AN: And back to the adorable fluff we go! Happy 32nd birthday to Alex and Ariel Hirsch, and of course Drei as well!
Credit to ParagonConduit for the idea of Stan acting as a proxy for Eins to get Drei a present and for the flashback idea! :D
Once again, I do not own the journal entries. Those are from the published Journal 3.
Song for this chapter: Best Day of My Life by American Authors
When Drei woke up on the eighteenth of June, he didn't expect the day to be any different than usual. So when he opened his eyes to see the faces of Mabel and Dipper floating disconcertingly close, he yelped and scrambled backwards, bumping his head on the end table and whining in displeasure.
Mabel and Dipper instantly looked guilty. "Oh my gosh we're sorry Drei!" Mabel gasped. "We just wanted to surprise you!"
"Yeah," Dipper said, wincing and rubbing the back of his own head apologetically. "Sorry, man." He held out a hand, which Drei accepted and used to pull himself into a sitting position. Dipper was nearly pulled off his feet.
"Is okay!" Drei chirped. "You no means it. But… I is confused as to whys you wants to be surprising me?" Indeed he did look confused as he stretched and yawned.
"Today is June 18th!" Dipper declared. When that drew a blank look from Drei, Dipper prompted, "the date of your first recording? When your Creator made you?"
Dipper remembered sitting with Drei in the living room and flipping through channels earlier in the month, about a week and a half previously. He'd randomly thought to ask Drei what his first recording had been, and Drei had shown him. Then he'd mentioned how his Creator had apparently made the entry right after Drei awoke for the first time, about twenty minutes after he'd been created.
Dipper had told Mabel later, and she'd shrieked about how Drei needed a little birthday party. She could invite her new friends Candy and Grenda, because surely they'd come. And Wendy and Soos, of course, would be there. They'd gotten right down to scheming about the details, even getting Stan in on it, and made sure that Drei didn't suspect a thing. That showed now.
"So?" Drei asked. "Is just day."
"It's your birthday!" Mabel declared with a squeal. "An especially special day!"
"But… I was not borns," Drei said, confused. "I created."
"Well then we can call it your Creation Day," Dipper said with a grin. "Same principle, really."
"People celebrates those kind of thing?" Drei asked curiously. Creator had certainly never celebrated his birthday. Was this a thing that had been made up in the last thirty years?
Mabel nodded so hard Dipper thought she'd give herself whiplash. "Yeah! There's cake and balloons and presents and all sorts of festivities! Birthdays are the best!"
"Cake sound good," Drei mused. "And present? Me get presents?"
"Of course, Drei! Mabel and I got you things!" Dipper laughed.
"No ones be giving magical construct presents before," murmured Drei, an almost starry look in his eyes. "Beside clotheses, but everyone be needing those."
"Well, get used to it, Drei, cuz you'll be having birthdays for the rest of your life!" cheered Mabel as she pulled him to his feet. All three kids got dressed, each giving the other privacy. Mabel wore a sweater with a cake, Drei wore gray sweatpants with a blue shirt and his red coat and monocle, and, surprising no one, Dipper wore his usual outfit. The twins also tied a blindfold over Drei's eyes, making sure the monocle was floating on top of it and not wrapped over the teen's eye.
Dipper and Mabel each grabbed one of Drei's hands and carefully led him into the hallway. There was a close call with an open door, but Mabel skillfully maneuvered Drei around it before he got a bloody nose. That would have been an extremely unfortunate birthday present.
The trio thumped down the stairs and into the kitchen before Dipper put a hand on Drei's chest to stop him. "One sec, man." There was some shuffling and the clearing of a throat, before Mabel whisked off the blindfold and Drei was left to stare in awe.
"HAPPY CREATION DAY, DREI!" called Dipper, Mabel, and Stan. Soos and Wendy would be there in a few hours, along with Candy and Grenda, Mabel's two new friends.
Drei's irises, in lieu of pupils, grew larger. Red and gold streamers had been put up, along with some balloons of the same color. There was a big breakfast laid out for everyone, with eggs, pancakes, bacon, fruit, and muffins. Over on the counter was a cake, covered with a glass dome to discourage bugs. "This… This all for me?" Drei croaked hoarsely, in utter shock still.
"Yeah it is, kid," Stan said as he ruffled Drei's already-messy hair. "It was all Dipper and Mabel's idea, I just helped."
