Dipper and Mabel stood in front of the house holding their suitcases. Though the word 'house' didn't really do it justice. It would have looked like an ordinary red brick building, except that it was topped with a huge, intricate metal structure and a flashy sign advertising 'FentonWorks' attached to the side.
"You sure this is the place?" Mabel asked, looking up at the eccentric structure.
"Oh, yeah," Dipper replied. "It matches his description pretty accurately. Kind of hard to miss."
"Alright then!" Mabel bounded up to the front door and rang the doorbell, Dipper following behind.
The door swung open to reveal a huge man in a bright orange jumpsuit. He was so large he filled the entire doorway, and he had a loud voice that accompanied his vivid appearance. "Hey, Danny, are these your friends?" He practically shouted. He reached out an enormous arm and patted Dipper on the back so hard that his knees buckled.
A familiar face appeared in the inch of space between the man's arm and the doorframe. "Gosh, dad, let him breathe!"
The man stepped aside to reveal Danny, who was grinning at the twins. "Hey guys! Great to see you again!"
"Danny!" Mabel squealed and dropped her suitcase, jumping forward to give Danny a huge hug.
"Woah!" Danny said, staggering a little. "Hi, Mabel!"
"Hey, man!" Dipper said, grabbing Mabel's suitcase along with his and walking into the house.
"Hey Dipper!" Danny said as Mabel let go of him. Dipper grinned, setting down the suitcases.
"Oh, are these your friends, Danny?" A curvy woman in a blue jumpsuit came walking out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a dishtowel.
"Yeah," Danny said, "This is Dipper and Mabel." He gestured to each of them. "Guys, this is my mom."
"Hi!" Mabel said.
"Nice to meet you Mrs. Fenton," Dipper said.
"Oh, aren't you guys sweet?" She said, smiling. "Welcome!"
"Yeah, it's great to know that Danny has more friends!" Jack Fenton yelled. He leaned towards Maddie. "Even if they are a bit young for him," he attempted to whisper to her, but his loud voice carried across the room nonetheless.
"Dad!" Danny groaned indignantly.
Mabel laughed behind her hand, but Dipper just smiled awkwardly. He and Mabel were four years younger than Danny, but that shouldn't really stop them from being friends with him. Although he could use that excuse to get Mabel to stop hitting on Danny. Usually.
"Okay, come on you two," Danny said, grabbing one of the suitcases. "Let's get your stuff put away."
Mabel grabbed the other suitcase and ran up the stairs behind Danny. Dipper turned quickly to Danny's parents and said, "Thanks again for letting us stay, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton."
"Oh, it's no trouble, sweetie!" Maddie said, smiling.
"Yeah, anything for Danny's friends!" Jack said.
Dipper smiled and headed up the stairs after Danny and Mabel.
"This is my room," Danny said, opening a door in the upstairs hallway. "You'll be in here with me, Dipper."
"Cool," Dipper said, seeing the air mattress that had been inflated beside Danny's bed.
"And Mabel will be in there with Jazz," Danny said, pointing to another door down the hall. "She'll be back from college tomorrow."
"Awesome!" Mabel said, dragging her suitcase to Jazz's room.
Danny grinned at Dipper as he pulled his suitcase into his room. "So, what's up? What'd I miss?"
Dipper turned his back to Danny as he unzipped his suitcase. "Oh, nothing much. Just the end of the freaking world."
"Oh, yeah. Mabel texted me about that. She said it was crazy." Danny laughed. "I'm kinda sorry I missed it."
"Don't be." Dipper said, turning back to Danny with an exasperated expression. "It was awful. We almost died like fifty times."
"So only twenty fewer times than normal." Danny smirked.
Dipper laughed. "Yeah, sounds about right. But at least Bill is gone for good now."
"Yeah. I hate that nacho chip jerk." Danny snickered.
"But check this out!" Dipper said, pulling something out of his suitcase. "Mabel told you about our Great Uncle Ford, didn't she?"
"Yeah, the long lost twin, right?" Danny laughed again. "Man, and I thought my life was complicated."
"Yeah well, it turned out that the journal was written by him, and he inspired me to start my own!" He showed Danny a blue book with a darker blue pine tree symbol on the cover. "And guess what? I've got a section on you!"
"What?" Danny asked, half startled and half flattered.
"Yeah, look!" Dipper flipped open the journal and showed Danny a page headed 'Phantom'. There was a picture of Danny in ghost mode just under the title. "I want your help filling it out!"
"Alright," Danny said hesitantly, "As long as you don't mention my secret identity. Don't want that information falling into the wrong hands."
"Don't worry, man, I'd never!"
"Okay. That's actually pretty good!" Danny pointed at the drawing. "You did that yourself?"
"Yeah, I've been taking drawing classes. Thanks!" He flipped a few pages. "I've been trying to fill it out, but there's not much supernatural stuff going on in California." He looked up at Danny. "So I'm super excited for this visit! I'm going to write a whole new section on ghosts!"
Danny grinned. "Then I've got just the thing for you to see!"