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)

45. Chapter 44 Monsters and a lot of love

Slices of Life and Family

Chapter 42

-Monster and a lot of love-

Hello! Hope you enjoy this chapter! I know we took forever but LIFE!

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Vaccination was doing fine in the country (even with the existence of dumb anti vaxxers complaining about chips and Globlal complots) and the cases were going down. Meanwhile, the Pines family was still taking sanitary precautions...and Ford and Yun realized the octuplets were growing up fast.

Yun cried out in pain as she realized her babies were teething. (Which was a relief since she'd been somewhat worried about their development.) Ford was immediately by her side as she pulled Luxuria off her boob. "Fucking...I can't believe you BIT me!" she hissed at the baby who started crying as soon as they were separated.

Ford groaned and rocked the baby as he prepared a bottle. Yun seemed upset about the situation so he would give her a break. "So, should we change to only bottles now?"

"N-No...It's ok…" She groaned. "I guess Lux wasn't latching correctly…" She looked around for the chewing toy that was supposed to be put in the fridge. "We should give them something to bite instead of me." she rubbed her chest and whined. "That hurt. Damn…" the other three luckily didn't bite but she did stare at them suspiciously as they drank.

They needed high chairs for them all now. The kitchen in the shack was getting crowded. Even more so with Melody's progressing 2nd pregnancy. This one was once again a surprise and Ford (in a very mischievous brotherly way) told Soos to tell Seb much later, or let him find out on his own. Yun rolled her eyes. Poor Seb. He was so sensitive! (She secretly hinted at it to him, hoping he'd figure it out on his own. But he was kind of a dumbass so he didn't get it.)

Once the seven sets of high chairs were set up, trying to make the children eat the baby mush food was...a challenge, they almost always ended up with food on their faces.

Ford wiped the pureed banana from his glasses as Ira clapped and giggled. "You know, who says they need to eat this? Milk will be fine." Yun, Soos, and Melody groaned at Ford. "Come on." Soos held up a spoon. "Fwoosh~ fwoosh~ Come on little doods, open your mouth for the airplane~" Acedia giggled and opened her mouth for the food. "And we have a safe landing dood!"

"They need to eat this, Ford!" Yun was 'feeding' two babies, Ford two more, and everyone else was helping with one baby each.

Invidia and Gula were the only ones who were kind of eating willingly on their own, licking and gurgling at the new weird tastes. Most of the food fell from their mouths so they had to continuously pick it up with the tiny plastic spoon and make the baby open their mouth again.

Of course Gloria and Erbia had to be carefully monitored. They shared a stomach after all, so they couldn't be fed as much as their siblings. Stanford, exhausted, relied on his brothers as references. "Sherman, how did you get the twins to eat solids as babies?"

"I didn't. It was my mother-in-law's miracle." The youngest Pines brother replied. Ford's eye twitched. "Can you ask her then?!" Shermie called back and said "She said they just accepted it."

"You are useless to me." Stanford spat before hanging up. He called Stan next and asked for help. "Meh, I don't know. We just made Diego eat." Stan shrugged. "Yeah, alright but how ?" Ford sighed when he could practically hear Stan shrugging. "He just did eventually? I don't know, man, I didn't focus on how he was eating, babies just eat however they want." Said the least involved dad among the four of them. Ford was quickly realizing his brothers might not be any help at all. Feeling at his wit's end, he called Seb to ask.

"Oh, yeesh, the twins were a nightmare. I had to squeeze their cheeks so their mouths open and just feed them like that. Eventually they ate on their own once they got used to it."

"Squeeze their cheeks? Ok. Thank you." Ford nearly wept. Finally. One of his brothers had real advice! "They also liked it better if the taste was familiar so sometimes we mixed in a little of the milk with the new food." Ford was writing this all down. "Thank you." "You're wel-oh." Ford had hung up already.

He tried to do what Sebastian told him. It did help to get the babies to open their mouths but they still attempted to spit out the yucky food. Ford tried mixing some of Yun's milk with it. The resulting mess of goop looked more disgusting but the children apparently liked the taste and managed to actually eat it. Ford sighed. Raising babies was hard.

-.-

Ford talked to the children constantly when they were together. He'd read it was good for their mental development of language. Yun kept trying to teach them basic mathematics and science (which Ford approved of, even if he felt they were too young for this). Ford absolutely refused to let people speak to the kids with 'baby talk' because, "That's not how people are supposed to speak! Don't teach them to speak in such a way!"

Which was why he had been confused when he came in to hear Xin babbling nonsense to the children one night. He'd been about to berate him for it until he listened more closely and realized he was speaking a different language altogether.

"当你们都长大了，我会教你们如何生火的." the dragon cooed as he trailed his fingers through their hair. Ford didn't know what he said but wouldn't begrudge his partner attempting to teach the kids more than one language. Ford went inside and gave Xin a smile. "Trying to make the kids Bilingual?" He asked. The dragon scoffed. "Trilingual! I also speak to them in my native Flatland tongue. I'm gonna be starting them on Galactic Standard too."

Ford raised his eyebrows. He was reminded once again that his partner was an alien. "Huh...could you teach me too?" He asked. Xin blinked at him. "You...want to learn Shape?" Ford rubbed the back of his neck. "Well...I have a decent grasp on Galactic from when Stan and I were in space...Stan learned more than I did." He muttered the last part. "So...I can...try?" He didn't know much about Flatlanders. Bill never really talked about them and he was still very curious about his world.

"I don't even know if you can learn it...I can try to teach you?" Xin offered. Ford grinned. "We can start easy. How do I say hello?"

Xin let out a humming clicking sound. Ford frowned. "Um…" he tried his best to replicate the sound. "Mmmhhick?" He tried. Xin gasped "H-how could you say that to me?" He whimpered. Ford raised his hands in panic "I'm sorry! I don't know what I said but-"

That's when he realized Xin's shoulders were shaking from suppressed laughter. "Xin!" He cried. His partner burst out laughing. "I-I'm sorry! Just...the LOOK on your face!" He leaned against the crib as he laughed. The little babies watched them with wide eyes. When Yun had first turned into Xin in front of them, they began to cry because mommy had disappeared but eventually they realized that mommy could change size and color. Mommy was still mommy.

Xin attempted to teach Ford more words but apparently Ford's tones were all off and he had trouble hitting the pitch. "Hhmphm...eep?" Ford tried. Xin shrugged. "Eh? Sort of? Your accent sounds all weird but it's...almost understandable?" Ford groaned. Languages were so hard to learn. And Seb knew multiple. Damn. He had a lot more respect for him.

Apparently the Shape language contained a lot of clicks, rumbles, buzzing and humming in different tones which somehow sounded nothing like music despite the fact that it was humming. It...actually reminded him a lot of the sounds of Fiddleford's machinery when the gears and electricity ground and buzzed.

Ford tried but still couldn't quite make the right sounds needed. Still, Xin seemed to find the sounds he DID make to be utterly hilarious. "Right...well. There's not much of a point in really...getting the language...maybe human vocal chords can't make those sounds?" Xin shrugged. Ford sighed. "Well, I wonder if the kids can learn it?"

"Tonal sounds are learned when they're young. I bet they can get close. But for the time being you can still teach them English?" Xin leaned over to hug Ford. The babies would babble sometimes, but they hadn't managed actual word-words yet. "I'm sure very soon they'll be saying all sorts of words like Mommy or daddy or-"

"Helium!"

"Yeah! Like helium! Since they're probably gonna be huge nerds because of-" Xin trailed off as he and Ford turned to stare incredulously at the crib. Gula, looking so much like a mix between Xin and Ford (she looked nothing like Yun, it caused a bit of confusion with people and Ford had been mortified to see money exchange hands among his scientists about various bets and talks of a threesome gone right) giggled at the looks on her parent's faces.

"Helium!" She squealed again. Ford made a breathless, stuttering sound. "Yes!" He cried, incredibly proud. Xin facepalmed. "Of all words...why Helium?!" he groaned even as Ford lifted Gula from the crib and spun around, laughing.

The other kids said words like 'Mama' or 'Da', which could have been counted as first words but Ford kept reading them the periodic table to try and get them to say Potassium or Nitrogen. Along with their vocal milestones, they were all crawling everywhere all the time already. (Which meant having to childproof the shack even more than they did for Maria.) Vanagloria and Superbia were… having trouble with that. It made Ford a little worried about how they'd be able to walk later on.

Speaking of walking, watching the kids learn to take their first steps was surreal. They braced themselves on the walls, chairs and tables, and Ford almost had a heart attack when Ira wanted to stand up and hit her head against the table's edge. Loud wails followed.

They were really curious and wanted to touch EVERYTHING, which was a good sign, but it did mean the octuplets weren't allowed at the Center without serious supervision.

That was fine, Yun had fun just spending all her time with them.

"Come here, Invidia~ Come to mom!" Yun extended her four arms. The baby giggled and clapped. He struggled to stand up, lifting his little diapered butt first, then his hands, then the rest of his body and stayed still, staring at her. "Come here! I know you can!" Yun called out again.

Ford was sitting on the floor with Gloria/Erbi, who were biting a soft plastic cube and hitting it against his arm. He felt sorry they were still stuck crawling when their siblings could already stand. They liked dragging themselves across the floor with their arms...but of course, it didn't replace full crawling or walking.

Yun told him that they just had to exercise and strengthen their leg muscles to carry their heavier weight.

Invidia ignored his mom before quickly and uncoordinatedly walked towards Luxuria, before falling on his butt, laughing. He was such a happy boy. It made both of them smile.

"Yun, Yun! Ira is pulling the tablecloth!" Ford called. The woman reached one of her arms and telekinetically lifted the child away. "You little nugget! You wanna get hurt? If you get hurt, mommy and daddy will be hurt." Yun lightly scolded and the girl blinked. "Hur?"

"Uh huh. Hurt. Now go play with your toys instead." She set Ira on her feet away from the table and she sat down before crawling away. Yun walked towards Ford who was overprotective hugging the twins to his chest, when she had an idea. She exchanged the twins for Acedia (putting the slightly older girl in Ford's lap) and set their smallest baby on their feet.

"Hey Gloria~ Erbia~look! You're walking!" Yun cooed as she stepped forward slowly while holding onto their arms and making it seem like they were walking, moving their legs. Gloria gasped while Erbia squealed and kicked her foot. They both pulled on Yun's hands. Gloria looked down and watched as her legs moved with mommy's feet.

"Fordsie, look! They're walking!" Yun looked up to see Ford with wet eyes. "Ford?"

"It...it's...wonderful…" Ford choked. Watching from here it almost seemed like they were standing. He rubbed his eyes, hating himself for crying over something like this. Yun frowned and walked the twins, back over to Ford. "Hey. It's ok to cry. Don't berate yourself for doing so."

"I-I'm sorry...I just…" Ford shook his head. "I wish they really could walk…" Yun picked them up to sit beside Ford and lean against him. The little girls gurgled and reached for their daddy. "They'll be fine. They're gonna be a little slower to hit milestones, but they will make it there."

She rubbed his chest and the two smiled until...

"Ira is pulling the tablecloth again." Ford pointed at the baby.

"For your grandfather's sake, girl!"

-.-

Summer, 2021

And finally, at long last, social distancing was OFFICIALLY over.

"I can't believe everyone is FINALLY gonna get to meet the babies!" Mabel squealed, pulling and shaking Dipper back and forth. The poor boy flopped under his sister's aggressive enthusiasm. "Yup. I heard you the last five times." he deadpanned.

"I still can't believe you came and exposed the babies to potential viruses." Abigail scolded, which Mabel waved off. "Nah,I had a mask and washed my hands! Also, I'm pretty sure alien babies are stronger!"

The country was officially declared Corvid free. And with this newfound freedom, everyone was going to Gravity Falls to visit their family. McGucket's inauguration was months ago, and the whole family decided they would go to Gravity Falls this year. They had missed each other so, so much! Nothing was stopping them again!

The octuplets first's birthday in April was spent at home, because the family didn't feel safe to gather again so early, but now that summer was here, the babies all moodily drank some juice as they watched a black car park in front of their house, followed by a loud "Finally!" which startled the babies. Who was that loud, colorful person?

Their mommy didn't seem worried, so they went back to drinking in peace.

Zoe was grinning up as storm as she and Seb ran over to stare at the babies. "BABIIIESSSSSS!"

They poked their faces in front of all of them and cooed. "Look, Zoe, this pink one here is your new brother." Seb said proudly, since he still declared Invidia to be his. Look, Ford owed him his firstborn and Seb wasn't about to pass that up. "Sweet!" Zoe grinned.

"Absolutely not." Ford came out of the house to greet his family before leading everyone inside. Yun pulled him down onto the couch she was on, floating the twins and Avaritia away since they finished drinking. "Oh let him have his fun. The kid's still mine and I'm only allowing Seb to be the godfather, or something."

Yun pulled Ford closer with two arms over his shoulders and the other two dangerously close to his butt. "Now, just 'cause they're all spending the summer, doesn't mean we should let things get out of hand~" .She purred and nuzzled his side. "As much as I'd love if some whack-ass thing happened, I think I should avoid any heart attacks brought upon by my babies being in danger."

Ford chuckled. "With our family? You know that's not gonna happen."

Wanda stopped when she saw the babies in person. "They're sooo cutee!" She got Acedia to hold her finger. "But I'm not their grandmother, thank you very much." She refused to take more responsibility.

"But I am!" Kari squealed, shoving Stan out of the way when they pulled into the driveway and she got out of the car. "Ohhh look at them all!" Kari gathered up the floating babies and carried them inside, already babbling to them about how much she loved them.

Yun blinked. "Ah! My babies!" She exclaimed before pushing Ford aside to go inside with the rest.

Stan and Ford chuckled and punched each other's shoulders before hugging. "What's up dad-o?!" Stan ruffled Ford's hair, who chuckled softly. "I missed you too."

Carla got out of the car, arguing with Diego over something he was complaining about. Dillon and Phillip didn't notice they had arrived (completely passed out!) until the car's doors were locked automatically and they were accidentally locked inside. They cried for help for a few minutes until Stan came back for them. "You knuckleheads!"

Phillip had gotten corvid last year, but he made almost a full recovery. His lungs got damaged though and had scars. The cure only served to repair the life threatening parts of the tissue but not everything, so now he needed to be careful so he wouldn't get exhausted or out of breath. Dillon was happy to take care of him. The doctors said he would make a full recovery eventually.

Yun got inside the Shack and found Melody happily greeting everyone inside as she rubbed her big belly. Their second baby girl was coming.

"AH-AHHHH! AAAHH!" Seb screamed, pointing at Melody as he stared wide-eyed at Wanda. His wife giggled. "Oh goodness, congrats!" Seb made funny little jumps before he approached to coo at her belly. "Why didn't you tell ME?! OH MY GAHD!" He wailed. Soos rubbed his neck sheepishly. "Hehe, sorry, dude. Dr. Pines said I should wait."

"FORD!" Seb roared, but before he could murder his brother, little two year old Maria knocked him down to the floor to get a proper hug.

"You Uncul Sebas!" She declared before hugging him tight and climbed over him. She was able to recognize him from all the Zuum calls over the past year. Well, she hoped this was her uncle Sebas, that her daddy told her so much about. The man laughed as he was crushed.

"That's me! I'm Uncle Sebas!" Seb confirmed, now focused on her and she reached his back "And I was denied time with you, so I'll kidnap you! Say bye to your mommy!" Seb secured the little girl to his back and ran away. Maria squealed and waved. "Bye mommy!"

Pacifica appeared a while later. Dipper and her shared the longest kiss ever. Even longer than those kisses Mr. Max I-don't-need-to-breathe-for-half-an-hour Pines could give.

Seb couldn't believe how much they had grown. All of them. So grown up, with beards and stuff. He was sure Pinetree was copying him with that little goatee, but whatever! It suited him as well! And now they were all together, happy and healthy and he was very happy to be here. "Hey, Uncle Seb!" "Hi, Mr. Pines!" Dipper and Pacifica smiled at him. "Hi, kids!" Being almost 22 won't stop Seb from calling Dipper kid or child though.

"SEB!" Shermie ran inside after parking the car and Seb gasped. "SHERMIEEEE!" The two grown men ran towards each other, with the clear intention of hitting each other by slamming the other. Which they did.

Seb ended up on the floor with Shermie on top, but both were laughing. "Gosh, I missed you so much!" Everyone was so happy to finally be around each other again. Quarantine took a toll on the very close family.

"WHERE BE THE BABIES!" Mabel screeched as she airplaned her way across the yard, stepping on Seb and Shermie as she went. ("OOnF!" "AGH!") "BAAAAAABIES!" Mabel ran inside.

Abigail was much more sedate. And Max, who had arrived with Seb's family, was just staring in deadpan at Mabel's absence.

"...she totally ignored me to go see the babies." He pouted before his expression shifted and he chuckled, "That's so like her." And went to help Abigail pull out the luggage from the trunk (because Mr. Sherman was here joking around with mister Seb) while Wanda got her own luggage out herself.

Max walked inside with a smile. Ah, the Shack. Where he learnt so many things about the human world. The house was still bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside, even more so now. He guessed they needed more space for the babies.

Mabel and he were thinking of moving to a flat together after they finished studying and were working. He bumped into a wall as distracted as he was. Max rubbed his face, hearing the distinct, (only audible to dogs, and this hearing aid), squeal of his beloved. Max readjusted his hearing aid. Ah, much better.

The living room was a chaotic mess as everyone wanted to hold the babies and Yun was trying to keep track of everything, and the babies themselves were starting to get distressed from so many people being around them, even Maria was getting nervous. Being pandemic babies did that to you, depriving you from human contact. Yun finally had to force everyone to back off while she floated the babies around herself and forced everyone to get in a single line for the chance to come up and meet the children.

"These are your aunts and uncles and cousins." Yun told them. The octuplets stared. They didn't know who these people were, but mommy seemed happy to see them, so they were happy too.

It took hours to get everyone situated and settled into their guest rooms (of which there were a lot. Seb joked about how the Shack had its own guest wing just like his own house.) And before anyone knew it, it was dinnertime. Yun was busy breastfeeding while Melody and the rest of them made dinner. Max was very happy to show off all his new cooking skills. Mabel once again threatened everyone to be nice to her boyfriend.

Nearing nighttime, when the octuplets and Maria had already fallen asleep, they were taken to their rooms and tucked in while the rest of the family sat around the living room to finally relax.

Mabel was really excited. This was the first time every single member of their immediate family was present in over a year! She will take a photo tomorrow. Mabel latched onto Max's arm. "This summer's going to be so awesome!" she laughed.

And she was totally right.

-.-

The triplet's birthday passed in a blur. Instead of the actual number on the cake, there were three 1's one red, one blue and one yellow. If anyone asked, they were 30. Yup. No more. No less. Everyday and forever since they decided they didn't want to know their age anymore. Even Ford seemed on board with the idea.

Shermie laughed, because the little bastard was younger, but he would go through the same, Seb was sure of it.

The most adorable part was the gifts they received though. Dillon bought his father a new chain and Diego got included in that present. But the card Diego made? Oh no, It was only that little leech's! "Get your pen off my card!" The boy had threatened his older brother.

