PS. Chapter Word Count: 2382
"Emma and Ralph Pines waited by the door for their twin children to go for a walk to the park. Dipper, or Mason, and Mabel were two seven year old twins with tons of energy. Mabel was obsessed with glitter, unicorns, and loved everyone while Dipper was a smart kid with a few close friends (including Mabel) and a whole lot of curiosity.
Emma was a school nurse at Piedmont Middle and Ralph was a computer scientist. The four of them were a close family.
Though, they didn't really know a lot of the rest of their family, (other then Shermie) they had a close relationship.
"Kids!" Ralph called, getting impatient.
Two in sinc voices called back down, "Coming!"
Sure enough, in a few seconds, both twins were down the stairs ready to go. The female twin had on a purple skirt, a cute, green sweater covered in stickers, and Sketchers. Her hair was let down just past her shoulders and she sported her million dollar smile per usual. Her brother on the other hand, was wearing a simple orange shirt, jeans, similar shoes, and sported a sports hat with a smiling emoji on front. Though not as dressed up as his sister, Dipper was also smiling, happy to hang out with his family.
"There you two are," Emma sighed relieved. She opened up the door to let her family out before stepping out herself.
"Come on, Dip!" Mabel cried, pulling her twin down to the side walk. She more or less hopped on her scooter and lightly shoved Dipper onto his.
"Yeesh, don't break my arm," The brunette complained, rubbing the skin where she tugged him.
"Sorry."
Their parents followed them up, walking behind them talking to themselves. "After that happened, I was pretty sure I was done with this client. Although, surprise surprise!" Mr. Pines explained sarcastically, telling the story of his day.
"M-Mom?" The worried voice of their child asked up ahead.
"What is it sweet heart-" The nurse began to ask. Although, as she approached the little backended alley her children were looking into, she stopped. There, sitting on the floor, was two kids, probably 13 or 14. They were both brown haired and there was a girl and a boy. The girl was sobbing into her knees while the boy fiddled with what appeared to be a tape measurer, or peices of one at least, there had to be at least five.
The family couldn't see much, but it was obvious something happened. The boy seemed to put his arm around the girl as he murmured what might as well have been a chain of curses.
Mabel was about to step closer but Ralph put a firm hand on her shoulder. "Mabel, no."
"But Daddy, they're hurting!" Said girl protested.
"No, your father's right," The women agreed. "I don't like the look of this. I'm sure who ever they are will work it out. For now let's-"
"Who's there?!" Her thoughts were interrupted by a shout from the alley. Both figures stood up as they immediately seemed to stare right into the family's soul.
As if they were expecting anyone else, the strangers stood there gaping like fish out of water. "Hello?" Mabel asked, trying to break the uncomfortable silence they found themselves in.
The female figure cleared her throat before responding, "Hello there…"
Upon closer inspection, the kids were obviously siblings. No, twins. They had pink eyes as if they were crying, which wasn't a surprise. They looked vaguely similar to Dipper and Mabel, though that was impossible. The girl wore a rainbow sweater, jeans, and socks without shoes. Her male counterpart wore jeans ans socks as well, though he had a hooded jacket on and a lumberjack hat. He held a strong grip on the multiple pieces of tape measurer in his hand along with what appeared to be a book with a pine tree and a one on the cover.
"Now that it was to lae to deny conversation, Ralph asked, "Is everything OK?"
"Yes!" The boy exclaimed way to quickly.
"What are your names, children? Are you lost," The mother asked, taking a step closer to the worried children n front of her.
"We're fine, really! You four can get back to whatever you're doing," He assured, backing up slowly. Suddenly, the soul of his foot got caught in a trash bag and he fell backwards. "Ow…" He groaned.
"Oh my god, are you OK?!" Mabel asked, rushing over before her parents could stop her.
"I'm fine!" The boy snapped.
The parents looked at each other with knowing glances. These children have obviously been through some shit. I mean, what would taking them in for a few hours and giving them some gosh darn shoes harm? Maybe they could call the cops, there had to be a missing child report.
Mrs. Pines glanced around one last time before asking, "Here, why don't you two come on over to our house and get something to eat?"
