A/N: Greetings all! I'm back with a new chapter. Stick around for notes at the end. Remember that I own nothing!
...
Robin paused in the middle of restocking a bunch of plastic skulls and looked over at Dipper, who was humming along to a song on the radio that sounded very familiar while taking notes in his journal. It was late in the morning at the Mystery Shack, and while Soos and Melody were giving another tour, Robin, Wendy, and Dipper were holding down the gift shop, waiting for the end of the tour when Soos would release the Mystery Shack patrons into the shop to empty their wallets.
Wendy was reading her magazine once again with her boots propped up on the counter while Robin was stocking the shelves to their maximum. She had very quickly learned to cram as much of the cheap merchandise onto the shelves as possible, for if she didn't, then the shelf would be emptied in a flash once the mystery-hungry customers entered the shop, and the Mystery Shack would miss out on valuable profit.
Usually, Robin could care less for the profits of the businesses she worked for, but in the case of the Mystery Shack, she had an incentive, as Soos directly increased the paychecks of all employees based on how much merchandise was sold each week, meaning the more Mystery Merchandise that was sold, the more they got paid, and the faster Steve and Robin could get the Dart fixed. There was an obvious downside to that if the shack had a relatively slow week, but Soos never dipped their paychecks below a certain amount thankfully, meaning that even if merchandise didn't sell particularly well, they still had a consistent wage. Thankfully, there never seemed to be a shortage of mystery enthusiasts and curious tourists in and around the Gravity Falls region.
With that in mind, Robin wondered why she was so distracted by Dipper and his humming along to the incredibly-familiar-but-not-familiar song on the radio when there was money to be made.
"Uh, what song is this?" Robin asked anyway. The high-tempo pop feel of the music was very reminiscent of the pop music she knew from her own time, and though Robin's tastes had always leaned more towards rock and roll, that didn't mean she didn't have an appreciation for anything that wasn't Patti Smith or The Runaways.
Dipper didn't answer her question at first, and he almost looked a little sheepish as he scratched the back of his head.
"It's uh, it's called 'Disco Girl'," he said.
Robin squinted in concentration as the singer on the radio continued in a soprano voice and punctuated the lyrics with melodic vocal sounds as well to drive home the upbeat nature of the song. It was so familiar, and yet, Robin was at a loss for where she had heard the song before.
Wendy looked up and smirked at Robin's scrunched up features, and after a few more moments, the redhead decided to help her out.
"It's by an old pop group called BABBA," Wendy said. "Dipper just so happens to be their number one fan."
This caused Dipper to blush slightly, but he didn't correct Wendy's statement at all.
"Yeah…what can I say, I'm a bit of a sucker for their music."
Wendy grinned and turned to Robin.
"This dude knows every single one of their songs by heart. I once dared him to recite all the lyrics to 'Mi Madre!', and he did it without missing a single beat!"
Robin would have laughed along with her if her mind wasn't short circuiting at the moment. As soon as Wendy had mentioned the name of the band, everything had clicked, but in a really weird way.
"You guys are serious?"
Dipper raised a confused eyebrow.
"I mean, yeah, I know all the lyrics by heart. I didn't think it was that weird…"
"No, I mean, that's the band's actual name? And those are really the names of their songs? Not that I think they're dumb or anything, but it just seems a little…derivative. I mean, this is all extremely similar to another pop band that I know of…"
"Oh, that," Dipper said, scratching the back of his head again. "Yeah…BABBA did run into a bit of legal trouble with their name, and their songs, and genre, and lyrics…"
This caused Robin to laugh now that she finally understood.
"Geez, I thought I was going crazy for a second!"
Dipper and Wendy both relaxed as well now that the confusion had passed, and they fell back into a comfortable silence as 'Disco Girl' continued on the radio.
"Not a bad song, though," Robin said after a few moments, continuing to stack merchandise as she did so. "I'm guessing they're from about the same time period as the other group, too?"
"Yep," Dipper confirmed with a nod. "Most of their stuff came out in the mid-70s. But as you can guess, they got kind of overshadowed."
"Glad to hear it. That means I can buy some of their tapes once I get home."
Robin paused once again as she said the words, surprised by the slight pang she felt when she had said them.
Home.
She'd of course been talking about Hawkins, but she'd also been talking about 1985 as well. The future had been great to her so far, what with all the convenience and technology and freedom to be who she was, but Robin likened it to going to an amusement park. Everyone loved going and spending the day there, but you couldn't stay there forever. No matter how much you enjoyed being there, you still had to go home eventually. You still had to live somewhere and make money and eat real food and go to school…
The thought arose in Robin's head that maybe the amusement park analogy wasn't the best for her current situation, as she still had most of those things here in the future. I mean, yeah, school was a thing, but she already had a job, and she could always enroll in Gravity Falls High to finish her education…
Whoa, wait a minute. She was getting off-track big time. Where did that train of thought come from? She wasn't going to be staying here for longer than a month at most, so long range plans didn't really need to be considered, right? She had to get back to 1985 as soon as possible, after all. She couldn't just abandon her parents and her friends and Steve…
Wait, Steve was here with her, in 2013 and in Gravity Falls, so Robin disregarded that last part. So she still had to get back to her parents, her friends, and…and…?
Wait, was that all that she had waiting for her back in 1985 Hawkins? Was that really all she had to look forward to? That and being more quiet about who she was? Why did going back to the past suddenly seem like such a let down?
An idea formed unbidden in her mind, and it shocked Robin so much that she almost dropped the painted rocks that were being sold as "magic geodes of unknown origin". Recovering quickly so that Dipper and Wendy didn't notice, she forced the idea back down, refusing to entertain it at all, despite the reverberations of it in her mind.
…
Outside, Steve was busy sealing a few leaks in the outdoor piping of the Shack. As he was quickly finding out, the Mystery Shack had spared quite a few expenses under its previous management, and there existed numerous safety and structural code violations as a result. That meant there was no shortage of work for Steve, as Soos was making an effort to bring the Shack up to code despite its previous ownership. Already, Steve had discovered a few load-bearing walls held together with duct tape, inspection documents that had been forged in crayon, and he didn't even dare think about the living nightmare that was the Mystery Shack's electrical layout right now. As it turned out, half of the Shack's power was illegally siphoned from a nearby power line, and it now fell on Steve and Soos to try and remedy the issue without calling an electrician. Apparently, Soos had already been to prison a few times in his endeavors to bring the Shack up to code, with one of his visits lasting up to two weeks due to the discovery of Stan's previously secret pug-smuggling operation.
Now, as Steve focused on tightening the rusty nuts and bolts that made up the shack's main water line, he also found his attention split between the task at hand and Mabel's continuous flirting, which had been turned up to the max over the last couple of days. While Steve was standing on a ladder that was propped up against the side of the Shack, Mabel was hanging upside down from the roof, her legs anchoring her while her upper body hung upside down a few feet to his left, making the two of them almost eye level despite being oriented completely opposite. Steve had already pointed out to her the precarious nature of her position, but Mabel had countered with the fact that she not only did this all the time, but that it was the perfect position for the two them to converse due to the close proximity it afforded them without the need for a second ladder.
