WE'RE BACK!
Dipper Pines looked out of the window with longing and expectation glistening in his eyes.
All around the pine trees passed by, seeming like one long welcome line, greeting his return to that old little town somewhere in Oregon, a place of warmth and laughter which called to his heart every day since that summer. Yes, that was something.
His sister always said, ever since he could remember, that he shouldn't worry too much. So far though the only place where he found himself at peace, real passion driven peace, was that town surrounded by its mysteries and puzzles. Resting his eyes only for a moment, he allowed himself not to think about the serious matter that brought him here… Well, him and his sister, whom was currently sleeping beside him, hugging her pig and mumbling about marshmallow pizzas.
Although Mabel Pines, his twin, could be a bottomless pit of energy, boring bus trips without her special Mabel Juice, always made her sleepy faster than they did him.
For Dipper those trips were easy enough since his brain was always in full activity thinking or worrying. Right now, part of it was focused on the box which he was bringing back to the infamous Mystery Shack. Another part was wondering what mystery was ahead of them and a third one, but not less important was focusing on everyone he missed. His hand suddenly was upon his head, brushing the edge of the old lumberjack hat he had come to cherish so much. The memento was always a source of comfort when chats, phone calls and mail weren't enough.
He was almost sixteen now, and, young but mature, he couldn't help but chuckle at his younger self's acts, not that he was much better, but still three years was a heck of a long time. His eyes wondered back to the pine trees when he finally saw the old water tower coming closer and closer above them, like a anxious kid peeking from behind the bushes, but a very nice one it was, turning slowly to show the letters saying…
"DON'T EAT THE PINKY!" Mabel burst awake with panic filled eyes. Waddles was quick to react and jump away from her in fright, hiding beneath the sits as the girl took off her shoes to see that her pink toe was still there.
Looking to her side, Mabel Pines remembered where she was and sighed in relief to herself, feeling the familiar presence on her side.
"Wow, man that was a relief, never ever ever I want to dream about giant chocolate bunnies again, those guys are so creepy Dipper… Dipper?" Mabel finally looked at her brother, to find him heaving on his seat, a hand clutched tightly to his chest while the horror stricken face seemed as white as milk under his hat. "Wow Dipper, relax there bro-bro…"
"R-Relax?" Dipper squeaked. "I-I was… " He took another breathe to continue. "I was relaxed… Until you… You scared the heck out me!"
"Oh, is not like we… Hey…" Mabel stopped and finally paid attention to her surroundings, her eyes growing big, as a girlish scream started to build inside her chest.
"Mabel?" Dipper asked, seeing her twin's face contorting to biting her lips and shaking her hands around. He quickly covered his ears.
"Oh MY GOSH WE'RE ALMOST THERE!" Mabel screamed jumping from her seat. "Waddles! Waddles! Come here Waddles! Sorry for scaring you buddy, but look! Look! LOOK! LOOK!" She pointed to the pig, jumping up and down "IT's HERE WADDLES It's HERE! There's the water tower! See? I bet you can't wait to see Gompers huh?"
The pig made a oink that could be a yes, and Mabel started chatting, or rather going on a rampage about everyone she wanted to see. Dipper chuckled. His sister's enthusiasm was bigger than anything on earth and certainly it was contagious. "MISTER DRIVER! HIT THE GAS ON THIS BUCKET! WE'RE GOING TO GRAVITY FALLS!"
Meanwhile, not so far away, but far enough to be a good chunk of a walk, like a walk to get you really tired, sweaty and, probably, a bad mood, there rested a lone cabin in the woods. Through a window, holding a cell phone against her ear was a girl in her teens. She was in her room resting upside down on her bed, her feet rose so they leaned against the headboard as she bit on her cheek.
The room itself was not really organized. There were school books around the floor, and a target at the wall where a hatched lay buried right in the middle. A tiny TV resting in the drawers was off, while beside it laid a stuffed animal of some undetermined species staring around in silent and, thank goodness, not living eyes. True enough it was a teenager's room, but the most interesting part, besides the girl herself and the white and blue cap hanging from the bedpost, was maybe said headboard from earlier.
