Dipper was actually making the trek to the Host Club, Pacifica by his side, without Mabel's help today. After the little prank he pulled with the other set of twins, he is starting to admit that he enjoys being a member. Tamaki is still on his shit list, and one of these days he will use more force than necessary to slap him upside the head for the stunt he pulled on his and Haruhi's first day, but.
Dipper was forced to admit that his participation in the club wasn't as forced as it started out to be. He has made some pretty good friends, met some pretty fun people, and he enjoys sitting around and studying with them, showing off his experiments. It has been fun to find people in general that will get excited 'with' him about his discoveries. Pacifica has always been supportive, and she enjoys doing them with him and there are some experiments that they have just between themselves. But to be able to talk openly in large groups about something he finds exciting and have them be supportive and interested is not something he has very often.
Not to mention, he has been bonding with the other hosts. Kaoru and Hikaru especially, and it brought out their mischievous sides when they got together to goof around. Although when they dragged him into a game of which one is Hikaru, while he still had his green hair, it was amusing. The girls found it to be adorable, Mabel and Pacifica got a laugh out of it, and one of his usuals found it funny to guess he was Hikaru, which got a laugh from everyone. So yeah, Dipper is accepting his role as a member of the Host Club and is being a bit more active in his part.
As the two got there, they found the hosts sitting around in Arabic style, Tamaki as a sultan, and so it begins. Dipper chuckled as he went and got ready, Pacifica following close behind knowing there would be a dress for her. Dipper changed first and "stood guard" outside the changing rooms as Haruhi, who just arrived, walked in with Pacifica so the two could change.
Mabel barged in not long after as she quickly yelled at Dipper for not trying to escape and left her to wonder if he got past her somehow, as she went and joined the other two girls to change into the outfit provided for her.
As the three finished, allowing the gang to get into place for their early arrivals. This was something Tamaki always did for the guests. They would all sit and pose for a set amount of time before the start of club activities, which started half an hour after other club activities were meant to start, so the guests had time to arrive, and see them posing.
Tamaki would make an exception if the person to enter was new, because their usuals would know they do this and if they were doing a theme like today, they would take a picture. Sometimes, they would get their friends to take a picture of themselves with them. It was something they did for fun and would allow the guests to pose with them for pictures so they could enjoy it.
This time though, there were reserved dresses for guests that figured out the code on the website. So, all this week, Kyoya had been keeping track of the guests' dresses in their changing room, making sure everything was in order for when the girls would arrive and be able to change. Some purchased, some rented, but all were placed in alphabetical order and hung in the changing room. So as a couple of early arrivals squealed about how handsome the club was, went in and changed into the dress they ordered so they could take their pictures.
Kyoya had been prepped for this by placing a camera above the doorway, that was set and angled perfectly for a group shot with them. Today they had some extra early visitors because of the way Mabel had been handling the website.
Kyoya, working with Mabel so the girl knew what their theme was, set up for their guests to order or rent an outfit. The Host Club acted as a middleman between the guests and commonly the Hitachiin's company. The club got their mother business and was given a cut for encouraging the purchase or renting of the dresses the guests wanted to wear so they could join the fun. The girls had worked hard to come extra early so they could have time to find their order, change, and get a picture with the hosts before they stopped posing.
Tamaki was all too happy to allow the girls to join them in posing for the camera and further guests. They were all good sports about taking turns with the posing so they could all get some pictures, it was fun for everyone, and gave the moment a costume party feel, a bunch of friends posing together and taking selfies and having fun.
This being the scene, a young boy walked in on, as he requested the Host King to teach him about making girls happy. "What is with all these girls dressing up in stupid costumes. Wasn't this supposed to be a host club, not a Halloween club."
Several people frowned at the boy, not liking that he was bringing the mood down as Tamaki was getting excited over the boy calling him a king. Mabel was still a bit offended by the boy calling them all out like he did, but Tamaki was adamant he could teach the boy to be a proper gentleman, somewhat saving the mood.
