FYI, Mabel just graduated college this last spring with a degree in fashion. Dipper, being the overachiever that he is, had graduated 2 years earlier with a double major in Biology and Archaeology and a minor in English. He decided to become Ford's apprentice and stay at GF, which is why he hasn't met Tony. Mabel and Tony have been dating for about a year now, and were friends for six months before that.
Mabel had been waiting at the bus stop for two hours now. And there was still fifteen minutes until the bus was actually supposed to be there. But who cares!? Tony was almost here and he was going to stay for a week! Mabel had knitted a sweater especially for the occasion. Bright blue with a big yellow TONY knitted into the front. No way was he going to miss her. She was the only one there… but still. Can't take any chances.
The bus finally pulled in and Mabel started jumping up and down. A single person exited and Mabel crashed into him with a bone-crushing hug. "TONY! YOU MADE IT!"
Tony, a quiet redhead just a few inches taller than Mabel returned the hug and chuckled, "Yes I made it."
Still holding onto him with a death-grip, Mabel started rambling, "How was the trip? Was it long? Of course it was long, I've travelled it like a million bajillion times. Do you like my sweater? Did you have enough to eat? Are you hungry? Do you want food? I can get you food! There's this great diner over by-"
"The trip was pretty long, but the view was incredible. I absolutely adore your sweater. And actually, I ate on the way over." Tony extricated himself from Mabel's grasp with a smile on his face, "But thank you, that was very sweet of you to offer. I'd love to put my bags somewhere though."
"YES! Let's go, we're over this way! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" She grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the Shack.
"Mabel, we forgot the bags!"
"Voila!" Mabel cried, "The Mystery Shack!"
Tony stared at the dilapidated structure, "Are you sure it's safe?"
"Sure it is!" Mabel waved a hand, "It's been around for almost 50 years!"
"Somehow that's not comforting." Tony muttered under his breath.
"What was that?
"Nothing! I can't wait to meet your family!"
"Well, what are you waiting for? Allon-sy! It's French for let's go!" Mabel dragged him to the door and flung it wide open. "Dipper, I'm home! Come meet Tony!"
"Dipper ain't here," said a gravelly, grumpy voice. An old man stepped out from behind the register wearing a black suit and a red fez. "He left with Wendy an hour ago or so, leaving me to take care of the Shack."
"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel squealed.
"Whassa matter with you, kid? I just saw you earlier today. Who's the new guy?" Grunkle Stan turned to Tony and eyed him up and down.
"This is my boyfriend, Tony! He went to the same college I did, but we both graduated last year so he's free to come down here for a week! I told you about him remember?" Mabel babbled.
"Oh, you're the guy with the art major, huh?" Stan fixed him with a fierce stare. "You got a job, Toby?"
Tony froze, "Uh… yes, sir… I mean no, sir… I mean yes I have an art major, and no I don't have a job. And it's actually..."
Stan glared at him for a bit longer, which silenced his correction, then suddenly yelled at the top of his lungs, causing Tony to jump. "FORD!"
"WHAT?" Came the reply from somewhere below them.
"COME UP HERE!" Stan shouted.
Mabel winced, "Can't you just go down and tell him?"
Stan shrugged, "Eh, too lazy."
"WHY?" Ford hollered back up.
"MABEL BROUGHT A BOY HOME!"
"WHAT!?" They heard a series of loud noises and thumps, then the vending machine slid away from the wall and another old man, who look almost identical to Stan, came out. "WHERE IS- Sorry, where is this boy?"
"Uh… here, sir." Tony looked at Mabel in confusion.
Mabel was smiling, "Great! You're both here! Grunkle Stan, Grunkle Ford, this is my boyfriend Tony. I told you he is going to stay here for a week."
The two men looked at each other. "I don't remember that." Ford said, puzzled.
"Well, you were working on a science thingamajig, and you just said 'Huh? Oh, yeah'" Mabel did a pretty bad imitation of Ford's voice. "Anyways, Tony, these are my great-uncles, Stanley and Stanford. They're twins." She loudly whispered the last sentence.
"I could tell," Tony said, regaining a semblance of confidence, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Pines and… Mr… Pines." He held out his hand to shake. The twins sized him up, then looked at each other. Tony lowered his hand awkwardly.
"Does he know?" Stan asked.
"Eheh, not yet." Mabel replied nervously.
Tony wanted to asked what they were talking about, but the two seemed to come to some sort of agreement, because Ford offered his hand to Tony. "Call him Stan and me Ford. Forget about the Mr. Pines stuff, it will just get confusing. Plus, that was our father" Ford gave a firm handshake and Tony couldn't help noticing the man had six fingers.
