At first, Norman thought it was pretty strange that he received an invitation to the Pines Twin's B'nai mitzvah. He knew why he would be invited; they'd become incredibly close over the summer, reaching the level of "best friends" status. That aspect of receiving an invitation made complete sense. But, the twins lived in Oregon and he lived in Massachusetts, there was no way his parents would let him travel across the country for one party.
Or at least that's what he thought
"What do you mean I can go to the party?" Norman asked his mom completely dumbfounded at her cheery, positive response to showing her the invitation.
Sandra Babcock smiled, "Well it just so happens that part of the twin's birthday presents entails flying you out to Oregon to attend the party."
Norman's eyes widened, "Really?" they would do that for me?
"Uh-huh, but of course you will not be traveling alone,"
"You're coming with me!?" Norman's excitement level rose, he actually really enjoyed spending time with his mom.
"Well, no," Sandra looked away from her son for a moment, "Courtney will be flying with you."
And the excitement was gone, "Courtney!? But she hates flying!"
"Norman, your father and I can not afford to miss work to bring you to this party, and the Pines family was nice enough to offer to pay for both yours and Courtney's ticket. You sister is taking you, end of discussion."
Norman pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes, "Fine. But if I don't have fun, it's her fault." Courtney had a habit of turning all of Norman's fun into misery.
"Sure sweetie, also don't let the twins know you're coming, it's going to be a surprise." she warned.
"Uh-huh, I won't tell them." which was going to be super hard, Norman talked to the Pines twins, mostly Dipper though, almost every day. What if they asked him about the invite? Obviously he was going to lie about not being able to attend, but Norman hated lying. And he couldn't just ignore them until the party.
How bothersome, Norman thought as he bounded up his stairs to his room.
With all the memorizing and rehearsing that Dipper had to do, there was little time to spend skye-ing with Norman. He spent countless hours singing his prayers, he still has yet to do without his voice cracking, and practicing his pronunciation, which always could use improvement. He was becoming a man, he had to be accountable for his actions. Completing this ceremony was the first step, so Dipper refused to mess this one up.
Mabel, on the other hand, was not going to let this ceremony stress her out. After all, she was very good at memorizing lines, singing, diction, and pretty much any other aspect of performance. She decided that crafting, scrapbooking, and chatting with Norman was best use of the time she would have spent worrying about her Mitzvah.
She was starting up her laptop to message Norman when Dipper passed her open door with pocket Torah in hand. He stuck his head in the door way and eyed her suspiciously, "What are you doing?"
"Going to Skype Norman." she replied, keeping her eyes on her laptop screen.
"You should be practicing."
"I already did."
"I didn't hear you."
Mabel finally looked up, "Geez, what are you? The Mitzvah police? I'm all memorized and will be fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a friend to talk to." she brought her attention back to her original task, typing her password into her system.
Dipper's brow furrowed, "He's my friend too, you know."
"Yeah, I know he is, Dipper." she nodded, "Everyone knows."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he took a step into his sister's room.
"Nothing, don't you have a ritual to rehearse?" Mabel quickly dismissed her brother. She was not in the mood to fight with him about his not so secret crush on Norman.
"As a matter of fact, I do, and you do too." Dipper huffed and stormed out of his sisters room. Mabel rolled her eyes and signed onto Skype. Norman was still offline, but he wouldn't be for long.
She clicked on his contact info and sent a message,
MayBell02: Normy I know you're there!
Two seconds later, Norman's contact went online,
Gh0stB0y7: Hey Mabel, what's up?
MayBell02: Nuffin muffin, wanna Skype?
Gh0stB0y7: Sure
A video chat window popped up on her screen. She put on her head phones and accepted the call. There was Norman, with his red hoodie pulled over his head looking more tired than usual.
"Hey, is everything okay?" Mabel immediately asked.
Norman chuckled, "Nice to see you too Mabel."
"Yeah, yeah, are you alright?"
"M'fine," he nodded, "I just haven't been getting much sleep."
"Some ghost keeping you up at night?"
"Not this time, I'm just kind of anxious because I'm going to be flying with Courtney on Friday and-"
"Woah, flying?" Mabel interrupted the medium.
Norman's eyes widened and face went pale, well more pale than normal, "Did I say flying? I must really be tired I meant driving, yeah, me and Courtney are driving to the city to see a show." he stammered.
"I don't believe you."
"Really?"
"Yeah, you're a terrible liar Normy."
Norman rolled his eyes, "Alright, what I'm going to tell you is top secret and you can't tell Dipper, under any circumstances."
Mabel's smile grew twice it's size, "Oh really?"
"Yeah. Promise?"
"Scout's honor!" She made the Girl Scout's hand sign, "Where are you going?"
"Your party."
Mabel's squeal of joy was so loud, it could be heard from outside, "Holy cheese balls! For reals?"
"Yeah, for reals, please keep your voice down. You can't tell Dipper, I still want it to be a surprise for him." Norman said in a hushed tone.
"Don't worry! I won't tell, he's so consumed by his fear of messing up the ceremony I bet if I told him he wouldn't even remember!"