And as the activities started, Tamaki had the young boy, who was named Shiro Takaoji, sit with him to learn how to be a proper host. And this is where we find one of the guests leaving as she cried about Tamaki being an idiot, only for the girl to run into Dipper. "You are right about him being an idiot, and I heard what those two were saying about you."
Tsubaki almost begins to cry when Dipper speaks up. "You know, when I was younger, everyone picked on me for having a connect the dot on my forehead. I was ridiculed and teased by everyone, most of them calling me names like Dipstick. Mabel wound up taking the name and using it as a nickname, so it took away most of the negative feelings that came with it, and over the summer I spent in Gravity Falls helped me come to terms with my birthmark."
As Dipper spoke, a lot of the guests did their best to remain silent to hear what he had to say, and several of them were tearing up over the information. "Your lips, they say they look like a carp's, but all I see is something that makes them jealous."
Tsubaki actually calmed down and stared in a bit of shock, surprised someone would say that, when even her own parents only ever told her to ignore what people say about her, reciting the same old "sticks and stones" crap the teachers would spout. No one ever mentioned anything about her lips making them jealous.
Dipper smiled as he noticed he had her attention. "Your lips, my birthmark, Ford's six fingers, are things that make us unique, make us stand out, above the crowds. And they don't have something like that, so all they can do is be jealous, and lash out at you to make you ashamed enough to hide it. Your lips are a part of who you are, and you should be proud that there is something about you that will make sure people will remember you. Because while I might be chosen by the stars, you are a treasure of the seas."
Dipper finished as he gave the girl a hug, his whole speech causing the girls to tear up over it all. Until Shiro stuck his foot into his mouth again. "Chosen by the stars, how stupid can you get? Just because you have acne on your head, doesn't make you special."
Dipper stopped smiling as he glared at the boy. Tamaki, being right next to the boy, slid away, slowly scrapping his chair across the floor, Dipper's glare giving him flashbacks to a laugh that gave him nightmares. There was just something about Dipper standing above you and looking down with his piercing glare that made you shiver in fear, and Shiro had drawn the look to him.
Tamaki was scared and he didn't want to be a part of whatever Dipper was going to do.
Dipper scoffed as he spoke up. "Shiro Takaoji, a fifth-grade piano player."
Shiro looked shocked as he flopped from his seat as Dipper stepped towards him, the seat flopping from under him as he begins to walk backwards away from him. Shiro began to sweat as Dipper continued to close the distance between them as Shiro pressed himself against the wall. Dipper leaned forward at his waist to look the boy in the eye, his smile getting a bit too wide as he continued. "Hina would be rather disappointed to learn you are just a pathetic bully. She will just leave you here as she moves away and finds a nicer boy that knows how to filter the crap from his mouth."
Shiro stared at Dipper with fear and shock as the boy chuckled darkly. "How does he know about Hina? What else does he know? How is he doing this? Is he reading my mind? What is he doing? Why is he doing this? I know a lot of things, a lot, of things. Maybe you should learn some manners before I teach you some."
Dipper stopped smiling as he stood up and turned to go back to his table and guests. "If you continue to mock everyone, make everyone hate you, you're going to make the wrong people angry with you. And that means that next time, you won't just come away with a little scare like this."
Dipper sat down with his guests, which included Tsubaki now, as everyone there started to ask how he knew all that. Shiro swallowed as he turned to the other hosts, only to find them all staring in shock and slight fear of the boy, seeing as Kyoya didn't even have that much info on the boy, admitting that without her full name, he couldn't even identify who Hina was. Tamaki, Honey, and the twins were all shivering about how Dipper looked with that smile, while Mori was standing back holding Honey a little tighter than usual.
Dipper laughed with his guests, all of them, including Pacifica, talking about how hot he looks when he shows his darker side. Though they were still asking about how he did it. "It's all about catching the small hints and clues." Dipper looked over to make sure the boy wasn't paying attention. "Shiro has on several occasions when trying to convince Tamaki to teach him, made mention of a time limit, and it only took a small search on the school website in the elementary school section to discover who he was. There are photos of him sitting and playing the piano with a young girl, and they both look rather happy. The photos give me her full name, but I took a chance at using a nickname, seeing as they looked that close."
