A Bit About Fusion Cont. It's pretty long; I wanted it to be in two parts, but was too lazy to open a new window. :I

It was more than just having internal existential crises about their reasons for being that bonded Dipper and Pacifica; it turned out they both had a secret love for BABBA. They discovered this when Pacifica came by during one of her little visits and found Dipper reading through his journal with his earphones on, singing along to 'Disco Girl'.

By the time Dipper realized she was there, he was ready and waiting to say it was Mabel who put the song onto his playlist, but she just took one of his earbuds out and tucked it into her own ear, asking him to replay the song.

At least having an Icelandic pop group to talk about made their bond a little less somber.

Pacifica came over one day, saying that there was a music festival in Salem that had BABBA as a guest group.

"Ugh, I've always wanted to see them live," Dipper said, looking through the festival program. "I heard their shows are awesome."

"Yeah," Pacifica agreed, hugging her knees. "But it says you have to be sixteen, or accompanied by an adult to get in." She sighed. "My parents would never let me go, though."

"No kidding," Dipper said, leaning back against a tree. "And I KNOW Grunkle Stan wouldn't take me." He huffed. "If only I were a little older."

There was a heavy silence between them for a moment before they both looked up at the same time, getting the same idea.

"…could we?" Pacifica asked, looking excited with the prospect of doing something so risky. Dipper jumped up, pacing around as he did when he was thinking.

"I think we could," he replied. "Yeah…" He looked at the program again, getting a look at the date. "Omigosh, yeah, we can! Let's do it!"

"This is so freaking crazy!" Pacifica said, sounding slightly hysterical, but in a great way. "We're really gonna do it?"

"Might as well do one huge crazy thing before we're old enough to be thrown in jail for doing it," Dipper replied, then shook his head. "Wow, that was totally Grunkle Stanford talking there…"

"I'll get the money for the passes, you figure out how to get us there," Pacifica said, beaming.

"You've got it!"

"I cant believe we're really doing this."

Dipper and Pacifica were standing by a parked car Pacifica paid one of the servants to let her borrow. The solution for getting there was to drive—Dipper knew how, he just needed to be tall enough to reach the pedals without it looking awkward, and old enough to not get stopped by the cops.

"No turning back now," Dipper said, taking a deep breath and letting it out, smiling at Pacifica. "You ready?"

Pacifica nodded. "I'm ready.

Dipper had been over the technicalities of Fusion from all those weekends back at the facility. An older, but tried-true method was dancing. It was emphasized that the individuals' dance must be free-flowing and unrestricted, and above all, completely THEM.

Really now, having witnessed the Fusion of Lee and Fordy, as well as him and Pacifica, it was more about the relationship and less of just BEING, but having something happen to get the juices flowing never hurt.

He took out his mp3 and turned it to his BABBA playlist, putting an earbud in his ear before handing the other to Pacifica, who did the same. He stuck the player into his pocket, and before he started to feel to self-conscious, offered Pacifica his hand.

Pacifica took it, and they started a fun, casual dance to "Pequeño Niño", getting over the awkwardness quickly and just getting into it. Dipper spun Pacifica out and she twirled back in, laughing as the cord to her earbud tangled in her hair. Dipper reached up to untangle it, a soft glow appearing in their gems.

A flash of light later, and Dipifica stood there, an earbud in both ears. They looked over themself, grinning and jumping in place. "YES!" they crowed. "WE DID IT!" They slipped into the car and started it up. "BABBA, here we come!"

The two-hour drive went without a hitch, and it was Pacifica's casual knowledge of valet parking that had Dipifica easily drop the keys and a $50 into a parking attendant's hand without batting an eye as they headed up to the gate, cash in hand to get in.

Their passes were given, and they made a beeline for the BABBA stage, grabbing some merch at a large booth en route. The set started about forty-five minutes later, and it took about ten more seconds before Dipifica was jumping and screaming, not looking out of place at all with the rest of the crazy crowd.

