Stranger Than Fiction

by ImpulsiveWeaver

Steve and Robin are always victims of coincidence, whether it's in Hawkins, Indiana or Gravity Falls, Oregon. And in this case, a mishap with a certain stammering time traveler takes them to a time and a place that has its own share of strange and wondrous things. Set in the summer of 1985 after the events of Stranger Things: Season 3. Rated T for a little bit of swearing.

7. Chapter 7

A/N: Heyo! I'm back! Sorry I've been gone so long, but hopefully I can make it up to y'all with this extra long installment to the story! More discussion at the end! Remember that I own nothing!

...

Steve sat with his arms crossed, partly out of ire, and partly out of consideration for Robin, who was seated right next to him in the cramped booth that they occupied in Greasy's Diner. Having finally caught up with Mabel after she'd taken off with excitement at the sound of Dipper's stomach growling, the three of them saw that the young and hyper-energetic girl had led them to the diner with a purpose, as she sought breakfast food to quell the hunger that apparently plagued both her and her twin.

Shortly after they'd been seated, an older woman dressed as a waitress approached and had taken their orders, rattling off Greasy's daily specials as she did so. The "specials", as they were, did not pique Steve's appetite at all, as the waitress woman had stated proudly that Greasy's was one of the few restaurants in the state that served their catch of the day in a way they called "extra fresh", which apparently meant that they'd serve the fish to you while it was still alive.

That information was more than enough for Steve to request a simple order of scrambled eggs and bacon, though a part of him worried that they might serve either of the two to him "extra fresh" as well. Robin had been even more put off by the menu than he had, and the other Hawkins native opted for simple french toast, her logic being that the possibility of that order coming with any extra surprises was minimal due to its simplicity.

Dipper and Mabel had both ordered pancakes, and after they all had given their orders, the older waitress happily, and in Steve's opinion, absentmindedly, informed them that their food would be out in a jiffy before departing from their table.

Mabel seemed to pick up on the miffed expressions Steve and Robin both wore after their interaction with the waitress, and she giggled before giving them a bit more information as Dipper excused himself to use the restroom.

"That's Lazy Susan!" Mabel spoke up. "Pretty sure she's been working here since the place first opened!"

"Uh, that sign out front says this place was established in 1960…" Robin began skeptically.

"And I still stand by my statement!" Mabel said loudly and proudly, and Robin frowned for a moment before shrugging and leaning back against the seat.

"And I am yet again reminded where exactly we are…" she chuckled with a shake of her head.

"So, I'm guessing she's called 'Lazy' Susan because of the…" Steve trailed off, choosing instead to get his point across by closing one of his eyes and gesturing to it.

"Yep!" Mabel replied with an enthusiastic nod, her brace-filled grin shining brightly.

Before anyone could speak again, Dipper then returned to the table, sliding into the seat next to Mabel before immediately taking out his journal.

"What's popping, Mr. Bro-tato Head?" Mabel asked with playful curiosity, watching as Dipper fumbled with the book while simultaneously trying to pull out his pen. "You almost pee yourself with excitement again?"

"Nevermind about that, Mabel!" Dipper said rushingly. "And for your information, we are in the process of uncovering something that could potentially change everything we know about interdimensional reality, so you'll excuse me if I empty my bladder before we begin!"

"Hehe, more like inter-dumb-ensional!" Mabel giggled. "The last time we had to deal with that mumbo-jumbo, I almost got launched into space by an evil version of me. Pair that with Weirdmaggedon, and we are 0-2 on all that 'alternate reality' junk, Dipper!"

"I just can't believe I didn't think of this sooner!" Dipper said, ignoring his twin. "I should have asked about it the moment I knew that you two had seen this kind of thing before."

"Ok, Pines," Steve said, raising his hand in a halting gesture, wondering in the back of his mind if Dipper was somehow Dustin reincarnated.

"What exactly are you getting at here? You started babbling like a maniac as soon as we figured out that the outages out here in Gravity Falls happened on the same night the Upside Down first opened up back in Hawkins…"

"Exactly!" Dipper said, his excitement causing his voice to come out louder than it should have. "That's exactly it! That's the same night Grunkle Ford and Grunkle Stan got into their big argument that ended with Ford accidentally going through the portal in the Shack basement! Two interdimensional events on the same night! That can't have been a coincidence!"

"Uh, can you go back to the part about you having some kind of portal in your basement?" Robin asked. "And the fact that you neglected to mention that we've been sleeping above it for a little under two weeks now?"

Dipper and Mabel then took turns explaining the story of their grunkles, weaving the tale of their childhood and how they had a falling out after Stan had accidentally sabotaged Ford's award-winning science fair project. Some of this stuff had been mentioned to Steve before, but neither him nor Robin had heard the full story, which was partly due to the fact that that every day they'd been here had felt like some bootleg episode of The Twilight Zone, so there were still many gaps in their knowledge as to the history of this place.

"So then, Stan and Ford got into a big argument and accidentally activated the portal, which sucked Ford in and displaced him throughout the multiverse for almost thirty years…"

"...and he went to a bunch of different and crazy realities!" Mabel enthusiastically added. "He even got to go to a dimension where everything is shaped like an 'M'! What a marvelous marvel it would mean to me to meander and mosey around in such a magical…"

Mabel paused and scrunched her brow in thought.

"...'mlace'!" She finally said, causing Dipper to roll his eyes at her attempt at alliteration.

"The point is, it could be possible that since the portal here in Gravity Falls was opened at the same time as the portal back in Hawkins, they might have influenced each other!"

"Uh, how?" Steve asked skeptically. "Sounds like the only common thing these two things share is that they happened on the same night…"

"True, but think about anything that could have happened during or even after they had opened!" Dipper replied, scribbling down drawings in his notebook.

"Maybe there was some kind of ripple through space-time that caused them to interact! Oh man, I can't wait to ask Ford more about this when he gets here! He knows way more about multidimensional theory than I do."

Steve shared a glance with Robin, who shrugged as an indication that she was just as lost as him, and thankfully, the conversation was abruptly cut off as someone indignantly cleared their throat from the foot of their table.

Standing there, dressed similarly to the older waitress who had taken their order, was a teenage girl that looked to be about Dipper and Mabel's age. With long blonde hair that went most of the way down her back and what looked like professionally done makeup, the girl frowned particularly at Dipper with both of her hands placed on her hips indignantly.

"Excuse me, Troll Boy, but in case you hadn't noticed, your little nerd-out is currently the loudest thing in this diner, and that's saying something given the fact that the Corduroy family is here!"

The girl angrily pointed a few booths down without taking her annoyed eyes off Dipper, and Steve leaned slightly out of the booth and followed her finger to see Wendy seated a couple of booths down with three other smaller boys and one of the largest men he had ever seen. Sitting completely on his own on one side of the booth, the guy was what Steve imagined what would happen if a boulder one day sprouted legs and began to walk around. With a scowl that seemed right at home on his face, the man was aggressively shoveling pancakes into his mouth from a stack that sat almost two feet high on the table, with Wendy and the smaller boys cheering him on the whole time.

Judging from the resemblance and the fiery red hair that everyone sitting in the booth possessed, Steve could accurately guess that this was Wendy's family, with the older hulking mass of a man being her father, a.k.a. this "Manly Dan" Steve had been hearing about from time to time.

Seeing the bearded lumberjack in the flesh, Steve had to admit that Manly Dan had more than earned his namesake, as everything about this guy seemed to scream of masculinity, and after watching him practically inhale one pancake after another for a few seconds, Steve concluded that the only thing big enough to rival Manly Dan's stature was his appetite. As impressive as the spectacle was, however, Steve's attention was returned back to his own table as the young waitress spoke angrily at Dipper once more.

"Don't tell me you're so poor that you can't even afford manners, Dipper! Try not to forget the only semi-redeeming quality about you is that you aren't as barbarous as your twin."

"Awwww, Pacifica…" Mabel crooned. "I have no idea what 'barbarous' means, but I'll take it as a compliment! Even though it most likely wasn't!"

The girl, Pacifica, as she was apparently named, crossed her arms and frowned at the twins for a moment, then she sighed and gave a roll of her eyes, her shoulders relaxing ever so slightly as they did so.

"Look, it's bad enough that I have to be seen in public like this…" she said, gesturing down to the slightly worn traditional purple diner dress and apron she was wearing, which Steve thought looked relatively clean compared to the plentiful stains and wrinkles on the one Lazy Susan had on.

"...so the least you two could do is keep your weirdness to a minimum. This job is already bad enough!"

"What's the matter, Paz? All that high and mighty 'Northwest superiority' can't compare to the horrors of a minimum wage job?"

Pacifica growled at Dipper's jibe, her face turning a light shade of red out of frustration and what Steve thought might have been embarrassment.

"I told you never to call me that!" she said, her eyes darting around as though she was nervous that someone would have overheard Dipper's remark. Her eyes then landed on both Steve and Robin, and some of her anger turned to slight confusion at the sight of them.

"Steve and Robin, meet Pacifica Northwest!" Mabel said, her introduction proud as though she was showing off the younger blonde teenager to the two older Hawkins natives. "She's one of the Pines family's bestest friends, and Dipper's someday-soon-to-be fiancée!"

Mabel then collapsed into a fit of giggles as Dipper and Pacifica both began to sputter and talk over each other in an attempt to rebuke her claim, and Steve couldn't help but share in the humor of the whole situation given how embarrassed the two of them became. Robin snorted next to him with a wide grin on her face.

"We're from Indiana," Steve said, nodding to Pacifica in introduction once the ruckus had calmed a bit. "Just staying for a while while our car gets fixed."

"And before you ask: No, they are not our cousins or anything," Dipper interjected, his face an even brighter shade of red than Pacifica's after Mabel's earlier comment.

"Well that much is obvious," Pacifica replied, crossing her arms. Her tone kept its edge, but she seemed just as eager as Dipper to change the subject. "It's about time someone in this town showed at least a shred of fashion sense, even if those clothes did go out of style over thirty years ago."

Her eyes moved up to Steve's hair, and then her frown deepened further.

"Oh, god. You guys aren't like, time travelers are you?"

Everyone at the table immediately stiffened, and their collective shock seemed to be all Pacifica needed to confirm her theory.

"Ugh! I told you two not to bring any more weird supernatural stuff into the diner! You almost got banned for life after that 'Noodle-nado' incident!"

"Well…in our defense, that wasn't entirely our fault…" Mabel began, but everyone could tell that she had no real confidence in her argument.

"Uh huh, sure!" Pacifica scoffed sarcastically. "You two almost got banned for life for that! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get banned from a place named Greasy's Diner?! I was picking pasta out of my hair for weeks!"

"Ok! Fine!" Dipper said, hastily trying to calm Pacifica down so that they wouldn't be overheard.

"Yes, ok? They are from the past, but there's no way that you could have guessed that! How did you even know?"

"First of all, none of those clothes are even from this century," Pacifica said, pointing down at the apparel that both Steve and Robin wore, causing the two of them to shift awkwardly.

"Second, and even more damning…!" Pacifica said, raising her head to squint directly at Steve.

"...is the fact that I smell Farrah Fawcett Spray."

There was a moment of silence, then all eyes turned slowly towards Steve, and the older teen felt his stomach sink down to his shoes.

Dipper and Mabel's faces were scrunched up with confusion, as if they weren't entirely sure about what Pacifica was talking about, but Robin's face slowly began to contort with glee, which was only made worse by the fact that she could see how uncomfortable Steve had suddenly become with the situation.

Her laughter started slowly, then quickly built from a few chuckles to full blown guffaws, and Steve was forced to sit there while Robin held her sides and did everything in her power not to fall to the floor from laughing so hard.

Her laughter began to abate only after it became too difficult to breathe, but Steve's embarrassment refused to dwindle. Dustin Henderson had been the only other soul that knew the secret behind his hairstyle, and yet somehow this teenage girl from the middle of nowhere had figured it out less than a minute after meeting him.

"Uh, what's Farrah Fawcett spray?" Dipper asked aloud, seemingly at a loss if he needed to be jotting this down in his journal or not.

"It's a woman's hairspray from the '80s," Robin wheezed, her laughter threatening to spiral out of control again as she spoke.

"Ok, thank you, Robin," Steve said shortly, pursing his lips in an attempt to restrain himself. "I'm pretty sure they get the idea."

It was then that Mabel's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as the realization hit her as well.

"That's it!" she cried in pure excitement, slamming her hands on the table and looking Steve dead in his eyes. "You are coming to my next makeover night with Candy and Grenda. NO EXCEPTIONS!"

Dipper, despite seeming to understand Steve's embarrassment now as well, still frowned in confusion at Pacifica.