The girls all sat there impressed with Dipper, as he continued to explain himself. "So, I took their closeness as a sign, and made a deductive guess that his time limit was her moving away. And from there, deductive reasoning led me to believe as much as I did to give him a scare for being a bully towards some of my friends."
The rest of the hosts eventually tried to return to their own guests, though Dipper did steal a couple from them after his words and defense of Tsubaki, crazy/dark Dipper is hot Dipper as they say.
Shiro was nearly to tears as Tamaki approached him, and though he did try to cheer the boy up, he wound up asking about Hina, getting a more thorough story about what he was facing. He might have run, if he didn't have to get past Dipper to leave, and he was still scared of him.
Over with Dipper, every girl was giving him more attention as he set aside the books and interacted with them. Dipper was doing his best to explain how to keep an eye out for the finer details, explaining what to look for as Mabel joined and helped explain it from her perspective.
The two together were able to meet a middle ground between the scientist and conman explanations, that the others could follow decently.
As the day was coming to an end, Dipper heard Tamaki talking to Shiro about days to teach him a song the boy said Hina was playing. The girls that stayed around had thought his reasoning for learning from him was just so adorable, so the kid was officially Tamaki's apprentice in piano playing.
Yay…
Dipper did his best to ignore the boy on the days he showed up, ever since Dipper aired his thoughts that day, the kid had a healthy fear of him, while the other hosts acted like they were walking on eggshells with him for a day. They couldn't give all their days to the boy's problem, though Tamaki later cried about missed opportunities when Mabel spoke about how they would have had to infiltrate the middle school if Dipper hadn't done what he did. Mabel pouted a bit as she missed the opportunity to wear a middle school uniform, Tamaki pouted about missing the chance to see Haruhi in one, both sitting off to the side as they rolled a ball back and forth.
When the boy finally had his little personal concert with Hina Kamishiro, Pacifica and Mabel had made plans and needed Dipper's help for some reason. Dipper was still annoyed with the boy, and because the boy was afraid of him now, they were unable to patch things up between them.
Dipper didn't really care anymore, and he wouldn't have ruined the girl's date just because the boy was an ass once, but everyone was acting as if he would just do something like that again. Pacifica honestly just wanted her selfish day and dragged him along to do some shopping, as Mabel tagged along, and the two girls made him carry their stuff.
The next day, the three were blindsided when Tamaki kidnapped them, along with Haruhi. Dipper felt he should have expected it, and Pacifica threatened to sue them, while Mabel was kidnapped just as she got to the school to walk home with Dipper. She just giggled the entire way as she questioned the twins about their plans for her as they stuck her in the limo with her brother and friends.
The four "victims" were surprised as they made it to their destination, and it was a tropical resort. Haruhi immediately expressed her dislike for the place, while Mabel immediately expressed her love of it. Dipper and Pacifica shrugged.
Dipper changed with the rest of the guys into a simple pair of lime-green swim trunks, as the three girls were picking out their own swimsuits, provided by Hikaru and Kaoru, mostly because they kidnapped them from school without telling them their plans, leaving them unprepared for the visit to the pool.
Mabel had convinced Pacifica to do a twin-like thing, when she found a matching set of two-piece swimsuits, one pink the other purple. The specific designs of which, will be left to the reader's imagination, because the author is terrible with fashion and doesn't want to spend too much time describing two girls less than half his age.
As the girls stepped out of the changing rooms, they were met with Tamaki, who offered them each a hoodie. Pacifica and Mabel refused; Haruhi accepted. When questioned, Tamaki explained that though he did drag them here to enjoy the pool and have fun, if it's not fun, they shouldn't be forced into it, and Haruhi already stated she didn't like it. It would also be rude to offer this to Haruhi and neither of the other girls.