The first set lasted about six songs before there was a half-hour intermission. Dipifica headed off to the food area for a quick pick-me-up when—

"DIPPER PINES, YOU GET YOURSELF OVER HERE NOW, BOY!"

Dipifica jumped, almost unFusing right then and there, whipping around to see a LIVID Stanford shoving his way through whatever people in the crowd who weren't fast enough to get out of his way.

Stanford's eyes swept the crowd, looking for Dipper, but instead honed in on Dipifica, going from livid to PISSED in .3 seconds flat. He stalked over, glowering with enough anger to set something on fire.

"YOU. TO MY CAR. RIGHT NOW," he bit out with barely-contained rage. Dipifica wisely nodded with a quick 'Yessir' before beelining for the parking lot, seeing that Stanford had driven right past the valet and almost up to the ticket pass. Any security who were looking into the illegally-parked car backed off when they saw Stanford's expression, letting him usher the busted teenager into the backseat before getting in himself and driving off.

As soon as they were out of the crowded area, Stanford spoke up. "You two, unFuse NOW!" he barked. Right on cue, Dipifica split apart to the two sides of the backseat, looks of trepidation and terror on their faces.

Stanford kept his eyes on the road, his grip on the steering wheel so tight it was almost bending. "Where do your parents think you are?" he asked Pacifica, his voice steely.

Pacifica sniffled a little, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. "…At a sleepover at Jessica's," she replied. Stanford's jaw tightened.

"Mabel's staying with Grenda, so you'll be sleeping in her bed," he stated. "I will drop you off at home first thing in the morning." Pacifica nodded with a quiet 'yes sir'.

Nothing was said to Dipper, though he was sure he was going to get a chewing out of epic proportions later.

The ride back to Gravity Falls was tension-filled and dead silent. Stanford parked the car and led Dipper and Pacifica inside, making them take a quick detour into the living room. "Sit," he said, and the two children sat down promptly on the couch. Stanford sat down in a chair across from them, his posture still stiff and angry.

"Do you have ANY idea how angry I am?" he demanded, his tone still quiet but in a way that sounded reeled in. "Not only did you lie about where you were going, not only did you NOT tell anyone where you were going in case you were hurt or in over your heads, but you two decided that you would do all this USING FUSION!?"

The raised volume in voice made the two on the couch flinch. Stanford showed no mercy for their fear.

"Using a bond like yours to do something as paltry and underhanded as sneak into a music festival is not only ridiculous, it's insulting! It's reckless! It's WRONG!" His hands flexed into the arms of his chair, the left looking more barely-restrained than the right. "Pacifica, go to bed," he said firmly, turning his attention to Dipper.

Pacifica slipped off the couch, giving Dipper an apologetic look as she trudged upstairs. Dipper swallowed hard, trying to stop himself from shaking or doing something stupid like run away in a panic. Only the knowledge that Fordy was incredibly fast and Stanford could utilize that kept him right where he was.

Stanford scowled at Dipper, his eyes narrowed. "Dipper, I am most disappointed in you," he said stiffly. "To think that you would use Fusion so cheaply infuriates me. You had something truly special there, and you CHEAPENED it."

Dipper felt his eyes well up, hearing actual HURT in his Grunkle's voice, feeling ten times worse than he had. "…I'm sorry…" he replied, a hitch in his voice.

"You should be." Dipper almost flinched at the sharpness of Stanford's tone. Stanford exhaled heavily, waving his hand. "Go to bed," he said, making it clear he didn't want to talk anymore.

Dipper jumped up, hurrying out of the room and upstairs, the tears that were in his eyes escaping down his face in shame. He slipped into his room, seeing that Pacifica was lying back on Mabel's bed on top of the covers, curled up in a little miserable ball. Dipper hastily wiped his eyes with his hand, taking off his hat and crawling into his own bed.

"…I'm sorry," he whispered over to her, not knowing if he was loud enough to hear. There was silence for a few long moments.

