Sorry for the delay, but I have many issues when trying to finish the past chapter for Iggy's Bizarre Adventures. I hope I get back on track with writing and keep up the pace.

Chapter 10 - 『Mabel's New Suitor』Part 1

Joseph didn't need to be a genius to figure out that Stan was still angry about the whole "melting down the wax statues" debacle. Otherwise he wouldn't be in the situation he was currently in.

"For our next to last attraction I present to you: Joe, the Human Magnet!" Stand announced, while Joseph had to stand there in the open without a shirt on while clueless tourists looked at him like he was a freak.

This was his punishment. For melting down his previous attractions he was forced to become one. And since the old man had caught him showing the twins his ability to magnetize his body using Hamon, he was forced to use his "trick" to amaze the customers on top of his regular work load.

"Try and throw your money at him and see how it sticks to him! Even regular dollar bills work too!" Stan prompted the audience and they immediately followed by throwing their cash at Joseph which, true to the showman's words, stuck to Joseph's body much like a magnet would a fridge.

Joseph stood still as he was pelted with money, which frankly, didn't hurt that much but it was annoying as hell. He would've protested, but Stan promised he would get a cut of the money he managed to collect. Sure, the cut was probably going to be incredibly unfair, but he needed the extra cash so he complied, at least for now.

Once the customers had been properly entertained and spent all what they willing to at the moment, Stan moved the crowd outside so he could try his last trick to scam the tourists some more: the Sack of Mystery.

Joseph sighed after releasing his Hamon breathing, letting all the money sticking to his body fall off so he could collect it all the while muttering under his breath about having to endure such humiliation. Sure, he loved being the center of attention on occasions, and he wouldn't mind too much being an attraction to bring in customers, but only if all of that was under his own terms and not Stan's.

Rounding out all the money and putting in a jar so Stan could collect it later was Jojo's last task for that day, and now that he was finished, he could finally put on some clothes and go back to abuelita's house with Soos.

Walking into the living room, Joseph found Soos and the twins watching attentively at the TV, enthralled by some sort of commercial.

"So don't waste your time with other so-called "man of mystery"!" The voice of the TV announcer said as it showed a not so flattering picture of Stan coming out of an outhouse with the word 'FRAUD' stamped over it in big bold letters.

Ouch.

"Learn about Tomorrow tonight at Gideon's Tent of Telepathy." Then a disclaimer fast forwarded in a speed that no normal human could keep up.

"Wow, I'm getting all curiousy inside!" Mabel said just as Stan walked by and passed right next to Joseph paying him no mind.

"Well don't get too curiousy. Ever since that monster Gideon rolled into town, I've nothing but trouble." He recalled a particularly recent bad experience when a parking space was stolen from him by Gideon's tour bus.

Unbeknownst to them, Joseph took the news with interest; a person that Stan disliked more than him? Surely, this Gideon person was either a worse version of Stan, or a cool guy the old man couldn't stand.

"Well is he really a psychic?" Mabel wondered about the possibilities of all the things she could find out about the future if that was really the case. Maybe ask about her future with a 'certain someone'.

"I think he should go and find out." Dipper proposed. After all the crazy things they had seen in Gravity Falls, especially with all the things Joseph was capable of, the idea of psychics being real wasn't a far off possibility.

"Never!" Stan quickly opposed. "You're forbidden from patronizing the competition." For a second Jojo wondered if this was Stan's general dislike for Gideon speaking, or his usual cheapskate self not wanting to spend his money. "No one who lives under my roof is allowed to pay to visit Gideon's business."

"Well then, good thing I don't live under your roof, old man." Joseph cut in seeing the opportunity to mess with the showman. "So that means Dipper and Mabel can come along as long as I pay for them, right?" He really didn't want to spend what little money he had with him, but damn, it was worth it just to see the reaction on the old man's face.

"Yeah, we got ourselves a loophole." Mabel celebrated alongside Dipper, both very excited for the opportunity. "Thanks Jojo!"

"Huh? With what money?" Stan said curtly wanting to cut their celebration short. "Last I remember you were short on cash."

"I don't worry, I help myself from the money I earned today with my show." Jojo smirked back as he held some of the money he had previously taken from the jar.

"I knew it! The jar felt too light and…" But Joseph didn't bother to keep listening to the man's rant.

"Come on, we got a show to catch!" He proclaim, urging the twins along. "Come along with us too, Soos." He added not forgetting about the repairman.

"Yes!" Soos pumped his fist as he too follow them, leaving Stan all alone inside the living room.