It was wide and filled with markings the girl started making ever since she learned that having something sharp and a piece of wood was a sure cure to boredom. There was a 'W' in the corner, some other scratches here and there, although most of all those were covered by pictures, which her bright green eyes now idly stared at. She loved those, they were the ones she treasured the most, pictures taken of people she loved. There was one of her friends, all of them hanging on Thompson's to go crazy, making a mess at their friend's garage. To the side she found one of her brothers, and one of a younger Tambry and herself, cheeky childish grins on their faces. Her father had his own photo too, and amidst those there was one of two kids, twins whom made a summer some years ago incredibly amazing.
One of the twins even had a photo of his own, beaming to the camera as if he was the coolest.
For Wendy Corduroy he kind of was, in his own unique way.
Finally she saw the last photo of all, of a woman holding to herself a baby and smiling softly as if not having a care in the world. How she wished to be truly like that. To have no worries at all. Unfortunately it was not meant to be so, but still, another summer was coming, and so what if she would miss a few people again? Wendy would do what she always did, and enjoy life.
But not now, right now she was in the middle of a phone talk where Tambry was again complaining about something Robbie did, or didn't do. She has lost track of the conversation at this point, but that was routine now, those two would always argue and go back to making doe eyes to one another.
"So what are you going to do?" Wendy asked, knowing it was the line that drove the dialogue to an end. Really, they were at it like a script now.
"What else? I'm giving him the cold shoulder for a day or two, unless he does something sweet, like this one time he brought the sound to my house and sung to me, it was adorable." Wendy made a disgusted face, glad they were on the phone. Gosh, sometimes she really would never understand romance, although it could be said it was a matter of being in the middle of it instead of watching from afar. Her eyes looked back to a yellow t-shirt with and interrogation mark in the chest, the torn up rag was neatly hanging from her dresser.
"Well, that is a good plan" Wendy wiggled her sock covered toes, and nodded to herself as Tambry said something to which the right answer was silence, until her friend figure it out by herself.
"Yes, that is it, it might be better than the cold shoulder"
"He might even get you roses or something" She could hear Tambry feign puking from miles away.
"Roses!? Never, he knows me too well for that" She chuckled with Tambry for a few seconds, before she heard the footsteps of her father walking around the house towards the kitchen. Sighing she counted to herself… one, two, three… A tumbling and crashing sound later and a teeth grinding Wendy knew she would have to fix the roof's beam again.
"Sorry Tambry I have to go, something came up"
"Oh, okay, we can talk later"
"See ya" Wendy closed her phone, and listened to her father's curses for a while as he kept hitting his head against the ceiling. She counted until ten and two crashed dishes before darting out of the room to her resigned and ungrateful task.
Putting her boots on, the eighteen year old looked back at her photos, fixed her gaze in one specifically, and smiled fondly before going towards the door. She had her hand on the lock when her phone buzzed signaling a message.
Gravity Falls was a place full of dangers.
It was the home of the weird and strange, as Dipper had come know it, not only a place of friends, but a place where the odd and dangerous could easily be found if you took a wrong step in a morning walk. Even been fairly good friends with most creatures in the region, Dipper knew he should never be too cautious, and so he prepared himself for anything… Well, almost anything, since he now found himself in a tight predicament, merely one minute and twelve seconds after getting off the bus… Although dying asphyxiated was not even close the worst way to check out the grass from underneath he really wished Soos would let go of his greeting hug before that. Man how he envied the way Melody politely greeted Mabel, as his sister excitedly asked when she and Soos would get married.
"Sooooooooos" He squeaked in the crunching embrace "Let… go..."
"Oh, sorry Dipper dude, I'm just so excited, you guys are finally here!" The big man said before letting him down. Dipper swayed on his feet, blinking as his vision cleared while Mabel yelled and jumped onto Soos, instead of running. "Mabel Dude!"
Soos beamed, well he was beaming for a while now, but he beamed more as Mabel dove into the hug. Melody laughed and helped Dipper to his feet. "Thanks" He replied still winded out.