"Tell me what?" Dipper asked as he made his way down the hall to Mabel's room to see what all the screaming was about.
"Mabel!" Norman scolded.
"Nothing!" Mabel ripped her headphones off her head and scrambled to her feet, running to her door, "Nothing that concerns you!" she yelled at her brother from her doorway and slammed and locked her door shut.
Dipper pounded on the door, "Mabel open up!"
"Never!" she shouted as she scooted back to her bed, "Your secret is safe with me." she said to Norman quietly and winked and she put her headphones back on.
Norman had his head in his hands, "Mabel why?"
She shrugged, "I don't know, you expect something else?"
"No." Norman laughed to himself, this was Mabel Pines after all, "I should probably go so you can dispel Dipper. I'll see you soon." he grinned.
"Roger that Normandy!" Mabel gave her friend the thumbs up, "Bye!" and signed off.
Meanwhile, Dipper had his ear pressed up against Mabel's door. He could only hear her side of the conversation, figures. Suddenly, the door swung open, causing Dipper to fall on his face.
"What are you doing?" Mabel asked as if she didn't already know.
"Trying to figure out what you and Norman are hiding from me." There was no use in lying.
"Well good luck, what went down is between me and Normy."
Dipper frowned, "Please don't call him that."
"Why?" Mabel raised an eyebrow, "Are you jealous that I have a nickname for him that he likes and you don't?"
"Pfft, hardly," he said dismissively as his cheeks turned red, "I just think it's stupid, that's all."
"Well you're gonna have to deal with it, Bro-Bro."
"Uh-huh, sure."
Dipper was getting annoyed with his sister's antics, "Oh whatever, just tell me what he said?"
"No." she said bluntly.
"What do you mean no?"
"Just no, Norman told me not to tell."
He felt his blood begin to boil, "Mabel, Norman doesn't keep secrets from me, I bet if you told me it'd be fine."
She shook her head, "Not this time man."
A sting hit Dipper's chest. He and Norman, haven't kept a secret from each other since Norman told him about the fact that he was a medium. Why all of a sudden was he deciding to be all secretive with Mabel, of all people?
"Fine, whatever, I don't care. I'm going to practice." Dipper snapped, marching back to his room.
Mabel shook her head and smiled to herself, Poor kid's got it bad.
The flight to Oregon with Courtney is easily in the top ten of Norman's Worst Experiences list. Their flight was delayed an hour, which only worsened Courtney's mood and caused her to get into a fight with one of the more hot headed flight attendants, and there was severe turbulence during the flight. The nail marks from Courtney holding on to Norman's right arm for life weren't going to fade for a very long time. Not only did Norman act as his sister's personal stress ball, but he had to listen to her complain about everything; how cramped the flight was, how the person in front of them smelled, how the inflight food was awful, and a bunch of other stuff that Norman didn't pay attention to. Norman could not be more grateful for the moment when the Captain told the passengers that they were descending into Portland.
Norman and Courtney quickly grabbed their things from the baggage claim and were off to their hotel. They stayed in a hotel in the city where the after party was going to be held, since the twins' hometown is just ten minutes outside of the city. It was arranged that Mrs. Pines would pick up Courtney and Norman and bring them to the Synagogue, which was also just outside of the city. As their taxi drove into the city, Norman decided that Portland was actually really nice. It wasn't Boston, but it's tall buildings and mountainous backdrops were really refreshing. It was a shame that he and his sister were only staying for three days, but at least it was going to be three days well spent.
Dipper prepared for every sort of disaster that could've happened during his reading. He was ready for any sudden natural disasters, family injury, or if the Synagogue suddenly exploded due to any Bill Cypher related incidents. Never in a million years did he expect to see Norman sitting in one of the seats as the ceremony was about to begin.
His heart pounded in his ears.
Performing the ceremony for his family and school friends was one thing, they don't count. Norman was different, his opinion mattered more to Dipper. He didn't know why, it just did. He quickly turned to look at his sister who seemed completely un phased by the medium's presence.
And then it clicked, Mabel knew he was coming. That was the secret she and Norman had kept from him.
Mother of Moses
"Mabel," he hissed under his breath.
Mabel shot him a glare, "We're not supposed to be talking while Rabbi speaks." she whispered right back.
"You knew Norman was coming, didn't you?"
"What made you think that?" she snickered as she took his hand stepped foreword to do their reading.
Dipper groaned to himself, this was so embarrassing. He could feel the temperature of his cheeks rising and stomach drop. He was pretty sure Norman had never heard him sing before and Dipper knew he didn't have the voice of an angel. The twins made their way to where the Torah was set and stood before their friends and family. Mabel squeezed her brother's hand to assure him that everything was going to be okay. Dipper squeezed back and let out a long exhalation. He looked out into the crowd one more time, looking at Norman who was sitting next to a very bored looking Courtney. Norman flashed him a discreet thumbs up and smiled, mouthing "You can do it!"
Dipper's heart began to misbehave again, but with newfound confidence from his friend's encouragement, he and Mabel began their portion of the ceremony. Breathing as one and singing in perfect unison.