The male was about to speak before his twin covered his mouth, "Food would be wonderful Ms."
Ralph waved the two over, "Come on, let's uhh… get you into something warm." Were these two really out here in the middle of January wearing a thin jacket and sweater.
The boy seemed to give his sister a disapproving glance before sighing and following her our of the alley. "Names… uhh… Tyrone?" It sounded more like a question than a statement.
"And I'm Ma… ddison. Yeah, I'm Maddison. The second 'D' is silent."
The computer scientist nodded slowly, leading the two to their family home. The park could wait till another day.
o0O0o
Dipper was silent throughout the entire interaction with the alley kids. There was something… off about them. Like he had some sort of special connection with the two. Call him crazy, call him paranoid, but he swore he saw "Tyrone's" eyes flash a hint of blue when he fell. And he means the neon kind, not a natural eye color.
"So… Tyrone and Madison?" He finally spoke up, asking the two sceptically.
"Yes, uhh…" The girl asked, not knowing his name.
"Dipper."
"Dipper, got it. So, what do you want?"
"What were you doing in that alley all alone? Surely there's someone looking for you. Are you two runaways?" Now, Dipper may be seven, but he knew all about runaways and stuff like that.
"Dipper!" His parents spat, "That is a very rude thing to ask someone."
They were probably going to scold him more, but Tyrone came in, "Don't worry about it. Kids, am I right? Always full of curiosity," He mumbled something under his breath before continuing, "No, we are… lost?" It was once again, clearly a question.
"Oh, you poor things! Do you know where your families are? You could use our phone," Emma worried, not liking the idea of children alone on the streets.
"No need," Maddison assured. The next thing she said though, not very assuring, "Our home's up in Oregon. So no big deal."
All four Pines stared at her in disbelief, feeling even worse for almost leaving them.
"Here we are," Mabel announced as they reached the Pines residence. She practically dragged her new friends inside.
"It's a pretty nice place you got here," The 'lost' girl complimented in a tone that was a cross between sincerity and subtle sarcastic.
The ecstatic child began giving the two knew twins a tour of the house as Emma asked, "So children, what are your last names?"
"...Birch?" The response Tyrone gave was a question, no doubt about it.
"That's cool, were Pines! We're both trees," Mabel exclaimed in realization.
The 'Birch' girl nodded in agreement. "Yeah, trees for life!"
"That's… interesting. Do either of you two want something to eat?" The nurse asked.
"Would it be a problem to make us sandwiches or let us make some?" Tyrone questioned, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Not a problem at all," She replied, rushing off to the kitchen. "Any allergies?"
Both teens shook their heads no. "We can eat anything."
Suddenly, Madison felt a little tug at her arm. "Come watch TV with me Maddison!"
"Would that be… OK?" said girl asked Ralph, not wanting to intrude.
When their response came in the form of a light nod, the smaller brunette pulled the teen towards the living room. "Come on D-Tyrone. Let's hang out with Dipper and Mabel," The way she said it made it sound like an inside joke of sorts. It was also a miracle this was girl sobbing in an alley not even half an hour ago.
As Tyrone followed the two, Dipper stayed back. "You coming, Dip?"
Well, now Dipper was sure something was off. He doesn't know if he was hearing things, or if he totally missed the conversation, but in what world did they tell Tyrone and Maddison their names? The way Maddison said their names as well, it felt like she was taunting him. Like she knew there names since the beginning of time, knew them for even longer, and yet him and his family didn't know them.
"-Earth to Dipper. Earth to Dipper," He shook his head as he came to. He zoned out, and now that creep Tyrone was snapping his fingers in front of his face. "Earth to Dipper. You OK Buddy?"
"Get away from me!" The nerd screeched, scooting away from the boy in front of him. "How do- How do you know our names?! We never told you."
Tyrone stared confused before Mabel answered, "Yeah we did, while walking over here. You were spacing out."
Maddison elbowed her brother and giggled. They were laughing at him! Though, at second glance, it was almost as if Maddison was laughing at Tyrone…
"Don't worry about it," She assured, waving her hand dismissing the action. "My Bro Bro was like that when he was your age."