"Thank you all so muches!" Drei said loudly, hugging them each in turn and practically vibrating like he'd already eaten his cake. Then he went over to the table and began loading up a plate with the food.
Breakfast that morning was a happy affair, and each person could tell that today was going to be a worry-free day. It was like they knew they could cast aside whatever worries they had, be that mysteries or portals or cute boys or missing brothers, just for one day. As they laughed, sitting at the table and feasting, everything seemed like it would go perfectly, just for this one day.
They were grateful. Laughing and talking and watching Drei eat bacon for the first time and fall in love with it was a fun experience. But finally they all were full.
"What we do next?" Drei asked, hiccuping once and patting his full stomach.
"Well, I didn't have anything planned for the next couple of hours," Stan mused. "That's when the others arrive…"
"Hey," Dipper said with a thoughtful look that grew into a plotting smirk. "Now that Drei is over his fear of water, how about we teach him how to have a water balloon fight?"
"Oooh yes!" Mabel agreed enthusiastically, nearly spilling her morning cup of Mabel Juice.
"Water balloons are in the closet. Have fun, kids!" Stan declared with a grin, then started to put the dirty dishes into the sink. The twins dragged a very confused Drei to the hall closet, grinning the whole way.
"Guys, what is water balloon? I know regular balloon…"
"Basically you fill a small balloon with water and throw it at someone," Dipper explained while Mabel dug through for the package through the other junk in the closet. "They're made of thin plastic so they burst on impact, drenching the other person! Sometimes you play a game where you toss a balloon back and forth and hope it doesn't burst on you! And sometimes you try and dodge them, but other times you just wanna get wet." He chuckled.
"Yeah, it's a ton of fun!" Mabel declared, having found the bag of balloons and waved it around triumphantly. "My bro and I are pretty good at it. Well… I'm good at throwing. Dipper's arms are too noodley to throw far," she teased.
"Hey!" he shot back. "At least I'm good at dodging and stuff!"
"See Drei we make a great team! Wonder which you'll be better at," Mabel mused, shutting the door and leading the way outside. Dipper tugged the hose to the yard, while Mabel brought out a plastic bucket and Drei watched, intrigued. Dipper stuck the special nozzle on the hose, and the twins began filling the neon balloons with water. When Dipper caught Drei just staring curiously, he laughed and waved him over.
"Come on Drei! You can fill some if you want!" And finally the construct sat next to them, picking up a water balloon and poking it with a finger. It was squishy and he found that he liked it.
"I make some now?" Dropping the balloon he was holding back into the bucket, he held out his hand for the hose. Dipper, keeping it pointed at the ground, first showed Drei how to slip the uninflected balloon onto the hose nozzle without too much fuss. He remembered once how he'd sprayed these up his nose trying to fill a water balloon as a seven-year-old. That had not been fun. Drei did not deserve that sort of pain on his birthday.
While that didn't happen, thankfully, once Drei took the hose and tried to stick a balloon on the end, it slipped and rained a fountain of water down on all three of them. All three froze and the hose thumped to the ground, only innocently watering the grass now. Drei then removed his monocle to rub the drops of water off with his coat.
Finally Dipper spoke. "I vote we pause this and go get our swimsuits on," he said, wiping water from his face.
"Seconded," Mabel replied. They stood and walked into the house together, shaking off their various splattered areas. While Dipper went to change into his swimsuit, Mabel tried to help Drei find a pair of shorts that would work.
"They can't be uncomfortable," she mused. "Otherwise this will be no fun!" She pulled out a pair of sweat-shorts that they'd bought him. "Perfect! Now just wear these." She tossed them to him just as Dipper walked back in in swim trunks with pine trees on them and a white tee shirt.
"Dipper, why are you wearing a shirt?" Mabel asked flatly, raising an eyebrow.
"Wendy might arrive when we're still outside!" Dipper said plaintively. "I don't want her to see me all skimpy and shirtless, thank you very much. It'll ruin my chances for sure." Drei patted his shoulder sympathetically on the way to the bathroom to change.
Mabel sighed. "I don't think that would change much, Dipper."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," said Mabel. Drei came back in wearing only the bright yellow shorts. Mabel had picked them out, saying they matched his eyes. Now she scampered into the bathroom to put on her purple one-piece. He dumped his clothes onto his sleeping bag and placed the smudged monocle on top.
