AN- Me: So you get a free pass this time
Muse Kitty: Purr
Me: Yeah, yeah laugh at me and my inability to not start new works. For any of you reading any of my other fics, I promise that they're not dead ;w;
Disclaimer- Gravity Falls is not mine.
Prologue
"This is your new brother Michael," his mom said softly, holding the baby out for him to see. Wrapped in the blue blanket, Michael thought that it look too fragile to be a real human child. "He's a twin just like you," she continued, an amused smile on her lips, and Michael's head snapped up to look at her, and then he was twisting around to find Mirabel.
She was making grabby hands at the other baby that their father held, but she froze as soon as she felt his eyes on her. She ran over to him, their father following her with a grin. "Like us?" he asked as soon as she slipped her hand into his.
"Just like you," their father said. "In fact, show him Mason's forehead honey."
They leaned forward as their mom smiled mysteriously, and pulled back the fluff of hair that was on the baby's forehead, and Michael bit back a gasp. Mirabel did gasp, reaching forward to touch the big dipper shaped mark, and then turned a blinding grin to him, touching the matching one on his head as well.
"Michael, Mirabel," their mom said warmly, "Meet Mason and Mabel."
.
.
"I don't understand," Michael said, watching his mom pack away their fathers stuff. If he leaned back far enough he could see Mira playing with the five year old Mabel and Mason. Mabel, who was so cheerful and bright that it almost hurt to look at her some days, and Mason who was so smart that Michael could read his own elementary school books to his brother to bed.
A brother that his twin and he had to take care of more and more often these day since their father had gone missing. Michael didn't know where he had gone, or why he hadn't come home from work a month ago. Michael missed him. He missed having bedtime stories being read to him and not having to read to his little siblings. He missed not having to worry about making dinner if their mother didn't.
But most of all he missed his mother's smile.
"These things happen Michael," his mother said dully. "People die and there's no coming back from that. No matter how much we wish they could."
"But Mom-" he started.
"But nothing Michael," she snapped, and he recoiled at the tone. Her eyes softened but at that point it was too late.
"I'm going to play with Mason," he said quietly, slipping off the bed and out the door, ignoring her calls. Mirabel grinned up at him, but it fell as soon as she saw his face. She reached a hand out and he slid his own into it, watching Mason and Mabel chase each other around the living room with happy shrieks.
It didn't matter what was wrong with their mother, or that their father was gone. Their little siblings would always have someone to look out for them.
.
.
"Michael?" Dipper asked him quietly, and Michael reached out to take the proffered hand without looking back. Seeing the bruise on his brother's cheek would make him lose the carefully collected calm that he tried to project at school. It was the best way to make sure that the teachers favored him in confrontations like this.
"I would suggest," he said, his voice ice cold. "That you think very carefully about your next words and how they would reflect to a teacher."
Dipper pressed to his back, hand still clutched in his own. Michael didn't mind the weird angle if it made him feel better.
The bully sneered, "Oh yeah? You gonna go crying to the tech after we're through with you?"
"He won't have to Jackson," Mr. Warner said from behind him, and Michael smirked as Mirabel took her place next to him. She winked at him, her smirk just as wicked as his as they ushered Dipper away. The only ones even allowed to think about giving the boy grief about his birthmark was them and their family, anyone else had better watch their backs.
Mira was the only other person he could trust with their little siblings well being, and she could only trust him. It was a lesson that they had known since they turn eleven. He took her hand, and they went to find Mabel.
.
.
"See Dip Dot," Michael heard Mabel say cheerfully. "It's not that bad."
Michael stopped in his tracks, and turned from the hallway to his room to the kitchen. He pushed the door open to find Dipper sitting on a stool, holding an ice pack to Mabel's face. Her entire left cheek was turning a spectacular patchwork of purple and yellow. Michael knew the look on Dipper's face well, it was the one his little brother gave him whenever he thought Michael was lying.
Which was often these days.
"I dunno Mabel," Dipper started but Mabel cut him off.
"Dad even said that it was an accident," she insisted, and Michael felt himself go cold. The days that Mirabel or himself couldn't go to school in fear of them getting caught out were bad enough. If Michael had to teach his younger siblings how to hide the signs of abuse, he was going to poison the man that had married their mother.
"Mabel," he said cooly, and watched as both of their heads snapped up. Dipper flushed and tugged the hat on his head down lower, which goddammit Mira had finally started to break him out of the habit. Mabel met his gaze defiantly and he sighed, uncrossing his arms as he stepped forward.
"Did he do this to you?" Michael asked, carefully taking her face into his hands to get a better look at the bruise. It took up most of her face, covering her whole cheek and reaching all the way up past Mabel's eye. It took all of his control not to tighten his hold on her face. The bruise reminded him of the damned flask that their stepfather carried around.
"It was an accident," Mabel insisted, and Michael took dark humor out of the fact that he wouldn't have to teach her the right things to say to the authorities. If the authorities found out they'd be taken by child services, and then scattered which would never happen if he had a say about it. "He said so Bigger Dipper."