"I still don't understand. How could you tell that they're from the past just by smelling a certain type of hairspray?"

"Ugh," Pacifica said, rolling her eyes in disgust. "Don't you ever read anything useful in all those nerdy books of yours? Farrah Fawcett spray was discontinued in 1984 after Fabergé Organics was bought out! Hairspray that old is nearly impossible to get in this day and age!"

Dipper stared at her incredulously.

"What? As a woman of class, one must know the details of every hair care product made after 1950. So trust me when I say that you'd have to be even richer than I am to get a hold of a can, and that's saying something!"

"Umm, richer than you?" Robin finally asked, raising her eyebrow at Pacifica despite the residual shortness of breath she held from her bouts of laughter. "Not that I'd want to be rude or anything, but don't you work in a diner?"

"For your information, I don't have to work here," Pacifica snarkily replied. "I just choose to have a job to get away from my parents. It's not my fault that nowhere else is hiring!"

"And we are all proud of you for sticking it to the man, Pacifica!" Mabel beamed with an enthusiastic swing of her arm. "Even if you do mess up our orders from time to time, we're still rooting for you!"

"So, you're a rich kid who got a summer job because your old man is an asshole, huh?" Robin said, crossing her arms. "Remind you of anyone, Popeye…?"

Robin none-too-subtly nudged Steve's elbow as she spoke, which caused the older teen to roll his eyes despite being thankful for the change in subject.

"Yeah, talk about relatable. Good for you though, kid," he said, giving Pacifica a small but genuine nod. "From the looks of it, I'd say your co-workers are about as competent as mine were too…"

As if on cue, there was a loud crash from within the kitchen, followed by a cheerful but ditzy call from Lazy Susan that she was ok. Steve gave a smirk in Robin's direction, and she answered with an eye roll of her own.

A small vein on Pacifica's temple bulged out at the noise from the kitchen, but the bristliness she had approached the table with finally seemed to dissipate at Steve's compliment.

"Oh, well…thanks," Pacifica said, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head while a slight blush returned to her cheeks. "I…probably better go make sure everything's ok back there…"

Suddenly seeming very awkward, Pacifica shuffled away from the table and back into the kitchen, but not before stealing a quick glance back at their booth before disappearing around the corner, a glance that Steve unfortunately saw was directed specifically at him.

His shoulders immediately slumped dejectedly as he realized that it was now entirely likely that yet another kid a little over half his age had developed a crush on him, and he shook his head and avoided Robin's no-doubt mischievous grin by looking straight ahead. This proved to be even worse of an idea, however, as Steve was now making eye contact with Dipper, who sat directly across from him in the booth. The male Pines twin was looking at Steve from over the top of his journal, which he was poorly pretending to read.

Dipper's gaze was that of a slight frown, indicative of the fact that the young teenager was feeling an emotion that he didn't quite understand yet, and unfortunately for Steve, seeing Dipper interact with Pacifica just now had given him all the context he needed to recognize it for what it was.

Jealousy, however mild it might have been, was easy for Steve to spot when he'd seen it on the faces of fellow teenage boys a million times in the hallways of Hawkins High, and Dipper, whether aware of it or not, was definitely feeling it.

Great.

Now Steve had unwillingly become a part of both the Pines twins' summer crushes, meaning that he would most likely have to yet again act as an emotional guide to inexperienced teenagers.

Christ. How many kids did Steve eventually want to have again? Six? Maybe he needed to rethink those numbers…

…

Robin crossed her arms and leaned back on the small couch that sat on the back porch leading into the Mystery Shack. It was roughly mid-afternoon, and thankfully, the shack was closed for the day, meaning that she could relax and take things easy for once. After all the excitement about learning that the portal to the Upside Down and the portal here at the Mystery Shack had been opened on the same day, things had been relatively uneventful around the place for a few days, which was a change of pace that Robin most certainly appreciated. The weirdness of Gravity Falls hadn't decreased by any means, but the fact that neither Robin nor Steve had gone on some crazy death-defying adventure for a little while was a huge win in her mind.

Dipper had concluded that he couldn't really probe more into possible links between the Upside Down and the portal that his Grunkle Ford had built here in Oregon until Ford himself arrived, so that link remained open for now, leaving the residents of the Mystery Shack in a place of peace for the last few days.

Truth be told, Robin was finding herself appreciating this place more and more as time went on. Even though the crazy and wild things that happened in this town had certainly taken some getting used to, Robin found it to be no worse than Hawkins when it came to the supernatural. In fact, she could almost say that her experiences in this town had been pleasant compared to most of Hawkins, otherwordly or otherwise. The forests and mountains were beautiful, the food wasn't half bad, and the people…

Well, Robin would not have considered the people here to be normal by any means, but then again, neither was she. The rebellious girl that had nearly been crushed by the beast that was Hawkins, Indiana could finally breathe out here in the mountainous air, and with Steve here as well, Robin was reminded of just how much better life could be with a little change of scenery.

Inhaling with deep satisfaction, Robin's train of thought took her back to almost two years ago (technically thirty years ago if one was being literal) to when she had first gotten serious about getting away from Hawkins for the first time. Back then, Robin had finally become fed up with trying to fit into the hellacious mold the world had forced upon her, and as a result, she had begun to dream up a fantastic plan to leave Indiana behind and finally put some distance between herself and everything she had known.

She'd codenamed it: Operation Croissant, and it was her means of escape, a way to get away from it all at least for a little while and get a little taste of life outside the blood-sucking hole of her hometown. Things had changed a lot since then, and even Robin had to admit that she had changed a lot since then too, but unfortunately for her, Hawkins stayed the same. There were still monsters in it, and the only difference between then and now was that literal monsters started existing in it as well.

And so, Operation Croissant had always been at the back of Robin's mind, a dream that had become slightly less important to Robin after getting to know the real Steve Harrington and the rest of the party, but a dream it remained. And now, here in Gravity Falls, Robin almost felt as though her dream, or at least the essence of it, was finally coming true. The menu at Greasy's most certainly didn't compare to the taste of a fresh baguette in front of the Eiffel Tower or a mouth-watering cannoli outside the Coliseum, but the food had always been a secondary reason behind Robin's drive to get away, and even though she wasn't getting an opportunity to exercise her french or spanish (except in the occasional side conversation with Soos's grandma), she found herself in a place of peace here in the sleepy state of Oregon.

Then why leave?

Robin jolted and inhaled sharply as she once again struggled to resist the idea that her train of thought was taking her to, though she had noted with genuine fear that it was becoming more and more difficult to do by the day.

Excuse after prepared excuse was hurriedly dredged up in her mind to rebut the question that echoed within.

School…

Oregon has those.

My friends…

Milton would want you to be happy.

The Party…

…that you've only known for about a month?

My parents…

Steve could tell them—

Ah, there it was.

Steve.

That was the one thing that pulled her away every single time from entertaining these thoughts for too long. As much as it tried, Robin's subconscious could not create an excuse to stay in Gravity Falls when it came to Steve. While it was true that Robin had technically only known Steve for a summer, she would be damned if there was anyone else on the face of this Earth that knew her better than he did and vice versa. Steve, despite all odds, and Robin was not kidding when she said all odds, was the first person that she had trusted with her deepest secret. And even though Steve had no secrets of his own that could rival hers, the way he diligently kept that secret despite the hell it could've brought down upon him was enough for Robin to name him as her favorite human on the face of the earth. And try as she might, Robin could not see herself going anywhere without Steve Harrington by her side, or at least having him in the same time period.

The thought of Steve was enough for Robin to push her thoughts of staying in the future out of her mind, and with a deep exhale, she slowly began to relax once more, though the internal conflict within her remained.

Taking one more deep breath, Robin finally settled her thoughts and went back to her previous activity, which was entertaining herself by watching Dipper and Steve, who were both standing a little ways off the back porch. It had not been long after finishing breakfast that morning that Dipper approached Steve about something they'd both apparently talked about already, and though Robin didn't catch much of the conversation, she did hear Dipper's steadfast tone say something about "throwing a punch" before Steve sighed and agreed.

The younger teenager's face had come alight with excitement, but there was something else there that Robin couldn't quite place, and though she would again never consider herself an expert on emotions, she still felt as if there was a bit of one-sided tension between Steve and Dipper. Not anything serious, but enough of something that even Robin could notice. The cause of the slight friction was not readily apparent to her, but Robin supposed she could venture a pretty good guess after seeing how Dipper had interacted with that blonde teenage waitress back at the dinner, and more importantly, how the blonde waitress had subsequently interacted around Steve.

Robin had slyly made a remark to the older Hawkins native to test her theory after Dipper departed to go get ready, and the older teenager's annoyed confirmation of her theory made her morning grogginess dissipate almost immediately, as it became incredibly hilarious to her that Steve had yet again managed to get further involved in the lives of the youth of Gravity Falls. It also had the added benefit of minimizing the amount of trouble that Steve gave her regarding Wendy, as his teasing had only doubled since Robin had shared the details of the conversation the two of them had back when the clone Dippers had appeared at the Shack. Steve, in his well-meaning but increasingly annoying ferver to egg Robin on into pursuing the possibility, was diligent in his pestering, but thanks to the slight drama with Dipper, his prodding had lessened somewhat.

Speaking of prodding, was it just her, or was Dipper throwing his punches a little too hard?

Squinting slightly, Robin watched as Steve tried to coach the shorter teen into a proper stance while holding up a large upright punching bag for the male Pines twin to practice on. While Steve was doing his best to offer small corrections on how to hold his arms and curl his fingers, Dipper uncharacteristically seemed more interested in hitting the bag than actually learning what the older teenager was trying to teach him.

Steve seemed to catch on almost immediately as well, and with a heavy sigh and an almost pleading glance back in Robin's direction, he resigned himself into letting Dipper tire himself out on the bag while periodically injecting a mumbled tidbit of advice. Thankfully, despite Dipper throwing what could be considered hard punches into the bag, the smaller boy was not exactly blessed in the way of upper body strength, so Steve wasn't entirely bothered by the force behind the punches as he held up the bag.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the porch next to Robin, Mabel was laughing and mimicking the actions of her twin in the form of light pokes into the soft and pudgy flesh of her pet pig, Waddles, who like Steve, was not overly bothered by the prodding, and actually almost seemed to enjoy it as a form of light tickling more than anything else.

Funnily enough, Steve and Robin hadn't met Waddles until after almost two days of living in the Mystery Shack, as the pig mostly spent its time napping in the attic or loafing around in the den when it wasn't eating or rolling around outside. To Mabel's delight, neither Hawkins native was overly perturbed by the presence of the pig, and Robin would go so far to consider it almost an improvement over most common house pets like dogs and cats, as pigs were infinitely smarter than them on average. In fact, if Robin thought about it, some pigs might even be smarter than some of the humans she'd met.

The Hawkins native watched as Mabel continued mocking Dipper's punching for a few moments, then gave a small chuckle.

"Gotta admit I'm surprised, Mabel," she said, leaning back on the couch. "I figured you'd be pissed that yet another girl your age has shown interest in Steve."

Mabel paused only momentarily from her playing with Waddles to give a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders.

"Having a reason to heckle Dipper trumps any possible feelings of competition, Rob-com!" she said. "Plus, Steve's already promised that he's gonna set me up with his grandkids, so my investment is secured!"

Robin smirked at Mabel's enthusiasm as the girl went back to playing with Waddles. It was endearing to see how she was on such good terms with her twin, and even though the two of them loved to tease and make fun of each other, it was plain to see that they were extremely close. She likened it very much to how she was with Steve.

Turning back to look at him now, Robin suddenly noted with shock that Steve's hair, for the absolute first time since she had known him, had begun to droop, and at first, she almost dismissed it as a trick of the light. After blinking a few times, however, Robin saw that her eyes had not been deceiving her, and the realization almost made her fall off the couch.

Throughout the entire summer, through all of the running from monsters and fighting supernatural demons and being drugged by Russians, Steve's hair had endured. Its gravity-defying volume had always been retained, completely unbothered and undiminished by the chaos that the guy it was attached to constantly found himself in. Unconsciously, it had become a consistent aspect in Robin's life, like taxes or death. So seeing it now, how it was starting to fall flat against his head, honestly freaked her out a bit.

She then frowned in confusion for a moment at how Steve could even let something like this happen. That man took care of his mane like it was his own child, so the possibility of it beginning to deflate now of all times should have been next to zero.

Robin then remembered that the two of them had been here in Gravity Falls for almost two weeks now. Before the trip, she recalled Steve mentioning that he was low on his usual products, and now that she, as well as everyone else, knew that Farrah Fawcett Spray of all things was the secret ingredient to Steve's Harrington's almighty hair, Robin could only guess that his supply was running out. Without that spray, Steve's signature look was in terrible danger, and the thought of Steve's hair looking, well…normal, was not something Robin was even sure she could imagine. Judging from the rate at which it was beginning to deflate on his head, however, she felt as though they would all be coming very familiar with that reality very soon.

