date.

An old lady put her hands to her chest. "If such a lovely friendship like that dies, I think I'll die too!"

"I can verify that will indeed happen!" said the town doctor.

Mabel sat back down, her head in her hands.

"Don't you want this evening to last, my sweet?" Gideon lifted her head with a finger under her chin, offering her glass of champagne.

Mabel snatches the glass and downed it in one gulp.

"Enchanting," Gideon whispered, smiling creepily. "Utterly enchanting."

The twins and Buddy had made plans to climb up on the roof of the Gleeful Family Factory. Buddy hadn't really been dressed for climbing in his light pink suit, so they'd stopped by his home briefly to let him change.

"Liking the shirt," Stan said, as they walked up the road. "It suits you."

"You think?" Buddy glanced down at himself, grinning. He wore a loud Hawaiian shirt patterned with pink and blue. He'd even grabbed a straw hat - his father's adamant lectures about accessorizing made him take the hat by reflex.

Ford nodded. "Oh yeah, this is way better. The suit made you look like a mini-adult, and you looked kind of stiff in it. Does it have actual shoulder pads in it?"

"Yeah," Buddy admitted, rubbing his arm. "It's not up to me. Grandpa wants me to look good in public."

Stan rolled his eyes. "But it's summer! You shouldn't be walking around looking like a businessman! You look fine like this. Well, except for -" He reached for Buddy's bolo tie.

Buddy pulled back. "Wait, that's my lucky bolo tie. I don't go anywhere without it."

"Well, suit yourself," Stan shrugged. "But don't... S uit yourself. Get it? Get it?"

Buddy laughed.

"So, what are we gonna do here again?" Ford asked, as they reached the factory.

Buddy grinned. "The roof - we gotta climb the roof, the view's amazing!"

"Are you sure?" Stan asked, looking up the factory walls. "That…uh. That doesn't look very safe."

Buddy looked at him, surprised. In the less than 48 hours he'd known Stan, 'safety' did not seem like one of his new friends' usual concerns. "It's totally safe," Buddy said. "I've been there a billion times. Come on!" He ran ahead.

When Stan didn't move, Ford drew up next to him. "You don't have to if you don't want to, Stan."

"I'm… I'm fine!" Stan blurted out, nervously looking towards Buddy. "He said it's safe. Let's go. Stop being such a nerd!"

He ran off after Buddy.

The three of them went around the factory to a ladder that led from the ground to the roof. Buddy led the way, Stan next, and Ford last, to reassure Stan that someone would be there to catch him if he fell.

The roof was metallic and slanted. Stan walked slowly, staring instead at his brother's back as they made their way to the edge. He avoided looking down.

Buddy led them to the other side of the roof and they sat down, facing the town.

"Wow, you can see the whole valley from up here!" Ford said. He took a pair of binoculars out of his jacket. "You can see Main Street so clearly… Hey, I see Mr. Dalton!"

"Nice binoculars." Buddy commented.

Ford tried to shrug it off, but a smile crept over his face. "Yeah, I'm prepared for anything."

"Stan, aren't you gonna look?" Buddy asked.

"No, I'm fine." Stan was laying back, trying to look relaxed by having his arms behind his head, but his eyes were shut tight. The slanted roof was actually perfect to lean back against. If he could forget they were several meters away above the ground, he could actually enjoy it. "My butt is comfortable over here, thanks."

Ford made a mental note to keep an eye on Stan, then turned back to admiring the view.

For a while they sat in pleasant quiet, just listening to the wind and the hum of the factory's ventilation. The sun-warmed tiles tingled against their legs. The distant windows of the town glittered like drops of water.

A particularly strong gust of wind blew off Buddy's hat and left a handful of leaves in his hair. "Whoops, better fix that…"

Ford glanced at him. "I wanted to ask, what's up with your hair?"

"My hair?"

"It's white," he pointed out, rather unnecessarily. "I heard people can gray early, but not this early! Is it a mutation or something?"

Buddy looked uncomfortable. "Oh, it's… It's hereditary."

Ford didn't seem very convinced, but before he could push the subject, Stan interrupted.

"Speaking of hereditary, what's up with Gideon?"

