Dipper awoke to bright sunlight filtering into his eyes, quiet voices, and a curious pressure in his elbow. Groaning, he stumbled out of them bed, only to sit back on it in surprise. He blinked a couple of times, wondering if he was still sleeping.

"Oh, hi, you're awake." The cheerful voice of his sister threw him back into reality. "We've been worrying you've hit your head too hard."

"Wha— What happened? Hit my hea—" He broke off mid sentence, staring at Itachi who was sitting next to Mabel.

The senior was obviously better now. The dark circles under Itachi's eyes were still there, but they seem to be fainter. The strange lines were also present. And his face… It seemed softer, somehow. Dipper blinked in surprise at seeing him in a much better condition.

"Oh y'know, I was in my room, arranging my color combinations for my future sweaters but I ran out of markers halfway through, so I went down the halfway to steal some from Soos," Mabel answered to his precious question. "So I passed the bathroom and guess what? You're lying on the floor and there is this good-looking guy who does not understand anything what I say and," She added in an obvious whisper, "I think I'm in love."

Itachi glanced at her curiously as she continued.

"So obviously as a better, responcibler sibling, I told him to pick you up, since you aren't exactly light, and now you're diagnosed with a severe case of blinded-by-the-hotness-itis." She shrugged. "Action had to be taken."

"First, 'responcibler' is not a word. Second," He paused, taking time to process her words. His ears turned red. "Wh-wh-wha— I don't — no! No wait, what—" He glared at her. "Mabel!"

She waggled her eyebrows suggestively, humming. Dipper sighed and shook his head. Rubbing his temples, he looked up again, taking in the who sight of their room.

"Wait," He paused. He squinted at the items strewn across the floor. "What the heck are you doing, Mabel?"

She waved her hands at him. "What? I was bored and I had to get acquainted with our guest better."

"But it doesn't mean you have to play these, uh, girly games of yours!" Dipper motioned to the monopoly-like map with a bright pink telephone in the middle.

He could understand why young girls and females in general (especially Mabel's friends) liked to play-pretend, because come on, it was fun. He had to admit it was. Mabel had once pulled him in and gosh, he enjoyed himself (once he got over the fact he was talking with a robot over a fake phone).

But Itachi? The man looked to be at least fifteen. Likely to be older. Perhaps even in his early twenties, how far could the stretch even be?

So why was he winning in this game?

"I told you, I was bored. And hot stuff is good, especially counting that he probably never played 'Call Monophony'. He could've beaten the whole world," Her hand moved lightning fast, replacing one of her cupids and completely changing the course of the game. "If only he wasn't placed against me."

Dipper rolled his eyes in fond exasperation. Itachi blinked, once, twice, thrice, before looking up to Mabel with raised eyebrows, them raising even higher when she flashed a bright grin at him.

Dipper slumped. This was only the start of Mabel's summer romances.

Dipper always thought Grunkle Stan was the type to drive away unwelcome guests. But no, turns out he isn't. The largest of a reaction they managed to get out of him when presented with Itachi was a small grunt and a mutter — "Eh, I suppose he could work here. I need more hands anyways."

And so it happened. The raven was employed and quickly given instructions on his job. Surprisingly, Itachi did not need a lot of explanations before getting to work quickly and efficiently. He even managed to put up the lost letter S on their roof back on the sign!

To be honest, they managed pretty well together. Mabel seemed to understand Itachi more than ever, when she wasn't trying to woo him (at some point, Itachi realized she was flirting and casually escaped into the other room). To say the least, Dipper was amused at his sister's antics. Itachi only showed signs of fond exasperation and the slightest hints of fluster.

So far, they started on teaching him the English language — Dipper was impressed on the speed of Itachi's learning. Itachi seemed the type to watch from a distance, not interfering with the process until he was needed. Then again, there was pure, genuine concern in his eyes every time Dipper tripped over air or Mabel accidentally poked herself with her knitting rods.

Dipper could call him a friend.

However, with Itachi also came consequences. Some were harmless enough, like Dipper catching the older boy examine the dollar bills after his first paycheck. It raised some eyebrows in the house, as not even Stan could watch the paper cash so intently, mesmerized. He could only guess that Itachi never saw a dollar before, though that close to impossible.

Harmless pet peeves were okay. It was on a whole another level when they discovered some of his, ahem, bolder ones.

