A/N: Hello people! Yes, this is a new story, (the idea just actually popped into my head today, and I...well I love Gravity Falls with all my heart, so I just had to write it, you know?) and it's super rough, so there might be some revisions happening later with it. But I'm pretty happy with the direction I have it going in, so I hope you enjoy the first chapter of Just Another Summer in Gravity Falls! Thanks! (And don't forget to r&r, I love feedback :D)
. . .
Thump thump thump.
I knocked on the front door of the Mystery Shack feeling strangely…awkward.
Not that feeling awkward was a strange sensation for me or anything. Awkward was practically my middle name. Really wish it was Tyrone, though.
It just felt so weird to actually be back. Especially after the craziness that happened here last summer.
"Oh my GOSH, Dipper, it's the SHACK!" my twin sister Mabel whispered excitedly in my ear, "I already feel at home again! I wonder if our room is going to be same—I'm dying to catch up with Larry the splinter!"
My sister tended to look on the bright side of things.
"Well, we'll see…if Soos ever opens the door. Where is he?" I remarked, trying to peer through the tiny windows at the top of the door. Due to my short stature, however, I wasn't doing too great at it.
Suddenly, an eye appeared in the window, causing me to yelp and jump back.
The moldy door flew open, followed by a chorus of laughs that irritably included my sister.
"Dudes," Soos, the old handyman and now owner of the Mystery Shack, gasped, "I was waiting do that, like, all day."
"He was," Melody, Soos's girlfriend, confirmed, "He was sitting behind that door all day."
"Totally worth it," Soos added.
"Ha ha ha, very funny," I sarcastically said, stuffing my hands in my pockets.
"Soos! Melody! Ugh, it's so good to SEE you! How is the relationship going?" Mabel burst, obviously waiting to ask that question for the longest time. Even after a year, she was still obsessed with everything love- and boy- related.
"Uh, fine," Melody replied nervously, playing with her fingers. Mabel noticed this, and immediately snatched both of her hands.
"You…" Mabel gasped, "You're ENGAGED! OHMYGOSHYOU'REENGAGED!"
"Well, it was supposed to be on the down-low, ya know," Soos laughed.
"But I guess not anymore!" Melody exclaimed. "See, dude, I TOLD you people would eventually find out THAT WE ARE ENGAGED and so that we shouldn't try and hide the fact that I AM ENGAGED TO YOU!"
Soon blushed, something I'd never seen him do before. Melody must've been bringing out the best in him.
"Well, congratulations, guys!" I said, "When's the wedding? Hopefully in the summer so we can come and not miss school, am I right?"
Mabel elbowed me. "What Dipper means to say is that we're hoping it's during school so he and I can come and miss class, because those weddings are the best type of weddings!"
I glared at her, my look conveying everything I had to say.
"It's actually at the end of the summer, right before you guys leave Gravity Falls," Melody answered.
I inwardly cheered, and Mabel outwardly groaned, but then immediately got distracted by one of her thoughts. "Oooo, Melody, can I be one of your bridesmaids? Please please please PLEASE PLEASE?"
"Was that even a question? Of course!" Melody replied, taking Mabel into the gift shop so she can talk and work at the same time.
Now it was just Soos and me in the front room. Oh, and a dying question I'd been thinking about on the whole bus ride here.
"So, um," I started, "Do you…does Wendy still work here?"
Soos shrugged. "Nah. She started working at the new sandwich place down the road, since Melody has her old job."
"Sandwich place? Here?"
"Yup dude. They have, like, REALLY good BLTs. You should check it out."
"…Yeah, definitely," I replied, a bit disappointed for some reason. I mean, I'm over Wendy. Done. That was a one-summer gig—I'm a completely different man now.
"Where is this sandwich shop, exactly?" I asked before I realized the words coming out of my mouth.
"Just right down the street. You can't miss it."
"Thanks," I replied, unconsciously moving toward the door.
"Ah no dude, not now! You just got here! C'mon, lemme show you dudes' room!"
"Isn't it the same room as before?" I inquired.
"Yeah, but—"
"SOOS HELP MY HAND IS STUCK IN THE TOILET AND I CAN'T GET IT OUT SOOS THIS IS SO GROSS WHY AM I DOING THIS SOOOOOOS!" someone cried loudly from the downstairs bathroom.
I arched an eyebrow. "Am I hallucinating, or is that who I think it is?"
"Yeah, it's Pacifica. Her therapist person wanted her to get some work 'sperience, since her family is only kinda rich now, and we had the handyman job open…" Soos shook his head, sighing. "Dawg, she doesn't know what she's doing. She's like a pigeon that's loud and poops on everything."
"SOOS I NEED HELP! NOW!" Pacifica screamed, the panic in her voice intensifying as each second went by.
Soos looked toward the bathroom, and then back to me, seeming almost guilty. "Listen dude, she's gonna start scarin' customers 'n stuff…and you know where your room is, right?"
"Yeah man, don't worry. I'll just drop off my stuff and hang—"
"SOOOOOOOOS!"
"Bye dude," Soos said quickly, and backpedaled toward the bathroom. "I'M COMIN' BIG P!"
"DON'T CALL ME THAT! I CAN STILL SUE YOU!"
I sighed, and headed up the stairs with my suitcase thumping behind me, hit by a wave of nostalgia as I realized that Soos had barely changed anything since Grunckle Stan left with Great Uncle Ford to go explore the unknown. He probably just liked it the way it was, and wanted to preserve the memory of when Stan ran the Mystery Shack.
I sniffed the air and blanched at the smell of mildew, mold, and that odd, ranchy smell that I could never put my finger on. Maybe Soos shouldn't have preserved everything.
I finally reached the top of the stairs and looked down the hallway to see the door leading to the room that Mabel and I had shared all last summer. I sighed, finally feeling at home and in place as I walked over to the door, turned the knob, and…
"AUGHH!"
I stumbled back, shouting out in surprise for the second time that day after opening the door and seeing the outline of Bill Cipher looking right at me.
Only it wasn't Bill Cipher. It was just the light coming through stain-glass window that had a triangular figure looking oddly reminiscent of Bill. I breathed a sigh of relief. I needed to snap out of it—nothing weird was going to happen this summer. Maybe a few things, since this is Gravity Falls, but not Bill-weird.
Stepping superstitiously around the Bill reflection, (you can never be too careful, especially in this town) I set down my stuff and started to unpack. Pretty soon, I'd made everything look pretty much the same as it did last year, except for the addition of the Legend of Zeldo figures I'd picked up on my year back in Piedmont, as I'd recently become really into that videogame series.
I plopped down on my bed, suddenly bored. I found myself wishing for one of Ford's journals to look through, as I hadn't read all of them.
Then I remembered Bill had burned them up at Weirdmaggedon.
Bill ruins everything, I thought resentfully, Even though he's trapped in some stone statue and really isn't doing much, he still sucks.
I sighed. What to do, what to do, what to—
"Wendy!" I suddenly said aloud. "I should totally go visit Wendy! I mean, I don't think anyone will really miss me while I'm gone, since everyone is pretty busy with their stuff…"
I silently commended myself for thinking my way out of boredom in such a quick manner, and then headed downstairs to get the golf cart and see Wendy.