Drei sat next to Dipper on the boy's bed. It had been a while since he'd been this uncovered, tattoos morphing across his chest and back and arms and shins. Normally he wore a lot of clothes to hide the magical marks, even though this was Gravity Falls and weirdness was the name of the game. Some person could still call outside forces to come and take Drei away in the name of science. No one wanted that to happen.
Dipper noticed Drei had muscles in a wiry sort of way, thin but still strong. Unlike himself. He sighed and focused on other things.
"It's been a while since we've gotten to see some of your bigger tattoos," Dipper said with a grin. "Sometimes reading them from your arm is kinda tough cuz they get so small. It's so cool!"
"You say is cool a thousand times!" Drei said with a small laugh, arms crossed over his chest. One of Dipper's entries was displayed across his stomach, the one about the Gobblewonker.
"Because it is!" Dipper insisted. Mabel came back in, grinning.
"Ready to go, boys? Wow Drei it's been a while."
"I knows! I's been hiding long time."
"Well no one dangerous will be here today, so let's go!" she crowed and dashed down the stairs, Drei and Dipper hot on her heels. Soon enough they were outside again, filling the rest of the water balloons. This time it didn't matter when Drei couldn't seem to get the balloon to stay on the hose, getting wet was great fun and when Mabel got her hands on the hose she sprayed both of the boys, causing them to shriek.
But finally they had a bucket full of water balloons. Mabel specifically grabbed a fat pink one, and Dipper got a green one for Drei and a purple one for himself.
"LET THIS BALLOON FIGHT BEGIN!" Mabel suddenly shrieked after a moment of silence, and pegged Dipper right in the face.
"I avenge you, Dip!" Drei cried, and tossed his balloon, which glanced off Mabel's left shoulder and drenched her arm. Wiping water out of his eyes, Dipper let out a jubilant laugh.
"You're pretty good at this, man!"
The next hour was spent lobbing water balloons back and forth. Dipper mostly snuck up behind his sister and friend and dropped balloons on their heads instead of throwing, and his sneak tactic worked well. Maybe a little too well, seeing as when all the balloons were gone, Drei and Mabel took the empty bucket of water and upended it on Dipper's head, causing him to emit a girlish scream.
He looked like a drowned cat, and they weren't much better. All of their legs had a coating of grass, and Dipper grabbed the hose so they could wash off.
"Now we gotta pick up the plastic pieces so Waddles and Gompers don't eat them!" Mabel declared, and so they did. By the time that was done, Wendy had just arrived in the yard.
"Hey dudes! What did I miss, looks like a pretty epic battle went on here." She was grinning that easy smile of hers, and the very bedraggled Dipper felt lightheaded.
"Wendy! There was a huuuuge water balloon fight! Drei is really good at it, and Dipper was all sneaky because he can't throw!"
"Mabel!" Dipper groaned. "S-she's exaggerating," he stammered.
"It's okay." She ruffled Dipper's sopping hair affectionately and he nearly swooned. "As long as you have some method, it's the end result that matters."
Dipper was bright red as he nodded, unable to speak. Mabel took over instead. "We'll be right back, Wendy, we just gotta put on some dry clothes!"
"Okay cool I'll go say hey to Stan. Too bad I missed the water war, I coulda taken you all!" She winked and strode into the guest shop. Dipper watched her go with a dreamy expression, until Mabel socked his shoulder gently.
"Look she still likes you!"
"Yay Dip!" Drei cheered. The boy blushed even more, then went up to the porch and passed out towels.
"Shhh she still might be able to hear," he said with a small laugh. But really, he was pleased. She'd actually touched him. After the trio had toweled off, they climbed back up to the attic to retrieve their clothes, hair all messed up.
Three much more well-groomed kids trod back down the stairs, earlier outfits replaced and hair brushed to a normal level of messy. Soos had arrived by that time too, and was eating some leftover bacon. He smiled when he saw Drei.
"Happy birthday, magic dude," he said happily. "This is your first birthday, and all, right?"
Drei nodded. "Technically is Creation Day. I not born, my kind created."
"Oh, hehe. Pretty crazy stuff!" Soos amended with a nod before picking up another piece of bacon. Drei laughed.