"…Me too," came the barely-audible reply.

Dipper found himself not caring that Stanford had him doing nearly every chore around the Shack. It gave him something to occupy his mind with, considering every time he saw his Grunkle, who hadn't spoken a word to him since last night, his guilt only grew stronger.

It was a deserved guilt, granted. It was so hard remembering that Grunkle Stanford was a Fusion, the living embodiment of two Gems who couldn't bear to be apart. And he had used Fusion just to go to a one-night only music festival.

Unfortunately, Mabel immediately caught onto the tension around everyone, and refused to let it go when Stanford told her that it wasn't her concern why Dipper was being punished. Sure, Dipper kept his fair share of privacy secrets from Mabel, as he was sure she did with him, but he never lied to her.

The day ended, and Stanford still refused to speak on the matter. So naturally, it was Dipper she ended up cornering after he came back from a shower before bed.

"Dipper, I'm your sister," she said seriously, looking really concerned about why Grunkle Stanford was so stoic and not speaking with Dipper. "If I cant understand, who could?"

Fine. No lying. But that didn't mean he wouldn't omit a few truths.

So he told her. He told her about Fusing with 'someone' to appear old enough to go to a BABBA concert at the music festival in Salem. About how Stanford found the program Dipper foolishly left out with the BABBA set circled with 'CANT WAIT' scrawled in (Dipper internally cursing his habit of jotting notes down on EVERYTHING) and tracked them down and dragged them home.

Mabel was naturally upset. Not only had he not told her about it, but he was Fusing with someone behind her back. Unlike other instances of one anothers' firsts—Mabel's first kiss and Dipper's first date to the movies with a girl—there was no late night pillow talk about how the situation went and how it could be better in the future.

Instead, Mabel took her pillow and blanket and said she was going to be sleeping on the couch so she could think it over, heading out and leaving Dipper alone.

Dipper flopped back in bed, staring at the ceiling like it had all the answers to how he could fix all of this. Of course, there was no answer.

It was day three of the Great Pines Silent Treatment, and everyone was feeling it. Wendy and Soos could sense the agitated state Stanford was in, and strove to work extra efficiently so as not to irritate him further. Wendy took some cleaning off of Dipper's hands, and Soos gave Dipper a pep talk, saying that Stanford would be alright sooner or later.

Sunday morning came and Stanford was up early, packing a few things into his car. Being not the only Pines twin with a secretive streak, Mabel waited until he went around to the back of the Shack before scurrying out to the car and ducking into the backseat, finding that he was packing his fishing gear.

That made sense. Stanford liked to be around water when he wanted to unwind. She stayed extra quiet as Stanford came back around, just as Soos pulled up. From a muffled conversation, she caught enough to figure out that Stanford was asking Soos to watch her and Dipper for a few hours. He then got into the car and drove off.

Mabel remained still and silent the whole trip there, internally preparing to be spotted, only for Stanford to exit the car and leave the fishing gear behind. She waited a few moments before peeking up, seeing that Stanford was on the lake, taking his boat off to the small island off in the lake.

Well, she wasn't going to spend goodness-KNOWS-how-long just sitting in the backseat.

Mabel slipped out of the car and found one of the small rental canoes that was unclaimed, untying it from the dock and slipping in, rowing off to where Stanford took his boat.

Her arms were exhausted by the time she got there, but it was too late to go back NOW. She hopped out of the boat and stretched her arms and back before tugging it up onto the sand, turning to the island.

What was Grunkle Stanford doing here? She walked into the foliage, rubbing her arms, getting the creeps from this place. She looked for a couple of minutes before hearing something off past some trees. She walked up and peeked around one of the larger trees.

Stanford was pacing around, gesturing with his hands, which seemed to want to be doing separate things, arguing out loud with himself.