The twins gave Seb adorable pencil holders and a case for his tablet, plus a blank handmade checkbook. "It's a chore checkbook. Like, when you don't want to do something, you can write what it is and cash the check with us and we'll do it!" Zach explained. "Some are already written with basic things, because we don't want to be enslaved." Zoe crossed her arms and everyone laughed. "-but the others are blank." She smiled. Seb laughed loudly and hugged them tightly. Paying his kids to do chores? He was absolutely sure they learned this from Stan.

Yun patted Ford's shoulder when it was his turn and handed him a tshirt with eight little hands stamped over it. New pajamas! "Wait until they're a little older and you'll get all the cute things!" Ford just shook his head, amused and kissed Yun softly on her cheek.

At some point, Seb and Stan regretted for a f raction of a second not having more kids. It'd be so adorable seeing the eight toddlers soon handing their presents to their dad. Like cups, and drawings and cards. Seb sniffed loudly. So jealous.

It was a nice birthday. Even Wendy popped up to pay her former boss a visit, and she got cake! There was lots of cake. Yun made a lot for their huge group in different flavors, but there was still a lot of chocolate cake. It would probably last all summer. Once again, Yun was limited in how much chocolate she was allowed, to her disappointment.

"You can't get drunk, you're breastfeeding!" Seb scolded her with a duh face. ("I knew I should have made it with the non-chocolate-chocolate instead!" Yun wailed at how unfair this all was.)

They were all having fun and Ford blinked when his phone beeped an alert from his lab. He was going to check it before Sebastian came over and pulled his phone away and threw it away.

"HEY!" Ford shouted, seeing it didn't hit the floor at least,as it was floating just centimeters above the ground...and then Zoe stole it...Sigh.

"Nope. No work today. It's our birthday and we're gonna focus on that." Seb jabbed a finger into his chest to accentuate each word.

Ford thought about the 8 different types of alerts his phone was set to and shrugged. It wasn't anything important. Sebastian was right. Besides, he could see Gula attempting to shove an entire slice of cake in her mouth at once and had to run over and stop her from choking. He wasn't sure if one year olds were allowed to eat cake, but Yun had said that their stomachs were similar to hers, so maaaaybe it was alright?

(It was their reactions to chocolate that were really worrying Ford, to be honest. Luckily, there was some vanilla cake for the chocolate-allergic people, like Max.)

"Relax, son. you had your first cake at 1 year old too and you three are ok." Kari chuckled.

Carla, Wanda and Abigail shared a look. "Yeah. Ok. " Carla snorted.

Back in the lab, the machine Ford had built for the purpose of sensing Weirdness blipped. Of course, since this was Gravity Falls, the machine blipped constantly. This, however, was different. Whereas most of the Weirdness in the valley was a continuous series of energy, this was a spike. It wasn't a large spike, barely noticable and only caught because Ford had designed the sensor to register anything higher than an 8 of the Weirdness scale. The alert went away after a few minutes when it didn't sense any other large blips. It probably wasn't important.

-.-

While the Pines celebrated, a group of teenagers found themselves walking around the spooky forest. One of them, named Gorney, shushed them when they started complaining.

"Dude! Why are we even here anyway!" Another boy groaned. "Yeah, it's creeping me out, man." A teenage girl said this time. "Bro, I'll be anywhere except my house to recover my wasted time because of fuckin 2020."

"You two are so boring…I swear there is more to this town than the adults claim...I mean, yeah, zombies keep coming back right? Don't you think that's...I don't know, not normal?" Gorney grimaced.

""Nevermind all that."" They shrugged at the same time. Gorney was tired of that phrase. He couldn't simply IGNORE IT! He was eaten! By! A monster! He was traumatized! And they wanted him to forget!? Or worse, pretend it didn't happen? And that wasn't even getting into the whole, getting turned to stone and stacked into a massive throne of human agony! Sure the adults claimed it was just a mass hallucination but Gorney knew that wasn't the case. He had been in the Shack during the apocalypse, hidden and scared.

Gorney just wanted to throw hands with the world.

He was so distracted with his own thoughts that he didn't see where he was going and ended up falling down a hill. He tumbled down and groaned when his head hit against a stone, hard, and his friends just started laughing. "You ok!?" "He just hit his head on a rock! Do you think that's ok!?" one of them, the nice one, slid down in a more controlled fashion and checked on him. "Gorney? You ok?"

"Ah...fuck…" he hissed as he rubbed the back of his head. He turned and saw that the rock he hit wasn't actually a rock. It looked to be… a moss and dirt covered lockbox. "What the heck?!" He brushed the dirt aside to try and get a better look at it.

"What's that?" "Cool! You found a treasure chest!" "It's probably some litter." "Or maybe there's a dead body inside~" "Don't be stupid, stupid!"

Gorney ignored his friends as he managed to pull and unearth the box. There was a rusted padlock on the front. He was curious. Who wouldn't be after finding a mysterious box out in the woods? He looked around for a real rock and found a nicely sized one. A few solid hits against the cheap looking padlock broke the old thing open.

Everyone gathered around curiously. "What's in the box?!" they all gasped.

"Wait, be careful. What if we create corvid-2.0 or some shit. We don't know what's inside!" A girl grimaced.

Before Gorney had the chance to look, one of his friends beat him to it and pulled out the contents. "Pfft! It's just all paper!" He complained before throwing it away. Everyone moaned in disappointment.

"I was actually hoping your huge head would find us gold, Gorney!" One of them teased and the boy pushed him away. "You're an idiot!" He laughed. The teen went to examine the papers his friend threw aside and noticed there was some stuff written on it. "Guys, it's not just papers… it looks like ancient scrolls!" At their bored expressions, he added. " Magic ancient scrolls!"

Everyone crowded around him to look at the magic ancient scrolls. "So cool!" "Do you think they work?!" "Don't be stupid, of course not!" "But what if they do!"

Gorney read the titles carefully, they sounded pretty mysterious and vague. There wasn't even a description of what they did! "Summoning Wragglesmurfs? Tonic of Mossfeet? Ritual of the Ocean Cloak? What the heck are these?" he read through what seemed to be instructions under each of the titles. They were filled with long words that apparently needed to be chanted at midnight with candles or some shit like that. There was a huge variety of different ones. Still no real explanation of what these rituals/recipes actually did though.

(Meanwhile, somewhere in the mountains, the Handwitch was frowning at her missing chest of spells. She had decided to do a cleaning of her lair again, to make it stay looking super nice after that sweet Mabel girl had helped her with it years ago, and she couldn't find it anywhere…)

The teenagers, in the part of the forest coincidentally right at the base of the handwitch's mountain, were laughing over the strange papers.

"They sound fake as hell." One of them declared. Another boy grabbed the scrolls from Gorney and gave it to him. "Haha! Try reading them then!"

"Read them! Read them!" Everyone chanted at him and the teen handed back the scrolls to Gorney. "No way! Shut up!"

"You're a chicken, man! They're obviously fake!" Hugo, one of the reckless ones of their group, declared. "See, Gorney, tell me which one to read, I'll do it!"

"OOoohhh!" Everyone chorused. Gorney scratched the back of his head as he looked at the texts. "I don't know man...we shouldn't mess with ma…" he trailed off when he saw one that caught his attention.

"Reverse the Power of the Falls." He read out. Ever since he was a child he'd had nightmares of being eaten by some sort of...candy monster. He knew there were magical creatures out there. Creatures who were dangerous, scary...powerful. Like that triangle that invaded Gravity Falls nine years ago. Magical creatures whose power dwarfed that of humans like him. Reverse the power of the Falls? Would that… strip all those monsters of their power and give it to the humans?

He grinned. A way to finally strike back against the monsters. "Read this one…"

-.-

Ford was starting to think something wrong was going on. While the party was winding down, they heard the babies crying. Yun immediately ran to check on them and found the babies scratching at themselves, sobbing. They were apparently 'itchy' as Yun deduced from reading their emotional state. Yun tried healing it with her powers, and while it soothed them, they didn't stop scratching themselves. She carried them with her back to the rest of the party, worried about leaving them alone in this state. "Ford, something's… I feel something strange." Yun revealed to him, looking up and frowning at whatever it was that she could feel.

Ford held himself from going to his lab just because his family was here, but as the kids complained even more, and eventually he noticed the rest of his family scratching their bodies, he felt something really wrong was going on. He excused himself and flew back to his lab. Yun was only letting him go 3 times a week this summer, claiming he had to be a good 'host' or whatever.

"What's going on?" Zoe complained. "Why's everything so itchy? Do we have fleas?" No one had an answer for her. Even Yun was feeling uncomfortable. And worse, she couldn't pin down what this was. The energy readings were all around the entire town, which made it hard to focus on where she was supposed to Look. And the uncomfortable itching wasn't helping matters!

Ford got to his lab, frowning when he began feeling an itching sensation along his own body. What was happening? He checked on his Weirdness Machine and cursed when he saw it was printing out readings like crazy. Oh no, oh no! This was bad! This was REALLY bad and REALLY weird !

The center of the weirdness was coming from the forest, when didn't it!? That wasn't helping at all! Ford scratched his back aggressively. Fuck this. He had- scratch- to ask Yun -scratch- for help! There was something wrong going on with the town!

The scientists in their own labs were panicking as they scratched themselves, thinking a virus or a disease someone was working with had escaped. Someone even activated the emergency alarm. OH GREAT! Just what they needed! People panicking! With what happened last year still fresh on their minds, everyone was worked up into a real panic.

Ford ran back to the party.

"Yun!" He called and frowned in confusion when he saw HER scratching herself. What even?! "What-what's going on!?"

"I don't know! There's something… all of the Falls is- AUGH! I can't concentrate with this stupid itching!" She wailed. "I can't make it stop!" she scratched at her arms "I can't...concentrate enough to SEE what's happening!" She whined. "It...it's some kinda curse...doesn't feel lethal though, you wouldn't be affected by it if it was while I'm here to counter it- this is something else." She said. That reassured Ford somewhat but that still left the question of what was happening.

The sensation was getting worse with each passing minute, and if the adults were struggling, they didn't want to imagine how the kids were feeling. They were hearing it though, and they were already crying, not knowing what to do or what was happening. Yun gathered her children in her arms. "It's gonna be ok. Don't worry. Mommy won't let anything hurt you!" At least whatever this was, it didn't seem to be hurting the babies or the humans. Not like it was starting to hurt for her . Yun winced as she felt something twisting inside her.

Ford scratched at his back, his shoulder blades were almost burning and he twisted and groaned as he scratched at the itch that never seemed to end. It wasn't quite to the level of pain yet but if they didn't stop this soon…

"BRACE YOURSELVES!" Yun suddenly shouted. Ford didn't know what she meant but he FELT a...wave rushing out towards them. A ripple of power that he recognised as feeling much like the Weirdness waves that had happened during Weirdmageddon. He felt the wave hit… and he blacked out.

-.-

First thing Ford felt when he opened his eyes again was that the itching sensation all over his body was gone. He felt stiff though, and his body ached a bit, the same pain one felt after doing exercise for too long. He looked around the room and searched for his glasses that had fallen off his face when he… fainted. Not the first time, but it never stopped being embarrassing. He reached for his glasses and stopped when he looked at his hand, or rather, his paw.

His eyes widened and he immediately sat up to examine his body. His entire body was covered in hair, no, fur. FUR! He shakily turned his hand and grimaced at the sight of paw pads and claws. He touched his face with his paws, oh holy crap, and felt his nose much...larger than usual. Oh and his face was elongated for sure.

He was going to stay calm as he tried to figure out what happened, but when he saw a tail twitching, that was attached to his own body, he simply screamed.

"Geez Ford...can it, some of us still wanna sleep…" Ford heard the gravelly voice of his brother. "Stan! I've-" Ford stopped short, staring at his triplet. His face was gray, and looked hard and rough. From his forehead grew two large grey horns as well, he had a long rock tail falling limply to the floor and from his back, two huge wings had ripped his shirt and rested tuckered.

Ford recognized him as a gargoyle. Wha-what was this…? The scientist tried to stand up but his legs gave up and he fell back to the floor. After some failed attempts, he realized it was much easier to use...his four legs...to move around, at least for now. Would he be able to walk with his hind legs ever again? He hoped so. Being quadrupedal wasn't really practical for holding things.

He took some tentative steps and slowly gained confidence. He looked around the room, staring in horror and awe at the creatures passed out on the ground. First he spotted Wendy, curled up with all her body covered in red fur. Her face had turned into a long muzzle, which he suspected happened to himself as well, her ears were gone from the sides of her head and instead, two wolf ears sat on top as well as a puffy red tail. Werewolf. She was a werewolf in their beast form. He saw Carla passed out next to Stan. She seemed to be made of...plants? A Plant Person? A dryad? Her hair was still dark but he was sure the material was some kind of vines. Her 'skin' was a light kind of green and brown, and while her clothes covered most of her body, he could deduce every part of her was made of… plant? Covered in vines and flowers. Her feet were curious though, they were root-like.

Dillon was completely different. His upper half was patched up in brown fur, he still had hands but they had turned black, his nose had changed into a triangular shaped one, he had big fluffy ears, as well as big antlers. His upper half up to his knees resembled a deer. After that, his legs turned into bird-like legs, with three digits and claws. His tail and wings were one of a bird as well. He was a Peryton. Meanwhile, little Diego looked a lot like his mom, but he could see lots of thorns on him. He had some sort of plant-based creature from myth too.

Phillip, passed out next to his boyfriend, was a pretty funny case. He was a naga, with a long orange-red-ish tail curled up around himself.

Ford shakily checked on the octuplets and Yun.

And it took him a while to recognize her.

She was human. Fully human. And it wasn't any of the forms Ford was used to seeing his partner in. The skintone looked like Xin's, and the features were clearly asian. But she (he?) had golden blond(e) hair. There were moles under her(his?) left eye, just like Miz. (S)he looked like a young wo(man) in their late twenties, with a mostly slender build that was accentuated by their wide hips.

Ford blinked. Uh?

Luckily, the octuplets seemed more or less unchanged… though there were some black markings along most of their skin now. And it looked like Gula had grown some scales.

He stroked their cheeks carefully with his big paws. At least they were fine, sleeping soundly.

Soos was...harder to describe. He was some sort of...goo creature, Melody was clearly a harpy, with her legs looking like bird ones, her arms had been replaced by huge wings, but he could see her hands in there still. Feathers covered most of her body as well. Maria looked to be some sort of bird (maybe an owl) and was the same color as Soos.

Shermie and Abigail were pretty funny to look at. Shermie was like a merman, but instead of a fish tail, they were tentacles. A kraken? Abigail was covered in fur from her waist down, with large horse-like ears. A centaur.

Dipper was half deer, a deertaur, while Mabel was a mermaid.

Pacifica looked like Medusa, she was a gorgon, with a yellow serpent body (he didn't know if it covered all of her body or just her lower half), and yellow snakes for hair. The snakes were sleeping but he wouldn't risk it. He went to examine Max closely, to see what changed in him, and was surprised to see he was… a full Eix Leel again.

But there was… something to this. His family were all supernatural creatures now. While Yun (Bill?) was now… human. Ford knew that whatever this was, was strong enough to hit the whole town. So...

The townsfolk were now supernatural creatures…

Ford was trying to not panic.

Before checking what Seb was, he slowly lifted himself up from the floor, leaning against the wall for support and searched for a mirror to look at himself. Much to his horror, he looked like some sort of lion, his hair was even puffier, trying to resemble a mane he thanked the curse he didn't have, he had a tail and he had wings, tucked awkwardly on his back. What was he? A sphinx?

Ford sighed heavily. This was an absolute nightmare…

He finally searched around for the rest of his family. He saw more feathered wings and realized it was Seb. For a second he thought Seb was a sphinx like he was...but then he realized his legs were all covered in fur...and he had hooves, the same color as Stan's feet, and horns that seemed to be made of the same tail was long and spiky and ended just in a large stinger. His arms were covered in fur and there were four of them, one pair was yellow and clawed, those were his demon arms.

It made Ford think about that one time Seb mentioned the Axolotl created him from their genetic material, explaining why he was identical yet had 5 and 6 fingers. If he was, it would explain why he had some of their 'monster' features in his new form. But...he looked more like a manticore, sprinkled with his own weirdness magic.

He looked over to see Wanda who appeared to be a bird? She had feathered wings but...didn't look like a harpy. He peered closer, there were bright red, and her hair were feathers now as well, a very bright gold. They appeared to be shimmering with an inner flame. A Phoenix? Zoe was curled up and twitching. She had long ears, big feet, she looked like a bunny, but she had a pair of white wings too, her big feet were clawed and she had a small little tail. He could only wish Seb and Wanda good luck with her hyperactive self now.

Zach was… some kind of fox/ deer hybrid? Ford didn't recognize it. But he looked adorable. He had some spots on his arms shaped like blue triangles for some reason.

Finally he found his mother. Kari was covered in black fur and looked somewhat like a jaguar. With huge feathered wings tucked close to her back. They almost looked larger than Stan's. A...Jaquin?

Everyone was beginning to wake up now. He watched Dipper panic as his legs slipped along the ground and Mabel (luckily) could still breathe on land. "Oooh! I'm a mermaid again!" She squealed. "Ahh! Not again! Not again!" Dipper's voice still managed to crack even though he was already an adult. He grabbed his huge antlers and screamed.

Dillon and Phillip stared at each other for a few seconds before screaming at each other's faces. Now awake, they could see their eyes. Dillon and Stan's eyes were glowing a soft yellow, while Phillip's eyes were slitted.

"Holy shit! Is this more of that magic stuff?!" Phillip tried and failed to stand up, his tail writhing as he couldn't figure out how to move. Dillon looked over, about to continue screaming but paused to take him in. "Huh...you're super hot like that."

Phillip looked up at his boyfriend (future husband) and grinned. "You're not looking bad yourself~" the two grinned at each other even as Stan and Carla panicked over their new bodies.

Kari was taking this pretty well, all things considered. She was lying down on her four legs calmly as she watched her family wake up. Why panicking over something that wasn't going to be fixed by screaming? Shermie and Abigail were freaking out until the octo-mer climbed onto his wife and noted how comfortable she was to lay on. "Shermie! Get off!" She screeched. "But your butt is so big and soft~" Shermie whined as he pet her fur.

THUNK!

"Oooh...nice kick honey~" Shermie slurred from the other side of the room, upside down with his back against the wall. "Fishies swimming down the river…" He giggled dizzily.

"Great. You broke him, mom." Dipper commented as he hugged Pacifica who was screaming loudly into his chest.

Max stared at his arms in shock. He was covered in scales...he felt...colder again...and taller...he patted his head. "Mabel! Look!" He screamed. his girlfriend was taking this pretty well. "Look! Now we both match with scales~." She teased and he laughed.

Soos and Melody gasped at their new forms and their kid, but they weren't hurt so they calmed down. "Sweet~" They said at the same time.

Zach rubbed his eyes and gasped at the sight of his family. Then he looked at his black hooves in shock. He touched his little horns (antlers). Zach wasn't sure what he looked like, to be honest. Zoe twitched her ears. "Cool! I'll jump super fast now!" Always so positive. Wanda got up, stumbling a little on her bird legs and chirped in surprise.

