PARAPINES AU- An essay contest to win a free trip to a paranormal convention wound up with two winners instead of one: Dipper AND Norman! Forced to share a hotel room, and a convention panel, what will it take to stop them from being at each other's' throats, and become (maybe more than) friends? Rated for thought-bubble violence, mind-f***ing, and gay cuddles. Please R&R!

INFO: Dipper is 17, and Norman is 16 (but only a few months away from being 17 himself). This AU does not involve Gravity Falls as a location AT ALL! Sorry! Dipper (and his twin sister, Mabel) is from Piedmont, California, and Norman is from Blithe Hollow, Massachusetts. Set in The Present. Paranormal Convention based on MiParaCon 3, with my own research and fiction included to add more flair. :) I also mention the "Anti-Ecto Act," which is merely something brought up in several Danny Phantom fanfiction works. It doesn't actually exist.

Trigger Warnings: Boy x Boy cuddles happen in this story, as well as thought-bubble violence, and occasional mind-f***ing. There might be a little language, likely only from Dipper or random adults. (Individual TWs and Word Counts will be listed with each chapter.)

Now, enough with the technicalities! Let's get on with the story you've all been waiting for!

Chapter One: Submit One

Trigger Warning: None

Word Count: 1,316

He sighed, pushing his chair back from the desk. With a short yawn, Norman stood up and stretched his arms above his head. Looking back at the computer, he smiled; he had finally completed the last draft of the essay. It was ready to enter in the contest.

He leaned in again as his hand found the computer mouse, slowly gliding it across the desk. A couple clicks of the mouse, a few words typed in here and there, and one final click to submit, and the essay was off into the World Wide Web, on its own, ready to be judged by a group of well-known experts.

"FINALLY!" he shouted, sitting up on his bed.

"You finally done?" his sister asked, looking over at him happily. Dipper smirked back at her,

"It's proofread. All the details are there. It's PERFECT!" he explained. He hopped off his bed and scurried to his desk, picking up a large, yellow envelope. He quickly rushed back, stuffing the twenty-three pages of loose-leaf paper into the envelope, and sealing it. Grinning with pride, he rushed out the door, down the hall, into the kitchen, out the front door, onto the front porch, down the front walk, and right up to the mailbox. He paused for a moment to glance down at the envelope he was clutching in his hands, and then he slowly pulled open the lid of the mailbox, and placed the envelope inside, trying not the bend it too much as it curled with the curve of the container. He took a breath and shut the mailbox, quickly lifting the plastic, red flag.

For such a patient guy, the waiting shouldn't have been so unbearable, and yet, here he was, tapping his foot, standing in the doorway, waiting for the mailman. He glanced back at the grandfather clock in the hall. The mailman usually drops off the mail by 10 AM on Saturdays, but it was already twenty minutes past. He turned back, his foot tapping harder. It had been two weeks. The judges had made their decisions, and they had already sent out the notice letters. He was supposed to have gotten his sometime this week, and if didn't show up today, he wasn't going to last the extended wait to Monday. He hastily took another glance back at the clock in the hall, but it was the same time as before.

Suddenly, his pocket vibrated, the theme from Halloween faintly singing from it. He reached in and pulled out his cell phone, noticing he'd received a new text message.

He sighed; it was probably from his sister. Since she started college, she spent most of her days on her brand-new smart phone, updating facebook and twitter, texting everyone on the entire planet, and playing with all those pointless apps that no one could possibly find a use for (or so he figured). He was somewhat surprised, however, to find the text was from his closest friend, Neil.

"Got your letter yet?" the text read. Norman remembered letting Neil in on what he had been relentlessly studying and writing about for over a month. The essay had to be perfect, so he made Neil promise not to bother him too much, and the ginger boy actually took it to heart, having not sent a single text, or even visit his house, in over two weeks. But, by now, he's probably just as excited as Norman is to hear the news from the contest judges. If he won, he'd been getting the chance of a lifetime, attending the single, most professional convention in his career. Okay, so maybe his future career; he wasn't quite out of high school yet.

He opened a reply to the text message when he heard footsteps. He immediately looked up, and there was the man he'd been waiting for, dressed in a dull navy blue. His social anxiety left him, for once, as he rushed up to the aforementioned man, begging for today's mail. The pungent man glanced at him with a confused grimace, but then reached into his bag, pulling out a small bundle of envelopes.

"Here ya go, kid," he told Norman, handing the bundle over, and slowly continuing on his route. Norman couldn't keep the butterflies in his stomach from stirring up, and his hands started to shake as he tossed his parents' bills behind him, into the yard, searching for the one thing he wanted to see today.

And, there, at the back of the stack, was a crisp, white envelope, emblazoned with his name. He stared at it in awe before he finally flipped it over, and ripped the back tab completely off in sheer impatience. The letter was torn from the now-crumpled envelope and unfolded in a matter of milliseconds.

Norman's eyes glided directly to the body of text in the middle of the page, not bothering with all the professional mumbo-jumbo on the rest of it.

"Blah-blah-blah," he read aloud under his breath, skimming through the sentences, "Thank you for entering…blah-blah-blah." He continued down, trying to find what he was looking for, "We wish to inform you…"

"…that while you are OUR WINNER of the MiParaCon 3 essay contest…!" Dipper shouted out the best part of the sentence, and glanced up from the page to watch his sister's reaction. She smiled wide, and started bouncing up and down in excitement.

He looked back down at the letter, continuing,

"…there was a small error in our judging process."

"…Our group of judges was unable to choose only one winner, and it is only fair to notify you that you will not be the only one with a free, 3-day pass to our convention this year…"

"…You will receive your prize(s) as promised, and all expenses will be paid. Your essay will still be featured in its own panel; however, this will be shared with our other winner, as well."

Dipper frowned. It was great that he'd actually won—HE'D ACTUALLY WON—but he was going to have to share his victory with some random stranger from across the country! There was only supposed to be one winner. This wasn't fair at all!

Mabel noticed his change in expression, and stopped her bouncing.

"Dipper? What's wrong?" she asked, genuinely concerned.

"I have to share the panel? I have to share everything!" he grumbled, "This is stupid! Why didn't they just pick MY essay, and only MINE?!"

Mabel frowned, placing her hands on her hips.

"Dipper," she pursed her lips, "There is nothing wrong with sharing! You share stuff with me all the time!"

"That's exactly why I don't wanna share anything with some random guy!" he shouted, waving the letter in emphasis. Mabel rolled her eyes,

"You still won the money. You still won the 3-day pass. You still get your own, freakin' PANEL! What more do you want?!"

Norman, now sitting in the front lawn of his house, having fallen over after his short outburst of excitement after having learned he'd actually won—HE'D ACTUALLY WON—was smiling wider than he'd probably ever done in his entire life. Who cares if he had to share his victory?! He'd WON! For once in his pathetic life, he'd actually won something, and it was all through hard work and treating ghosts with the respect they deserved! This was amazing! This was astounding! This was the greatest day of his life! And with that, he was back on his feet, shaking with excitement. He glanced down, one more time, reading the last statement,

"Unfortunately, the board was unable to book more than one hotel room reservation due to every hotel within a mile of the convention center being full for the complete 3 days and 2 nights during the convention. You may have to share the hotel room with our other winner."

Next Chapter: Bogolicious Deal

Stay Tuned!