Looks like I've written a new story.

In case I haven't said so already, I'm a huge fan of Gravity Falls. Seriously, it's like one of the best shows Disney has ever created. And you know, I've drawn a lot of art for it, but man, I've been itching to write a story like this.

So now you get to read my own little "stand-alone" special of a story. I try very much to keep everyone and everything in character and in league with the actual show, so please, enjoy the ride!

~Hejin57~

GROW UP OR GO HOME

"Alright, that's it! I'm officially finished! The lot of you, go do something mildly useful and clean the basement! Go before you start agitating my ulcers!" the old and miserly owner of the Mystery Shack, Stanford Pines, barked to his niece, nephew and sole teenage worker.

Yes, it was seemingly just another day in Gravity Falls. And as expected, Dipper, Mabel and Wendy could only really comply with the old man's orders.

Dipper just looked back at Grunkle Stan and sighed loudly. He didn't have to say a word to Wendy, but his sister was another story. Her incessant giggling as she traced the boring wood designs of the walls into animals was only halted when Dipper took her by the hand and dragged her along. She struggled like a worm in response, reaching for the markers on the counter that Dipper pulled her just out of reach of.

"Hey! I wasn't finished with those!" she complained, but Dipper just ignored her pleas and continued to drag her along. Wendy whistled to herself as they made the short journey through exhibit rooms, storage rooms, empty rooms, and finally down into the cavernous depths of the Mystery Shack basement.

The place seemed ancient, as if the last time it was cleaned was eons ago. The air was musty and filled with dust, and black marks of some unknown oily substance were scattered on the ceiling. As Dipper surveyed the area, Mabel's shrill voice pierced the air.

"Hey look! There's signatures of all the people who have cleaned this place. This last one says..."

"...Hirsch, 1989." her brother interjected, before pulling down his hat and putting on a serious face. "Well, there goes our chance of a free afternoon. I guess we better get to work then."

Wendy chuckled in response, popping open a can of soda pop and leaning against one of the old, dusty appliances. "Ah, lighten up. You really think your uncle's going to actually take the time to come down here and check on us?"

"Well, I mean, he might. Are you saying we're really just going to sit here and do nothing until this place cleans itself?" Dipper questioned, somehow in disbelief even though he knew Wendy wasn't much of a "worker."

"Awww, no, of course not, Dipper. We're not just gonna do nothing." Wendy replied, before taking a big gulp of soda and then sighing from the refreshing taste. "We're just not gonna do any actual work."

Dipper was clearly questioning her rational, but as his mind struggled to come up with something responsible to say, he remembered who he was talking to.

It was Wendy after all, and the last thing he'd want to be is Captain Buzzkill around her. Sure, she was dating Robbie and all, but it wouldn't hurt for him to at least be on her good side, so that when Robbie eventually dumped her horribly for some other girl, Dipper would be right there to console her and sweep her right into his arms.

So with those thoughts in mind, he put on a big smile before leaning up against the dusty appliance next to her.

"Alright. I guess this could work." he remarked.

"Ah, ah, ah. You shouldn't use the W word here. This is a work-free zone." she explained, before sipping her soda again.

Dipper's eyes moved towards the cold can in Wendy's hand. Suddenly, his mouth felt dry, and he couldn't help but croak out a question. "Uh, where did you get that soda from?

"Let there be light!" Mabel chirped as she flipped a switch on the wall. White light flooded up at Dipper, and him and Wendy backed away in an instant as the machine they had been leaning on suddenly lit up like a neon sign. There was a few seconds of awkward silence before Dipper looked back at Mabel, who just laughed as she approached the new shiny object in the room.

"Oh, don't tell me you guys got scared from that. I mean, seriously. Having octopus stuck in your braces is scary, but this...this is just..." Mabel attempted to finish, but she was at a loss of words. She inspected the machine with curious eyes, but even after two good minutes of looking, she was unable to recognize it.

"What is this thing?"

"I think it's an old overhead projector." Wendy said, putting her soda down on it as she rubbed her chin. "I remember having a teacher who used this all the time in elementary school. You put paper with writing on it and it blows up the writing so the whole class can see it."

"That's kind of cool, I guess...?" Dipper stated, trying to sound agreeable but not knowing if the situation was even right. That was, until Wendy started fiddling her hands over the screen. She smiled as the the shadow across the room began to change into a very unlikely shape.

"Personally, I always thought it was great for making shadow puppets." she said, her fingers becoming a shape that somehow created a fantastic shadow image on the wall. Mabel grinned, and Dipper rubbed his eyes as he looked on in disbelief at the shadow of a large dinosaur wielding an axe that was now moving on the wall.

"Wow! That's amazing!" Mabel exclaimed, as she watched Wendy make the dinosaur shadow on the walls close its jaws and wave its axe at the same time.

