Despite the Twins being insistent that Mike keep his deal, he did not move into the Mystery Shack immediately. He did already pay for his hotel room so he might as well get his money's worth. (And there was still a big part of him that didn't believe this was a real offer. That the family would come to their senses and keep him away.) but eventually, Mike checked out of the hotel and made his way towards the Mystery Shack with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder. He knocked politely at the door, still feeling awkward about this whole situation as he stood on the steps, nervously adjusting his hat lower out of habit.
"Come in!" came Mabel's cheerful voice from inside. Mike hesitated for another moment before opening up the door. The Pines family had apparently just finished breakfast and were in the midst of doing the dishes when Mike walked in.
"Mike! You're finally here! Let me show you where you can drop off your stuff," Mabel began, attempting to leap away from the sink only to have Stan snag her by her sweater.
"You're not going to get out of chores that easily," Stan replied, making Mabel pout. "You help your brother finish up and then you two can harass Mike."
"Yes Grunkle Stan," Mable pouted, but she still went back to the sink when Stan put her down. Satisfied that he would be obeyed, Stan gestured for Mike to follow him out of the kitchen.
"So this is where you can stay," Stan said, gesturing around the room once they arrived. It was sparsely decorated, but still homey in a way. There was a couch with a lamp by it to the left and there were still some of Soos' comics on the side table. On the other side of the room was an old desk with a few mechanical parts and tools scattered on the top.
"Feel free to store Soos' stuff into a spare box when he's not on break," Stan said, gesturing to all the odds and ends. "And are you sure you don't want the spare bed? I know the twins would happy to help set it up if you did."
"As I said, it's not worth the effort," Mike replied, setting his bag on one end of the couch for now. "I don't need to sleep much and I'm not too picky about what I sleep on when I do. Plus I still don't know how long I'll be staying and you've been more than generous in letting me stay at all. This is fine."
"If you say so kid, I'll leave you to get settled. Just holler if you need anything," Stan replied, heading out of the room to give Mike his privacy.
Mike unzipped his duffle bag and began taking stuff out. His spare clothes he tucked away in one of the desk's drawers with his cologne on top of the desk. His crowbar and flashlight were hidden with easy access under the couch (his taser was something he always carried with him or at least kept within reach at all times). His laptop, password protected, of course, was left on the side table. The more sensitive materials, the documents and blueprints he had scavenged in an attempt to better hunt down his father and the animatronics, and his sketchbook, Mike hide carefully behind the desk, making sure it couldn't be seen easily. Eventually, he'd have to find a better hiding spot (He didn't trust Dipper's curiosity to keep the kid out of his stuff forever), but they were hidden for now. Apparently just in time too as the twins soon came rushing in a moment later, both wearing slightly mischievous grins.
"So you successfully got me to move into the Mystery Shack," Mike sighed, fighting down a grin. "What happens now?"
"Oh there's so much we have planned," Mabel assured. "We're going to have a lot of fun!"
"Today we're going to test out what other powers you have," Dipper said, tapping his journal with his pen. "You know… for science!"
"Right…" Mike said, his skepticism very clear in his voice. Still, he allowed himself to be led out of the house.
"Make sure you're all back to help with the afternoon rush!" Stan shouted after them.
"Yes, Grunkle Stan!" Dipper and Mabel shouted back.
The three of them went to a small tucked-back clearing and there were already some random supplies waiting for them. Clearly, the kids had been thinking this through.
"Okay, first up is levitating objects," Dipper said, pulling out random objects from the bag, things like silverware pencils, and other small household items. "I don't know if weight plays a factor so I just got mostly lighter items just in case. See if you can lift any of these things up or even just move them without touching them."
Dipper laid all the objects down evenly spaced from each other and Mike sat down a few feet from him. Mike wasn't sure if this would work, but it was worth a shot. It would certainly come in handy in his mission if he could do it, so Mike concentrated on a pencil and tried to make it move.
After about five minutes of staring at the pencil and nothing happening, Mike gave up, looking up at the twins.
"I don't think this is working," Mike said with a shrug.
"Strange, that's one of the powers even the weakest ghosts have," Dipper frowned, studying his journal. "Maybe possessing your body 24/7 uses up most of your energy so you struggle with anything else."
"It could also be a mind over matter thing," Mabel suggested. "You have to really believe you can do it for it to actually happen."
"If that's the case, I doubt that's going to change in one afternoon," Mike chuckled "So what's next."
"Affecting electronics," Dipper replied, pulling out a flash light and a small portable radio. He turned it on, made sure it was tuned to a station and turned the volume to a pleasant background noise, and placed it in front of Mike as well as the flash light.
"See if you can make them flicker on and off," Dipper instructed and Mike once more concentrated.
"If he is using most of his energy to move, maybe he should try touching it to affect it?" Mabel suggested after nothing happened again.
Seeing nothing wrong with the idea, Mike picked up the flash light, letting the familiar object rest easily in his hand. He hesitated though to try and make it flicker off. It was against his instincts to want his lights to die. (His mind flashed back to the fear he felt as animatronics were closing in on him and the flashing of his light would be the only thing he could drive them back.) Mike's breath spiked a little as the memory messed with his emotions and his grip tightened on the flash light. The light suddenly flared brighter, startling the three before the small bulb burned out under the power.
"Not what I was expecting, but you can defiantly affect electronics," Dipper grinned, taking down notes. "Though having to be touching them does limit what you can do there's plenty of potential…"
Mike tuned Dipper's muttering out as he stared at the flash light. Had he been able to do that this whole time? Why couldn't he have figured this out sooner? Why didn't he know about this when he needed it so often? (But hadn't there been so many times where he had managed to survive where he shouldn't have? Where he had been so low on power with still an hour left but he somehow had lasted to the end of his shift? How he had managed to last far longer in the same circumstances that had killed others?)
"Alright, let's try the next thing," Dippers said, excited about what could they could discover. They tried a few other things, though they didn't discover any more powers. They did discover that while ghost containment wards could hold Mike temporarily, he could overpower them eventually with enough willpower. Since the twins and Mike refused to test out anything that could seriously harm Mike, they soon wrapped up.
The twins had quick lunch before heading to help out around the Shack while Stan once more made Mike be an exhibit. The story this time was that Mike was in a terrible motorcycle accident and his purplish skin was extreme road rash (one mother in the crowd immediately turned to her son to show this is why he would never get a motorcycle). Once all the tourists were gone, the Shack would close up and they'd watch tv for the rest of the evening. Once everyone was in bed, Mike relaxed in his room and browsed his computer until it was a dawn of a new day.
The next few days passed similarly, Mike spending the morning with twins (as well as Soos and Wendy if it was a partially slow day) and the afternoon being an exhibit with a new story for Stan to weave out of thin air (Mike's favorite is the one where he'd apparently tried to capture the Easter Bunny as a kid and got dyed permanently purple as a result). The evenings were calmer, usually watching tv or messing around with each other. Sometimes Mabel's friends would come over to hang out or the twins would go to hang out with Wendy's friends, leaving Stan and Mike to bond over The Duchess Approves. The nights were still lonely for Mike, but he was used to that.
All in all, Mike was surprised by how well he blended in with the Pines' family and friends. Still, he couldn't help but wonder when it would all come crashing down.
Everything always did for him in the end after all…