"No problem" She said chuckling "I guess my man doesn't know his strength sometimes."
"Dudes, oh man, dudes, I can't believe it how much you've grown. Before you were like so tiny and now you are… like… Totally not tiny. It's like you both got into some toxic waste or something" Soos, said letting go of Mabel.
"Oh, if that did happen, I would totally be glittergirl" Mabel said throwing some of it in the air. "Dipper would just be more sweaty and noodly."
"Mabel"
Dipper groaned, and Soos chuckled. "Noodly."
"Besides, I'm still the tall one around here people" Mabel said, proudly standing beside Dipper, who quickly walked away.
"Give a few more years Mabel"
Soos heard an oink and knelt to see Waddles. "Hey there dude, missed you too"
Melody clapped her hands together. "Well, now that greetings are done, let's get you guys settled, shall we?"
"Yeah dudes, you can still have your old bedroom, I kept it just like before…" Soos said cheerfully then he frowned. "Oh wait, I think I put some old stuff in there, definitely and old dinosaur of corn, and maybe a few of our lepregnomes, but aside from that it's totally the way you guys left"
"Huh, well, thanks Soos" Dipper said, chuckling. "I was actually worried we would have to…"
"What is a lepregnome!?" Mabel asked excitedly.
"Well, Soos came up with it after a dream, although I told him to avoid sugar before bed."
"That's when I have my best Ideas" Soos confided in them, bringing their bags to his old pick up as everyone climbed in.
"I know! Sugar always helps me think too" Mabel declared. "Secretly I eat cereal at dinner!" She whispered, making Soos' eyes sparkle.
"Genius"
"So anyway, how are things in the Shack?" Dipper asked as they drove, the short distance towards the Shack would be quick, but he still wanted to catch up.
"Oh well, the season is starting strong, we already had a few costumers around" Melody commented. "And the kids really like to come and see the big eared monster"
"Big eared monster?"
"Is that like some big bunny with fangs and a cape?" Mabel asked.
"No, it's Mister Pines' statue I made" Soos said frowning. "Although I don't get what is so scary about it. I mean sure, at night and alone, it might be scary going to the bathroom and finding it there staring at you, and maybe you go a little on edge and end up lost in the woods for running so fast, but still."
"We do keep it covered after closing now" Melody put in, kindly.
"By the way what do you have there Dipper?" Soos asked, talking about the box the boy held. Dipper's expression turned sad, and blinked down.
"Oh this is… huh…" He chewed at his lip. "We'll tell you later, if that is okay"
"Oh well, okay then, but I bet is something cool"
"It actually is" Mabel said, Dipper elbowed her side. "I mean, it's cool I guess"
"You know, it was a pity you guys couldn't be here last year, things would have been so much awesome"
"Yeah but our parents thought there was no one to watch over us" Dipper said, sadly recalling a promise he couldn't fulfill.
"A bunch of poop, I say! SO what if mom and dad don't know Soos! We know him, he is awesome, you're awesome Soos" She said, pointing at him, Soos nodded solemnly.
"And that's a gift I take very seriously"
It didn't take long until the group parked outside. Dipper and Mabel dropped out of the car excitedly, stopping to stare at that old place.
The MYSTERY SHACK was as it always had been. The totem was still there, Stan's old lawn chair, the windows and decorations and the old golf kart, but Soos obviously made some changes, fixing rotten logs and painting the windows in red and yellow. The big 'S' was still missing on the roof, although this time he was actually standing, buried in the lawn with some bird's nest atop of it.
"IT'S STILL THE SAME DIPPER!" Mabel yelled excited, jumping and pointing "Look there is the rock that looks like a face rock, and the old leaf blower is still dropped outside, and…" She stopped at the nest. "Oh boy look at all this, and oohh, what happened there guys?" Mabel said, giving gooey eyes towards the nest. "Are those birdy puppies?!"
Dipper approached as well, and sure enough, there were four hatchlings sleeping in the nest.