"So, then I worked my magic to save Robbie's poor broken heart by setting him up with Tambry, and my happiness chart was balanced at last!"
Mabel accentuated her statement by pulling out a piece of paper from her pocket and holding it out to Steve, which showcased crudely drawn headshots of her, Dipper, and everyone else in Wendy's friend group. Each head had a smiley face sticker next to it, and despite the somewhat creepy and stalkerish vibe Steve got from the paper, he had to give Mabel credit for her creativity.
"And uh, you did this via drugging them with a potion made by a love god that was also a folk music star?" Steve asked, trying to organize the inherently crazy nature of the story so that it made sense in his brain.
"Yep!" Mabel said proudly. "Though in hindsight, I'm sure I could've done it without the potion, as no romantic obstacle is too much for the world's greatest matchmaker!"
Mabel punched the air in front of her a few times as she spoke, her long brown hair swaying freely below her head as she did so.
"So…if you ever need some assistance finding that special someone…" Mabel said, and Steve couldn't help but notice that her voice had suddenly gained a somewhat anxious edge to it. "You just give me a call!"
Mabel then pushed up the sleeve of her sweater, which Steve noticed was knit in a different style than the ones he had seen her wearing up until this point. Unlike the others that held a distinct collar to them, this one's collar was wider, with the neckline tapering down from her neck on one side and ending just below her shoulder on the other. The sleeves were also wider at the ends, which made it all the more easy for Mabel to roll them up. The design of the sweater was also semi-familiar to Steve, and he guessed that Mabel had been specifically going for a 1980s style when she had knitted it. Multicolored triangles sat against an eggshell white background, and directly in the center, a thin purple lighting bolt intersected one of the triangles perfectly, reminding Steve of very much of the designs he'd seen back at Starcourt Mall when it had been open. Back then, everyone dressed in their best due to the newness of the place, meaning that only the brightest and most colorful outfits were worn by all. He had quickly discovered how much fashion had changed in the future, however, and that bright colors were not as popular as they had been, though Mabel acted as an exception to the change more often than not.
Honestly, Steve thought Mabel was emulating 1985 fashion very well, as her sweater was complimented by a brightly colored headband in her hair down to her bright pink long skirt (which she had velcroed to her legs to avoid any embarrassment whilst hanging upside down from the roof of the shack). The outfit was completed by a set of neon yellow leg warmers worn just above her tennis shoes, and of course, a set of orange triangle earrings that almost perfectly matched a pair that Steve's mother had worn on multiple occasions.
Wait, were those…nachos?
Before Steve could inquire as to whether Mabel was wearing food on her ears or not, the young girl finished rolling up her sleeve and held it out in front of his face. There, bedazzled on her forearm with sparkling plastic gems, was a telephone number, likely her own personal cell phone number. The number had been bedazzled upside down on her forearm, which meant that with Mabel's current orientation it appeared right side up to Steve.
Looking from the number to Mabel, who was beaming at him from her upside down position, Steve idly wondered whether the blush in her cheeks was from the blood pooling in her head or her nervousness at asking him to call her. The answer, as always, was probably both.
"Did you bedazzle your arm upside down on purpose?" Steve asked. "What if I was working on the ground or something?"
"I'm always prepared!" Mabel said proudly, rolling up her other sleeve to show that it had also been bedazzled with her phone number, only this time it was right side up, and Steve shook his head and felt a small smile appear on his face at the sight.
Despite the fact that this thirteen-year-old girl was flirting rather heavily with him, Steve couldn't help but find her constant enthusiasm to be infectious. Her straightforward innocence was also very cute to Steve, but more so in an older adult to young kid way instead of a romantic one. Steve shook his head and gave a small smirk.
"I appreciate the offer, but you know I don't have a 'shell phone', or whatever they're called, right? It kind of defeats the purpose if I have to use the phone inside the Shack since you live there."
Steve and Robin had already written down the phone numbers of all the Shack residents as well as Wendy's in case they needed to call from somewhere, but Steve doubted that they would need the numbers much at all. Apparently, all these new mobile telephones that everyone used in the future were able to store phone numbers inside them, meaning that there was hardly a need to memorize phone numbers anymore. And since Steve and Robin were typically always around the other Shack residents, the possibility of dialing from a payphone or other landline was limited.
"Ah, but see, a cell phone is hardly necessary!" Mabel said. "What if I'm not here at the Shack and the mood for love strikes you? You just dial the number, and I'll come running. Any time, anywhere!"
"I'll keep that in mind," he said, tapping his jeans pocket where the list of numbers was kept.
"Perfect!" Mabel replied happily. "Not that I would think or desperately wish that anything would happen between you and Robin, but if it does, I would have you back on your feet with a new girl in no time!"
It was obvious who that "new girl" would be, but Steve disregarded that part in favor of addressing the former part of Mabel's sentence, though he knew she had asked it with a specific purpose.
"Robin and I aren't dating," he said with a sigh, already knowing where this conversation was going. "We're just good friends."
Sudden giddiness filled Mabel's inverted form at his answer, as Steve knew it would, and he heard her legs tapping on the roof of the Shack with barely concealed excitement.
Steve took a deep breath as Mabel made to speak again, and he cut her off before she could start.
"Look, Mabel—"
What Steve had to say next died in his throat as Mabel suddenly slipped off the roof, her excited leg taps causing her to lose her anchor on the roof and fall subject to gravity once again. A surprised yelp escaped from her lips as she began to fall, and Steve immediately dropped the socket wrench in his hands and grabbed a hold of Mabel's bedazzled arm by pure reflex. His shoulder jerked in its socket as he caught Mabel's weight, but unfortunately for them both, the sudden offset caused the ladder to tilt towards the side that Mabel had fallen from, and if Steve didn't do something fast, the two of them, as well as the ladder, would be taking the express route to the ground.
Thinking quickly, Steve reached out and grabbed the water pipe he had been working on just moments ago, stopping the ladder mid-tilt and holding them both aloft and stopping their fall. The now cockeyed position of the ladder caused the toolbox that Steve had balanced on one of the rungs to slide off and tumble down to the ground. It missed Mabel by a few inches from where she dangled several feet above the dirt, and the two of them watched in a stunned silence as the toolbox crashed down hard, kicking up dust in a loud chorus of metal when it landed.
Nobody spoke, then Mabel looked back up at Steve and gave a nervous laugh from where she swung from his straining arm.
"Heh, heh. Well…looks like I'm falling head over heels for you, huh?"
"Yeah, I got that!" Steve snapped, wholeheartedly deciding that now was not time for jokes. "Can we not do this right now, please?"