"Ingrates!"

『x-x-x』

"Whoa, this is like a bizarro version of the Mystery Shack." Dipper commented as he observed from his seat the interior of the Tent of Telepathy.

"I'll say." Joseph, who was sitting to Dipper's right and to Soos' left, nodded in agreement; if the man with a "psychic sack" outside asking for admission fee at the tent's entrance wasn't enough of a clue, the mountain of cheap and useless merchandize to the side cemented the idea.

"They even have their own Soos." Dipper pointed to the side at a maintenance worker that looked eerily familiar to their own repair man. But only Soos eyed at the guy with suspicion.

"It's starting, it's starting." Mabel said with barely contained excitement as the lights dimmed out, music started playing, and the spotlights moved around the tent in order to delay the suspense even more.

Not too shabby for a small independent production, was Joseph's opinion.

"Let's see what this monster looks like." The boy wanted to know who the person who caused his Grunkle to act even grumpier than usual was.

The music ramped up and the spotlights centered on the stage bringing the suspense to the max, then the curtains opened only to reveal… a small child.

Joseph didn't know if to laugh at the fact that Stan's nemesis was a little kid, or feel disappointed at how underwhelming this revelation was. He spent his rightfully earned money for this after all.

The kid onstage, presumably Gideon, was wearing a baby blue suit, a black shirt, and an American flag pin on the left side of his collar, a bolo tie on his neck and a very gaudy cape on the back; it really was invoking the look of a televangelist. But the most striking thing about this kid wasn't his clothes, but his hairstyle. That white pompadour was bigger than the boy's head.

'That hair makes your head look stupid huge, kid.' Jojo thought to himself.

"Hello America! My name is Li'l Gideon." The little kid on stage presented himself, with a noticeable Southern accent. Gideon then clapped, doves flew out of his hair and the crowd cheered.

"That's Stan's mortal enemy?" Dipper voiced everyone's incredulity, except for Mable who found the little kid really adorable.

"But he's so wittle!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is such a gift to have you here tonight! ...Such a gift. I have a vision. I predict that you will soon all say, 'aww'." Gideon make a quick turn to hide his face from the audience for just a second before he turned back with the "cutest" expression he could muster, and of course the audience aside from the Mystery Shack group was eating it all up.

"Awww."

"It came true." Mabel said in awe while Dipper looked at her as if there was something wrong with her.

"What? I'm not impressed." He said wanting to clue in Mabel of how cheap that trick was. To his side, Joseph chuckled a bit. "What's so funny?"

"I don't know… I just find it funny how similar to my "Signature Trick" that was."

"Really?" Dipper looked surprised. He had seen Joseph used his signature trick of predicting exactly the next thing a person would say many times now, and every time it was as impressive as the last. He asked Joseph to explain to him who he did it, but the teen always refused claiming that it was a "trade secret".

"I said 'similar', Dipper." Joseph clarified before Dipper started forming ideas about his trick. "It is not that simple as he's making it look."

Dipper had to concede. It was pretty obvious how Gideon performed such "trick", but with Joseph he had no clue as to how he did it.

Soon after music started to play again and Gideon performed a song and dance number much to the delight of the rest of the audience.

"Come on, everybody, rise up! I want y'all to keep it going!"

And exactly as the song indicated, everyone stood up without a second thought.

"Wha? How did he…?" Dipper wasn't the only one questioning the involuntary stand up from their seats. Jojo looked surprised as well.

"Keep it going!" Gideon continued while the audience clapped along to the beat of the song.

What followed was a bunch of "predictions" towards some of the members of the public. Pointing out things that anyone with a little bit of observational skill could figure out.

"I'll read your mind if I'm able…"Gideon sang as he approached Mabel giving her a wink, who looked enthralled by the whole show. "Something tells me you're named Mabel."

"How'd he do that?" Mabel asked even more amazed, forgetting for the moment that her sweeter had her named knitted on the front.

"So welcome all ye... to the Tent of Telepathy," Gideon continued singing back onstage again. "And thanks for visiting... widdle ol' me!"

As the song and dance came to the end, the crowd went wild with applause, giving little Gideon enough time to catch his breath. "Thank you! You people are the real miracles!"

After that, Gideon showcased his talents as a psychic by having members of the audience come onto the stage and told them things about themselves that the boy couldn't possibly known beforehand.

'That Gideon kid is pretty good.' Joseph admitted in his thoughts. Not his abilities as a psychic, no; but the kid's ability to use "cold reading" at such a young age.

