Tag: queue

thesnadger:

The Power of Mabel Week: Day 1 – I Trust You

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“We should talk about the day I came
back.” Ford said, sitting beside Stan on the couch.

Stan shrugged, sniffing at the bottle
of pink, fizzing liquid that Mabel had given him earlier. “Works
for me.”

“When
I first returned I…I reacted badly. Very badly. …Do…you
remember?”

Stan put the bottle down, frowning.
“Not really…” he said. But his tone was uncertain. Ford saw him rub his
left cheek, absentmindedly.

“You asked me to thank you…” Ford
said. “And I acted indignant. I was too proud and blind to see that
you’d most likely saved my life. Certainly saved me from an existence
trapped in the space between dimensions.”

Stan didn’t respond, only stared out
into the distance. That was probably a good sign. It often meant he
was remembering something. Ford kept talking.

“I…did thank you some time later,
in the Fearamid. But it was under duress. It wasn’t…” he sighed.
How was it so easy to articulate himself when speaking on so many
topics, and so impossible at times like these? He decided to skip to
the words he truly wanted to say.

“…Thank you, Stanley. Thank you for
everything. For every year you spent working on the portal. Thank you
for saving me.”

Ford wasn’t sure what he’d expected
from Stan’s reaction. Joy, he’d hoped for. Satisfaction or relief
he’d have liked…he’d considered the possibility of anger or
reproach, but instead of any of these he was still staring into the
middle distance. Ford was considering asking if Stan had heard him
when he spoke.

“Mabel.” Stan said finally. “You
should thank Mabel too.”

Ford blinked. “…Mabel? Why her?”

Stan turned to him, raising an eyebrow.
“Nobody told you?”