His tone was admittedly harsher than he'd meant for it to be, and even though he could see the obvious hurt on Mabel's face, the fact that she had almost been hit by forty pounds of metal tools was still fresh in Steve's mind, so keeping his voice even was not really high on his priorities list right now..
"Right…" Mabel said, her head drooping as Steve grunted and pulled the ladder back upright with his right arm alone. Eventually, he had pulled them back to the ladder's original vertical position, and Mabel silently positioned herself on the ladder and climbed down, sheepishly rubbing her arm and looking at the ground as Steve followed her.
Once they both were back on solid ground, Steve immediately turned towards Mabel to chastise her for almost breaking her neck, but his words died in his throat when he saw her face, which still refused to look up at him. In stark contrast to her usual energetic, smiley nature, Mabel was now incredibly subdued, her eyes glassy with barely held back tears and her lips turned downward in embarrassment and shame, which were two emotions that Mabel rarely entertained.
Steve frowned at her, then noticed that she was still slowly rubbing her arm.
"You hurt?" he asked with a sigh, deciding that he could get mad at her after making sure she was okay.
"I'm fine," Mabel said with a shrug. The dejectedness in her voice gave Steve a slight pang in his chest at just how down she sounded right now. Sad Mabel was like an oxymoron, and seeing her like this did not sit right with Steve at all.
"Let me see," Steve said, gesturing to Mabel's arm. She hesitated, then slowly rolled up her sleeve again. Her now upside down phone number was revealed once again, but a few of the numbers had fallen off from where Steve had grabbed her, leaving only a few plastic gems still stuck to her skin, which was red and slightly abraded from his grip.
Thankfully, it wasn't anything serious, and even though it was likely going to be tender for a while, her arm didn't require any medical attention.
"Steve, your hand…" Mabel said, a small hint of surprise temporarily overriding her dismay.
Steve followed her gaze to see that his left hand had suffered a similar fate to Mabel's arm, except that the bedazzlement had been less kind to him. Numerous scratches from the plastic ran up and down his palm, and he noticed that even though very few had broken the skin, those that did had drawn a small amount of blood. Despite being worse off than Mabel's arm, the wound still wasn't severe enough to merit immediate medical attention, and Steve figured he'd be fine after a quick hand wash.
"It's fine," he said, experimentally closing his fist a few times to see how it felt. He then smirked.
"It's usually worse than this, actually."
His comment had been made with the purpose of lightening the mood, but Mabel still refused to look up at him.
"Look," Steve said with another sigh. "I told you that hanging off the roof wasn't a good idea. If you're going to do something like that, then, I don't know, use a harness or something."
This only seemed to put Mabel down even further, giving Steve the impression that it wasn't just her fall that she was worked up about.
"Steve, be honest. You still see me as a kid, don't you?"
Ah, right. Now that the immediate danger had passed, Steve could pick up where they left off before Mabel had slipped off the roof. Before he had a chance to open his mouth, however, the door to the gift shop flew open, and the latest tour group all began filing outside and towards their cars, their smiles wide and their arms loaded with Mystery Shack merchandise. It suddenly became very loud and very crowded where they were, making this spot no longer ideal for the conversation they were having.
"Let's talk somewhere else."
…
A few minutes later, Steve had washed his hand off with the hose, and the two of them had walked out into the forest, keeping close to the Shack but still far enough away that they wouldn't be bothered. Despite how life-threatening Steve's previous excursion into the woods had been, he felt comfortable enough out here as long as they stayed on the path and didn't go too far, though he periodically glanced back over his shoulder to see if he could catch a glimpse of the Mystery Shack through the trees.
Mabel walked slowly beside him, her head tilted downward and her expression still somber, likely in anticipation of Steve's continued rejection of her feelings. Steve watched her, then gave another sigh, briefly wondering if other guys his age had to deal with this stuff too. Probably not, considering that most guys his age were old enough to be grandparents now…
Steve shoved that train of thought aside before clearing his throat.
"Mabel, look. I don't think you're a kid, but I also don't think you need me to tell you that I'm too old for you, and that's not even counting the actual age difference between us."
Mabel winced at that statement.
"But, I'm way super mature for my age!" she protested, and despite the fact that she was still not back to her usual giddy self, Steve was relieved to see that at least she wasn't on the verge of tears any more.
"I mean, I helped save the world last summer! I've fought unicorns and gnomes and math wizards from other dimensions! I was even appointed as a congressman by the 8½ president of the United States!"
Steve did not even know how to begin to respond to that. He was beginning to get the feeling that he would never truly understand all of the shit that happened in this town.
"But…I guess it's just whatever," Mabel continued downheartedly. "You're still never gonna see me that way, are you?"
Steve sighed.
"Mabel, I've been here for not even a week now, and during that time, I've seen shit that blows even some of the stuff I've seen in Hawkins out of the water. Believe me when I say that your maturity level is not the problem here."
"You don't have to lie, Steve," Mabel replied, still not meeting his eyes. "I saw the way you looked at me when I fell. You were worried about me."
"Yeah, kinda hard not to be when you almost broke your neck–"
"But it was a 'I'm-an-adult-and-you're-just-a-kid-so-I-have-to-watch-out-for-you' look, not a 'Oh-no-my-potential-dream-girl-is-in-danger' look! It wasn't even a 'I'm-worried-about-a-friend-who-doesn't-need-to-be-looked-after-but-I'm-still-worried' look!"
Mabel was conveying her point in one of the most unorthodox ways Steve had ever seen, but he still understood what she was getting at.
"That was…more out of reflex than anything else," he admitted. "The kids back in Hawkins, they call themselves a Party for some reason, and they get into shit like this a lot too. And with my luck, I've always ended up being the guy that's there to help 'em out when it all goes south. It's not like they aren't way more capable than most of the adults I know…"
Steve glanced down at Mabel, who was still semi-avoiding his gaze, and smirked.
"But they like to bite off more than they can chew sometimes. They just get…overeager."
Steve did not need to give voice to the fact that Mabel possessed enough overeagerness for the entire Party back in Hawkins combined, as the young girl seemed to get the message.
"And Mabel, I know you're not gonna like hearing this, but age still does play a part in this no matter what your maturity level is. I'd be lying through my teeth if I knew any of the science behind it, but your brain is still figuring a bunch of stuff out at your age. There's some things that you just aren't gonna understand until you're older, no matter how much shit you've been through or how many crazy adventures you've been on."
Mabel's lip quivered slightly at Steve's words, and though he still felt a pang at seeing her reaction, he did know that it was important for her to hear this. Thankfully, Steve could tell that she was at least taking what he said to heart despite how much she may not have liked it. She hadn't been lying about her maturity level.
"And on top of that," Steve continued, gesturing to himself at last. "I am the absolute last guy you'd want to get tangled up with. I'm…actually not that great of a boyfriend, and dating somebody who is older than you is a great way to make things real complicated real quick."