"—LIED to us!—"

"—wasn't worth all of this punishment!—"

"—the absolute HELL it isn't!—"

"—he's just a kid, ALL kids do stupid things!—"

"—NOT LIKE THIS!—"

"—need to calm down—"

"—I DON'T WANT TO CALM DOWN!—"

"—look, we have to—"

"—IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO ME, THEN YOU CAN JUST FU—"

There was a flash of light, and Stanford vanished, instead leaving two ten-year-olds sitting on the ground. Lee looked about ready to start screaming his head off, and Fordy was looking 110% done with Lee's temper.

"We have to calm down and let it go, Lee," Fordy said, crossing his arms. Lee let out a loud frustrated growl.

"HE USED FUSION AS A STUPID ENTRY PASS, FORDY! DON'T YOU FEEL INSULTED!?" Lee shouted back, incredulous.

Fordy sighed. "You're choosing to take it personally, Lee—"

"IT'S FUSION, FORDY!" Lee screeched, his voice breaking. "WHAT IS MORE PERSONAL TO US THAN FUSION!?"

Fordy reached up, massaging the bridge of his nose. "Look, I know you're upset—"

"OH, so it's just ME that's upset!?"

"No!" Fordy scowled at Lee. "Cant you see I'm upset too?"

Lee snorted rudely. "It don't FEEL like it," he snapped.

Fordy stood up, brushing the dirt gingerly off his khakis. "The sooner you forgive Dipper, the sooner we can get past all this," he replied sensibly. Lee snarled, his gem glowing and forming a set of brass knuckles, punching a small tree between words.

"YOU! ARE NOT! AS OKAY WITH THIS! AS YOU THINK! YOU ARE!"

Fordy just watched, unimpressed. "Yes, I am." Lee just snarled louder through his teeth, punching the tree harder. "…You cant stay mad at Dipper forever."

Lee glowered over his shoulder at his twin. "Wanna bet?" Fordy sat back on a boulder.

"Lee, the tree."

Lee yelped, hopping out of the way as the hole he punched into the tree made it tip and crash over. He let out a wordless screech of anger, stalking off into the forest.

"…you can come out, Mabel."

Mabel squeaked, peeking out from behind the tree. Fordy was looking at her, eerily calm. "Um. Hi," she said lamely. "…It's…nice to see you again, Fordy."

Fordy tugged his journal from the bag Stanford brought with him. "Nice to see you too." He opened it, clicking open a pen and began writing, every so often nibbling on the end of the pen.

Mabel had lived with a bookworm long enough to know that when the book was open, it was useless talking. She edged her way off in the direction Lee went in.

It was easy to track him down; he had left a trail of snapped foliage to a small clearing, and was pacing around, mumbling out unintelligible swears under his breath. Mabel stood awkwardly to the side. "Hey, Lee," she said. "…Wanna talk, or—"

"IT'S FUSION, MABEL!" Lee shouted, flailing his arms. "IT'S LIKE FORDY DOESN'T EVEN CARE! And WE'RE supposed to be the grown-up about this!?" He turned in Fordy's direction, raising his voice unnecessarily. "WE'RE ALWAYS THE GROWN-UP! BUT NOT THIS TIME, BUSTER, NOSIREE!"

Mabel chewed her lip, sitting down on a stump. "…c'mon," she said, patting the other end. "Why don't you come and talk about it?"

Lee huffed, clenching his hands tightly. "I don't need to talk about it," he muttered. Mabel put on the puppy-eyes.

"Aw, come on, Lee," she coaxed. "Just talk and get whatever you want off your chest."

Lee grumbled, sitting himself down, then proceeded to let out a string of language that left Mabel red in the face and resisting the urge to cover her ears. After a few long moments of him barely taking a breath as he swore on, she stood and inched her way for the woods.

"I'm…going to check on Fordy," she said, though Lee didn't stop talking the whole time.

She headed back to the area Fordy was in, almost jumping when she saw there were several small rocks and pinecones levitating around him as he wrote in his journal. She edged around a levitating pinecone. "Hey, Fordy," she said delicately.