So, Pacifica went over and made Dipper rub lotion into her back, while Mabel teased the Hitachiin twins about them kidnapping her, getting them to blush as she flirted a bit. As Dipper sat there, he took notice of the other twins goading Tamaki into a water gun fight and shook his head over the taunting that worked.
Tamaki was crushing hard it seems.
Dipper turned his attention to check on his sister, who was playing games with Honey and Mori in the river pool. Mabel was showing how much effort she was putting in to fight the flow of water, as Mori looked to be having an easier time controlling his speed to stay in the one spot as Mabel looked to have trouble keeping pace with him, either going too hard, or not hard enough.
Tamaki, as usual, was putting a hundred and ten percent into his battle against the twins, all three looking to be having fun. Kyoya was sitting off to the side at a table under the umbrella, having short conversations with Haruhi as the girl explained her dislike for fake things.
Mori stepped out of the river pool, leaving Mabel to hold onto Honey's inner tube as the two swam against the flow. Pacifica practically fell asleep as Dipper sat there rubbing her shoulders and back. Everything was looking to turn out just fine, until some alarms started to go off.
Honey and Mabel were both caught off guard as a large wave rushed them and carried them off to who knows where. Tamaki and the twins screamed as they yelled about the position of the button being horrible, as Kyoya pulled out a notebook and began to write some things down.
As Tamaki began to rally the twins to search for the two lost friends, Dipper got up and went over to the changing rooms, retrieving a fanny pack. He came back in time to hear Kyoya thank the three goofballs, Haruhi, and Mori for helping gather some data, Pacifica getting up and walking over as the boys and Haruhi all gathered. She was not going to be left alone as they all went out to search for their missing friends.
As the other boys hadn't noticed, Kyoya did raise a brow at the fanny pack Dipper now had hanging from his waist. "Some inventions I always keep with me for emergencies."
A nod, and they began a proper trek through the false jungle to find Mabel and Honey.
Who we will be following to switch things up.
As the two were dragged off down the stream, Honey took the situation more seriously than he normally would have, seeing as there was one of his friends there with him, and he didn't know how capable she really was. So, with a flip, the boy was out of his innertube and grabbing Mabel's hand as he spun them around, landing on dry land with her in his arms. "You okay May-chan?"
Mabel giggled over the boy's friendly nature as she hugged his neck. "My hero."
A quick kiss on his cheek caused the boy to laugh as Mabel hopped to her feet. A quick look around revealed the two were completely and hopelessly lost. "We sure got some distance on that wave. Let's go again!"
Both Mabel and Honey threw their hands in the air and cheered. Before they put them back down and Honey spoke up. "As soon as we meet back up with everyone, so they know we are fine."
After another cheer, the two began their own walk through the unknown, finding out what their friends found out, running into wild and dangerous animals with no warning or enclosure. Though instead of running away screaming, Mabel and Honey practically danced past, around, and away.
Honey was impressed when he found Mabel bouncing around the animals like a pro, not as skilled as himself, but still with the grace of a trained fighter. "Hey, May-chan, do you practice martial arts as well?"
Mabel giggled as she turned her focus to him. "I started learning boxing from my Gruncle Stan, and after he said I was done learning, I started practicing Muay-Thai."
Mabel got into her boxing stance, throwing a couple punches, showing excellent form and speed, before spinning a bit and throwing out a couple kicks. Honey could see the skill she had and could tell that while not a master of Muay-Thai, the girl was rather good. Though she obviously was rather quick footed and fast with her punches, he could tell that her punches would hurt. "I could help with some pointers if you would like May-chan. I am really good with plenty of forms of martial arts."
Mabel smiled as she began to walk normally. "Really? I would appreciate it. Learning is so much more fun with someone. Dipper learned a bit of boxing with me, though he was never as good as me, he started to learn a different style. He uses his boxing in conjunction with his inventions and pressure points aimed at nerve clusters to slow his enemies down."
