Peaceful.
Perhaps that was a word she would be able to put in context. For example, she would call the town she had lived in most of her life pretty peaceful. It was nice and quiet, not a single soul jumping out of the crowd simply because the entire crowd was unique.
But it had always worked. Everyone got along. They all did their own thing. Each citizen of Gravity Falls lived in peace.
Gravity Falls was peaceful.
Pacifica Northwest… was not.
The blonde had lived a great amount of her younger years in the town she now once again set foot in. By the time she had hit the age of a legal adult, however, Pacifica had immediately bailed out of there because she was under the impression that the city had more opportunities.
Technically that wasn't a lie.
While Gravity Falls was a nice town to live in, everyone had to excel in something by a great amount to make a good living out of it. Everything was already there. A bakery, a butcher, a hairdresser. Even a woodcutter came by each month simply because he was the only one in town who greatly passed everyone in woodcutting skills.
Not much of the same was needed. Sometimes one of the more optimistic young adults opened up a shop that was already stationed somewhere else in town. From the exact moment the doors opened, it would be a race against time for the newer ones. If you weren't good enough – better than your competition, your shop wouldn't even survive a week.
That was how rooted Gravity Falls was.
Pacifica had sought stability. She wanted to be certain that, whatever it was she decided to be doing, she would have a great impact on the world. Or, at least, on the local people of her city.
Her father had let her. Ever since it was discovered that the Northwest's weren't the original founders of the town, he had cared less and less about Pacifica's life. Not in an evil dad kind of way, because he loved her very much despite it all, but in a controlling kind of way. He became less possessive and more open to the blonde's own choices.
Therefore it hadn't been difficult to convince him her future lied elsewhere.
In the beginning all went well. Pacifica chose a career she wanted to pursue, managed to get everything she needed to do what she wanted to do for the rest of her life, and even got an amazing network because of her studies. She felt needed. She felt like she progressed a lot.
Until she had gotten a job at one of the most famous industries the world had ever known.
At first it was exciting. It was new. The blonde got to do things she had never even done before, requests she had never even thought existed.
But everything must come to an end, and so did Pacifica's dreams of the future.
Her job quickly became repetitive. Assignments that had given her the impression she had great impact on suddenly felt like that wasn't the case at all, because she quickly learned almost everyone at the office did them. Her motivation dropped with a great amount, but the assignments and papers she received during the week tripled in size and soon Pacifica found herself to be in the same, dull business life her childhood friends had so immensely feared.
Months, even years went by without any changes in her life, but the amount of stress always wavered. It never became less. It only got worse.
Pacifica decided she finally had enough and took a day off to go visit the town she once hated so much. Ironically, now she only longed for the good old days in Gravity Falls.
Of course, when the blonde asked for a day off, she only got one because it was the last day of the week and on the sole condition to still fulfill her assignment by the end of the day. It wasn't much of a day off, but at least she got to work outside the office, which was a welcoming change of the usual quick and stressful pace inside the building.
She had wasted no time to arrive in Gravity Falls, even deliberately getting up extremely early so she could enjoy her day as much as she could. If she went to the local diner in the early morning and got her work done, she could go sightseeing for the remainder of her time there.
That was a small sacrifice she was willing to make.
By the time she got to the diner she noticed the name had never changed, despite spending a great time away from the town. That was Gravity Falls for you.
The Mystery Shack, as the owner had called it, was a pretty strange place to want to be seen in. It was filled to the brim with strange 'creatures', including the man who owned it as well. Stanley Pines, or "Stan" as he was sometimes called by the local residents, had a knack for the strange and mysterious events that mostly occurred around town. Or rather, he just really liked the extra cash he got from tourists.
Most of the statues and other items were either handmade or bought online to gruesomely fuse with other things, and the man only got away with it because he knew how to bring it. Pacifica had hated him ever since she had met him, but she would kill to see his old and grumpy face now.
Unfortunately, that wasn't what she got to see when she pushed her way inside. While the annoying jingling of the bell went unnoticed by the blonde, it was definitely noticed by a certain brunette working behind the counter.