"Hello Mabel." He didn't look up from his journal. Mabel noticed another rock near her tremble slightly.

"…Are you doing okay?" she asked, sitting down and hugging her knees. She thought she saw a muscle in his jaw twitch.

"I'm fine."

Awkward silence.

"Okay." She glanced around a little. "What're you writing?"

"Things."

Oh yeah, he and Dipper were definitely related.

Mabel looked around for a little while before growing bored. "Fordy—"

"Even if I do, Lee wont listen."

"What?"

Fordy sighed, lowering his journal. "You're going to say I should talk to Lee. But I'm telling you, it wont help." Mabel nibbled her lip.

"…But he seems really upset!" she said. Fordy shrugged.

"Doesn't matter," he replied frankly. "We cant stay mad at Dipper forever, and he cant be ticked off at ME forever, and then he'll calm down and see that I'm right."

That SOUNDED convincing to Mabel, but it didn't FEEL convincing. "…are you sure?"

"It's just as his mindset always works," Fordy stated, opening his journal again. "He never fails to come around once he realizes what a baby he's being. He just needs to get a grip and not let his emotions control him."

Seemed a bit presumptuous to her, if she were behind honest. "…but you ARENT?" she asked? This time she DEFINITELY saw his jaw twitch.

"No." One of the levitating pinecones thwacked itself into a tree.

Mabel sighed, standing and walking off to Lee's direction, peeking into the clearing and seeing that he was still ranting on to himself. Well this was just perfect.

There was only so much to do by herself, checking between the two boys before she noticed the sun heading more westward. She managed to convince both of them that Stanford promised he'd be back in a few hours, and headed off for the shore with the two of them pointedly ignoring each other.

Wondering how they were going to be driving home when neither to reach the pedals, she came across the shore, groaning when she saw that the canoe she brought had drifted off. "Oh man," she groaned, trying not to lose her cool. She pushed the boat into the water before hopping in with the boys, helping Lee row on.

"Don't suppose you could use some of the brainiac power to help us along," Lee groused at Fordy, who gave him a withering look.

Mabel's arms were still aching from taking the canoe to the island, sighing. "Grunkle Stanford could handle this easily…" she said.

"Yeah, well Stanford's not here!" Lee snapped, putting more force than necessary into his rowing, shifting the boat a little further off than it should.

"You're rowing too hard," Fordy stated. Lee jerked on his oar, almost snarling.

"I'm kinda surprised you could feel it, ya robot!" he shot back.

"I didn't NEED to feel," Fordy replied calmly. "I can SEE it."

Mabel eeped when Lee jerked over, jostling the boat. "WELL AINT EVERYTHIN' SO CRYSTAL FRICKIN' CLEAR TO YA!?

Fordy calmly held onto the side of the boat, looking at Mabel. "This'll ease out," he told her. "He'll burn himself out eventually—"

"THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK!" Lee shouted, his brass knuckles reforming on his left hand. "I'm AN ETERNAL FLAME, BUDDY!" He punched the side of the boat, making it tip dangerously.

Fordy more or less expected this and held on tight. Mabel, on the other hand flailed as the boat tipped, falling into the lake.

Mabel yelped in shock of the cold water, nearly swallowing a mouthful. She flailed around until a strong hand gripped her wrists, coming out of the water to see Lee and Fordy both clinging to her arms and tugging her back into the boat. She spat out some water, sitting heavily in the boat, her long hair and sweater soaked through and feeling as heavy as her heart.

Fordy and Lee fussed over her for a moment until she curled up, pulling her sweater over her face and vanishing into Sweater Town. Without a word, Lee and Fordy took up the oars and rowed back to the shore in silence.

The moment Mabel felt the boat hit land, she jerked her sweater down and hopped off the boat, landing shin-deep in the water and not caring a bit as she stalked away from the boat. Lee and Fordy jumped after her.

