Hidden in Plain Sight
A/N: Hello again, everyone.
Recently I re-watched some of my favorite episodes of Gravity Falls, and wondered what would've happened if certain things were changed or revealed after the end of the show. Here is the product I came up with.
Female Dipper, by the way.
Disclaimer: Gravity falls is owned by Disney and Alex Hirsch.
Chapter 1: Return to the Falls
7:36 AM, somewhere south of Gravity Falls, Oregon. June 16th, three years after Weirdmageddon.
Mabel stared out from the window of the Speedy Beaver bus she was riding. In the distance, two very familiar cliffs were cresting the horizon. The 15-year old's face lit up with recognition and excitement, a feeling of coming home washing over her.
"You ready?" she asked her seat-mate, another girl of similar height and with the same shade of shoulder-length chocolate-brown hair. This girl was wearing a well-worn bomber-hat, a blue plaid overshirt, and a bright orange short-sleeved shirt underneath. Gripped in her hands was a leather-bound journal with a metallic blue pine tree on it with the number 1 printed in black ink.
"I-I don't know Mabel…" the girl said, unsure of herself, drawing her arms and the book closer to her chest. "What if they don't accept it? What if they all think I'm a freak for hiding it from them for an entire summer and not coming clean?"
"Pfffft, that's what you're worried about?! Everyone is practically family here, Mads! Saving an entire town from an interdimensional triangle demon doesn't just go away!" Mabel countered to her twin.
Madison Pines (*1), better known by locals as Dipper, drew into herself even further. A lack of confidence was emanating from her in an aura. Mabel was beginning to get bummed out by her twin's self-doubt, and body checked Madison to break the tension.
"Ah- hey!" Madison protested, giggling softly as she shoulder-checked her sister back. Soon the two were laughing fully as they were playfully shoving each other in the back of the Speedy Beaver.
"Hey! No horseplay on the bus!" the driver said seriously, looking in the rear-view mirror at the two twins.
The two Pines girls calmed down, and Madison wore a genuine smile across her face.
"Yeah, maybe this won't be so bad…" Madison said, looking out the window at the water tower. "Hey look, that dumb muffin is still there!" she said to her sister, pointing past her face at the tower. "Think Robbie's lived that down yet?" she chuckled.
"Probably not!" Mabel laughed.
The two twins had grown since their summer here 3 years ago. Mabel no longer had her braces, and her baby-fat cheeks had slimmed down into an attractive face. Her hips had widened and her waist had gotten thinner as a result of her active (sometimes a bit too active, if you ask Madison) lifestyle.
Madison, however, went from a slightly boyish figure to a well-toned yet still thin figure. Her arms were no longer stick-thin, rather they were now athletic and well defined. Her legs were similar, and her hips were wider, but not as much as Mabel's. Her waist was thinner than her hips, but again not to the same degree as Mabel.
As the bus neared the familiar stop, Madison once again became nervous.
"A-are you sure they'll accept me?" she asked again.
"Maddie, you're fiiiiiine! We know that Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford are gonna be fine with it, and Soos basically doesn't judge anyone for anything." Mabel comforted her twin, putting an arm around her nerdy sister's shoulders.
The bus stopped. Madison took a deep breath and stood up. Steeling her fears, she started walking forward, following her twin sister to the Mystery Shack.
Mabel opened the door, slamming it as she announced her presence to the
"Hey!" Mabel yelled at her friends, receiving a 4-person group hug consisting of Grenda, Candy, Wendy, and Pacifica.
After the group hug disbanded, Wendy asked the obvious question.
"Hey, where's Dip?" the redhead asked, looking around.
Madison stepped into the Shack.
"H-hey…" she said, not looking anyone in the face.
"Mabel, I know you like making friends on the road, but who the hell is that?" Stan asked, pointing at Madison.
Madison looked down in shame.
"Grunkle Stan, do you really not recognize those eyes? Those shoes? That hat?!" Mabel asked, getting more excited each time.
Wendy looked at the bomber-hat.
"Wait a sec…" Wendy said, moving closer, hand on her chin. She looked Madison over for a few seconds, taking in her facial features, causing Madison to blush slightly. Wendy suddenly backed up, her eyes widening.
"Holy axe in a tree trunk! Dipper?!" Wendy asked loudly.
"DING DING DING! Correctamundo, Wendy!" Mabel yelled while jumping onto Wendy's back. "Everyone, I'd like you to officially meet Madison Pines, my twin sister!"
The following seconds were mass-chaos.
Several minutes later
"So, you were a girl the ENTIRE time?!" Wendy asked, unbelieving.
"Y-yeah. Sorry you guys had to find out this way…" Madison said, scratching her neck.
"No probs, dude!" Soos said, patting her back roughly. "Though, I guess this means we aren't the Pterodactyl Bros nomore…" Soos said sadly.
"It's alright, you'll always be a Dino Bro to me, Soos." Madison said, giving the large man a hug.
Soos returns the hug. "Thanks, Dino Sis!" Soos says, letting go of the hug.
The room calmed down a bit, until Wendy spoke up again.
"So, why didja hide from us, Dip?" the lumberjack asked. Madison looked down slightly, her smile getting a little smaller.
"Yes Dipper, why did you hide from us?" Candy asked as well.