"He's my grandpa." Bud said, tugging his hat a little lower. "He was actually the Tent of Telepathy's main attraction, but when my parents sent me to live with him, I… He made up some excuse about me inheriting his psychic powers. He said my face would be just the thing to get more publicity." By now he looked downright miserable, fiddling with his bolo tie.

"So, it's all just your grandpa's thing?" Ford asked. "Do you even want to do it?"

"I do! I-" Buddy hesitated. Then he let out a deep sigh. "No, I don't want to do this."

"We know how that feels," Stan said, eyes still shut.

"What, with Grauntie Mabel?" Ford asked skeptically. "She's not exactly forcing us to follow in her footsteps. Well, she does have us do a ton of chores, but -"

"No, no, with our dad! He wants us to work at his pawn shop or go to a fancy college, but our dream is to sail the world!" He cracked one eye open. "What do you wanna do, Buddy?"

"It sounds silly, but…I wanna be a car salesman. Grandpa actually works with cars as well, but he doesn't even like it. That's a job I wouldn't mind inheriting."

"I imagine you can't talk to him about it." Ford said.

"No. I tried, but he doesn't accept it!" Bud brought his knees to his chest, one hand still clutching the bolo tie. "My parents send me here because they didn't have enough money for us. Grandpa does. And it's been working so well, if I messed it up -" His voice cracked. He hadn't planned on saying any of this. He wasn't even supposed to be friends with them for real, and now -

"Hey." Stan sat up carefully and put a hand on Buddy's shoulder. "That stinks, but if it helps, I think you're a cool guy. We like you outside this whole Lil' Buddy thing."

Bud lifted his head. "Really?"

Stan and Ford both nodded.

Buddy felt a small spark of hope light up in his chest. He sniffed and smiled shakily. "Well... Thank you."

"Someday we'll sail the world and you will own the coolest Camaro ever!" Stan announced. "Ain't nobody gonna stop us!"

Buddy nodded, smiling more widely now.

Stan surprised him by wrapping an arm around his shoulders in a half-hug. Ford scooted closer and patted him on the back. Bud let go of the tie to return the gestures.

As he did, Ford thought he saw something flash on the surface of the bolo tie. As if, just for a moment, it had started to glow.

The Pines family met each other back at the Shack later that day. The twins found Mabel in the living room, dropping in a live lobster in the aquarium along with the axolotl.

"Hey, munchkins!" she said, waving cheerfully. She looked her usual self, but something in her voice was a little... Off.

Ford glanced at Stan and saw that his brother had noticed it, too. "Hi, Grauntie Mabel," Ford said cautiously. "How did it go with Gideon?"

"He didn't do anything weird, did he?" Stan asked suspiciously. Gideon sounded fine on TV, but Buddy had told a different story - he wish he'd known about it before they let Mabel go on a date with him. "If Gideon did anything weird, we'll send him running, just like Norman!"

"You two did what with Norman?" Mabel asked, closing the aquarium.

"Uh…We had a friendly conversation with him about creeping on you. That totally did not involve punching or violence. If Gideon is messing with you, we can deal with him too!"

"Definitely." Ford said, nodding.

Mabel smiled weakly. "Kids, that's very sweet of you, but everything is fine, okay?" She moved towards the kitchen.

Even the axolotl looked worried.

"So, what are you and Gideon gonna do tomorrow?" Ford persisted.

"AUGH! Fine! You guys are right!" Mabel stopped at the living room door, knocking off her fez as she grabbed at her hair. "Gideon is awful! I can't stand him! We dated for a while in the past but he hasn't moved on!"

"Why didn't you kick his butt right away?" Stan said, clinging to his grauntie's arm protectively. "Also I thought girls liked when you touch their hair. You're kinda making a mess of it."

"I know! And we're gonna talk about girls later." Mabel brushed her hair back, trying to fix her bun. "The problem was...you two were getting along well with Buddy, and I didn't wanna ruin it by arguing with Gideon."

Stan blew a raspberry. "Is that it? If something happened, we would have found a way to keep in touch with Buddy."

"Sorry you had to go through that because of us." Ford handed her back her fez. "Next time, you can tell whatever it is to us, and we'll come up with a plan!"

"Thank you." Mabel took her fez. Her eyebrows knitted together for a moment, but then she lifts her head with a smile. "Do you kids... Want pizza for dinner?"

"Heck yeah!" Both twins cheered.