It didn't take more than a second for Jojo to figure out that Gideon was using the same exact technique as countless mentalists, psychics, fortune-tellers and mediums used to trick people into believing the "reader" knew more than they actually do.

You see, by analyzing the person's body language, age, clothing, fashion, hairstyle, gender, sexual orientation, religion, race or ethnicity, manner of speech, place of origin, etc. the "reader" can obtain a great deal of information. Combine this with high-probability guesses, and you get yourself a neat trick to either entertain at parties or scam the money out of gullible fools.

That skill alone was impressive enough on its own, but to combine it into an improvised song and dance number, that required talent.

Joseph respected that.

Once the show finished for the day, the Mystery Shack group made their way out of the tent while discussing the show and little Gideon.

"Man, that kid's an even bigger fraud than Stan! No wonder our Stan's jealous." Dipper said with contained laughs. Finding out his grunkle's nemesis was just a kid using a cheap trick was hilarious to him.

"Oh, come on. His dance moves were adorable! And did you see his hair? It was like, whoosh!" Unlike her brother, Mabel had enjoyed the show for what it was: a spectacle full of catchy music and silly dances.

"You're too easily impressed."Dipper teased, before turning towards Joseph to ask, "What do you think of the show, Joseph?"

"It wasn't that bad." It wasn't great either, but at least he didn't feel like he had wasted his money in vain. "A fraud Gideon might be, but he has talent for the showbiz." He fully admitted.

"Eh? You too?" The boy couldn't believe Jojo was also impressed by Gideon's show. "How can you be impressed by such a cheap trick?"

"Just because you are smart enough to see through the trick, it doesn't make it any less remarkable." Joseph grabbed the boy and gave him a noogie for being a know-it-all. "Let's see you do better than him."

"N-No way." Dipper said while struggling on the Teen's hold.

"See! If you can't do it then it isn't a cheap trick." Joseph grinded his knuckle one last time before he let Dipper go. "Come on! Let's go back to Soos' truck so we can take you home."

Unknown to them, a small figure was observing them retreat away from the tent with an intense gaze.

ゴゴゴゴ ゴゴゴゴ ゴゴゴゴ ゴゴゴゴ

『x-x-x』

The very next day, thanks to Gideon Telepathy Tent taking in all the costumers, business at the Mystery Shack was going extra slow. Joseph thought this would mean less work for him, but Stan insisted in putting him to work in other things, like sweeping the entire shack, or he wouldn't pay him for coming to work today.

"Pss… so unfair…" Jojo grumbled under his breath. "Wendy doesn't have to show up and nobody says anything, but if I take a break, the old man is all over my case." Sure, Wendy wasn't getting paid for missing that day, but she didn't need the money or a break as much as he did.

Joseph thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of the doorbell and Stand yelling right after. "Joe! Answer that door!"

Joseph mumbled about stupid old men and their constant butchering of his name as he approached the door to receive their unexpected visitor.

"Howdy!"

"Hey, It's wittle ol' you!" Jojo was honestly surprised to see the little psychic from last night show at their door.

"Yeah, my song's quite catchy." Gideon said with a hidden edge on his voice.

"To what do we owe your visit to the Mystery Shack?" Jojo went straight to the point without being too blunt. He was just a little kid after all and the newest celebrity around.

"Yes, I was wondering if I could speak with Mabel." Jojo raised an eyebrow at this, but didn't comment on it.

"Mabel! Someone's looking for you!"

A few seconds later, Mabel came rushing at the door excited to see who was looking for her and reacted the same way as Jojo did when she found Gideon at the door. "It's "wittle ol'" you!"

"Yeah, I know." He answered with a small shy laugh.

'Oh! So this is how it is.' Joseph smirked quickly figuring out the boy's reason to come by and visit. Mabel had caught the eye of wittle ol' Gideon. "I'll leave the two of you alone." He gave a little goodbye wave before going inside, as entertaining as watching those two might be, he had work to do.

God! How he despised that cheap bastard.

『x-x-x』

An hour later, Joseph finally got his break and was enjoying a nice cold drink of Pitt Cola. It wasn't Mocha Cola, but it was better than nothing, especially since he didn't trust the water supply inside the Shack.

No tap water for this guy.

But as he was rounding out a corner, Joseph managed to catch the end of a discussion between Dipper and Mabel. He remained hidden as to not interrupt them and make scene, yet ended up eavesdropping.