"Seb? What...what the heck?!" She reached up to feel her face in confusion. "Miz! What did you do?" Wanda gasped at the blond...person rocking one of the babies.

Bill blinked slowly. "I can honestly say it wasn't my fault this time." They looked down at themself. "Huh. Two arms. How about that?" Bill blinked. "Wait…" S/he… he. Bill decided on he for right now. "What is this? This isn't one of my forms?" Bill frowned, feeling up his face. The babies were whimpering, they were still tired and wanted to sleep. And where was mommy?

Wendy took huge mouthfuls of air to keep her cool while everyone kept panicking.

Ford coughed to call everyone's attention. "Alright...First of all, this wasn't my fault either." He nodded solemnly as the adults glared. "There was an insanely high level of weirdness before this, so I suspect it had something to do with this."

"So what?! How do we go back to normal?!" Stanley spat. Carla stroked his hard arm gently. "Because we can go back to normal...right?" She grimaced. Ford turned to Bill who was frowning in concentration. "It's a little difficult to use my powers like this…" he admitted. "But at least I can feel them there...somewhere. Wow. Is this is how you feel, Seb?" A human with powers. It really felt somewhat uncomfortable. "It's gonna take me a bit to set up what I need to fully analyze what the hell just happened." Bill told them all, getting distracted when he tried to float his kids and only managed a soft blue glow before it faded. "...yeah. I'm gonna need some time to get used to this." Bill deadpanned.

Everyone pulled at their hair or the equivalent of, panicking once again and talking loudly. Seb was going "ewewewewewew!" At all the fur on himself and the hooves. His horns caught on fire as soon as he woke up and Wanda shouted.

Meanwhile, Bill was inspecting this new body. He reached up to press against his chest and frowned before reaching down to feel between his legs. "Well. At least I'm still a hermaphrodite..." he commented. "Looks like this… whatever it is, affected me based on my true self, as a triangle." he sighed. He formed a triangle with his fingers, frowning in concentration. "Well, it's a curse. I know that much." He muttered after Looking the best he could in this body.

"So...can you break this curse?" Carla asked, her vines writhing in worry. Bill nodded slowly. "It'll take me a few weeks to build up enough power to do so. And more than that, it'll take me a few days to fully track down exactly what this is, to be able to even try and break it." He shrugged "And even then, with my powers being weird in this form, it might not work fully. I will have to experiment."

Ford's tail wiggled back and forth as he thought. He got down on his 4 legs and started pacing. "Alright...So this curse turned everyone into a monster while supernatural creatures gained a human form...Yun, Bill…" He stopped to look at Max. "Max had also been human… and now he's back to his original supernatural self, am I right, boy?"

"Um…" The young man stuttered. "Well, I think so, Dr. Pines." Mabel put a webbed hand over his own.

Ford nodded and continued pacing. That confirmed his theory. Dipper was pacing as well, with Pacifica riding on his back. "Maybe we should find a way to break the curse ourselves, all curses have a way to be reverted, don't they?" The deertaur asked aloud. Bill said he/she could break the curse after a few weeks but he was worried. If Bill's powers weren't working right...

"Are we the only ones like this? Or everyone else in the world is a freak too?" Zoe asked. Sebastian snapped "Don't use that word. We are not freaks and no one else is!"

"Dude. I have tentacles ." Shermie deadpanned. Bill cackled. "Sexy tentacles!" Abigail's ears flickered at the thought.

"Stop it! This is serious!" Ford glared at them. "We have to solve this before the town gets affected!" He seriously hoped it was spreading from the forest and it wasn't an instant change for everyone . He looked at a window and saw the sky was bright, meaning they had been unconscious the rest of the evening and the whole night.

Ira slowly raised her arms. "Dadda." She said, wanting to show her cool markings and Ford nodded. "That's great, sweetie…" He said distractedly.

Bill was peering off into the distance with Invidia in his arms. "Huh. Interesting." He grinned. "The curse hit the entire town. The only thing stopping it from infecting the rest of the planet is the Weirdness Magnetism and the barrier around the town." He was trying to get the kids to recognize that he was still their mother, even if he looked different now. He also noticed that even in this human body, he was still lactating, so he ended up pressing Invidia to his chest until the kid drank and recognized his mother's warmth and taste. Bill sighed in relief.

Everyone shuddered. They couldn't even imagine the entire planet full of monsters. Though, if EVERYONE looked like this...there wouldn't be a real problem, right? Ford stared at the six toes in his paw. He was sure assholes would still find a way to be assholes.

Invitia pointed at the window. "Dada!" He insisted. A group of monsters was rushing into the yard, screaming and clearly panicking with their new forms. Ford groaned. He recognized them, even with all the fur. The workers at his research center and a few scientists as well. "Everyone stay inside, I'll deal with this…"

Ford stood up, wiped his hands and gave two steps on his hind legs before falling onto four again. "Damn it!" Seb's wings flapped as he laughed, figuring out how to somewhat block the light around his head to see a little. "Embrace your cat nature, Ford and go~"

The scientist grumbled in annoyance and walked outside to control the chaos. No one obeyed him, though and crowded on the door to see him deal with the scared scientists. "What happened?!"

"This is all your fault! Bringing viruses to the lab!" "Me?! But you are the one illegally experimenting!" "AAHH! How dare you?! It's NOT illegal! We are PROFESSIONALS!"

"Stop!" Ford roared...literally roared. His family gaped in surprise, how cool~, while the scientists stopped in their tracks. "This is no one's fault! It was a curse! All the town is affected."

Dr. Clark blinked his three eyes. "Dr. Pines?"

Ford sighed. "Magic is real and Curses are real. That is article number 1 you had to read before working here. You should have expected to have to face it yourself, eventually."

A bunch of them looked away, embarrassed. "I mean yeah, he IS dating a dragon, we probably should have seen shit like this coming…"

"Someone in the forest set off the Curse yesterday. I am working on a way to fix this." Ford not quite lied. "Bi-we are working on a fix, and for now, just go back to your lives. We're not injured, it's not a life threatening curse. Just… wait for us to figure out a way to reverse this."

"S-So we will have to stay like this?!" Dr. Poddar pulled his hair, now a large bird-like creature. Much later, Ford would learn it was called a Garuda.

"This is not a new virus, is it?"

"Oh no, my heart can't handle another pandemic!"

Ford groaned. "I said , it's a curse . Until we fix this, we will have to stay like this indeed. But don't worry, the curse is actually harmless. So…you'll survive." One of the assistants raised their leg. "I was turned into a cow? Can I go home?"

Ford stared at their scared expressions and he sighed loudly. "You may be excused. Take the day off if you are still uncomfortable with the new situation." He groaned. This was going to suck if he had to explain this to everyone else in town. Bill stayed back, hoping he wouldn't be spotted. Being the only 'human' here would be suspicious. Then again, since everyone already knew he was an alien, maybe it would be ok...

Zach pouted and pulled one of his dad's wings. "I'm hungry...we didn't eat dinner yesterday." Zoe remembered she was hungry as well and then Diego, the octuplets and Maria started complaining they were hungry. The adults groaned a bit. They were hungry as well but they felt capable of throwing up if they tried eating.

"What can you even eat?" Stan stared at his younger son. "You can't eat meat right? You're made of...plants...if you eat a salad, would that be cannibalism?" Carla rolled her eyes and Diego whimpered. "But I'm hungry~" The boy whined.

Wendy looked out. "Eat...sunlight? Plants get food through photosynthesis, right?" She looked around for confirmation.

Bill giggled. "Well, it's pretty simple. Try everything and if you get sick, we'll know you can't eat that." He declared with a smile

Everyone shrugged. Bill was just calmly trying to breastfeed, finding things much harder now that he couldn't just float the kids, or grow more breasts. It was a good thing he had several large containers full of milk saved up from the milking machine.

Ford came inside the house after dealing with the scientists and fell to the floor. The day barely started and he was exhausted. All the scientists took a day off and went to their homes to rest or panic in private. He didn't want to imagine the craziness back there. What could they do? What kind of curse was this?!

Acedia crawled up to him and whimpered, pulling his tail. She was hungry! She pointed at her mom, picking up on the idea that mom was different looking now. And instinctively using her powers to recognize daddy as well. Ford pulled his tail away and tucked it between his legs. He wanted to think! "Stanford, feed your kids first, then you sulk." His mother called from her spot on the couch. She had managed to get used to moving in this form. It was pretty comfortable actually.

Ford blinked. "I want to, but you see, I have no fingers. so I think I'm more useful now sulking and thinking, Ma."

Dipper stared out at the forest. "I prefer dying than eating grass." He declared firmly. Wendy scoffed. "Naw. You just need to eat salads and stuff." She was flexing her arms and humming "This is pretty cool. Kinda messed up, but cool." Her arms looked more muscled than usual, that was pretty great. "I think I should check up on my family, guys. Wouldn't want dad and my brothers destroying stuff. See ya! Call me if you find out how to fix this!" She waved at them and the Pines waved back.

"Ok...let's see what we can eat…" Stan clapped his hard hands. It was pretty easy to figure it out actually. Meat for the carnivores, salad or plant based stuff for the herbivores (Abi, Dipper, Dillon and Zoe almost threw up at the smell of meat), and despite looking like birds, meat was a yes for everyone bird- like. Bill had scoffed "Birds are omnivores! They eat bugs and small mammals!"

Mabel was hanging out in the pool with her Dad, eating fish while Diego and Carla were very happy with water and sunlight. Speaking of water and sunlight…

"Ah...didn't think it would affect our pets too…" Wanda sighed. Sir Bedazzle and Queen Flutter were now a real dog and cat. Just like they looked that summer in NJ. The two didn't seem all that disoriented by the change and were lounging around calmly.

There was a commotion outside and Ford groaned. Looks like the townspeople were here. He was about to go back outside when Stan walked past him. "I'll deal with this one Poindexter." The gargoyle smirked.

The residents of Gravity Falls were incredibly pissed. They couldn't simply 'nevermind all this'! And it infuriated them! They wanted to ignore the weird!

"You! You are the culprit of all this!" A woman shouted from the crowd. "Yeah! With your experiments and weird science!" Another person accused, probably confusing him with Ford.

"First of all, I ain't my brother. Second, this wasn't our fault, people! Calm down!" He scoffed.

"When the Pines gather, every kind of strange thing happens!" someone shouted. "All you ever do is cause weirdness to happen!"

"This wasn't our fault. Some idiots out in the forest set off some kinda Curse. Now are you guys gonna do something stupid like bother us while we're trying to find a way to break the curse, or are you going to get off our property and wait for us to fix this fucking mess?" Stan growled, flaring his wings out to their impressive 20 foot wingspan.

Some stepped back, scared and intimidated, but most growled as well. Everyone was pissed off. "Good point Stan. If anyone can fix this, it's the Pines. Looking good Stan." A large loaf of bread with arms and legs said pleasantly. Stan laughed. "Looking good yourself Tad." A bulky minotaur glared at Tad before looking at the gargoyle. "Well you better start fixing this, Pines or else!"

"Or else what?!" Stanley challenged. "Do you want to fight me, cow?! Come and get me!" He wouldn't let anyone harm his family, he would protect his home. That was his gargoyle instincts and normal nature speaking.

Ford stepped out and raised his paws to placate the crowd's fury. "We really don't have anything to do with this, but we will work on a solution."

"Our poor kids! Think of the kids!" a woman sobbed and hugged her teenage boy tightly who looked at his friends, also dragged down here by their parents. The same teens who caused all of this. They kept their mouths shut, afraid of getting in trouble. The mob looked so angry and they were afraid of being torn apart.

Gorney looked at his friends, who looked as guilty and scared as him. Dr. Pines continued talking. "We will need time to solve this though, we don't know anything about the spell and this situation is complicated for everyone." He sighed. "I also have kids, and young niblings, I don't want them to be in pain or scared either."

Gorney slowly raised his clawed hand, much to his friends' horror. What the heck was he doing?!

Dipper with Mabel sitting on his back, poked their heads out to look at the crowd. "Hey...that kid looks familiar…" Dipper hummed. "Isn't he the kid who was eaten by the Summerween trickster?" Mabel asked.

Ford stared at the teen. "Yes…?" Gorney flinched when everyone turned to look at him. "We...we were in the forest when it occurred...there...there were some papers on the ground...but we were too scared to see if they were important or not…" He lied.

The sphynx' ears perked up. "Some papers...what did they look like? Printer pages or old parchment? Were there words on them?" He asked in rapid fire, longing to write in his journal but having trouble with his manual dexterity. Gorney flinched. "Ah...um...they looked like the old papers and scrolls you see in movies that are magic…"

"Can you show me where you found them? If I can get a hold of them I might be able to see what sort of Curse it was!"

Gorney looked at his friends who were gasping. He managed to make them innocent...AND an important part to solving this! He was a genius! They nodded at him. "We can show you, Dr. Pines." A girl covered in moss said. The crowd seemed relieved and the teens' parents were proud of their kids.

Knowing the problem would get solved soon, the angry mob dispersed and went back to their houses, only Gorney and his friends stayed outside of the house. Ford, wagging his tail, asked them to wait for him and he went inside. "Family meeting! I need hands!" He said and everyone stared at him funnily. "You have hands." Zach pointed out and the sphynx shook his head.

"No, no. I mean, fingers, thumbs, I need someone to write things for me in this research." He stared at his useless paws. Dipper and Diego raised their hands at the same time. ""I volunteer!""

Bill was staring at the teenagers with narrowed yellow eyes. Hm...even as a human, he still had some of his powers...enough to taste the emotions coming off these kids. Well, his psychic powers were unaffected, to be more specific. (Good to know. His psychic powers always seemed unaffected by any magic-nullifying effects or seals unless it was built specifically to counter it.) Guilt, worry, relief. Oh. It didn't take a genius to see they were probably the culprits.

Bill grinned. Should he say something? Well, first off, they should go change their clothes since Yun's clothes didn't really fit now that Bill only had two arms. The current humanoid slipped away unnoticed, skipping down to the room he shared with his dear Fordsie. (He also wanted to get a better look at what his new appearance was.)

"Very well." Ford nodded at his two nephews before he took off his boots and coat. The boots were killing his now bigger feet-paws and there was no use of dragging his poor coat across the forest as he walked. Besides, he glanced at Diego, staring in awe as his vines held some pens and his notebook. Yeah, he didn't need to carry anything himself.

"Go!" Invidia raised his arms to be picked up and Ford shook his head. "Sorry, Issac, maybe when you are older, ok?" He ruffled his hair and the baby pouted. "Mama?"

Ammy, who had woken up silently and had simply taken this all in stride (watching the proceedings with no expression), picked up his younger brother. "Mother is changing his clothes." The alien-turned-human-turned- more -human looked… almost the same, but his skin was a mix of different colors, ranging from dark to pale, in splotches.

Everyone readjusted their own clothes. Dipper sighed when he realized his pants had been destroyed. He liked that pair...he also tried to ignore how he was basically naked in his lower half. He wouldn't try to look. No sense suffering over something he couldn't change.

Paz thought it was hilarious. She was still wearing her skirt and t-shirt, but she realized her scales actually covered her chest and part of her arms…

Mabel put on a cute bikini-top and laughed as her Dad just threw his shirt away. "Freedom!" They high-fived.

To bother her nerdy boyfriend, Pacifica rubbed his fluffy ears and said flirtingly "Why don't you take off your ssshirt as well? It'd be much more comfortable to go into the foressst…" She dragged her 's', like a snake, but it didn't bother her that much.

As Dipper blushed madly (ears twitching), his Dad and Mabel laughed at him. Seb sat down with his wife, burying his head into her soft, feathery chest. The brightness in his horns didnt bother Wanda, as her own better had a light of her own. Stan hissed at how BRIGHT the two looked and hid his head in Carla's shoulder as she snorted.

"How are you doing with all this?" Seb asked her. He rubbed one of her arm-wings. Wanda shrugged. "Well...I still have fingers somehow, which is better than poor Ford and Kari."

Zoe was flapping her wings while laughing. Zach was half galloping around on his hooves. He had ADORABLY mentioned he liked looking like his daddy and Seb had teared up.

Ammy was keeping his siblings occupied. He discovered he still had storage blocks that he could take apart from his main body (there were 'tattoos' along his chest that he could pinch and pull off, they could still hold stuff and he could reattach them to himself with no issue. Somehow, it seemed this part of his powers were unaffected, much like how Bill kept his psychic abilities) and the babies were having fun shoving items inside them to see how much would fit. They didn't seem to be too adversely affected by what had happened.

"Alright~we're going to the forest huh?" Bill slid back into the living room with a manic grin. They were dressed in a loose tank top that exposed their slim belly and long khaki pants with many pockets.

Everyone looked up at Bill. """Mommy.""" The octuplets cheered. Some blushed a little, like Stan and Shermie, some blushed a lot, like Dillon, Phillip and Mabel (who held a confused Max and pulled him in for a kiss to avoid sinning), and Seb rolled his eyes, immune to Bill's charm. Figures that even cursed into a human form, Bill somehow still ended up attractive.

"Dammit! You're setting off my 'hot guy' sensor even though you're not a guy!" Phillip groaned.

"Dammit! You're setting off my 'hot girl' sensor even though you're not a girl!" Stan groaned as well. Carla made a thick root come out of her fingertips and smacked her husband with it. "Can you be serious for once?!"

Dillon also smacked his partner's arm. "Yeah, I'm right here!" he pouted at Phillip. The naga trapped him with the tail he was quickly learning to use and kissed his lips. "You know I'm kidding~" He laughed. "I do, but there's a time and place. You can flirt with other men later, when I get to flirt with them too!"

Ford smiled at Bill. "Right! We're ready to go now, right? Those kids are waiting outside." Diego nodded, Dipper surrendered as Pacifica took off his shirt, and the four of them walked out.

Stan shook his head. eight kids, two years together, and Ford still didn't understand...Bill had obviously dressed up to try and get a reaction out of their partner but Poindexter just wasn't getting the hint. Well, not his problem.

Bill grinned and planted himself on Ford's back, tucking himself between the Sphinx's wings and draping his long legs over Ford's shoulders. Ford yelped. "Bill?!"

"I've never ridden a sphinx before~ it's like a piggyback ride but BETTER!" Bill cackled. Ford sighed. His partner's behavior changed slightly in their different forms...and Bill was one whom Ford hadn't spent too much time with. He was similar enough to William that Ford felt it wouldn't be an issue though. He shook his head. That wasn't important right now. They had to find these mysterious papers.

Gorney and his friends stared at the girl(?)boy(?) on the scientist's back. They looked to be in their...bruh, late 20s? Maybe? And were staring at them with an oddly smug look. They also looked entirely human. "How come you weren't turned into a monster?" One of Gorney's friends asked. The person of indeterminate gender scoffed. "Rude! I assure you I WAS in fact, transformed by the Curse you JUST SO HAPPENED to have clues about." They had a hand pressed to their chest as they complained dramatically.