Robin shuddered slightly and was thankfully saved from that mental image by Wendy rolling up on her bike, the redheaded teen easily parking the bicycle and hopping off with practiced ease.

"Mabel. Robin," she said amicably. "What up, ma' peeps?"

"Wendy!" Mabel said, picking up Waddles and placing the pig in her lap so that she could control his front hooves from behind like a ventriloquist.

"Heya Wendy!" Mabel said in a cartoony deep voice while moving Waddles' hooves up and down animatedly to make it seem as though the pig was speaking. "You're just in time to watch Dipper vent his teen angst on a poor helpless punching bag! Oh, the humanity!"

Wendy glanced with a raised eyebrow over in Dipper and Steve's direction, then smirked.

"I can see that. So, it's safe to say he's still a little worked up by that Pacifica thing?"

"Bingo," Robin chimed in with a nod.

"Oof," Wendy said. "Dipper's awesome, but I gotta say that he does not process his emotions well sometimes. I also hate to say it, Mabel, but that teen drama junk is gonna get worse before it gets better. No one is safe, not even you."

"Ah geez…" Mabel pouted. "You mean I'm gonna go through all this too?"

Wendy looked over to Robin instead of answering Mabel directly.

"Robin? Care to confirm?"

Wendy winked over at Robin as she spoke, and it was all the girl could do to try to calm herself as her heart rate spiked.

"Yep," she said, almost a beat too late. "Everyone does eventually. It, uh, it definitely sucks!"

"Ugh! How can I be the world's best matchmaker if my dumb hormones get in the way all the time?!" Mabel bemoaned, her body slumping over Waddles' indifferent form as the pig lay inert on the porch.

"Eh, you'll learn to tough it out, dude," Wendy said, taking a seat next to Robin on the couch and relaxing easily onto the aged cushion. "Luckily for you and Dipper, you guys are way smarter than most other dudes your age, so I got no doubts you can rise above the worst of it."

"We can only hope," Robin said with a shake of her head, her thoughts drawing her back to the days when she had been in a love triangle between Steve and Tammy Thompson that only she knew about. Looking back, Robin still surprised herself sometimes at just how big of a crush she'd had on Tammy. At the time, that girl had been almost all she'd thought about.

"This kind of shit can get real messy, real quick…"

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Wendy agreed, tilting her head back and letting her long hair drape over the back of the couch from underneath her bomber cap. She closed her eyes in relaxation, and Robin made a conscious effort not to stare.

Wendy then opened her eyes and turned her attention to Dipper and Steve, likely noticing that Dipper had all but tired himself out now, as his movements had become sluggish and his brow was clearly matted with sweat.

"Speaking of messy," Wendy mused. "It kinda looks like Steve's starting to run out of his 'special spray'".

Robin frowned for a moment, then remembered that the Pines family shared almost everything with each other and their close friends. That meant that anything they knew was quickly shared with Soos, Melody, and Wendy, so Robin shouldn't have been surprised that news of Steve's grooming methods had reached her when she also knew about Dipper's unknowing crush on Pacifica. She shuddered to imagine the extreme reaction Mabel would have received after dropping a bomb like that on Candy and Grenda.

"Poor guy," Mabel added, absentmindedly scratching Waddles behind his ears as she watched Steve's hair as well. "The world is a darker place without those luscious locks in it. And his only hope of saving it lies in a hair product that was discontinued almost thirty years ago…"

Wendy sat thoughtfully for a few seconds, and then a slow smile began to form on her face, prompting Robin to ask what it was she seemed to be suddenly thinking about.

"Not sure what that look means, but I'm guessing you suddenly got an idea?"

"Yeah…I think I do," Wendy said, hopping up from the couch and strolling towards Steve and Dipper.

The male Pines twin had finally given in to his exhaustion, and had sprawled out on the grass while breathing heavily, periodically chugging water from a bottle Steve had offered him.

The older teen leaned on the punching bag, his demeanor portraying his exasperation at how little of his advice Dipper had taken despite the younger boy being so adamant that he give it to him in the first place.

"Looks like a TKO, Little Mac," Wendy said with a smirk as she came to a stop above the tuckered out Dipper. She placed her hands on her hips and looked down at the boy's heaving form. "I think it's safe to say you put the hurt on that bag."

Dipper did not have the lung capacity to respond. Instead, the younger teen weakly raised his other hand and gave a loose thumbs up, which caused Wendy to laugh.

"I think you've earned a good rest, dude. Mind if I borrow your coach while you're recuperating?" she asked, gesturing with her thumb in Steve's direction, which caused the older teen to frown in slight confusion.

Dipper responded with another loose thumbs up, and Wendy nodded once before turning to approach Steve.

"What do you think, Doc? Is he ready to take on Mike Tyson?"

Steve's frown of confusion deepened, and from where Robin sat watching the conversation, she could tell that he had no idea who Wendy was referring to either.

"Uh, is that a reference to something?" the older teen ventured. "I'm not exactly sure who 'Doc' is supposed to be, or 'Mike Tyson' for that matter…"

Wendy rolled her eyes.

"Geez dude, I keep forgetting just how many years you guys skipped to get here. You really don't know who Mike Tyson is? I thought for sure that he first appeared in the '80s."

Steve shrugged and shook his head, indicating that he was still at a loss.

"Seems like we need to freshen you up," Wendy said, placing her hands on her hips again. "In more ways than one I think."

At that, the redhead subtly pointed to the top of her head, and Steve's frown of confusion quickly morphed into one of distress as he ran a hand through his rapidly deflating hair. It was then that Robin realized that Steve must have known way before the rest of them that his hair was beginning to fall, and now that it was becoming apparent to not just him, his anxiety about the situation was only getting worse.

"Relax dude," Wendy said reassuringly. "All you need is a little more of your 'Farrah-whatever-spray' and you'll be good, right?"

It was obvious that Steve did not enjoy talking about this, and Robin almost didn't catch his next words as he spoke them half in embarrassment and half in anger at the attention Wendy was drawing to his hair.

"Yeah, that would fix it right up, wouldn't it?" he said sarcastically. "Easy peasy, all I have to do is go to the store and buy a product that doesn't exist anymore. No sweat!"

"Or," Wendy offered. "You could go to a store that hasn't changed their inventory in a while."

"For almost thirty years? You know a store like that?"

At this, Wendy's smile heightened to the maximum.

"Actually dude, I think I do."

With that, Wendy excused herself to run inside the Shack for a moment, and when she returned, a set of keys dangled from her fingers.

"You're driving dude," she said to Steve with a tone of excitement, which Robin noticed really only appeared when there were adventures or mysteries imminent.

"Wait, where are we going?"

"...back in time, dude."

Upon hearing her say that, everyone present immediately perked up, with only Waddles maintaining his relaxed position on the porch.

"Wait, what?!" Dipper said, struggling into an upright position despite his lingering exhaustion.

"Did Blendin call already?!"

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down, dudes," Wendy said, holding her hands up haltingly. "Poor choice of words on my part. I mean we're just going somewhere where Steve can get more hairspray."

Robin immediately relaxed despite the questions that still lingered in her mind.

"Sooo, you know a place around here that still sells an extinct hair care product?"

"Maybe," Wendy said, twirling the keys around her finger thoughtfully as she spoke. "Or maybe not, we won't know until we get there."

From his seated position on the grass, Dipper contemplated for a moment before slowly rising up to his feet.

"I'll go get my stuff. If this place has merchandise from that long ago, then it might be worth checking out."

"Actually dude, we're going someplace you've already been," Wendy said bemusedly.

Dipper frowned in confusion, and his question was answered before he even asked it when Wendy made a motion like she was closing a zipper over her mouth before flicking away an imaginary key. And while Dipper immediately went ramrod straight with embarrassment, Mabel immediately fell into a giggle before belting out what sounded like a child's nursery rhyme that Robin didn't recognize at all.

"Welllll, who wants a lamby, lamby, lamby?"

"Mabel, I swear…!" Dipper said angrily.

"I do! I do!"

Dipper's face had now gone tomato red, though he was saved from further embarrassment as Mabel stopped singing to collapse into a fit of laughter, rolling onto her back and holding her sides at the stark embarassment of her twin.

Dipper glowered at her for a moment, though his anger subsided as he realized something. Turning back to Wendy, Dipper's tone took on a hint of nervousness.

"Wait, you're going back there? Are you sure that's a good idea, Wendy? After what happened last time, I don't know if you'd be…"

"No worries Dipper," Wendy said with a dismissive shake of her hand. "I'll be fine as long as I have 'adult supervision'."

Wendy gestured in Steve's direction with her thumb, and Robin felt both her and Steve's confusion only grow deeper.

"So, again, where exactly are we going?" Steve asked, his impatience obvious now.

"'Dusk 2 Dawn'," Wendy replied. "A cozy little convenience store located on the outskirts of town. It's a long shot, but if there's any place around here that has thirty-year-old discontinued hair care products, it's there."

Steve didn't seem thoroughly convinced, but Robin also couldn't help but notice that a small flicker of hope seemed to ignite in his eyes. A glance up to his hair reminded her of just how desperate he probably was, so if he wanted any chance of keeping his title as Steve "The Hair" Harrington, this was his best shot.

"On second thought, I…uh, I think I'll sit this one out Wendy," Dipper said, his voice still betraying residual embarrassment and nervousness from earlier. "I don't exactly have good memories of that place."

Before anyone could say anything else, Dipper dusted himself off and shuffled towards the Shack, mumbling a small thanks to Steve as he walked past and sticking his hands into his pockets. Robin frowned slightly as the younger teen walked past her and into the Shack, still sensing that the kid was a bit off. She'd known Dipper for almost two weeks now, and this was the first time he had ever declined on taking a trip to a potentially weird or exciting place, even if it had been a place he'd already visited before.

Next to her, Robin saw Mabel drum her hands contemplatively on Waddles' fat stomach for a few moments, her eyes having also followed Dipper's exit.

"Hmmmm, I think my bro-bro needs me to drop some real-world knowledge on his butt! My apologies to you and your hair, Steve, but I think I am needed here today!"

With that, Mabel enthusiastically jumped to her feet and followed her twin into the Shack, her movement encumbered by the weight of Waddles as she struggled to carry him into the building with her.

With the two youngest of their group gone, that left only Steve, Robin, and Wendy outside, and as Robin turned to look back at the other two, her eyes met Wendy's, which were looking at her contemplatively.

"Well, it sounds like those two are out. How about you, Rob?"

At first, Robin's first instinct was to opt in, as despite the mysterious nature of the place they were going to, she couldn't help but be a bit curious about a store that still potentially sold Farrah Fawcett Spray despite its lack of existence in this day and age.

A sudden feeling came to her just before she could open her mouth, however, and though Robin couldn't understand how or why, she couldn't help but feel like Wendy almost wanted her to say no to coming along so that it would just be her and Steve on this one.

Thinking back once again, Robin remembered how Wendy had almost seemed wistful when she had seen Steve interacting with the twins and the Dipper clones almost a week ago, and how the redhead had mentioned something about her mom before quickly changing the subject. With that in mind, it seemed likely that the redhead wanted to get to know the older Hawkins native a little better, and that she was hoping to have Steve to herself for the afternoon as a result. Her motives didn't appear to be romantic in nature, however, which Robin humorously noted made Wendy among the minority of the female portion of Gravity Falls that they'd had met so far.

A small part of Robin considered the obvious possibility that she was reading too much into something that wasn't that deep at all, but the more she thought about it, the more she felt like she would be better off not joining the two other teenagers on their quest for hairspray.

Her eyes briefly met Steve's for a moment as well, and Robin was also quickly reminded that Steve, if given the chance, would make any attempt to excuse himself while on this trip to leave her alone with Wendy, and though a part of her involuntarily jumped at the thought, Robin's conscious mind firmly forced the feeling down, quickly coming to a decision in light of her friend's possible deviousness.

"You know what? You two go ahead. I think I'll sit this one out too."

Steve's brow immediately furrowed, reminding Robin once again that despite all of Steve's shortcomings in the department of intellectuality, the older teenager was actually scarily aware of social cues and subtleties when it came to other people. His eyes asked a silent question to Robin's using the ever-reliable "Silent-Steve-Talk" they both shared, and Robin did her best to give as genuine and placating of an answer as she was able.

She could tell that Steve wasn't entirely satisfied with her response, but he trusted her enough to simply shrug his shoulders and not press the matter.