"Well… you all assumed I was a boy, and you all seemed so supportive of me as a guy. I didn't want to change anything…" she said, slowly getting a touch sad.
"Are you kidding me? Dip, guy or girl you're still our friend!" Wendy said, putting her hand on the shorter girl's shoulder. "We can still call ya Dip, right?" the redhead asked cautiously.
"Eh. Dipper, Dip, Mads, Maddie, anything works really." Madison said.
"Wait, Grunkle Stan, why aren't you freaking out like everyone else?" Mabel asked.
"I had my suspicions." Stan answered quickly.
"You… you what?!" Madison asked.
"Yeah. I knew the whole time. Squeaky voice, thick hair, and you always gave off a fruity smell after showers, it was pretty obvious to me." Stan started. "Don't forget, I'm a master conman. I can see through lies like glass."
"Stan, what's going on up… here?" Ford came up from his lab, looking at Madison. "Kids? Oh man, I thought you were getting here tomorrow!" he said as he held his arms open, his two great nieces running in for a hug.
"We missed you, Great Uncle Ford!" Mabel said, releasing the hug along with her twin.
"We missed you too, kids. Now tell me about how Madison got the courage to reveal herself?" he asked.
"You knew too?!" Madison said incredulously.
"Yup! Figured it out when I was captured by that security drone. Turns out it shows me whatever the drone sees from in that ball! I noticed your adrenaline levels lasted an abnormally long time for a 12-year old boy (*2). All I needed to do was call your parents and they gave me the whole story." Ford answered calmly.
"Oh! No wonder you didn't want to join our slumber parties!" Grenda said loudly, snapping her fingers. "You didn't want us finding out!"
Madison nodded with a smile. "Yeah, kinda hard to hide when you're within breathing distance of 3 other girls. Especially while wearing ace wraps…" Madison said, remembering those painful elastic strips with a shudder. "So much chafing…"
The girls shared a laugh as a white van rolled up in the driveway, and several people got out.
"Hey, we heard the twins are back!" called out Nate, followed by Lee and Thompson.
Wendy walked to the front door, waving them in. "Hey guys, they're in here!"
The three boys walked into the Shack, looking around and spotting Mabel.
"What's cookin' Hambone?" Lee offered a fistbump, which the sweater-clad girl returned.
"Hey, where's Dr. Funtimes?" Nate asks the group. The girls split apart slightly to fully reveal Madison.
"H-hey guys…" she waved nervously.
The three were quiet for a second, before Nate and Lee started laughing.
"Great prank, Hambone! But seriously, where's your brother?" Nate tapped Mabel's shoulder with a fist.
The rest of the people in the Shack fell quiet. Thompson poked the two to get their attention.
"Guys, I think that is Dr. Funtimes…" Thompson said quietly.
"Nah, I think we would've noticed if Dipper was a girl." Lee denied. "Right?" he turned to Nate.
Nate was quiet for a second, looking Madison over. "You know what, Lee? I think Thompson's right…" he said calmly after a second.
"What?" Lee asked.
"Just look at her! Orange shirt, that journal, she even has Wendy's old hat!" Nate argued. They started to fight over it.
The two were about to start punching each other, when Madison cleared her throat.
"Perhaps I should explain…" she started. The two nodded at her, releasing each other's shirts. She took a minute to breathe. "Hi, my name is Madison Pines. I'm Mabel's twin sister, but you all know me better as Dipper."
The next several minutes were Madison explaining to Lee and Nate why she hid herself.
"So, let me get this straight. You were hiding from us because we got your gender wrong?" Lee asked.
"Y-yeah, it's pretty stupid when you think about it…" Madison looked away, slightly ashamed.
"Y'know what? We're good to hang anytime you are, Dr. Funtimes!" Nate offered a hi-five. She slapped the offered hand and giggled.
"See, I told you everyone would understand!" Mabel said, slapping her twin on the back.
Madison, recovering from the stumble that Mabel's slap had given her, chuckled. "Yeah. Maybe this summer won't be so bad!" she said hopefully.
"You know what? That reminds me!" Wendy said, walking up to Madison.
Taking off the ratty old blue trucker hat, Wendy puller her old hat off of Madison's head, placing the blue hat back where it truly belonged after ruffling the younger girl's hair. Madison chuckled, readjusting her hat.
'This won't be so bad at all.' Madison thought.
A/N: There's the first chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed, because this is fun to write. I've always wanted to do a genderbend of a character, and Dipper exhibits some certain girly aspects already and was also called a girl several times in the show with actual reason here and there.
I have a few plans for this story, a couple of them will be re-takes of old adventures, and some will be whole new shenanigans for the twins to get into. Since I'm not similar to Mabel, I'm collaborating with one of the old writers from this account. As you might recall, I am only one of three personalities for a single person. We all have our own individuality, personality, and are essentially entirely separate people sharing a body.
Anyway, I hope you all decide to keep reading, because I am nowhere near done with this idea.
Some footnotes:
*1: Dipper's real name, as confirmed by the Gravity Falls Journal 3 book, is Mason. It's pretty easy to see where I got Madison from.
*2: Adrenaline works in different ways for boys and girls. Boys get a short but large spike at the beginning of a stressful situation, which then peters out slowly. Girls, however, have a longer buildup time, but keep the adrenaline spike for longer.