This was a bombshell of a life lesson to drop on the young teen, and Steve inwardly cursed fate yet again for making him be the one that had to assume the role of a parental figure. And unfortunately for him, the knowledge that he was trying to impart upon the young girl was something that could really only be understood with time and experience. Funnily enough, it was that fact that irked Steve the most, even more so than his annoyance of being the one that had to try and teach it to her.
"Is it really that weird?" Mabel offered, though Steve could tell that she already knew the answer to that question. "I mean, my parents are seven years apart and they get along just fine…"
Steve gave her an amused smirk, cocking his head to the side as he did so.
"And I'm guessing they were both even older than I am when they got together, right? Or at least they were my age? I really don't think I need to tell you why that's different, do I?"
Mabel's shoulders slumped defeatedly, and Steve could tell she was still not entirely convinced. In truth, he suspected that it would be a few more years before she would be. A thought crossed his mind, and he smirked before switching tactics, remembering something that Dipper had told him about previously.
"Ok, how about this: what's the name of that little creep that was stalking you last summer? Gideon, right?"
"Yeah," Mabel admitted quietly, her expression already betraying the fact that she knew where Steve was going with this. "Gideon."
"And how old was he when he tried to date you? Like, nine? Three years between the two of you versus the five years between the two of us. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you weren't exactly comfortable with how old he was."
Mabel visibly shuddered at his example.
"Ugh, I was hoping to never have to think about that again."
Steve gave a small shrug, and he could see in Mabel's eyes that she finally seemed to understand, though she definitely wasn't happy about it. Finally, Mabel gave a heavy sigh of her own.
"My brain understands what you're saying, Steve, but my dumb ol' heart just isn't budging! Aw man, is this how Dipper felt all last summer with Wendy? This is the worst!"
Dipper had a crush on Wendy last summer? That was news to Steve, though he couldn't say he was altogether surprised. It was easy to see how the male Pines twin would be drawn to the slightly older redhead, and though it didn't seem like Dipper still harbored any lasting feelings for her, the two of them were still very close, though that was also probably due to the whole saving the world thing. That being said, Steve still felt humored that attraction to older people seemed to be a trait shared between the two Pines siblings.
"I tell you what," Steve said, relieved that Mabel at least seemed to be accepting of the reasons why the two of them wouldn't work out as a couple. "I'm supposed to be, like, in my forties or something by this time once Robin and I get back. So, if I time it right, then I'll probably have a couple of grandsons somewhere around your age. You play your cards right, then I just might put in a good word for you…"
Mabel finally perked up completely at his words, her brace-filled grin reappearing on her face at last.
"Hmmmm…well, seeing as I really have no choice but to skip out on you…" she said, raising her hand to her chin as if in thought. "Then you better make sure those grandsons of yours are A-plus-plus material Steve. They're gonna have to work their butts off if they're gonna meet the standards you're setting for me. And that means I'm gonna have to bring my A-game too if I wanna hook a few of those future Harrington hunks!"
Steve chuckled.
"I will say this, Mabel, if you put even half as much effort into flirting with my future–or, present, I guess?–grandkids as you do with me, then I don't think you've got anything to worry about."
Steve gestured to her attire and still-bedazzled arms as Mabel's face brightened even further.
"I can honestly say I've never had someone dress like they're from a completely different time period for me…or bedazzle their arms, so I gotta give you props for that."
Mabel's smile then returned in full force as she giddily bounced up and down with the compliment.
"Flattery will get you everywhere with me, Steve-o-rino! You better make sure you teach your grandbabies that too!"
And just like that, the awkwardness seemed to melt away, albeit slowly at first. As he and Mabel began joking with one another, Steve was initially hesitant to act too friendly with Mabel, as he didn't want to send her mixed signals after rejecting her feelings just now. But after a little bit, Steve was reminded of how smart and emotionally mature she really was, and he knew in his own mind that Mabel now understood, at least logically, why the two of them couldn't be an item. Despite that, the young girl's demeanor expressed her desire to still keep Steve as a friend, which was exactly what Steve wanted as well.
It was in that spirit that Mabel had opted to resume her usual bubbly tone towards him, and though Steve knew that she would still likely feel a certain amount of hurt at his rejection, he figured that trying to distance himself from her would do more harm to her emotional well-being than help.
The moment was broken by a sudden ruckus in the forest next to them followed by a muffled curse, and both of their heads turned towards the source to see none other than Dipper fall onto the path with a loud grunt.
Steve frowned, wondering if Dipper had followed them into the forest, but his train of thought was immediately diverted when he noticed something odd as Dipper hastily scrambled to his feet. First of all, the male Pines twin suddenly seemed to de-age by a year or so. The boy's height was shortened by roughly an inch or two, his face seemed more youthful and pale, and his clothes…
Steve's brow furrowed even deeper in confusion, as for some reason, every single piece of clothing on his body was faded like it had been worn and washed ten thousand times over. The colors were discernibly less saturated than they had been when Steve had seen him at breakfast that morning.
"Uh, hey, Pines," Steve ventured a bit skeptically. "Might wanna ease up on the bleach next time."
Dipper raised his eyes to meet Steve's in a look of pure shock, which only increased when the boy noticed Mabel as well. He looked like he was about to pass out from the sudden nervousness that seemed to sweep through his form, and Steve noticed with one final hit of bewilderment that Dipper's usual pine tree hat prominently displayed the number "4" instead of its usual blue symbol. As far as Steve had seen, the more colorful and arbor-inclined hat was the only one Dipper owned, which raised his skepticism even further.
"Uh, thanks!" Dipper said, his quavering voice all the evidence that Steve needed to draw the conclusion that something was up. "I'll uh, definitely keep that in mind…dude."
"Waaaaait a minute," Mabel suddenly said, placing her hands on her hips and squinting skeptically at Dipper. "There's something fishy-sticky going on here, Dipper…"
"What? That's crazy!" Dipper hastily replied, leaning back and shaking his hands to deter Mabel's inquisitive nature. "It's just me, your good old original brother: Qua–Dipper!"
If Steve hadn't been certain before that something was off, he was now. Next to him, Mabel's face suddenly lit up in realization.
"Liar!" she said triumphantly. "I know who you are! You're one of those clones that Dipper made from that old copier in Grunkle Stan's office. That was the night he tried to use one of his dorky overcomplicated plans to try and dance with Wendy!"
Mabel's voice dropped to a loud whisper as she leaned over to Steve.
"Spoiler alert: The plan didn't work!"
"Hey! We worked hard on that plan!" the apparently-clone Dipper said indignantly. His eyes then went wide with realization, and he quickly began stammering and backpedaling.
"I mean, I, and I alone, worked hard on that plan! Me and nobody else!"
Steve rolled his eyes annoyedly and crossed his arms. This guy may have been a paper-copy clone of the original Dipper, but he still had the same awkward grasp of social cues that Steve had come to expect from the original.
"Seriously man? You're only digging yourself deeper. We know you're a clone. It's literally written on your forehead."