"You sure, dude?" Wendy asked. She was being courteous, but even Robin could see the small spark of excitement in her eyes at the possibility that it would just be her and Steve going on this trip.

"Yeah, no offense to the ever-constant weirdness that goes on in this town, but I'm actually enjoying the peace and quiet today. Plus, I think I'll give Soos a hand with the Dart. He might need it."

She offered Wendy a smile, and it was returned with a small but thankful nod. A part of Robin hesitated, then without even knowing why or where she'd mustered the stupidity to do so, the Hawkins native extended the interaction by giving Wendy what she hoped was a sly wink. The redhead's eyebrows heightened slightly in surprise, but her smile grew bigger after she processed the gesture, and for the briefest of moments, Robin could have sworn she saw a hint of color on her cheeks.

The boldness of Robin's actions suddenly up with her a moment later, and in a state of near shock and extreme nervousness at what she had just done, Robin tore her eyes from Wendy's and gave a flustered a nod to Steve, only for her blood to freeze even further upon seeing that he had also seen her gesture, and was now raising both his eyebrows in tilting his head with the most surprised yet encouraging grin Robin had ever seen him wear before. Before Steve had the opportunity to make this even more embarrassing than it already was, Robin quickly turned on her heel and strode into the house.

"Don't die out there, dingus!" she quickly called over her shoulder before the door closed behind her.

…

Steve watched Robin disappear inside the Shack before turning to Wendy just in time to catch the car keys as she tossed them to him. Any residual reaction from her interactions with Robin just now had disappeared completely, which Steve found to be actually kind of impressive considering how uncharacteristically bold his friend had just been.

"Like I said: you're driving, dude!" the younger teen said, turning away from Steve and starting for the parking lot where Soos' truck sat. Steve paused for a moment, contemplating the sudden burst in enthusiasm from the usually laid-back girl, then followed her, frowning as she walked right past the truck and further into the parking lot.

"Uh, thought you said we were driving?" he ventured.

"We are!" Wendy said, looking at him briefly over her shoulder before gesturing to the only other car that sat in the lot: The 1965 El Diablo Convertible supposedly belonging to Dipper and Mabel's Grunkle Stan.

To say Steve was eager to drive an automobile as novel as that was understatement, but he paused and raised his eyebrow as Wendy popped open the passenger's side door and slid into the passenger's seat.

"Thought this car was for emergencies only," he said, taking time to admire the vehicle as he slowly walked around the front and rested his hand on the driver's side door handle.

"Didn't take you for a stickler to the rules, Steve," Wendy joked as she reclined her seat and got comfortable inside the cab of the vehicle. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that counts as an emergency."

She gestured once again to Steve's flattening hair.

"Good point…" he grumbled before opening the door and sliding into the driver's seat. He sat for a moment before moving to place the key in the ignition, marveling at the vintage feeling of the El Diablo and familiarizing himself with the layout. A glance to the center console showed him that the car had a manual transmission, and he smiled to himself at the familiar feeling of placing the car in neutral and starting the engine after having driven Soos' automatic for nearly two weeks now.

After another brief moment, Steve inserted the key and turned. The El Diablo sputtered for a moment, showcasing its age and lack of use, but then Steve's efforts were rewarded as the engine caught and came fully to life.

Steve paused yet again to admire the sound of the car as it idled patiently, then muscle memory took over as he released the parking brake and placed the El Diablo into first gear. A side glance at Wendy showed that she was watching his movements intently, and Steve lightly shook his head and smirked when he remembered Soos telling him that manual cars were all but extinct in the United States now, making him apparently one of the relatively few teenagers in the country that knew how to drive a car like this.

For a brief moment, Steve considered dumping the clutch and peeling out of the lot. Knowing Wendy, the younger teenager would have probably loved it to no end, but out of courtesy for Mabel and Dipper's possibly psychotic great uncle, Steve decided to take it easy. The ride was a bit stiff at first as he pulled out of the lot and onto the road leading away from the Mystery Shack, but he quickly began growing familiar with the vehicle and how it drove, and within a few short minutes, the Hawkins native was driving as though he'd owned the car for months.

"Alright Corduroy, where are we going?" Steve asked as he connected with the main road and the gravel turned to asphalt beneath the wheels.

The redhead was silent for a moment as she watched Steve shift gears once again, then refocused and gave him directions, leading him to what he hoped was to be the salvation of his signature style.

…

Back at the Shack, Robin was somewhat surprised when she walked into the garage that Soos had been keeping the Dart in. The garage, much like the renovations made to the main Mystery Shack, was relatively new, and as Robin looked around, she saw a grand assortment of tools organized throughout multiple drawers and workbenches and even hanging from the walls. Soos obviously had not taken his job as a handyman half-heartedly before Robin and Steve had arrived.

The nature of Robin's surprise hadn't stemmed from the scale of the operation, but rather, from the people she found inside.

The first thing Robin saw was Soos's lower half sticking out from underneath the Dart, which had been elevated off the ground onto a quartet of car ramps so that he had easier access to the undercarriage. The sound of a metallic clicking came from underneath, which led Robin to the conclusion that he was deep into his work.

Additionally, Robin saw that Dipper and Mabel had migrated their way into the garage as well, with Dipper sitting on an overturned bucket and Mabel sitting on the concrete nearby with Waddles.

"Alright Mr. Frowny-Dip," Mabel began, placing her hands on her hips from where she was seated. "I think it's about time we do some spring cleaning in that grumpy wishy-washy mind state of yours!"

"Mabel…" Dipper said with a roll of his eyes. "I told you I'm fine, ok? I just…didn't get enough sleep last night."

"Yeah, I bet you didn't!" Mabel said teasingly. "You always have trouble sleeping when you're bummed out about something, which is like all the time!"

"Oh dude," came Soos' voice for the first time from underneath the Dart. "That always happens to me right after Yumberjacks stops serving their seasonal churro logs every spring. I become inconsolable for nearly a week!"

"Look, I really don't want to talk about it, ok?" Dipper said. "It's not even that big of a deal."

"It is when you're being all stiff and grouchy every time Steve walks into the room!" Mabel countered. "You'll be all normal and stuff, but then when you see him it's like: 'BOOP! Meanie dork mode: Activated!'"

"Ok, that's definitely not true!"

"Hate to say it, dude…" Robin piped up from the leaning position she had taken against the wall with her arms crossed. "...but it kind of is."

Dipper looked at her for a moment, then his gaze dropped to the floor.

"Yeah, I don't want to like, gang up on you or anything," Soos said from under the Dart. "But as your forever Pterodactyl Bro, I feel it's my duty to let you know when you're acting a bit off. And well…you're acting a bit off, dude."

Hearing it from Soos was apparently enough to break through Dipper's denial, and the younger teenager sat for a moment before his brow creased up in anger and he stood up with an aggravated noise erupting from his throat.

"Ok, fine! I'm a little mad at Steve! Happy?!"

"There we go!" Mabel said, standing up and pumping her fist into the air with vigor. "Let it all out, bro-bro!"

"It's just…he's been getting on my nerves for a few days now! The way he walks around and eats cereal in the mornings and does work around the Shack during the days! It's just been driving me crazy!"

"So…you're mad at him for existing?" Robin said.

Robin's remark was cut off by Mabel frantically waving her off.

"No! No! This is good! Get it all out in the open, Dipper! Now, tell us why you're really mad at Steve!"

Whether or not Dipper appreciated what it was Mabel was trying to do was unclear to Robin, but it seemed to not really matter at this point since the male Pines twin was already riled up.

"I'm mad at Steve because…!"

"Come on…! Come on…!" Mabel urged, egging on her twin like her life depended on it.

"...because…!"

"This is it!"

At this point, Robin couldn't decide which of the twins was more energized, and she found her gaze bouncing back and forth between the two of them like she was watching a tennis match.

The tension in the air reached a peak, then plummeted into nothingness as Dipper's hands unexpectedly fell limp at his sides. A dumbfounded look appeared on his face.

"I…I don't know," he said in disbelief. "I actually have no idea why I'm mad at Steve…"

There was a pause as his words were deciphered by all parties present, then Mabel threw her hands up and wailed in exaggerated mental agony.

"Nooooooooo! You were so close, Dipper! This was supposed to be your moment! Your nerd brain was finally going to connect the dots, and I was gonna be right there to see it!"

Mabel's shoulders slumped as she deflated completely in kind, and Robin felt like she had just ridden an entire roller coaster ride robbed of its climactic dropping points.

"I…guess it just really isn't that important," Dipper said, sticking his hands sheepishly into his vest pockets. An annoyed look appeared on his face that betrayed his inability to figure out the source of his frustration. "Whatever it is, anyway…I mean, I guess if I don't really know why I'm upset, then it must not be that important, right?"

Mabel looked to be on the verge of physically grabbing her twin and shaking him as he continued to ramble.

"…I guess if I don't remember why, then I'll probably get over it pretty soon, too," Dipper concluded with a nod of his head, sinking deeper into his thoughts as he did so. "I mean, it'll be water under the bridge in no time. I should probably still apologize to Steve when he gets back though."

Dipper spent another few moments in contemplation, then shrugged his shoulders defeatedly and turned to exit the garage. He was abruptly stopped by Mabel, however, who surprised everyone by how fast she suddenly threw herself between Dipper and the garage door and forced her arms out wide to block any possible attempts to go around her.

"Oh no you don't! You're not going anywhere, mister!"

"Mabel, what the heck–"

"If you can't come to the realization on your own, then I have no choice but to throw it at you until it sticks to you like a glue gun!"

"Uh, I'm pretty sure the term is 'sticks like glue'," Robin interjected.

"Not when it comes to me, Robin!" Mabel countered, and a confirming "yep" from Soos was all Robin needed to hear to wisely refrain from speaking again as Mabel eyed her twin crazily.

"Dipper, you're mad at Steve because you're jealous! Boom! Mic drop!"

"What?" Dipper started. "Why would I be jealo–?"

"Because you like Pacifica!" Mabel blurted, not even giving Dipper time to finish his question. "You saw her get all flushed and flirty with him at Greasy's and you're jealous!"

At this point, Dipper's annoyance began to resurface, though this time Robin could have sworn that she saw the faintest spark of denial reflash behind his eyes.

"Mabel, you keep teasing me about this, but I already told you that I don't like Pacifica!"

"No! No more denying it, Dipper! I have exercised super-human amounts of restraint when it comes to pushing you on this, but I'm putting my matchmaker's foot down this time!"

Mabel was nearly foaming at the mouth now, and Robin almost took a step back to get away from the intensity.

"You, Dipper Pines, have a big ol' crush on Pacifica Northwest, and no amount of lying to yourself or getting mad at Steve is going to change that! The writing was all over the wall when we were at Greasy's, and I'm not talking about the bathroom this time!"

"You're being ridiculous, Mabel! All interactions between me and Pacifica were one-hundred percent, purely bonafide platonic! Tell her, Robin!"

At this point, Robin wasn't sure if she wanted to remain a part of this conversation, but she sucked in a breath through her teeth and tilted her head to indicate to Dipper that he wasn't going to like what she was going to say.

"What? You too?!" Dipper cried in disbelief.

"I may not be an expert on romance or a 'matchmaker extraordinaire'," Robin replied with a nod in Mabel's direction. "But I'm pretty sure I know platonic when I see it. And that's not exactly what I saw in the diner…"

Desperation began to creep onto Dipper's face at her answer.

"Soos?" he tried one last time, turning to stare at his friend's feet as though they were his lifeline.

At this point, Soos emerged from underneath the Dart, sliding easily on the roller he was laying on.

"I dunno, dude. Haven't you like, been a crucial part of her character growth over the last year? What with her rebelling a bit more against her parents and getting a job at the diner and stuff? Like, I guess Mabel has played a part in that too, but hasn't it been mostly you?"

At this, Mabel crossed her arms, a self-satisfied grin appearing on her face as she did so.

"Hook. Line. and stinker, Dipster! What do you say to that?"

Dipper stared from Mabel to Robin to Soos with a look that resembled that of a cornered wild animal, then shook his head.

"I say two things, Mabel. One: I don't like Pacifica Northwest. And two: You're all crazy!"

And with that, Dipper marched past his twin and toward the door to the garage, pausing only when he reached the door to turn around and address them one last time.

"In fact, I'm sick of talking about her! If the subject of Pacifica ever comes up again, it'll still be too soon!"

With that, Dipper opened the door to the garage, only to see that someone else had just attempted to knock on the door from the other side and was now standing awkwardly with their fist raised in the air.

The current occupants of the garage all immediately recognized the newcomer as the subject of their conversation: Pacifica Northwest.

Their reactions were mixed, to say the least, though Pacifica was the first to speak up.