She looked up from her current task, which was wiping the bar persistently to get rid of the filthy stains that had been caused by previous customers, and welcomed Pacifica with a very warm smile.
The blonde had never seen the girl before, but to her own surprise and embarrassment, she had wished she did.
"Welcome to the Mystery Shack!" the brunette happily exclaimed. She waved over to the empty booths, probably inviting Pacifica to take a seat there. "I'll be with you in a minute!"
Great, Pacifica thought to herself. Perhaps she would like to join me.
She quickly shook her head to rid herself of that thought. As if, Northwest.
It was no secret to her or her family that she was attracted to the female gender. While Pacifica wasn't one to turn boys away when they approached, she definitely had a preference to the more feminine gender out there.
Therefore, it wasn't very surprising to find that the brunette had caught her eye.
The blonde turned to seat herself at the booth furthest away from the entrance. This way she could concentrate better, having less distraction in comparison. She placed her laptop on the table carefully, sighing when she opened it and turned it on.
She was met with the usual, boring screensaver that came with every new laptop. Hers wasn't exactly the newest of them all, but it was for work, so she didn't even bother to change any settings unless she absolutely had to.
Once her desktop became visible and the object didn't make any dying noises anymore, she opened the program that she needed for her assignment.
Before she could actually read what still had to be done, a small gust of wind appeared out of nowhere. Pacifica curiously looked up to see the brunette standing next to the table.
"Aw," she pouted. "67 seconds… Sorry."
The blonde frowned. What?
"I said I would be with you in a minute, but it's been 67 seconds since then… Or, well, now even more."
What a peculiar girl. Somehow that took her interest even more.
"It's fine," Pacifica waved it off. "I'll be here longer than seven extra seconds anyway."
The brunette gave her another bright smile as she magically pulled out a small notepad and a pen. "So, what can I get you for the extra longer than seven seconds?" she asked.
The blonde briefly smiled in amusement. This was way different than her normal day at work. "Just a coffee is fine, please," she responded.
A nod from the waitress came, though that wasn't the only thing. The girl was very chatty, apparently, because she didn't leave immediately. Instead, she wrote down Pacifica's order as if it was too difficult to remember and spoke up. "Alright, one coffee coming right up for…" she drawled.
Pacifica huffed, the corners of her mouth pointing upwards. "Pacifica," she simply told the brunette.
"Mabel," the waitress added. A quick glance at her name tag told the blonde that Mabel was her name.
She nodded once, which Mabel took as a sign to leave and get her coffee ready.
In the meantime, Pacifica turned back to her laptop and scoffed when she saw the small error in the corner of her screen. She had no time to waste on some silly message.
Focusing on the information in front of her, the blonde quickly adjusted to the quiet atmosphere that hung in the diner. Another welcome change from the office, because normally Pacifica's ears would be molested by countless telephone ringtones and loud, obnoxious speeches about different matters.
This was why she had come to Gravity Falls.
A grateful sigh escaped her lips as soon as she realized how much she had missed this, but that moment was interrupted when another message popped up. It was the same error.
Persistent.
Pacifica didn't even bother to read it as she clicked it away, casting her undivided attention on her assignment.
Several more minutes passed, during which Mabel had come to bring her coffee. The brunette didn't engage into further conversation, noticing her customer was hard at work, and therefore skipped away to clean the tables of the other booths.
Pacifica briefly wondered why, since no one else had entered the diner yet and it was still very early.
About fifteen minutes went by without anything worthwhile to mention. Until the blonde's laptop decided it was done for the day and shut itself off.
She couldn't help her surprised yelp as she was met with the power down screen. "What?!"
Pacifica quickly came to the realization that she hadn't saved the changes she made yet. That meant she had to re-do everything…
Annoyed, she took a large gulp of her coffee and waited irritatingly until the screen turned black before she touched the power button.
There was a soft click. But nothing happened.
Pacifica, now starting to feel panicked, pressed the button another time. No response. A desperate third attempt. Still nothing.
"No," she whispered in a single breath. "No no no no!"
This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not on her one day off!