Steve gestured to the prominent "4" that was drawn on the clone's hat, and before the fake Dipper could sputter out another excuse, another Dipper walked out onto the path. This new Dipper held the same washed-out look that the other clone did, and a glance to his hat showed the number "3" drawn on the top.
"Quattro, did you get the tools from the Shack yet? I hate having to come this close, and I'd prefer it if we didn't get…"
The newcomer trailed off, freezing in his tracks as he noticed Mabel and Steve for the first time.
"...discovered."
…
Steve leaned up against a tree with his arms folded as Mabel grilled the two Dipper clones with questions and accusations.
As with the original, or "Dipper Classic", as the two clones seemed to refer to him by, the two were unable to trick Mabel in any fashion at all, and the two of them eventually spilled the beans entirely about how they ended up living in the forest. Apparently, they claimed that Dipper had murdered the other clones with the Shack's sprinkler system, and that they had been plotting to take over his life before they had been discovered and escaped into the forest.
Steve, being lost as usual when it came to all of the insane events that had occurred in Gravity Falls last summer, tried to keep up, and thankfully, Mabel was all-too-eager to fill him in on everything.
"Wait, your weakness is just liquids. Like, any liquid? You seriously just dissolve when anything watery touches you?"
"Basically," replied the clone with the "3" on his head, or Tracey, as his name actually was. "You guys have no idea how much I miss some of my favorite beverages."
Mabel giggled.
"Gives the phrase: 'I'm dying for a soda,' a whole new meaning!"
"Hey, not funny, Mabel!" Number four, or Quattro, replied indignantly. "If you knew the amount of times I almost risked it all just for a sip of Pitt Cola, you wouldn't be laughing!"
This only made Mabel laugh even harder, and Steve took the opportunity to ask another question when she finally calmed down.
"So, why did you guys come all the way out here anyway? You just said that you lived on the outer edge of the forest, so why come back here after you went through all the work of getting away from the town?"
The two clones' faces hardened, and Steve watched as they tried to look as threatening as two paper clones of a 12-year-old boy possibly could.
"We're not telling you!" Tracey said. "You're in league with Dipper Classic, and he betrayed us and our clone brethren!"
"Yeah!" Quattro said. "He turned against all of us when we were helping him!"
Mabel laughed again.
"You guys are hilarious!" she said with a dismissive hand gesture. "That whole sprinkler thing was an accident! You all really think Dipper would've been evil enough to kill an entire batch of clones of himself? He told me all about it! He had nightmares for weeks!"
The two clones seemed uncertain, and Steve raised an eyebrow and spoke up from where he was still listening leaned up against the tree.
"Shouldn't you guys know more than anyone if it was an accident? I mean, he's you, or you're him, or whatever. Would you guys do anything like that on purpose?"
The two clones thought deeply for a second, and Steve noted with a twinge of humor that they possessed Dipper's overthinking nature as well. They both began muttering to themselves, their heads slowly beginning to nod as they frowned in concentration. Finally, the two of them looked up, their faces once again anxious.
"Oh my god, we've been plotting revenge against Dipper Classic this whole time. It's literally been our one purpose since we escaped that night!"
"I'm having an existential clone crisis!" Quattro cried out, clutching his chest and almost falling to his knees as his breathing quickened drastically.
"You guys were seriously that hell-bent on revenge that you never thought about doing anything else?" Steve asked incredulously.
"That's easy for you to say!" Tracey countered, angrily pointing at Steve. "You've got your own life! You're not a literal washed-out version of somebody else! We've got nothing!"
"Not true!" Mabel said cheerfully. "You've got each other! And, you guys are basically immortal, so you can go and do whatever you want, forever!"
"Except go swimming…" Quattro grumbled angrily.
"...or sailing…" Tracey added just as gloomily.
"...or visit a rainforest…"
Steve couldn't help but feel bad for the two of them as they continued to list off activities that inherently held some degree of wetness to them, as all of those activities sounded like things Dipper enjoyed, or would have enjoyed. A thought suddenly crossed his mind, and he almost dismissed it as ridiculous before realizing that this entire town was a literal nexus of ridiculousness.
"...or go through that p—"
"You guys are made of paper, right?" Steve interrupted, prompting an annoyed nod from Quattro.
"So, why don't you, I dunno, laminate yourselves or something? I mean, at the very least it would prevent you from getting caught in a storm."
Mabel's face lit up encouragingly at Steve's suggestion.
"Hey, that's a great idea, Steve! Then these two would look all official and shiny!"
The two clones shared a look.
"That's…actually why we came so close to the Shack," Tracey said slowly.
"There's something we found," Quattro began. "Something we wanted to look into, but we can't do that without getting wet. We thought about laminating ourselves to do it, but the copier store in town doesn't have a laminator big enough for us to fit, so we were attempting to build one out at the edge of the forest. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible without any tools to work with."
Steve and Mabel looked at each other, and Steve could tell without speaking that they both had the same idea.
…
Twenty minutes later, the rest of the Mystery Team had met Tracey and Quattro, and Steve couldn't help but laugh at their mixed reactions as he and Mabel entered the gift shop with the two clones shuffling nervously behind.
Robin was surprised, but her reaction was relatively subdued as both she and Steve were slowly growing accustomed to the odd things that were found in Gravity Falls. The look she gave Steve signaled that they definitely would be talking more about this later, but for now, she listened along with the others as the two clones told their story to them.
Dipper had been extremely nervous at seeing the two of them all of a sudden, which made sense to Steve considering the reason the clones had been made in the first place. Fortunately for Dipper, Quattro and Tracey purposely omitted the original purpose behind their creation from their story, and instead focused on what had happened to them after that night.
Wendy listened amusedly to the two Dippers as they spoke, and it was only after they had finished that she spoke up.
"Wait, so you guys are the third and fourth clones that Dipper made? What happened to number two?"
All eyes looked to Dipper for an answer, and the teen's face softened with remorse as he told them that the second clone, "Tyrone", had melted after the two of them had made up from their fight. The two of them had worked out their differences over a couple of cans of Pitt Cola, but they both had forgotten about the fact that liquid melted the clones. Dipper didn't explicitly say what happened to Tyrone, but there was enough context for everyone to get the idea. Dipper then explained to Tracey and Quattro that he still had the Pitt Cola in his hand when he had discovered them hiding in the closet, and that he had never intended to melt them with it.
"I guess you really weren't trying to betray us after all…" Tracey said, the two clones bowing their heads sheepishly. "Sorry for freaking out and running off…"
Dipper gave a small smile.
"Water under the bridge, you guys. Besides, I would have done the exact same thing."
His last comment lightened the mood considerably, and the clones then took the time to explain their plan to build a giant laminator so that they could finally overcome their weakness to liquids.
The original Dipper then began a side conversation with them about the laminator that was certain to devolve rapidly into layers upon layers of planning and thinking and planning even more, so Steve took the opportunity to break off from their group and talk to Robin, who had also sensed the rabbit hole that the three Dippers were about to go down. She had wisely returned to her previous task of restocking the shelves, and Steve stepped forward to help her out, leaving Mabel and Wendy to start their own side conversation as well.