"I need a fav–"

The rest of her request was stifled as Dipper promptly shut the door, separating her from the rest of the group. There was another long and drawn out pause, then Dipper exhaled deeply and bowed his head in extreme mental fatigue.

"The universe just loves messing with me, doesn't it?"

"Maybe it's because it knows how hilarious it is!" Mabel giggled. "Better not keep the future Mrs. Pines waiting, Bro-Bro!"

Robin saw Dipper's knuckles go white on the door knob at Mabel's comment, and without waiting for any more words from his twin, he pulled open the door, revealing Pacifica once again, who was now sporting a very annoyed expression of her own.

"...Can I speak now?"

"Pacifica, you have quite literally picked the worst time to come down here," Dipper deadpanned. "What do you want?"

"Wow, are you this nice to all your guests? Whatever. Look, I need a favor, ok? This is important."

"Ooooh, is your mansion haunted again?" Mabel asked as Dipper stepped back from the door so that Pacifica could enter the garage. Robin noticed that she was dressed in far nicer clothing than the waitress uniform she'd been wearing a few days ago. In fact, Pacifica was wearing nicer clothes now than anyone else present.

"Hardly," replied the blonde-haired girl, her eyes scanning the rugged interior of the garage with thinly-veiled disgust. "Though this is about the annual Northwest High Society Dinner Party next week."

"Oooo," said Soos from where he had sat up awkwardly on the roller. "This is the first year in Gravity Falls history that the party isn't being held in the Northwest Manor!"

"Exactly, Jorge," the blonde teenager said, pointing her finger at Soos for emphasis. "It's being held at the new Northwest Manor across the lake. Turns out those 'weirdness bonds' my father bought last summer still actually have some value around here."

"The new Northwest Manor…" Mabel said dreamily. "I heard it's exactly one square foot larger than the original Northwest Manor, and that it was built exactly one inch taller too! Just imagine what an amazing feeling it would be to set foot inside!"

Robin frowned.

"Didn't you guys go to this party last year at the old mansion? I get the feeling that this new one probably feels the same since it's only bigger by an incredibly forgettable margin."

The Hawkins native turned to Pacifica then.

"And it also sounds like your dear old dad has something of a petty grudge on whoever lives in the old one."

"Don't even get me started," Pacifica said. "The fact that someone else in town lives in a manor even remotely as big as ours is enough to send him into a frenzy. He orders our butler to fire cannonballs made of caviar at the old manor every night, but Mcgucket just eats all of it every time."

The blonde girl shuddered at the thought, and Dipper took his turn to push the conversation further along.

"So what exactly do you need our help with? You need extra servers and are just trying to hire us out for the evening?"

"As if!" Pacifica scoffed. "None of you possess even a smidgeon of the poise and tact it takes to serve food at a luxurious party like this!"

"Ok, well then spit it out! It's not like we have all day!"

"I'm going to, but you keep interrupting me!"

The two began to argue more and more, prompting Robin to share a side smirk with Mabel at how easily the two fell into their bickering like an old married couple.

"Dude, this is better than cable!" Soos whispered to the two of them, trying to keep his voice low so that the arguing Dipper and Pacifica wouldn't hear. Unfortunately, the two of them apparently caught wind of what they were doing, and looked away from each other sheepishly.

"Look, my dad is trying to make this the biggest party yet, and he's invited almost twice the usual amount of guests to try and make up for the disaster that happened last time!"

"The disaster that he helped cause?"

"Obviously. So in his attempts to make this party as big as possible, he's making me bring a date…"

Upon hearing the word "date", Mabel's face immediately lit up, her eyes sparkling to the point that Robin almost had to look away from the brightness.

"Oh, my dearest Pacifica, please tell me that you're going to say what I think you're going to say!"

Pacifica was obviously not as enthused as Mabel, and Robin saw the girl almost grimace before continuing.

"Look, obviously I would never do this under any other circumstances, but after all that weird junk with that plebeian triangle guy, my dad has been doing everything he can to stay away from any and all weirdness that surrounds this town. He thinks he can distract all of his business partners and regain his status by making me dress up and put on a show with one of his other wealthy yachting buddies by having me ask one of their sons to go to the party with me. He even made the family scribe draft this dumb list for me…"

Reaching into her pocket, Pacifica produced a long strip of paper that almost looked like a large grocery receipt. Robin squinted to get a closer look, and she saw that instead of listing off groceries and their prices, this piece of paper listed off names of what Robin guessed were possible candidates Pacifica's father had selected for her to bring to the party. Next to each name was a number that ranged from somewhere in the mid-millions to upper billions, with the numbers decreasing in value as they moved further down the piece of paper.

"He even put their net worth next to each name so that I can make a more 'informed choice'," Pacifica grunted, making exasperated air quotes with her fingers.

Robin's eyes boggled at the sheer magnitude of the numbers she saw on the page. The richest person she'd ever met, apart from Pacifica apparently, was Steve, and even though Robin knew his family made a lot of money, she wasn't sure if even a rich kid like Steve Harrington could match up to this level of wealth.

"Wowee!" Soos said, also seeing a few of the numbers printed on the list. "Dude, you should see if you can get your date to stop by the Shack sometime! I'll bet we could make a week's worth of profit in just one afternoon!"

"As if I'd ever actually bring along one of these stuck-up jerks!" Pacifica scoffed, casting the list to the side as if it were some form of gross animal. "The way I see it, I can spite my dad twice by bringing someone whose family aren't even millionaires and who is a fresh reminder of the weirdness that reeks through this town!"

And then, looking as though she was ingesting a lemon, Pacifica gestured to Dipper, whose eyes began to widen in shock as he began to connect the dots.

"Because of that, and only that, I have decided to swallow my pride and allow you to come with me to the party as my fake date, Dipper. Congratulations."

Upon hearing this, Dipper's eyes widened even further in indignation.

"Congratulations!? There's no way I'm going to that party, Pacifica! Why on Earth would I want to waste my entire night wearing some stiff monkey suit and pretending to relate to people that only care about superficial things like crystal chandeliers or fancy doilies?"

"Uh, because it's literally a once-in-a-lifetime chance?!" Pacifica retorted. "Because this is a big opportunity for me to make a statement in front of some of the wealthiest people in the world that I'm not just another link in the world's worst chain?! I'm doing this to try and change the way my family is perceived, and all I want is your help!"

"Oh, so I'm just your statement, then?" Dipper said, crossing his arms angrily. "It's nice to see you've come so far since last summer that you've shifted from viewing me as a poor nobody to now a useful tool to try and make yourself look better. Nice job, Pacifica!"

There was a stunned silence as his harsh words resonated, and from the reactions of the other people in the room, Robin deduced that Dipper had just crossed a line of some kind. Even Dipper seemed to realize that he'd gone too far with that last statement, and for the first time since meeting her, Robin was shocked to see that Pacifica almost looked to be on the verge of tears.

"Dude…" Soos said, his usual upbeat nature having dwindled into a fraction of its usual glory. Dipper's arms awkwardly unfolded to rub his shoulder as he deflated, then he looked to the side and shook his head in apology. Pacifica refused to meet his eye as well.

"Pacifica…"

"No. You know what? Fine. Have it your way!" Pacifica almost shouted, turning on her heel and throwing open the door to the garage. "I thought I could ask a friend for help, but I guess I was wrong! I'll go find someone else! Thanks for nothing, Dip-stick!"

Robin winced at the loudness of the door as it slammed shut behind the girl, though the silence that remained after was far more deafening.

Nobody said anything for a while. Soos eventually opted to lay back down on the roller and disappear under that Dart once again, and Mabel went back to playing with Waddles, albeit half-heartedly now after witnessing the altercation between Dipper and Pacifica just now. Dipper watched his twin for a second, then sighed and plopped back down onto the overturned bucket he had been seated in earlier and buried his head in his hands. Robin, feeling way more awkward than usual, decided to try and follow Soos' lead, offering to help him with the repairs. All things considered, she decided that it probably would have been better if she'd gone with Steve and Wendy, as there was no possible way they were enduring this level of second-hand embarrassment right now.

…

Steve, despite the declining nature of his hair, found the ride to the mysterious convenience store to be a rather enjoyable one. The vintage car was a major contributor to that, of course, but Wendy's company was a pleasant change of pace for him. The girl, while still being a few years younger than him, was incredibly level-headed compared to some of the other members of the Mystery Crew, and Steve couldn't help but feel comfortable swapping stories with the younger teenager.

"So then he eats the entire hot dog after climbing out of the tub full of shaving cream, and the entire class loses it! Dude, I have never seen someone get suspended so fast before!"

Steve couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculousness of the story, even though given the town it occurred in, it was more than likely true.

"Well, did it work? Did he get 'Class Clown'?"

"You'd think, right? But no! It actually went to Dalton Mckinnley for putting an extra-large whoopie cushion under the principal's chair during the morning announcements. It was so loud that it blew out the school's PA system!"

Steve shook his head.

"Funny as that is, why anyone would want to get a superlative title like that is beyond me. There is a one hundred percent chance that I'd regret having my name in the yearbook for something like that."

"Honestly, dude. It's actually kind of messed up how far people go to try and get those. Like, it's not even worth all that extra work and stuff just to have your name printed in the yearbook twice. They know that life isn't over as soon as high school ends, right?"

"Yeah, well, that's what happens when you get caught up in the bullshit," Steve said with a shrug. "It took the appearance of a literal demon from another dimension for me to start figuring it out, and I didn't even fully distance myself from it until after I met Robin."

Wendy turned to look at Steve, and he could see what he pegged as relief played out across her features.

"You would not believe how refreshing this is to talk to somebody my age that doesn't play the popularity game," she said. "Even my own friends are trapped in it these days! I'm sick of it!"

At this, Steve considered her friend group, and he could easily imagine someone like Thompson or Tambry experiencing the high school tunnel vision that he himself had been a victim of during most of his time at Hawkins High, and even though Nate and Lee seemed pretty cool, it was all too easy sometimes to try and go be a part of the "in" crowd. And Robbie…

Steve smirked.

"Let me guess: Especially Robbie, right?"

Wendy appeared to be stunned by his sudden insight despite having only met Robbie once since he'd arrived in Gravity Falls.

"Yeah, dude. How'd you know?"

Steve understood her surprise. At first glance, a guy like Robbie would appear to be over all the "fighting for popularity points" stuff with other teenagers, but it was his insistence on being such a rebel and outcast that made him one of the biggest perpetrators of all. Most people had their quirks and preferences, but Steve had already known upon meeting Robbie that he cared more about being perceived as a rowdy uncontrollable outcast rather than actually being one.

"It's pretty easy to spot when you've been on the other side of it," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Plus, trying to 'fit in' by 'acting out' isn't exactly a ground-breaking idea. I saw it all the time in the '80s too."

Wendy's expression went from shock to awe, and Steve could really see in that moment that she wasn't lying when she'd mentioned that she didn't have the chance to talk about this often. Knowing her friends and her family, Steve did not find it all that unbelievable that deeper social subjects like this weren't exactly a hot topic of discussion. Especially since it tended to bring about a lot of self-reflection, which most people weren't too comfortable with.

"Gotta give you credit where it's due though, Corduroy," Steve added, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "Seems like you're rising above the worst of it."

Wendy snorted and rested her cheek against her fist while turning to look out the window.

"Yeah, I guess. Not exactly the most rewarding though is it?"

Steve nodded knowingly yet again, as he knew exactly what Wendy was referring to. Those that chose not to indulge the popularity rat race were often than not were ironically made one of the most popular people around, though their popularity came from ridicule instead of praise. They were ousted as weirdos at best and outright freaks at worst.

The most prominent example of the latter came from Steve's memories of Eddie "The Freak" Munson, who had always been a year ahead of Steve until he failed to pass his senior year in 1984. Steve then shared a couple of classes with the guy the next year due to catching up in the curriculum, though he had steered clear of Eddie due to his title. After all, "The King" couldn't be caught dead associating with "The Freak", lest his title be stripped of him and all his status be lost to the potent jaws of student gossip.

Steve found it ironic at this point that he'd spent so much time ostracizing Eddie back in school when he should have honestly been idolizing him. The guy never once cared about his status as "The Freak" no matter how many jokes or jibes came his way, and now that Steve had started to understand more and more what it meant to be considered an outsider, he finally had some insight into just how difficult it was to ignore the spew of shit that came from your classmates.

It took some serious willpower to pull it off, and it was that kind of willpower that Robin possessed, and Wendy too now that she had brought it up to him.

"You try to rise above it, only to realize that you become more a part of it than ever, right?"

Wendy shook her head.

"It's so lame, dude. It's like some of the girls in my class have nothing better to do than to grill me about some random aspect about myself every day."