He shook hands with Stan next. "Hurt Mabel and I'll slit your throat and use your blood as syrup for my morning plate of Stancakes." Stan whispered menacingly, just quiet enough so Mabel didn't hear. He seemed determined to break Tony's hand, so he quickly pulled away. He decided not to get on Stan's bad side.
"Yay!" Mabel exclaimed, "Now everyone's met! Except for Dipper. Do you know when he's going to be home?"
"Don't know, don't care." Stan dismissed it with a grunt and a scratch at his bottom.
"He'll be back soon." Ford assured her. "But I have work to do. Nice meeting you, Toby." He disappeared down the stairs behind the vending machine.
"Actually, it's… oh, never mind." Tony turned to Mabel, "So, where should I put my bags down?"
"Yes! Of course! Come on, over here!" She grabbed tone of his bags with one hand and held his hand in the other and led the way through the back, barely giving him time to grab the rest of them. They stopped in front of a door that definitely looked like it had been there for 50 years and Mabel swung it open.
"This is where you'll be staying!" she plunked his bags down in the room which formerly held the shag carpet that switcherooed people's bodies. Soos had moved his break room to his own house with his wife Melody.
"Nice." Tony gazed around in appreciation. He set his bags down on the floor.
"I wish Dipper was around, I don't know where he went." Mabel looked crestfallen for a moment.
"It's fine, I'm here all week. I'm sure I'll meet him at some point or another." Tony wrapped his arms around Mabel and plopped a kiss on the top of her head.
Mabel perked up, "He's probably in the woods looking for strange creatures! C'mon! Let's go find him!" She started dragging him towards the door again. This was a recurring theme in their relationship.
"Wait, what do you mean by 'strange creatures'?"
"You'll see!"
"So!" Mabel swung their interlocked hands, "How has complete and utter freedom felt so far?"
"Pretty nice. It's great not having to worry about college, but now that we've graduated I have to worry about what I want to do with my life."
"Well that's not hard. You were an art major, right? So be an artist! Or an art teacher!" She poked one of the freckles on his nose and giggled, "Boop!"
Tony laughed, "I missed you, Mabel, you know that?"
"Of course you did, who wouldn't?"
A growl echoed through the forest. "Umm… what was that?" Tony looked around nervously.
"It's probably just a wolf, nothing to worry about." Mabel started skipping ahead, "Let's keep going!"
"A… wolf?"
"Yeah, there's tons of them in the forest." Mabel said absentmindedly, "Soos was once adopted by one of the packs. We should visit them someday."
"Mabel?" Tony's voice shook.
"Yeah?"
"I… I don't think that's a… a wolf."
Mabel turned around and gasped. A large, hulking shape towered above them. Murky green skin, mushrooms popping out of the shoulders, dark mane running down the back, yellow fangs, and to top it all off, glowing red eyes. "Gremloblin!"
"What's gremloblin?!" Tony managed to squeak out.
"That! You don't happen to have a mirror do you?" Mabel looked around for somewhere to hide.
"No! Who carries a mirror around?! Why do you need a mirror?!"
"Don't look into it's eyes, whatever you do!" Finding nothing, she made a quick decision.
"What? Why?"
"Run!" Mabel grabbed his hand and pulled him. "Run!"
And he ran as fast as he could, though somewhat lagging behind Mabel, who was surprisingly swift. Soon they came across a smallish river. Mabel stopped in her tracks, but Tony kept going through hopping across the rocks. "Tony, wait!" Mabel shouted, but he didn't stop. "Oh, this is bad." She mutter as she followed him across.
The gremloblin lumbered after them at a shocking speed. It hesitated at the river, but when it saw Mabel and Tony disappear behind a large rock it started wading through, growing bigger and scarier with every step.
Tony was practically hyperventilating as they crouched at the base of the boulder, "Is that one of the strange creatures you were talking about?"
"Yes, but not one of the ones I wanted you to meet." Mabel scrolled through her contacts and selected one labeled Bro-Bro. She held it up to her ear, "C'mon, Dipper I need you to pick up." As if he had heard her, someone answered it.
"Hello?" A male voice asked.
"Dipper!" Mabel cried, "I need your help! We were walking in the woods but then a gremloblin showed up and we were running but then there was a river and we accidentally ran across and now it's ginormous and terrifying and I don't have a mirror on me!"