The teenagers stiffened and sweated (if their new species was capable of it) nervously. "T-then what are you?" One asked. Bill practically purred. "Well OBVIOUSLY, I'm a tentacle monster… who only has one tentacle~"

Dipper started choking and hit his chest, trying to breathe. Diego scratched his curly plant-made hair. "What? And where is it?" He asked, confused. Dipper shook his head. "Nope. Ask your father to explain it to you… in 8 years." Dipper was too young to be giving the Talk to kids!

Ford rolled his eyes. "Bill just made an inappropriate joke you shouldn't worry about, Diego." The feline explained. He tilted his head back to glare at Bill. "Please be more serious about this. This isn't a joke." He frowned and lowered his voice so the teenagers couldn't hear. "Can't you turn back into Yun or something?"

Bill scowled. "I can't. And even if I could, my powers are strongest in my true form. Even like this. And if this is really as 'serious' as you claim, shouldn't I BE in my most powerful form?" He was happy to get this chance to be Bill again. He'd been stuck as Yun and Miz for far too long. Xin was fun too but this was their true form (even altered as it was). They were Bill Cipher and it had been FAR too long since they've been able to be themselves in this world.

For their parents and siblings, he had to be Miz. For Ford and their children, he had to be Yun/Xin/Jan. Well they were tired of it. Sometimes… Bill wondered if Ford only loved them when they weren't Bill, since Ford didn't request for Bill to come out all that often (almost never). Ford said he didn't mind Bill, but he'd never requested for Bill specifically. The current human shook their head, nevermind. It wasn't important.

Ford sighed. "Alright. Just… try not to traumatize the kids." Bill cackled. "No promises~" Bill patted his hair-mane.

The teens frowned at the interaction. Weird. The child that came with them climbed into the half deer young man's back. "Weee!" Diego cheered. Dipper smiled softly at his little cousin.

Finally, they came to a stop. "This-this was the place Dr. Pines…" Gorney muttered. The sphinx walked over and found the lock box. There were scattered sheets of parchment. Gorney noticed there were a lot less than before. His heart dropped. The wind must have blown some away. What if the paper they needed was gone? Bill glanced at the teenager with narrowed eyes but scoffed and knelt down to help Ford gather the pages they could find.

Bill gave the papers to Diego who gladly held it between his vines. Ford looked around and awkwardly bent closer to the box to scratch it with his claws softly and sniff it. He didn't even know what he was trying to smell… how embarrassing. He scratched the soil though and dug a little around it to pick it up. Bill received it and grunted at the effort.

"Thanks for helping us, can go home now." Dipper smiled at the teens. And thinking he was just a kid himself when he met one of them. "Gorney, right? Maybe you don't remember me, but we met years ago… we took you home one summerween."

Gorney nodded. Of course he remembered. He wasn't like the town. He didn't ignore things. "Yes, I know." he was always grateful to the kids who saved his life.

"Um...doc, maybe you should...search around or something…" One of the teens coughed and mumbled awkwardly. "You know...the box was opened and the papers might have flown away…" He had noticed the same thing as Gorney but was careful to phrase it to not sound guilty.

Ford, the most dense, nodded. "Right. I should check for that. See what direction the wind is blowing and search for the other pages." The teens all sighed in relief and turned to start making their way home, thrilled that they made it through this.

At least they would have if a slender hand didn't drop onto their shoulders and Bill's voice spoke softly, pleasantly. A sickly sweet tone that sent chills down their spines. "I know what you did~" they froze. The Pines were walking off to search for more pages and weren't paying attention. "You're lucky that damn spell you set off didn't hurt my family or I wouldn't hesitate to drag you all into the town center and let EVERYONE know who was behind all this." Bill purred as they massaged Gorney's shoulder and up to his neck.

"It worked out this time huh? You got lucky~" Bill leaned closer, warm breath huffing against Gorney's skin. "You might not be this lucky next time kid~so here's a word of advice… don't mess with the supernatural~" their fingers were loosely wrapped around Gorney's neck. The teenager let out a whimper.

Bill laughed and pulled away. Gorney quickly backed away from the strange person. "Run along little lambs. And you sure as hell better hope I don't get any reason to visit you~" the teens turned tail (a few of them literally) and ran off.

Bill started laughing madly. Oh this was fun! He should have turned into Bill in this world more often! Their terrified faces! Hahahaha! The human happily skipped around to find the group. It was pretty easy, only following the sound of Ford's deep voice narrating to himself what was happening. As he didn't have the ability to write anymore, he was dictating everything for his nephews, who struggled to keep up with him. He surely didn't write this fast, did he?!

Diego surrendered, leaving the job to his cousin, and started looking around for more papers. He was barefoot and he felt the grass stroking his root-like feet every time he brushed against it. He also discovered that if he stayed still for too long on the soil, he would take root and it was hard to pull himself out of it. He should tell his mom, it was important. The trees were kindly showing him the way to the missing scrolls and the kid felt like an all powerful being over nature! Bill skipped over merrily and picked the kid up. "Hey Diego! Having fun~?"

The child giggled. "It's really cool! The trees are talking!" Bill laughed. "Sounds cool. Frankly, I don't like talking to the trees much, they're stubborn , the lot of them." He pouted. Stupid trees didn't listen to him. He gave the child a piggyback ride as they made their way up to walk beside Ford. "-nd this could tell us so much about what makes someone magic or not. My children are only half human but their other half is clearly there, it's just manifesting itself a little more. Fascinating!"

Bill grinned and reached over to pet Ford behind his ears. "Always with the questions, Fordsie. Glad to see nothing important has changed." They were quite relieved. Ford shivered. Oh. That...felt pretty good. He shook his head. "Well, anyway, I do hope whichever page we need wasn't the one that was blown away."

"I can start building up energy to just break the Curse through sheer force as a last resort if you can't find the information, you know?" Bill commented.

Dipper stopped. "You CAN?!"

"But isn't this fun? You've got a tail! That's so cute~" They stroked their hand along Ford's body from head to tail, watching Ford arch his body up against their hand and let out a rumble. "Are you… purring?" Bill blinked. Ford would blush if he could.

"Ahhh! You're so CUTE!" Bill squealed and hugged their partner's large lion head to their chest. "You're sooo fluffy~" he giggled. Ford made an embarrassed sound and slowly pulled his head away. He tried standing up but he ended up hunching, bending his hind legs awkwardly. He surrendered and went back to 4 legs. "I guess I won't walk normally until I get some more practice." He was still upset about that, it was maybe the worst part of his transformation for him. Because it meant... asking for help ...and working less ...what was he supposed to do then?!

Bill stroked his head. "Don't worry your adorable widdle face, Fordsie. I've got hands and I'm not afraid to help out." They bent down to plant a kiss on his nose. "You're my partner. That means we help each other out. Remember?" Their expression was gentle and Ford felt some of the stress he'd been holding in since waking up, relax slightly. Right. He wasn't alone. Bill was here, his family was here. They were going to fix this together. "Thanks Bill." He leaned forward, almost on instinct and nuzzled their faces together. Bill cooed softly when he started purring again, but much softer this time.

Dipper and Diego giggled and covered their mouths with their hands to muffle their laughter. That was so cute~

"I hate to interrupt this, uncle Ford...but Diego says the trees haven't found any more papers." The child nodded. "None! But they say I'll know if they find something else." He smiled proudly.

Ford separated from Bill, embarrassed for letting his instincts take over and coughed. "Right! Right...um...there's nothing more we can do here, so it would be better to return to study the scrolls…" He glanced at Bill, who gave him thumbs up and climbed onto his back without warning.

The sphinx sighed fondly and they made their way back to the Shack, biting his tongue so he wouldn't purr again. Who knew it was so amazing to get scratched behind his ears?

-.-

"Welcome back!" Mabel waved at them from her pool where she was chilling with Max. The man was so happy his fingers weren't wrinkling anymore from being in the water. He had forgotten what it was like. Her parents were napping in a corner. Abigail had her legs tucked under her body and half of her husband's body was laying on top of her, with his long tentacles limply falling into a huge bucket. (Mabel kicked him out of the pool so Max could get in.)

"Did you find something?" Stan asked urgently. Ford nodded. "We found many pages. We just need to read through them to see if we can find anything." Bill, still sitting on Ford's back, was flipping through the pages and reading carefully. "Well, it kinda sucks that none of these damn pages say anything about what they're supposed to do." They scowled. "But I think this must be the one those ki-I mean, whoever messed with the spells must have used."

He carefully got down from his partner's back, to show him the spell. Ford read it carefully. "Reverse the power? How would this spell help anyone at all?" He complained. "And it doesn't mention a way to re-reverse it…."

"Well, I guess we will stay like this forever. Let's toast for that!" Seb cheered and was smacked in the head by a yellow and red wing.

"We didn't just get out of a pandemic to be quarantined in another!" Wanda exclaimed.

Ford rolled his eyes at his brother's pessimism. "Even if it doesn't say… Bill can undo everything once he has enough power for that. Right?" He sat down on his hind legs, slightly weirded out by how fast he was adjusting to this body, and looked at the blond human.

"Sure I can, my dear fluffy lion! Any spell can break if you overload it enough by just blasting it with a greater force! No need for complex rituals or incantations, just break it." Bill purred and scratched him under his chin. "I can also look through the papers and see if there's a way to pick apart the ritual, just for fun~" Bill's fingers stroked through his thick fur and Ford's hind leg began to thump against the ground as he leaned into Bill's hands. His chest rumbled with a full, deep purr. Bill grinned, he could get addicted to this.

"Holy Moses…" Stan whispered as he and Seb stared at the two. "Are you seeing this?"

"With my own eye, yes…" Seb nodded. Seb looked at his mom, reading (therefore, not paying attention) and grinned maliciously before slowly creeping towards Ford. He screamed when Kari suddenly growled at him. "Don't you even dare , William." The large winged jaguar rumbled. "I haven't seen Stanford that relaxed all day and don't you dare ruin it."

"Fine~" The chimera grumbled. He wasn't going to bother Stanford. He was going to obey his dear mother. The octuplets luckily weren't under some military obedience enchantment and cooed when they saw their parents. They started crawling towards them. Ammy followed behind them, looking quite content.

Bill and Ford sat down on the floor to say hi. Gula blinked and patted the soft fur, followed by Luxuria and then the other six of them. Ford rumbled and slumped over onto the ground, purring loudly as his family gave him wonderful scratches. This felt soooo nice…

"Isn't he sooooft~?" Bill giggled.

Everyone really tried to mind their own business, they really did, but watching the oldest Pines brother on the floor, purring like a little kitten was the best thing that had happened that exhausting day. Bill stepped back and watched proudly as their kids giggled and stroked Ford's fur. Yeah...Bill could break the spell in... 3 days minimum (if he focused on stockpiling energy), but...this was amazing! They were having way too much fun! The town was much better with everyone so unique and special, why get rid of it now? Besides, summer was 3 months long and they had a LOT of time to spare… allowing this to last a little longer couldn't hurt…

-.-

As per usual in Gravity Falls, people got used to this latest weirdness and were back to business as usual within a day. Even the most annoyed citizens weren't all that impatient for a cure as they got used to their new bodies. The fact that no one was hurt and nothing had happened made them shrug and let it go. They had been locked up inside their houses for months last year! Nothing was stopping them ever again!

They just complained about how they couldn't leave town like last year. No one wanted to be seen like this and no one knew if it was contagious like corvid.

A few people even found cool things they could do with their new powers and abilities. Those with wings would laugh as they flew through the air and those who could breathe underwater could get a lot of work done fixing up some of the broken pipes around the town. And cleaning out the lake.

The plant based people were now having lots of fun talking to the trees. Though there was one guy who tried to talk to a mushroom and had to be sent to the hospital for severe emotional trauma.

Over by the Mystery Shack, they got to deal with tourists that would enter the Falls for the summer and find themselves transformed into monsters. Ford worried but found that when people entered they would transform and act as if they had always been whatever they were (Bill called it a perception filter for themselves) and when they left the town they would turn back to normal and wouldn't remember having been something not human. ("It's like Princess Tutu logic!" Bill had declared cheerfully. Asking what that meant led into Bill making them sit down to watch a ballerina anime about a duck.)

(Not their brightest idea to ask Bill stuff, but the family of monsters learnt not to do that ever again, unless they actually wanted to know the answer.)

When Ford tested by trying to leave the barrier himself, with his entire family watching behind him, he found that he couldn't. It felt like elastic plastic when he pressed around it.

It seemed anyone who was in town when the Curse went up were trapped within the weirdness barrier. But even Bill was unable to leave. Human or not, he was still weird. Ford concluded that the Curse would need to be broken to allow them all to leave the town.

So yeah. Gorney and his friends caused another Quarantine.

"Or. You could just collapse the Weirdness barrier." Bill commented, a hand on their hip and dressed in an unbuttoned shirt tied closed right under their chest, once more exposing plenty of skin in an attempt to try and get a reaction out of Ford.

Ford smiled, a little bit at how cute Bill looked. "But if I did that, the curse would spread to the entire planet, we can't allow that to happen, can we?"

Bill pouted. "But wouldn't that be cool ? A whole planet full of weirdness~"

Ford hummed. "But, that would make everyone change their lives forever, many could be inconvenienced. Is this a test? Maybe it is a test…" He mused and raised a fluffy eyebrow at them. "Sacrificing everybody for our sake or sacrificing for everybody's sake?" He laid down and hummed. Bill groaned. "No~! The asshole who wrote those spells was just a dick! They didn't intend anything grand!" They pulled Ford's wing, but he wasn't going to listen.

"How's your energy going, by the way… it's been almost a week." The lion commented lightly. "Being human must make it take longer, doesn't it?" Bill paused. "Yes." They said simply. "I can't just eat stuff to gain energy… not more than a normal human anyway." They discovered this when Bill tried to eat like they normally did, got a stomach ache and was vomiting into a toilet for a while as their poor human stomach couldn't handle it. Bill shuddered. Ugh. He's forgotten how AWFUL human bodily functions were. Like having to defecate for one thing. (Bill was a little traumatized by it. He ended up casting a runic spell to clean himself everytime he finished using the toilet.)

Bill's partner noticed their grimace and nuzzled their neck. "It's ok, we understand, breaking the curse is something big to ask from you, take as much time as you need." The sphinx said softly and Bill grinned widely before hugging his head to their chest. "I wouldn't want it any other way, Fordsie."

"Bill! Uncle Ford!" Zach entered the house with a huge grin. "Dad is going to throw Uncle Stan from the roof to see if he can really fly!" Ford groaned. That sounded dangerous. He still hadn't tried to fly yet, as much as he would love to try. But breaking some bones didn't seem all that appealing, and it was bad enough he couldn't use his hands to hold stuff.

Ford dodged the babies sleeping on the floor next to him and stood up. "I have to make sure they don't get themselves killed." Bill cooed as he picked Acedia and Avaritia up in each arm. Ira climbed onto Bill's back. They were only a year old, but Ira was good at gripping things she wanted. "Alright, have fun dear~"

Ford rolled his eyes and with great effort, stood on 2 legs. He balanced himself a little before letting out a soft "Yes!" and stumbled outside with Zach. He couldn't run or anything, but it was better than nothing.

He hoped Zach was talking about the Shack's roof, but it was actually from the research center's roof! And it was 3 times taller than the house!

"Fly! Fly! Fly!" His entire family was there, cheering at those stupid idiots. "Stan, do you want to kill yourself?!" Ford roared. "No! Haha, I want to fly!" His middle triplet called back and Seb, standing next to him, laughed before he high-sixed him. Fear of heights! Hah! That was long past him! Nothing scares Stanley Pines!

Ford ran a paw across his face. Why couldn't they grow up? He thought defeatedly. He started nudging people further away from the building, at least when Stan fell, he wouldn't squish anyone.

Ammy was holding Gloria and Erbi to his chest as he walked towards the show calmly. The twins were focused on trying to get each others' pacifiers. "I am told that during incidents like this, one is supposed to make bets on whether they believe the person will live or die." The alien paused. "I vote he would fail to fly but won't die merely due to Mother's protection."

Ford groaned. "Not helping, Ammy." The children and young adults giggled. "I don't think uncle Stan will fail…" Zoe twitched her ears. "The-the boy who brought pizza yesterday flied."

"Flew, Zoe." Ford sighed. They were right though. Why couldn't he? Almost everyone with wings in town was flying already.

"Ok! Everyone ready? Stanley Pines is going to fly for the first time!" Seb announced, batting his golden wings in excitement. Stan prepared himself to jump, but at the last second started questioning it. "Hey! You know what! I don't have to fly anyway! Not everyone does!" Seb tried pushing him from the roof, and in their little fight, the demon chimera ("Manticore!" according to Bill) made a wrong step and fell from the roof.

"SEBASTIAN!" Everyone gasped as the man fell. Seb closed his eyes and extended his wings out of instinct. Please, don't die, please don't die! When he didn't feel the painful meeting of his delicate bones and the hard ground, he looked around and realized his wings were beating softly and he was gently gliding toward the ground. Oh. "I'm flying!" He cheered. His family cheered.

Ford could breathe again. He saw Seb touch the ground with the tips of his feet and concentrated before giving a strong beat of his wings to lift himself back into the air. He smiled at Stan. "OH, STAN~!" He called and flew to the roof, where the gargoyle was gripping for dear life. The younger twins were cheering for their dad and Mabel and Dipper simply laughed.

"Come on~I can fly! Now it's your turn~" Seb pulled at Stan to try and get him to let go of the roof. "H-hey maybe I could try jumping off a shorter roof! It doesn't have to be a ta-tall one like this, right?" Stan smiled nervously. Not that he was scared or anything.

Mabel and Dipper snorted loudly. "Yeet him off!" Mabel called as she laughed.

Everyone watched the manticore reach the roof, calmly approach his brother, and lift him off the roof with a grin. "This is for throwing me." He said, before proceeding to throw his brother over the side. Stan screamed and kicked his legs. Everyone cheered as Stan flailed around in the air.

"Hey! Where's Dillon to laugh with us?" Mabel complained while the deertaur snorted and kicked the ground with a leg. "Probably making out with Phillip."

Dipper's guess was correct. The two lovebirds were curled around each other (literally) on the couch in a patch of sunlight. Phillip was having way too much fun with this body. His tongue was much more dexterous and Dillon certainly seemed to appreciate it. The two finally pulled away to gasp for air. "Damn this is...the BEST curse!" Dillon panted. Phillip laughed. "Yeah~" he stroked his boyfriend's hair. "Wanna try ssssomething a little more...intenssse?" He hissed pleasantly.

Dillon's long tail curled around Phillip's naked torso as he clung to him. "Oh my god...say that again…"

"Intenssse…" The older man whispered, his long tongue flickering a bit, and the young peryton kissed him again, moaning. He batted his wings as the naga quickly made his way to their room.

They were so glad Bill had soundproofed all the bedrooms years ago.

After Stan screamed for a full minute before realizing he was flying, his strong wings lifting him over the ground, Stan laughed. YES! SUCCESS! More confident of his abilities, he batted his wings and lifted into the air. Holy shit, he was flying! This was so awesome!

