Slices of Life and Family

by bluefrostyy

PART 3 of The life of Sebastian Pines! (Read that first, I doubt you'll understand what's going on) The story follows Seb's life after Gravity Falls. Bill was defeated, but the Pines family still have thousands of adventures together. Old characters will come back, new characters will make an appearance, all to accompany Seb through his journey as a human (Cowritten with Mizuuma)

22. Chapter 22 Friends all and new

Hellp guys, were back bringimg a new bramd cbapter! Enjoy! Things get cooler from now on~

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"-UCK?!" Seb yelped as he twisted on the ground and made his way back to his feet. The blur slowed and he finally got a good look at them.

Of course, Seb's first panicked reaction was attacking the intruder with a cushion. He was definitely asleep right now because there was no way this was happening again. A glowing yellow triangle floated right there in front of him! This couldn't possibly be real. Bill was dead. Bill2 was gone! He wasn't real!

"Begone, demon! This is a GOOD (kinda) Jewish household!" His pillow passed right through the triangle. The demon groaned as it righted itself and looked up, glowing brightly when they finished reorienting themselves. "SEBAS! IT'S ME!" The triangle squealed. They materialized a physical body (still triangular) and floated in the air before him.

Seb dropped the second cushion he grabbed and his confused face morphed into one of excitement when he recognized the demon-alien. "NO fucking way~" The brunet laughed and wrapped him (her?) in a hug and didn't let go for a good few minutes. "Miz! It-It's you! Holy shit! It's so good to see you again!" Seb pulled back to smile brightly at his friend.

"It's GREAT to see you too~!" MizBill giggled. Then they paused and squinted at him. "Your hair! It's not blond anymore?!" that being the first change he noticed on his friend. Didn't he still have yellow parts the last time he came to check on him? "Hair grows~I decided to change it a bit a few years ago. I still dye the ends for special occasions though." Seb explained with a shrug. Like his fashion show. But it was a temporary thing, and he had to get his hair cut along with Zu after that horrible haircut Zoe gave him, so he was fully a brunet again.

MizBill accepted that answer (even though they secretly thought the yellow looked good on him) and looked around, realizing this was an unfamiliar house which was definitely not the Shack and definitely not in Gravity Falls. Huh. So he could leave the barrier around the falls (if one existed here that would affect him) by simply spawning outside the town. Neat. That meant he could probably teleport in and out. "Why are you even here? Why not in the Mystery Shack? Where are Pinetree and Shooting Star?!" MizBill asked, mildly worried that Ford had kicked Sebastian out of his home. Wait. But Seb said years, didn't he? Whoa, how long had it been since he'd last been here?

"Mabel and Dipper? Wha-Ooh! They're at home, they-"

"Daaaddyy!" A little voice sobbed. MizBill's eye widened. Holy cow~ "You didn't!" Seb smirked proudly and went upstairs, telling the demon to stay out of sight. MizBill shrank and hid in Seb's sleep-robe pocket. Pocket Bill for your convenience!

The triangle was taken to a room where a little blond child was crying, while the other child, a little girl, rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I-I'm sorry..." The crying child hid their head against Seb's chest. "Accident...I didn't reach the bathroom..."

"It's ok, Zu, come on, I'll get you changed ok? Zoe, go back to sleep." Seb motioned to the other child and she tiredly obeyed. MizBill was squealing internally really, really loud. How did this happen?! Well, s/he knew HOW, but...WHEN?! Little babies! (Something deep inside him throbbed, but he pushed it down and ignored it.)

His friend was an uncle the last time she saw him, but he was a dad now!

MizBill watched from her pocket as Seb sat the child on the toilet and cleaned them. Well, MizBill noticed they were a girl before quickly looking away. Probably not appropriate to be watching someone else's children. She'd raised her own kids but a naked Cyclopian was very different from a human child. (That throbbing pain came back, but faded when he ignored it.)

"Why are you still crying?" Seb asked. "I'm not angry." He assured the sobbing kid.

"Bi-big kids don't have accidents..." Zu whimpered. Seb nipped that in the bud. "Anyone can have an accident, ok? I'm not getting angry about it." Seb had accidents as a little kid, and no one helped him. He didn't want Zully to go through that. Seb finished cleaning them and dressed them in some other nice spiderman pjs.

It was adorable as fuck! Miz had to use all her self control to not rush out and hug the child. Seb took Zu to his own room and laid them down on the bed. He'd change Zu's blankets in the morning. Too tired right now.

When Zu fell back to sleep, MizBill floated out of Seb's pocket and gave him a shit eating grin. "You have some explaining to do, sir..." Miz also took that time to flick clean the sheets in the other room. Can't have the children sleeping in filth after all. The sister was still sharing a room in there.

"Sooo~who's the mother?" Miz made a mental note to stalk the children's dreams tonight, give them a wonderful time. Wouldn't that be fun?

"My wife?" Seb raised an eyebrow.

"Don't play funny with me, Pines, I'm serious!" Miz deadpanned and crossed her tiny arms over her triangular body before doing a double take. "Wait, WIFE?!" Kids were ONE thing, marriage was ANOTHER. Seb laughed silently and sat down on the bed next to his baby.

"You got married and I wasn't here! Oh my Ax!" MizBill shrieked, disappointed with the news. Now she'd have to look into his memories to see how it went!

Sebastian chuckled. "Her name is Wanda Friedmann." He sighed, half enamoured and half tired because he still hadn't slept yet. "...I don't think you know her...unless you stalked my memories that one time." Miz smiled guiltily at his raised eyebrow. "We met again...and got married around a year ago along with Stan and Carla! It was fun. Mabel cried a lot."

He left Zully on the bed and left the room, heading back to the twins' room. "Married a year ago..." Miz blinked at the sleeping child as Sebastian carefully picked Zoe up from her bed. "So you had the kids before marriage?" She waved her hands "Not that there's anything wrong with that. I mean, I've had kids and I ain't married..."

"Yeah, before..." Seb smiled, remembering with a blush how Wanda told him she couldn't resist being without him anymore. They were very intense weeks together…He decided to bring Zoe into his room too. She didn't like sleeping alone and if she woke up alone shed get scared. Now he had his 2 toddlers on the bed with him. They were so tiny they barely occupied space. Then his brain caught up to Miz's words.

"Wait, you have kids?!"

"Yeah, one adoptive, two co-parented kids and one actual kid, get over it." Why was everyone so surprised when she said she had kids?! Miz scoffed, carefully pushing away the distress that threatened to rise up inside her. Seb raised his hands in defeat. "No, I was just surprised..." He grinned. "Hey, check this out." He lifted his eyepatch for Miz to see and she gasped.

There was no yellow eye! There wasn't even an eye there.

"What happened? I thought you couldn't get rid of it!" Then again, had Seb tried just...removing the dang thing? Seb winked. "Where's the surprise if I told you?" Miz huffed, her small triangular body flickering rapidly. "I can find out easily!" She pouted. Seb laughed.

The man pet the toddler's heads as Miz giggled. "Well? Names~ gimme~" she made grabby hands at the kids. "She is Zoe." Seb stroked the girl's long hair. "And sh-he is Zu...well, his original name was Zully, but he hates it and he's thinking of a name he likes better..." Seb sighed. "Well, I guess Dipper did that with 'Mason' so I suppose we're continuing the tradition of nicknames." Miz raised a nonexistent eyebrow curiously.

"We're just going along with it...I don't personally mind...Wanda is having a harder time since she liked 'Zully' as a name, but she has never forced Zu to do anything he didn't want. She's doing her best and I love her for that..." Seb explained. "It's like when Zu cut his hair short. Wanda freaked a little, as it had never been that short before, aside from when Zu had it shaved for surgery, but Zu wanted it short so we went with it." Plus he had to fix that abomination of a haircut that Zoe gave her twin.

Miz, sitting on Seb's arm with a hand over his, absently played with Seb's ring as she listened. "Well, maybe Zu doesn't want to be fully identical to Zoe? I've heard that some twins like to try and differentiate from their siblings." She patted his hand reassuringly.

Seb smiled before he perked up, changing the topic completely. "Oh right! I brought back my brothers… thank you for helping me with that...Though, now that I think about it, if I had a double wedding with Fez you must have figured that out..." He mumbled and the triangle giggled, adorable distracted human. "Ah, it was nothing! How's Fordsie and Stan by the way? I hope Ford's not being a jerk to you anymore." Miz nuzzled Seb's hand. Seb laughed quietly "He was a jerk for a while but after a bunch of misadventures and therapy...he and I finally made up. We're super good now! The twins even like him a lot."

"Aw~I'm glad." Miz beamed. "So..." She floated down and bounced on his leg in excitement "Can I meet your wife? Are you gonna introduce me to your little family?"

"Sure! But tomorrow...erh, later actually?" God, it was so late. "The babies need to sleep and you're lucky it's Sunday..." He gasped softly. "Wanda arrives home tomorrow...later today, too! Perfect...you'll meet her then..." The man slurred as he sleepily fell onto his pillow. Miz snickered at Seb's sleeping face and tucked her friend and babies into the sheets as she eye smiled. She changed into a slightly younger version of her Miz form (appearing around 12 instead of 14, so she was even smaller than usual, so she could fit with the group of sleeping Pines) and curled up next to Seb. Sleeping also sounded nice…

(Miz realized much later that just getting in bed with people without asking first was probably a bad idea, but they'd gotten so used to sleeping with someone nearby.)

Poke. Poke. Miz groaned. "Daddy! Daddy look! There's a girl here!" Zoe said loudly, trying to wake up her passed out dad. "Did the stork bring us a new sister?" Zu asked innocently. Their classmates told them that storms brought children. But mommy and daddy said that the mommy made a baby in their stomach. But this wasn't a baby, it was a bigger girl! So maybe the stork brought her? Miz groaned and buried her face under the pillow. Seb was also trying to get back to sleep. He was too tired for this. "Sebastian Pines...Why-Why is there an unknown girl in our bed!?" Seb's eye shot open at that voice. Oh shit Wanda was home?! He sat up, still tired and confused, and he saw the semi-suspicious look on his wife's face. "I can explain!"

"You better. I'm absolutely sure this ISN'T what it looks like, I'm relatively sure you wouldn't go around kidnapping children..." Wanda pouted at him (knowing full well that he had been wanting more kids and only agreed they shouldn't because Wanda was still kinda traumatized from her first pregnancy). "But still. Explain."

Miz took that time to roll over out from under the pillow, her long hair falling across the sheets. "Hm...why yes I would love to sample your sausages...so juicy and thick..." She drooled slightly as she held onto her dream of delicious hot dogs made from all sorts of different meats and animals across the multiverse.

Seb grumpily covered her back up with some pillows, annoyed at her strange babbling, twins giggled and buried the dark haired girl under the blankets. New sister! "Hi, Wands~" Seb stood up and walked towards the blond to kiss her lips. Wanda melted. She missed Seb while she was away for her job. "She's just an old friend, her name's Miz. We met a bunch of years back? Heck if I remember." Seb assured.

"An old friend? But she's just a child...is she...a magical friend?" Wanda asked, somewhat uncertain. Maybe this girl was a supernatural creature? "Yeah, you could say that." Seb grinned and kissed her again. "She decided to pay me a visit all of a sudden at 2 am! The best visit time! She actually wanted to meet you and the twins." the man was smiling with excitement and the blonde woman chuckled. How did she even think Seb would kidnap a kid? (Much less a little girl.) She knew her man and she loved her excited puppy.

"Mommy, can we keep our new sister?!" Zoe asked. "Is she fireproof? If I burn her, will she get hurt like a normal human or she won't hurt like Zu and dad?"

Miz grumbled when she got covered in pillows and blankets. "Nyaa!" She complained as she sprouted antlers and a tail, shifting back into her dragonewt form. She pushed the twins off her and gasped for fresh air. "Are you trying to suffocate me?!" She whined. The children gasped at her. "She has a tail!" Zu squealed as they began pulling at it, to Miz's annoyance. Zoe climbed behind her and grabbed her antlers. "Pwetty!" She squealed. "I wanna bite it!"

"Zoe. What did we say about biting people?" Wanda sighed tiredly. This was all Seb's fault. """You don't bite people unless they are mean.""" both Father and kids repeated. Wanda rolled her eyes. Just for fun, Miz allowed her powers to sweep out, materializing large leaves and vines, wrapping herself up in a cocoon of foliage. (There was nothing stopping her from using her powers here after all) She curled up inside her shelter and sighed happily. Now she could sleep without anyone bothering her...at least until the children try to burn it down. From what they've said, it appeared they inherited Seb's Weirdness.

"Miz? Pway?" The little kids pleaded as they tapped on the large leaves. Wanda took a step back in surprise. What sort of creature was this? Then she noticed the fire flickering to life in her daughter's hand. "Sebas! Zoe is going to burn the bed!" Wanda exclaimed and Seb grimaced. He grabbed her hands and after a bit of concentration, he managed to absorb her energy into his, effectively turning off the flames.

"Don't play with fire, sweetie." Seb shook his head. "We can burn things LATER." Zoe nodded slowly, looking down at the floor. Seb noticed his babies were sad and he wouldn't let anyone make them sad, but he couldn't force Miz to...IDEA! "Hey, honey. Have you eaten?" He asked Wanda innocently

"Nope. Just had an orange juice on the plane."

"I'll make breakfast! Miiiizzzz~ wanna join us for breaakkfasstt?" The brunet man grinned. The leaves unfurled "Food?" Miz asked eagerly as her tail wagged back and forth. Seb laughed. "If you want food you'll have to come downstairs with us~" he sang. Miz looked at the soft bed. But sleep~ But food~ Decisions!

"Alright fine~" She got up and adjusted her dress. "But I demand ground beef hash! Haven't had any in ages!"

"Eh, I'll see what I can do." Seb shrugged. Miz noticed that despite how he hadn't changed much, there were a few little gray hairs mixed with his brown curls. (She only caught them because of her enhanced vision. They weren't really overt, not yet. If Seb had noticed, he would have screamed and dyed his hair already), He didn't have those before. She pouted at the sight of them. Even Seb was growing older.

"Who wants ta help dad make breakfast for a dragon?!" Seb asked. In the back, Wanda was wide eyed "A Dragon! This girl?!"

""ME!"" The twins giggled and threw themselves over Seb. Wanda decided not to worry about the logistics of a dragon being in her room. "Yup! And a powerful one." Seb decided this was an easier way to explain Miz's powers. Wanda sighed and ran a hand through her blonde hair. "I'll change my clothes, honey, see you downstairs." Wanda announced and Miz made the leaves disappear before also following Seb downstairs.

