A/N: I wrote this about a year ago and for some reason I didn't post it here.
You know the drill. I don't own a darn thing.
Enjoy the fluff.
Being unable to sleep was often a problem for him. The bags under his eyes could tell tales. His life had become a constant swarm of paranoia, heartbreak, and friction. He clung to his sheets as if they were the only armor he had left.
Dipper Pines knew he had messed up. Though his intentions were good, he knew he made some big mistakes and drove his crush away. And now he was in a slump that was sure to ruin the rest of his summer.
His sister watched him from her side of the room, also unable to sleep. Mabel couldn't stop worrying about him. She wanted to do something for him. She knew he had to get his mind off of Wendy. They had nothing planned tomorrow; perhaps she could get him to hang out with her friends.
It was something she wanted to happen for a while, but it was difficult to get Dipper to tag along with her whenever she hung out with Candy and Grenda. Mabel was fully aware of his awkwardness, especially after the body swap incident, so she assumed that was a big part of it. But now with the extra incentive of getting him to stop thinking of Wendy, perhaps making some friends would be great for Dipper.
"No."
"Please, Dipper? I know they'd like to hang out with you."
"I doubt it. Besides, you'll be talking about girl stuff the whole time and I'll feel left out." Dipper hid his hands in his pockets and looked away from Mabel. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, Mabel, but I just want to stay here, okay?"
"Stay here? So you don't even want to go on an adventure or anything?"
He hesitated, but sighed. "Not really."
"Oh…" Mabel turned and walked to the door. "I guess I'll have to tell them to go home then."
"Wait, what? You mean they're already here?" Dipper started to rethink the situation. Though it would have been easier to stay at the Shack alone in a pool of self-pity, deep down he wanted to take Mabel's offer. Perhaps it would help him get his mind off of Wendy. Plus, he didn't want his fear of things backfiring in his face to mean telling her friends to just go home. He was caught between wanting to be left alone and wanting to do something distracting, and he wasn't sure what action to take.
"Hey, you don't have to go anywhere if you don't want to," Mabel said. "I just thought it would help. Sorry, bro. I should have asked you first before inviting them."
"N-no, I'm not mad or anything. I just don't know what to do," Dipper admitted.
"Well, how about this? Hang out with us for a bit, and if you really don't like hanging out with them and want to come home we'll come home. No questions asked."
Before Dipper could respond, Wendy entered the gift shop. Still upset from what happened at Look Out Point, she turned her gaze away from Dipper. "Hey, Mabel," she greeted as she took her usual spot behind the cash register. "Dip," she added in a melancholy tone.
Dipper left the room without a word, his eyes glued to the floor. Mabel followed him out.
"Yeah, I think I'll go."
"I am sorry to hear about that, Dipper," an empathic Candy replied.
"Yeah, that's rough," Grenda added between bites of her sandwich.
"Yeah…" Dipper looked down at his still whole sandwich. He wanted to give Mabel a hard time for setting up a ridiculously cliché picnic for him and her friends—with red and white checkered cloths and everything—but he didn't have it in him. "It's my fault though. I shouldn't have gotten involved."
"You said she was hypnotized, right?" Mabel asked. "You were trying to help."
"At first," Dipper confessed, "but there's a line between wanting to help someone you like and wanting to break up a relationship, and I think I may have crossed it. No wonder she doesn't want to speak to me." He stood up, sighing. "This isn't working. I gotta go."
"Mind if I say something?" Candy asked. Dipper stayed where he was, his full attention now on her. "I may not know everything about people and relationships," she began, twiddling her thumbs, "but it is human nature to mess up. You are not always going to be in the right, and you must not let your wrongs take control over your life."
"Yeah?" Dipper sat back down, experiencing a strange feeling of ease. Mabel's friend sure had a way with words.
"It is okay to be sad," Candy continued, smiling when Dipper decided to stay, "but do not let it keep you from enjoying the things you enjoy."
"…Thanks." Dipper smiled back. "I needed that."
"Uh, don't mention it!" Candy blushed and tried to subtly hide behind her sandwich. She wasn't used to boys smiling back at her. "O-of course, I would still apologize to her, but I would wait until things are less tense."
"Yeah, you don't want to wreck things with a bad apology at a bad time," Grenda added as she finished her sandwich. "Believe me. If I'm telling you not to wreck something, don't do it."
Dipper chuckled. Mabel's friends were actually really cool, and talking to them about his problem was actually helping. They even kept the romance novel and boy band talk to a minimum while he was there.
The next five hours seemed to fly by for Dipper; a trip to the arcade and a stroll through Circle Park helped calm his nerves. Throughout the day he became a big fan of Candy and Grenda's silly one-liners. When Mabel said she found some kindred spirits in this town, she wasn't kidding.
