From Arruruchama: "Pacifica and Dipper had been friends since the party(Mabel doesn't know) and they decide to hang out in secret. Dipper hesitantly tells Pacifica that he gets frightful nightmares after he got possessed by a triangle demon. You can decide how this turns out! Just some Pacifica and Dipper friendship! I like to think the unthinkable: Pacifica becomes Dipster's comfort! XD thank you! I hope you do this."

I think Mabel would definitely know something was up if Dipper began hanging out with Pacifica, but she probably would pretend she wouldn't know so Dip wouldn't be embarrassed. As for the whole nightmare bit... let's see where this goes :) This one-shot is set after Northwest Mansion Mystery and completely disregards anything that occurs in Not What He Seems, due to spoilers and because I have no idea if this would fit considering how that episode ended. We have no idea what could be coming next so... Enjoy!

Lights Off

It had been surprisingly easy to get out of the Shack due to Stan being busy with the last tour of the day, Soos and Wendy heading to their respective homes early with fevers (although he suspected Wendy was just faking it to get out of work), and Mabel was at Grenda's house for the day. Dipper almost chuckled to himself at how Stan probably wouldn't notice he was gone until hours after, given how long tourists took to leave the gift shop these days.

He stood by the diner, out of sight, anxiously checking his watch. He'd been waiting for over ten minutes; she was late.

"Figures," he muttered under his breath.

"Do you normally stand in the shadows talking to yourself?"

Dipper jumped and let out a (manly) yelp as he turned around. He glared at the snickering blonde.

"Do you normally sneak up on people and arrive late?"

Pacifica rolled her eyes, but a small smile tugged at her lips. "I had to walk, give me a break. My parents haven't let me use the limo ever since... uh, you know."

Dipper's expression softened as he recalled the party at her mansion. "Right. So, is there any reason why we're at the diner of all places?"

"...I'm hungry and I want to get away from my parents for a few hours." Before he could react, she grabbed his arm and dragged him into the diner. It wasn't crowded, surprisingly, with only two other tables occupied. Lazy Susan was attacking a possum that had found its way near her stove, so they decided to just take a seat themselves.

"So, about your parents... has it gotten any better?" Dipper felt a little awkward about asking, but considering how they had acted the last time he had seen them... He figured he had a decent reason for inquiring.

She tapped her fingernails on the table's surface, not meeting his eyes. "Not by much. They've mainly just yelled and grounded me. I can't do a lot of things now: can't use the limo, can't stay out later than dinnertime, can't visit any friends..."

The boy raised an eyebrow at the last one. "So what are you doing now, then?"

She looked up and smiled. The look of mischief in her eyes was blatantly obvious. "Hanging out with a friend."

"You're not worried about what they'll say when they find out?"

"If they find out," Pacifica corrected him, the smile growing wider.

Dipper rolled his eyes but he too felt a smile creeping onto his face. A yawn left his lips before he could stop it and he quickly put a hand over his mouth in embarrassment. The blonde burst out laughing at his expression.

"A little tired?"

"Y-Yeah, sorry. Just haven't been sleeping as much as I should."

He had said this jokingly, but Pacifica's eyes widened in concern instead. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

Oh. Oh, no. He looked away as Lazy Susan finally made it to their table, thankfully saying nothing of the strange pair sitting there as she took their orders and went back to chasing the possum. He pretended not to notice how his friend (wow, that sounded weird even in his head...) watched him impatiently.

"Dipper."

Gosh, she's just as bad as Mabel about this.

"Look," he said quietly, "it's nothing. I'm fine."

"Are you scared to tell me or something?"

"No, look - "

"Have you told anyone else about it?"

"Uh, yeah, but - "

"Then why can't you tell me?" Pacifica demanded. He recognized the determination in her eyes when he looked up, reminding him eerily of how she had looked when he'd nearly tracked mud on her parents' favorite carpet pattern not too long ago.

Only Mabel knew about the bad dreams, although he suspected Stan had some idea since he had explained the whole "sock opera" incident. What if Pacifica thought he was being stupid about this? It had been a while since the incident but the dreams hadn't quite gone away yet.

Looking her in the eye was making Dipper lose his resolve. He turned away, looking out the window, and bit his lower lip.

"I, um, Pacifica... I've been having nightmares, that's all."

She frowned. "What about? The... The party?"

In surprise, he turned back to look at her and was even more surprised to see a strange sort of understanding in her eyes. Wait, did she have nightmares about the party? He suddenly felt like a major jerk for not noticing this.

"Uh, no, actually. A while back, I made a stupid deal with... with a demon. Let's just say, it's been haunting me ever since."

"A demon?"

"Yeah." Dipper lowered his gaze as she seemed to think this over.

"What sort of deal was it? Did you, like, give him your soul or something?"

His eyes blew wide at this. "What? No! No, I'd never do that! I just...I got tricked into letting him possess me, and he ruined Mabel's sock puppet show when she saved me."

Pacifica sat back against the booth, her eyes never leaving his face. It made him feel as if he were being studied by a scientist.

"That sounds terrible... Does Mabel know?"

"Yeah, but only her. She had to wake me up from one of the nightmares once."

Pacifica's gaze softened. "Oh, wow. I'm... I'm sorry, Dipper."

Even after realizing she wasn't as terrible as he had initially thought a while ago, he was still startled to hear the words come out of her mouth. "Huh?"

She rolled her eyes at his confusion.

"I'm sorry you got possessed by some demon. I can't imagine not having nightmares afterward!"

A small smile crept onto his face and he looked away so she didn't see him turn red. "Uh, thanks..."

"Are they getting any better?"

"Y-Yeah. I'm getting over it, it was just... he was attacking M-Mabel and I was basically a ghost and I couldn't do anything to help her - "

She placed a hand on his arm as he began to get worked up, memories of that terrifying high-pitched laugh echoing in his head. Dipper sheepishly met the blonde's eyes as she stayed quiet.

"S-Sorry."

"It's okay." She turned pink when she realized what she was doing and released his arm, coughing as Lazy Susan came back to their table with their food. The moment she left, the rich girl mumbled, "I don't suppose I could pay you to forget that ever happened...?"

It was as if déjà vu hit Dipper as he recalled when she had last said those words, and for some reason, it made him laugh and shake his head. Some things just wouldn't change.

I really want to see these two have a good friendship, as well as Mabel and Pacifica getting along too. I loved where the writers went with her character and I feel like she'd be supportive of their weird supernatural incidents once she actually heard about them.