Miz was still thinking about the gray hairs, she frowned at this small reminder that Seb was mortal. It made her feel uncomfortable. But...Seb WAS human… even despite his powers…

She followed behind Seb and his children, reaching out to hold onto his shirt and trying not to feel sad that her friend was on a ticking clock. Fuck Time…

The children were placed down on the floor and with determined looks, they stared at their little plastic cups to bring them down with their minds. Miz watched with a smile as the cups slowly floated out of the drawer and towards their waiting hands. They shook a little, almost falling to the floor, but the kids managed to do it. Pretty impressive for toddlers.

Seb sighed in relief and opened the fridge to look for meat to prepare what Miz wanted. "It's funny how your kids have powers." Miz commented. Seb had been worried for a bit as he watched the kids but there were no nosebleeds this time. Thank circles for that.

"Oh yeah, it's a pain in the butt." Seb replied. "They're still learning how to use them, they're getting better... but twins and powers aren't a good combination." He was also nervous they'd get hurt. Hed prohibit them to use them just so they wouldn't get hurt...but they had the right to use their powers. The only thing he could do was help them learn.

Miz laughed, unaware of Seb's mental dilemma, and crouched to look at the toddlers. "Hi kids! I know your dad already said it, but my name's Miz! It's nice to meet you!"

"M' Zoe, and this is my brother Zu! Can you pwepare us chocolate milk?" She asked, pointing at their milk and the powder. "Zoe!" Seb scolded. "Sure, kid." Miz grinned and went over to grab the container. She took the cups and looked at the chocolate powder. "How many scoops?" She took notice that Zoe called Zu her brother, hm~ good to see she was accepting his choice.

"All of it!" The twins cheered. "Nope. Just one! No sugar so early!" Seb glared. Miz stared right at Seb, unblinking, and deliberately put two scoops of chocolate in each cup. "MIZ!" The man groaned as the twins squealed. That was going to be the most chocolatey and delicious breakfast ever!

"Oh hush! Let their auntie Miz spoil them!" Miz pinched Zu's cheeks. They were so chubby and adorable gosh! "Auntie?" Zu asked as they tilted their head in confusion. Aunts are old people and this girl looked younger than his cousins Dipper and Mabel. Miz grinned. "Yup~I'm your father's Soul sister. That makes me your aunt. Technically."

"What's a Soul sistah?" The twins asked as they sipped from their cups. Miz wagged her tail back and forth. "Seb and I are dimensional counterparts. So I'm sort of his sister."

"Ooohhh" The children nodded. Seb smiled as he warmed up the ground beef in a skillet. While he never really thought of it that way, the idea of Miz being his sister was… nice. He never had a sister before. Now where were those potatoes…

Wanda came downstairs, moaning in relief. She exchanged her suit for sweatpants and her pajama shirt. The twins clung to their mom as soon as she entered the room. "Mommy, auntie Miz will make dad give us icecweam for breakfast!" Zoe grinned innocently. Wanda looked at both Seb and Miz, deadpan expression on her face. "Oh will he now?" She drawled. "I never agreed to that." Seb defended himself. "Don't lie, Zoe, it's not nice." Wanda scolded lightly. "But we could make a deal!" The girl offered with a huge grin. Miz stared at the child in surprise. "A deal you say~" Miz practically purred.

"No..." Seb warned her. "No making Deals with my children, Miz."

"Pfth-I already made a Deal with Stanley. It's not like it'll be anything bad..." Miz side stepped over to the kids and pulled ice cream cones from behind her back. The tops were dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. "Quick, eat these before your parents notice." She whispered. The blond twins nodded solemnly and ran away to the living room to eat while Seb grumbled about hyperactive kids and sugar. Miz scoffed "Sugar highs are a LIE spread by the fun police trying to stop people from treating children to all the sugar their twisted little hearts desire!"

"The twins are still hyperactive." Seb informed her. "And sugar really influences them. I don't want to explain to the firefighters what happened...again." Wanda shuddered at the memory before looking over at Miz with a smile. "So your name is Miz? I'm Wanda, Sebastian's wife."

"Yup! It's so nice to finally meet you!" Miz looked the woman up and down. She pouted in confusion. "So… you're obviously non-canon. That's pretty cool."

"...excuse me?" Wanda raised an eyebrow. Seb was face palming in the background. "Miz~" Seb whined. He didn't need her confusing Wanda. He confused her a lot already with his past. "So...how did you two become friends?" Wanda asked with a smile, trying to ignore the weird statement. Seb frowned when he finally noticed the thing Miz said earlier. "Wait. When did you make a deal with Stanley? My brother? Or your Stanley?" Seb questioned.

Miz rolled her eyes. "My Stanley STILL isn't born yet. I made a Deal with your Stanley when those two fell into my Nightmare Realm 13...wait no...18...19 years ago?" She rubbed her chin before turning to address Wanda "And I met Sebastian when I fell out of his Mindscape Exit door and landed on him." Wanda blinked slowly and finally looked at Seb. The man sighed. "Yeah...I wouldn't make that up even if I could." Wanda nodded. "Alright. I don't get it but I guess it's fine?" The lawyer chuckled nervously. She hadn't met many of Seb's friends. There were the people in Gravity Falls who all seemed to love him, but she never hung out with them. This would be her first time officially getting to know one of his friends. Though, how long was she staying and why had she been in bed with her husband? Wanda knew Sebastian well enough to know he wouldn't be doing anything uncouth, but a young woman in his bed was still… not normal.

"It was while I was taking care of Shermie's twins, remember I told you? Gravity Falls?" The blonde nodded. Yeah. She remembered. A creepy triangle threatened her not to go there and then the plane she was supposed to go on caught fire. It was pretty distressing. "Ooh! How are Pinetree and Shooting Star by the way?!" Miz asked excitedly. "They must be all grown up now. Is Dipper just as handsome as the one we met with Bee Bill?" Wanda listened curiously as she took out cups and utensils.

Seb laughed. Bee Bill! HAHAHA! "Pftt Yeah~ They've grown up a lot! And they're both beautiful. They're gonna go to college next year! They took their time off after high school to 'explore' and 'find themselves' but they told me they were gonna start applying now." Seb looked at Wanda. "By the way, when they graduate from college, and they WILL, we're invited and we're going!" Wanda rolled her eyes, because of course they were going, she wasn't going to say no to that.

"Dillon has grown up a lot too and Diego is obsessed with nerd things like Ford" Seb continued.

"Diego?" Miz asked. "Fez's second kid." Seb clarified. Miz grinned. "Frankly I'm surprised he hasn't gotten any more than that." Wanda snorted. That was what she always thought, but Carla was very careful with her birth control now, especially with how much she enjoyed her fun times with Stanley. And frankly, Wanda was the same with Seb. Wanda was soon lost in her recollections of her own fun times with her husband...

Miz blinked. "So what about Fordsie?"

"What was he even working on again?" Seb looked at his wife for help and Wanda came back from her bed fantasies. The blonde hummed. "He's researching the properties of some crystals he found. Asked me about the legal consequences if he tried it on a human guinea pig." She laughed. Seb nodded "Yeah, nerd stuff." Miz pouted. "So...no lady friend or kids?" She was a little disappointed. Would have been fun to tease him about that.

"Nah." The couple shook their heads. "Trust us we tried." Wanda nodded. "But he doesn't seem too keen on dating…" she heard he started dating a woman from his old high school but they broke up not long after.

"At first I thought it was because that siren traumatized him but I'm starting to think he just...doesn't like people that way." Seb said as he prepared the meat. Miz hummed. Well, she couldn't really say anything against such a thing. If Ford wasn't interested then he wasn't. Though...she had to wonder if Ford was asexual like she was or aromantic? Even if he wasn't settling down with a family of his own, she did hope he wasn't lonely. You don't need a significant other to be happy but you should at least have friends. She knew that from firsthand experience.

"He got angry at us for taking him to a party, geesh! He didn't talk to us for like, two weeks." Seb complained. Miz tilted her head in confusion. "What? Did you guys try to get him drunk?"

"Eh…" Seb grinned sheepishly. "Stan said it would be funny…I had to leave earlier so I didn't see what happened, Stan said he had fun though!" Miz rolled her eyes. "What if something bad happened? Don't let your brother get drunk without supervision."

"Yes, mom~ " Seb groaned. "That's big sis to you, young man!" Miz huffed. Sure, Seb was technically older (past life plus current one), but since he reincarnated, it all reset and now he was younger than her! Wanda laughed, amused. She loved to see Seb smiling and relaxing like this.

"Mommy! Daddy! Water! We want water pwease!" The twins came into the kitchen laughing, covered in chocolate and sprinkles. "Thirsty." Zu added. Miz tried to look innocent. The parents looked at the dragon girl with narrowed eyes. She tried to whistle innocently but didn't know how to whistle and just made a "Whoosh"-ing noise. Wanda took the twins upstairs to change their clothes while Seb finished the required breakfast for Miz. She ate happily when the food was ready and despite having ice cream, the twins had to eat normal food too.

Seb was tasked with entertaining the twins while Wanda rested, travelling was tedious and demanding, so she said bye to Miz and went to take a nap. "Play?" The twins tugged on Miz's dress. She grinned. "Sure~" she formed little flowers and made them animated so they would run around and dance in the room. The children were thrilled. The kids ran around, chasing the escaping flowers and Sebastian sat down to watch them and draw. "Will you stay longer this time?" he asked finally. Miz shrugged. "Maybe." She pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "I...kinda need some time away from home…"

Seb smiled gently. "If you need to get away for awhile, you're welcomed to stay with us!" Miz smiled and leaned against him. "Well, I can promise I have more than enough to pay you back. I'm not gonna be a burden." she closed her eyes and sighed. Smiling all the time was getting tiring, she hid her face against his side so he wouldn't see her expression drop.

Seb tilted his head to the side. He didn't comment, if she wanted to tell him she would, and simply stroked her long black hair. "You aren't a burden...you need to understand that...I swear it will help." It helped him. To know he wasn't a screw up, a monster, a freak, a burden to his family.

She huffed and nuzzled his side. "Yeah, whatever…" he was warm and she was still tired. She'd been working too hard these past few weeks. Coming here was a nice break from her work. Part of her had wanted this to be a way to take her mind off things but seeing Seb's kids was bringing up all the emotions she was trying to push away.

Miz stayed curled up next to him and the brown-haired man simply stroked her hair as the twins now ran away from the flowers. They had sprouted teeth and were hissing as they chased the children down on their tiny root feet. Seb sweatdropped. "Miz…"

"It's fine. What's a little fun without some unsettling horror?" Miz waved a hand dismissively.

"I don't think that is-" He was cut off when Zoe growled at the flower creature, got down on all fours and snapped it in half with her teeth. "-nevermind."

"Look! Daddy! I killed the bad flower!" The little girl proudly announced her kill after spitting out the remains. Seb laughed. "That's great, pumpkin." Miz flicked her fingers and spawned an Acorn-like creature this time. It wobbled around on short, stubby legs before toppling over, its legs waving helplessly in the air. Zu pouted and helped the little creature to stand up again. "There!" he smiled happily.

The Acorn made a thankful squeak and tried to walk again, falling over pathetically onto it's belly with a soft whine. It turned its large watery eyes to stare imploringly at the children.

"It's useless." Zoe frowned at it. "Can we eat it?" She asked curiously as she bit her hand. "No! He's mine now!" Zu grabbed the little acorn and ran away to their room. They had a baby stroller for their stuffed toys. He would give their new pet a tour! The little kid put the curious creature into the stroller and wheeled it around the house.

"This is the kitchen. Mommy an' daddy make yummy food here...mostly daddy though." Zu said. The acorn put its little hands on the edge of the stroller and squeaked cheerfully. "Zuuuu! I wanna pway with it too!" Zoe whined and went after her twin. "No! You will eat it!" Zu grabbed the acorn and ran away. "No!" Zoe stomped her foot down and turned to look at her distracted father. "Daddy! Tell Zu to share the acorn!"

"Kids...share…" Seb said as he drew with one hand and stroked Miz's hair with the other. He didn't look up from his work, hyper focused on his tablet. Miz was purring quietly as she got some quality headpat time. Zoe pouted and wiped her tears. She stomped towards their room and opened the door. "Daddy says you have to share!" Zu pouted and hugged the acorn to their chest. "Mine." The acorn snuggled with them, letting out a soft, content squeak.

The girl whined with tears in her heterochromatic eyes and flames came to life in her hands. "Share or I will burn you!" Zu narrowed his brown eyes and put the acorn on the floor. Zu's own flames enveloped their little palms as he growled. "He's mine! You're jus' gonna hurt him!"

Downstairs, Seb only realized the kids were fighting when it was too late. The sprinklers they had installed turned on and soaked everyone. "Fuck." Seb sighed tiredly as Miz jumped, startled from his lap. "Wazzah?" She shook her head to chase off her sleepiness. "Huh?" She asked, no less confused as the sprinklers continued to rain down water.

The twins came down crying, startled by the water that attacked them, but more because despite the water, Zu still held the acorn to his chest and didn't let Zoe have it. Seb took a deep breath and went to turn off the sprinklers. Miz waved her hand to evaporate the liquid so the house wasn't soaked. "Sebastian!" Wanda screamed from upstairs. She had been sleeping when the water suddenly poured down. Although she saw the water evaporate, leaving their furniture dry and clean, she was still quite upset.

Miz sighed and knelt in front of the children. "What's going on?" She asked gently. Zoe wiped her tears and pointed at Zu who was guiltily looking down at the floor. "Zu doesn't wanna share the acorn and it's not fair! I got mad and I wanted to burn him!"

"But-But Zoe didn't want to play with him, she wanted to hurt him and I didn't want him to be hurt." Zu also didn't mean to make their sister upset. Zu didn't like it when she cried. Miz smiled sadly at the small babies. "Well first off, you should apologize to each other."

Zoe and Zu turned to each other and sniffled. "I'm sowy…" they both chorused. Miz nodded. "Ok, so when you have a disagreement, you should talk it out. Zoe, you start." The little girl pouted. "I wasn't gonna hurt the acorn anymore...I just wanted to pway…" she frowned "It's not fair if only Zu gets ta play with it…"

Miz nodded, satisfied. "And what about you, Zu?"

Zu looked down and hugged the confused acorn. "I'm sowy I didn't want to share because she killed the flowers… but if she won't hurt him, then we can pway together!" Zu smiled and offered the acorn to her. Zoe took it and hugged it to her chest. The twins were at peace now and went to play with their new friend, not caring about their wet clothes, while two exhausted parents came downstairs completely wet and caring quite a lot.

Miz grinned and flicked her fingers, drying the rest of the house and inhabitants fully, don't cause problems you can't fix right? "No worries! The kids made up." Seb sighed in relief and smiled at his wife. Wanda grumpily groaned. "What even happened?!"

"I made them an acorn and they fought over it but they're sharing now!" Miz grinned. Maybe she should have made two? Naw, they need to learn that sharing is caring. Wanda triedly dragged Seb to the couch and curled up on his lap. "Thank you, Miz…" she wasn't sure what the fuss was about an acorn but she was too tired to deal with that right now.