To say the least, Dipper was tired of the smoke alarms going off at the worst time imaginable.

(He suspected Itachi was somehow connected with the random outbursts of water)

(There always seemed to be more than one Itachi whenever the alarms went off. Itachi could simply travel very fast around the house but still. Suspicious.)

Today was one of those times. Only it wasn't the smoke alarms, as every other time, no, this time it was the flipping knives flying out of the corner and trying to kill him!

Itachi gave him the smallest of the apologetic winces.

Dipper wondered if Stan even knew how to drive, as they madly swung left to right. Sharp fingernail drove into his left shoulder and he winced.

Apparently Itachi did not like car rides at all.

He voiced his thoughts. "Eheh, ow, I see you don't really like moving by wheels, do you?"

Mabel snorted beside him. "Aww, come on Itachi, it's not that scary, you know it — AAAAAAAAH—" She broke off mid sentence as the vehicle sharply veered right and jumped several feet in the air. They landed back on their seats, Itachi's breath coming out in quiet, quick gulps. Mabel blinked several times, still shaken.

Itachi's fingers tightened around Dipper's arm. "N-no."

Dipper groaned. God help them all, was Grunkle wearing an eye fold too?

Itachi's eye twitched visibly. Usually the raven haired never showed his emotions, with the slight exceptions of faint smiles, vague brow quirks, and sighs. Dipper did not know Itachi that well yet, but even he could see that Mabel's freakish voice changing skills were, well, freakish.

"It's going awesome." Her deep voice generated the air as she moved the poor pelican's mouth up and down. Itachi shivered the slightest bit. "Baw btw ba-baw-pow!" He cautiously threw a camera at the bird. It found its mark and the poor pelican tumbled over the board, camera tagging along.

Dipper's eye twitched. Eleven cameras. They had eleven cameras left.

It was going to be a long day, the Gobblewonker be damned or not.

AAAAAAAH! Screamed Dipper's mind as they passed through the waterfall and into the cave behind, the Gobblewonker on their tail. Water splashed everywhere as they managed to squeeze in. Itachi was nowhere in sight as the boat crashed against the bank inside and Soos, Mabel, and him tumbled out of the S.S. Cool Dude.

"Move!" Comes the clear command from behind them.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

Dipper is flying back on the ground as burning hot air flies over him and his twin. Fire crackled somewhere above their spines, but still close, too close to their bodies and threatening to burn them burn them burn them burn everything turn them into ashes we're going to die die die—

And then, silence.

Dipper cautiously opened his eyes to find he was still alive. Shaken, but alive. He comes to his senses almost instantly, realizing the Gobblewonker is stuck in the cave entrance.

Another pause of silence. Then—

"Shoot, where's the camera?" His frantic hands search his vest to come up with nothing, shoot no no no not now this was their chance—

His sister calms him down. "Boop," She says, smiling as she lifts up his hat and exposes the last camera sitting on his hair. Dipper laughs, slightly embarrassed, before taking a couple of shots.

"Didja get a good one?" Mabel asks him, grinning even brighter.

He nods, excited. "They're all good ones! Though," he paused and realization hits both of them like a truck as a familiar presence is felt behind them.

"Itachi! There you are, where did you go?" Mabel is first, as always, to recover. She flies at the raven-haired teen and hugs him tightly. "We were worried."

"Ah…" Itachi freezes for a moment, before awkwardly hugging her back. "I… Danger…"

Dipper cocks his head. "Huh?" He asks, wondering what on Earth was Itachi trying to say. Then, the puzzle pieces slowly came together in his brain.

"Oh wait… Wasn't it you who screamed 'move'? Cat-on? What was it? Gecko… Goke… Uh, you said something a while there," He narrows his eyes, turning back to the Gobblewonker who was still stuck in the entrance. "And this thing is on fire… That came from nowhere… Mabel, do you—"

But no one listened to him. Mabel was busy cheering over her share of five hundred dollars and Itachi was still staring at the Gobblewonker, his delicate brows furrowed. Dipper sighed, deciding that the matter was let go for now.

He would confront Itachi about this weird appearance later, however. That's for sure.

A/N:

Apologies to everyone who had to read the encoded-hard-to-read version! I posted this right before I went to sleep, sorry guys. really does not like me haha :'''')