"Crazy stuffs indeed…" The magical construct agreed, going quiet for a minute a minute as he remembered opening his eyes for the first time with a foggy brain and a non-working tongue, seeing nothing but a gray stone ceiling and then the face of a brown haired main, bespectacled, with a reddish nose and square jaw. His Creator.
How the man had sat him up and given him a blanket to wrap up in, because he had no clothes and he was cold.
There was some sound coming from the man's mouth but Drei couldn't understand. His eyes flickered around, taking in the dim basement, the two blurry figures dressed in rust, gold, and white. He had drawn the blanket tightly around himself, scared and confused and who am I?
And then his vision grew less indistinct, the words coming from the mouth less garbled, and he looked over to his own arm to see words. "PROPERTY OF STANFORD," they read. "Volume 3: Drei. Ad astra per aspera! June 18th, It's hard to believe…"
"Drei? Drei!" A pair of fingers were snapping under his nose and he blinked.
"Whoopses, sorries. Was remembering day created is alls."
"Huh. What do you remember from it?" Mabel asked curiously. And Drei was off, recounting as much as he could, which was not a lot but still interested everyone in the room.
"You were created as an eighteen-year-old? That's crazy, man!" said Wendy with a laugh. "You got to bypass the awkward years, that's for sure."
Drei giggled. "Yeses! I no need braces like Mabel, and I no sweat a lot like Dip!" There was an indignant noise from Dipper that was quickly cut off and everyone laughed.
After the conversation had ended and all the bacon had been devoured by Soos, the twins, Drei, Soos, and Wendy all went for a walk in the woods while Stan finished setting up the outdoor decorations. It was a hot day, and the shade of the tall pines was pleasant. Drei would point out landmarks that had been recorded with him, including the stone altar he and Dipper had come across on their first outing. Mabel had them all stand in front of it so she could get a picture of all of them. She promised to print them all copies later.
They all arrived back at the Shack just as Candy and Grenda pulled up, and Mabel shrieked and ran over to them.
"Hey Mabel!" said Grenda happily. "Hey Drei! Happy birthday!"
"Thankses!" Drei called, and then Candy repeated the greeting. Both girls were carrying small boxes, and Stan called the gang to the backyard for presents. Lights, not turned on just yet, had been strung around the yard and some chairs had been set up around a table. There were already a few boxes on the table, tied up with bows, and some balloons had been attached to one of the chairs.
"Looks like everyone is here!" Stan called from the doorway. "Let me go get the cake!"
The sun had just started to set as Stan places the cake, decorated in red and gold frosting with the words HAPPY CREATION DAY, DREI! on top in white. Stan had asked Mabel to add the writing, since it wasn't like he could ask a bakery to make a 'creation-day' cake. But first, there were presents to open.
"Mine first!" Mabel insisted, plopping a blue box in front of the teen.
"Erm…" Drei tugged at the blue paper. "How I open without rip?"
"You're supposed to rip it, kid, that's how you open presents!" Stan grinned, but inside he was feeling a little sad. Had Ford never given them anything? Anything at all?
But then Drei was tearing through the paper and unwrapping another sweater, this one a dark gray with a gold magnifying glass on the front. Drei loved it, and Mabel hopped up and down several times before Dipper pulled her back to her seat, laughing.
Soos's present was a stash of candy, which Drei near literally drooled over, and Wendy's was a small pocketknife in case he ever needed to defend himself. (She'd told Dipper he would be getting a similar present on his thirteenth birthday, along with a few other things.) There was a 3 engraved on the handle. Candy and Grenda had teamed up to draw Drei a card, complete with a coupon to get a free ice cream cone inside. They didn't know the construct well, but he loved the gift.
Dipper was next. First, he'd drawn a homemade card with a well-done sketch of Drei and himself hanging out at the stone altar on the front. Drei read the inside.
"A promises to go ons adventures with me and make sure I completed one days?" Drei said with a grin. "Thanks you, Dip!"
"That's not all," Dipper chuckled. "Here." He handed Drei a small, wooden box, which, when opened, revealed a compass, perfect for the aforementioned adventures.
"Woah," gasped Drei, then hugged Dipper as he had hugged everyone else after they'd given their presents.