The girl pouted, seeing her pillow being taken away. But Wanda was Seb's wife so she got first dibs. Miz wondered if she could get Stanley to give her headpats...Miz didn't care either way and climbed over to the two humans before falling asleep pressed against Seb's other side.

Wanda frowned but Seb just stroked her hair. "Don't ask...um, dragon thing." he knew Miz snuggled, she'd done that while they were at that hotel, but this was more overt, like she was deliberately seeking closeness. Well, he wasn't going to deny her that if she needed it.

-.-

Sebas said Miz could stay as long as she needed. Wanda was a little more reserved on that end. Was this going to be okay? Having someone living at their house with them like this? "Seb, where is she going to sleep?" Wanda asked quietly. Seb shrugged. "She can sleep with us!" He said. Wanda leveled a deadpan stare at him. Seb blinked. "What's wrong with that?" He didn't see the problem.

"That….it's...ours?" Wanda rubbed her arm. "We let the twins sleep with us." Seb pointed out. Wanda sighed. "They're our kids."

Seb frowned. "Well… I guess. Then… I can ask Miz where she wants to stay." He turned to his soul-sister and asked. Miz looked up from where she was helping the twins clean up after themselves ("Put away your toys when you're done playing. It's more efficient to find what you want afterwards.") and thought about it. "I can hang out in the twin's room?" To which the kids cheered, " Yaaaay! Sleep over!"

Wanda groaned. "That…" she could see that none of them understood why she had a problem with this. They simply didn't think of it. "Miz. You're probably a very nice girl. But you're also… a stranger." She said this looking at Seb, hoping he understood what she was trying to say without sounding too direct or demanding. This was Seb's friend...but...one thing was hosting one of his brothers and another was hosting a complete stranger to her!

The twins pouted. "No sleepover?" "How about the guest room?" Seb suggested, suddenly remembering they did have a room there. Their dear neighbor, in one of her invasions to their house, had exclaimed that room could be used by Amanda when she stayed with them. But Miz frowned.

She looked down and wrung her hands before looking back up at them. "...alone?" She asked in a small voice. Seb paused. Even Wanda had to blink. "Is…" the lawyer tried to collect her thoughts. "...is there something wrong with sleeping alone?"

"..." Miz looked uncomfortable. "...I don't like sleeping alone." She finally told them. Wanda had to process that. She took in Miz's expression, her stance, her obvious discomfort with the idea. Wanda was a lawyer. She was trained to read people. So she softened and knelt down to be on Miz's level and tried to understand. "Why don't you like sleeping alone?"

Miz shuffled in place, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "...it's cold." She mumbled. "And… lonely. And… I don't like it." And it was only an issue when she slept. She just… didn't like sleeping alone. She always had Xanthar by her side. Or brother, back when she stayed with him. They didn't need to be snuggled with her, though she liked it, she just needed someone in the room with her.

"I… I don't…" Miz gnawed on her bottom lip and frowned. She was trying to figure out how to explain this. "...it's scary." She told them. That wasn't precisely the full extent of her feelings but it was still correct. And Miz didn't know how else to put it. Wanda nodded, frowning as she thought this over. If she ignored the fact that this girl was an actual dragon, and took her words and body language into mind… Wanda sighed. "Alright. Do you need to be in bed with someone else to not feel scared?"

"...being in the same room is enough." Miz admitted. Wanda nodded. Okay then. She could work with that. "Alright. I can see about an air mattress or something." She told Miz, carefully putting a hand gently on the girl's head and petting her the way she saw Sebastian do so. Wanda could feel Miz relax, looking less distressed at this news and the gentle touch. Wanda felt herself smile. Okay. So. It looked like her observations weren't wrong.

Miz was a lot like Seb. Like Seb had been . Lonely and afraid. And damn if Wanda couldn't help but want to help Miz like she did with Seb. She'd missed the signs with Sebastian all those years ago, and he suffered so much all alone because of it. She didn't want that to happen to this girl too.

"Okay. Stay as long as you need. I'm gonna go find some extra bedding." The blonde told her. Whatever doubts Wanda might have had melted away under the beaming smile Miz let out. As if Wanda had just given her the greatest treasure she'd ever heard of.

Wanda straightened up and turned to look at her husband. Seb grinned at the twins. "Sleepover!" ""YAY!"" Wanda wondered how this would all work out, taking in another stray, but the smiles were worth it.

-.-

The weather was slowly turning warm, and his babies were turning 5.

Seb and Wanda were just mildly panicking. Not only would they officially start kindergarten but their birthday was close. Miz settled in well in the past few weeks, Sebastian actually hadn't told Stanley or Ford about her yet, having been quite distracted. He still didn't know why she decided to visit him now, but he actually didn't mind. He had only seen her for a few 'days' years ago and now he was getting to interact more with his friend. Miz insisted on earning her keep, even when Wanda told her she didn't have to. But apparently cleaning helped Miz relax so Wanda finally relented and allowed the girl to do as she wished.

Miz handled all the chores around the house, Wanda had never seen the place so...spotless. And Seb already cleaned everything quite well. Wanda worried about Miz doing the chores but the girl had said she wanted to do it and Wanda allowed it, unsure if this was some kind of magic thing too (like the elves in old legends who would fix up things around a household if you gave them food). Currently, Miz was decorating the house for the twin's surprise birthday party.

"Thank you for your help, Miz." The woman put on an earring. She couldn't get a day off earlier. She only had shift till midday at the office today. "Seb and I are so grateful!"

"No problem Flower-crown." Miz assured her. "Have fun at the office. I'm gonna try to keep the kids distracted until you get back so we can do the cake and presents." Wanda kissed her cheek (having done so on accident last week while kissing the twins goodbye and Miz hadn't complained, in fact she seemed almost... Miz and Wanda had both frozen. "Oh my gosh, sorry, I just-" Wanda had sputtered but Miz had placed a hand on her cheek and stared wide eyed at the blonde woman. "I'm so sorry! I won't do it again, I-" But Miz interrupted with "It's fine! I… I… kinda… liked it…" And Miz had seemed so surprised at her own admission. So Wanda had continued doing so. It didn't hurt anyone, and it made Miz happy, so she didn't see why it would be a problem.) and waved before closing the door.

Seb suddenly appeared and checked if everything was perfect. "How is it going? I'm gonna wake them up now. Can I?" he asked Miz.

"Yup! This is almost ready!" Miz waved a hand to finish the last of the decorations. Cheating with magic was fine for occasions like this!

"Ok! The pancakes are in the kitchen...Wanda left already?" He pouted and Miz patted his arm as a show of comfort. "Yes, but she'll be back by midday." She reassured. The man sighed before nodding. He had called the parents of the twins' friends (very few from school because Zoe didn't get along with a lot of kids, and the rest from the kids in the neighborhood, mainly because the twins would raise HELL if he didn't invite their best friend Amanda, and Seb didn't want to face Carol ALONE so he invited the other kids to bring their parents to use as shields against her) and they confirmed they were coming. Perfect! Best of all: His brothers, all three of them, confirmed they were coming! Plus his niblings! Ahh!

Sadly, his mother couldn't make it due to her health (she caught a cold during the changing weather), it wasn't bad, thank Ax, but it was better not to move their mom around while she was recovering. Stan had been reluctant to leave her behind but Kari had told him to go spend time with his brothers. Seb worried about the fact that his mother was growing older, unknowing that Miz worried about him growing older.

While Seb happily went to wake up his kids, Miz stared at the green and blue balloons. She sighed. Not the time to dwell on that right now. Besides, she was gonna get to see Shooting Star and the others. She went to the kitchen to check on the state of the cake. It took a lot of begging to let Seb allow her to bake the cake herself.

He told her she was not allowed to make it shaped like a cute animal. Miz had pouted angrily, annoyed that her plan to surprise the children by cutting open a rabbit cake and have molten chocolate dyed red come flowing out was ruined. RUINED!

...Huh… okay, yeah, maybe that wasn't such a good idea now that she thought about it… (well, Zoe would have loved it.)

Still, she hoped they liked her cake. It was still in the oven, she was making multiple layers and her powers meant she'd be able to stack and decorate it without trouble. (Not like she was bad at baking, they all tasted fine, they just didn't look all that nice unless she cheated, a little.) The only problem was making sure the twins didn't eat it before the other guests got here.

She was opening the oven to check on the three pans when she heard the children thumping down the stairs. "Happy birthday you little gremlins~" she greeted them, her tail wagged happily. The twins were yawning but had excited smiles on their faces. The acorn, which the two had named Sir Bedazzle of the Forest , was running along behind them with happy bark-squeaks.

It had grown slightly since she had first created it and could run without toppling over now. It still liked to flop over just to make the twins pick him up, lazy little guy. Seb and Wanda were quite glad with the weird pet. It only demanded love, but you didn't have to feed him, walk him or clean up after him like a real dog. The most he needed was water and sunlight. And occasionally cleaning off sugar water trails. Seb was glad their home had wooden floors that were cleaned easily.

The kids lit up when they saw the pancakes. Fluffy, drizzled with honey, chocolate and surrounded by blueberries and chocolate chips. Miz had even put a dollop of whipped cream on top after Seb left to finish them off. The two kids gasped loudly. "I'M GONNA STUFF MY FACE ON IT!" Zoe squealed and ran into the kitchen shouting. Miz grinned proudly. "Best birthday everr!" Zu shouted and immediately sat down in front of the tower of pancakes to eat. "Thank you, Auntie Miz! Thank you, Daddy!"

Seb lovingly kissed his little monsters' foreheads and chuckled when Zoe smiled with whipped cream all over her face and eyes. Miz was already wiping Zu's face with a napkin. "Slow down, kid, you're gonna choke."

"But it's too yummy!" Zu pouted. Seb laughed and also cleaned Zoe's face. "Of course it's yummy! Your awesome dad made it!" Today the twins could be pampered and spoiled, so they were allowed to go watch tv or play while he and Miz picked up. Usually they had to help put tablecloths and dishes away.

"The Stans and the twins are seriously coming?" Miz asked the man excitedly. She never did get to meet Seb's Shooting Star and Pinetree last time so she was excited for this. Would they like her? They'd better like her. And she couldn't wait to see Ford and Stan again. Oh right, they wouldn't recognize her as Miz huh? Seb suddenly remembered "Right, you need to hide your tail and antlers when the guests get here."

"...why?" Miz frowned. She'd been walking around with them out all this time with no issue. It felt more comfortable.

"Well…" Seb scratched his head. "The other families don't...really know about the whole...magic thing… and this isn't Gravity Falls so you can't just.." (Seb felt like a hypocrite to say this, and frankly he didn't like the idea of Miz having to hide herself either. But he could only imagine what Carol would do if she found Miz. Maybe try to cut off Miz's antlers to grind into essential oils or some shit.) Miz frowned. "So?" Seb looked a little uncomfortable at the slowly worsening mood of his friend. "W-well it's just...we normally keep the magic stuff a secret from anyone not in the know…" it hurt him to have to say it.

Miz scoffed. "Nope. Not gonna do that." She flicked her fingers and all the dishes and clothes were immediately cleaned and floated carefully back into the cabinets. Seb winced. "Look, I know it's not really fair but it's easier and-"

"Even if I pretend to be 'normal', what are you planning to do with Sir Bedazzle? You know he gets scared when he's alone."

"He actually looks like a stuffed toy so…"

"And what about yours and the twins' powers?"

"Wanda and I have talked to them really seriously about that. They don't show their powers to anyone who we haven't cleared first." Seb replied. "Please! The guests are gonna have heart attacks if they know about this!" He lifted her up in the air with his mind and pouted. "I also have to hide mine all the time. Which SUCKS but Wanda doesn't want me being taken away by the government." Miz was crossing her arms with an angry pout. Seb tried to think of anything he could do to convince her. "Please Miz? It's only for one day." Miz sniffed and turned her face away. Seb sighed. "What do I need to do to make you agree to this?"

"Well~" she grinned wickedly. Seb immediately had a bad feeling. "Whatever it is, I don't think it's worth it." He said quickly. Miz laughed. "It's nothing bad. Just...if I'm going to change my form for the party anyway~can I be some one else for the party?"

"...I'm still a little uneasy about that smile you've got…" Seb whimpered. Miz skipped back a few steps before glowing as her form changed. She grew taller and Seb's eye went wide when the glow faded and he saw what form Miz had chosen for herself, rather, himself.

"Why...are you an incredibly attractive man?" Seb groaned as he saw Miz, now in his Xin form, twisting around to check if all the changes were in place. Xin grinned. "Well I don't want to be treated like a child. Wanda knows I'm actually much older than her so that's fine but these other parents are going to assume I'm a kid and I don't want to deal with their condescension right now. I'm just not in the mood for it, maybe some other time." The now full grown adult (appearance-wise) said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"...but why are you a guy?" Seb was getting a vague sense of dejavu, especially after Zu had went and said he was a boy.

"Well…" Xin blushed. "It's been a while since I've been male so I figured I might as well…" he twisted his head to look at his back, making sure his tail was gone. The brunet man nodded. "Alright, whatever…just, don't use magic…"

"Sure Sebas~While in this form my name is Xin." Xin pointed out helpfully. "Ok." Seb nodded. "I'll tell the twins later." He took a deep breath. "Are you ok, Seb?" Xin noticed how tense his friend looked. "I am nervous...Kids these days aren't that mean, right?" He had been awake all night, terrified of the idea of no one showing up, or the twins crying, or something terrible happening.

"Pfth-all children are awful monsters." Xin rolled his eyes. He picked at his shirt, hm...maybe he should wear a button up? A t-shirt was too casual right? What did normal human men wear? Xin's form was normally dressed in flowing robes and chinese long shirts. Seb had a button up. But Seb also liked suits, which was too formal for a birthday party for 5 year olds.

"I mean, I know every parent in my kids' class, as well as their kids. I wouldn't have allowed them to get close if I didn't…" Seb mumbled. It was weird, because the twins barely spoke about those kids. Aside from Amanda, none other kids have ever come over to play before. They sometimes played with the other kids around the neighborhood whenever he took the twins out to the park. They seemed nice enough, but he was paranoid!

"So...what's the problem?" Xin didn't get it.

"I've never had friends as a kid." Seb looked down. "I don't know how kids who aren't siblings play with each other!" the twins liked Amanda, but Seb didn't really know much about how they played together. He awkwardly wiped a tear. "I don't want them to be sad! I don't want those kids hurting them!" Xin walked up to hug Seb, his clothes changing between different colors and styles as he went.

"They'll be fine. We're gonna be here the whole time. We won't let anything happen ok?" they were the same height now. The brunet nodded. "Yes. You're right…" he nodded and smiled at the handsome demon-dragon. Xin scoffed "I'm ALWAYS right!"