"I can't leave you alone for five minutes, can I?" Robin said with a shake of her head. "You go outside to fix a water pipe and somehow manage to magnetize more children to you."
"Right," Steve grumbled at Robin's teasing. "You know what? Maybe I should go back to that water pipe."
He made to put down the plastic eyeballs he was placing into a jar.
"Oh lighten up, dingus," Robin said. "Besides, if you leave now, you know Mabel is only gonna follow you back outside."
Robin gestured with her head back towards the register, and Steve followed the movement to see Mabel speaking excitedly to Wendy. As he watched, he saw Wendy's gaze flit in his direction a few times, leaving little doubt as to what it was they were talking about.
"Yeah, well, that kind of came to a head already…" Steve said, remembering the conversation he and Mabel had been having before Tracey and Quattro had interrupted.
"Really?" Robin said, and Steve could tell from her tone that he had her full attention now. With a sigh, Steve regaled her with an account of all that had happened, and Robin listened intensely as Steve talked about his interactions with Mabel earlier that afternoon. As Steve talked, he unconsciously glanced back at Mabel and Wendy as well, thinking about how likely it was that the two of them were talking about the exact same thing.
"...and that's when we met the 'carbon copies' over there," Steve said, wrapping up the story as he finished filling the jar with fake eyeballs. Robin had paused in her shelving about half way through, and Steve looked at her expectantly as she stood with Mystery Merchandise still clenched in her hands.
"Wow," Robin said with a shake of her head. "If you thought I was impressed by how you talked to my parents…"
Steve shook his head.
"Please, don't start this again…"
"Steve, I can maybe write off how well you talked to my parents as natural, but rejecting the feelings of a lovestruck thirteen-year-old girl without breaking her heart? That's objectively impossible! Seriously!"
"Yeah, not really something to be proud of considering that the only way to accomplish it is by practice," Steve said, crossing his arms again.
Robin snorted at the insinuation, but Steve knew she wasn't surprised. Girls around Mabel's age pined for Steve all the time back in Hawkins, so the fact that Steve had a lot of experience when it came to rejecting younger girls was definitely believable. At this, Robin gave a small smile as a sort of peace offering, finally letting up her teasing.
"Gotta mess up to figure things out, right?"
Steve then smiled back. He remembered telling her the exact same thing once when the two of them were tied to a chair in that underground Russian base.
"Yeah," he said. "I guess it's a good thing I got good at it before we showed up here. When it comes to pure innocence, Mabel's about as close as you can get for someone that's been through all the shit she has. Last thing I want is to be that guy to her."
Robin took a look back at the younger girl too.
"That would definitely make things awkward at dinner time," she replied. "I should honestly be thanking you, Stevie. I am not a fan of awkward."
"Really? Could've fooled me…"
Steve's smile broadened as Robin shot him a dirty look. It was always fun to turn the tables on her when he could, though he had to admit that it wasn't very often that he was able to do so. Luckily for her, his moments of teasing her were quick and did not last very long.
"I guess I'm a bit lucky too," he said. "That girl is a lot smarter than people give her credit for. It wasn't that difficult to get her to understand."
"There's a reason women live longer than men, Steve," Robin said playfully as she continued her shelving.
"Didn't emerge entirely unscathed though," Steve continued, ignoring her comment. "I may have promised to set Mabel up with some of my future grandchildren, so I guess I've got my work cut out for me when we get home."
"Right…home…"
At the mention of the word "home", Steve saw something cross Robin's face. It was small and fleeting, but he had seen it. A slight twitch. A reaction. A brief moment that betrayed something was in conflict within Robin's mind.
"Rob?" Steve said, when she didn't respond for a second. "You OD over there?"
Robin's eyes refocused, and she immediately blinked and looked back at Steve.
"Huh? Sorry!" she replied, shaking her head as if to clear her thoughts. "Just…thinking about how far away home is right now."
Her expression betrayed that there was a bit more to it than that, but Steve chose not to pry. Now was definitely not the time. Especially not when there were three Dippers in the gift shop with the next hour's tour about to conclude as well.
Turning back to the rest of the gift shop occupants, Steve took the lead and directed the three Dippers outside to the tool shed. The older teen had thankfully spent enough time at the shack now that he knew which tools they had extra of, so he knew what he would be able to give them without compromising the Shack's tool inventory completely. Mabel eagerly joined them as they stepped out, leaving Robin and Wendy behind in the gift shop.
…
Robin shook her head and grinned humorously at the crowd of kids that followed Steve like ducklings as he led them outside to the toolshed. It was absolutely hilarious how much Steve seemed to loathe being trapped in a parental role despite never steering himself away from it. At times like this, it was hard for Robin to remember that this was the same guy that she had hated for so long despite almost never having spoken to him throughout his high school career. The difference between her initial impression of him and who he was now was vast, to say the least.
For so long, Robin couldn't understand how Steve Harrington was so irresistible to the teenage females of Hawkins High. She had always assumed it was because he was rich and handsome, and she couldn't help to think back about how many hours she would spend staring at both him and Tammy Thompson, desperately hoping that she could crack the code and find a way to get Tammy to stare at her like that.
Looking at him now though, Robin could see that Steve's best quality was the one that almost nobody at Hawkins High had ever seen. It was the same quality that led him to meet Dustin Hendersen and get wrapped up in all of those crazy adventures with the Party back in Hawkins. It was the same quality that led him to become friends with a rebellious band geek and eventually be the only one entrusted with her deepest secret. And it was the exact same quality Robin was seeing in action now as he led the enthusiastic teenagers outside.
Next to her on the counter, Robin heard Wendy make a small noise of amusement.
"He just falls right into it, doesn't he?" the redhead noted. "It's like he doesn't even notice."
Robin looked to see that Wendy was watching the group through the screen door as well. She had her head propped up on her hand with her elbow resting on the counter, keeping her usual cool demeanor despite the sudden appearance of the clone Dippers not even five minutes ago.
Robin made a mental note to ask her the secret to unlocking that quality at a later time.
"Lots of practice…" she replied, echoing the conversation she'd just had with Steve.
"I'd have to agree," Wendy said with a nod. "Especially considering what I heard from Mabel just now…"
Robin turned and raised her eyebrow, and Wendy answered with a wink, which both confirmed that they were on the same page and that Robin's stomach was still capable of doing backflips.
"Uh, yeah," Robin said with a slight cough. "He's uh, definitely had his fair share of admirers."
"Man," Wendy said, and Robin thought she could detect the ever smallest amount of wistfulness in her tone. "If only I could've gotten let down that easily when I was Mabel's age…"
Robin frowned inquisitively, and Wendy caught her gaze and smiled before answering her silent question.
"Not much of a story, really. I liked someone, told them I liked them, they freaked out, I went home in tears. The end."
Robin's brow furrowed deeper.