Wendy then raised the pitch of her voice into a cartoonish parody of a stereotypical high school drama queen.

"'O.M.G! Look at Boy-duroy, girls. Does flannel grow on branches out of that log cabin she lives in?' Or it's: 'Hey, I heard that Redwood over there got a job at the Mystery Shack. I didn't know they were adding new attractions!'"

Steve could tell that Wendy was now sharing information that she was sensitive about, and though a tiny piece of him inwardly frowned at the fact that he was playing therapist yet again, his desire to support a friend crushed it completely.

"And I'm guessing that stuff never gets said to your face though, right?"

Wendy snorted, and the corners of her mouth turned upward slightly.

"One time only, dude. I got detention, but they got a nose splint, so I'd say I came out on top of that one."

She laughed then, and Steve laughed along with her, only for her face to drop again just a few moments later..

"I dunno, Steve. I sometimes wonder if I'd be better off just keeping my head down and maybe playing along a little bit. Like maybe I could try borrowing makeup from Robbie or Tambry…

She glanced down at her flannel shirt and jeans, and for the first time, Steve was actually getting a vibe of slight embarrassment emanating from Wendy, which he almost didn't think was possible given her usual indifference.

"That, or maybe swap this out for some new threads. I've got some cash I've been saving for a post-graduation trip after my senior year, but that can always happen later, right? I mean, I guess it wouldn't kill me to try and fit in every once in a while…"

"Yeah, not a good idea," Steve replied quickly, prompting Wendy to look over at him questioningly.

Without taking his attention from the road, he explained while giving her as much eye contact as he could spare.

"It's like you said, life isn't over once you graduate, and there's no amount of meaningless gossip worth giving up your dignity for. You'll regret it more than that 'Class Clown' guy you mentioned already."

Wendy said nothing, but Steve could tell he had her unwavering attention right now.

"And no offense to you and your friends, Wendy, but teenagers are morons, and that's coming from one of the biggest morons of all time. Their collective opinion is worth about as much as a pile of crap, so don't waste your effort on trying to appease them. Otherwise, that's all you'll feel like."

"...A moron?"

"I was going to say 'a pile of crap', but yeah. 'Moron' works too."

Steve inwardly grimaced a bit at how cheesy that last line was, but it was all he could think of to get his point across. Thankfully, it seemed to work, and Wendy gave him a grateful smile before relaxing again as she processed the meaning behind his words.

A few moments passed, then she shook her head and laughed.

"Dude, seriously. Is it too much to ask you and Robin to move out here once you get back to the '80s? Do you know how awesome it would be for me to grow up with you guys around?"

Steve snorted in response. He hadn't given much thought to his future (or past technically? or present? whatever…), but he could see himself making the trip out here every now and again with maybe a wife and a bunch of little Harrington nuggets. The more he thought about Gravity Falls now, the more he realized that this place wasn't half bad, and it was obvious that Robin was thriving out here too, so if there was ever a place to settle down, Steve supposed this town would be as good as any.

In any case, he supposed he'd have to come out here at some point to introduce his grandkids to Mabel. A promise was a promise, after all.

"But for real, man. Thanks. That actually helped me out, like a ton," Wendy said sincerely.

Steve shrugged.

"It's what I'm here for."

"It's actually also good that you think teenagers are morons," Wendy continued, now looking at something dead ahead through the windshield. "That mindset might come in handy here…"

Steve focused further ahead to see that they were coming up to what looked like an abandoned building, and upon further inspection, he noted that the sign, made entirely of burnt out neon letters, read the words "Dusk 2 Dawn", the very name of the convenience store that hopefully carried some of the last cans of Farrah Fawcett Spray.

"Yeah, I can't help but feel like you skipped over a pretty important detail about this place," Steve mumbled as he pulled to a stop at a fence that encircled the small convenience store. "Mainly the whole, you know, abandoned aspect."

"Well, that's the thing…" Wendy began as Steve cut the engine after placing the car into park.

"This place isn't technically abandoned."

…

Robin tried to stay on task as she helped Soos with the Dart, but her gaze often strayed over to Dipper, who still sat glumly on his overturned bucket. Mabel, who still had not spoken to him since his outburst, had turned her back to her twin to show him just how much he had messed up, and even though Soos was doing a better job of hiding it than Robin, she noticed that even the mechanic's eyes wandered over to the Dipper's contemplative form from time to time.

There were a few more minutes of silence, then Dipper finally spoke out loud.

"Alright, I admit it. I'm a jerk."

"Yep," Mabel said without turning around.

"And I am also a bad friend for not helping Pacifica even though she was also being kind of a jerk."

"Agreed," Robin said from across the garage.

"And I should probably apologize and agree to go to the dumb rich people party even though I know I'll hate it because friends help out friends even when they might not want to."

"Right on the money, dude," Soos said from underneath the Dart, and as Dipper stood up from the bucket, Robin saw Mabel finally turn around and clear her throat.

"There's just one more thing you forgot to say, Dipper…"

"Mabel, I'm not saying I like Pacifica. I don't. At least not like that."

Mabel tilted her head and fixed Dipper with a hardened glare, to which the boy sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I will apologize to Steve though, even though I still don't know the real reason why I was being weird around him."

Mabel's glare held for a moment, then softened.

"Well, I guess a dork like you can only make so much progress in one day, so I accept your groveling and your apology, Dipper!"

At this, Dipper raised his arms invitingly to his sister, proposing what Robin suspected was a hug.

"Awkward sibling hug?" Dipper asked, confirming her theory.

"Oh, Broseph, we're teenagers now!" Mabel said. "Awkward sibling hugs are beneath us. Sincere sibling hug!"

With that, Mabel eagerly rushed into Dipper's embrace, and the two siblings held each other for a moment before simultaneously patting each other twice on the back.

"Pat! Pat!"

The synchronized vocalization of their pats made Robin raise a questioning eyebrow, but she supposed that it was kind of cute in a way that the twins had their own mannerisms when it came to affection, and next to her, Soos sniffed once and wiped away a stray tear that had appeared in his eyes.

"Way better than primetime TV, dudes!" he said with a slight warble to his voice.

Robin, not feeling nearly as dramatic as the emotional adult man next to her, instead offered a smile and a thumbs up in the direction of the twins.

"I am definitely glad you guys worked this out. If I would have had to endure that awkwardness any longer, I might've had a panic attack."

This earned a collective laugh from the group.

"Alright then," Dipper said, taking a deep breath. "There's no easy way to do this, but I gotta."

"Yeah, go get her, Dipper!" Mabel cheered encouragingly.

A glare from her twin caused her to elaborate.

"Platonically, of course! For now, I mean!"

Dipper ignored Mabel and made for the door to the garage, but all of them froze when the door suddenly swung inward and a hooded figure rushed inside.

The sudden appearance of the figure startled everyone, and even Waddles squealed and dove for cover as the figure tore off its hood and began talking a mile a minute.

"Calm down! Calm down! Everyone be quiiiiiiiet!"

Robin recognized the sound of the figure's high-pitched screaming before recognizing its face, and everyone else quickly settled down when they realized it was Blendin Blandin that stood before them.

"Blendin? What are you doing here?" Dipper asked, residual surprise still lingering on his face. "Is the time machine fixed!?"

"Not yet!" Blendin said way too loudly, speaking as though he was in a rush. "I've made good progress, but I've hit a snag! And now I need your help!"

"Dude," Robin said, noting that Blendin was still talking as though the world was about to explode. "Maybe take it down a notch or five? I get that you're supposed to be keeping a low profile, but nobody is going to see you from outside this garage. They might hear you though…"

"No time for being calm!" Blendin cried. "You must listen to me! The time patrol could be tracking this very moment at this very moment! So I need to tell you my message and get back to the junkyard as soon as possible!"

The sheer amount of anxiety that this man radiated was enough to overflow into Robin, so she took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"Ok, whatever, but can you lower your voice at least? I am literally on the verge of an aneurysm!"

Blendin thankfully heeded Robin's request, and his shoulders relaxed ever so slightly as Dipper spoke again.

"Alright, Blendin, what do you need? You said you've hit some kind of snag?"

"Correct!" Blendin announced, pressing a button on his watch. A large hologram suddenly came to life, portraying a wireframe of some kind of jagged shape that looked to be a rock or stone of some kind. Robin, more so than the others, she suspected, was entranced by the advanced technology, and her eyes widened further as the wireframe shape suddenly grew details on its surface, taking on the texture of some kind of gemstone that swirled with numerous shades of multiple vibrant colors.

"Behold!" Blendin said as the hologram slowly rotated about an invisible axis. "Time-diamondinium!"

"Time-diama-what-now?" Mabel asked with a tilt of her head.

"Time-diamondinium!" Blendin clarified impatiently. "A rare element of which all time machines utilize to harness the power of the space-time continuum! The energy held within just one crystal is enough to power the equivalent of five time machines for over one thousand centuries!"

"Whoaaa," Soos said with awe. "It looks delicious!"

"It is not for consumption!" Blendin growled, growing even more impatient at each interruption. "And it's what I need if I'm going to make any more progress on fixing my time machine!"

"Why not just use the 'time-dia-whatever' that's already in the machine?" Dipper asked curiously. "I mean, there must have already been some in there if it worked before, right?"

"I can't," Blendin said with a shake of his head. "The damage to the machine was worse than I originally thought. It's not just the temporal processor that was burnt out, but also the core, which is composed entirely of this element. If I tried to use the old one, I'd barely be able to jump five minutes into the past let alone thirty years!"

Robin frowned and narrowed her eyes at the multi-colored rock as it continued to spin in the hologram. Unfortunately for her, she had never encountered an element like this before. If she had, she would have surely remembered its rainbow hue, as there was no other gemstone in existence that looked like that.

"Sooo, I'm guessing we can't just go pick some up at the store, right?"

Blendin scoffed.

"Time-diamondinium is one of the rarest elements known to man! A single crystal appears only every one-hundred years! Eons of searching and vast fortunes have been wasted by thousands trying to acquire it!"

"...So that's a no, then?"

Now it was Blendin's turn to look as though he was about to have an aneurysm, and Robin suppressed a smirk as he struggled to keep his breathing under control.

"It exists in this time," he began after calming himself. "But its chrono-mechanical properties won't be discovered until a few centuries from now. Nevertheless, it still remains one of the rarest and most sought after elements in the known universe due to its unorthodox appearance and novelty."

"Wait a minute. If it's really that desirable, then why don't more people know about it?"

"Its existence is kept secret by the greed of humanity for thousands of years even after this point in time. Only those with the greatest resources and wealth know about it!"

"So, what's it called in this time period?" Robin asked curiously.

"Tie-dye-mondinium," Blendin said. "Named for its close resemblance to the ancient practice of tie-dye!"

"So its name basically stays the same?" Mabel said. "That's convenient!"

"I need just one crystal to replace the core of my time machine," Blendin continued. "But without it, all hope is lost of me escaping this horrible place and returning you home!"

Robin's head was damn near spinning with all this new information, but above all else, the thing that peeved her the most was the fact that Blendin's explanations only seemed to make her lack of understanding grow even more.

"Where would we even start to look for a thing like this?" she asked irritatedly. "If it's really that big of a secret, it's not like we can just go mine it out of the ground!"

"Look, I'm not any happier about this than you are!" Blendin snipped. "But there's no other way!"

Reaching into a pocket on his gray jumpsuit, Blendin produced a photo and passed it over to Dipper, who frowned before revealing the subject of the photo to be a chunk of the precious gemstone against a white background.

"Use that photo for reference," Blendin clarified. "Just in case you forget what it looks like!"

"Uh, do you just carry that around with you all the time?"

"That's none of your business!" Blendin shouted.

"Ugh, why is it wet?" Dipper asked, holding the picture disgustingly by the corner to minimize contact with it.

"Enough questions!" Blendin screeched. "I must return to the junkyard. The longer I spend outside its safety, the greater risk I have of being discovered. Don't come find me without that stone!"

Flipping his hood back up, Blendin bolted through the door and out of the garage, leaving Robin to wonder if he thought he was being more graceful than he actually was.

There was a few seconds of silence after the door closed shut behind him.

"Soooo, that was helpful," Robin groaned after he had gone. "What the hell is wrong with that guy?"

"Seriously," Dipper agreed, pondering the photo in his hand. "He comes in here, asks us to find a piece of the rarest element in the universe, and then leaves without giving us any idea of where to start looking!"

"The rarest rock in existence…" Soos said, standing up and walking over to get a better look at the picture. "Oh man, there are so many things I could do with a rock like that! Use it to keep my papers from blowing away if the window is open…kick it down the street when I'm bored…skip it across the lake…"

"I definitely see why everybody wants it!" Mabel said cheerfully, also joining Soos to look down at the photo in Dipper's hand and admiring the colorful swirl that covered its surface. "That rock looks like it loves to party!"