Honey chuckled as he nodded. "When someone lacks the physical strength the stronger art forms require, that is a solid plan. Makes me want to spar with you guys sometime."
Mabel laughed as she messed with Honey's hair. "Dipper would probably turn you down, cause he just doesn't like to get physical with people. But if you help me like you said, we will obviously get plenty of chances."
Back to the search party, they have mostly been just walking and talking, Haruhi doing her best to cheer up Mori, mentioning the bananas if they got hungry. Though she was wondering why Dipper and Pacifica were so calm.
As Tamaki brought it up, Dipper just shrugged as he pulled out a small device that looked like a Gameboy with a camera. "This device was created by me and Ford to monitor the health of those we have scanned with it. I am not going to go into detail with you all, but this device, after a scan and while you're within distance, how you are health wise. I scanned Pacifica, Mabel, and myself with it when I created it, so I know that Mabel is healthy and conscious, and with the readings I am getting, in a chipper mood. Which tells me that she and Honey are just having a pleasant stroll through the jungle."
Kaoru did his best to hide a smirk as he eyed both Tamaki and his brother, wondering which would react more to this. "Maybe they are having a bit more than just a merry stroll? You never know with two young hormonal teens, off in the jungle, alone, no one to hear them for miles."
Hikaru frowned at the joke, while Tamaki gasped. "My children are far more dignified than that Kaoru, though I must admit my disappointment you would suggest such a thing."
Dipper shrugged. "Honey isn't even Mabel's type."
Everyone, excluding Pacifica, turned to Dipper curiously, causing the boy to role his eyes as he explained. "Mabel had a bad experience with a younger "adorable" boy before, he was far from being anything like Honey-sempai. Main thing, he was a fraud that tried to murder me, twice."
Dipper paused as the others just stared in shock. "He has gotten better, but he soured Mabel towards the short and adorable boys. She does enjoy Honey-sempai's company, and she loves hanging out, but she will not enjoy dating him because of all the memories it pulls up. Mori-sempai is more her type."
The other hosts blinked at that. Hikaru, while not smiling as wide as usual, decided to ask, "what makes Mori-sempai her type?"
Dipper raised a hand to his chin as he looked down, hiding his smirk from Hikaru as he saw through his plan. "Well, if you want me to start from the beginning, Tamaki could look perfect from a couple stand points. But Mabel doesn't feel like his type, which causes Mabel to pull away. Mabel enjoys matchmaking, as much as she thinks about finding herself someone. So, she takes into consideration the type of person that others would like."
Tamaki looked to be thinking as the others turned to see his reaction. "Well, she wouldn't be wrong. As fun as it would be, I can't really find myself feeling more than the friendship I already have with her. Her personality kind of reminds me of my own and my father's, giving her more of a sibling feel if I were to place it."
The others nodded at that, able to see where the boy was coming from. Dipper pointed at Kyoya, "you are me if I was a businessman. No more needs to be said there, you may have enough differences that she enjoys teasing and flirting, but you remind her too much of myself. The intellectual that keeps things flowing smoothly, the brains behind the operation if you will."
Everyone nodded, seeing where he was going with that. The system began to rain, causing the group to take cover under a nearby pavilion, turning back to hear the rest of Dipper's explanations.
Dipper shrugged as he continued. "I already explained the reason why Honey-sempai wouldn't work out, Mabel just doesn't like younger boys, even if she enjoys hanging out with him. Hikaru and Kaoru are probably the only ones that have a chance to win her heart other than Mori-sempai, Hikaru having a slight lead. She enjoys your guys' company; she finds you funny and fun. Mori-Sempai has the tall dark and handsome knight thing going on, which makes him her ideal childhood fantasy match. He is also a great guy, kind and considerate, and just enjoys being helpful to those around him. He makes her feel safe, without having a trunk full of guns like me, Stan, and Ford do."