"Ugh. Shut up." Sebas pushed him away laughing. "I'll take a shower and get ready...Can you watch the twins?"

"Sure! Go take a shower, you smell awful!" Xin teased. "I don't! You're a jerk!" Seb childishly stuck his tongue out and went upstairs to his room. Xin rolled his eyes. And people thought he was a child.

While the twins played with Sir Bedazzle in the other room, and Xin distractedly cleaned the mess the little kids made, the bell rang. Xing bustled over to open the door. "Good morning!" He had finally decided on a butler uniform. His long hair was now braided back neatly. The man on the other side adjusted his glasses awkwardly with a six-fingered hand. "Hello, I wasn't aware Sebastian hired a butler for today. I'm his trip-"

"OH MY GOD!" Xin squealed and tackled Ford into a hug. "Fordsie!" He nuzzled the taller man cheerfully. "Ahhh! Look at you! I haven't seen you in so long! How have you been?" Since his tail wasn't out currently, Xin just wiggled his hips back and forth as if he was wagging his tail. "Uh! Um, I am sorry, but I don't know you." Ford frowned, quite flustered at this stranger invading his personal space. It wasn't uncomfortable, just weird. He pried the man's arms away from him. The twins heard the voices and curiously ran towards the door to see who it was. It was Uncle Sixer! And...a man dressed up as a butler. Seb had forgot to tell the children about Miz now being Xin.

"Hi, Uncle Fordsie!" Zu smiled. "Who is this man?" he asked, innocently pointing at Xing which made Ford glare at Xin menacingly. Because if the twins didn't know this man...

"Uh oh." Xin managed to squeak.

Seb happily came out of the shower and barely had time to wrap the towel around his waist when Zoe burst in the bathroom. "Daddy! Daddy!"

Seb still awkwardly pulled the towel closer to himself. "What is it, Zoe?"

"Uncle Fordsie is here and he's pushing a strange man against the floor really, really hard!" The girl grinned. Seb's eye widened. "Oh shi-ooot!" He cursed as he raced downstairs with just a towel on. "Wait Sixer! Let him go! He's a friend!" He cried as he ran downstairs with Zoe following him.

Xin wiggled. Wow. Ford was really good with the pin, the taller man didn't grab his wrists but instead had pinned him down by his forearms. His heart was pounding from the panic of being held down and frankly he was amazed he was holding it together (but this was Ford, Seb's Ford, who Seb said was better now, nice and friends again, a proper BROTHER! That meant he should register as 'safe' but he was also pinning Xin down- but the kids were there- but- safe- not safe- don't lose control-) so Xin's feelings were somewhat confused. Then Ford's grip tightened until it was almost painful and pulled Xin's arms up above his head, pressing down on his back and pulling him back until his spine popped and...oh… oooh~ Xin let out an involuntary pleased moan before he could stop himself. He twitched and the movement caused his arms to ache so...pleasantly. "Sh...ooh…" he gasped. Ford didn't seem to notice the change in Xin's demeanor and pressed Xin harder against the ground. "I don't know who you are but-"

"Oh yeees~" Xin moaned. His sides were beginning to hurt and the mild pain sent odd sensations through his body. But that ache in his spine where it was being pulled until it popped just felt- "Harder please~" he gasped, not quite understanding what this feeling was but… enjoying it?! He was on the edge of panic, but not quite enough to spill over into anything dangerous. It was an odd feeling.

Ford heard that breathy exclamation and he immediately let the man go, weirded out and blushing. Xin laid on the ground, panting, somewhat disappointed. "Who are you?!" Ford grimaced. Finally, Seb flew into the room and threw himself over Ford, pushing the taller man away.

"Sixer!" Seb hugged his big bro and looked up at him. "Don't hurt Xin, he's a friend! I forgot to tell the kids but they already know him!" Ford narrowed his eyes. He looked at the weird man who was struggling to stand up from the floor ("Wow...almost as good as head pats!") and back at his brother. "You are naked." He commented intelligently.

"Yeah well, if you hadn't attacked my friend I could have changed." Seb grinned with a blush and adjusted the towel that had fallen past his hips and close to the danger zone. "I'm so glad you're here! KIDS! Have you said hi to your uncle?!" He shouted to the air. "Yeah! He was busy pushing the man!" Zu pointed helpfully. Then the twins ran towards their Uncle. Zoe made grabby motions and Ford picked her up gladly.

" The man ? Really kid? I live with you for a couple weeks and you don't recognize me just 'cause I changed my sex?" Xin grumbled as his tail and antlers popped out. Seb only said to hide them from people who didn't know about Weirdness after all.

"Miz!" They gasped. "But you're a boy now! And a grown up! How?" Zu asked confused. Xin scoffed. "Didn't you know? Dragons can change sex whenever they want." Xin bullshited easily. And it wasn't technically a lie since dragons COULD in fact shapeshift. Seb rolled his eyes. "Don't teach my children untrue facts." Seb frowned at his kids, who were obviously buying it.

Xin gave Seb a smug look, "I'll teach them whatever I want. And this dragon can change sex whenever he wants!" Xin retracted his dragon parts and fixed his disheveled clothes. He blushed a bit. Geez, he knew his… pain tolerance was odd but, oh geez~

Ford was easily fooled into believing Xin's bullshitting, he hadn't learned to recognize a lie even after all these years, though to be fair, he was too interested in the idea of meeting a real DRAGON to really question it. "You're a dragon?" He was so excited to ask that he didn't notice the little girl in his arms hitting his cheek softy. "Uncle Ssixxer! What presents will you give uuuusss!?" Zoe whined. Xin suddenly rushed off to the kitchen "My cakes!" he almost forgot!

Two thirds of the Pines triplets watched the dragon go and Ford finally realized Zoe was trying to call his attention when she shrieked loudly and burned his neck. "Ah!" Ford yelped. "ZOE PINES!" Sebastian shouted and grabbed the girl from Ford's arms to put her on the ground. "No! Zoe, you just don't burn people, even less if they're your family!" He shouted at the girl. "What were you thinking?!" Zoe looked down and sniffled. "Sorry daddy…"

"Sebas, don't shout at her. It's alright, I was just surprised, I'm not hurt." Ford smiled and crouched in front of the remorseful girl. "Do you want to see the presents I bought?" The girl was happy again almost immediately and the twins clung to Ford. Seb pouted. He didn't like when his brothers didn't let him scold the children when they did wrong. He didn't care that he was exactly the same with Mabel, Dipper, Dillon and Diego!

Xin pulled out the cakes, sighing in relief that they weren't burnt. A tiny bit over done but he could still work with that. He didn't need an oven mitt, this body more than capable of handling the hot metal. Right, decorating...Xin waved his hand to summon the jam and frosting. Might as well get all the Weirdness out of the way before other guests showed up.

Ford picked up the huge boxes he brought with him and proudly handed each one to his nieces. His triplets knew how bad it felt to be given a present to share, as if they weren't different people. The Pines brothers made sure to show their niblings they cared. "Open them!" The man with glasses smiled. "I'm completely sure you kids will like them!" The children tore the colorful paper off eagerly and Seb's eye widened when he saw what it was. "Drones?!" He gasped. The kids were squealing as they shook the boxes. Sebastian walked over to hiss at Ford. "Sixer they're five!" he groaned.

"It's a good present! You don't need to be old to know how to use a remote control!"

"You're paying if something gets broken." Seb mumbled before going upstairs to put on clothes.

Ford didn't see what the problem was. He watched the twins tear the boxes open and "Oooh~"ed at the machine inside. He smiled, ready to show them how to set them up but gasped when the two ran to the kitchen. "Miz! Look at what we got!" Zoe squealed. "Can you show us how to make them fly?" Zu added. "Wait, what?" Ford muttered. "Kids, I can teach you how! I-I built them!" He ran after them. Now that all his brothers have had kids, he was taking the title of 'cool single uncle' seriously. He didn't want to be Just Uncle Ford!

The twins looked at Xin decorating the cake AND cupcakes. He looked up when the two ran in and grinned. "Oh hey. Drones. Ooh~they're the three propeller type. Is that…" the dragon blinked and leaned closer. "Solar powered as well? Nice~"

"Can you show us how to use them Miz? You know everything!"

"Please~I know LOTS of things. And, while I look like this you have to call me Xin ok?"

"Ok Xin!" Zu nodded, he figured it was like how he was Zu now and not Zully. But more intense! That was so cool!. "Can you show us?" though Zu was actually more interested in Miz being a boy now. That was so cool. So… people could just… choose to be a boy or a girl if they wanted? Or did only dragons get to do that?

Xin looked at Ford pouting by the door. He looked so adorably sad that Xin had to be merciful. "I'm a little busy here, but I bet your brilliant Uncle Fordsie also knows how to make it work." he carefully squeezed the icing out. Wanted to make this as perfect as he could without cheating first. "Yes, absolutely." The man nodded. The twins grinned and each one of them took a six-fingered hand, just like their daddy's, to drag him to the backyard. There were chairs outside for the guests too, and a table where candies and snacks would be. Daddy said not to put them yet because the twins would eat them all before anyone came. The twins knew he was right, they would, but that didn't make it less fun.

"Ark! Ark!" Sir Bedazzle raced towards them, bark-squeaking happily. "What the-?!" Ford gaped at the creature and stared at it as it ran around them. "What IS that?!" Zoe picked it up and showed it to her uncle. "He's an Acorn puppy! His name is Sir Bedazzle of the Forest!"

"Sir Bedazzle for short." Zu added. "He's our puppy!"

Ford lifted his glasses and leaned closer to the creature. "Fascinating…"

"Miz-um- Xin made it for us!" Zoe pointed at the man in the kitchen. The acorn blinked up at Ford with dark, curious eyes. "Ark!" It said with a cheerful wiggle. Ford poked it's cap. "It feels just like a real acorn…" he said in awe. "Wait, that dragon made it for you?" Ford looked over to the kitchen where said dragon was twirling his fingers to make the frosting stay on the way he wanted. "No! Don't melt! Aauuugh! You're just forcing me to use my powers now!" The man ranted when one section of the cream began sagging. "Curse you physics!"

What was odd was the sense that Ford knew that man...but for the life of him he couldn't remember from where. Surely he would have remembered meeting someone like this! Even disregarding the fact that the man was apparently a DRAGON, he was very...unique. Ford thought back to those pleased moans when he pinned the man to the ground in what he knew was a painful hold and flushed.

Weird. Definitely weird.

"Can Sir Bedazzle come outside with us?! Please!" The twins knew they weren't supposed to take Sir Bedazzle outside. Dad and Mom said so…but Uncle Ford didn't know that. Ford, naïve to the manipulative nature of children and unable to resist those little eyes, agreed and took both the twins and the acorn outside.

The second they vanished from view, Seb came downstairs, elegantly dressed, which made Xin smile. "Hey there handsome~" he teased, letting his eyes roam up and down the other man. And Xin had to admit it. The Pines aged like wine! How old were they anyway? They didn't look any less hot! Seb rolled his eyes. "I'm married." He put his hands on his hips. "And you're my soul sister/brother." That didn't stop Xin from purring "I know how to share." Xin liked teasing, even if he wasn't actually interested. Getting a rise out of Seb was so much fun. Seb would have thrown something at Xin for being a damn troll if he had anything throwable nearby. "Where are Fordsie and the twins?" Seb changed the subject instead, realizing Xin was just messing with him.

"He took them outside to teach them how to fly the drones I think." The black haired man informed him before resuming his work. Perfect cupcakes…even if he had to cheat because baking was hard~

The actual birthday cake was done and in the fridge. It had to be kept cold so the whipped cream didn't melt before the party. The cupcakes however, would be served during the party as soon as the guests arrived. Xin individually decorated each one to look like a different BakeMon (Backpack Monster, it was something the kids were really into).

"Do you think I should trust Stanford 'I give crossbows to 12 year olds' Pines with my children?" Seb asked as he stared at the cupcakes. "Can I have one?"

"No, those are for the party AND the kids." Xin shook his head. "And, did you trust Ford with the mystery twins?"

"Eh...No…Fuck. I'll be right back." Seb walked fast out to the yard. Xin shrugged and fixed the Pikachu's ears. He still found it hilarious that no matter what language or dimension, a Pikachu was STILL a Pikachu.

Seb went outside and gasped when he saw Sir Bedazzle running around the yard. "No! We can't let people see him moving around!" The twins were distracted with their new toys and their uncle so they didn't see Seb picking up the puppy acorn with his mind. He was not chasing the...nut animal…

"Why are you outside, Sir Bedazzle?" Seb narrowed his eye at the little creature who whimpered, ashamed at being scolded. "Ok, don't look at me like that, really. You'll make me feel like an asshole, you know you can't." He held the creature towards him and coughed to call his brother's attention.

"Oh! Hey Sebastian!" Ford grinned. "Daddy has clothes now!" Zu giggled. "Yeah, Daddy has finally put on clothes." Ford teased his younger brother. "Very funny, Brainiac." Seb pouted. "Explain to me why Sir Bedazzle is out of the house?" He showed the acorn to the kids and his brother. Ford blinked. "Is it...not allowed outside?" He asked.

"Not when there are going to be guests who don't know about Weirdness here." Seb hissed. "This isn't Gravity Falls. The people here wouldn't be able to just 'Nevermind all that'."

"Aww…" the twins said sadly. Sir Bedazzle also let out a quiet "Waaw~" sound. Ford looked a little sad as well. "Why do you have to hide it? Why not just let people know?"

"Because they might…" Seb looked down at the twins, so innocent. He didn't want them to think that their powers were bad. He didn't want them to grow up hating themselves for what they were. "...they might not…" Seb sighed, pained. "Kids...do me a favor and put Sir Bedazzle in his house ok?" The kids grabbed their pet and ran inside to leave the acorn on his tree-like house. When they were out of sight, the two adults could talk more freely.

"Sir Bedazzle is a freaking acorn, Sixer, if you haven't noticed. How would a normal person react if they saw a moving acorn?"

Ford blinked. "I see you point."

"Besides. Normal people don't react good to unusual, or magic things. Be that Sir Bedazzle or… you know, us." Seb bit his lip as he turned his eye yellow to emphasize his point.

Ford twitched. His hands were folded behind his back. "Yes. I… see your point. It's hard, isn't it? Living outside Gravity Falls?"

Seb shrugged. "Yeah, kinda." He nodded. "'Specially when the kids get excited. You know fire is really unpredictable. Though they have better control of the fire than their telekinesis...Kids are kids though and they forget not to use them outside the house sometimes."

"Maybe...you don't have to hide it, don't you think?" Ford asked. He did publish his (severely censored) papers on the supernatural being real, and had the research and data to prove it. Though, it wasn't exactly widespread knowledge despite the huge stir in the scientific community.

