— Long time no see

      The bell above the door rings brightly, announcing the arrival of a new guest, when you enter the room hesitantly trying not to step too loudly with your heavy boots. The gift shop is deserted and quiet, which is rather odd given the time of day, and the day of the week. At the entrance, you noticed a sign about excursions and assumed that you were on time for the next tour.       You try to look as natural as possible and not attract undue attention, but you idly realize this is a hopeless endeavor because you look rather out of place. It might have been worth it to change from your uniform to casual clothing, but you were in too much of a hurry, and barely managed to pop home and throw off your hiking pack. You shift uncomfortably from one foot to the other trying not to pay attention to your discomfort, and move deeper into the store, along the shelves.       You decide to look around and examine the goods: various T-shirts with strange puma and panther prints, snow globes, badges and other standar stuff. As you approach one of the shelves, your gaze catches on an unremarkable dummy. The wooden dolls stand in a row as if ready for combat as the light shines on their low quality varnish. All the toys are of a kind, representing a man in a black suit and red fez. You hit one on it's ridiculously large head, to which he nods vigorously agreeing with your every unspoken word. You chuckle and turn it over in your hands. After some thought, you decided that it would be a good decoration on your shelf, and walk towards the checkout.       Behind the counter there's a teenage girl who looks as if she's bored and wishing she were in a more interesting place right now. She swings her boots up on the counter and leafs lazily through a magazine.       Seeing a guest, she gives you a quick glance and a raised eyebrow. Apparently, your outfit does not surprise her at all; it looks as if she's quite used to strange customers.       "Ready to buy something?" she asks, not even moving. You clear your throat and place the dummy on the counter. "Four and twenty-six," she says, and you take a few bills from your wallet.       "Excuse me, do you know when the next tour is?" you have plenty of time and some entertainment wouldn't hurt.       The girl finally puts her feet down from the counter and takes the money you hold out.       "You're in luck, the next one will be in fifteen minutes. You should buy a ticket right away, before people swarm in," she advises, raking the change out of the cash register.       You thank her, and as you are about to put your purchase in your pocket there's a crash from behind. You turn around at the noise and see a broom lying on the floor in front of you and a guy standing over it. You didn't even notice him while he sweeped the other side of the hall. You plan to just turn around and leave, but suddenly, something in the stranger's face catches your attention, and you look closer at him. Recognize him.       “[Y/n]?…” Soos looks at you with eyes wide with shock. His voice is trembling as if ready to burst into tears any second.       You don't even have time to answer, as his massive body crashes into you with force knocking out all the air from your lungs. He squeezes you in a bear hug, while you can only wheeze helplessly and try to hug him back. His body is trembling, and he breaks into sobs as you soothingly drive circles along his back, allowing him to get your uniform wet. Your cap had already fallen during the collision and now is lying unattended on the floor, but you don't pay attention to it.       After several minutes of tight hugs and unintelligible hiccups, Soos lossens his grip and lets you take a deep breath. There's a cough behind your back and you remember the seller, who's been standing all this time and embarrassedly watching what's happening.       "Who is it?" the girl asks her friend in bewilderment, not understanding such an extreme reaction to a visitor.       "Yes Soos, who is it?" from the left there's another voice of someone who obviously wasn't there a minute ago.       It's a boy of about twelve, wearing a white and blue cap with a pine tree print on the center. He's confused and curious about you. He's probably come along with the crowd, whose arrival, by the way, you notice just now. The tour group has returned from their excursion and are now roaming around the store. Most look straight at you with sparkling eyes, some even start taking pictures of you with the cameras hanging on their chests, which makes you extremely uncomfortable and makes you wish you could move the touching meeting to a more private place.       "Wow, they're wearing a military uniform!" exclaims a girl enthusiastically, she's been standing all this time to the right of the boy, but is unable to keep out of it any longer.       You are surprised to notice how similar their features are: from the shape of the face to the curls. Twins. Definitely twins. Their faces seem vaguely familiar to you, but you brush it off.       "Hi, I'm Mabel!" the girl holds out her hand to you and you shook it mechanically. "And you must be some kind of tough warrior that's here on a secret mission?!"       "Mabel, secret agents don't look like that, and more importantly they don't talk about it," the boy rolls his eyes, but still holds out his hand to shake yours. "Forgive my sister, you can ignore her. I'm Dipper."       The sales girl has already managed to get out from behind the counter, not wanting to miss anything, and introduces herself as Wendy. You shake her hand and bow your head thoughtfully.       "Everyone, this is “[Y/n]!" Soos announces happily, placing his arm around your shoulder. Apparently you don't have to introduce yourself; this is for the best. "The best!"       You chuckle with skepticism and blush. Soos has always been able to make you feel cool. Although you never did understand the reasons for such pure admiration, he seemed to idolize you and always tried to imitate you, starting from your body language and ending with a trip to the forest, after hearing a story about your camping (after which you walked around the forest with a search party for several more hours, only to finally find him stuck in a tree). Before you realized he'd become something like a son to you.       You look tenderly at his face glowing with happiness, realizing how much you missed him and noting how he's grown up. A feeling of nostalgia sweeps over you as you listen with pleasure how Soos, under the wide open and attentive eyes of his public, tells his friends one of the stories about you. It has been so long that you even managed to forget what it's like to feel at home. But something is missing…       "What's with all the noise in here?!" The sound of a hoarse low voice pierces through you like an electric shock: your skin is covered in goosebumps, and your eyes flutter open when you recognize the voice and turn to look at the speaker.       Everyone falls silent and the crowd parts, revealing the angry store owner. He's clearly unhappy that his workers are chattering, interfering and distracting customers from purchasing goods.The tourists begin to disperse, either having lost interest in the upcoming showdown, or not wanting to be caught in it. The teenagers themselves have tensed visibly, but don't move.       The man is about ready for a tirade about job responsibilities and the consequence of leaving the register unattended when his blue eyes meet yours. All the wrath leaves him along with his color: his body freezes, his eyes become rounder than cents.       "Everyone out of the store."       The teenagers look at him in shock, as if they had heard the most outrageous nonsense. They look at each other with uncertainty, not knowing how to react.       "I said «get out of the store»!" Stanley barks, losing his patience, but not taking his eyes off you.       There's a rush while the tourists, muttering in annoyance, leave the premises. A minute later the hall is empty, and a deathly silence hangs in the air. Those who remain in the souvenir shop don't know what to do with themselves, so they fall silent, wondering what to expect.       Not for a second do you and Stanley break eye contact, the whole world seems to stop spinning, leaving only the two of you in the arms of this moment. You see everything in the other's eyes: amazement, shock, fear, disbelief, longing. And you feel the corners of your lips curl up.       "Long time no see, Stan."       Pines doesn't answer. In one moment his face is bursting in a cocktail of emotions, and in the next is completely empty, leaving not a hint of the past storm. Suddenly, still without changing his facial expression and without saying a word, he raises his foot over the floorboards. a step, another, and in a second you are lifted into the air, wrapped in a steel grip. You don't even have time to squeak when you are thrown over his shoulder, as if you weighed nothing. Ignoring the indignant cries of the children, Stanley walks silently towards the hall.       He kicks the door open, passing the living room, the kitchen and going up the stairs. He brings you into the room, slamming the door behind him with his foot, and to your stunned delight, plops down on the bed with you: at that moment, no one is worried about having your dirty street clothes and the consequences of their contact with the clean linen. You jump a little from the collision with the mattress, but there is no time to be indignant, because almost immediately a flurry of kisses hits you. Tears mix with your skin as Stan covers you with tenderness, trying not to miss a single place on your skin: cheeks, nose, lips, forehead, neck. During breaks, he keeps mumbling incoherently about how many years have passed and cursing in Spanish.       Stan buries his face in your chest, it makes you chuckle, as he presses his shaking body closer to your own, rubbing wide circles on your back to quiet sobs. How much time has passed since you two laid around all day and discussed unimportant things. You have missed these moments incredibly, even simply being next to this person. But now you are together again and you find this unchanged, you will definitely catch up.       You kiss the top of his head and rest your cheek on it.       "I missed you so much," comes Stan's muffled, husky voice.       You hum in approval as you stroke his gray hair. "I missed you too."