"Mabel, wait, slow down!" Dipper said, "Wendy and I are on our way."
"You have a mirror, right?"
"I always have one on me, unlike someone I could name." he teased, "By the way, who's 'we?'"
"Now's not the time!" Mabel groaned, "And you're one to talk, what were you and Wendy doing?" She could practically hear Dipper's blush.
"Wha… I mean… not… we… we were just talking… at her place."
"Mmhmm. I'm sure that's what was happening, you sly dog."
"It's not important!" Dipper yelled, Mabel could hear Wendy laughing in the background, "Where are you?"
"OK, so you know where we found that bunker place underneath the metal tree thingie?"
"Yeah?"
"We're the opposite direction of that."
"That's so very helpful." Dipper replied, dryly.
Mabel giggled, "I know. I'm great like that. We were walking for like half an hour in the opposite direction of that tree from the Shack."
"Got it. We're on our way. Again. Wait a minute, how did you get out of telling me who-"
"Got to go! Love you! Bye!" Mabel hung up the phone. "Well, that's that. I'm going to keep him distracted."
"Wait wh-" Before Tony could get the rest of his sentence out, Mabel had pulled out a grappling hook from who-knows-where and shot it at the beast.
"See ya later!" Mabel winked, then flew off.
Tony blinked, and by the time he opened his eyes she was riding on the back of the 50 foot tall gremloblin, which now had dangerous-looking claws, spikes along its back, a stegosaurus-like tail, two foot long fangs, dragon wings, and was currently breathing fire. He let out a love-stricken sigh, "She's awesome."
A young man with brown hair covered by a blue and white cap and the traces of a goatee, ran up followed by redheaded woman wearing a green flannel. "Where's Ma- oh…"
"Exactly," Tony agreed.
"She said it was big, but this is…"
"Wicked!" The redhead, who he assumed was Wendy, breathed.
Dipper rolled his eyes, "That's one word for it." He pulled a mirror out of his jacket, "You ready?"
Wendy pulled an ax from her belt and spun it in her hand, "Let's do this."
They ran towards the monster, leaving Tony to watch the fight. Mabel saw them coming and swung off the gremloblin's back where she had been banging on it's head with her grappling hook. Mabel and Wendy went around the front and started yelling to catch its attention, while Dipper started climbing up the back, using spikes and mushrooms as hand and foot holds. The beast roared and spat fire, then grabbed Wendy in one of its massive hands. Her ax fell from her hand.
"WENDY!" Dipper screamed, he lost his concentration and almost was bucked off.
"I'm fine!" Wendy called, "Keep going!"
Dipper nodded and continued climbing up the spines. He was halfway there.
Mabel grabbed the ax and started hacking at the gremloblin's toes. The only part of it she could reach. "Put! My! Friend! Down!" The only thing she accomplished was clipping its long, yellow toenails.
Tony saw the paw coming down towards Mabel, and he did the only thing that came mind. He ran as fast as he possibly could, faster than he'd ever gone before towards the giant, fire breathing monster. He was an idiot. But an idiot in love. He knocked her out of the way of the hand and suddenly all his blood was in his head and he blacked out. When he could see again he was at an unbelievable height and almost passed out again. He squeezed his eyes tight and resolved to not look down. He could hear Mabel calling his name, but found himself incapable of answering.
Dipper finally managed to reach the top of the gremloblin's head. He held fast to the coarse hair in between the ears and tried to figure out a course of action. The beast was jostling to much for him to let go without risk of falling all the way to the ground, which to Dipper's thinking was not an option. If only he had some type of rope… he looked down at the mane. That would have to do. Dipper held as tight as he could with his legs and left hand and proceeded to wrap the greasy hair around his wrist and tie it in a secure knot that Ford had taught to him. He stood up sideways on the gremloblin's forehead and held the mirror in front of the monster's eyes. "The only thing I've seen uglier than you is… your mom!"
The gremloblin had to cross its eyes to see the small object in front of its face, but when it finally focused on the mirror, its hands and arms went limp and it stood frozen and place, a single tear running down its cheek.
Wendy managed to push off the hand as it loosened and grabbed a tree branch. Tony, however wasn't so lucky. He fell like a rock, limbs flailing, right on top of Mabel.
"Oof," she grunted under him.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Tony scrambled upright and helped her up.
"It's no biggie, I'm not hurt. Are you OK?"
"I… I think so." He stammered.
"Dude! That was awesome!" Wendy swung down the lowest branch on the tree and landed in a crouch. "The way you pushed Mabel out of the way like that? That took guts." She retrieved her ax from where it had fallen.