"Haven't you heard what I said?" Seb pulled his brother's ear. "People might not like them for who they are...the twins could end up hating themselves and I do not want that for my kids!" He hissed. Seb was venting, letting his long hidden anxieties about this bubble up to the surface. He might have gotten much better about his mental health, but he was still healing, it was an ongoing and unending process. So right here and now, he couldn't help unloading all his fears onto his oldest brother now that he stupidly open the window for him to do so.

Ford winced. "Why would people hate you for having powers-"

Seb huffed. "Don't you remember WHERE my powers came from?!" He formed a triangle with his hands and held it up over his eye, making Ford flinch back. Seb lowered his hands, scowling.

"What do you think they will think about me , about them , if I told them their powers come from a demon?! The kids don't know and I don't plan to tell them!" Seb said, slumping his shoulders and curling into himself. Ford winced. "Okay, while I see your point, I doubt it would be that dramatic." He knew his brother wasn't the same Bill who'd mentally abused him for years. Ford knew that. He even knew there were other Bills out there who weren't the same as that awful Bill they'd been forced to kill (heck, he lived with William for a week. And that version of Bill had been nothing but kind, even with how badly Ford had reacted to him).

Shaking those thoughts away, Ford told his brother, "Your kids are special. They have gifts." he tried to say but Seb glowered at his eldest brother.

"I spent two thirds of my life HATING myself." Seb hissed. "I thought I was a FREAK. A MONSTER. And I will NOT have my children go through the same!"

Ford flinched. Right, that. He was a little ashamed to realize he never thought Seb had really felt that strongly about it.

"Just think about this for a second." Seb sniffed. "If we were bullied and humiliated for a stupid extra finger. If I was called a monster for a stupid blind eye that, thank the Axolotl, my children don't have...What do you think will happen to Zoe and Zu if people knew what they could do?! This is not something you can freely show, Ford! But I also don't want them to think their powers are bad or something wrong that needs fixing! So I just… need them to hide it. Because that's just how it is!" Seb wiped his tears. God, and this all started because of the stupid puppy acorn.

"If I had my powers growing up I would have been killed." Seb muttered darkly.

"That's not true." Ford tried to protest.

"The government wanted to cut me open when they caught me!" Seb cried. Ford flinched. Yeah...he...forgot about that.

"Ok. Fine. You want to keep your children's powers a secret. I...understand." Ford couldn't help but think that if he'd been able to publish his paper about his universal theory of weirdness properly- If the government hadn't decided to hush it all up and even bribe him with a HELL of a lot of money to keep quiet about a majority of it (all the 'magic' was taken out and it was simply written as mutations from the government chemical dumping site causing very unique new species to be created), that the paranormal world would have been seen as 'normal' by now. Seb was going to say more but the kids came back out. "Daddy. Can we have food now?" Zu asked. "There's some chips we can pour out right now. The other guests should be arriving soon." Seb smiled at them.

"DONE! Yes! All the Starters for 7 generations! Woo!" Xin's shout was triumphant. "Even made 5 Pikachu's for fun!" The Pines laughed at the happy scream from the 'dragon'. "You can eat, but not too much. Or else you'll be too full to eat the rest of the food." Seb told the twins after thinking about it. This was the same with Mabel when they were kids. "Haha!" The twins laughed teasingly. "Bol' of you to as-soom we can get full!" They ran away and Seb blinked. Where did they learn that expression?! It must have been Miz…

...now that he thought about it, the kids have also been saying things like "Big mood." and "Daddy is a Tsun-Tsun." Which were definitely things they learned from Miz. He sighed. He really was getting old. He didn't understand kids.

The triplets settled down in the yard, too lazy to go back inside, and just began talking about life. They had grown up, physically and mentally. The traumatic experience they shared (and the professional help they had received) made them reconsider lots of things and now they were best friends once again, just like Stanley wanted. Seb was so concentrated on trying to understand Ford's new research back in Gravity Falls that he didn't see the blur of pink before it was too late and it was over him.

"GRUNKLE SEB!" Mabel squealed. Seb fell over as she pulled the two of them to the ground. "Sh-Shooting Star?! When did you get here?!"

"Just now!" Mabel laughed as she got up and pulled her favorite uncle back to his feet. Seb frowned. "But I would have noticed you coming through the house...Xin would have announced you were here…" Mabel scoffed. "I didn't come through the house, silly! I jumped your fence." she grinned, her mouth braces free but with retainers.

Seb groaned. "What have I told you about climbing over my fence?"

Mabel made a funny face and spoke in a weird voice "Dur, Mabel you can't climb the fence dur hur, you might break it." Seb rolled his eye as Ford was muffling his laughter behind a hand. Really, no respect these days. "Hi Grunkle Ford!" Mabel waved at Ford while draping herself over Seb's shoulders.

"Hello, Mabel." Ford said calmly, the slight twitch of his mouth giving away his mirth. Seb looked around. "Where's your brother?"

"Ah, Dip-Dop and Dad are at the front door like losers~" Mabel snorted. Speaking of which, back inside the house, Xin heard the doorbell ring. "Coming!" He called out as he made sure all signs of his powers were hidden. He opened the door with a cheerful "Good morning~"

"-Told her millions of times she shouldn't- Oh. Wow, I didn't know Sebas had a butler." Shermie blinked in surprise at the attractive man who opened the door. Xin grinned at them. "You must be Black Belt and Pinetree! Come on in. The main party is happening in the backyard, I was just about to set the cupcakes out." The two men thanked Xin and stepped inside. They knew their way through Seb's house. They always divided holidays between them. The best were at Ford's of course (because everyone loved being in Gravity Falls)! Xin gave Dipper an admiring look as he walked past. "Dang those Pines genes. He really IS as cute as the other one…" Xin mumbled.

When Dipper and his Dad got to the yard, they saw Mabel thrown over Ford as she talked about a cute co-worker in the place she worked in. "-and we even talked and he didn't run away!"

"Yup. She climbed over the fence." Dipper nodded to his Dad. "SHERMIE!" Seb laughed and stood up to hug his little brother. Little brother who was almost as tall as the Stans but little brother nonetheless. "Pinetree!" Seb squealed. "Why are you so damn tall, kid?! Who gave you the right?! When did you grow up?" Seb dramatically put a hand on his forehead. "I still remember your prepubescent voice daydreaming about Red…" He loved bringing that up.

Dipper pushed his uncle away with his face crimson red as everyone laughed at him. "Shut up, man!" He growled but ended up laughing. He had gotten over Wendy ages ago… But people still liked to tease. He rolled his eyes.

"Who wants cupcakes~" Xin sang as he came outside with a tray in his hands. He was rocking his wide hips side to side as he practically danced out of the kitchen. His long braid bounced with his movements. "Guys, this is Xin. He's an old friend of mine who's helping me with the twins' party." Seb introduced him with a proud smile. "Oh. Not a butler?" Shermie nodded, embarrassed. Seb laughed. "I have no idea why he's dressed like that, to be honest."

"It's because I figured a maid outfit would be frowned upon." Xin pouted. "A shame really. I have the hips for it…" he placed the tray of cupcakes on a table and wiggled said hips, to the embarrassment of the other men in the yard. He really did have nice hips. Mabel gasped at the young man. He was so handsome...no cute boy at work was like him! Nor would any of them want to wear a maid outfit. A shame really, like Xin said, Mabel thought it would look AMAZING.

"Where's Abigail?" Stanford asked. "She had an emergency at the hospital and needed to stay behind." Shermie said. "Speaking of which...where's Wanda?" Seb smiled sheepishly. She was always working. Wanda once said she wished she could work from home like Seb did. "Working...but she is coming for the party." He nodded. Dipper frowned as he looked around. "And where are Zoe and Zully anyway? Like, this is their party? They should be out-"

"RAWR!" said twins suddenly leaped out from under the table to tackle Dipper's legs. They then pretend to eat him. "Om nom nom!" Mabel immediately took out her phone to record the adorableness for posterity as the adults laughed. "Help! Two monsters caught me!" Dipper dramatically fell to the floor as his little cousins 'ate' him. "Father! Help me!" He extended a hand towards Shermie but the green-eyed man was too busy laughing.

"Muwahaha! No one can save you now!" Zu cackled. "I'm sorry, son...they are too strong for me to fight off!" Shermie apologized.

"Your liver shall be OURS!" Zoe squealed as she began pinching Dipper's sides. He laughed, his ticklishness making him spasm on the ground. "Hahaha! Wa-wait! Ahaha! Stop it! That's cheating!" Dipper laughed. "I can't breathe!" He wheezed. "Yeah! Ash-fix-a-tion!" The twins cheered. Xin giggled. "It's asphyxiation." He corrected. "Get your horrid bodily traumas right."

"Xin ...please don't teach my children about bodily traumas." Seb deadpanned as he rubbed his face. It was only okay when HE did that. Xin scoffed. "They need to learn someday, why not start early? You know, I taught my kids how to skin their kills when they were only 12."

"Well...that's creepy as hell…So I will just erase it from my mind…" Shermie nodded and looked at his daughter who was already uploading her video to her social media with lots of hearts and happy faces. "Mabel, sweetie. Don't jump the fence next time."

"Ok, ok…" She puffed her cheeks. When it was done, she looked up. "When is Uncle Stan coming?!"

"Wait. You have kids?!" Dipper was asking Xin once he finally got off the ground, the twins having run off to grab a cupcake. He looked a bit young to have kids at least aged 12 (since his statement implied they were older than that now). Well, his parents had them young, so maybe it was like that? But Xin looked like he was in his mid twenties? Maaaybe late twenties? It was hard to tell with Asians.

Xin shrugged. "I had several kids." He grinned "Adopted them mostly." Ford was still staring at Xin. Why did he feel so familiar? Also, it seemed everyone else had missed the man's use of the word "Had" but Ford, who paid careful attention to wording nowadays (even if he still didn't always understand what they meant), didn't. It was bothering him so much! He wanted to ask! The man even said he knew him but for the life of him, Ford didn't remember ever meeting this man!

Mabel and Dipper gave each one of the younger twins a present. Mabel gave hers to Zu because he was the oldest, and Dipper gave his to Zoe. The twins wanted to open them right there, but Xin said it was even better when they had a pile of them so they just put them in a special area for presents. "Kids, what do you say to Uncle Shermie?" Seb asked and the twins hugged their green-eyed uncle "Thank you, Uncle Shermie!"

The guests slowly started coming. A few parents and their kids arrived to begin running around the backyard, so the older twins, feeling really out of place in a kid party, just sat aside with their phones and earbuds, much to Shermie's annoyance. Xin answered the door and even took some of the guest's jackets, having too much fun playing the part of a butler.

Wanda finally arrived in a panic, kind of disheveled from her rush, but she had managed to escape work! Woo! She kissed Seb and then, greeted her husband's family with a surprised smile. She paused when she saw Xin. "When did we get a butler?" Xin groaned. "Seriously Flower Crown? You too? You'd think a lawyer like you would be able to put two and two together…" Really, asian girl, asian man, and they looked pretty similar to each other too!

"...Miz?!" Wanda gasped. "How did you...why are you…" her mouth moved but no sound came out. "You're a man now?" She said at last. Xin whined. "Why does everyone make such a big deal about me being male now?"

"Wait...you're...not a guy?" Mabel looked confused. Xin gave her a smirk. "Oh I am 100% male right now. If you want proof I can-"

"NOPE!" Seb slapped a hand over Xin's mouth. "We are ending this discussion right NOW!" The teenage girl blushed a bit and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Damn. That smirk…

Shermie looked mildly offended that Xin would so openly flirt with his daughter right in front of him (though Xin hadn't realized this was considered flirting, having just been joking around) but was also confused. From what Wanda said, it sounded like Xin had once been female...and now Shermie was confused. "I don't get it…" Shermie sighed. Wanda groaned before motioning the family closer. "Well, when I left for work this morning, Miz or...I guess he's called Xin now, was a 12 year old girl…" Everyone gasped and Seb decided he didn't want to deal with this right now. "I'll go greet the kids' parents…" He informed them all before walking off. Why were humans so hung up on male or female anyway?

"How is that even possible?" Dipper asked and Wanda smiled excitedly. "Miz, Xin is a dragon!" She whispered, but the kids were laughing and shouting so loud it wasn't actually necessary. "So I'm just assuming this is some type of dragon magic." The Pines family looked over at Xin walking around the yard, serving food to the other parents. "It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Green. Shame your husband couldn't make it. Would you like a mini-sandwich?"

"Oh thank you very much, sir. I wasn't aware the Pines family had a butler." The woman laughed lightly. Xin grinned charmingly, making the woman swoon slightly. "Oh I'm actually a family friend. I just really like the outfit." The two chatted in a lighthearted way but Seb, who was greeting Mr. Stromboli, easily picked out how Xin was secretly drilling the woman for information. He sighed. Of course.

After Wanda finished gossiping to the family, Dipper had that same curious look as Stanford. A dragon! His Uncle was friends with a freaking dragon, that was amazing! He had went through a phase of being obsessed with dragons as a young teen (like some alternative version of Mabel's obsession with Unicorns). Getting to talk to Xin would be so amazing! Meanwhile, Mabel didn't care if he was a girl that morning. People sometimes changed genders (that was perfectly fine with her!) and he looked too handsome for her to ignore right now! Ah! Hormones!

As one, but with different intentions in mind, the mystery twins both went up to Xin as he headed back to the kitchen with his now empty snack tray. Xin was humming to himself as he piled more sandwiches onto the tray. Hm. They were going to need more soon. He wondered if he could get away with 'magically' duplicating the ones they had left? He sensed only Shooting Star and Pinetree nearby so he shrugged and went for it, copy pasting the sandwiches a couple times to refill the tray (not like the humans would be able to tell if something had an identical molecular makeup, right?).

He also made a pile all for himself, he was hungry and these were roast beef! (He'd learned of a way to 'cheat' the system to make food and then eat said food in a way that used less energy making the food while receiving more energy than he spent making them when he ate them. It involved setting some of the atoms to 'auto-click' together based on the guidelines of the blueprint so he wouldn't have to spend energy on those parts. Then he simply used dust and other useless or unwanted substances as the base mass to be torn apart and restructured into the new object! Easy! And there was no grossness involved, since the literal molecular make up was being altered.) "Wow…" The twins gasped. "Hey...you're really good with magic!" Mabel smiled at Xin, feeling her face heat up when he turned to look at them.

"Hey kids!" Xin smiled and moaned when he bit into a sandwich. Delicious...aw man he loved Earth food. He shoved another sandwich whole into his mouth, letting out another pleased sound. Miz's form did much the same when eating food she thought was delicious, but she let out cute squeaky hums instead of deep moans like Xin. Jan's form hummed a melody when he got food he liked, his triangle form made a rumbling sound, and William's form let out a squealing sound. It was simply how those vessels ended up expressing themselves.