Dipper pursed his lips. "So, I guess birds throw their babies from the nest for this very reason." His twin sister laughed. "Yeah! It's like, you can fly, you coward! Now GO!" She hit her water and splashed herself.

The octuplets squealed and watched their uncles in the air. Zach, Zoe and Diego saw their granny also watching with a smile on her face and they ran towards her. "Granny Kari! You fly too!" They pleaded, but the old woman ruffled their hair. "I think I'm fine like this, but you should get your last uncle to fly, look at his wings, he hasn't used them once!" She pointed out, and the children gasped. She was right.

They returned to uncle Ford, who was lying on the ground, concentrating on observing his brothers. Bill nudged him. "Now how about you go flying while I whip up some lunch for everyone! Go!" Ford grumbled. "Noo!"

"Or I'll throw you in the pool~!" Bill patted his side with an evil grin that showed he was serious. "Kids, keep an eye on your uncle for me~" He left, waving a hand teasingly.

"""Okie!""" the children chorused.

"Oh, Fordsie~!" Seb and Stan called him. "It's your turn to learn!" Seb called. "Move your ass over here!"

"He wants to go! Teach him!" Zoe called and Ford gasped. "Traitor!" The lion backed up from his triplets as they approached him.

"Go, uncle Ford!" The kids and Mabel cheered. Ammy blinked at Ford slowly. "You probably won't die." He said 'encouragingly'. "That's not helpIINNGGG!" Without warning, his brothers grabbed him by his armpits (were they still called armpits?), and lifted him into the air. "Let me go!" He roared and growled at his unimpressed brothers. "Aaww, the kitty is afraid of heights~?"

"Urrghh! Let go!" Ford kicked his hind legs angrily.

Wanda sighed. "When you're all done with being idiots, come in for lunch. Zach, Zoe, don't go jumping off dangerous surfaces"

"Oki!" The twins agreed and she turned to head back inside to help Bill, Max, Carla and Abigail cook. Really, she certainly hoped her kids didn't attempt something so stupid, like jump over stuff too big or cliffs or something. She sent a last warning look at the blond twins.

Everyone was chanting for the younger triplets to drop their oldest brother. They flew to the roof of the center as everyone continued chanting "Higher! Higher! Higher!" Of course, the public was made of people unable to fly, so they didn't know how freaking scary it was.

"Don't worry, Fordsie, instincts always win!" The manticore smiled widely.

"Besides, cats always land on their feet." Stan shrugged and Ford struggled harder. "That's TOTALLY FALSE! No! STOP!" He opened his huge wings to their full length to separate himself from his brothers and fluttered his wings quickly. He gasped for air and growled. "Are you two insane?! Your kids are watching you do stupid things! They're going to imitate your stupid behavior!"

"Uh...Ford?"

"And what's worse?! You refuse to listen to MY needs and fears! Forcing your own selfish amusement on me!"

"Um...Sixer?"

"WHAT?!" Ford screeched. His brothers pointed and Ford looked down to see open air. He was hovering in place. "Oh." Well...now that he was here...it actually didn't look that bad…

Seb laughed and hugged the two of them. "Yay! Now the three of us can fly!" He raised his hands for a high-six and each hand paw was met by a paw or a stone claw. "I'll throw Shermie into the lake from this height…" He grinned and Ford sighed. "Please don't throw him."

They flew down to the ground once again, Seb and Stan bowed dramatically and everyone cheered, clapping loudly. "Uncle Ford, you did it!" Dipper laughed and the octuplets cooed from the blanket they were observing from.

Ammy handed Ford the children, Gloria and Erbia. Ford sat down on his hind legs. "You see, I told you, you probably wouldn't die." The alien nodded, making the scientist roll his eyes. He carefully cupped his twins in his paws. Gloria and Erbia giggled, reaching their hands up at him to pat his snout.

"Well...now that you know how to fly and you didn't break anything trying, can we go eat?! I'm starving!" Dipper pleaded and everyone agreed, the little twins and Diego rushed inside. The triplets walked alongside the oldest twins and Seb kindly picked up his oldest niece. "Where's Pacifica? Haven't seen her all day."

"She went to see her parents for the first time since the curse started. She's pretty sure they're pissed off and will inform me tonight when she comes back." Dipper said, ears twitching. Going to their house in town was annoying. Now that he didn't fit in the car, that meant walking, and he didn't want to walk all the way to their house. It was much better here. Sure he had to be with his crazy family, but at least he was away from Pacifica's parents. God, he hated Preston.

They got inside to see Carla, Max and Bill working to get the food done. Wanda and Abigail were setting the tables. Melody was helping out too, along with Soos. "Hey dudes. We're almost done here." He shook a plate off his hand. Oh man, it got stuck again. "Heh heh, I'm glue."

"Great! I was starving!" The gargoyle cheered. He was handed the utensils and set them on the tables. "The kids will eat outside?" Everyone nodded while Mabel and Dipper fist-bumped. "We'll be at the adult table, yes!"

"Hah! There's no space. Go with the kids." Abigail shooed them and the twins screamed. When was this torture going to end! Zoe hugged Dipper's leg. "Welcome big cousin~" She stroked his fur and rubbed her cheek against it.

"Well this is getting creepy." Zach began trying to pull his sister off Dipper.

Seb sat Acedia in her wittle baby chair, her wittle heterochromatic eyes staring at him (daddy?), and then Seb's horn fire brightened as he smiled. "HEY! "I just remembered something!"

"Please don't let this be a terrible joke." Shermie groaned as Stan laughed obnoxiously. "Please let it BE A TERRIBLE JOKE!"

"Do you remember when we were kids and I cursed Sixer to have 8 kids? And then he cried? Well it WAS TRUE!" Seb exclaimed, waving his 4 arms at the babies, slapping their chair tables. "Maybe I AM a psychic...Or a witch." Seb mused.

Ford groaned loudly. "I think I prefered the bad joke."

Stan snorted. "And you have powers. I'm pretty sure you can count as a witch."

"Can I be a wizard though?"

"But you didn't curse me!" Ford complained. "That was just...an...insanely correct coincidence." Ford scoffed, a little weirded out with how specific it actually was. Sebastian laughed. "Well, magic works in mysterious ways~"

"He got it from me." Kari said proudly.

"You're a FAKE PHYSIC!" Ford groaned, but he couldn't help but laugh.

"You don't KNOW that!" Kari looked smug.

Shermie slurped his fish. "Wait. Are YOU?"

"Fordsie~" Bill brought their plates over. "I made steak for you~" Ford blinked. Well, he could smell it and felt his mouth water. It smelled delicious. He looked up at Bill's grinning face and smiled. "Thanks." Bill let go and skipped away, just leaving him with a small smile.

Bill went to sit at the kid's table to help feed the smaller ones. Ford sent him a fond look when he saw them cutting the food into smaller pieces for the children. Thoughtful as always. Well, when they weren't trying to purposely annoy people at least.

"Wait, so… Seb's a witch and he cursed Ford to end up with eight kids…" Carla was tapping the table as she thought about it. "Well, thank god he didn't curse you." She nudged Stan.

He choked.

"It's just a coincidence." Ford deadpanned.

Seb patted Ford's loin in a friendly manner "You know it's not...not with ME as your bro" and went to sit next to his mom. He liked to feed her and she liked being pampered, unlike Ford, but he had no other option but to ask for someone to feed him.

Unless of course, he wanted to eat from a plate on the floor like Sir Bedazzle. Seb suggested it to tease him. He just got slapped the other day by Wanda's feathery hand.

Irony was a bitch. Ford, the most independent man ever, not having functional hands! Haha!

Once Bill was done tending to their kids, they came over to sit beside Ford. "Hey Fordsie~" Bill nuzzled against his side. "I love your fur so much~it's so soft~" Ford rolled his eyes and tried to hide his smile. "Well, maybe next time you can be the furry one." Bill snorted. "Who says I'm NOT a furry?"

"You ARE?!" Mabel called from the table. She was sitting normally, but her tail, like her dad's, were submerged in a bucket to stay hydrated. Dipper was drooling at the salads, his legs tucked under him and still reaching the table with ease. (Younger him, and even last year's him would have given him a dirty look for eating salad).

Bill laughed. "I'm into HUMANS aren't I? Well, to be fair, there aren't any Flatlanders left so...eh…" Bill shrugged "I mean, most of the alien races out there could also be considered Furry so…"

"No comment." Mabel said before stuffing her mouth with salad. Max was happily eating some fish, though he was a little sad he couldn't eat salads anymore.

"Say ah~" Bill cooed as they held up a forkful of steak. The juices dripped and the aroma was heavenly. Ford opened his mouth, showing off his sharp teeth. Bill giggled as they fed their partner. Ford couldn't really chew, but he rolled the meat around in his mouth, enjoying the taste. Lightly salted, medium rare and so...juicy. He swallowed. "Ah~" He said as he opened his mouth for another piece.

Everyone smiled at the interaction, everyone loved teasing Stanford, he was annoy-able as hell, but no one could deny they were incredibly happy to see him as happy as he was. His long tail waving around quickly was just one of the indicators. Everyone ate happily and Seb was more than happy to hold his mom after lunch, gently running a hand through her graying fur and grinning at her purrs. Sebastian doted on Kari the most out of all his brothers. It was she who had taught him what it was like to have a mother who loved him, for all his faults. She was strict but fair and never spoiled him with a suffocating, yet distant love like the Triangle mother he had a long, long time ago. Seb was very grateful for Kari always trying her best for him despite how odd and problematic he was as a child.

The two curled up on the couch, the manticore with his head on her back, purring at her and then fell asleep. Stan and Ford grinned at the sight. Seb had been incredibly close to their mother since they were babies. It was so beautiful to see their bond as strong as ever, even after so long. Ford yawned and laid down on a carpet. Eating was...exhausting...he...needed...sleep…

The octuplets giggled and crawled under their father's wings. Gloria and Erbi whined and pointed at them, so Bill fondly carried them over to tuck them under Ford's wings as well. Mobility was still something of an issue for Bill's youngest children.

"Mabel, do you have any cameras?" Bill asked. Mabel pulled out three. "Of course!" The two giggled together and began snapping photos of the adorable sight. (They also used their phones to get even MORE photos.) This wasn't how Mabel thought they would spend their summer but...she glanced at Max, helping to wash the dishes and talking to her mom with more confidence than usual, it was still a memorable one.

-.-

"Hey, look everybody, Ford's face chatting with the president! Everyone say Hi mr. president!" Stan jumped behind Ford and in chorus the family replied. "Helloo~, Mr. president!"

Fiddleford chuckled at the Pines. "Ford, this must be some sort of joke right? Its makeup, its an illusion? It's a mask!"

"I'm afraid I...actually look like this. Right now. There's a…. It's a magic thing." Ford twitched his big ears.

And Fiddleford burst out laughing. Well thank god HE wasn't in Gravity Falls right now! Ford growled softly in annoyance.

"Are y'all handling it well?"

"We're not hurt and it's been several days, yeah. In the meantime the town seems to be trying to Nevermind all that all... this." Ford nodded. Fiddleford kept giggling.

"Oh Jesus, you look like a fluffy cat~"

Ford deadpanned and his friend just laughed louder. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Stan and Seb poked their heads from behind Ford. "I'm also part fluffy cat! I think ! with horns!" Seb grinned at the president while wiggling his ears.

"I'm a rock, 'cuz it's more manly." Stan flexed his arm to show his rock muscle.

"And I'm human!" Bill pushed Seb aside to show off too with Glasses. "Isn't this so weird?!" Bill laughed. Fiddleford blinked. "...Yun?"

"I'm Bill, er… sorry?" Bill blinked.

Fiddleford chuckled. "It's fine. I know you're not the same. Anyway, how has humanity been treating ye?"

Bill shrugged. "I can't use my powers very well. But they're not gone, so I'm not too upset. And Fordsie's so cuuuute and fwuffy~!" He cuddled right against Ford's side.

"Sixer purrs." Stan giggled, wagging his tail slightly. Fiddleford laughed. "He does now?"

"I-Not INTENTIONALLY!" Ford screamed and his brothers and best friend cackled, as Bill just rolled his eyes and hugged him tighter.

Seb yawned, letting his long tongue out. "Well, I've been trying to purr, mind you, Glasses, but I can't do it on command! I think I'm not cat enough like Ford." He sighed with mock disappointment. Fiddleford shook his head with a grin. "Which is weird 'cause lions aren't even capable of normal purring."

"Oh boy, I'll have to hear more about this later, but right now I need to hang up, ok? Please don't turn this into a...supernatural pandemic, keep it contained in town" Fiddleford begged.

"Don't worry, the weirdness barrier is keeping it all inside. Some videos from town are going viral, though most people seem to think they're just really cool special effects." Ford assured the President, who smiled widely, waved and then he left the chat. Bill pouted. Would be nice if it weren't. He leaned down and buried his face in Ford's fur. Imagine, the whole world filled with magic. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

-.-

"Hey, guys! Me and Maxi will go to the lake to swim around!" Mabel called as she lifted her arms for said boy to pick her up. Max easily lifted her out of the water and nuzzled her nose.

"Take your dad." Abigail's eye twitched, as Shermie was so bored he kept pestering her. In fact Shermie was wrapped around her, whining about how bored he was since he didn't know what to do and he hadn't gotten a hold of how to move with his tentacles yet.

"Hah. No." Mabel blew her mommy a kiss and patted Max's shoulder. "Let's go! Go! Go!" Max laughed and ran off, carrying Mabel above him while she made a, "Whoooosh~~!" They made their way into town and Max calmly walked on all fours , with Mabel on his back. "Are you ok? How come you're still breathing? Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yup! And I don't know! Maybe I can breathe both in water and air!" Mabel flexed before she gasped. "I almost forgot! Candy and Grenda should be here this summer! Grenda said she would be flying in, and Candy was going to come back from college since quarantine is over and…" With the monster madness happening, she nearly forgot!

Max nodded. He remembered. He met them through Zuum. Mabel really loved them so he was actually kinda excited to meet someone Mabel cared so much about. "Should we go find them?" Max asked, looking up at her. Mabel bit her lip. "Well, they weren't in town when this happened, and I'm not sure when they're gonna be arriving. But I know it was supposed to be sometime this month." She pulled out her phone and started texting.

Max laid down on the floor as he waited. He couldn't sit, or Mabel would slip down. He felt the soil under him and smiled a little. Wow… how long it's been since he was actually this close to nature… Max softly scratched the ground with his claws and hummed in content.

How could someone try to be accepting of one's curse and realize you've been feeling comfortable in your human body if he was back to being...his old self? Max didn't want to throw all his progress away! But...He was happy...and sad, because this would only make things harder once the curse on the town was over…

"Max?" Mabel reached down to place her hand on his cheek. "Are you ok?" she noticed the tension, and the way his ear fins were dropped low. Max sighed. "I'm just…" he looked down at his claws. "I'm going to lose this when the great dragon breaks the curse."

"Oh..." Mabel stroked his cheek and kissed his forehead. Max smiled sadly. "I missed this...but, this is not going to last." Mabel frowned in thought. "Are you feeling ok to go out? We could go back home."

"No, I want to go out with you." Max nodded. "It's just weird for me, and it's funny, because all of you are humans, and now you're supernatural creatures, but I was one and now that I actually am one...I think I'm just as weirded out as everyone else…"

"I didn't know, Maxi, I'm so sorry." Mabel sighed. Max licked her cheek. "Hey...it's ok...I want to be like this, but...I also want to be a human...I accept my curse, because I love you, and I'll never regret doing so." He looked at Mabel with determined green eyes. "I just need to...get used to it again." He smiled a little more.

"So you're ok with hanging out with my friends? They were actually here when the curse started and they're at the lake today!"

"Of course! Lead the way!" Max smirked and Mabel held herself as he began cantering in the direction of the lake. Mabel hugged his neck. "If you ever need a big 'ol cuddle for whatever reason, please tell me." Max made a soft growl in agreement.

-.-

"Oh my gosh, is this MAX?!" Candy gasped as she poked Max's scaley arm. Candy had turned into some kind of aquatic green thing, which Mabel would later learn was a Kappa, and Mabel thought she looked adorable. The three girls and boy were in the water, splashing happily in greeting. Some other aquatic townsfolk were around, but everyone was separated enough in their own little groups.

Grenda looked a lot like Shermie, in that she was a mer-octopus. But her tentacles were a lot more muscular than her dad's. A fact that Mabel was going to tease her father about later.

"Yes! I am!" Max wagged his tail. "I'm Max! It's so nice to meet you out of the camera! Mabel talks a lot about you two."

"Yes I do." Mabel smugly smiled.

"EVEN AS A MONSTER YOU LOOK SO HANDSOME!" Grenda exclaimed, and Max was glad he couldn't blush in this form.

"Thanks…"

"He is the handsomest~" Mabel purred, stroking Max's scaley arm.

"HAH! MY MARIUS IS JUST AS HANDSOME!" Grenda thundered.

"GASP! Is Marius here in town?" Mabel leaned closer to Grenda before looking at Max quickly. "Marius is Grenda's boyfriend, by the way, babe."

"YEAH!" Grenda grinned before she leaned closer and whispered, "ʜᴇ's ᴀᴄᴛᴜᴀʟʟʏ ʜɪᴅɪɴɢ."

"Oh the poor dear." Mabel shook her head. "He's not used to the supernatural craziness like us!" Candy agreed. "We told him it was ok, that he's still cute no matter what."

"ᴀᴄᴛᴜᴀʟʟʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ɴᴏᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ɪssᴜᴇ." Grenda continued to 'whisper', bellowing this out as quietly as she could physically manage. Mabel gasped.

Grenda looked left and right. "HE REFUSES TO TELL ME WHAT HE IS. BUT HE'S GOT A CUTE LITTLE FORKED TAIL. AND HORNS. I THINK HE'S SOME KIND OF DEMON." Grenda frowned. "I THINK HE'S WORRIED ABOUT BEING A DEMON OR SOMETHING?."

"Oh my, now I'm very curious~"

"I wonder if Dr. Pines would know what he is?"

"Dr. Pines would definitely know. And if he doesn't, the great dragon would." Max nodded, completely sure of the knowledge of his former tutor. Mabel agreed. "He knew what we all were! Even Dillon, and he's some sort of birdie-deer thing and Uncle Seb, at first he didn't know, but he has concluded he is a...what was that word?" She looked at Max for help. "Mant-coat?"

"Manticore! Yeah! He's like a lion, but also a goat, with four arms and fire, and he looks very cute." Candy and Grenda nodded in approval. The triplets were always so handsome. "Fun fact! A lot of my family has deer parts, Dipper is a deer dork." Mabel snorted. "But also, uncle Seb, Stan and Ford all have wings. I'm almost jealous. I kinda want to fly."

"A lot of people do. I don't mind being a swimmer though." Candy smiled. "All I need to worry about is tilting my head too much when on land." She patted her head. "If I spill the water that's caught in the leaves up here, I get paralyzed."

"What?!" Mabel and Max looked horrified, but Candy waved it off. "It's not a big deal. Grenda carries around water to pour on me." Candy shrugged. "I CAN CARRY LOTS OF THINGS NOW!" The large young woman grinned, flexing her tentacles.