"Oh, leave him alone! You never want to do girly stuff with me; you and Soos get to do boy stuff all the time!" He heard Mabel and by her tone of voice, she had been keeping silent of this fact for some time now. "And if it not with him, when we hang with Jojo it is stuff you want to do."

"What are you talking about?" Dipper asked, not wanting to see his sister's point, or maybe he didn't actually see it at all.

And to prove Mabel's argument, Soos came on running with a packet of sausages. "Hey dude, I'm on a break! You ready to blow up these hot dogs in the microwave one by one?"

"Am I?" The two of them quickly ran away towards the kitchen, if the heavy steps the teen heard were any indication.

'Darn that sounds like fun.' The hidden English boy couldn't help but think about all those silly things he didn't get to do because of how firm his Granny was. She wanted him to become a gentleman just like his grandpa Jonathan, and anything too unsophisticated was always prohibited.

Joseph's his musings were cut short once he heard Mabel's gloomy sigh as she walked away to do her own thing. He was torn about what to do in these types of situations. Should he go and console her, revealing he had snoop on their little fight? Or should he do nothing and hope the twins solve this issue on their own, since this was their business and not his?

In the end, Joseph went for the later.

Siblings fought and made up all the time, so why should this be any different? Besides, Mabel had made a friend today. Surely things would be alright, right?

『x-x-x』

The very next day.

"Are go going on a date?!" Dipper asked voicing both his and Joseph's surprise at the news Mabel just told. "With Gideon?!"

"Well…" Mabel drew out feeling a little self conscious since both boys were staring at her. In her mind she worried most about how Jojo would react. Would he be worried? Or would he feel jealous? Or worst of it all, would he actually support this?

"I gotta say, I actually didn't see this coming." Jojo finally responded showing no strong reactions at all.

"It's not a date-date, it's just, you know…"She nervously played with her hair; she didn't want people to misunderstand her decision of taking up Gideon's invitation for a date. "I didn't want to hurt his feelings and so I figured I'd throw him a bone."

"Mabel, guys don't work that way." Dipper crossed his arms and shook his head in disapproval. "He's gonna fall in love with you."

"I don't know Dip." Joseph cut in with a small grin, "I think that only happens to desperate guys who never managed to get a date with a girl before. Kinda like you."

"Yea- hey!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" The teen laughed a bit before turning back to Mabel. "Seriously thou, it's better to make your intentions known, you wouldn't want to string him along and break his wittle ol' heart."

"Yeah right. I'm not that lovable." She scoffed trying to play away her own doubts.

"Okay, we agree on something here." Dipper nodded sagely only to receive a small tap on the back courtesy from Joseph. "Ow!"

"Don't listen to him, you can never be too careful." Jojo reminded. "If I were in his place I could totally start falling for you."

"Eh!" Mabel cried a bit before she became a blushing mess. She got so red that she had to turn to hide her face from them, something Jojo found really cute.

"Now that's how you tease a girl before a date." Joseph whispered on Dipper's ear, who only nodded in agreement.

Before further playful teasing could continue, the door bell rang signaling the arrival of Mabel's date. After the redness had faded away, Mabel went for the door and opened it…

Only to come face to face with a horse!

Poor Mabel, she ended up screaming and falling backwards.

"A night of enchantment awaits, m'lady!" Gideon announced atop from the steed like a noble knight or a cheesy romance novel protagonist would.

"Oh…boy." Mabel could already tell things were going places she didn't particularly like.

It took a few minutes for Mabel to finally get up the horse and when she did, the two of them rode away to whatever plans Gideon had for their date.

"Okay, now that's impressive." Joseph commented out-loud as he watched them go. "A little ostentatious, but impressive nonetheless."

"What do you mean?" Dipper looked up to the teen confused.

"Dipper, if there is something you should know about girls. They go crazy for horses." Nobody knew exactly why, but almost every girl and women loved them; and those rare minority that didn't, often didn't hate them either. "Horse riding, horse carriage rides, a day at the hippodrome watching horse races. All prime dating activities to wow the ladies."

"Really?"

"Trust me Dipper, I know about this stuff." Despite never having a girlfriend before, but he didn't need to tell the boy that.

く==ToBeContinued==

『Ciphers』

『Gywox vyfon dy drbyg wyxoi kd Oxqvscr lyi'c xkuon dybcy wybo cy drkx wox.』

『Wkxi zoyzvo drsxu dro zywzknyeb rksbcdivo sc fobi yvn-pkcrsyxon.』