Somehow, the brunette thought that line should be hinting at something. Her tone sounded like it was, but those words just sounded like the truth. 'Tyrone' acted a lot like Dipper when he was seven. Agh, these people were driving him crazy. Wait, what if they try to hurt Mabel while they're watching the movie. No, he made up his mind. He was going to protect his family from these strangers as long as they're here.
"S-Sorry…" The introvert lied. "I'm not a people person. I, uh, get freaked out easily?" Now he was the one making questions out of statements!
"It's fine."
"Guys, come on! Let's go watch a movie or something. Maybe we can all become good friends!" Mabel called.
The two teens stood up and followed their knew friend to the living room. "Come on," Tyrone urged.
Dipper nodded, not really knowing how to respond to what ever the heck just happened.
o0O0o
Through out the movie, the Birch siblings kept whispering amongst themselves, commenting on the movie every now and again.
For most of it, Tyrone was either comforting his sister on whatever, or whisper-shouting about how her plan for whatever the two was planning was horrible. Maddison was either sad about their situation or trying to tell her brother to look on the bright side and giving him ideas. The plan and "situation", Dipper had no idea. But he was going to find out.
"Here you go sweethearts," Mrs. and Mr. Pines came in after twenty minutes or something and gave all four children PB&Js.
"Thank you M-Mrs. Pines," Maddison thanked.
"No problem."
The two were about to go before the two strangers stopped them. "Hey," Tyrone began, "Do you by any chance mind if we stay here a few days. We'll, uh, clean up and stuff…"
"We'll be very good. We are also great with kids so we can look over Dipper and Mabel if you want?" His twin agreed.
Mabel's eyes widened at the idea. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Oh my gosh, that would be so much fun! It would be like an unlimited sleepover!"
"That's what I said," The Maddison agreed.
"Well, I…" Ralph honestly didn't know what to say to that request. It was kind of random.
"We won't need much, but a roof over our heads would help until we can get home," Tyrone negotiated, staring at the broken tape measurer in his hands.
"And again, we can do house work and stuff."
"I guess I don't see why not," Mrs. Pines thought out loud.
"But," The dad continued, "We need to know who you are, you're ages, if people will be looking for you, will the police be looking for us if we agree, if you're going to school, etc."
The two teens stared at each other with a glint of hope in their eyes. "We can discuss what ever you want right now if you want."
Emma nodded, "Kids, you two stay here."
The four walked off into the other room. Mabel smiled at the thought of her new friends (she's known them for literally an hour and ten minutes) moving in as she unpaused the movie. Dipper on the other end, was petrified.
These people were not normal. They were probably going to hurt them all if they moved in…!
Dipper took a deep breath in and out. "You're OK Dipper," He muttered to himself, "Like Mom and Dad are going let two strangers move in.
Two long hours later, the Birch siblings, Mr., and Mrs. Pines all came back into the living room.
"Kids? We have something we'd like to tell you," Emma started, bringing the seven year old's attention to her.
"Yeah, Mom?"
"So, as you know, this is Tyrone and Maddison Birch. We have discussed it, and they'll be staying with us in our guest room. They will look after the two of you from time to time and-"
The rest of the conversation was a blur for Dipper. The entire time he just stood there dumbly. Mabel was excited for this chance o make new friends and have infinite sleepovers. Dipper on the other hand, was petrified to think he'd have to live with these crazy people. He vowed one thing that day: to keep his family safe from the "Birch" twins, and he was going to do just that.
PS. If it's not obvious, Tyrone and Maddison are 14 year old Dipper and Mabel. (I have a future reason for them being 14 and not 13 or something)
PSS. A Lot of things, like letting random kids live with you, is something you should never do. For the sake of this story, I'm stretching the realm of possibilities.
PSSS. Pretend the younger Pines are stupid or something and that's why they can't veguley reconize Tyrone and Maddison as an older Dipper and Mabel.
PSSSS. I have this head cannon that when ever the Pines need to hide their last name (government, time travel, etc.) they use a different kind of tree. But, sometimes they forget which tree and will call themselves Oak and play it off as a joke.
PSSSSS. Please help feed my 100% healthy addiction to reviews and review. Either this or owls. Lemme know what you think.