"Thanks again for all of this," Dipper said for the umpteenth time. The girls didn't care; they were happy to see him out of his slump. "I'm having a good time."
"Anytime, broseph!" Mabel looked up at the sky and frowned. "Aw, it's getting late. We should probably head home, guys."
"Aw, I thought you said we were going on an adventure." Dipper gave his vest a pat. "I wouldn't have brought the book if—guh!" He realized his goof too late, and slapped a hand to his forehead.
"Book?" Candy asked, curious. "You brought reading material for an adventure?"
"Uh… it's not just a book." The cat was out of the bag now. Besides, they're Mabel's friends. It wouldn't hurt to share the book with them, would it? He started to pull the book out from his vest.
A rustle came from some nearby bushes, and Dipper hid the book again. "What was that?" Maybe it wasn't safe to show the book here.
"It's probably just a squirrel or something," Mabel assured him.
After a moment of doubt had passed, Dipper nodded. "Yeah, I'm probably just paranoid." He pulled the book out and showed it to the girls.
"Three?" Candy inquired. "Three of what?"
Dipper opened the book. "It's a journal. You know how there are all sorts of weird stuff going on in this town?" He flipped through the pages. "Ghosts, monsters, gnomes. This book has everything! …Well, okay, not everything. There are two other books out there somewhere, and someday I'm going to find them and unlock the mysteries of this town!"
"That is so cool!" Grenda pumped her arms in the air in excitement.
"Hey, maybe we can tag along on some of these adventures!" Candy's enthusiasm reached as high as the sky.
Dipper gave Mabel a quick glance. He didn't need to; she already approved of the idea. "Sure! You can tag along."
"Yay!" All eyes turned to Candy, who then dialed back her excitement, embarrassed, but her smile returned when she saw Dipper smile back at her.
"See, Dip? I told you they want to hang out with you." Mabel playfully nudged her brother with her elbow.
"Huh-what?" He shook the cobwebs out of his head. Candy's excitement was distracting, though not in a bad way. …Huh, that was a weird thought. "Oh, yeah! You're right." He held the book up to his face and pretended to read it, though really he was hiding his blushing—a result of this brief awkward moment.
"Another time, though. I'm out of steam, if you can believe it," Mabel said cheerfully but tiredly. "We should head back to the Shack. Wanna sleep over, girls?"
Candy shook her head. "Can't tonight. Didn't bring anything for a sleepover."
"Yeah, I left my mom's novels at home," Grenda added.
"Oh, pssh. Your novels are wonderful, Grenda, but we can have an awesome sleepover without them. Hey, maybe we can do some attic mini-golfing!" She turned to Dipper for his approval.
"Ah, of course!" Dipper agreed. "We'd have to rebuild it though, if that's alright with you two."
"Building stuff isn't as fun as breaking stuff," Grenda admitted, "but it could be fun!"
"You know me," Candy added, holding up her finger-forks. "You don't have to ask me twice."
One group high-five later—with Dipper's being reluctant out of his general awkwardness—the four made their way back to the Shack.
The bushes began to rustle again once they were gone, and out of it flung a leaf-covered Robbie. He took his time getting up, his head spinning and uncoordinated.
Once he regained his composure, he looked back to where the kids were standing and immediately felt guilt for spying on them. The little twerp wasn't hurting anybody—not now, anyway. Maybe he should call the whole thing off.
He turned on his heel and tripped again, this time over the other figure that was hiding in the bushes.
"Agh! Watch where you're going!" Gideon got up before Robbie did. "You almost damaged the MP3 player."
"Sorry, squirt, but I've changed my mind." Robbie groaned and pulled out a newspaper clipping from his hoodie. "What the heck was I thinking? 'Want revenge on Dipper Pines?' Who prints ads like that anyway?"
"People who have a lot of money, are smart enough to make such advertisements anonymous, and have the PR to survive a backlash if the anonymity is compromised," Gideon spoke as if he rehearsed it. He held up the MP3 player. "I don't need your services anymore anyway. I have learned all I need to know about Dipper and his book. And thanks to you I have a way to make sure I get what I want. I'm thinking of giving this thing a test drive. Mabel likes music, doesn't she?"
Robbie waved his hands in the air. "Whoa, whoa, hey there, squirt. I can't let you do that. I've made some stupid mistakes, sure, but I'm not going to let you brainwash some kid."
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice."
"Look, kid, that song's not even gonna work." He tried once to grab the MP3 player out of Gideon's hand, but the fraudulent psychic moved his extended arm away from the teen. Annoyed, Robbie stepped back, folding his arms. "Heck, for all I know Wendy wasn't hypnotized at all and actually did like the song."
With a sinister smile Gideon pressed play. "Well there's one way to find out, isn't there?"