"I bet he did," Michael replied, frigid as the snow up north. "That's what they all say."
"He meant it!" Mabel insisted a little desperately, gripping at his arm while Dipper hovered to the side. "Please Bigger Dipper, don't- don't hurt him."
Michael pressed his lips together until they turned white. "He shouldn't be able to get away with hurting you."
"B-but," Dipper spoke up, and Michael turned to face him. His younger brother flinched, and Michael tried to soften his gaze. "I-if you hurt him, he can report you for battery and assault. Then they'll take you away and there really is nothing that you could do to protect us."
Michael looked between the two and sighed, his face truly softening that time. Mabel beamed at him while Dipper sent him a shy grin. "You two really thought about this didn't you?"
"Course bro," Mable chirped throwing herself at him for a hug, that he return probably a tad to tightly. "Someone has to look out for you two," she continued, her voice muffled by his chest. Michael's throat closed up as Dipper nodded his agreement, and joined in on the hug.
"Come on," Michael nudged them. "Mira's gonna show you how to cover bruises up with makeup." He took each of them by the hand and led them out of the kitchen. They had another five long years before they could legally leave this place.
Mira took one look at them and her eyes darken, reaching out, she took their hands as well and whispered to him. "We will do better."
.
.
"Mom please," Michael begged. It would have been an hilarious ironic twist that they were talking about something so similar in the same place as they had been in four years ago. She was packing things in a bag once more as he tried to grasp the horror of the situation. Only this time it was so much worse.
"We can't support four kids," she whispered, "And your great uncle has offered to take you in. It's not the end of the world."
"He's a monster Mom!" Michael burst out. His boy thrummed with the nervous energy as he tried to come up with a solution, any solution. He was the one that came up with the plans, the one that made sure that all four of them would walk away from his house in one piece and together. He was the one that was failing.
His mother frowned at him and scolded quietly, "Your great uncle Stanford is a respected and generous man. I know you haven't gotten much of a chance to know him, but I really think that-"
"Not him," he snapped. "Your husband."
She wavered in her packing of Mirabel's things and said quietly, "We're not going to have this conversation."
"Yes we are," Michael growled. "He's an abuser Mom! He hurts you, he hits us, and he won't leave the younger two alone. If you think that Mira and I are just going to stand by so that he can focus his full attention on him…." He trailed off, and narrowed his lips at the slump of her shoulders.
"There's nothing else you can do," she replied quietly, not meeting his eyes.
"Let me stay instead of Dipper at least, or Mira instead of Mabel," Michael begged. "He can't tell the difference between us half the time anyways. Let one of us stay to help."
"I-" she started, and his hands twitched with the need to strangle her until she understood the importance of this. Dipper and Mabel's safety couldn't be compromised like this.
Michael wondered for a moment if it would have been like this if their father had lived. Would they have been nicer or just as cold to everyone except their younger siblings? Would their mother have continued in showing her love instead of whispering it through closed doors? Would he be a normal fourteen year old? Would Mirabel still be taking Dipper and Mabel out for ice cream, just not to avoid the man of the house for as long as possible?
"Please," he whispered.
"I can't," she whispered back, and Michael's heart shattered in time with the opening door. His heartbreak showed on his face, and she reached out for him. He recoiled from her touch, and drew his cold mask over his face, ice in his eyes.
"Then I thank you for the hospitality that you have shown my sister and I over the years, Ms, Pines," he said flatly, taking a step away from her, "I hope that my siblings get the honor of your love as well as your hospitality."
For the second time in his life, Michael turned his back on his mother's pleas and walked away. Mira glanced up with a soft smile from where she was listening to Mabel ramble on about what types of ice creams that she was going to invent when she grew up. Mira's smile faltered when he shook his head at her, and she dropped to her knees to pull the younger twins into a hug.
"Mira-?" "Mi-mi-?" They asked.
"You two know that I love you right?" She glanced up from the hug, tears in her eyes and corrected herself. "You know that we both love you right?"
"Of course!" Mabel, god he was going to miss her grin like a physical ache, replied. "We love you two just as much! It's be so boring around here without you!"
Michael thought that his legs were going to give out at that sentence, so he didn't fight it and joined Mirabel in hugging the two of them as tight as he could, sobbing as silently as he could. He didn't want to come back at the age of eighteen to find Mabel's spark gone. He didn't want to miss Dipper graduating early. He didn't want to leave.
It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair, it wasn't fair-!
Mira threaded her hand into his at the same time that he reached to do the same for hers. They were scaring Dipper and Mabel, he knew it, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He needed them to know how much they were loved before he had to leave them alone with that man. Because of that woman.
Michael knew that he learned one thing that day. Adults were useless.
.
.
"I hate this." Michael watched Mira dump all of her stuff on the floor of the attic and then flop down on the bed. He carefully arranged his own belongings at the foot of his own bed to try and take his mind off of what his younger siblings could be doing right now. He couldn't get their crying faces out of his head, and he wanted to punch something. Preferably his stepfather.