"Hi! Can I ask you like, a million questions about dragons? It's...for homework." Dipper grinned and pulled out his phone to write there. Why didn't he bring his notebook?!

"Um, shouldn't you two be outside at your little cousins' birthday party?" Xin asked with a raised eyebrow. His next sandwich was eaten a little slower, small bites as he had to keep his mouth empty enough to speak to them. He licked some mayo off one of his slender fingers.

Mabel was staring at Xin's mouth as his tongue lapped up the white sauce. He finished the sandwich and reached for another. She wanted to say something but was too mesmerized by the way he began sucking on one of his fingers when the juices from his sandwich dribbled down his hands. She held back a nervous giggle as he pulled his now clean finger from his mouth with a wet pop.

Dipper hadn't noticed. "Well they're children and I love my cousins but they're too much for me sometimes." They played rough, well, Zoe did. And Zully would follow their sister's lead. He tapped his phone. "So...ah, what kind of dragon are you? That's not a racist thing to ask right?" Xin laughed. "Naw. It's fine. I'm an Eastern dragon, obviously. I'm specifically, a cosmic dragon." He picked up another sandwich between his fingers, the bread was fresh, he'd magicked them up himself, the sandwich was filled with slices of roast beef, lettuce, tomato and mayo. Each sandwich nearly bursting with filling, the roast beef a lovely shade of brownish-pink, cooked and cooled to perfection.

He lifted the snack to his lips and bit down, teeth pressing through the crisp lettuce and sliced tomatos, juices flowing out as he tore off a piece of the sandwich and chewed. The tomato juice soaked into the bread and mixed with the mayo slathered on each lightly toasted slice...

In her 18 years of life, Mabel had never seen someone eat a sandwich in such a hot way...

"Alright, next question, um, how big is your actual form?" Dipper asked, completely oblivious. Mabel made a choking sound. Xin hummed as he chewed on the piece in his mouth. He swallowed, a faint Adam's apple bobbing along his throat. "Well, do you mean big as in how long I am or…?" Mabel made a strangled sound. She thought something she shouldn't have! Stupid Lizzy giving her these ideas! (Lizzy was the type of friend who emailed you the links to the steamiest fanfiction or fanart she found and then laughed at you for sinning as you read it and couldn't look away!) "Length and your height please." Dipper typed into his phone. Eastern dragon, meaning there are a western variety as well. Cosmic as in… what exactly? Xin shrugged. He'd only taken full dragon form a couple of times. "Well my female form is as long as a School bus and around as tall as I am now at the shoulder… but my male form is much larger. And I can grow as well-"

"Bwah!" Mabel blurt out before covering her mouth. The two men looked at her but she laughed totally not suspiciously. "I just thought of a joke that one of my friends told me the other day." She quickly made up. The two shrugged and went back to their own conversation. "So you get larger? What do you mean by that? What triggers it?" Dipper typed down.

Xin held up a finger to indicate for Dipper to wait. He ate the other half of the sandwich and moaned again as he chewed on it. Some more tomato juice happened to leak down his fingers and Xin brought his hand up to lick along his palm. Long, firm strokes with his tongue following the trail of liquid that gravity pulled down his hand. He smacked his lips, sucking on each of his fingers for the faint traces of mayo on them.

"Well…" Xin answered as he pulled another finger out of his mouth with a soft sound. "...I've got shapeshifting powers that react to my mood. So if I'm angry or get excited I can grow up to three times my usual size." Mabel managed to clap her hands over her mouth this time. An internal squeal ringing out in her head. "Fascinating." Dipper, still completely oblivious, wondered what else to ask. "Do you shoot fire like a western dragon or do you shoot some other substance?"

"Aughhh!" Mabel shrieked. "There's no way you're not doing this on purpose!" She slapped the phone from Dipper's hand. "You're not allowed anymore questions, mister!"

"Mabel, what the heck?!" Dipper cried as he knelt to get his, thankfully, unbroken phone. Mabel huffed. "So hi! I'm Mabel!" She said (only partially hysterically). "So dragon huh? Having met unicorns who were nothing like what the storybooks say, are there any glaring misconceptions about dragons you'd like to clear up?"

"Well I haven't really met a western dragon in person to say for sure but I have it on good authority that they don't kidnap princesses. They DO however kidnap princes."

"Gasp! Really? Why?" Mabel asked. Xin rolled his eyes. "Because princesses are way more difficult to kidnap. Plus they make awful prisoners. And the only reason they even kidnap royal children is to ransom them for gold so taking the heir is more valuable than the political marriage tool." Xin wasn't even lying, he'd flickered through plenty of information about other dragons. "That…" Mabel paused. "...is much more pragmatic than I thought…"

"So, do Eastern dragons have any cliches that are inaccurate to real life?" Dipper asked. Xin grinned "We're not ACTUALLY rivers. Love the movie, but it's inaccurate. We can claim areas of land as our territory though."

"Ooh~" the twins both said.

The teens listened to Xin speak with different expressions on their faces and different intentions on their minds. Dipper was loving the new knowledge he could brag to Uncle Ford about, and Mabel really, really wanted to kiss this guy. (Once again, damn horny thoughts!) Was her flirting technique defective on older young men too? She pouted.

Meanwhile, Seb and Wanda were happily talking and thanking the parents for coming and bringing their kids, it meant a lot for Zoe and Zu. The twins were happy with their friends (and the presents they got) so they couldn't be happier.

"Oh, but we all know my little Amanda is the best friend of the twins!" Carol bragged as her husband nodded, just happy that Amanda was happy. He liked the twins, they always made Amanda smile. (He knew his wife was quite overbearing and had frightened away most of Amanda's other friends, so it was nice to see that Amanda finally had people who were willing to stay.) The guests nodded slowly as Seb and Wanda's grins turned tense.

"I've always said your girls are lovely!" the woman said with a smile, "It's really brave you have been letting Zully dress up like a boy. It seems to be a fashion these days."

Wanda looked at Seb for help, the lawyer was unable to reply to that, and the brunet hardened his look. "Zu says they feel happy with those clothes so we will let them decide however they want to dress. Whether that is in 'boy' clothes or 'girl' clothes, that's fine for us too. I don't think it matters how the kids are dressed as long as they're happy." He said aloud. (And not fucked up, he thought in his head) Some parents kind of agreed (one of them had actually seen Seb's fashion show and thought it was very progressive of him) and Carol nodded. "Ah well, as long as she isn't going to be a tranny or something like that, I guess it's fine…"

Seb felt his hands burning, itching to burn the transphobic woman to ashes. Wanda noticed his expression. "Ah, Seb, why don't you go inside to get some more drinks for everyone?" Seb nodded stiffly before turning to walk away, muttering under his breath as soon as he was out of earshot about dumb parents and their prejudices. Zully said sh-he wanted to be a boy, Seb was fine with that. But he didn't want to out his son in front of CAROL of all people.

Circles, he hated that woman.

He walked into the kitchen to see Xin chatting with Dipper and Mabel. Xin looked up with a smile but noticed Seb's mood immediately. "Oh. Is there someone at the party I need to set on fire?" He grumbled. The twins both looked up and saw their upset uncle. "Grunkle Seb? What's wrong?" Mabel asked. Seb grabbed a sandwich and chewed on it angrily. "Dumb people piss me off." That woman tried to insult his baby using slurs to insult transgender people at the same time… he should have stopped her! But Seb didn't want to start an argument during his baby's birthday party.

Seb knew about the idea of transgender people now (he did some research), he also remembered how Linda had asked him if maybe he wanted to be female once. And, well, Seb wasn't sure. He didn't care one way or another if he was male or female, but if… if Zully was trans, well, Seb was going to accept it with open arms and be fucking proud of his baby for it!

"You should have gone to my school." Dipper joked. "You'd die from frustration there at all the dumb people." Mabel hugged her not-blond-anymore uncle. "It's ok, Uncle Sebas, you're with us! Your incredible and favorite niblings!" Xin had his eyes closed, which Seb had learned over these past few weeks was how Miz hid the way she flickered for information. Xin opened his eyes with a frown. "Oh…"

Seb hugged his niece, oh how he missed it when they were small, and ruffled her curls. "Thanks, Shooting Star…"

"Ah! Uncle Seb, you know how long I spent fixing my hair?" She pouted. "Like, a minute." Dipper grinned teasingly. "You woke up like that, liar." Mabel grinned and flipped her brother off which made him laugh easily. Seb pouted at their behaviour. They were babies. They shouldn't do that… okay fine, they were 18 but STILL.

The doorbell rang and Mabel looked at Xin with a smile. "I'll get it!" she offered. "It's probably uncle Stan!" she went off but noticed Xin was coming with her. "Um…" she blushed at how close he was. "I haven't seen Stan in ages~I wonder if he would recognize me? Ford sure didn't…" Xin laughed. "Wait, you knew them?" Mabel looked surprised "But why didn't they tell us about it? There's no way Uncle Stan would hide the fact that he knew a dragon!"

"Because your uncles are ungrateful idiots who never talked about me to the rest of you." Xin rolled his eyes. "Also, I wasn't a dragon back then..." Xin tutted as Mabel opened the door. "What do you mean by 'not a dragon'?" Mabel didn't know how someone could just not be what species they were.

"Exactly what that sounds like-hello fish face! Long time no see!" Xin greeted Stan at the door. He was standing next to Carla and Dillon, while carrying Diego on his shoulders. The man looked like he wasn't sure if he was being insulted or not. "Uh...do I know you?" Xin grinned at him. "I know it's been over 18 years on your side but how could you have forgotten about MY delightful self?" He made a gesture at his hips, "Maybe if I was in a maid uniform…"

Stan was a bit confused until suddenly it somehow clicked. "HOLY CRAP!" Stan shouted, startling his family and niece before he started to laugh loudly. Stan picked up on the reference and put it together within a few seconds, Xin enjoyed how quick he was on the uptake. Ford still hadn't figured it out yet. "William?! What the heck are you doing here?!" He laughed. He placed his little son on the floor and opened his arms for a hug. Diego gasped when he saw Mabel and tried to hide but the teen was already squealing and picking him up. "Let go!" Diego whined as he thrashed and tried to escape.

"I got my dimension door working and thought I'd drop by for a visit." Xin laughed as he hugged Stan, nuzzling into his chest. "Though I'm going by the name of Xin right now. Or Miz when I'm female."

"Yeah, how...did you get that body? You didn't possess anyone right?" Stan knew that was how their Bill Cipher got a human form. Xin laughed "Of course not! I created this body from scratch." Everyone else was completely lost. "I am so confused right now…" Dillon sighed and pulled on his headphones. Well, it didn't sound too important. Stan laughed and pulled the teen's headphones back down to his neck. "This is an old friend. He helped me and Sixer way back when. In fact we wouldn't have survived when we fell through the portal if he hadn't taken us in and gave us supplies." Carla smiled at the man. He helped her Stanley when they were lost on the other side of the portal?

"It's 'Sixer and I', Dad. Language." Dillon teasingly corrected his Father who shut him up with a "Don't 'Ford' me, kid."

"Mommy, Mabel is crushing me! I'm dying!" Diego shrieked. Mabel hugged him even tighter. He was a mini version of her uncle and he was too adorable! Stan grinned at William, wait no, he was going by Xin now. "So...ah...not to sound racist but why are you Chinese?" Xin burst out laughing. "I identify as Chinese. Though I can change whatever I look like." He shrugged. "Being a shapeshifter has its perks." Mabel waved her arms "Ok, Xin's not human, that's fine, I already knew that he was a dragon, but I am still kind of lost as to how you two met…" She said as she carried her little cousin.

"Dragon?" Stan looked at Xin with a raised eyebrow. Xin shrugged. "I shapeshift on a genetic level. I am currently 100% genuine dragon."

"Oh. Neat." Was all Stan had to say about it. "So I'm guessing Sixer still hasn't figured it out?"

"Nope. Been dropping hints and everything. Ugh, someone that smart has no right being so dumb." Xin huffed with his arms folded.

"Ford is a fuckin' idiot…" Stan laughed but Carla smacked his shoulder playfully. "Don't curse with Diego right there." Stan rubbed his muscled arm and turned to look at Mabel. "Can I get a hug, pumpkin? Sorry for ignoring you. Got distracted with Xin here."

Mabel let Diego go and threw herself over her uncle. "Hi! It's ok!" She hugged every one of them, wanting to give Diego another hug but the boy whined and tried to kick her in the shins. Carla and the others entered the house as Xin directed them to the backyard where the party was happening. "I made cupcakes. Hopefully there are still some left." Xin told them. Diego ran off immediately because CUPCAKES while Dillon chased after his brother. The kid broke everything he touched...

Stan and his wife strode towards the side of the yard where his family was talking. Seb and Dipper had returned and Seb had his head on Ford's lap as he complained about awful people who needed to get their shit together. Ford patted his head. They needed FACTS and SCIENCE. Not dumb fake, made up ideas to justify their hate.

"The party starts now!" Stan announced. "For it is I, the ALPHA triplet!" he posed dramatically. The Pines brothers shared a look. "Excuse me, who are you?" Shermie asked. Dipper and Mabel, who came with Stan, laughed at the pout on Stan's face. The brothers acted so much like kids sometimes. "Oh come on!" Stan complained. "I'll go find my niblings. I am sure they'll appreciate me!" He made a weird face as he stuck his tongue out. Shermie, Seb and Ford laughed loudly.

"Who wants more sandwiches?" Xin sang as he came out with a fresh tray. "Xin, you don't need to do this." Seb told him. "You know you can just come sit with us, right?" He didn't want to take advantage of his friend. Xin scoffed. "It's fine. It doesn't bother me. Besides, this way I get to talk to everyone." He grinned at Ford. "Hey Fordsie~would you like one of my yummy treats?"

"Eh...Sure." The man grabbed a sandwich and nodded. "Thanks." He said, weirded out from being called Fordsie by a stranger. Xin pouted when the man was too oblivious to be flustered (teasing wasn't the same as flirting, Xin just enjoyed getting a rise out of people), ruined his fun, and walked off to serve the other guests. Stan sat down next to him, tired of his oblivious brother and smacked him lightly. "That's William, poindexter! You know? Portal? You kicking sand in his eye?"

Ford's eyes went wide. "What?! No, but he?! She?! But...how? And...he's? She's? Ngh?!" He sputtered intelligently. Seb laughed. "Miz likes to shapeshift. And apparently chose a different name for each form...and species."

Dillon, after looking for the twins and leaving Diego with them to play, sat down next to his cousins, incredibly glad they were his age and he wasn't the only teen around toddlers. "So...this have anything to do with your summer in Gravity Falls or…?" Mabel was frowning as she watched Xin walk around. "I think it does but I don't know what it's about."