"Well, I seriously doubt we'll know for sure any time soon, Mabel," Dipper said dejectedly. "Blendin didn't exactly give us enough information to start hunting one down."

Robin frowned for a moment, the wheels in her head beginning to turn as she thought about what Blendin had said about the rock.

"Actually, maybe he did…"

Robin was so deep in thought that she didn't even notice when the other three turned to her questioningly.

"Uh, what did you say, dude? What do you mean 'he already did?'"

"Think about it," Robin said, excitement welling up within her as an idea began to take form and evolve into a plan. "Blendin told us that it's exceptionally valuable, even in the present day despite the world not knowing about its time travel powers!"

"Ah yes! I remember it like it was five minutes ago!" Mabel said.

"That's because it was five minutes ago, Mabel…"

"I know that, Dipper! But I'm building up the dramatic effect for Robin's big reveal!"

"He also said that only people with a lot of wealth and resources know about it," Robin continued. "Which means that anybody that owns one is seen as someone of extreme status among their peers!"

"So if anybody in this time would know about it…" Soos began.

"...it'd be someone looking for a way to up their social standing by a lot," Dipper concluded.

"Perhaps someone whose reputation took quite a hit recently…" Mabel said mischievously, and Robin could only imagine from the younger girl's reaction that they both were thinking the same thing.

"Maybe due to a botched dinner party or a forced sale of their giant mansion just out of town…?"

Robin watched as Dipper and Soos both caught on, and while Soos began to nod slowly at the idea, Dipper's face began to morph into one of dread.

"Hint, hint, Dipper?" Mabel said with a wink, elbowing her twin to get her point across. "Maybe someone that is going to host an even bigger dinner party soon to try and regain their lost prestige?"

With an almost evil sounding giggle, Mabel tapped the photo of the time-diamondinium stone with her finger.

"A pretty rock like that would definitely turn some heads, wouldn't it?"

It was at this point that everyone was looking at Dipper expectantly as the male Pines Twin sighed defeatedly.

"I mean, if only we knew someone relatively close to said possible person? Maybe a son or a daughter?"

"I get the idea, Mabel," Dipper said flatly.

There was a pause, then Dipper took his hat off his head and put it over his face, inhaling deeply, and emitting a muffled but still surprisingly loud scream into the fabric.

A moment later, Dipper placed his hat back onto his head.

"Soos, can you drive us into town?" he asked, acting as though his minor breakdown just now hadn't occurred. "I'm pretty sure I know where to go."

"No problem, dude!" Soos said with a thumbs-up before leaning over and whispering to Robin, cupping his mouth so that Dipper couldn't hear.

"Dude, I am never paying for cable again!"

…

The sun was just beginning to dip towards the horizon as Steve surveyed the exterior of the store. The slightly waning light did well in casting the building in an ominous atmosphere, though Steve could hardly bring himself to appreciate it. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"Well, what do you think, dude?" Wendy said as she strolled up beside him.

"I think you're right about this place being my best option for finding any Farrah Fawcett Spray in this time period," Steve replied as he watched a rat scurry across the ground and up a nearby gutter drain. "It's definitely old enough."

He then turned to face the redhead.

"And who exactly did you say lives here? The owner and his wife?"

"I'm pretty sure they both own the place, but yeah," Wendy said, stretching her arms.

Steve glanced back at the building for a moment.

"And when you say that they live here, you mean they're actually alive, right?"

"Welllll…"

"Great," Steve said with a shake of his head. "So I'm dealing with two dead shopkeepers to try and find an equally dead product line of hairspray. What am I supposed to do here? Sacrifice a goat or something?"

"With any luck, we won't even see them," Wendy said with a shrug. "But if we do, just try to act your age. Like, I mean your age if you hadn't time traveled to this year."

Steve raised an eyebrow.

"So, act like I'm in my late forties?"

"Yeah," Wendy said. "Then we'll have no problems!"

Without waiting for Steve to respond, Wendy reached out and opened the door to the store, and he was forced to step quickly lest he be left outside.

The first thing to hit Steve's nostrils was the smell of stale popcorn and overcooked hotdogs, and he wrinkled his nose before he took in the interior of the shop for the first time.

Surprisingly, this place didn't seem all that different from any old convenience store he'd known back in 1985, with the only exception being the rundown nature of the place and the fact that it looked like a bomb had gone off inside.

Piles of snack food and soda cans littered the floor, and a glance to the shelves showed that almost nothing was still on them. It was like everything inside the place had been purposely tossed onto the ground.

"Geez, what happened here?" Steve asked aloud, his voice eerily loud among the empty aisles. "It looks like this whole place got turned upside down."

"Yeah, how about that?" Wendy chuckled as she ventured further into the store, and Steve got the vibe that there was some hidden layer to her joke.

"Come on, the light switch is back here. That'll make it easier for us to look around."

"I seriously doubt this place still has power, Corduroy," Steve said, noting a stack of newspapers that didn't even seem to be from this century. "I've never dealt with ghosts before, but I don't think they pay power bills—"

Steve flinched slightly then as the lights to the store suddenly flickered on, momentarily blinding him as the luminescent bulbs and ambience of the beverage coolers came to life.

"Let there be light," Wendy said humorously from the back of the store, and Steve blinked a couple of times to see her standing proudly with her hands on her hips.

"Right…"

With that, the two of them began to search among the piles of convenience store merchandise, hopefully for anything that resembled the hairspray.

"What's it look like, dude? I mean apart from the name?"

Steve sighed and swallowed his residual embarrassment at having to describe the can.

"You're looking for a white can with a brown cap," he called over to Wendy. "It's also got a picture of her on it…"

"Who?"

"...uh, Farrah Fawcett? I mean, who else would it be?"

"Yeah, not sure if it's a bad time to tell you, dude, but I actually have no idea who that is…"

Steve looked over in Wendy's direction in disbelief.

"Seriously? Farrah Fawcett? You know: Charlie's Angels? The Six Million Dollar Man?"

Wendy looked back at him and shrugged in response, and Steve shook his head in disbelief.

"Man, what are you guys even watching nowadays?" he mumbled under his breath before clearing his throat.

"You're looking for a smiling movie actress with long blonde hair. Her picture should just be on the front."

Wendy gave him a thumbs up in response before returning to her search, and Steve watched her for a moment before shaking his head and turning back to his own search.

"Teenagers these days…"

Steve froze then as his whispered words seemed to echo throughout the store, and then without warning, the lights flickered and died, casting the entire store into darkness again. The only light came from the setting sun outside.

"Uhh, that wasn't me, dude," came Wendy's voice through the blackness, and before Steve could reply, something grabbed him by his foot and hoisted him into the air, holding him upside down with some kind of invisible force.

A yelp sounded out next to him, and Steve looked over to see that Wendy had suffered a similar fate. Her bomber cap had fallen from her head due to her inverted position, and her long red hair swayed wildly in the air beneath her.

Any attempts to speak were thwarted again as a whirlwind began to gather strength all around them, and candy and snacks were picked up by the vortex and flung around like confetti as the wind began to grow louder and harsher.

"What's the play, Corduroy?!" Steve called over the gale, looking wildly around at the discombobulating state of the store from his upside down position. "You've been here before, right? What do we do now?!"

There was no response, and Steve's blood ran cold when he turned to see that Wendy wasn't responding at all. Instead, her arms were held straight out to either side of her body, looking as though she was a puppet being held aloft by numerous strings.

None of that compared to her eyes though, which were now glowing with an eerie blue light that stabbed through the darkness and illuminated the store around them. So bright was the light that Steve couldn't see either of her irises or pupils any more, and as he stared in horror at what he saw, Wendy's mouth moved as though it was also being controlled by an outside source, and a deep and blood-curdling voice rolled from her lips.

"Now…you die!"

…

Robin had been initially skeptical that they would find who they were looking for, but Dipper seemed adamant that he knew exactly where to find them, so she had placed her trust in the young teen as he gave Soos driving directions to the supposed location.

And now, Robin found herself looking around in awe at the sight of Gravity Falls' very own country club, watching as multiple people in brightly colored sports gear ventured in and out of a very large lodge that served as the main hub for the place.

Mabel took the opportunity to explain that the country club had opened sometime in the last year, making this the first summer that the place had been open. In truth, Robin had never been to a country club before, as the closest one to Hawkins had been a few towns over, and Robin's parents were the absolute last people to be caught dead buying a membership to a place like that. She could vividly imagine her mom talking about how they were implemented as a means to drive people further into a life of consumerism and excess.

With that in mind, Robin voiced a few concerns she had as the four of them approached the doors to the lodge.

"Uh, are you guys sure we can get into this place? Don't we need like, a membership or something?"

"Leave that to me, dear Robin!" Mabel said in a mock pompous tone. "Just follow my lead!"

Mabel's assuredness did little to quell Robin's lingering skepticism, but a shrug from Dipper told her that it would be best just to roll with it. Taking a deep breath, Robin readied herself as Mabel stepped boldly forward and threw open the large oaken doors that led to the lodge itself, and her eyes widened in shock at the sight that greeted her.

Somehow, the lodge was even bigger on the inside than it was on the outside, and nearly every direction held some sort of visual attraction or event that battled each other for her attention. To her left, dozens of chairs and tables marked an extravagant indoor restaurant bustling with patrons and country club goers, to her right, a lengthy hallway extended to the other more sporty amenities the club offered, and above her, a ginormous chandelier that appeared to be made entirely of deer antlers illuminated everything, including the numerous trophies and awards lined the walls that seemed proud to boast the superiority of the country club itself.

"Whoa, dude!" Soos said, obviously marveling as much as Robin was at the scenery around him. "I've never actually been inside this place before! Talk about character!"

Robin was about to voice her agreement when a polite yet refined voice cleared its throat, and they all turned to see a well-dressed receptionist standing behind an overly large wooden desk.

"May I help you?" the receptionist asked, standing poised with his hands behind his back.

"Not at all!" Mabel piped up, her voice rising and dropping in a lavish imitation of the receptionist's. "Though your concern is appreciated, young squire!"

Mabel turned to lead them all away from the desk and further into the lodge, only for the receptionist to stop them with his voice.

"I must beg your pardon, miss, but are you and your party members of this establishment? I am afraid I cannot grant you access without a club membership."

Mabel froze only momentarily, then resumed her sumptuous ruse, striding confidently forward to the desk with mock elegance.

"Ah yes…of course!" she replied. "I certainly understand that you may not recognize my guests, though I must concede my displeasure that you did not recognize me! Certainly they teach you to recognize the more well-respected members of your fine country club?"

The fact that Mabel was doubling down only served to double the collective nervousness of everyone else in the group, and Dipper looked like he was about to bolt at any second.

"You'll have to forgive me, miss," the receptionist said cooly, not taking the bait. "But I do not recognize your face despite my training. May I please have your name for reference?"

The receptionist accessed a small computer that sat behind the desk and looked at Mabel expectantly, causing the girl to freeze again, her facade faltering under the continued scrutiny.

"Y-yes…my name…"

The receptionist raised an eyebrow at Mabel's stammering delay, and this time, Robin saw Dipper open his mouth to say something. Before he could chime in, however, Mabel blurted out a name.

"Lady Stellaborgan Flynnsumftinson!"

Dipper froze with his mouth agape, and Robin's anxiety shot through the roof as the receptionist's eyebrow furrowed even further. She could almost hear Soos's heartbeat pounding next to her, and at the desk, Mabel's forced smile grew almost too wide as her eyes darted back and forth nervously.

"Very well, Lady Flynnsumftinson," the receptionist replied, slowly turning to enter the name into the computer, the doubt in his voice enough to make Robin slowly begin inching toward the door lest they need to make a quick getaway.

There were a few moments of tapping as the receptionist entered the name into the computer, and then all doubt evaporated from his face and a pleasant smile returned.

"Ah! Here you are! My apologies, Lady Flynnsumftinson, but I had not yet had a chance to learn your face. I hope you'll forgive me for my mistake!"

The receptionist gave a polite bow of apology, which Robin barely noticed over the miniature heart attack she was having at the moment. She recovered in time to see Mabel's confidence return in excessive force as she opulently crossed her arms and raised her chin.

"I shall allow your error just this once! But you will do well to not make this mistake again!" she said with a reprimanding tone, and this time, Dipper finally stepped forward.

"Ok, Ma–I mean, Lady Flynnsumftinson, I think we're good here…"

It was obvious that Dipper didn't want Mabel to push their luck any further, which was a sentiment Robin shared considering they had most likely used all of it up just now.