"How do you even make your fingers bend like that? And how does light even bend like that anyway?" Dipper wondered, trying to figure out the physics of how she could possibly make that shape on the wall. After all, he was pretty sure fingers didn't bend that way to make that complex of a shape. Well, they didn't bend that way naturally at least.

"Oh, my Dad showed me the trick a couple years ago. He called it the Lumberjack T-Rex. I mean...I guess it's kind of dorky looking back..."

Dipper waved his hands wildly, "Oh, no, no! It's cool, awesome, and great all at the same time! I was just thinking how impressive it is that you can do that. It doesn't look easy."

Wendy looked back at Dipper, and gave him a freckled smile that almost made the boy's heart melt. "Oh, thanks Dipper. Hey, if you want, I can try to show you how to do it."

Mabel's mouth opened in an instant. "Oh! Oh! Pick me! Pi-"

But Dipper was there to shut it one hand as he lightly pushed her aside. "It would be an honor to learn from you, Wendy."

But as Dipper got close to the old projector, ready to accept Wendy's teachings, a slightly annoyed Mabel couldn't help but look back at him with mischievous eyes. She laughed under her breath as she gave him a playful push towards Wendy.

But unfortunately for Mabel, she failed to gauge just how hard she had pushed him, and before Dipper knew it, he had fallen right onto the projector screen, knocking over what was left of Wendy's soda.

There was the sound of crackling electricity as the projector began to rumble, and suddenly both Wendy and Mabel were backing away from the machine Dipper was partially on. Then a crimson light exploded out from the old overhead projector, engulfing Dipper entirely in its otherworldly glow.

The boy tried to yell out, to say anything, but his voice would not comply. Instead, he could see the world stretching before his eyes, and his limbs felt strange, as if someone had put them in a taffy puller. There was no pain though, but a rolling sensation that finally stopped after a few more seconds. With a light crimson glow still behind him, Dipper finally came down on his feet, though the ground was much farther from him than he remembered.

His head was pounding, and as he reached for his own forehead, he caught sight of a yellow sleeve where he would have normally seen skin on his arm. Dipper looked ahead, seeing a stunned expression on both Wendy and Mabel's faces. He took a step, but it felt strange to walk, as if his depth perception had been twisted. Then he looked down on himself, and could clearly see that the body below him was no longer his own.

His shoes were longer, his shorts had become dark gray pants, and his vest had somehow transformed into a yellow long sleeve shirt with a single black question mark design on its front. Dipper's limbs were lanky and long, and any sign of the small prepubescent body he once had was gone. In a panic, Dipper touched his head, and to his relief, he could still feel his hat on his head, though as he ran his fingers through his hair, he noticed it was a bit longer than he remembered.

"Did...did this just happen? I mean, this happened, right, guys? This really just happened right now?" he asked in clear confusion, receiving a nod from a still stunned Wendy in response as Mabel began to grin beside her.

"You're older! That's so cool! Think of what we can do with this! The things I can do now that I've got an older brother!" Mabel began, her mind drifting off into a fantasy of Dipper giving her piggy back rides all day long, buying her excessive amounts of ice cream, and fanning her with a gigantic feather on a hot summer day.

"Yeah. Think of all the things you can do with an older brother, Mabel. Or should I say, little sister." Dipper replied in a sly voice, realizing instantly that now he had something big over his twin sister. The days of her being five minutes older and a quarter of inch taller were over.

Mabel blinked, realizing now what was going on. It didn't take long for her to realize what to do however, as she smiled wide and pushed the older Dipper aside.

"Yeah, maybe I was your little sister for like ten seconds!" she said ecstatically, before slapping her hand down on the still glowing crimson projector screen.

"Mabel, wait!" Dipper and Wendy seemed to say in unison, but their words fell upon deaf ears as the process that changed Dipper began to change Mabel. She made a stupid grin as her limbs began to elongate and her outfit transformed. The light flashed a few times as she underwent her teenage metamorphosis, before she finally stepped down onto the ground, no longer her former self.

"Yes, yes! Christmas has come early this year!" she said excitedly as she inspected her new self. Her hair came down past her waist now, much longer than she had ever let it grow, and her sweater was gone, replaced by a baby blue shirt with a rubber duckie design imprinted on a front. Mabel marveled at her new purple skirt, and with her tongue, she could feel straight, brace-less teeth in her mouth. She touched the rainbow star necklaces on her ears and squealed in delight.

"Well, this day has officially become weird. But I gotta say, this is pretty cool too." Wendy remarked towards the now older Dipper and Mabel.

"I don't know about you, Dipper, but this is officially the best thing to happen all summer!" Mabel exclaimed as she played with her new skirt, laughing and giggling at her new ensemble and her new form. Next to her, Dipper felt his face and marveled at his new lanky body.

"Yeah...maybe it is. First a copy machine that can copy people, now a projector that makes you older. Who knows what other magical machines Grunkle Stan has lying around..." Dipper replied, his voice trailing off towards the last part of his sentence.