"So… that's good?" Mabel blinked. She hadn't thought about the downsides to becoming magical creatures and cryptids. Wait… "What if someone became a vampire? Would they burn up in the sun?" she wondered.

"Well, not quite, sugarplum." A familiar and somewhat unwelcome voice called out. The group jumped startled and turned around quickly. It was Gideon, who looked more or less the same (though he was taller, had filled out a bit more, and looked paler than usual.) He was holding an umbrella. "Though the sun does terrible things to my complexion."

"Well, that IS interesting to know." Candy agreed.

"Oh! Hey...you…" Mabel laughed awkwardly. She hadn't seen him since that bonding time with uncle Ford a couple years back. "What's up?"

"Oh nothing… Just chose the worst moment to not leave town." Gideon sat down at the shore and looked down, smiling friendly at the girls, not noticing Max yet. "Last year I had to be at my parent's house and it did NOT go well."

Candy nodded. "Oh, studying in my house was not easy either!" "Don't remind me of last year pleaseee." Mabel moaned.

"Who's he?" Max asked Mabel, nose twitching as he tried picking up some of the new guy's scent and intentions. He hadn't heard about this person before. Mabel stiffened a little. "Oh, ah… this is Gideon. He's a guy I know from the first time I came to town, years ago."

"A guy ya know? Oh sweet pea, I'm hurt." Gideon gasped. "I will say though, you're looking lovely, fins and all." Mabel tightened her fists. "Max, this is Gideon. Gideon, this is my boyfriend Max."

Candy and Grenda shared a look. Oh. Oh! The drama!

Gideon's grin dropped. "...What?"

Max, completely unaware of Gideon and Mabel's past, just smiled. "Hey! Hello! It's nice to meet you. And yup! It's been almost two years now!" He let out a soft 'wow', just thinking it's been two years made him all so fuzzy~

Gideon blinked, making a small grimace as he looked between Max and Mabel. Mabel was holding Max's hand and looking serious. Gideon glanced back at Max, trying to see what about this boy so appealed to his goddess-

Max was giving Gideon a friendly smile, completely oblivious. Gideon didn't really know what this man really looked like, seeing as he was some kind of lizardman right now, but he was tall, incredibly tall, with muscular arms and abs for days. And Gideon took a deep breath before tightening his hold on his umbrella. "...you're a lucky man, ta be chosen by Mabel." Gideon finally said. Max wagged his tail. "Yeah!… I don't know if it's luck, but I'm grateful to the gods that we met." He looked at her, leaning back a little. "Forever and ever grateful."

"Awww~" Mabel's expression softened before she leaned up, extending her tail, and kissing his muzzle.

Gideon hissed softly. "I'll leave now." He didn't want to watch this.

"You...can hang out with us if you want though?" Mabel offered. Gideon wasn't her enemy, they did say they'd be friends (even though he really annoyed her that time at the party with his insistence), and Mabel didn't like excluding anyone.

"Are you one of Mabel's friends?" Max asked Gideon, looking back and forth between the two of them. Mabel's expression turned sad. "Yeah. We were friends. I… liked being friends with him when I was a kid. But I don't know if…" she gave Gideon a complicated look. "...look, I have to be honest here. Gideon, you were my friend. That was fine. I liked hanging out with you. But things got… weird between us, and I don't like being pressured." she admitted. "We were friends once, I wouldn't mind being friends again." Mabel tried to make peace, letting go of Max's hand. Max swam around a little, thrilled to be in the water.

Gideon gave her the longest stare ever before he choked out. "I don't want to be just your friend." He turned around, upset and heartbroken again, and left without any other word.

Mabel groaned and leaned against Grenda's chest, Candy rubbing her shoulder, and Max just looked so lost. Welp. That was weird. But apparently they just knew each other. He swam towards the girls. "So, what can we do in this lake?"

Mabel thanked the distraction. "Oh I bet we can find money here~ Last one to the bottom is a rotten egg!" She held Max's claw as the two dove down. It's ok. Who needed Gideon. She had the perfect man here, and if Gideon didn't want to be friends, and let go of his obsession with her… maybe it was ok to keep her distance as well.

-.-

They finally went to Grenda's parent's house, where she and Marius were staying for the summer. And Max smiled at the other man, his tail unable to hide his excitement of meeting Mabel's friends "Hey! Are you Marius? Miss Grenda has told me about you. I'm Max! Mabel's boyfriend!"

The person wrapped up in a blanket like a cocoon shifted a little, as if looking up. "Oh...It's a pleasure. I'm Baron Marius von Fundshauser."

"What's a Baron?"

"Means he's royal." Mabel giggled, enjoying Max's horrified look at having talked to royalty that way. "Oh my gods, I'm so sorry, sir!" Max bowed.

The cocoon chuckled before flopping to its side. "It's fine! I do not mind."

Grenda scoffed. "URGH! MARIUS! YOU CAN'T BE THERE FOREVER! YOU'LL HAVE TO COME OUT EVENTUALLY!

"Ja, but the last time zer vas magic, I vas turned into a tree." Marius pouted. He had been afraid of ghosts for weeks. And wood. His furniture needed to be taken off sight until he was ok again.

"But this is your own body, it won't hurt you! And Grenda told us you have a cute tail so I think it's an improvement from being a tree." Mabel reasoned. "Come on~~ We all look silly! We wanna see! We wanna see!" She chanted.

"...very vell…" Marius shyly let his blanket drop and the girl's jaws copied it. Even Max found himself feeling flustered for some reason. Mabel slowly blinked and pulled her eyes away. "Oh, definitely some kind of charm effect." Because Marius looked cute, but it seemed like he was just… incredibly attractive, for no discernable reason.

Mabel pulled out her phone, "Do you mind if I call my uncle to ask him what you are?"

Marius slowly shook his head. "It… is fine. I am also vorried about vat I could be."

Mabel dialed Ford, but since his paws couldn't really pick up his phone anymore, Bill picked up instead. "Yellow?"

"Oh, Bill, this works too." Mabel smiled. "Do you or Ford know what Marius turned into?" She opened video chat and turned the screen. Bill's eyes widened. "Oh. He looks like some kind of Alp."

"A what?" Mabel blinked.

"A type of incubus."

All the girls blushed. Ooooh, that explained it.

He had long pointy ears, his skin was paler and two little horns poked out of his forehead, his forked tail was tucked, but other than that he still looked like himself. Just… shiny around the edges.

Grenda was staring at Marius, drooling. Marius 'eep'ed and hid under his blanket again. He knew that look. It was the look that meant Grenda wanted to have 'fun times'. And Marius loved it, he loved how assertive and dominating she was, but he was eyeing up those tentacles and very worried about what might happen.

"Woah, big girl, resist the temptation at least until we're out." Mabel and Candy held their friend's arm. "We should probably get going. Give you some… privacy..." Mabel patted her transport's chest. Max chuckled nervously, feeling a little sympathetic for Marius. He knew what it was like to have an 'active' partner. Well, Max wiggled his tail. They left Grenda's house and Candy let out a dreamy sigh. "Oh, I hope I'll find a boy someday."

"Girl, you're wonderful. You definitely will. And you're gonna find the perfect man! You can't settle for just any boy." Mabel patted her shoulder. ("But can't I settle for some boy, just to tide me over?" Candy sighed.)

Candy looked at Max. "Do you have any friends you can introduce me to?"

"Um… Mermando's married." Max blinked. "And… I never had friends back at my tribe, and even if I had, I can't go back, I'm sorry."

Mabel nuzzled his neck and Candy waved her hands. "Nah! Don't worry!"

They walked together for a while talking about any other boy in town that Candy could get with.

"There's always Gabe…"

"Ew." Mabel deadpanned. "No offense."

Candy shrugged. "He's been doing a little better after rehab." ("He really went to rehab?") "And I do think he's cute."

"Eh… you're too good for him." Mabel pointed out.

"Yes. But I'm not looking for a perfect man. I just want some d-"

Mabel's phone rang. "Oh, hang on." She picked up. "Hello?"

"Mabel! You and Max need to get back to the shack!" She heard Dipper say. "Oh, uh… alright." She turned to Candy and gave her a sheepish look. "Sorry, gotta go. I'll see you later?" Candy nodded. "Yup. We can go to the mall and hang out." Mabel waved as they split up.

Candy had a contemplative look on her face. "Maybe I should try those dating apps..." She said to herself as she walked away.

Max pressed kisses on Mabel's forehead as he carried her bridal style before sitting her on his back and trotting in the direction of the Shack. Their peace was quickly interrupted when they reached the Shack and found out why Dipper had called her.

""Ah!"" The two cried as the two big cats in the family rolled past them, snarling and biting each other.

"Uncle Ford? Uncle Seb? What's going ON?!" Mabel demanded.

"Seb don't you DARE use your tail, it's poisonousss!" Stanley flew towards them and tried pulling Ford away, hissing angrily. ("It's venomous. There's a difference." Dipper un helpfully told him.)

"Let go, Stanley! I need to make him PAY!" Ford snarled. Seb was being held back by Shermie, who was wrapping his long tentacles around his arms and legs. "It was just a little bit! And it's not like you even wanted it in the first place!"

"What's going on?!" Mabel screamed.

"Sebastian took my catnip mouse!" Ford cried.

…

Mabel rubbed her ear fin to make sure she was listening right. " What ?"

"You WERE NOT USING IT! YOU SELFISH JERK! YOU ONLY WANT IT BECAUSE I WANT IT!" Seb roared, almost quite literally.

"Bill gave it to me! It's MINEEEE!" Ford struggled against Stan's grip.

"Dude, Bill was teasing you." Stan huffed. ("I don't care!")

"This is too ridiculous, even for you two." Mabel and Max made their way inside just as Stan lost his grip on Ford and the sphinx jumped over Seb and Shermie like a predator.

"HEEELPP!" Shermie screamed as the half lion men bit and clawed at each other once again on top of him.

Shermie was snatched up by Kari as she pounced through the fighting boys without any issue, flapping her wings and gliding gracefully to the ground in front of the door. ("...thanks Ma….") He was reminded of when he was a kid.

Mabel tried to talk her uncle Seb into giving Ford the mouse, but he didn't want to. Eventually, they all decided to just let the two idiots fight it out. The family let the Pines brothers handle this on their own, they were big boys and they should know better, and around 20 minutes later, the triplets returned to the living room. They were whimpering softly and licking their wounds (literally).

Stan was laughing his head off.

"Yeesh." Bill was carrying over the first aid kit. "I didn't realize you loved your catnip mouse that much." He paused. "Are you ok? Anything worse than scratches?"

"Just my heart being shattered because Ford hates me." Seb sighed defeatedly, licking his bleeding arm.

"Sebastian tried taking my eye off!" Ford complained. ("I DID NOT! Your claws were all inside me , bitch! I barely scratched you!" Seb pointed at his own furry arm oozing blood.

"Well, at least I hope this teaches you not to fight like animals." Wanda deadpanned, crossing her arm wings, pissed.

Bill was slightly more sympathetic to their plight. "If you wanna fight, wrap your paws first so you don't scratch each other." They kept complaining about the pain though, so Bill got them some strong painkillers, he had no idea what the correct dose was so he simply made them swallow a bunch because why the hell not?!

The worst part was that, after the two got cleaned up and bandaged, the sphinx and the manticore yawned, curled up against each other and fell asleep. Stan shrugged and joined the fluffy pile. Everyone deadpanned.

Bill simply took a lot of photos. "So precious~"

There was a sound of whimpering from the other room and Bill was on his feet in an instant. "My babies!" He cried as he ran off to tend to them. Bill was very diligent, comforting his children the instant they showed any sign of distress. Melody informed the rest of the family about how she's almost never heard the octuplets cry, since Bill was seeing to their needs almost 24/7.

"...is that… healthy?" Carla asked, looking worried for both the children and Bill. "If they don't really learn to vocalize when they're feeling upset or uncomfortable?" Carla clarified. "Diligence and care is good, but isn't Bill spoiling them?"

"Bill says there's no such thing as loving too much." Ford spoke up, half asleep in the kitty pile. "And we talk to them aaaall the time, so I doubt they would have any issue learning speech" He purred when Seb twitched, one hoof hitting his side as Seb pressed closer. Aaww ~

Carla hummed in thought before shrugging. She couldn't argue with that.

"And what about Bill? Is she… er… he? Er… whichever they currently are, doing okay? Their body is human now, right? Are they still feeding all the babies alright?"

The triplets were exhausted from that fight. Ford hummed sleepily, half listening to them "Bill… has been… persistently trying to see if I could feed them. But I...but I can't...no milk."

"What?" Kari choked with her spit and started coughing.

"You mean...Bill wants you to feed the babies yourself?" Wanda snickered. "Why?"

Seb grumbled. "Kitty tits." He mumbled sleepily as his ears flickered.

The women listening burst out laughing.

Ford would have blushed (not that he could blush as a sphinx, the best he could have done was fold a paw over his face), but instead he nodded and pressed against Stan.

"Hey, Stanford, you really are more equipped for that now? Can we see?" Carla didn't expect a reply, but the shirtless sphinx (because of the bandages) laid on his back, still with his arms closed. With all those painkillers Bill got them, they literally drugged the two.

Carla, Wanda, Melody and Kari grinned like witches. "Holy shit~~"

Wanda dug carefully in the pile to look at Seb. "Oh gosh, he does too!" She had not realized this! Wanda giggled. "If you could produce milk, you'd probably be able to feed all the kids at once."

"I do not produce milk, and despite Bill's pouting, I'm NOT going to do soooooooo." Ford moaned. "I said 'no' to THAT." He was much more candid than usual, due to the painkillers dulling his brain to mouth filter. He sounded drunk.

"Wait! Do I have extra nipples?!" Abigail looked down at herself, but she couldn't bend down that far. "How many nipples is a horse supposed to have?"

The women were about to bend down to see, but Kari put her paws on their shoulders. "Kids, don't worry about it." She told them solemnly. The incredibly curious wives looked at the old woman and blinked at her.

"You can imagine whatever you want." Kari told them all with all the patience of a woman who raised four sons. "Let's just say that a lot of animals have more nipples and end it right there."

"...fiiiiine~" Carla and Wanda sighed. Abigail was blushing and lying down to hide her horse belly. Maybe she could ask Shermie in private~

(The Pines family, both blood and married in, were all weird horny mother fuckers.)

(Yes, even the asexual ones. Ford was just as horny as MizBill, but for different things, like math and knowledge.)

Bill finished tending to the babies, they returned to the living room and found everyone sleeping in a big pile. His golden eyes sparkled and he crawled under Ford's wings. The entire house then fell silent, just a happy family of monsters napping together.

-.-

"You know Seb, if you close your eyes you can almost feel like nothing's really changed." Bill commented, relaxing on the porch with her babies around her.

Seb was with his eye closed. "I can't sleep on my back anymore." He deadpanned, his tail's spikes poking out. Bill laughed sheepishly and punched his shoulder. "Oh silly you…"

"How is your magic saving going?" Seb asked. "It's been two weeks now."

Bill sighed. "Well, it's coming along. I still have to use some of my powers to feed the kids properly, so I've been making pretty slow progress." She paused. "But like… isn't it fine this way? I've seen you have fun."

"Well I try being positive, I don't want the twins getting worried from seeing me…" Seb scratched his fluffed up hair to look like a mane. "We can help you feed the kids, so you can save energy for this." Seb said with an uncharacteristic seriousness.

Bill blinked. "Oh… you don't have to, it's slow but it's fine." She also sighed and pouted. "And, you know how hard it is to manage pure energy as a human?" She pouted hard. "It's very difficult and I get a headache pretty often~" She pouted, looking down. "I can see why you used to have nosebleeds and shit when you first started.

Seb smiled sympathetically. "Aawww come here, it's ok." he hugged her and rubbed her back.

Bill grinned evilly. Seb blinked. "That's an interesting expression. Bill blinked. "Ah, sorry, this form really likes to do that for some reason." She excused. "Pay it no mind."

Seb narrowed his eye at her for a few moments before shrugging. "Eh. Ok." (Bill was glad he wasn't suspicious, but she was also a little worried about how trusting he was…)

A few days later, Bill skipped toward Max, playing solitaire on his phone. "Hey Maxi~~Looking great! Never seen your scales so pretty~"

"O-Oh, thank you Great Dragon…" Max's ear fins twitched at the compliment.

"Wouldn't it be great to stay like this?" Bill asked casually. "Everyone's gotten used to it already."

"They have? I didn't know…" Max hummed. "Mabel told me she's a little tired from being in water all day though?"

"Well, since there are a lot of aquatic-types, they're gonna make ways to help them out. Like wheelchairs, but with water tanks." Bill smiled. "I saw some of the women at the Center working on some."

"Oh…Mabel might like that… I'm kinda glad I can look like my old self again, even if it feels a little odd." Max laughed sheepishly.

"Right? Isn't it great?" Bill sobered a little. "But it'll all end when I break the curse. And… wouldn't that be kinda sad?"

Max fiddled with his phone. "I mean...Maybe...If people like being like this now…"

"And you'd be sad! You'd lose this chance to be yourself…" Bill sighed defeatedly. Max laughed. "Well I'm always myself, I just look different and having my hair combed was very nice, even more than my feathers."

Bill paused. "So… would you like for the curse to remain?"

Max fiddled awkwardly. "I wouldn't mind either way I guess, being human just feels...normal now? I've gotten used to it." Max laughed sheepishly, surprising even himself, but it was true. His human body felt comfortable, it was part of his own curse.

Bill was quiet. But finally he smiled, a little melancholy. "Alright. I'm… happy for you."

Max nodded, confused at the whole interaction, and went back to his game as Bill wavered on the inside over what he wanted to do or not.

-.-

"You know what would be an awesome idea?!" Bill exclaimed as they all had dinner. "If Fordsie collapsed the weirdness barrier! He knows the equation!"

Some choked on the food others just stared, as they didn't really understand what that meant. "Oh no, I get bad vibes from this." Mabel and Dipper shared a worried look.

Everyone stared. "...why?" Seb asked slowly.

"I mean, if the barrier is trapping everyone in the town, why not just get rid of it. Wouldn't it be easier to do that than breaking the curse anyway?"

"Yes...And billions of people will turn into monsters." Stan deadpanned.

"I see no issue here." Bill said pleasantly.

Everyone turned to look at Ford, who just wanted to enjoy his meat in peace, gosh for Tesla's sake. "We talked about this when this started, remember? We can't sacrifice others for ourselves."

"It's not sacrificing! Yeesh! If everyone in the world were cool magical beings and stuff, then there would be less people being called 'weird' or 'freakish', right?"

"Yeah...that's not how things work." Dipper stuffed salad in his mouth nervously. "Haven't you watched Z-men?"

"And haven't you watched the Amazing Family? Syndrome was RIGHT about at least one thing!" Bill pointed at the deertaur. "If everyone's weird, then no one is."

"Humans are bitches though." Seb shrugged. "Language!" Abigail complained. "-They would find ways to discriminate against each other anyway."

"And that's another great point! No one would be human hence they wouldn't have to discriminate against each other." Bill's smile seemed off somehow.