As Mabel predicted, the ceremony was a success. Many family members came up to them afterwards, giving them hugs and words of congratulations. Even Courtney, who seldom gave out compliments, hugged the Pines twins and told them that they did a great job. Norman congratulated them once they were finished talking to their family and school acquaintances, he didn't want to risk acting too awkward around people he didn't know.
Mabel ran to Norman and gave him a tight squeeze, "Well fancy seeing you here, Mr. Babcock!"
"Yeah right? What a world!" Norman laughed and squeezed her back.
"What a world indeed." Dipper played along with their banter, tapping his sister on the shoulder queuing her to let go of Norman.
"I mean it had to be a surprise for one of you." Norman released Mabel and gave Dipper a hug.
"Well thanks for the surprise, I totally needed that on one of the most important days of my life." Dipper pointed out while still in Norman's embrace.
"Okaaaay, well as much as I'd hate to break up this super manly hug fest, I need to remind you both that we've got a party to go to!" Mabel informed. It'd probably be better if you two just got a room already, geez.
Dipper quickly snapped out of his Norman filled haze and practically shoved the other boy away, "Right! The party! Woah, look at that!" he stammered awkwardly, "We should get going, right Norman?"
Confused at Dipper's sudden outburst, Norman agreed, "Yeah sure, let's get going."
One of the many traditions of a B'nai Mitzvah party is a harmless game called "snowball." To start, a couple dances to music. Once the DJ, in this case Soos, yells "Snowball!" the couple must split and grab a new partner. The cycle continues until everyone is dancing. Sounds easy enough right?
Lucky for Dipper, he had a lot of female relatives that he could dance with in order to avoid any awkward moments. He started out dancing with Mabel, doing their famous twin-robot bit, then moved on to his cousins, then aunts. Before he knew it, all of the girls that were invited to the party by Mabel were already dancing with someone who was not him and it was nearing the final round of partners.
Norman tried his best to stay out of the game, he didn't really like dancing. But that didn't stop Mabel from running over to his table and dragging him out onto the dance floor.
"Mabel, please don't you know I can't dance!" he protested as Mabel began to slow dance with him in the center of the dance floor.
"Just trust me on this one, I've got your back." Mabel winked at him and then turned to wink at Soos, who nodded knowingly.
"Last one folks! Snowball!" Soos bellowed into the microphone. Mabel acted fast, practically flinging Norman in Dipper's direction.
"Dipper watch out!" Mabel exclaimed.
Dipper, who was partnerless, acted on instinct and caught Norman before he fell, "Are you okay man?" he asked the disoriented medium.
"I think so, I guess I need to work on my footwork." Norman said, trying not to trip on his words.
"Oh wow, you caught Norman, Dip! Guess you have to dance with him!" Mabel remarked as she danced by them with her new partner.
The boys looked at each other and immediately became flush.
"I mean we don't have to dance!" Dipper retorted to his sister, "You can't make us!"
Mabel shrugged, "Those are the rules, Bro-Bro!"
Norman pat Dipper's shoulder, "It's fine Dip, we don't have to dance if you don't want to."
Dipper was torn, he shouldn't want to dance with Norman. Dancing with another boy was weird and if he didn't want to dance with the girls at the party, why would he want to dance with Norman? But there was a teeny-tiny part of him that wanted to give it a try.
Using his unwillingness to back down, he spun the situation around, "No, if dance police Mabel wants us to dance, we're going to dance."
"Are you sure about that?" Norman said quietly.
Dipper grabbed Norman by the waist and brought him in a close waltz position, "I'm positive." all the while his heart fluttered with the fury of one thousand butterflies.
Norman swallowed, "O-okay."
The final song of the game, as requested by Mabel, was "Dream a Little Dream of Me" by the Mama's and the Papa's.
Dipper and Norman swayed to the soft music, "See, this isn't so bad." Dipper lied, this was more than bad, it was awkward beyond belief. He knew Mabel did this on purpose. She was always ragging on him about his "crush" on Norman, which wasn't a crush. If we were being technical, it was more like a full blown infatuation. Countless sleepless nights were spent on thinking about the medium, but he would never admit it to himself that he was actually in love with Norman.
Norman nodded, trying to keep composure and ignore the highly suggestive song lyrics. He knew he had feelings for Dipper, but he didn't dare tell anyone. The only person who knew about his crush with the Pines boy was his grandma, and to be honest, who was she going to tell? She's dead. Usually, Norman had a pretty easy time concealing his feelings, but this closeness was making it super difficult to keep face.
So they danced in silence, hoping their hearts wouldn't be heard by the other.
After what seemed to be an eternity, the song, and dancing ended. Dipper looked at Norman, he was so close and his eyes were so blue. Norman stared right back, not knowing exactly what to say. The cheering from the party goer's excitement over a successful game of Snowball wasn't heard by them. It was just them and silence.
"This is beautiful, my brother's becoming a man." Mabel sighed to herself as she took several pictures of the boys that would soon find a home in her Bat Mitzvah scrap book.