Tony blushed, "It was nothing."
Dipper slid down the back of the gremloblin. "Of course it was something, you saved Mabel!"
"No, really. It was just the right thing to do, and she would have survived anyway." Tony insisted, "Plus, you guys were way cooler, fighting it like that."
"Pssh! That? I eat gremloblins for breakfast!" Mabel cried.
Dipper gave her a look, "Well, we've been doing this for years, this was your first day on the job."
"But seriously, Tony, that was pretty amazing!" Mabel shoved him, maybe a bit harder than she had intended.
He rubbed his shoulder and blushed again, then looked down at her shyly. "Thanks… I guess." He decided to lighten the mood a bit, "I mean, I didn't really have any other choice. If I had let it get its hands on you, your Grunkles would have torn my fingernails out of their beds one by one."
Mabel laughed and snorted, which caused her to laugh even harder.
"Yeah, they probably would have." Dipper smiled, "Which reminds me, I don't think we have been formally introduced." He held out his hand, "I'm Dipper, Mabel's twin brother. And this is my fiancee, Wendy."
Tony shook his hand, then Wendy's. "Pleasure."
Wendy turned to Dipper and raised an eyebrow, "A your mom joke? Seriously?"
Dipper groaned, "I know, but it was the first thing that came to mind. Stop judging me!"
Wendy slung an arm around him, "My fiance, saving Gravity Falls with a mirror and a your momma joke. Now what do you say we head back to the Shack, and tell Stan and Ford what happened?"
"Sounds good." They all agreed.
On their way back, Mabel dropped behind with Tony. "So, you're not freaked out?"
"About the fact that there is magical and paranormal creatures actually living in the forest where I'm staying? No not at all." Tony replied, dryly.
Mabel laughed "Be serious!"
He gasped, "Do mine ears deceive me? Is my fair lady asking me to be… serious?!"
She cracked up and Tony laughed along with her. Soon she sobered, "So you don't want to break up with me?"
He frowned, "Why would I want to break up with you?"
"Because of all… this." She waved her arm vaguely.
"Mabel, all… this," he copied her motion, "is absolutely fantastic. This is the best thing that's ever happened to me! Actually, that's a lie. You are the best thing that's ever happened to me."
"Oh, stop it, you." Mabel giggled and swatted his arm.
"C'mon, let's go catch up."
"So you're telling me you saw a gremloblin at one of its scariest forms, and I wasn't there to see it?!" Ford paced back and forth, practically pulling his hair out by their roots.
"And I missed out on a top-notch fight." Stan grumped, slurping out of a can of Pitt soda.
Between the four of them, they had provided a very thorough, very confusing narration of their experience in the forest to the two uncles.
"Wait!" Tony cried. Everyone turned to look at him. "I remember what it looked like. I can draw it for you. Can somebody get me a piece of paper and a pencil?" In a blink of an eye they were whisked in front of him. He grabbed them and started sketching out the form. In 20 minutes, he presented a detailed drawing of the monster to Ford.
Ford snatched it and held it close to his face as he scanned the picture, muttering under his breath. "Wings! Incredible! I wonder how much bigger it could get?" He slowly looked at Tony over the paper. "You've got talent, kid."
Tony flushed and nodded.
"He was an art major!" Mabel bragged.
"You know," said Dipper slowly, "I've been thinking about rewriting some Journals that were destroyed a few years ago. It would be nice to get all my notes in one place. Would you be willing to illustrate them for me?"
Mabel gasped, "That's such a great idea! Tony you should totally do it!"
"What was wrong with my drawings?" Ford asked, indignantly.
"No offense, Grunkle Ford, but your drawings sucked."
"Fine," Ford muttered, "I guess it would be nice to have another helping hand. What do you say, Toby?"
"First of all, my name's not Toby, it's Tony."
Stan rolled his eyes, "Nobody cares, kid. Now are you going to stay or not?"
Tony hesitated and glanced over at Mabel, who was giving him the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster. His heart melted and his will crumbled. He turned back towards Dipper, "I'll do it."
Mabel squealed and crushed him in a tight bear hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"
Tony gasped for breath once she let him go, and grinned at her, "After all," he teased, "I eat gremloblins for breakfast."
Hey everyone! This is my first completed and published fanfic, so I hope you like it. Please feel free to honestly tell me what you think in the reviews. Constructive criticism is welcome. Thumbs up if you caught the five Doctor Who, Croods, and Incredibles quotes. See ya!