"Yeah dudes, I was trying to get the 'S' back up and it kind of fell again, boy that was a crazy day, good thing that family ran away before they could sue us." Soos chuckled. "Anyway, it was here and then that bird came and made a nest, and well… I couldn't get the little dude away from home, so I let him there and now there's a whole bunch of little dudes."
"You and your big heart." Maledy told the big man, who actually rubbed his neck in embarrassment.
Just then someone let out an oink and Mabel took Waddles to show him the birds. "Look waddles, look, you're gonna be an uncle."
"Huh, Mabel."
"Shush Dipper, this is family time" She said.
Dipper rolled his eyes, and carried the box and one of his bags towards the Shack, Soos carried most of Mabel's stuff, and helped them, until they were at least inside the old structure. Looking around Dipper saw the gift shop was still pretty much the same, selling the same old merchandise, probably with the same quality too, except for a line of new t-shirts and the famous founder's statue standing right in the middle.
"Man that sure is…" Dipper frowned, unable to comprehend exactly what word to use. Frightening seemed too kind…
"It needs more glitter" Mabel said approaching the work while rubbing her chin. Soos immediately fidget and started to sweat a little.
"What is it honey?" Melody asked the big man.
"I don't know I just never had a real artist inspecting my work before" Soos said watching the girl circle the statue, eyes narrowed.
She stopped, nodded to herself and poked at it a few times, finally she licked it to Dipper's dismay, and then professionally nodded to herself yet again. "That's definitely a fine work my friend, a fine work indeed" She beamed and punched a stick to the rock saying 'Funtastic'.
"Yes" Soos said pumping a fist.
Dipper meanwhile was still analyzing the room, inspecting a line of shirt with interrogation points, going from yellow to green and red, untill finally noticing something weird around.
"Hey Soos, how come you're still selling Stan's bubbleheads? Aren't you Mr. Mystery now?"
"Well, yeah, but having a bubblehead is a whole different level of honor dude, I'm not that high on myself"
After that, they both had a little tour to see what had changed. The Saascrotch was still around, Stan's axolot was still alive, and the good old taxidermy works were all over the place. It was also easy to see Soos' touch in some of them like the Laser-hand Monkey or the senior mutant samurai turtle. Most impressive tough was right in the back, in what should be the end of the tour, a big amber stone preserving a dinosaur.
"Please tell me that is not real Soos" Dipper said staring at the teeth and razor sharp claws frozen as if the creature was about to tore out a chunk of his lunch.
"Oh no dude" Soos said, and Dipper almost sighed. "It's totally legit"
"What? But if that thing…"
"Oh don't worry man, Mr Mcgucket made this thing that keeps everything frozen there. Truly I wanted to make a zoo for dinosaurs, but Melody thought it would be a bad idea."
"That sounds awesome" Mabel said, looking around the dinosaur. "Hello there, I bet you're a sweetie… Melody did you really think this was a bad idea?"
"I still think it is" Melody reminded, as she crossed her arms.
Soos brushed the comment away. "Anyway this is totally safe, and the children love it."
By the end of it, Dipper and Mabel, already tired from the trip, were now even more exhausted, making their way to the old shared bedroom. Opening the door, they still smiled, nostalgia setting in at the sight of the old place.
"So that is a lepregnome" Dipper said inspecting the ceramic figure, it had pointed hat, long ears and was basically a ginger gnome with green cloths.
"And you must be the raptocorn" Mabel said to the half eaten attraction, who immediately lost another piece of it to a hungry mouth "And you sir I missed you a lot, Dipper look, it's Gompers!"
"Hi Gompers" Dipper said getting past the goat, Mabel let her pig feed from the corn statue too, and went around beaming at the room. The mattresses were right where they remembered, with covers and pillows for the both of them. Dipper put his bag down and sighed, lying down.
"Wow Dipper, the mold is still up there look"
Immediately Dipper looked up, wishing he hadn't. "Is that a nose?"
One chapter done XD please read and review, it's been a while since I've been in this fandom, so I might have missed canonical information, anyway, this is mostly fun to write, so yeah... Short chapters as well...