"They freaked out…? Because they were way older?"
Wendy shook her head.
"Same age, but I guess we weren't really on the same page…"
"Hate to say it then, Red, but I find it hard to believe that you of all people ever got turned down by a boy, at least one with functioning eyeballs."
Why did she just say that?
No. Seriously.
What in the actual HELL had just possessed Robin to say something like that?
It had just slipped out. It came out so easily. Like a breath.
And yet, breathing apparently was a skill that now was eluding Robin, as her entire chest froze and her eyes widened in utter terror.
Thankfully, whatever gracious deity existed above took pity on her, and Wendy completely missed her horrified expression. Instead, the redhead gave a small laugh and shook her head.
"Well, you're half-right, at least, although it honestly might've been better if they didn't have functioning eyeballs."
Before Robin could even process the sentence, Wendy produced a photograph from her wallet and showed it to her. It was a small polaroid of Wendy and her three younger brothers, and from what Robin could tell, it looked to be two to three years old. At first, Robin almost didn't recognize the Wendy from the photograph, as the girl she saw, while still incredibly tall like the current version, was dressed in a green polo shirt that was tucked into a pair of pants that sat way too high on her waistline. The look was completely at odds with anything the Wendy of today would wear, but the differences between them did not end there. The most noticeable of which was found in twin pigtails that sprouted from the younger girl's head, and, as if in competition to complete the dorky look, the girl in the photo sported a row of teeth covered in silver braces. Somehow, the camera had managed to catch the glare off of the chromed metal, making it so that the oral fixture was more prominent in the photograph than the actual human subjects.
Whatever Wendy had said was temporarily forgotten as Robin struggled to hold back laughter. As usual, her face betrayed her, and Wendy gave an acknowledging nod at Robin's struggle to be polite.
"Yep, quite the freak show, huh?"
"No!" Robin said, though a few giggles escaped her mouth in spite of her struggles. "You looked…nice?"
"Ha! The kids at school called me 'Frankenstein' for almost a year. I was definitely counting down the days until I got those things off. I don't know how Mabel can be so happy all the time with them on. I felt like I needed someone to thump me over the head so that I could at least forget about 'em for a while."
The two of them caught a glimpse of Steve and the kids through the screen door as they finished up in the tool shed, and Robin saw Mabel excitedly holding a socket wrench up to Steve, the girl's own braces shining in the early afternoon sun. And get, despite the glare from the metal in her mouth, her own giddy smile seemed to overpower it completely, making anyone who looked at her ignore the braces completely in favor of the girl wearing them. The two of them watched in silence as Steve took the wrench from her with a grateful nod and a smile of his own, then Wendy spoke again.
"Huh, maybe I didn't need that though…" she said, her voice trailing off. Robin looked over and was immediately concerned to see that Wendy's expression suddenly grew sad. For the first time since Robin had met her, Wendy seemed to slip into a genuinely dour mood. The redhead's eyes were still focused on Steve and Mabel outside, and she looked at them almost longingly.
"...maybe I just needed a mom…"
Robin was at a loss. It hurt her to see Wendy suddenly like this, and while Robin wanted more than anything to help her or at least say something to make her feel better, nothing came to her. Damn it, why did she have to be so bad at this? From the conversations the two of them had already had, Robin knew that Wendy's mother wasn't around anymore, but never before had Wendy opened up this much, or at the very least, gotten this emotional. And all Robin could do was stand there awkwardly, cursing herself for not knowing what to say.
Come on! Say something. Anything!
And then, just like that, the moment passed. Wendy suddenly blinked and seemed to return to the present, and her face instantly morphed back into the calm and cool look it always had.
"Sorry," she said with a sheepish smile. "Got off topic for a second…but yeah, I definitely don't think my appearance back then helped me woo them."
Robin finally let out a laugh that was disgustingly saturated with nervousness, though if Wendy took any notice, she didn't show it.
"Well, sounds like it was his–"
Robin stopped mid sentence, her brain finally catching up and processing what Wendy had said before she had shown her the picture. And as if in slow motion, Robin's mind narrated every step of the thought process that came next.
Robin had expressed her doubt that any boy had ever turned her down if they had functioning eyeballs. And Wendy had said that Robin was half-right.
Half.
That meant that one part of her claim had not been correct. But which one…?
It wasn't the part about being turned down. Wendy had already admitted and even given her the abridged summary of what had happened…
It wasn't the part about functioning eyeballs. Wendy had explicitly stated that things might have been different if they hadn't had functioning eyeballs…
That was it. That was all. There wasn't any other part of the sentence that Robin could be wrong about.
Except…
Robin's entire being froze.
No. No way. There was absolutely no way.
There was no way because if that part was what Robin had been wrong about, then that meant that Wendy…
Wendy had feelings for a…
Robin's eyes locked with Wendy's confused expression.
"You ok, dude?" Wendy asked with a raised eyebrow. "You were saying something and just kinda cut off there."
Yeah, Robin had been about to say something, but if the revelation she just had was true, then it would have been only half-correct again, and for the exact same reason. Either way, Wendy was staring at her now, and with every ounce of willpower she possessed, Robin snapped out of it and spoke.
"Sorry," she said with a smile. "I thought I had to sneeze for a second. I was going to say that it sounded like it was their loss in the end, you know? They're the ones that missed out."
Wendy smiled back, her face genuine and showing no trace of the sour moment she had shared with Robin mere moments ago.
"Thanks, dude. That means a lot."
Steve, Mabel, and the Dippers walked back inside then, and the conversation came to a halt as the gift shop was filled with optimistic voices and excitable tones. Steve, sporting a small toolbox that Robin suspected was filled with spare tools for Tracey and Quattro, filed in last, asking Wendy for the truck keys to drive the two clones back to their home at the edge of the woods.
Dipper and Mabel instantly volunteered to go with them, and after ensuring that Wendy could hold things down for a while, Robin offered to go as well. She hoped she hadn't seemed too eager, but after that bombshell of a conversation, Robin needed a drive to clear her thoughts.
…
Steve, as usual, could tell that something was up with Robin. To the Dipper clones and even the Pines twins, she seemed perfectly fine, but Steve knew her well enough to see there was something going on with her. And from the looks of it, that something appeared to be a good thing. Like really good.
At first, Robin had been relatively subdued as they had all climbed into the truck and began driving with direction from Tracey and Quattro. With all three Dippers piled into the back and Mabel sitting up front with Steve and Robin, it was quite a cramped ride. Then, after they'd been driving for a few miles, Robin suddenly got excitable. It was like a switch had flipped in her head, and Robin suddenly seemed to have the most energy out of everyone in the truck with the exception of Mabel. Steve kept his eyes on the road, but he kept stealing glances over to her as she sang along with the radio, did a little dance with her upper body, or even joined in asking and answering questions as Dipper and Mabel filled Tracey and Quattro on what all had happened since the last time Dipper had seen them. Steve listened too, as even though he'd heard most of it before, the sheer amount of stuff that happened in Gravity Falls last summer was still a lot to take in, and when it came to retaining information, Steve's time at Hawkins High had proven that his strong suits lied elsewhere. So, with that in mind, Steve listened intently as Tracey and Quattro heard of the adventures of the Pines family for the first time. It seemed like they had already known about Weirdmaggedon, as they had gotten caught up in that whole mess too, but everything else seemed brand new to them both.