"At least Great Uncle Stan is willing to give us free reign," Michael said dully. They didn't even have to go to the public school if they didn't want to as long as they got a diploma or GED from online classes.
"But what does that matter?" Mira howled, "When we had to leave the Littles behind?" She clenched her hands around the blanket and almost ripped it from the strength of the grip. "We promised we'd do better for them Michael. We were supposed to watch out for them. How can we do that if we're an entire state away?!"
"We do what we can!" Michael snapped back. "We work on emancipation, we graduate high school as early as possible and get a job. We send them letter after letter, and call them every week. We let them know that they're loved and adored and that anything that man says is a bullshit lie that needs to be ignored."
Mira's face fell, and Michael sighed, stepping away from his stuff to wrap his twin in a hug. "You're right," her voice came from his chest, muffled and a little broken. "You're always right."
"Not always," Michael correct as she pulled away from him. "You know them better than I ever will."
"Oh, look," Mira said sarcastically, smirking at him. "You're wrong again. Because we both knew them."
She locked arms with him and steered him towards the stairs. "Now if we have free reign let's go exploring." She threaded her fingers through his, and a little of the pressure on his chest eased.
.
.
"I think we should tell him," Mira insisted. Michael ran his hands over the cover of the journal once more, the golden hand on the cover gleaming, the two indicating that there was at least one more to track down.
They had been running through town once more, because physics homework was a bitch and while Old Man McGucket was insane, Michael couldn't deny that he knew physics better than anyone else in Gravity Falls. And the new kid that had just moved in, Gideon Gleeful, started to make those lovey dovey eyes at Mira. The journal that he tried to show off caught Michael's attention, so Mira had batted her eyelashes and then they were away with the book to 'borrow' it.
Michael had no plans of ever giving it back.
"Why?" he demanded, "Great uncle Stan has shown no interest in the paranormal around town. Why would this change that?" A year after being kicked out of his own home, and Michael still couldn't bring himself to trust the man that had taken them in. The two of them circled each other, with Mira bouncing in the middle like a demented mediator.
"Because he's hiding something from us," Mira said bluntly. "Whenever you mention the weirdness of Gravity Falls, he glances at the vending machine. Without fail, every time. No exception, always-"
"I get it, I get it," Michael cut her off, "But that just makes me trust him less."
"Trust given is trust earned," she said wisely.
"Trust given is trust broken," Michael shot back, flipping the journal over again and running his finger along the cover. "It's just us who are going to get them back Mira, all Great Uncle Stan cares about is making more money."
Mira stared at him thoughtfully before nodding, "If that's what you want."
He gave her a crooked smile, and threaded his fingers through hers as he tucked the journal into his vest. "It is. Thanks Mira."
.
.
"S-so you want me to w-what?" the blue triangle asked.
Mira crossed her arms and scowled at it, turning to Michael. "I still say that the other one would have been better. A wimp won't be able to do anything."
Michael flipped through the pages of the journal once more and replied, "It is specifically stated that Bill can't be trusted. We're not letting anyone like that near Dipper and Mabel if I have anything to say about. Which oh," he tilted his head to the side and said in mock surprise, "I do!"
"You're an asshole," Mira informed him before turning back to the demon that they had summoned. "We want you to protect our younger siblings from an abusive parent, and in return we'll let you possess him." She gestured at Michael who didn't look up from his reading, "For one favor."
The demon glanced between the two and nodded, disappearing in a flash of fire.
"I hate this," Michael said after a moment in the now empty clearing.
"You hate a lot of what we're doing lately," Mira said, drifting over to his side, her hand reaching up to touch the pendent in her hairband, gleaming turquoise in the fading light.
"We're going to dig ourselves into a hole we can't get out of," Michael told her as she took his hand.
"As long as it's a hole that they can get out of," she whispered, leaning against his shoulder. Michael closed his eyes and nodded in agreement, as long as it was something that Dipper and Mabel could get out of they would be fine.
.
.
"So they're staying over this summer," Stan said from where he leaned against their doorway. Michael nodded from where he was straightening the couch cushions. "I'm assuming that they'll be here instead of the Shack?"
Michael nodded again, reaching up to make sure that the picture frame was lined up and Stan rolled his eyes. "Take a deep breath kid. They'll be ecstatic to see you again in person."
Michael smoothed down the lapels of his vest, and adjusted the pendent sitting on his collar. "It's been three years since we've last seen them," Michael said quietly, glancing around the house one more time to make sure that everything was perfect. "It's just so hard to know that we're doing the right thing so far away from them. Letters and calls aren't the same."
"They love ya kid what more do you need?" Stan asked and disappeared out the door that he had entered from.
Mirabel came bounding down from the stairs and scowled when she noticed that he was gone. "Them to be safe," Michael whispered, running his eyes over the house one last time to make sure that it was triangle free. "They can hate me all they want as long as they're safe."
Mira wrapped her hand around his and said, "They will be. We'll make it so they are."
.
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Below the Shack, the portal hummed, two journals sitting on the desk reflecting the light of the metal.