"And here's Mabel Pines, readying her putter," the sillier twin said in her best impression of a golf commentator. "The crowd is watching with silent anticipation—"
"Mabel, hurry up!" Grenda jokingly shouted.
"—ahem—silent anticipation," she repeated, "ready to clap in boring unison at the sinking of the ball. Beautiful day out. Birds chirping. Sinking this putt will bring her to two over par. And now, absolute silence." She tapped the ball into the cup. Her friends clapped in boring unison. "Magnificent pu—"
"My turn!" Grenda interrupted, swinging her club with such force that she threw it out the window.
Naturally, it hit Stan in the head. "Ack!" was all the old man yelped before falling to the ground, out cold.
Mabel ran to the window. "Sorry, Grunkle Sta—wha?"
Next to the fallen Stan stood Gideon with a large stereo over his head. At least that explained what Stan was doing outside.
"Ugh! Go away, Gideon!" Mabel's yell attracted Dipper, Candy, and Grenda to the window.
"Want me to punch him in the face?" Grenda asked, as serious as she could possibly be.
"I got this." Mabel made shooing gestures at the formally-dressed psychopath. "Get lost, creep!"
"But Mabel, I wanted to play a song for you! Isn't this… romantic?"
"The only thing that's going to be romantic is my foot and your butt if you don't get out of here!"
"So forward, Mabel! But I like my idea better. Mr. V, if you will…"
Much to Dipper's shock and the girls' confusion, out from the woods came Robbie, staring intently at nothing. Gideon's game claimed an unexpected pawn, and the unwitting shell of a teen brought his finger down on the stereo's play button.
"When I think about you, I feel feelings so deep." Gideon's eyes shined with fabricated luster for Mabel's heart.
"No!" Dipper tried to cover his sister's ears but a pair of arms locked around him. He looked to find Grenda and Candy with the same stare Robbie had. Dipper struggled but he could not free himself from Grenda's grasp. "Mabel!"
"—know I'm losing sleep. And I know I'm going crazy— "
"MABEL!" Dipper shouted at the top of his lungs out of the worst of fears for his sister.
"Just listen to this song, and you'll be—"
"No you don't, kid!"
"ACK!"
The sudden interruption jolted Mabel, Candy, and Grenda out of their stupor, and Grenda freed Dipper from his prison. Dipper looked outside to see what had happened, surprised to find Robbie had fell the feller of trees.
"You… you tricked me!" Gideon snarled, waving his arms and legs in an otherwise incoherent tantrum.
"I know you're just a little kid, but I'm not gonna let anyone use this stupid song again, especially not for whatever you were planning on using it for." Robbie took the CD from the stereo. "I used it because I'm bad at relationships and I messed up so much that I was afraid I was going to lose someone that actually cared about me." Feeling a pang of guilt, he put a hand on his chest and wrenched the heart on his hoodie. "It was a really dumb move on my part. I don't like to admit things like that—cred and stuff like that—but it was really, really stupid. But using it for this?" He pointed at the stereo. "No. Not happening."
Gideon got to his feet. "And just what makes you think that my intentions are any different from yours, you wannabe delinquent?" he hissed, reaching his hand out to grab the CD.
"I don't know what your story is with the twerp and his sister, but something tells me there's more to it than that." He dropped the CD on the ground and stepped on it, breaking it. "Now give me back my MP3 player, squirt. I'm getting rid of that song for good."
Gideon silently refused.
Robbie reached forward and grabbed Gideon by his necktie. "Don't make me ask twice, you little creep."
Muttering to himself, Gideon handed Robbie the MP3 player. "Fine." Robbie let him go. "But mark my words, Mr. V: as far as I'm concerned, you're one of them now." With those last cryptic words, Gideon stepped into the shadows, disappearing into the wilderness.
"Whatever." Robbie pocketed the MP3 player and turned to find an unreadable Wendy. Startled, he began to stammer. "Wha-wha-Wendy! What's up? I didn't know you'd be here." He was definitely not ready to confront her yet.
"Had to work late tonight," Wendy explained. "No overtime. Fun." She looked to the woods Gideon had left through. "That little creep's been bothering Mabel and Dipper ever since Mabel broke it off with him."
"That explains a lot," Robbie quipped.
"Yeah. I see you kinda stood up for her… in a way."
"I did? I mean—yeah, I guess so."
"Hmm." She nodded, not looking at Robbie but not avoiding him either. "Tambry's planning on hosting another party soon. Maybe I'll see you there."
"Uh… really?"
"Maybe. And it's not going to be a date." She glared at him. "Gonna have to rebuild all that trust, dude, before I even start to consider it."
"…Yeah."
"My advice?" she said, her glare softening into a smirk. "Keep up what you did tonight, 'kay?"
"Uh… yeah, sure."