"Oh yeah! I can't wait to show Grunkle Stan! He's gonna be so surprised! Just like the time I colored half of the cash register money red, so it could all be complimentary!" Mabel announced as she started for the door, only to be stopped by Wendy, who seemed to understand exactly what Dipper was thinking about Mabel's idea.

"Woah, woah, wait a second, Mabel. We can't just waltz around like this and not expect anyone to notice. And we especially can't show up in front of Grunkle Stan like this." he stated in a very serious tone of voice.

Of course, Mabel seemed saddened upon hearing Dipper's words. A moment later, Wendy couldn't help but ask a question of her own. "Wait a second, Dipper. How are you and Mabel planning on working around the shack if you can't let your uncle see you?"

Dipper scratched his head, searching for an answer and then finding one that didn't seem all that convincing.

"I guess we'll just have to avoid his field of vision...for the entire summer." he replied, with a nervous gulp.

"Good luck with that, but I doubt you'll be able to avoid everyone else." she pointed out, causing Dipper to start pacing as he realized that was indeed another problem for them.

"Yeah, you're right. How are we supposed to avoid everyone in Gravity Falls for the entire summer?" he contemplated, rubbing his chin as he started to think, only to be interrupted by his sister's still excited but now more mature voice.

"Hey! We could pretend to be our own older siblings! I've always wanted an older twin brother and sister..."

Wendy and Dipper shot a look of confusion at her, before Wendy began to chuckle. Dipper shook his head and sighed.

"Mabel, no one's going to believe that. I will bet you one dollar right now that no one in Gravity Falls is gullible enough to believe that we somehow have an older set of twin siblings. Do you know how crazy those odds are? I don't even know, but I can assure you they're crazy enough!" he explained with confidence.

Just then, Soos poked his head into the room right on cue, surprising them all.

"Hey guys, the boss told me to come down her and ma-...hey! What happened to the Pines Twins? You guys their stunt doubles or something? If you're filming a movie down here, I would totally be an extra." Soos asked, his voice practically flooding with gullibility.

Mabel grinned towards Soos and put out her hand . "We're the older twins. We're Dipper and Mabel's older twin brother and sister by three years!"

Soos smiled like an excited gerbil in response as he slapped her a high five. "Woah! That's like, totally unlikely, but also totally world record material at the same time! Are you guys named Mabel and Dipper too?"

Dipper almost felt like hitting himself in the forehead upon hearing that, but his sister's quick words beat him to it. "Oh, of course not! But since you're so familiar with our younger siblings, you can just call us Mabel and Dipper Plus!"

Soos nodded, completely convinced with Mabel's charade. "Alright! Well, when you see the younger Pines, tell them that I was told to tell them to finish cleaning up."

"The boss is busy sleeping, but he left me a note to inform your younger siblings of this. Normally I would stay and want to hear all about your lives and how cool it is to live with another set of twins, but unfortunately I am needed elsewhere."

And with that, Soos was gone.

There was a short moment of silence before Mabel turned towards Dipper and grinned. He grumbled before reaching into his pocket and being surprised at the fact that his single dollar in change had appeared in his new pants. Dropping the coins into her hand, Dipper shook his head.

"Alright. We'll go with your plan. From now on, it looks like we're Dipper and Mabel Plus. Now I'm just worried about how we're going to explain this to Mom and Dad when we get back..."

Mabel laughed in response. "Oh, stop worrying. We'll cross that sinking bridge when we get to it. For now, we need to give these new teenage bodies a test run!"

Wendy put a hand on both Dipper and Mabel's shoulders, smiling as an idea came to her head.

"Actually, you guys should just come and hang with me and my buds tonight. There's a party starting at Tambry's in an hour. You guys can avoid your uncle, and introduce everyone to "Mabel and Dipper Plus" at the same time. It's a foolproof plan." she told them both, before making a freckled grin that at least convinced Mabel in an instant, and then Dipper a few seconds later.

Dipper made a small smile, his mind suddenly relishing the idea of spending any time with older kids, but mostly Wendy. Of course, he realized they weren't really older kids to him anymore, and that thought alone just made him smile wider.

"Wait." he said, looking back at the projector still glowing crimson behind them. "What about cleaning this room, and what about the projector?"

Mabel answered his second question, switching off the light and canceling the projectors' unearthly glow entirely. Wendy simply answered his first question with one of her carefree smiles.

"Think of it this way, Dipper. Now that you're older, you and your sister can be just like me." she remarked, "Lesson one: when confronted with a choice between work and play, always choose play. After all, work bites."

The three teenagers laughed together at Wendy's joke, before deciding that they'd had enough of the room. They left the projector in the darkness, with Dipper shutting the door to the basement right behind him.

Mabel was right, Dipper thought. This was definitely the best thing that had happened all summer.

And now that he was not only the same age, but also slightly taller than Wendy, he had a good feeling this summer was just about to get a million times better...

A nice start I think. We can only wait to see what's in store for Dipper and Mabel Plus!

Stay tuned!