Dipper frowned as well "I guess our uncles didn't tell us everything…"

"Urgh! Dumb old men and their secrets!" Mabel groaned. "I thought we talked about this!" She complained. "How's Waddles by the way?" Dillon sat cross-legged on the chair and Mabel smiled sadly. "My baby boy is not a baby anymore…" She sighed. "We are so fucking lucky Waddles was a small pig and didn't grow up much. Mom would have gone crazy." Dipper laughed. His phone buzzed with a message and he opened the chat. He grinned down at his phone.

"Oohh! Who wrote to you?!" Mabel asked loudly. "Is it PACIFICA?! YOUR GIRLFRIEND?!"

"Shut up!" Dipper hissed and put a hand over his twin's face. "I don't want our uncles hearing and bothering me!" he smiled despite his annoyance "Besides, she just says she wishes Zoe and Zully a happy birthday!" Mabel escaped the grip with a whine and looked at Dillon. The two grinned conspiringly and began teasing Dipper. "So~how're things going with you two anyway?"

"Any dates? Any kisses?" Dillon gasped "Or...have you...HELD HANDS!"

"Gasp! The indecency!" Mabel had a hand to her head and dramatically fell back into the grass.

Dipper deadpanned. "You both suck. You know we've already been together for a while!" They laughed and rolled around in the grass. Hoping to change the subject, Dipper teased back "How about you Mabel? At least I HAVE a girlfriend."

"Psh~the boys just can't handle me. I'm too good for them~" Mabel scoffed. Dipper raised an eyebrow "Is that why your last boyfriend ran away screaming when he saw you in the hallway?"

"Oh Frank is such a sensitive one." Mabel sighed. "I just need to find someone worthy of basking in my full glory!" The two teenage boys laughed loudly. Mabel was a special one indeed. Dillon felt like he should update them on his own status. "Well, me and Phillip have finally met each other's parents..."

Mabel squealed "Details! Now!" Dillon had told her that he started dating someone, but she hadn't been able to get much out of him about this cute redhead boyfriend.

"His folks are nice and they approve of me. And Mom and Dad seem to like his parents too, so at least that wouldn't be an issue. Which is great. I really like Phillip. He's so sweet, and he has a great ass." The twins laughed. Xin bustled past them to head back to the kitchen for more food while both Mabel and Dillon took that time to watch him go. "Speaking of great ass…" Dillon grinned. "I know right?!" Mabel squealed, glad someone else noticed and she could talk with them about it.

"Can we just, not talk about guy's butts?!" Dipper complained. "Sure. Tell us about Pacifica's butt if you want." Mabel teased and Dipper groaned loudly. "You guys seriously are the worst!"

The younger pair of twins and Diego approached their family with huge grins. "Hi Uncle Stan! Hi Aunt Carla! Diego says you brought us presents."

"Kids!" Wanda scolded. Seb laughed "It's their birthday, let them have their fun." She sighed. "Sorry about this, Carla." The other woman scoffed. "It's fine. Kids will be kids." She knelt down to ruffle their hair. "We have your presents right...here." she pulled out two boxes. The twins squealed and took them "Thank you, aunt Carla!" they squealed before running off to put the presents in the gift area.

Xin was back out with more food. Wanda frowned. "I'm sure we don't have that much food in the house." Sebastian laughed "He's probably magicking them up by this point." he glanced at Ford who was still staring at the dragon in shock. "T-that's William? How? Why? Ngh?!" Seb and Stan rolled their collective eyes. Looks like the idiot was still processing. Xin came over to them with the tray, he had different types of sandwiches each time. "Food! Eat! Fatten up!" he grinned.

"You want to eat us, huh?" Seb commented as he grabbed a chocolate. Chocolate sandwich, how did Xin even pull that off? "Of course! Right now you're too thin. Barely a snack!" Xin joked. "I'll go offer the other parents more food too." he absently bent down to pick up a fallen plastic cup and didn't notice multiple eyes staring at his butt as he did so. "We need more trash cans out here." Xin complained.

Mabel and Dillon watched him go and moaned, leaning against each other. Mabel rolled her head along her cousin's shoulder. She loved having a gay cousin she could talk about boys with. Dipper was a dumb dumb and never wanted to. "Man, I hate to see him go but I love watching him walk away~" Mabel said. Dillon sighed. "Have you tried asking if he's single? For you, I mean!" He was already dating someone after all.

"He said he has kids." Mabel sighed. "That doesn't mean anything." Dillon pointed out. "He didn't say he was with anyone right?" He didn't see a ring either, though that didn't mean anything. "But I can't think of anything charming and witty to say when all I can think of is pinning him down and having my way with him~" Mabel whined.

Dipper blinked. "I am still here...You know what, I think I'll hang out with the kids. They don't think about disgusting stuff like you." He was about to leave but it seemed the kids were already here. "Uncle Ford pinned him down this morning." Zu chirped as he popped up suddenly from behind them. The teens startled and looked back at the blond birthday kid.

"Uncle Ford?!" Dillon cried. "OUR Uncle Ford?!" Zu licked his lollipop and nodded with a huge smile, showing off his fangs. "Yup! Xin was happy about it for some reason. I know, because he was smiling." The kid said innocently. The three teenagers blushed profusely. "O-oh.. I didn't realize uncle Ford was…" Dipper looked like his entire worldview had been shattered. "Wait, they were doing this where the kids could see?!" Dillon gasped.

"Um, baby. What else did you see?" Mabel asked and Zully hummed in thought. "Well, uncle Ford pulled Xin to the ground and laid on top of him, holding his arms down and Xin was making weird sounds…" The teens gaped. "Oh! I even heard Xin say 'Harder!' but it looked painful to be held down like that...I'm gonna play with my friends now! See ya later!" Zu skipped away happily and the teens stayed there frozen.

Finally Mabel asked "So...does this mean Xin's gay and I don't have a chance or?"

"Aaauuugghh!" Dipper screamed into his hands. "I won't be able to look at him without imagining that now!"

"I just can't believe they did this in front of the children. That's irresponsible." Dillon shook his head. "Yeah! At least go to a room or a bathroom! Like Tiffany did with that football player during senior year!" Mabel huffed. She looked at Ford who was talking to his brothers. "I never thought Uncle Ford would do that, to be honest." she pouted. Wasn't he asexual? Well, technically , being Ace had nothing to do with being capable of sexual stimulation- but Mabel didn't realize her uncle was into that sort of thing. He seemed utterly unmoved by all the women Mabel threw his way. Oh. Maybe he preferred men? Hmmmmm...

"I guess now we know why he never showed any interest in anyone. His heart was set on the sexy dragon he met on the other side of the portal. He must have thought he'd never see him again and was so happy to finally be with him again that he pinned him down..." Mabel sighed, once again, something came up to take the sexy men away from her. And she couldn't even get mad this time.

Dipper frowned. "If they met on the other side of the portal, how did Xin get here? Also, they mentioned that Uncle Ford actually didn't recognize him at first...so why would he still do such a thing with a stranger?"

"This looks like a job for the Mystery Twins!" Mabel declared. "Or~ we could just ask Uncle Ford what happened." Dillon rolled his eyes. Mabel pouted. "Aw~ruin my fun…"

"Well, solving this mystery actually sounds way more fun that just asking Uncle Ford." Dillon pointed out. "My phone is almost dead anyway. Can I join the mystery twins mission?" The teenage boy asked. "Of course!" Mabel grinned. "Our honorary triplet!" The boys chuckled. Dillon was only one month older after all! "Alright, mystery triplets. We'll solve the mystery of why Uncle Ford has been in the closet for so long and why he didn't remember Xin." Mabel grinned. "Actually, does it still count as a closet if we already know he's Ace? Er… why Ford had been hiding the fact that he DOES like someone?" She tried instead. "It doesn't roll off the tongue as well."

"And how exactly is he here if he's from another dimension." Dipper said, "And how does Uncle Seb even know him?" Dillon added. "And whether or not Uncle Ford had actually met Xin while he was a girl...which...actually has some unfortunate implications...wasn't Xin's other form a 12 year old girl?" Mabel frowned. "But that CAN'T have been how he met him. Uncle Stan recognized Xin but he called him William…"

"So Xin has more forms he can take...and apparently uses a different name for each one…" Dipper tapped his chin. "That's so confusing." He pulled at his hair in frustration.

"But William is a guy's name, so Xin must have been a guy when Uncle Ford first met him." Dillon pointed out. "So uncle Ford really does prefer men! That's one mystery solved!" Mabel threw her fist in the air. "Now we just need to figure out why Uncle Ford would f-fu-ravish Xin when they met…" Dipper stuttered. He was blushing hard.

The cousins hummed. "Well, wouldn't you?" Dillon ended up saying after a while. Mabel gave him a high five and Dipper blushed a bit more. "Stop." He whined. He didn't know if his sister and Dillon had done that with their partners already but he wasn't eager to know. "Maybe we should find Zoe to hear her testimony. We had Zully's." Mabel suggested. Dillon nodded. "Good idea."

The teenagers got up to find the birthday girl. She was sneaking another cupcake from the much dwindled pile. "Hey Zoe!" Mabel greeted. The girl gave them a wide grin, face covered in frosting. "Hi Mabel! Dillon, loser!" She happily greeted Dipper. The boy scowled, hating to be bullied by a toddler. Zoe had been teasing and bullying him ever since she was a baby! Mabel said it was because Zoe had a baby-crush on him. Dipper didn't know what the heck that meant until Mabel told him it was like when the 5 year old Wendy thought he was cute.

It made him feel proud, and very awkward. And still very annoyed that Zoe decided to show her love by bullying him. Mabel told him it was because Zoe wanted his attention, and that she'd probably grow out of it as she gets older. (Dear Journals, Dipper sure hoped so.)

"So we just have something we want to ask." Dipper began. "Can you tell us what happened this morning when uncle Ford met Xin?" Zoe blinked innocently and laughed. "It was really funny." She said. "Me and Zully came in to see Xin hugging uncle Ford. He looked really happy but we didn't actually reck-on-nice him because Xin used to be Miz and she was a girl but then Uncle Ford grabbed Xin's arms, pushed him into the ground and Xin made some funny sounds." The girl took another bite of the cupcake. "So daddy was in the shower and he forgot to tell us that Miz was a boy now and that's why we didn't reck-on-nice him. But we knew who he was when his tail and antlers came out."

"But what else did uncle Ford do? Was he JUST holding Xin down? Did he do anything else?" Dillon pressed. Zoe licked the frosting. "Well...he had his leg between Xin's. And he looked a little angry but Xin was making happy sounds so I don't know…" she shrugged and shoved the rest of the cupcake in her mouth, smearing frosting all over herself. "Do you want to come play with us?" Zoe asked her older cousins. "We are going to play Cops and Robbers."

"Uh~!" Mabel squealed. She wanted to play! The boys nudged her to bring her back to reality. "Right. The mission. Sorry, sweetie, but we can't right now. Maybe later, ok?" Zoe shrugged and ran off to play with her friends, but not before hugging Dipper to smear the frosting on his jacket. The curly haired teen screamed "ZOE!" as the toddler ran away laughing. This wasn't love! This was pure hate!

Dillon sighed in relief, ignoring Dipper's angry whining. "At least we know they weren't fucking…"

The twins sighed. "Ok. So. They didn't have sex, so maybe that means Xin isn't gay, right?" Mabel asked hopefully. "Focus, Mabel." Dipper scolded. "We still need to find out why and how the Stans met Xin."

"Well, Dad told me that when he was lost they met lots of aliens and people...some were bad and some helped them." Dillon said. "They met behind the portal. Which means Xin is from another dimension, which we already deduced." Dipper concluded. Mabel opened her mouth to sing the intro of one of her favorite cartoon but Dipper lifted a hand. "No. Not right now please."

She crossed her arms. "Killjoy."

Dillon grinned at his cousins. "Um, how can Xin be here now? They built another portal?"

"No way. Too dangerous. Besides, it sounds like Xin has been living with uncle Seb for a while now. There's no way we wouldn't have noticed another portal opening." Dipper wished he had a pen to chew on. "So perhaps Xin got here through some other means?" Dillon suggested. "Maybe there's more ways to travel through dimensions besides a portal?" The teens sat down to ponder. Mabel went to grab snacks and party favors from the table, receiving weird looks from the other parents went she took a silly hair band from the table. It was supposedly for the children.

The boys watched Mabel for a while before jumping at a sudden question from behind them. "What'cha doing?" Xin asked curiously. "I noticed you kids weren't really participating in the whole party experience."

"Eh…" Dipper smiled sheepishly, pushing Dillon away as the boy blushed and stuttered. "Well, I think we are a little too old to run around the yard...except probably Mabel." Xin chuckled. "What nonsense! You can still play! Just look at your Dad and Uncles!" They looked in their direction and saw Seb and Shermie arm wrestling. "You fucking cheater! Powers aren't allowed!" Shermie cried as Seb bent his arm. "SUFFER!"

"You see?!" Xin smiled and Dipper laughed. "We are thinking about something though, trying to solve a mystery."

"Oh! Well, I know you are awfully persistent Pinetree!" The man winked. "Just don't go around scaring people, I'll keep an Eye on you!" He waved and left. Dipper frowned at the familiar words and froze when he realized something. "Dipper?" Dillon poked his arm. Mabel came back with lots of slap bracelets and snacks to eat, sitting between her brother and cousin. "What's up, Dip Dop? You look weirder than usual."

"...you said Uncle Stan called him William right?"

"Um...Yup!" The girl bit the sandwich prepared by the handsome dragon. "...And Xin changes forms? And can create stuff?"

"Yes?"

Dipper paled. "Mabel...I-I don't think Xin is a dragon…"

"Well he said that he is currently, a dragon. I think he told uncle Stan something about creating a body from scratch?" Mabel shrugged, not really getting all that mystic mumble jumble stuff. "Mabel! I-I think Xin...Xin is Bill…" Dipper whispered. "Who?" Dillon asked. Mabel frowned. "Impossible! Uncle Seb erased him from his mind. And Uncle Ford even admitted Bill was really gone after going all cray-cray and getting his therapy to calm down and properly investigate."

"Well, not OUR Bill. But... another Bill! From another dimension. Like how uncle Seb was a Bill from another dimension."

"Another Bill?!" Dillon questioned but was still ignored. Mabel hummed, stroking her chin. "Could be! But why would a Bill be here at the twins' birthday party?"

"I think we should worry about his intentions. What if he's a Bad Bill?!" Dipper pulled at his hair before running his fingers through it, his birthmark showing through when he brushed his hair back. "Should we tell our Uncles?" Mabel suggested nervously. She thought the Bill drama was over! That isosceles jerk will never leave them alone will he?