At the Gleeful family's residence, Buddy sat in front of his illuminated vanity, wondering how he'd let it get this far.

"Darn it." he muttered.

He looked over to a recent newspaper sitting on the vanity beside him. He clutched his bolo tie. It started glowing. A matching blue aura engulfed the newspaper and it floated toward him.

His name was in the headlines, as usual. He didn't know when the picture was taken, but the article spoke fondly of him and his "friends". They did really look like they were having fun.

And they had.

But they weren't supposed to.

He wasn't supposed to be getting along with them. At least not for real. Gideon would probably be really angry if he found out it wasn't an act anymore.

"Darn it!" he repeated, louder and angrier, clenching the bolo tie in his fist. "Gosh dang, huckleberry honeysuckle darn it!"

Before he'd realized it, all the furniture in his room was levitating, and the newspaper lit on fire and burned to ashes.

"Oh my."

He let go of the tie. Everything fell to the ground with a loud bang. His wardrobe landed so hard the wood on the side of it cracked. He winced.

Gideon slammed the door open. "What's going on in here?!" he demanded. "It's late already, you should be -" He stopped, seeing Bud's hand hovering over the tie. "Oh, were you practicing using the amulet? Excellent!"

Gideon had insisted that Bud continue practicing late into the night. He even stayed to supervise. Wouldn't do to get the boy off-track now.

The next morning found Gideon in the living room, reviewing his plans. He'd given Bud permission to have a second bowl of strawberry and peanuts ice cream. This was both a reward for working hard, and a reminder - the only reason Bud could have such a treat was because he lived under Gideon's roof.

Ring. Riiiiing.

Gideon picked up the phone. "I'm not buying anything."

"And I ain't sellin', pal," a kid's voice answered. "I wanna talk to Buddy."

"Who is this?"

"Stanley Pines."

"Oh, of course!" Gideon's tone became sickly sweet. "You sound so mature I almost didn't recognize you!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Stan snapped. "can I talk to Buddy now?"

"Fine."

On the other end of the line, Stan heard Gideon shout for Bud. He waited for him to pick up.

"Are you sure about this, Stan?" Ford asked, standing next to him.

"Yeah, totally. Buddy is cool."

Bud came on the phone. "Hi, Stanley!"

"Look Bud, we gotta talk. This is important. Can we meet sometime today?"

"Uh… O-Of course! How about my family's factory again?"

"I guess."

"Great! But what is this for?"

"We'll meet you there and I'll explain it further. But everything is cool, okay?" Stan crossed his fingers behind his back. "Yup, it's all totally copacetic. We'll see you there!"

And he hung up.

"I hope we know what we're doing," Ford muttered.

Bud slowly put down the phone. He turned to Gideon, who had been standing next to him, listening to the entire conversation.

"I think they're onto us." Bud said tonelessly.

"What a shame! I was starting to like them." Gideon shrugged elaborately. "But I guess we have to do something about it now, hm?"

Swallowing, Buddy nodded.

The twins headed to the Gleeful family's factory.

It was past closing time, so the place was eerie quiet. They didn't see any signs of Buddy outside.

"Do you think he forgot?" Ford asked, looking around.

"Don't know. But hey, I think the door is open! He might be inside."

Stan ran up to the factory's front door.

"Stanley, wait!" Ford tried to call him, but his brother disappeared inside. Ford groaned. "I don't have a good feeling about this."

But he followed his brother anyway.

The place was dark and empty. Even standing in the doorway with both doors open, it was impossible to see anything outside the square of yellow light. They could vaguely make out the shapes of boxes, piled high against the walls, with Bud's face stamped on all of them. But they couldn't tell if anyone was there, or even where the light switch was.

"Well this isn't creepy at all." Stan said, stepping in. "Hello? Is anyone here?"

Ford followed him. "There has to be somebody here. They wouldn't just leave the doors unlocked, right?"

Suddenly the doors slammed shut behind them.

"Hey!" Stan whipped around and yanked at the handles. "It's locked! Hey! HEY!" He pounded at the door.

The lights went on, temporarily blinding them. They turned around, shielding their eyes.

There was a single chair at the back of the room. It turned slowly to face them - and Bud was sitting in its seat, stroking a plushie version of himself.

"Howdy, Pines boys." Bud said quietly.