As Hikaru stuck his tongue out at Kaoru, Dipper turned to Haruhi. "And I'm sure you know this already, but you have the same issue as Tamaki, as in Mabel doesn't feel you would be happy with her. She sees how exasperated you get with everyone when they do stuff like this, and since she is all about the surprises and doesn't mind the artificial things, she feels too much of her would make you unhappy."
The other boys blushed a little, having not expected Dipper to address the Harbel ship.
Dipper shrugged, "Mabel has a similar thought to this as Haruhi does. She just loves to love, she doesn't care about gender, she just wants to fall in love and spend the rest of her life with another person."
As the others nodded, the rain began to let up as Dipper looked over the map with Tamaki. Tamaki rallied the twins for his own plan as Kyoya made a call. Dipper closed his eyes, before walking over and addressing Pacifica. "I am going to go get Mabel, I have a calculation of where she should be. Do you mind staying with Kyoya, since he owns the place, it is probably the safest place to be."
Pacifica shrugged as she smiled. "Go get her and be quick about it. You still need to finish with my suntan lotion. You know I need it applied at certain intervals of spending time outside in a bathing suit."
Dipper chuckled as he began to walk off, taking notice of Mori going in the same direction, Haruhi following soon after. Haruhi had curiously asked where they were going, with Mori giving a cryptic answer. Dipper shrugged, "I did the math."
The three began to make their way through a bit more of a dangerous route, avoiding quicksand, snakes and another batch of gators before Mori lifted the exhausted Haruhi and began to carry her. Something that impressed Mori, was how Dipper was quick footed enough to keep up and avoid the dangerous animals. "You have trained in combat."
Dipper looked at the older teen and gave a nod. "Yeah, I was taught boxing by my Gruncle Stan. Afterward, I studied the pressure points and nerve clusters of the human body to supplement it and allow me to fight in hand-to-hand combat. I don't have the natural strength Mabel does, and while I do work out, something just seems to keep me from building a lot of muscle. So, I use my intellect to bridge the gap and continue with my life. I could go about using science to overcome the problem, but that would require a lot of dedication and changing my own lifestyle. I am happy as I am, and don't need to be a wall of muscle."
As the three reached a clearing in the jungle, Dipper narrowed his eyes as he began to think on the direction he should go next, before there was suddenly a wall of soldiers before them, spreading to encircle them. The one in front was demanding they release Haruhi into their custody.
As Dipper was about to step forward and try to talk it out, one of the soldiers took a step too close and grabbed Haruhi, causing both Dipper and Mori to react. Mori kicked the man up, though while he was airborne, Dipper threw three punches, striking him in three unrelated spots on his body.
As the man landed on the ground, he did not move afterword. Though he did shout about not feeling his limbs and screamed about being unable to move. Dipper had to aim at the nerves that were at the joints, striking at them with his knuckles with a full powered punch to have the effect he wanted, immobilization. Dipper was not going to be able to do that very often though, so he would have to rely on just backing up Mori, as they both protected Haruhi, seeing as these guys refused to listen.
They two were saved, seeing as from one side Honey came swooping in and began to systematically and with great speed, slam each person to the ground in a way to temporarily immobilize them. Mabel had dropped in on the other side, and though not as fast as Honey, was still able to take down her own share of the soldiers.
Honey took out four for every one Mabel took out. And as the two met up with one another again, they high fived as Honey pointed out some advice for her to improve. After the heroes were done with their short chat, Honey turned to them. "Great work protecting Haru-chan, Tama-chan. And you did an excellent job as well Dippy-chan."
As the group were reunited, the rest of the club caught up as Kyoya explained things to the guards in better detail, and they apologized for the aggression. Everyone was beginning to pack up and leave as the twins suggested going to a real beach, and Haruhi correcting Tamaki about his misconception over her preference. Which ended up being the plan for next time.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=Chapter End=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I am getting close to the chapter that inspired me to write this story, and I am starting to get even more excited to work on this. I did have a thought of giving Dipper a bit of psychic power, but decided against it, seeing as that goes against what I am aiming for, and it makes no sense in the context of either canon. Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.