Note: So I don't really get on here too often, but I used to really like parapines back in 2012 when it helped keep me happy through college and I thought I might as well put something out there now that it's four years later and hardly anybody still cares. I'll continue this at some point soon. Dipper and Norman are like 15/14 in this btw. Also this is stupid.
Dipper Pines wasn't really the kind of person who cared much about looking "presentable." Usually all he needed was his trademark t-shirt, shorts, and sweat-stained vest and he was good for whatever death-defying adventure awaited him on any particular day. But tonight was no usual night. Tonight, hopefully, wouldn't feature any paranormal activities of any kind. It would instead feature dancing, food, and hopefully a little boyfriend smoochin' if he played his cards right. And that meant dressing up in his fanciest duds.
A week earlier, Dipper caught wind of a dance being held in the Gravity Falls high school gymnasium, and after much insecure hand wringing and nervousness Dipper managed to work up the courage to ask his boyfriend Norman if he would maybe wanna go with him if he wasn't too busy or anything and to the delight of the boy he said yes. Ever since admitting to liking each other as "more than friends" at the start of the summer, their "dates" ordinarily consisted of the same types of general hanging out and adventures in the woods they had usually gone on the summers before, only with the added components of hand holding and the occasional cuddling sesh thrown in. Starting tonight, Dipper was determined to change all that. Starting with his wardrobe.
In his room at the Mystery Shack he put them on. His regular vest he exchanged for a black sweater one over a white button up, his cargo shorts he replaced with black dress pants. The bow tie he usually wore around his bare neck with his usual wardrobe to look fancy was in the process of being tied under his collar as was proper. Even his hat was cast aside. By the time he was finished he was looking pretty snazzy if he did say so himself.
"Well you're looking uncommonly dapper tonight," Mabel said as she sauntered into the room. "Hey, I should start calling you Dapper instead of Dipper, eh? Eh? EH?" She punctuated each exclamation with pokes to her brother's face that started out playful but quickly became painful.
"Yes, okay," He said, shielding himself until the jabs finally stopped. "I heard you. Eh."
"I daresay you're the dapperist Dipper ever to dip and dap, now give me some dap, dip." She raised her palm for Dipper to give her some of the aforementioned dap and let it hover in the air just long enough for it to become awkward once it was clear that no dap would be given on this night. "How you feelin'? Excited for your big date?"
"Heck yes. Tonight I'm gonna sweep Norman off his feet real nice and classy like. This is kinda our first 'date-date,' you know? It's gonna be so romantic. It'll be just like when Selina Kyle danced with Bruce Wayne at Miranda Tate's charity ball in The Dark Knight Rises. Only we're both Bruce and there's no hamfisted Occupy Wall Street metaphor."
"Whatever Dapper. Any big, unnecessary, convoluted plan you got stashed away? You got your mile long list of a thousand parts?"
"Please. Tonight the plan is just to dance and maybe, I dunno," turning away, he mumbled into his shoulder something that sounded suspiciously similar to "kiss Norman for the first time," but either his sister didn't hear it or chose to ignore his little comment for the moment.
"You're gonna have fun. And I'll be there the whole time collecting some sweet scrapbookertunities™."
"You know, ordinarily I find your tendency to photograph unguarded moments of our relationship extremely disrespectful and intrusive, but tonight I want these memories documented, so-" he placed his hand over his mouth and adopted an odd high-pitched manner of speaking "-you have my permission to take pictures." The confused look on his sister's face told him that he had vastly overestimated his own ability to make a hip pop-culture reference, as usual, and could only blush as he sheepily explained, "That was a Bane impression. I'm sorry. Let's forget I did that. Just go get your camera. I have a feeling he'll be here any-" as if on some sitcom-esque queue, a series of knocks came to the front door, which sent Dipper on a mad dash to let whoever was knocking in.
Opening the front door, Dipper got a good look at Norman, who had too dressed himself as nicely as he could for the occasion. It was quite a shock to Dipper's system to see him wearing "formal wear," even though it was just a wrinkled and untucked white dress shirt, a black tie, and khakis. Not that he was complaining. In his head it was like one of those scenes in the movies where the camera starts on a pair of feet and pans up to reveal an incredibly attractive woman dressed in a beautiful dress while saxophone music plays in the background. Only it was gangly and spiky-haired Norman standing on the other side of the door.
"Wow," Dipper said as his kokoro totally went doki doki. "You, um…you look amazing."
Norman chuckled. "I wouldn't go that far, but thanks. You look nice too. You ready?"
"Yeah, let's go. I'll drive the cart."
"No way, I'm driving tonight," Mabel said as she pushed past her brother and hopped in the front seat of their golf-cart to start the engine. "You two can sit together in the back. Just call me Chauffeur Mabel and the cart our limo."