"Hi, Bud..." Ford said slowly.

"What gives?" Stan demanded. "What're you doing acting all creepy and stuff? Not that you scared us! I mean you didn't scare me. I dunno about Ford, here-"

"Hey!"

"I knew you two wanted to talk about my gramps," Bud said. "but you shouldn't be messing around with things that are none of your business. This town has secrets you couldn't begin to comprehend."

Stan frowned. "What? C'mon, man! I thought we were friends!"

"You lied to us on the roof, didn't you?" Ford said, inching closer to Stan. "You're in league with your uncle. He's planning something, isn't he? Stan, I bet they've both been conning our whole family the entire time!"

Stan clenched his fists. "Gideon was going all creepy on our grauntie, did you know that, Bud?! I thought you wanted to be better than your gramps!"

Bud scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess that's not very nice. But he's my family, you know? I have to side with him. You guys know how it is, right? No hard feelings." He stood and gripped his lucky bolo tie, lifting his free hand in the air.

A blue glow surrounded each twin and they lifted into the air, but before they could react they were thrown across the room and into a pile of merchandise.

Luckily the boxes they landed on were full of packing peanuts and soft dolls, but Stan nearly banged his head falling to the floor and Ford landed painfully on his elbow, smashing a talking doll.

"Howdy!" The doll squeaked.

"Did you lie about everything!? " Stan shouted, struggling to his feet. "I thought you said it was fake!"

"Tell me, Stan, is this fake?"

Buddy gestured with his hand again. More merchandise floated out of their boxes - dolls, buttons, some very heavy coasters. With a flick of his fingers, Bud sent everything zooming towards the twins.

"Agh!" Ford ducked for cover as a coaster smacked him in the skull.

Stan dodged, grabbed a box and started trying to beat the merchandise away. "Cut it out, man! I thought we were friends!"

"I'm sorry, Stanley," Bud said, sounding genuinely sad. "but I gotta do this."

"Stan, forget about him!" Ford shouted, as objects crashed all around him. "We just gotta get out of here!"

"I d-OW!" Stan dropped as a Li'l Bud Mug hit him hard between his shoulders.

"Stan!"

Ford ran to a box labeled "blunt object" and pulled out a wooden bat. He darted behind a pile of boxes and tried to sneak around Bud's blind spot. It didn't look like Bud noticed him, or was even looking for him. If he could just get there fast enough...

Stan groaned and looked up. "No - STANFORD, BEHIND YOU!"

Ford turned as a bookshelf he hadn't noticed slowly began tipping. He yelled and covered his head as objects rained down on him, smacking his arms and shoulders. He stumbled back.

Stan grabbed his brother's jacket and yanked him out of the way just before the shelf collapsed in an explosion of packing peanuts, crushing everything under it.

"We are SO out of here!" Stan shouted, racing towards the door.

Suddenly he felt Ford's hand slip from his fingers. He whirled around to find Bud levitating Ford ten feet above the ground. A pair of scissors ripped its way out of the nearest box and pointed itself at Ford's face, glinting ominously.

"Is there anything you don't sell?!" Ford shouted.

Stan screamed. "Bud! Stop it! STOP!"

Bud hesitated - just long enough for Stan to launch himself at Bud and punch him squarely in the face.

Bud yelped and grabbed Stan's hand before he could land another hit, but his concentration was broken and Ford fell from the air with a yelp.

Stan snarled. "Family can suck, I get it! But you mess with my brother, you mess with ME!"

Stan leaned back and then slammed his forehead into Bud's.

Hurt and disoriented, Bud stumbles back. Stan lunged and snapped the bolo tie from around Bud's neck. He raised it over his head.

"No, wait, waitwaitwait!" Bud yelped, grabbing for it - but Stan threw it to the floor, smashing the gem against the concrete. A puff of blue smoke escaped from the cracks and the gem turned a dull, lifeless gray.

"No!" Bud cried, reaching to the broken pieces. "Gosh darn it, grandpa is gonna kill me…!"

"Good luck with that, pal." Stan said bitterly. He walked away to help Ford up. "Go tell Gideon that Mabel is never ever is gonna date him."

The twins left the factory and Bud made his way home in the dark. He could feel his forehead swelling from Stan's headbutt.