Another frantic attempt to get the laptop to work. She smacked it lightly for good measure, but not even that worked out in her favor. It was a lost cause.
That was it. She gave up. Pacifica sighed another deep and heavy sigh before her forehead met with the table, causing a light and clattering sound to fill the diner.
Though she couldn't possibly see in this position, her head now buried in her skinny arms, she just felt the presence near her. Pacifica didn't need to look up to see it was Mabel.
"Is everything okay?" the girl asked. She sounded very worried.
The blonde took an extra few seconds to calm her own breathing and finally sat up, slouching once she was upright. Her thin fingers met with her forehead as she leaned on them, seeking support for her elbow from the table in front of her.
"Not really," Pacifica easily admitted. Working in a stressful environment with a ton of other co-workers had its ups when it came to social interaction. She was used to being so honest about these things by now. "My laptop is busted and I need it to complete my task…"
Mabel instantly brightened. "Oh. You can use mine, if you want? It's in the back, so–"
"That won't work," Pacifica cut in. As much as she appreciated the help, it wasn't very… helpful. "All my files are on here. I need those."
The blonde lightly patted her laptop, though she wanted to use more force for a moment.
"Oh…" Mabel repeated, this time deflating somewhat herself. It seemed unnatural for the brunette to be so downcast and Pacifica immediately felt guilty. This wasn't Mabel's fault. There was no need to feel sad about it.
A moment of silence settled between the two, each in thought. The blonde tried to come up with a solution for her problem, but so far, she wasn't having any luck.
"Well, I think your boss would understand if you explained the situation," Mabel eventually chirped, successfully crashing the uneasy aura Pacifica had felt a few seconds ago. "Grunkle Stan always lets me do the dishes, but he never gets mad when I drop something."
Grunkle? Interesting. Pacifica mentally noted the new piece of information down.
"Was it that important?" Mabel continued.
The blonde noticed she had been staring at the girl and quickly looked away. She could easily hide the small blush that tried to form on her cheeks, but she couldn't ignore the small flutter of her heart as fast.
"I…" Pacifica began, trying to tell the brunette that, yes, it was very important, because it was her job. But she found herself unable to. She stopped herself and frowned in contemplation.
Was it that important? Yes, her boss had wanted her to finish it today, but as far as she could tell, it was yet another one of those stupid assignments no one ever really wanted to do. She didn't even understand what it was for.
"No," Pacifica finally finished. "No, now that I think of it, it's not."
She felt a weight lift off her shoulders.
Mabel smiled that lovely smile at her again. She then did something that surprised Pacifica. She took a seat opposite of her.
A questioning, almost pleading look appeared in her eyes, wordlessly asking Pacifica if this was alright with her. The blonde lightly smiled and nodded once to affirm it was okay.
"So, I've never seen you around before," Mabel immediately started. "Did you just move here?"
There was a childlike curiosity to the girl. Pacifica found it endearing. It was… different from what she was used to.
"No," the blonde responded, shaking her head. "I used to live here, but I moved to the city several years back. I figured I could show my face here again. I… kind of missed Gravity Falls, honestly."
Mabel nodded in understanding and flashed her a grin. "Yeah, this place is kinda… How do you call it? Mesmerizing?" The brunette moved her head a bit to the side, giving her the look of a confused puppy.
Pacifica mentally kicked herself for almost blurting out the word 'cute'.
"Yes. Yes, I do believe that's the correct term." She smiled at Mabel. At least her trip to Gravity Falls wasn't lost. She might as well have some fun now.
"Listen, Mabel," Pacifica said, drawing those beautiful orbs from the girl towards her. "When are you free? Would you like to accompany me later into town?"
A toothy grin spread on Mabel's face, not even missing a beat when she gave her response. "I'm on break at 12. I would love to."
A/N: Hello again! Mod Cecille here. I hope you enjoyed this quick oneshot, and if you did, please check out my other works!
I really loved writing this. It wrote itself in one go, to be honest, but I'm a sucker for Coffeeshop AUs. This is a oneshot for now, though that might change in the future because I could see a potential second chapter coming eventually. Maybe. We'll see.