"Bill, that's not happening. Stop." Ford glared at the blonde. "You only need to gather energy and break this. You promised us and the town."

Bill looked down at her food quietly. "They're just upset they can't leave town. People are fine with being magical..."

The family ate in silence after that.

Bill was frowning. "What can't the whole world be magic?" She mumbled to herself.

"I like you all this way. Being magical and non-mortal humans." Bill told them bluntly the next morning.

"Uh...thanks?" Shermie asked, bored out of his mind inside the pool. His tentacles twitched from time to time as he poked them and the fins on his neck turned at the sounds around.

"Why can't you just listen to what I think is best, and stay this way?!" Bill glared at Ford who lifted his head from the book he was reading on the floor and blinked slowly. "Because… we have minds of our own?"

Bill looked away. "I know that. But my idea is much better."

Everyone groaned collectively.

But Bill was being stubborn. And while everyone was used to Miz's stubbornness, they… actually hadn't spent much time around Bill before. And some of them were feeling a little… uncomfortable at the bad memories this was bringing up. Ford narrowed his eyes. "Bill. I know that you know this isn't right."

"Really?" Bill rolled her eyes. "And how would you know I knew that?"

"You're not heartless. And you care about what we think and feel." Ford took a step towards her. "You know what you're saying isn't right. But you're doing this anyway because you're trying something. Testing something." Bill twitched, looking away. "I'm the one who can break this curse, and I don't want to right now." Bill said quietly. Ford frowned and took another step. "Bill, look at me." He peered at her until she turned, looking uncomfortable. "You know this is a bad idea." Ford said simply.

"No, I don't." Bill said in a tone that made it clear she did and was just being obnoxious. She turned around and left. "Bill!" Ford ran after her but Stan pulled at his tail. "Let her cool off...We need her to fix this." He said seriously. "Clearly, she's upset about something. Confronting her would just rile her up more. Give her some time to cool off so you can talk to her properly."

Ford took a deep breath and nodded. "Fine…Fine. You're right." The gargoyle patted his back.

Bill went to town and with every step, she tried to convince herself more that this was a sight she didn't want to let go of. What was wrong with everyone being monsters? (A lot of things. The more sensible part of her pointed out.) Shut up you, no one asked for your opinion! (...it's… it's my own- your own opinion…) Fuck you. (Hah! In your dreams you slut!) Bill paused. Yeah… she really needed to get this whole… 'talking to herself' thing checked out...

Some adorable little kids ran past her, kicking a ball. This would be such a nice world, no one would mock each other, they'd learn! THEY'D HAVE TO! They'd finally understand! The types of monster people became were varied and random. It led to a lot of people thinking up solutions for the 'hanicapped' who had trouble walking or seeing normally. It led to people being more aware of things like mobility that they used to take for granted.

It would be safer for those who normally wouldn't have fit into human society, right? It'd be a world where her children wouldn't be teased or ostracized for being different...

And Seb didn't get it! Even after how he was treated! He got hurt and humiliated for his eye! Ford got hurt because of his hands and even having been through that, they still wanted things like they used to be! When-When a world with people with hooves or 3 fingers or 6 eyes existed! She loved her family, she could make them much happier but-but they refused! (Bill was very aware that while she was right, she was also wrong. There was a difference between making the world a better place for her family, and imposing her own selfish wants over an entire world without asking them for consent.)

And if the townsfolk or her family were annoyed at being stuck in town forever, which, admittedly, was a real concern, then the answers were to break the barrier and free everyone, while allowing the curse to spread to the rest of the world, or… make the barrier much larger and giving the people more space!

Bill stood in the center of the source of Weirdness in town… the Bill Cipher statue.

"Hey loser~ " Bill grinned at the other. "Lookie you. Dead ." She cackled. "Well, anyway, the Weirdness of the falls came from the connection this damn place has to the multiverse, the cracks that leak out things from other places to here." She knelt in front of the statue. "Well, you fucked up. The magnetism is an inherent part of the town itself, to try and keep all these leaks contained. But that's not why I'm here." She gave the statue a calm look. "You didn't care to want to keep your Pines, your Ford, so they're mine now. Alllll mine~" She tilted her head. "But they're going to leave me someday. And I don't want that. If… if they all became magical and stayed magical, I could theoretically keep them forever… heck if they know how long magical creatures live, right? I could probably get away with extending the lives of everyone on this planet for a few decades without them noticing..."

Bill leaned against the statue as she talked, looking to the side. Well, this was the center for the weirdness in town now. It used to be the spaceship. But Bill's statue, even if he was dead, was still a stronger source of weirdness. It shifted the bubble somewhat. But she was gonna be using this for her own purposes. She placed a hand on the statue and channeled it up and into the barrier, forcing it wider and wider.

People in town, and the Pines back in the Shack, ran outside to stare at the sky, after it turned dark for a fraction of a second. Yellow ruffles decorated the sky and they only got larger and wider, getting further and further away but they were still visible. Ford and Seb's noses twitched as they smelled around.

"No." Seb whispered and the two bolted out of the house in all fours. Stanley looked lost but he flew after his brothers in case they needed help.

The three came to a stop and stared at sight with worried expressions.

Bill was standing there, looking for all the world to be calm and collected. She had a hand on the top of the Bill statue's hat. She was gazing up at the sky. She/he tilted her head back to look over at them, eyes glowing gold. "It's fine. I haven't broken the barrier."

Seb growled and waved an arm, pulling Bill away from the statue with his magic. Bill yelped as he was thrown backwards and fell on his butt. "HEY!"

"What have you done?!" Seb demanded, flashing his fangs. Bill scoffed, brushing himself off and standing back up. "I fixed the problem! Now you can-woaahh!" Bill stumbled a little bit, dizzy from such a use of his power. "-now you can get out of town, the barrier won't stop you. And you'll be human outside of town, like how the tourists transform back and forth when they enter or leave the town."

"...No, No Bill this was NOT what we talked about!-You-What have you done!" Seb pulled at his horns.

Bill frowned. "I fixed the main problem." He pouted. "The weirdness is still just in Gravity Falls. People can leave if they don't want it." Ford strode over and sat on his haunches, placing his paws on either side of Bill's face. " Bill Cipher . Why are you doing this?" Ford asked, coming up with the most stoic face his racing heart and mind could master.

Bill straightened up, looking stubborn. "I'm doing what I want. Making this town MINE. Filled with magic and weirdness and ALSO allowing people to leave if they wanted." He huffed. "Everyone here can be weird and learn empathy. And they won't be mean to others for being 'different' because everyone is different now."

"You know people will always find a way to be mean to others, no matter what." Ford told him.

"It's NOT your responsibility to fix!" Seb shouted, fire spreading along his arms and tail. "You're not supposed to mess with this place!" He threw his arms into the air.

"I'm not. Other people set off the curse. I'm just making the most of it." Bill couldn't help snipping. Ford sighed, patting Bill's face to call his attention back. "No. Bad Bill. That's not right and you know it. Just because you altered the barrier around the town to be able to let people leave-" He paused. "You're…" Ford paused again. And then Ford understood . Stan blinked as he snorted, reaching the same conclusion as Ford.

"Oh. You're doing this on purpose." Stan laughed and patted Seb who was still growling loudly. "Seb, calm your tits. Bill's just being a drama queen."

Seb's fire receded and only the fire on his horns remained. He tilted his head and then his eye widened. "Oh-Ooohh!"

"I am not!" Bill sputtered. "I'm very clearly messing with you all for my own amusement! Lording my power over you because I can, and none of you can stop me!"

Ford rolled his eyes. "Suuuuuure you are." He patted the top of Bill's head. "Well, have fun with your town-domination plans right after you proved you could have collapsed the barrier yourself and unleashed this curse worldwide and didn't do so."

Because if Bill could alter the weirdness barrier around the town, to allow people to leave the town and it's curse, to become human again, then he would also have to know how to take down the barrier entirely. And he didn't do that. Even if he said all those things, he still knew it was wrong and chose not to do so.

Ford smiled at his partner. "You're a good person."

"I'm not!" Bill protested. "I'm a big bad demon-god who's trying to toy with your lives!"

"Suuuuuure you are." The triplets laughed. Stan even ruffled Bill's hair. "I'm gonna go tell everyone the good news. See ya." He turned and flew away. Seb sighed and sat down on a nearby rock. "Bill. I'm guessing you need someone to talk to."

Ford settled down as well. "Yes. So. We're here to listen. What's on your mind?"

Bill pouted. They weren't falling for it. Even though he was half serious. Really. Too trusting. He both loved and hated this part of them. It's why he didn't want to lose them. "I…I want you...here with me…" Her eyes watered as her lip wobbled.

The triplets' ears dropped and hugged the sniffling blond.

"You're all going to leave me someday, you know? It's going to happen." Bill told them. "It's a hard fact."

Ford and Seb wrapped themselves around Bill. "Look, Bill… you're not thinking straight right now, let's go home, you can get some food, some hugs, and sleep. You look tired." And Bill did look tired. Exhausted actually. Altering the barrier really took it out of him/her. Bill whined a little, but relaxed when Seb picked them up and put them on Ford's back. "Why… aren't you all more mad… at me…"

"Because you're not a bad guy." Ford told his partner. But Bill had already passed out.

-.-

Stan told the town the good news. They could leave town and be human again. But the curse was still active while IN town, and would take a little longer to resolve. The townsfolk didn't mind, having already adapted to it. Knowing they could leave made them much happier. They were content to wait for the full curse break. Without that fear of being trapped in town, even the most scared and sceptical could try to enjoy their powers.

Half of summer passed and they were covered in fur, feathers, or scales… or all of the above. And fortunately, they could take it as a new adventure now, knowing Bill will eventually fix this even when she denied it. Because once summer ended, they were going to leave and go back to their own lives anyway. And Ford needed use of his fingers for his job. So despite Bill claiming she wouldn't break the curse, everyone was sure she would. She was just being stubborn.

Pacifica was staying at the Shack, not really in the mood to deal with her parents while all of them looked like this (especially after her snakes attempted to bite her dad twice), so Dipper got to spend all the time with her (except when Zach and Zoe kidnapped him to play).

He got to admire how cute she was, with all her golden scales glimmering and how her tail curled up. And this new hissing-lisp she got was incredibly funny and adorable. He didn't know when or if they'd be able to fix this, but he did know that, whether they were humans or supernatural creatures, he'd always be there for her, and he'd always want Paz to be by his side.

"Hey mom." Dipper nudged his mom, the centaur reading outside. "Can we go for a walk and...you know, talk?" He asked awkwardly. Abigail laughed. AAAWW. "Of course, sweetie." He reminded her a lot of when she was young. Her sweet baby boy.

The two went on a run, Dipper remembered what Bill had said about him using his deer body to really see how fast he could go last month. So he did. And he felt the wind blowing through his hair, felt the way his heart raced as he went, and he couldn't help laughing at the endorphins flooding through him. A real deer would get incredibly tired from running for too long. But Deertaurs were half human, with the endurance to match.

Dipper and Abi started chasing each other. Abi remembered her little boy when he was so small and she'd have to run after him so he wouldn't try to stick his little fingers in the outlets. Now he was grown up...with very big antlers on his head. Hah.

The two laughed as the wind blew through their hair and fur. Dipper felt his heart pound and he felt so...FREE. Running through the grass was amazing and he loved it.

This was the first time they did this. They were always busy at home or with their family, so going out and letting their instincts take control for a bit was...incredible. They jumped and leaped over branches, mounds and even tried jumping a small cliff. Abigail had been scared at first, but after she realized she didn't fall and die, she dragged her son to more places to jump and challenge him.

"Wait!" Dipper cried, panting but laughing as he ran after her. She was fast. The humid soil felt amazing under his hooves.

They eventually stopped by the river and sat down. Dipper pulled a water bottle from his backpack and handed it to the black-haired centaur. As much as they liked being part of nature, they didn't feel like drinking water directly from the river.

Mother and son laid down and sighed contently at the wind blowing through the woods. The flowers smelled great and the sun was just right. Dipper glanced over at his mom. "You know… this might be the most fun I've had all summer." He twitched his ear, "I haven't really spent time together with you, just us two, in years mom. Kinda… bittersweet to think about how… that's gonna be harder to do in the future." Abigail smiled at the young man next to her and put a hand over his. "Oh Dipper...what will I do when you two move out? I'll miss you so much…"

"I'll miss you too." Dipper nodded. "But I'm growing up. And I… do want some space of my own, you know?" His mom nodded. "I know, sweetie...you and your sister have grown up so much…" She sighed. "But you two are still my babies." She nuzzled his side.

"Mom…" Dipper laughed. He laid down, curled on his deer half. "This summer has been great, even with this...thing." He lifted one of his slender legs. "Spending all this time together has been amazing and I never realized running was so much fun. Most of the time, I'm too focused on running away from danger or something. Never had a chance to just...enjoy myself."

Abigail sighed. "What have you and your sister been up to?" Dipper laughed. "Weird stuff."

He sobered. "Mom, there's...something I want to tell you…It's really important..." The young man said and Abi's ears twitched with curiosity. "Tell me."

"Well, it's about Pacifica…"

Over in the lake, Mabel, who had the same idea her twin had (probably twin telepathy) and Shermie were now spending some quality time together as well. They were tired of being confined to little pools in the house and Mabel had the brilliant idea to go to the lake. It was big, clean, and she bet they could have some fun there. They wouldn't be alone either. Most of the aquatic creatures in town had the same idea. But the lake was big enough they were relatively alone.

She had asked Max to tag along, but the eix leel awkwardly said he didn't want to spoil their parent/child fun. "Please~" Shermie huffed. "You're spoiling the fun by delaying us! Woo!" Mabel high-fived her dad.

Maxini rolled his eyes, realizing once again who Mabel got her personality from, and accepted.

He was wearing his swimming trunks every day anyway, so he was ready to go. He carried Mabel over his shoulder and Shermie over the other. Mabel cooed over how strong he was. Shermie rolled his eyes but frankly, he liked Max. He was a good kid, with a mellow calm that helped temper Mabel's excited energy.

Shermie swam around with his daughter and glanced over at the fond, soft expression on Max's face as he watched Mabel laugh.

Huh...he liked that smile…

There were a few families also hanging out in the lake and Mabel purposely splashed Max. "Oops! Now you'll have to take off your shirt~

The Eix Leel sighed dramatically. "I suppose I must..." He threw his shirt away and jumped into the water. It felt nice on his scales. Mabel swam over and the two laughed as they swam around each other.

Shermie laughed and floated on his back. They were cute together. Even he could see that. He had seen how much his daughter struggled to find a boyfriend over the years and frankly...he was a little relieved when she actually found someone. Normally he'd be worried about some awful boy taking his precious daughter away...but he's gotten to know Max and found himself approving. He made Mabel happy, he really loved her, so he could only be happy for the two of them.

And then the two pressed closer together, kissing.

Ok that was enough, not in front of him!

Shermie swam towards them and hugged them both, effectively separating them. "This is great, isn't it?" He said cheerfully as he held them apart in each of his muscular arms.

"Yup! Being a mermaid is so cool when I actually have room to swim!" Mabel cheered. Max shrugged. He swam back to the shore, shook himself and laughed softly. "Well, I'm going to sunbathe, I haven't enjoyed this in FOREVER!" He told them as he flopped down on the ground, smiling and his tail thumping happily.

"Ok. We're diving underwater to collect treasure! Be right back~" Mabel called before she and her dad submerged. Their gills opened and allowed them to breathe.

True to her word, Mabel searched for cool stuff while Shermie watched her with a fond smile, she was always so happy and positive. She grew up, but she would never stop being herself, and that set his mind at ease to think of. "Hey Mabel?" Shermie asked quietly. "How much do you like Max?"

"The entire size of the universe! Multiplied by infinity! Plus one ." She grinned. Shermie laughed and swam closer to her. He broke off a piece of algae and played with it. "He's a good man...reptile, eh, boy . It reassures me how much he cares about you...this-" He lifted his tentacles a bit. "Isn't something someone accepts so easily...or our family, we're all crazy. I blame Ford and Seb for that."

Mabel giggled. "Max is perfect for me though! He's so sweet and he never seems weirded out by who I am, he likes me just like I am...all the dumb boys at high school didn't understand me…" she pouted. "They told me I was insane. Or too intense. Or scary. Or that I had to dial it back."

The man hugged her to his chest and Mabel quickly hugged him back. He stroked her floating brown hair. "Well...whatever your plans are with him...or if you plan to go any further...I approve." He nodded. Mabel squeezed the life out of him in a tighter hug. "Oh my Gosh! Dad! Thank you! Thank you!" She twirled him around and laughed happily.

"Yes, yes, I know dear...but! No children! Not until you're older!" Shermie rolled his eyes. Mabel cackled. "You have no right to say that, dad~I'm older than you were when you had us." Shermie blushed and coughed. "Yes...well...don't do what I did. I don't want grandbabies yet! I'm much too young!" Mabel nodded. "Alright dad. I promise I won't give you grandbabies yet. But just you wait old man, you're gonna be begging me for grandkids soon!"

Shermie kissed her forehead in response. "We'll see about that."

-.-

After the talk with his mom, Dipper got a text from Pacifica to meet with in the forest for "a quiet date without screaming babies and kids". It was actually a perfect idea.

His tail wagged when he saw her waiting for him "Paz!" He waved as he trotted over. He was excited. He loved his family but having some one on one time with his girlfriend would be perfect. Pacifica was dressed in a lovely dress that complimented her scales. Each of her snakes even had little bows around their necks. The young man giggled and bent to kiss her. "You look amazing~"

"Pfft, I always do, but you don't look bad yourself…" She kissed his cheek. "I like your shirt." "Thanks." Dipper nodded and looked at the snakes once again. "They wanted to look nice too." She explained and tucked a snake behind her ear. The deertaur snorted and his ears twitched. "I thought you said you wouldn't get attached to them."

Pacifica blushed a bit. "They are actually quite cute...and know a lot about fashion." Dipper rolled his eyes again. "Can we get a snake as a pet after this is all over?" Dipper raised an eyebrow. "We'll see about it." He bent down a little more. "So, should we go now?" She elegantly climbed onto his back and put her hands on his shoulders. The two laughed. This was so weird. She had her tail curled around him.

Pacifica held onto his shoulders and laughed as Dipper ran gracefully through the forest. "Never realized you were so agile~" She leaned closer against his back. Dipper laughed. "Well, most of this seems to be instinct." The deertaur eventually slowed down. "Where were we going again?"

"Oh. Um...just keep going, I'll tell you when we get there. I found a nice clearing and thought it would be a good place to, you know, talk and stuff? Is that ok?" Pacifica twirled one of her snakes.

"Yeah, I think that sounds nice...the house is full of shouting kids and shouting uncles." He joked and Pacifica laughed.

They reached the place, it was green, clean and very pretty. They settled down and Paz showed Dipper the wine she brought.