"Cool. Later." Wendy hopped into the passenger side of a large pickup. In the driver's seat was Manly Dan, who was quick to make sure Robbie knew he was watching him. Robbie nodded in fear of the large, angry man, but was happy that all was not lost.
The secrets of the hypnotic love song would forever be hidden from him, but Robbie did not care. He just assumed it had to do with the girls' obsessions over musicians, but Gideon seemed to know more about the song than he did. In reality, the song affected those who had not expected anything but a cheesy love song, or were too confused to fight the message. The actual mind control lasts about as long as the song, but the brain is swayed to thinking it had control of itself the entire time; as a result the victim, while technically having free will after the fact, would be convinced that whatever decisions they made while under another's control were their own, and they would be more inclined to side with their puppeteer. Robbie was in as much danger as the girls, but his doubts and what little knowledge he had of the song had kept him from becoming Gideon's puppet.
"Mabel, are you alright?"
"Dipper, I'm fine. We're all fine. Don't worry."
Dipper sighed and fell back onto his bed, exhausted from all the panic. "I don't think I'm in the mood for golf anymore, girls. Sorry."
"I don't think any of us are in the mood for golf after that." Mabel covered herself up and turned to the two girls. "Sorry this sleepover turned out to be a bust."
"It wasn't all bad," Candy assured her.
"…Hey, wait. Where are we going to sleep?" Grenda asked.
Legitimate question. Mabel slapped herself on the forehead, remembering that this sleepover was rather impromptu. "Uh… you can have my bed. I'll bunk with Dip."
"I don't know, Mabel." Grenda rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Last time Candy and I shared a bed I almost squished her. She's so tiny!"
"It's true. Wasn't pleasant," Candy admitted.
The three girls looked over at Dipper, who was now sweating up a storm. "Uh… I'm really… frail."
"He really is," Mabel agreed, much to Dipper's annoyance. "You can bunk with me, Grenda!"
"Alright!" Grenda pumped her arms into the air again. This time no one really shared the excitement—just confusion. After a beat, Grenda too was confused. "Yeah, I don't know why I did that either."
"So I guess that means that I…" Candy turned to Dipper and her sweat quota started to match his. "Oh boy."
"Now, now," Mabel teased. "He doesn't bite." Both Dipper and Candy glared at Mabel with annoyance.
Dipper tried to make as much room on his small bed as possible. "Mabel, how is this even going to work?"
"We'll make it work!" Mabel and Grenda shouted simultaneously in a show of rather odd optimistic enthusiasm.
"…Okay, then." Dipper lied back as Candy slowly scooted in, the two of them blushing beet red.
Candy spoke up first after about a minute. "This is awkward."
"Agreed."
Some time had passed with neither of them able to sleep. Somehow, in their even more cramped tight little space, Mabel and Grenda were sleeping like logs. Dipper and Candy silently envied them.
"So," Dipper whispered, increasingly aware of his fidgeting foot by the second, "do… do you like to read at night?"
Not expecting small talk, it took several seconds before Candy uttered a single sound. "Um… sometimes."
"Oh?" The movement of Dipper's foot slowed slightly. "I love late-night summer reading," he whispered proudly. "I've been trying to cut back on it though. Apparently I'm a little noisy when I do it, and I've kept Mabel up with it."
"Active reader?"
"Notes in the margins and everything."
"Perceptive. Inquisitive. Imaginative." She smiled. "You are Mabel's brother, yes."
"Heh, thanks." He stared up at the ceiling, heart warmed by her compliments for both him and his sister. "This summer's been crazy. Not just because of Gideon or the monsters or any of that stuff, but it's like… Mabel and I have always been so close, like the best of friends for our whole lives and stuff, but with some of the stuff that happened since we've been here I feel like I'm learning more things about her all the time, and how different the two of us are, and yet how alike we are. It's weird. But…" his smile inverted, and Candy followed suit, "I learned some other things too… about myself. Things I'm not exactly proud of." He turned to Candy, his eyes asking the question before his mouth did. "Do you think she thinks any less of me for the stupid stuff I pulled? Has she said anything?"
Candy didn't even blink. "Mabel thinks the world of you, Dipper. She talks about you, like, all the time when she's hanging out with us." She smiled, and Dipper found it contagious. "I don't think you have anything to worry about."
Dipper let out a relief-induced sigh as he refocused his eyes on the slanted ceiling. "Thanks, Candy. Again." He closed his eyes. "I appreciate this. You're really cool, y'know?"
She wasn't prepared to hear something like that. She stared up at the ceiling for a long time, face frozen, unable to produce any sounds or move any muscle. When she could, she noticed Dipper's leg was no longer moving, and to her right she heard the softest, most peaceful snore she could ever imagine.
For the first time since he stepped foot in this bizarre town, Dipper slept well.