He reached his home and walked into the living room to find Gideon and Mabel having tea - or at least, his grandfather indulging himself with cupcakes and Mabel staring at her tea like it was poisoned.

Gideon looked up when he walked in. "What happened to you, boy?" he asked. And then his eyes twitched in sudden realization. "Where are the twins?"

"They…" Bud winced, wary of Gideon's anger. "They beat me up and ruined my lucky tie."

For a split second, Mabel froze. Then she slammed her teacup down and stabbed a finger at Gideon. "Ha! I guess we're done here, Gleeful!"

"W-what?! Wait!"

But Mabel rushed past Bud and slammed the door behind her.

Gideon threw the door open. "Fine! FINE! Mabel Pines, I rebuke thee! I rebuke thee! The entire Pines' family have invoked my fury! You will all pay recompense for your transgressions!"

"You said the same thing when we broke up!" Mabed shouted back. "Throw that word-a-day calendar away, Gleeful!"

Bud heard the roar of an engine as Mabel Pines drove away. Gideon turned to face Bud, his face a dangerous shade of red. "And you- you- YOU! All you had to do was keep those two out of the way and you messed it up!"

"I-"

He squeezed his hands together, and he saw his grandfather's eyes drop to his collar. "And you LOST THE AMULET?!"

"I'm sorry..." Bud said miserably, staring at his shoes.

Gideon took several deep breaths, wheezing like an angry bull. Then he turned on his heel and stalked to the bookshelf. He took out an old book with a deep blue cover. A gold star was pressed into the front, with the number "2" written in pitch-black ink.

"Grandpa?" Bud said tentatively.

"We gotta work on something else now." Gideon said his voice low and threatening. "And they'll see… They will all see."

The twins returned to the shack to find Mabel already there. She was sprawled on the armchair in the living room, apparently half-asleep.

Then she noticed the twins coming in and stretched, joints popping. "Hey, family." She rubbed her eyes and looked at them with concern. "So, how was it with Buddy?"

Of course she could already guess what had happened from what she'd heard at the Gleeful house, but she wanted to hear it from her niblings. They didn't look so good.

"Not so well." Stan rubbed his arm, looking away. Ford patted his shoulder. "But, eh. It's whatever." Stan regained his composure and wrapped an arm around Ford's shoulders. "Couldn't ask for a better friend than this guy right here!"

Ford smiled. "Same here, bro."

Mabel smiled a little. She'd wanted them to make more friends, but as long they were happy, she was happy. "Glad to hear that! Siblings should always have each other, through thick and thin!"

"You okay, too?" Stan asked. "How was it with Gideon?"

She shrugged. "He reacted the way I expected him to. I swear he said the same thing when we broke up. Swore revenge on the family. But whatever he has in stock, I'm sure we can deal with it!"

Stan laughed. "Yeah, what's he's gonna do now? Guess what number we're thinking of?"

"Negative eight!" Ford joined in. "I think it's more unlikely someone would guess a negative number."

"Brilliant!" Mabel exclaimed, beaming at him. "You two are a gem. Those Gleefuls don't stand a chance against the Pines!"

The twins threw their fists in the air. "Pines! Pines! Pines!"

She laughed. "Uh-oh! He's planning his revenge right now! What you're gonna do?" She pulled Stan and Ford on the couch with her, tickling them until they were all on the floor, piled on each other in a heap of giggles and laughter.

Even if he wasn't grounded, Bud was supposed to be in his room.

He wasn't.

He snuck out of the house and moved quietly down the sidewalk. He looked back only once, checking the lights in Gideon's room on the second story. The lights were out.

He kept walking.

In just a few moments, he reached a dark alley. A group of hooded people were standing there, waiting for him. He joined them.

They disappeared into the night.

BHDK EXW VR ZKDW? HYHUBERGB'V ZHLUG.

Hey, guys! Sorry for the delay, but here's the rest of Stan By Me! Haven't been on my PC those past few days. Hope you guys enjoy it tho!

Absolute Rift - had fun using him! glad you liked his appearance here and the fanfic!

Callie Newman - the timeline doesn't really fit but with that twist how we could not make Hamilton references!

Angelwings2002 - thank you! glad you liked. that twist was brought by my friend. we're very proud of all those new twists in the story!

Angelwings2002 - again sorry for the delay, but here's the conclusion! hope you liked it!