This chapter is kinda a bunch of bits and pieces, but I still like it. Another long one for you guys.

The bell on the door to the Mystery Shack gift shop rung as Joel called in for work early the next day. He hadn't been in the gift shop before. All the items were displayed on shelves around the edge of the room and the door to the rest of the house was opposite the entrance.

'Can I help you?' asked the girl behind the counter. She was tall, wore a lumberjack cap and a corduroy jacket. She looked extremely bored and had a pile of magazines on the counter.

'I'm Joel,' he said, 'the new employee.'

'Oh, ok,' she replied, standing up. She held out her hand and Joel shook it.

'I'm Wendy, and I'm your new boss.'

'Huh?' replied Joel. Wendy smiled at him and sat back down.

'I'm just pulling your string. I've been working at this place for three years though, so if you wanna know the ins and outs, come to me.'

Joel relaxed a little, he liked this girl. 'Ok, thanks,' he said, 'would you happen to know where Stan is?'

'Yeah, he's probably out in the living room. Keep your eyes wary though, he tends to not wear as many clothes as some of us would like.'

Joel frowned back at Wendy.

'Ah, it's not that bad, usually he just tromps around in a singlet and shorts, you won't go blind.'

Joel gave the thumbs up and headed out through the door. Sure enough, Stan was sitting in the lounge chair, glued to the TV. Luckily he was wearing a dressing gown. There was some old soap opera movie playing, and Joel snickered at the idea of a man like Stan watching old lady movies.

'Mr Pines?' he said, as least intrusively as possible. Stan did not react straight away.

'Mr Pines?' Joel repeated, louder this time. Stan made an incomprehensible noise of acknowledgement.

'What am I doing this morning?' he asked. Stan muttered something to him and pointed to the stairs.

'Ok, Mr Pines, whatever you say…' Joel said as he crept past and snuck up the stairs to the attic.

o00o

'Dipper, I am the Monopoly king, there's no way you're going to beat me.'

Dipper scratched his head and looked at his small pile of property and money. He'd managed to buy out both Park Lane and Mayfair, but Mabel owned almost everything else. Dipper had been waiting for three trips around the board for Mabel to land on his apartments but it didn't seem like it was going to happen.

'Ok, I'm mortgaging Kings Cross,' Dipper replied, flipping over one of the station cards and collecting the money from the bank. There was a knock at the door.

'What is it Grunkle Stan?' asked Mabel.

'Stan's downstairs, it's me,' Joel's voice replied. Mabel got up and opened the door.

'Hi Joel!' she said, letting him in. Joel scanned the room. It was built into the roof, and the walls sloped down at the sides. There were two beds on either side of a window, one that a collection of posters up on the wall above it and another that was unmade and had a pile of books on the ground next to it. It wasn't hard to tell which bed belonged to which twin.

'Why are you here so early?' Dipper asked, counting up his Monopoly money. Joel sat down and looked over the board.

'I went through a bit of a rough spot with Mom and Dad last night, they wanted to know why I'd stayed out so late. I went to bed before the arguing got too intense, and I just thought I'd hang out here today to give them time to recover.'

'Are you OK?' asked Mabel, sitting back down in front of her assets. Joel smiled at her and nodded.

'Yeah, I'm alright. I think I'm more worried about Stan. I walk in this morning and he's sitting on the couch wearing a bath robe and glued to some 1940's drama movie.'

'He's waking up,' the twins said in unison. 'Stan gets up early but isn't functional until about an hour later, so usually he just sits on the couch or something until he's awake,' Mabel elaborated.

Joel watched as Dipper and Mabel continued their game. Dipper rolled a 5 and landed on a community chest tile.

'Advance to go! That's helpful!' he said, putting the card underneath the pile and travelling halfway around the board to the GO corner.

Mabel rolled a 3 and was sent to jail.

'Aw nuts!' she said. Joel started to laugh, 'This is your fault - I start losing as soon as you get here.' She shoved him playfully.

'Ok, sorry! I promise you'll roll doubles next turn!' he replied.

o00o

Joel was mopping the floor in the Mystery Shack. It was about midday and there were a couple of tourists in the museum that Joel could hear being lectured by Stan. Pacifica was behind the counter with Wendy, looking at some magazines.

'Joel, could you come and tell me if you think this would look cute on Mabel?' the blonde asked. Joel threw the mop into the bucket.

'I'm a guy, I can't tell what's cute and what's not,' he replied, walking over to them. It was a summer dress, with simple stitching and looked quite light, but was all the colors of the rainbow.

'Yeah, it's pretty I guess,' he said. Pacifica smiled at him. 'Thanks Joel!' she said, running off and making for the stairs. Before she could get there though, Dipper's voice called out from the break room.

'Paz, could I borrow you for a sec?'

'Yeah, gimme a minute Dipper, I'll be down shortly.'

Pacifica raced up the stairs with the magazine. Joel went back to his mop and resumed his work.

'What was that all about?' he asked Wendy. She shrugged.

'No idea,' she said, putting her feet up on the counter and opening up the latest issue of Avoid Eye Contact Monthly.

o00o

Joel sat on the floor in the gift shop, fiddling with a grappling hook Wendy had found in one of the boxes behind the counter. The bell rang and Stan came in through the door.

'Ugh, those people are such idiots,' he said, removing his fez and putting it down next to the register. Wendy rolled her eyes.

'Which people?' asked Joel. Stan went over to one of the shelves and started to organize some of the merchandise.

'The tourists of course,' he replied, 'I just spent 15 minutes trying to explain to them that the Rock-that-looks-like-a-face rock wasn't an actual face, but it's a rock.'

'So it's not a face?' Joel asked. Stan glared at him.

'Alright, I'm sorry!' he said as his boss straightened up his bow-tie.

'Speaking of idiots,' Stan continued, 'has anyone seen Dipper? His shift started five minutes ago and I haven't seen him since breakfast. I swear, if he's gone out on another monster hunting adventure…'

'I'm on it,' said Joel, pulling himself to his feet and heading through the door to the house. He knew roughly where the break room was, but it was out of the way so it took him a little while to find it, but he got there eventually.

'Dipper, it's five past three, you'd better –'

Joel had walked into the break room to see Dipper and Pacifica spread across the sofa, attacking each other's faces. The shock rendered him immobile. Apparently they didn't hear him, as they continued what they were doing. Joel stood there with his mouth half open trying to look away. He had completely forgotten that Pacifica had disappeared too, and had been unfortunate enough to barge in on the two entwined figures spending quality time together.

Pacifica's eyes fluttered open for the briefest of moments to catch a glimpse of Joel standing in the doorway.

'Shit!' was all she could manage as she tore herself away from Dipper's mouth and knelt up on the couch. Dipper looked towards the doorway and reacted similarly.

An awkward silence fell between them that seemed to last an age, before Joel managed to squeak 'shift' just loud enough for Dipper to hear. Dipper's eyes filled with realization and got up and bolted out the door.

Pacifica and Joel stayed silent for quite a while afterwards as they listened to Stan yell at Dipper about being on time to work in the background.

'Sorry about that…' she said. Joel snapped back into reality and shook his head.

'Just make sure to lock the door next time.'

Satisfied yet, shippers? (I suck at writing intimacy, but what can I say)