"Ooh~"

As the two toasted, her snakes made excited hissing sounds and looked at her expectantly. Now?! "Ssh…" The woman shushed them softly. They gave her insistent looks. Pacifica reached up to the pocket of her dress where a small box nestled safely. She breathed in to try and calm herself. "Hey...Dipper…"

"Yeah?" Dipper asked. Pacifica hugged him close, working up her courage. "Dipper, Mason Pines...will-will you-"

"Aye finally found yew!" A loud nasally voice rang out with a distinct southern drawl. Dipper and Pacifica both screamed and Dipper kicked out with his hind legs. The yellow snakes hissed loudly and stood up, glaring at the moaning intruder on the floor a few feet away from them. He ruined everything!

Dipper slowly approached the person he kicked against a tree, his tail up, his ears facing forward and alert. The person he kicked had white hair, pale skin, too pale to be normal, and was hissing. "What was that for!?" He complained and glared at Dipper with his blue eyes.

"Who're you? Why'd you sneak up on us?" Dipper glared back. He blinked and looked closer. That voice. "...Gideon?" He cried incredulously. The white haired man scoffed and got up, brushing himself off and backing off to the shadow of the trees. "Nice ta see you finally reca-nize me." Dipper sighed. Even if they had gotten over their issues with Gideon, they weren't really friends and frankly, Dipper thought he'd moved away from Gravity Falls ages ago. "What are you doing here, Gideon?"

"Who, widdle ol' me? I'm jus' lookin' fer that sweet sister o' yours. Here I am, back in town for the first time in years and I haven't see you Pines around town as much as I thought." Gideon fixed his hair. "And unfortunately, my current... curse , makes it kinda hard ta go out and about during the day." He muttered "An' I'm sure tryin' ta visit at night would make yer uncle file a restrainin' order on me again…"

"Again?" Pacifica muttered as Dipper snorted. "What's your curse anyway? You look human." And tall, really tall. Dipper couldn't believe how big Gideon had gotten. Then again, Bud had been a very large man.

Gideon rolled his eyes and stuck his hand out into the sunlight where it hissed and smoked. He quickly pulled back. Dipper stared. "Vampire?! Oh geez...are you ok ? Aren't you going to...burn into a crisp?" Gideon laughed, showing off fangs. "Nah. It's actually kinda nice yer worried about me, Pines, but no. I'm in no danger of actually dyin'. It's just mighty uncomfortable."

Pacifica was narrowing her eyes at him. "Wait, aren't vampires unable to enter a household unless they're invited in?" She asked suspiciously. Dipper's eyes widened. Wait. He glared at Gideon. "So THAT'S it. You can't even ENTER the Shack to see Mabel!" Gideon scoffed. "Dipper Pines, do you really think so low of me?"

"No offence Gideon, but you tried to kill me with shears." Dipper deadpanned. Gideon groaned. "Yer still on about that? It was nearly 10 years ago! Or...more? I'm not actually sure how long it's been since I've seen my darling angel."

"You know she's got a boyfriend right?" Dipper started. Gideon twitched. "We've met. He seems...nice...I'm...happy fer her…" Gideon muttered. "How'd they meet anyway? What kinda guy is he?"

Dipper raised an eyebrow. "Why do you wanna know?"

"I jus' want tah make sure he's a good man fer her!" Gideon hissed. "Mabel's sweet and trusting and I don't want some man takin' advantage of that!"

"...like you did?" Dipper muttered quietly under his breath. "Look, it's none of your business what Mabel does or who she dates." He scoffed. "I know Max. He's good with her. They like each other."

"What's he got that I don't?" Gideon huffed, sounding more disgruntled than anything else.

"He actually listens when she states what she's comfortable with?" Dipper rolled his eyes. Dammit Gideon, just leave already! He was interrupting something important! "Look, Mabel's choices are her choices. Her feelings are her feelings. And the fact that you don't respect them cooooouullllld be a big part of why nothings ever gonna happen between you." Dipper said sarcastically. "But mainly, she's just not into you. And she shouldn't have to be. She doesn't owe you her affections."

"But-"

Pacifica hissed. "Ok you twerp, and yes. I AM going to call you that. Doesn't matter how old you get," She slithered over. "Mabel doesn't like you. She doesn't find you attractive. And everything you've done to her and Dipper over that summer-"

"He tried to kill us a few times." Dipper agreed. He could still see that huge robot Gideon in his dreams.

"-just ruined your chances even worse."

"I held off Bill's goons for her." Gideon complained.

Pacifica put her hands on her hips. "Which is great. But that still doesn't mean she's required to like you back. She's not going to. So just, move ON. Just because a guy does something nice for us, doesn't mean we OWE them our affection or attention."

Dipper nodded behind her. Gideon bit his lip, looking incredibly upset. He turned and slunked back into the darkness of the woods without saying anything. Dipper slumped. "Uhhhghh…"

"Forget him. There's something messed up in that poofy head of his." Pacifica huffed. Dipper rubbed his face.

Dipper tried to get back on track. "H-hey Paz?"

"Yeah?"

"I…" Dipper tried to remember the script he'd planned out. Version 23.6 of it. But he couldn't remember all the words right now, and after what just happened, he wasn't sure it would even feel right. So he just decided to get it out of the way. He knelt down, to the best of his ability, and pulled out a small box. Pacifica's eyes went wide.

"Pacifica, will you-"

"Yes!" She tackled Dipper and wrapped herself around him. He choked. "I-I didn't even get to-"

"The answer's still yes!" Pacifica laughed as Dipper opened the box to reveal a ring. Pacifica's snakes hissed happily.

He grinned back. "Oh! Oh." His ears began flapping. "O-oh my gosh! You said yes!"

"Of course I did, you big nerd." Pacifica kissed his cheek. "I can't wait to tell my parents. They'll hate it!" She cackled.

"You better not be marrying me just to piss off your folks." Dipper deadpanned.

"Oh please, I'm not that vindictive. I'm not gonna marry a guy I don't love. And I love you . So, screw them. I'm marrying you, and nothing's gonna stop me." She awkwardly pulled the box out of her dress to reveal another ring. "I...got this for you too"

"Oh god…" Paz put the ring on Dipper's hand. "Mabel said I should ask you...I wasn't sure if your nerdy deer butt would ask me"

Dipper laughed, holding her close as he had to walk carefully so he didn't step on her long snake tail. "Paz...I'm…I'm so happy you said yes." His eyes welled up a little with tears, voice cracking.

"Don't get sappy on me Pines." She poked his nose with a grin, but her eyes were teary too. She leaned in and the two kissed deeply.

And the Curse around them shattered .

-Around the same time, elsewhere in Gravity Falls-

Mabel and Max held hands as they lounged in the water together. Mabel glanced over at him now and then, her other hand nudged at a bag she'd brought to the lake with her, laying on the shore behind her. She asked her dad, and he agreed. And well, Mabel had been working on this for several months. And she was finally ready.

"Max?" Mabel asked. He turned to her, giving her his full adoring attention. "Yes?"

Mabel pulled her bag (waterproof) towards her and reached in. "Max, I've been so, so happy together with you. And I know you're happy with me too. And… well, I'm not gonna beat around the bush anymore." She pulled out a box and opened it to reveal intricate and colorful beads. She'd spent months experimenting with shells, rocks and clay to find something she felt would be perfect for what she wanted. She finally settled on some clay, glazed and fired beads. Sturdy, strong and durable. "Maxini, will you wear my beads as a symbol of our love, will you marry me?"

Max gasped, reaching in very carefully to pick up one of the beads. There were intricate little details molded into the clay, bright colors and patterns painted with the glaze, which melted together into a vibrant display of her skill. "They're… beautiful…" He breathed. It was traditional for his people… for couples to wear matching beads in their feathers as a symbol of their union. Max turned his gaze back to Mabel, green eyes wide. "Are...are you really proposing?"

"Yeah!" Mabel giggled as Max took the box in his claws, staring down at them. There were so MANY! And they were more beautiful than anything he'd ever seen! (Since human hands were much smaller than claws, they could get more details into a smaller space, so the fine detail of Mabel's painstaking work was blowing his mind.) "Mabel...yeah! Yes! Yes!" He closed the box super gently and swam over to Mabel and kissed her lips.

"I love you, baby." Mabel whispered between kisses. "I love you so much."

"Argh! This is the happiest day of my life!" Max laughed loudly, his tail swinging hard, he lifted Mabel into the air and spun around in pure delight.

"I know right!? Then we can look for cute clothes, delicious food and music!" Mabel squealed and the two laughed and hugged.

Max pulled away. "How did you know about the beads?"

"I am a very good listener, Maxini!" Mabel pointed at her ear fins. Max chuckled. "You know you...you need to pay the 'libala' right? And my parents…"

Mabel waved her hands. Yes, it was like that human tradition too, paying the family for the bride. She had to read articles on other cultures to understand Max's. "Oh forget about those douchebags, you don't owe them anything."

Max looked confused. If Mabel wasn't going to ask his parents for his marriage, then who was she...

"I'm gonna deal with the 'Powerful Great Dragon! Sha-zah!" Mabel made her voice deeper and waved her hands dramatically.

Max's eyes widened as his fins shot up in embarrassment. "Oh no."

"Oh YES!"

"The great dragon's never going to stop calling me his pup noooooow!" Max whined dramatically. Mabel laughed, "But you're an ADORABLE PUP!" Mabel burst out into laughter even harder.

"He's gonna groom me, and snuggle me, and- he'll want to host the ceremony!" Max whined. "You do NOT have to do that. If I'm an orphan you don't need to ask anyone." He loved the great dragon, yes. But Xin… went overboard with showing affection. And Max was afraid the dragon would end up doing something like make the skies shoot lightning as a backdrop to display his excitement for the upcoming marriage.

"But Xin has protected you so much! I'm grateful to him!" Mabel pouted. Xin was like Max's magical guardian, which was the closest thing Max had to a parent now, and without him Maxi could have died alone after turning human. "I'm doing it!"

The two play-fought in the water, laughing and struggling as they complained whether asking Xin was a good or bad idea. Pros, great dragon-god who would literally bless their union. Cons, he'll want to plan their wedding, which was probably going to involve tons of weirdness. Eventually they decided they should ask Xin, because not asking him would have the dragon pouting at them for all eternity. "Also, he seems kinda sad lately. This might cheer him up." Max admitted.

The two sank deeper into the lake, staring at each other's eyes. "I love you." Max stroked Mabel's cheek as she leaned over to touch his muzzle with her nose. "I love you more~"

The young couple kissed passionately, maybe determined to have fun times right there.

And then the curse shattered .

-.-

-Around the same time, at the Bill statue-

Ford and Bill sat together, having taken to hanging out at the statue when they wanted time alone with each other. Bill said that it was funny to have picnics near the corpse of Ford's 'ex', which Ford couldn't help but find a little hysterical. Also, he couldn't help but grumble that it was not his 'ex'!

And as the two cuddled, Bill laying on Ford's fluffy wings as the sphinx's tail wagged lazily, Bill quietly apologized for acting like a brat the past month. "I don't fully know why I was being so stupid." Bill sighed.

"You're afraid of what's going to come in the future." Ford told Bill directly. "I'm sure of it. You're afraid and convinced that we're all going to leave you anyway, so you're trying to see if you can just scare us off by acting as awful as you can." He held Bill's hands in his large paws. "But you've made a big mistake."

"What?" Bill was so confused as to where Ford was going with this.

"Bill, you're NOT a terrible monster. You can't do it. You can't bring yourself to truly hurt us, because you love us. And you need to understand that's fine. You aren't a monster. You can't even make yourself a monster even if you tried. So you won't be able to scare us off." He leaned in. "You won't be able to scare me off."

Bill stared, wide eyed. "Bu-"

"No buts. I'm staying. With you. I love you."

"Ford…"

"And you can't change my mind. I love you, and I'm not going to leave you."

"...but you will… " Bill's voice was soft, a hopeless resignation in it that made Ford's heart ache at the sound. " Everyone will…"

Ford regarded Bill, the sphinx's thick hair falling over his eyes and he ducked down in thought.

"I know that… as I am part of your Zodiac now, I'm going to reincarnate, when I die." He said slowly. Bill stared. "And generally, that's going to mean that I won't even be 'me' anymore. And, that's stupid." He stated. "If I'm going to reincarnate anyway, and still be connected with you, I might as well still be me."

Bill stared. "What are you trying to say?"

"Bill, I don't want to leave my family. I don't want to leave my home. Not… yet."

Bill's eyes widened at the word 'yet'.

"When my family have all lived out their lives, full and long and fulfilled and happy, and when they've passed on-"

"Do you want to be immortal?" Bill asked directly.

Ford took a deep breath. "No." He answered clearly. Bill looked taken aback. "I thought…"

"Bill, listen, this is… complicated." Ford took a deep breath. "I want us to be together. But I don't want to be immortal. Not through you."

"Then… how is this going to work?" Bill asked, squeezing Ford's paws. "What can I do to make this work?"

"That's the thing." Ford smiled. "I don't want to ask you for immortality. It would be… allowing you more power over me. And I want us to be equals. I mean, I want us to be together, but not because you're the one keeping us together. I want to figure this out on my own."

"Wha?"

"I will figure out a way for us to be together." Ford told Bill directly. "In a way that I am comfortable with. Essentially, you don't have to do anything, but be you. I'll deal with this. I'll find a way to keep myself as myself. So… don't worry about it anymore." He leaned in, pressing his forehead against Bill's. His snout was cold and wet, but Bill didn't move away. "I will be the one to find a way for us to be together. So please, just trust me."

"...you promise?" Bill asked, his slender shoulders shaking.

"Yes. I promise. I will find a way for us to be together." Ford placed a large paw on Bill's back, pulling him closer into his chest.

Very quietly, so quiet that Ford barely heard it, even with his enhanced ears, "Ok. I trust you."

And the Curse around them shattered .

Ford stumbled, almost falling over as he was human once more. He hadn't expected the curse to be broken right then and there. That hadn't even been his intention when talking with Bill. And when he regained his balance, he looked up to see a floating triangle in front of him. Ford felt the warmth radiating off him and chuckled. Before he could say anything else though, Seb, shirtless and shoeless, ran towards them. "Oh my god you did it, Sixer!"

"You've been following us?" Ford couldn't help but ask.

"Maybe~" Seb grinned. "You're a very sappy couple."

Bill turned into Xin quickly before more people arrived and freaked out over seeing Bill Cipher. "Yeah...He did." He leaned his head against Ford's shoulder and hugged his arm. "Ah~ Defeated by the Pines~ Oh no~~"

Sebastian laughed. "Yeah! Know your place, demon!" He taunted smugly.

Xin laughed, rolling his eyes.

Everyone in town was cheering loudly. They were back to normal again! Yes! The Pines met together in the living room and Stan was laughing HARD at Carla as she wrapped a blanket around herself. Not a good day she chose to be topless, got it. Stanley had no issue with this at all.

Pacifica dragged Dipper into the living room with a smug expression, the both of them with towels wrapped around themselves. Dipper was blushing, but Pacifica couldn't care less. She held up her hand, where a ring glittered. "Guess who just got proposed to?" "Soon after I proposed, the curse broke! I think we broke the spell!" Dipper gasped.

Xin blinked. "What the fu-"

"Guys! You won't believe what happened just as we finished- er- um… nevermind." Dillon ran into the room, then did a double take and stopped, blushing madly.

The redheaded man ran after him, struggling to put on his pants as he ran up to them and giggled.

Stan's smile disappeared immediately.

"We ah... kissed and then we were humans! Like Belle and the Furry Dude! We broke the spell!" The two men high fived.

Pacifica stared. Xin had his face buried in his hands as he laughed/sobbed hysterically.

"Wait, where's Mabel?" Abigail looked around for her daughter as Shermie laughed awkwardly and wrapped himself in a wet towel.

Mabel came in, with a bright smile and with Max in tow. The two were dripping wet and barefoot. And they had a small lock of their hair braided with matching beads. "So, we almost drowned at the lake 20 minutes ago." Max started.

"BUUUTTTT I just broke the curse. You're welcome!" Mabel declared confidently.

Ford blinked. "...I'm pretty sure Bill broke the curse…" He muttered. Xin was still laughing.

"Oh, and we're getting married!" Mabel made a little funny dance around Max. "So yeah, pfft." She smugly flipped her wet hair back. "We broke the curse with the power of love!" ("MY PUP IS GETTING MARRIED!" Xin cheered. Max sighed. He knew it.)

"Wait! You too?!" Pacifica gasped. Mabel and Pacifica started squealing and jumping together. The Pines weren't sure whether they wanted to cry or laugh right now at how these amazing news were all just coming and coming. So they were just a mass of screaming folks.

Xin snorted out, "Anyone else getting married?"

Dillon and Phillip looked at each other. "Eh… I mean, we might as well by this point." Dillon joked. Phillip gasped dramatically. "Oh? But do you even have a ring yet?"

"Like you don't?" Dillon raised an eyebrow. Phillip cackled. "I've had the ring for months. Just wasn't sure how to set up the 'perfect magical proposal' moment. Couldn't figure out where I would find that many moose."

"I'm a little worried about what sort of proposal ceremony you had in mind that would involve moose, but I think we can do without the large animals." Dillon reassured him.

Phillip groaned. "Can we redo this please? So I can propose, Dillon acts surprised and we can break the curse with the power of love?"

"The curse is already broken." Melody pointed out.

"Let me have my dreams!" Phillip wailed. Dillon patted his back. Xin had a mischievous look on his face. "I can provide ALL the moose you need…"

"Xin no." Ford groaned.

"Xin yes!" Phillip's eyes lit up.

"No moose." Stan deadpanned. Ford rubbed his chin, very curious on what Phillip was trying to do with them.

"One moose?" Phillip begged. "At least three?"

"I can pop out as many moose as you want." Xin grinned.

While that ridiculousness was happening...

"So, so our baby's getting married?" Carla sobbed as she clung to Stan's arm. He blinked. "I'm...not processing anything right now."

Shermie was screaming from happiness, punching Seb as he whined and tried to get away from his excited younger brother, while Abigail hugged Mabel and Max. "I can't believe we didn't break the spell!" Mabel complained. "I thought the power of our love saved the day!"

"Oh sweetie it's actually adorable you think your love is so strong. I'm sure it helped a little?" Abigail chuckled.

"My pain is unmeasurable and my day is ruined." Mabel stomped away, pulling Max along who was just so happy about his engagement in general.

"I'm sure you can do some power of love thing, somewhere else ." Dipper deadpanned. Max stared, not understanding, as Pacifica snorted with laughter. "I can't believe they ALSO proposed on the same day as us."

"So...we're all gonna pretend Bill didn't threaten to keep us locked in here forever right?" Stan asked, trying to get some confirmation as he rubbed his forehead, feeling weird not to feel his horns anymore.

"Well, they didn't actually end up doing so, and wouldn't have done it anyway because they're too much of a softie… I'm gonna take the win and not complain about it." Seb shrugged as he finally pushed Shermie off him and rubbed his bruised arm. He looked at his arms, happy to feel skin and not fur.

The little twins, Diego, Maria and the octuplets blinked twice, looked at their hands before going back to their naps. Geez, adults, can't you see they were in the middle of something important here?

---

Lil sketch of the monster triplets in my Tumblr! Find me as bluefrosty!

Hope you liked this chapter because it went through so much revision we died xD comment what you think and thank you for your support!