"Okay okay my turn, kid," Stan said with a genuine smile. He held out a small box wrapped in red with a golden bow. Stan had asked, very casually, what Drei's favorite colors were, and was unsurprised to learn that they were the same colors the kid usually wore. People tended to wear the colors they loved the most, and even when shopping Drei had made beelines for the reds and various yellows.
Drei took the box and unwrapped it to find a golden watch. "Oooh, this nice."
"It's, uh, not real gold and stuff, and I maaaay have stolen it, but hey it's a working watch and it looks pretty swanky, huh?" Stan wasn't good at the whole gift-giving thing, as he was looking anywhere except at Drei. But then he felt the pair of arms wrap around his middle.
"Thanks you, Stan," Drei said happily. "Is awesome." He'd already adjusted the watch to his wrist.
"Glad you like it, kid," Stan said with a chuckle and a ruffle of Drei's rust colored hair. "I, uh, have one more for you."
He pulled out an even smaller box from inside his coat. Truthfully… Truthfully this gift wasn't from Stan at all. It was from Eins, unable to attend the party. Stan had gotten him his own slice of cake, and promised to get some pictures. Eins had pressed the box on Stan, asking the older man to pass it along to Drei saying it was from him instead. Stan had, of course, agreed, and even given a hug to the downtrodden younger man. He felt guiltier than ever for keeping them apart.
"Here you go, kid." Stan tipped the box into Drei's hands and the construct opened it just as the sun finally fell behind the mountains. It was a golden lapel pin of the number 3, made of real gold, though none of those at the party knew that.
"Ooooh is cool!" Drei exclaimed, immediately fastening it to his coat. "How look?"
"Real fancy, dawg!" Soos said with a thumbs up, and the others confirmed it.
"Ready for cake?" Mabel then cheered, met with an enthusiastic confirmation from everyone. Especially Drei. Stan brought out a knife and a match. Dipper beckoned Drei over while Stan struck the match and lit the candles. Even so, Drei shrieked.
"My cake is on fires!"
"Drei it's okay!" Mabel soothed. "It's just the candles on fire, see? It's part of the tradition; you make a wish and blow out the flames!"
"He's afraid of fire," said Dipper quietly to the others.
"Shoulda thought of that," Stan mumbled. "Sorry."
"Is… Is okay," Drei said, creeping back to his seat. "As long as cake not burn and I not burn, is okay." He concentrated for a moment, screwed up his face, and said, "I wishes to get my brothers backs."
Then he blew out the candles. No one had the heart to tell him wishes were supposed to be silent.
"Good wish, dude," Soos said, patting Drei's shoulder.
"No kidding," said a grinning Wendy. Neither were strangers to wishing for the return of a beloved family member on each birthday.
Drei was beaming. "Thanks you! Cake now!"
Stan let the teen have the first cut, and soon enough they were all stuffing themselves with cake. Drei had put on Mabel's sweater she'd made him, and shrugged his coat on on top , and all of the kids were now flopped out on their backs on the lawn, laughing and making up fake constellations. Drei discreetly nudged Dipper to point out the constellation the boy had emblazoned on his forehead and the boy grinned back. Drei had promised not to tell, and he wouldn't.
Stan snapped one last picture, looking through the roll of film at the images. He'd asked Mabel if she'd want some pictures of the party for her secret scrapbook project, and, surprised and delighted, she'd taken him up on his offer. Stan was killing two birds with one stone; Mabel and Eins would both get their pictures. There were photos of the kids eating breakfast, having the water war, ones Mabel had taken on their woods walk, of the presents being opened, the cake being cut, and one particularly amusing shot of the gangly teen stuck in the new sweater.
Stan smiled and leaned in the doorway, listening to the happy noises and the crickets, the special blue-hued Gravity Falls fireflies just starting to emerge.
Below him, a man clad in red watched out a small peephole, a weak spot in the foundation under the deck, grinning wildly, a few stray tears dripping down his face. Eins was glad that his brother's first Creation Day celebration was a good one.
AN: Hey there readers! :) Hope that was enjoyable and such! This will be the last one-shot for a little bit. I'm gonna focus on some other projects. Just wanted to let you know, no way am I dropping this! I just want to get some other ideas out first.
Two one-shots unrelated to Some Of Things should be coming soon!
Also by the time I post this I'll have received my blacklight edition of journal three and will probably be going pretty crazy about it! XD
EDIT: I got it and it is absolutely awesome! :D
Until next time!