"Thanks Maybs."
"Don't mention it. After all, I wanna give you guys your privacy. Since I'm sure you're gonna wanna be all over each other tonight." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively in her brother's face as he and Norman climbed aboard, to their mutual embarrassment. "Iffin you catch my drift."
"Oh, I think so."
"So what you're saying," Norman asked incredulously, "Is that Batman just shows up from out of nowhere after being left for dead on the other side of the world back in Gotham while the city's on total lockdown? That doesn't make any sense."
Dipper was having none of his sass. "It makes perfect sense. He's Bruce Wayne, he's like a billionaire! He's got all kinds of connections."
"That's stupid."
"You're stupid," Dipper said with far more venom than was warranted. "Jason X doesn't make any sense but I didn't hear any complaints out of you after we watched that."
"You take that back! Jason X is a new cult classic!"
"OKAY WE'RE HERE YOU TWO CAN SHUT UP NOW!" Mabel loudly announced as she slammed on the brakes and """""parked""""" on the lawn in front of the school. Understandably, she was rather annoyed that instead of boys kissing each other in the backseat she had to endure them arguing about a superhero movie people stopped caring about years ago. Such is life.
The trio hopped out of the cart, Dipper and Norman reaching for each other's hands and clasping them together as they walked the rest of the way to the building, a large brick thing that was utilitarian and plain in its design. Multicolored lights were visible from the windows and the dull but steady beat of dance music emanated from within the walls. As the three walked, they passed by many other young couples in various stages of physical contact.
It wasn't long before Norman noticed Dipper's hand was approaching a clammy state that was unusually pronounced even for him. Dipper must have gotten self-conscious about it as well since he muttered an embarrassed "sorry" and broke their linked grip momentarily to wipe his palms on his pants. It wasn't just his hands either. Dipper's face, Norman saw, had a layer of nervous sweat accumulating, and his whole body was tensing with every step. Norman, though he usually found his boyfriend's nerves endearing (not to mention adorable) decided he should probably cut the kid a break and make sure he was all right.
"You okay Dip? Norman asked, stopping just outside the building's large double doors where the droning of music was seeping through. "You seem nervous. I mean you're always kinda high strung, but…"
"What? Yeah, I'm totally fine no worries here heheheh!" Obviously, there were in fact many worries here.
"We don't have to do this, you know." He spoke firmly but softly, reassuring his boyfriend that he didn't want to make him do anything he wasn't comfortable with. "We could go back to the shack and just hang out like always. Or I could pretend to be here with Mabel and you and me could just hold hands under the tables or something."
"What? No!" he blurted out. As if taken aback by his outburst, Dipper regained his composure and managed a genuine smile. "I mean, if I wanna be a good b-boyfriend, I'm gonna have to start taking you on dates that aren't just running for our lives in the woods or watching crappy horror movies at the shack. You deserve better." Awww. Even Mabel was smiling at that. "I want to do this. Really. Now lets get in there."
Hands back together, they faced the door, but before Mabel kicked it open all gangbusters-style Norman leaned into Dipper's ear and simply said, "For the record, I think you're a great boyfriend," bringing a new shade of red to Dipper's face.
Once they finally entered they found a large room of flashing lights and scores of youths all mingling about under the neon streamers and silvery reflective decorations that were stuck everywhere. The soundscape was a veritable cacophony of chatting and music, an assault on the ears to match the decorations' assault on the eyes. It was a lot to take in at once.
"What d'you wanna do first?" Norman helpfully prompted. "You hungry or anything? I see a snack table over in the corner."
"I could go for some punch."
Mabel, still smiling from her brother's earlier comments, just shook her head and pushed him along. "Nothing for me. Why don't you be a gentleman and get Dipper something to drink. We'll wait over here."
"Okay. Be right back."
Once the twins were alone, Dipper noticed his sister staring at him, still smiling. It was pretty creepy.
"What?" Dipper finally asked.
Playfully, she socked his arm. "I'm proud of you, bro-bro.
"Heh, thanks."
"Hey, you know why I like taking pictures of you guys together?"
Dipper rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "You like embarrassing us?"
"Oh absolutely. But also because I like seeing you so happy. I'm glad you found somebody who can make you smile like he does. And I know it's gonna be hard once he has to go back to Massachusetts for the rest of the year and you'll have to do the whole 'long distance thing.' I just want you to have as many memories preserved as possible."
Oh right. Dipper didn't really like to think about how he only had a couple more days with Norman before they had to part. The Babcock family only visited for a few weeks every summer, always thanks to Norman begging and pleading for them to return because the town was very "therapeutic" for him. Sure they still had Skype and instant messaging and whatnot, but it wasn't the same. Fist clenched and eyes squinted in determination, Dipper assured his sister, "I'm gonna make this night count."