"Guys!" Dillon groaned. "Whoever he is, he's been living with uncle Seb's family for a while now. Plus, he hasn't done anything wrong right? The twins like him a lot." Dillon pointed over to where Xin was being wrestled to the ground by the pack of toddlers.

"Curses! Children! My ONE weakness!" Xin cried dramatically.

The twins, already in mild paranoid mode, (developed after finally getting over the apocalypse they lived for an entire week), looked nervously at the toddlers tickling the man. "Ahahahaha! Body spasms!" Xin squealed.

Dillon could never understand what they went through, but maybe he could try to convince them to think rationally? "I'm sure uncle Seb would know if he was dangerous. I'm sure all our uncles would have noticed. Also, my dad is ok with him and dad's the best at this kind of thing." The teen said proudly. The twins hummed. "Well, Uncle Stan really IS the best reading people…" Mabel agreed. "Maybe he...he is a good Bill, like Uncle Seb."Dipper finally smiled nervously. "Yeah...that must be it."

"Good." Dillon nodded satisfied. It was a good thing he inherited his father's common sense, this family lacked this particular ability. "Now, can you explain to me more than just the basics? You've never really told me the full story on this."

"Ok, well you see...It was that summer we stayed with Uncle Seb in Gravity Falls, the summer Uncle Ford and Uncle Stan came back…" Dipper rubbed the back of his neck. "We didn't JUST find weird stuff that summer…"

"We stopped the Apocalypse!" Mabel announced. "Uncle Seb did...actually." Dipper added sheepishly. "But a lot of things happened. We've told you about Bill, right? The demon could shapeshift, turned himself into Soos once just to fool us. He was really dangerous and we still had nightmares for weeks afterwards."

"He also possessed Dipper. That created Bipper!" Mabel explained. Dipper groaned. "Do you HAVE to keep calling him that? It sounds like a ship name and it's creepy as fuck!"

"Pfft! That's utterly disgusting! Besides, if I shipped you with Bill it wouldn't be Bipper...it would be...Billdip!" Mabel exclaimed. "How does that sound, Dillon?"

"Eh...No comments." The older teen shook his head when he saw Dipper's murderous glare. "Ok, so a bad triangle."

"With one eye, a bowtie and a top hat! A fancy jerk." Mabel nodded. "Right...What does Uncle Seb have to do with him?" Dillon asked. The twins looked at each other. They weren't really sure how to put this. "Eh...Uncle Seb used to be Bill in a past life, but not OUR dimension's Bill. He was a Bill from another dimension where he was evil but then died and was reincarnated as a human here so he could learn the true meaning of love or something?"

Dillon blinked. "So that's the demon that Uncle Seb got his powers from- or rather, he has his powers because he… used to be that demon? ...But he isn't anymore?" He'd heard that uncle Seb was a demon in his past life or something, but the fact that he was apparently the same demon who had tormented everyone? Or an alternative version of him? Eh… weird.

"Uh huh…" Mabel bit her lip nervously. "Ok. I guess his powers come from his past life?" Dillon asked casually. "Yes…" Dipper frowned. "Aren't you...upset?"

Dillon popped a chocolate in his mouth. "Why should I care what or who my Uncle was before being my Uncle? I mean, Uncle Sebas was like, a father to me before my dad came back. He always helped me and showed me that he cares about me? What kind of stupid person would really care if he used to be a demon or not?"

Mabel and Dipper both looked away, ashamed. Even when they had spent nearly the whole summer with Sebastian having fun and being loved by him, the instant someone pointed at him and said "That man used to be a demon." they both began to doubt him. Dipper especially felt bad, since he had just blindly followed along with whatever the Author said, without fact checking or thinking for himself.

"Yeah. You guys were kinda dicks." They all jumped when Xin was once again behind them. "Ah! Don't do that!" Dipper gasped. "Do what?" Xin asked innocently. His hair and clothes were disheveled and Mabel silently cursed how it still made him look sexy. It's so not fair! He definitely created this body to be hot on purpose! And that butler uniform just made everything worse!

"That! Like, come out of the blue and scare us!" Dipper pouted. "But scaring people is so much fun~" Xin giggled, wiggling his hips unconsciously. "So what're you kids up to besides talking about me?" He grinned. The cousins all gaped and blushed a bit. "You knew we were talking about you…?" Dipper asked, embarrassed to be caught out like that. "I know LOTS of things. Especially if they're about me." Xin sat down next to them. "How can I help?" he wiggled his butt and sighed. "It's so uncomfortable NOT having a tail while I'm in this form…" he grimaced.

"So...are you Bill Cipher?" Mabel asked bluntly. Xin laughed. "I haven't exactly been hiding that. Anyone who's met ANY version of Bill would be able to tell." He pouted "Anyone except Ford apparently. Ugh… the most blind…"

"Woah...so, you really are a demon…" Dillon ran a hand through his dark brown hair. "Do you also look like…a fancy jerk?" He asked with a sheepish grin. "I like to think I do! The fancy part, not the jerk part." Xin grinned. "Though to be fair, you don't really have a lot of accessory options when your whole body is a triangle. Believe me I tried." He DID manage to get the maid outfits to work, through sheer force of will.

"Why are you living with Uncle Seb?" Mabel asked. "Shouldn't the universe explode or something?" Dipper asked. Xin smiled softer this time "Well we're both a special case in terms of what we are. The whole dimensional instability of alternative universe selves meeting only happens in certain specific dimensions, and is due to them all sharing the same Soul markers. One of the things with reincarnation and such is that the AXOLOTL removes the Soul markers so someone can start anew without being connected to their past self anymore. Even if it's the same soul or even the same memories and such, they are...freed."

The Pines cousins "ooohh"ed in understanding. That made sense. "That's why Uncle Seb can be around you?" Mabel tilted her head. "Yup! Besides, didn't that evil Bill from this dimension touch Seb without annihilating him too?" Xin grinned. Not exactly true, but not exactly false either, it was more that the whole 'counterpart annihilation' only happened in some dimensions depending on how unstable their Reality was. "And you know how all alternative dimensional selves are like you but a little different? Well I have a special ability that most Bill Cipher's don't."

"What is it?! Tell us! Please?" Dipper begged. Xin made a show of looking around to make sure no one was listening in before he leaned closer, "I can travel to alternative dimensions without needing a portal." Xin whispered. "Woooaahh." The cousins' brown eyes widened. "So have you travelled to a dimension with ice cream puppies?!" Mabel squealed. "...I got chased out of that particular world because I kept eating them…" Xin admitted sheepishly. "Ice cream puppies!" Mabel threw herself over her twin, squealing. "So...if you're a nice Bill, you won't cause Weirdmageddon in your dimension?" Dipper couldn't imagine another 12 year old him getting traumatized…

Xin shrugged. "I'm not planning to but I haven't even met my world's version of the Pines family yet. It's still eons away…" he looked a little sad. "I'm younger than the other Bills I've met. So...I can't really promise I won't go evil down the line…" Mabel pouted. "Don't go evil! You're a cute guy! You can't turn into a jerky triangle!"

"Most of us weren't planning to go bad…" Xin admitted quietly. "I've seen the others...they're awful, terrible people...and they're so much like me. They were good once too. Well, some of them… depending on your definition of good. Blue claims he's a true neutral, which I don't really get, but whatever~" He played with his hair, combing his fingers through it, "And then they snapped. Something happened that finally broke them. Broke them so bad that they stopped caring about being kind anymore…"

Xin shivered. "That's actually why I'm here. I couldn't...I couldn't handle what was happening back home. I was afraid I might break. So I ran away and came here to hide out with a Bill who found a Happy Ending…" he closed his eyes "...and maybe I could try and stop myself before I went over the edge…"

The teens pouted sadly. Mabel crawled closer to the man and slowly opened her arms to hug him. "I'm sorry…" She whispered. She leaned her head on his shoulder. He took a shuddering breath. "The worst part is I don't...know if being here really helps. I'm happy to see Seb again. I love being around him and his family but...it keeps reminding me of the very reason I ran away in the first place."

"...What happened? Why did you run away?" Dipper asked. Dillon looked down. He thought he knew… it pained Xin to be around Seb's family because...he missed someone in his own…

"I want to kill Time Baby." Xin said absently. "I want to tear him to pieces and scatter his molecules to the far reaches of the multiverse." He laughed bitterly "That damn bastard keeps taking things from me."

"Time Baby… wasn't he the baby with the Glabnor or something?" Mabel asked Dipper. She wasn't quite sure why Xin wanted to kill that baby though. "Seriously guys, you've met everyone!" Dillon protested. "I am starting to regret not staying with Uncle Seb that summer!" Dipper was staring at Xin seriously. "Why do you want to kill him? What did he do?"

"He EXISTS." Xin hissed. "He won't let me change the timeline, or turning it back to save someone from dying- or-" He trembled. "And he demands that things have to move forward, time goes on. People get older. They grow old and die and leave me alone. Over and over." Xin was blinking back tears now. "Oh." Dipper looked away. That...sounded really sad. "Who did you lose?" He wasn't sure why he asked, he wanted to take it back the instant the words left his mouth. Xin didn't answer for a while, turning his head to watch Zoe and Zu laugh as they chased each other across the backyard. "...my children." He said at last.

The teens fell silent and could only whisper a soft, sad "Oh no…" Mabel hugged Xin a bit tighter. Her lust crush wasn't important right now. This poor man needed comfort and she was going to give it! "I'm sorry…" Dipper apologized. He really shouldn't have asked! How stupid! Xin went limp in Mabel's arms as the feelings he had been trying to supress came back at once. He let out a quiet sob. "Why...did they have to refuse me? I could… I would have made them immortal. I could have bound their Souls to their flesh and healed them day by day, reversed entropy for them over and over so that they could be with me forever…" He turned tear filled eyes to Dipper. "Hey… if I offered you immortality, would you take it?" His voice cracked. "Don't people WANT to live forever?" Dipper winced. "Well...living forever is…" he scratched at his hair. "It sounds cool but it would be scary...I couldn't stand living forever and watching all my friends and family die…"

"AND HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL?!" Xin shrieked. "I never ASKED to be immortal! I never asked to be ME!" The teens frowned worriedly, they didn't know how to help Xin...It must be really painful to live like that… Mabel decided to continue hugging the man and patting his hair. "Do you want us to call uncle Seb?" Dipper offered. Their uncle knew Xin better. He must know how to help. Xin shook his head. "It's fine I don't...he's...he's happy now. I don't want to get in the way of that." The teens all looked at each other. "Are you sure?"

Xin didn't seem to be listening to them anymore. "The only people I actually got to agree to stay with me forever weren't actually told they would be immortal. Because that's the only way I could trick them into it…" he wiped at his tears. "But Pyronica said she wanted our kids to actually CHOOSE. And…" he let out another sob "...they didn't choose ME!"

He buried his face in Mabel's sweater and sobbed. The kids weren't sure what to say. "Why are you crying?" Everyone looked up and saw the pouting blond twins hugging the plushies they were playing with. "Miz… Xin…" Zoe frowned. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

"Do you want a hug?" Zu offered. They didn't like to see Xin crying! Xin was always so happy and made him and Zoe happy…

Xin sniffled. "I'm fine. I just…" he didn't want to cry in front of the children. "I shouldn't have gone for an adult form…" he sighed. "So much easier to cry when I look like a kid…" The smaller twins sat down next to their cousins and put their tiny hands over Xin's arm. "Is ok if you want to cry." Zoe reassured. "Daddy and Mommy says it helps you feel better."

"And it hurts when you don't show you are sad because then you get more sad." Zu added. Xin picked up the children and cuddled them to his chest. "You guys are just…" he sobbed. "It's not fair...I hate this...I hate knowing that people like you keep dying because the world is unfair."

"We won't die!" Zoe assured. "Only old people die." her sibling nodded "Kids don't die!" Zu said. The teens coughed awkwardly but didn't say anything. Xin laughed and cried at the same time. "But mine DID!" He buried his face in Zu's hair. "They got old and died. Everyone does!" The little twins whined, sad. That sounded too scary…

"Hey… would you guys want to be immortal? We'd stay together that way..." Xin asked the twins. There was a longing expression on his face. It sent chills down Dipper's spine. "Um...I don't think you should…" the teenager warned.

"Yeeess!" The younger twins nodded excitedly. If they were immortal, they could play forever and ever and have all the time to watch Tv and play with Sir Bedazzle! Also, all the hugs and kisses from Mommy and Daddy! Xin grinned wide as a soft blue flame flickered to life in his hands. Dipper flinched. "Then… is that a Deal~? " Xin whispered, his eyes glowing faintly.

Dipper almost forget this man was actually Bill Cipher...

Dipper picked up his cousins who were about to shake Xin's hand. "Let's go find your Daddy, ok?" Xin growled a bit at the teen as he took the whining children away. Mabel patted his back. "No. You...can't do this. Not when they're too young to understand." She was a little worried. It almost looked like he was 'turning to the dark side' and she had to stop him.

Dipper carried the kids and took them to his family. "Hi!" The birthday children waved and everyone waved back. "You should be with your friends, kids." Wanda said. "We were with Dipper and Mabel and Dillon and Miz-Xin!" Zu grinned. "Oh, ok! Hanging out with the big kids, then?" Ford laughed and picked them up to hang upside down, grinning at their squeals of laughter. "Uncle Seb, we-we need to talk…" Dipper whispered to his laughing uncle. Seb raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?" Dipper motioned him to step aside. When they were away from the group, the teen rubbed his bare arm. "Uncle Seb, we know Xin is Bill."

"I-I can explain, Dipper!" Seb said quickly with a grimace. "No, no it's not that. Do...Do you know why he's staying with you?" Seb shrugged. "I don't know. She just said she wanted to hang out and be away from home for a while…" Dipper sighed. "Well we were talking to him and ah…" He winced. "...he said that his kids just died of old age and I saw him attempting to sort of trick Zoe and Zu into a Deal of Immortality with him…"

Seb hissed. "Shit." Dipper nodded. "Do you know how to talk to him about this?" Seb sighed. "Don't worry. I've got this…" he walked over and saw a clearly distressed and angry Xin. Mabel and Dillon were speaking to him softly and trying to calm him down. Seb sighed.

"Xin. Come on. We need to talk." Seb motioned for the man to follow him back to the house. Xin looked upset but wiped his tears and stomped after Seb as they went back to the house.

Mabel and Dipper watched them go. "Do you think he'll be ok?" Mabel asked worriedly. Dipper sighed. "I hope so."

"Should we have left it alone and not brought the subject up?" Mabel winced.

"...I think it's better that we make Xin deal with this now instead of having him snap later." Dipper said firmly. "I think he's been trying to deny it and hide his pain...which can't be good for him." Dillon nodded "Denial never works." The three hoped uncle Sebastian would be able to comfort Xin properly.

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I want to thank everyone who has followed this story so far. Guys, Im very touched you still like this and havent given up. It really makes me happy :")