The sun was just beginning to touch the horizon when Quattro directed Steve to pull to the side of the road. Looking around, Steve could see nothing but forest through the foliage around them, but both of the clones assured him that they were near their residence. Steve pulled the truck over and cut the engine, shutting off the radio and casting a silence around them that seemed almost eerie with all the trees around.
Everyone climbed out of the truck to stretch their legs, and Steve walked around to the bed of the truck and retrieved the toolbox of supplies that the clones needed to complete their laminator. The Mystery Shack crew offered to accompany the two of them to their place, but Tracey and Quattro politely refused, insisting that they could handle it from here.
Steve shrugged indifferently at their refusal, but repeated the offer one more time as he watched Tracey struggle with the weight of the toolbox. It was obvious that the clones possessed the same strength as 12-year-old Dipper had, which according to Mabel, was not very much at all. Despite his offer, the clones refused yet again, and this time, Steve couldn't help but feel like it was now a matter of pride for the two as they each took a hold on the toolbox handle and lifted it between them.
The two clones wished them a sincere goodbye, then set off into the forest, quickly disappearing among the trees as the natural light began to fade. The four of them watched until the clones were gone completely, then they all piled back into the truck as Steve started the engine and headed for home.
The ride was significantly less packed this time, and a quick glance around showed that Dipper had taken out his journal and begun logging a new entry, likely regarding the existence of the clones. Mabel, contrary to her brother, eagerly began a conversation about her favorite ice cream flavors with the two Hawkins natives, her usual enthusiasm amplified by the fact that both Steve and Robin were seasoned slingers of the frozen treat. Robin, still apparently riding whatever high she was feeling, entertained Mabel's zeal with passion of her own, even though Steve knew for a fact that she hated every minute she had worked at Scoops Ahoy. Some of that might have been because of him, initially, but a majority of it came from the job itself. Scooping ice cream wasn't exactly a fulfilling job, and the only things that gave Robin the motivation to keep working there were money and heckling Steve. That was, of course, until the Russians came into the picture.
And yet now, as Steve drove them back to the Mystery Shack, Robin spoke as though she almost liked scooping ice cream in a cheap sailor outfit. Almost.
Whatever she had learned or uncovered had made her exceptionally giddy, and Steve couldn't help but feel a little bit of anticipation of his own to find out exactly what it was.
…
Tracey and Quattro both gave a spectacular grunt as they set the toolbox down on the floor of the small hut that the two of them called home. It certainly wasn't much to look at, but it was theirs. And it had electricity, which suited both of them perfectly.
"Whew!" Quattro said, wiping his brow and flopping down on the lower of the two bunk beds that were stacked in the room. "Maybe we should have taken that Steve guy up on his offer."
"Eh," Tracey shrugged. "Maybe, but hey, at least we get the satisfaction of a job well done!"
"Fair point," Quattro said with a nod of agreement before sitting up. "Now let's see…"
Simultaneously, the two clones pulled out identical folded up sheets of paper from their pockets. The papers unfolded easily into a long sheet that went all the way to the floor, and both clones squinted and focused as they read down the steps of the pages.
"If our inventory is accurate…"
"...and our tools are in good shape…"
"...then we might be able to finish it within the week!" the two of them said at the exact same time as they turned towards their half-finished laminator in the corner of the room. Parts and screws were strewn about around the main bulk, clear evidence that the job had not been completed yet.
"Just think!" Tracey said excitedly. "After we finish this, we'll be able to take our first expedition!"
"Without any fear of losing literally all of our body mass in the process!" Quattro added, to which Tracey enthusiastically nodded.
"Glad to see we're still on the same wavelength, speaking of which…"
Tracey went to a small desk in the corner of their abode to retrieve a notepad from one of the drawers.
"You read my mind," Quattro said, hopping up off the bed and producing a pencil from his pocket.
The two of them shared a synchronous nod, then proceeded outside, pausing only to look out the window and check for oncoming rain. Once they were both sure that it was safe, the two clones ventured out in the evening light, drawing flashlights from their pockets as the approaching night continued to draw closer. Fortunately for them both, their destination was not far, and after less than a minute of walking, the two of them finally arrived at their destination.
Sitting there, on the side of a massive boulder, the two clones inspected a large red membrane that was roughly the size of a small door. The membrane itself pulsed and glowed periodically, giving an indication that something lied just beyond the other side of it. At the edges of the membrane where it met the hard surface of the rock, a moist stringy substance emerged and stretched outward a few inches across whatever surface it came into contact with.
Carefully donning gloves, goggles and other safety equipment, Tracey and Quattro set to work, pulling out a ruler and other various measuring devices as they inspected the membrane. The process was thorough, but the two of them had done it quite a few times now, and they moved with a practiced efficiency that allowed them to complete their measurements in just a few short minutes. As they worked, the jotted down numbers and results on the notepad, both of them muttering freely.
Finally, the two of them stepped back, staring at the red pulsating membrane in wonder.
"Still the same size," Quattro confirmed as he finished penning down the measurements. "Doesn't appear to be growing any more or less active either."
"As expected," Tracey said with a nod. "That rules it out as any kind of creature, as it surely would have grown bigger or moved to a different area to feed on by now."
"Agreed. The only puzzling thing is the organic nature of it. It almost looks like it has a beating heart or something."
The two clones chewed thoughtfully on the ends of their pencils.
"That just leaves our one working theory intact."
"It's a portal," they both said at the same time, their voices resolute.
But a portal to where?
That question went unspoken, but it burned brightly in both of their minds as they turned and strode away from the membrane.
"Alright," Quattro said. "Let's check the others. If the results of this one are anything to go by, we are in for a relatively uneventful evening."
JXUO AYBBUT XYC GKYSABO, RHYDWYDW XYI JUHHEH JE QD UDT. RKJ Y QC IJYBB XUHU. Y QC JXU IXQTEM EV JXU TUQT.
...
A/N: Alright! Chapter 5 is sealed in tight! This one was fun for me because I got to include BABBA and poke fun at the satirical nature of all the songs and bands that Alex Hirsch made for the Gravity Falls universe. I also got to mess around with the two Dipper clones that survived the sprinkler massacre during the "Double Dipper" episode.
Now, I also have to ask: Am I italicizing too much? I felt like I went in pretty heavy with the italics this chapter, but please let me know if I'm just overthinking it. In fact, please let me know any and all issues you have with this chapter as well as anything you might have enjoyed! I welcome all critiques, positive and negative. See you all next chapter!
-ImpulsiveWeaver