"Mabel—"

Mabel jerked around so fast her hair almost snapped like a wet towel. "YOU'RE ALL BEING STUPID!" she shouted, her cheeks red with anger. "HOME IS AWFUL! HERE IS AWFUL! EVERYTHING'S SO AWFUL!" Tears spilled down her face, mixing in with the lake water.

"No, no, no, Mabel, don't cry!" Lee fretted. "Don't, please! It's just us being dumb!"

"…But we dragged her into this," Fordy said, the calm in his voice wavering. "We dragged everyone into this by letting this go on as long as it should…" He sniffled slightly. "I know in the end we'll all get over it, but I keep forgetting how much it hurts to be right in the middle of it all…!" Tears welled up in his eyes. "I keep seeing things go from A to Z, but…I keep forgetting that everyone else doesn't think like me…! No w-wonder you think I don't care…!" Tears spilled down his cheeks.

"Fordy…! No, no, this is all MY fault!" Lee cried, holding Fordy's shoulders tightly. "I'm the one who wanted to stay mad an' not talk things out with Dipper! YOU were right! You're ALWAYS right, I'm just bein' stupid like always—"

"YOU'RE NOT STUPID!" Fordy snapped, sniffling. Lee squeezed Fordy's shoulders.

"…I'm sorry," he said, pushing Fordy's glasses up and wiping away Fordy's tears.

Fordy sniffled, softer this time. "…you really think I'm not upset about all this?" he said quietly. "…that I'm just a robot? I…I was just trying to forgive and forget…"

"I know," Lee replied, resting his hand on Fordy's cheek. Fordy sighed tiredly, looking lost. Lee smiled a little. "…ya know what's kinda cool about bein' split up?" he asked. Fordy looked up, brow furrowed in confusion.

"What?"

Lee smiled. "I get to see how dumb we both look."

Fordy burst into laughter, punching Lee's shoulder. "You knucklehead, be serious!" he giggled. Lee hugged Fordy to him, grinning.

"There's my Sixer!" he said, putting Fordy into a loose headlock and giving him a noogie. Fordy flailed, laughing.

"Aw, c'mon, Lee, not in front of Mabel—"

"Nuh-uh, bro, you're goin' DOWN!" Lee wrestled Fordy to the ground, pinning him back. "Say uncle!"

"Never!" Fordy laughed, his own gem glowing, his fingers wiggling slightly. Lee burst into laughter, letting go to hug his sides.

"No psychics! Cheater!"

"No such thing in war!"

Mabel sat by the car, unable to help herself from giggling at the antics of Lee and Fordy. Yes, this was MUCH nicer than all the arguing. She sighed, pushing her hair out of her face as the two boys settled down and clasped their hands together, Fordy's six fingers encasing around Lee's five, their gems glowing softly, a flash of light bringing Stanford back.

Stanford walked over to Mabel, kneeling down. "…ready to go home, sweetie?" he asked. Mabel nodded, then hugged her Grunkle tightly. He hugged her back, not bothered by her wet clothes as he got her settled in the passenger seat before driving back to the Shack.

Mabel walked into the Shack, seeing Dipper sitting at the table with Soos and Wendy with some sodas. Dipper stopped talking as soon as she walked in. "Mabel? Where've you been?" he asked, then clammed up when Stanford walked in. "…Grunkle Stanford, I'm—"

Stanford raised his hand and Dipper fell silent. "You're going to the arcade tomorrow," he said, putting out his wallet and putting down a $10 bill before walking out.

Dipper let out the whoosh of breath he'd been holding in. "At least he's talking to me again," he said, then glanced at the bill. "…is he giving me permission to go out and have fun?"

"Sounded like it to me," Wendy said, finishing her soda. "Cash from Stanford is as good as an 'I Love You'."

Dipper smiled a little, picking up the bill and pocketing it. "…yeah," he said. "I guess it is."

Mabel smiled a little, heading upstairs to shower off the lake water and get into some dry clothes. It wasn't a bunch of talking it out, but it certainly was a start.