"Ah, yes! Thank you, Bunglegunch!" Mabel replied, and a vein on Dipper's head popped out at the name Mabel had chosen for him. He said nothing, however, as Mabel bid the receptionist farewell and led them down the hallway and towards the outdoor sports area.

"Dude, how?!" Robin all but blurted out as soon as they were out of earshot, which earned a beaming smile from Mabel.

"What can I say? I'm pretty good at winging it when I need to."

"I think you might secretly be a wizard…" Soos said in awe. "...or a mind reader or something! Quick! Tell me what I'm thinking of right now!"

Mabel scrunched up her face and squinted at Soos' forehead for a few moments as they continued walking.

"Tacos!" she finally said with confidence.

"Aww dang it," Soos said dejectedly. "I was actually thinking about–wait, now I am thinking about tacos! Oh dude, that is awesome! You really are psychic!"

Robin and Dipper shared a glance before Dipper cleared his throat.

"Let's try to focus, guys. If my hunch is right, then she should be right over…"

Dipper trailed off as the four of them emerged outside, and just like the interior, the outer portion of the country club showcased its extreme pizazz in many forms. Tennis courts, golf courses, swimming pools, and batting cages almost seemed to encompass them in every direction, and dead ahead, there at the driving range, was the person they had come here for, hitting golf balls downrange with an angered look on her face that almost seemed permanent.

For the second time today, the four of them had encountered Pacifica Northwest.

"...there," Dipper finished, and as the four of them approached the blonde-haired teen, Robin noticed that Pacifica's anger stemmed far beyond her face and almost to her entire being, and she seemed to be far more interested in hitting the balls as hard as she could rather than practicing her form.

Dipper seemed to notice as well.

"Okay," he breathed out. "I knew already that this was going to be difficult, but now that I see she still hasn't calmed down yet, I'm thinking that we maybe want to try another time."

"Oh, that's just your irrational fear of rejection talking, Dipper!" Mabel said, pushing her twin ahead of her. "You know what they say: 'Strike while the iron is hot!'"

"And yet again, I'm not quite sure you're properly using these sayings…" Robin mumbled to herself.

"Go on, o' brave brother of mine!" Mabel said, giving Dipper one more big push towards Pacifica. "We'll be cheering you on from a safe distance!"

Dipper stumbled forward a bit from Mabel's push, then turned around to glare daggers at her, only for her to give him two thumbs up encouragingly.

"You got this, dude! Just try not to think of all the different and expensive ways she could have you killed if this goes sour!" Soos added, giving a thumbs up of his own.

As expected, Dipper did not seem to draw any comfort at all from their words, he glanced toward Robin with a semi-hopeful look in his eyes that she could offer at least some slightly better form of encouragement.

Robin, unfortunately, never considered herself to be all that great at the whole "pep talk" thing, so she decided that honesty, no matter how brutal, was her best choice.

"Just be honest with her, man. You can't go wrong if it's the truth, right?"

Robin inwardly cringed at how the words sounded when she said them outloud, but she still gave Dipper a thumbs up of encouragement to match Soos and Mabel.

"I…would still probably do my best to stay out of range of that golf club she's got though. Better safe than sorry!"

Dipper sighed one last time.

"Alright, well, I appreciate the effort at least, guys," he replied before turning and starting cautiously towards Pacifica, and as Robin watched him hesitantly call out to her from at least six feet away, she couldn't decide whether this situation would have been better or worse with Steve here.

…

As Steve struggled to try and wrest himself from his upside down limbo, the thought that he'd much rather be anywhere else was one of the many that was running through his head at the moment. The fact that he was trapped in a haunted convenience store with Wendy having just been possessed and greasy hot dogs flying around him almost made Steve wish he was running from that tree giant again, but as as always, every day was something new, whether it was demogorgons, Russians, Mind Flayers, etc. Steve ironically never found himself getting too settled before something new started off again.

His gaze darted back up to the bright glowing orbs that Wendy's eyes had become, and deciding that his attempts to struggle free from the invisible hold on him were fruitless, he tried switching tactics.

"Hey, Corduroy! Are you still in there?!"

A deep laugh resounded from Wendy's mouth, though there was no way it came from her voice.

"Your vagabond friend can't hear you, trespasser! Perhaps you should have considered that before setting foot in this place!"

Steve's mind raced even faster to think about how to get out of this or maybe reason with whatever was possessing Wendy, though at the moment, all his mind wanted to consider was how despite being the oldest among most of the people he encountered the supernatural with, he was still far too young to be dealing with this shit.

Well, there wasn't really any ideal age to encounter this stuff on a regular basis, so he supposed he was too old too…

Steve suddenly frowned as he remembered Wendy saying something to him on the ride over here, and he struggled as he tried to remember as the wind whooshed past his ears and the entity that possessed Wendy continued to laugh.

"Any last words, vile delinquent?" the voice rumbled, slowly hovering closer. Its hands, technically Wendy's hands, began to glow brightly with an ominous aura, and though Steve was definitely not a fan of finding out what those hands were going to do to him, something about the way the entity had spoken just now jogged his memory.

'...just try to act your age. Like, I mean your age if you hadn't time traveled to this year…'

'...so what, act like I'm in my forties or something…?'

'...yeah, dude…!'

A plan, though Steve could hardly call it a good plan, formed in his mind, and with no other options available, Steve cleared his throat and tried to make him seem more rigid and uptight as the glowing hands reached for his face.

"Oh–oh dear!" Steve called loudly so that he could be heard, also forcing a thinness into his voice at the last second to make himself sound older. "And I was really hoping that you would let me and my niece here browse your fine establishment for a jiffy! It was just her birthday recently, and I wanted to treat her to something special!"

The hands stopped mere inches from Steve's face, and though he was blinded by the light emanating from them for a few moments, the hands suddenly retreated, leaving Steve and the entity nearly face to face.

"What?" the voice boomed indignantly. "What do you mean, niece? You are far too young to be related to this girl like that!"

Hearing the entity talk about Wendy while using her body to do so was incredibly disorienting to Steve, even more so than hanging by his ankle upside down above the floor. He sincerely hoped he wasn't going to throw up.

"O-oh! Well, what a kindly compliment!" he struggled out, trying to think of every single old person he'd ever met back in Hawkins and mimic their style of speech. "It's not every day a man of my age gets complimented on his youth!"

Wendy's ghost eyes narrowed in suspicion, causing Steve to gulp.

"And just what age is that?"

"I'm…uh…" Steve inwardly cursed at his atrocious mental math skills. "...forty-eigh–sorry, forty-seven! I get a little confused nowadays!"

All of a sudden, the whirlwind of convenience store food abruptly stopped, and everything suddenly went deathly quiet after all of the flying hot dogs and chips had fallen back to the floor. Steve watched, stunned as the glow in Wendy's eyes disappeared and her arms relaxed, slowly drooping above her head and towards the floor like Steve's were. The redhead squeezed her eyes shut and groaned in discomfort like she'd been dazed, but Steve was incredibly relieved to hear that at least her voice was her own.

Steve was about to reach out to her to ask if she was ok, but the invisible force on both of them suddenly released its hold, and they both tumbled to the ground, with Steve landing hard on his side and hissing once from the impact and struggling to his feet after taking a moment to collect himself.

Looking over, he was relieved to see that Wendy had miraculously landed on a large pile of bagged cotton candy, and though she didn't appear to be hurt at all, she still seemed as though she would be out of it for a few moments. Steve opened his mouth to once again attempt to see if she was alright, but he was interrupted as two figures suddenly materialized from the darkness in front of him, and he blinked once as the figures took the form of two glowing spectors, both looking to be middle-aged and old-fashioned in their attire. One of the ghosts, an older male, wore an apron with a nametag on it that read: "Pa", and though Steve was no "Ducktective", he could guess with confidence that this ghost as well as the older female ghost next to him were the owners of this abandoned establishment.

"Oh my goodness!" the spectral woman cried, placing her hands on her cheeks in a distressed manner. "My dear, you have our most sincere apologies! We thought that you were another one of those no-good hoodlum teenagers! Oh, I'm so embarrassed!"

"It's…perfectly fine!" Steve said, firmly reminding himself to bug Robin about some acting tips the next time he saw her again.

"Now wait just a minute there, Ma…" the male spector, or Pa, said, placing his hands on his hips and squinting through a pair of phantom glasses. "I'm still not entirely convinced that this isn't just one of those new-fangled 'pranks' that the kids are doing these days…"

"Uh, well, I have my driver's license if you'd like," Steve offered, growing more and more nervous by the second.

"Oh no, none of that, sonny!" Pa replied, floating lazily a few inches off the ground. "I think I'll just ask you some questions that only a real person your age can answer correctly."

"Now, Pa," Ma said sternly. "I don't think there's any need for that. I mean, look at him. His shirt is tucked in like it's supposed to be, teenagers don't do that!"

Steve glanced down to see that his shirt had managed to stay captured by his beltline despite having been hung upside down a few seconds ago, and he silently thanked whoever might be listening that it had stayed put.

"That could just be another trick!" Pa told his wife, refusing to back down. "But don't worry, I'll know in just a few questions if he's telling the truth."

Pa then turned to Steve.

"And you'll be wanting to answer these questions truthfully, son! I'll be able to tell if you're lying."

All Steve could do was nod in understanding, having no choice but to play along as the two ghosts floated down to eye level.

"Alright, first question: How low can a person acceptably wear their pants?"

Steve raised an eyebrow. Not entirely understanding the question due to its unorthodox nature. Was there an acceptable range of height to wear one's pants these days, or was the ghost just asking a ridiculous question that he thought was important? Did this old ghost have dementia? Was it even possible for ghosts to have dementia?

"Uh, I guess anything below the waist is bad," Steve answered honestly. "I mean, that's why it's called a waistline, right?"

This earned an approving quiet clap from Ma, and Pa nodded in agreement.

"Correct! Next question: How many of those new-fangled 'video games' do you have in your house?"

"Uh, none, I guess? Are you talking about those big arcade games? I don't really play those anymore, so it would be weird to have one just sitting around in my house."

The second question was almost as strange as the first, but in the back of his mind, Steve wondered if arcade games came in smaller sizes in the future. Based on his experience with what telephones had become, he wouldn't be surprised if they did.

"Two for two!" Ma said excitedly, and Steve could tell that Pa was nearly convinced as well. There was a soft commotion, and Steve looked down to see Wendy slowly rising to her feet with one hand held to her head. Wordlessly, he helped her the rest of the way up as Pa spoke once again.

"Final question! And this one will truly test you, so be ready!"

Wendy frowned at what was going on, and Steve gave her a reassuring look before turning to face the two ghostly shopkeepers.

"How do you feel about…The Internet?"

The middle-aged ghost had spat the word out with such venom that Steve would have assumed he was talking about some sort of vile creature from Hell or something, and with a deep breath and a glance over at Wendy, he answered the question.

"I can say, with one-hundred percent honesty…"

The two spectors leaned forward in anticipation, and even Wendy looked semi-anxious as Steve paused before he answered.

"...that I have absolutely no idea what that is."

Both Ma and Pa cheered at Steve's answer, and Wendy gave him a thumbs-up, causing the older Hawkins native to take a deep breath at the knot of anxiety that had just come undone in his chest. A fleeting thought took note of the fact that that was the first time he'd gotten a perfect score on a test since the fourth grade…

"You've passed! Well done!" Pa said enthusiastically. "You sir, are most welcome in our store! Please feel free to browse and shop to your heart's content! However…"

The glowing aura of the two ghosts darkened ominously for a moment.

"...I trust you will ensure that your niece does not cause any trouble while you two are in here?"

The two floating phantoms regarded Wendy with distaste, and the redhead shifted uncomfortably.

"No problem," Steve said easily this time, realizing how much nicer it was to put on an act when he wasn't being heavily scrutinized. "I'll make sure she behaves herself."

This earned him a side glance from Wendy, but thankfully Ma and Pa accepted his assurances.

"Wonderful!" the ghostly old woman said. "Now, is there anything we can help you find today?"

"We're…uh…actually wondering if you carry any Farrah Fawcett Spray?" Steve said, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed again that he would most likely have to reveal his grooming habits to a bunch of middle-aged ghosts.

"It's actually for me," Wendy suddenly said, speaking up for the first time and surprising him with her words. "I've recently got a hankering for some of the vintage stuff, and Uncle Steve here promised me that we'd try to find some!"

Wendy gave a side smirk to Steve as she spoke, which he acknowledged with a small smile of his own.

"Oh, well you're in luck!" Ma said happily. "We actually carry some in the back! Allow me!"

With a wave of her hand, the ghost made a summoning gesture, and there was a clattering noise from around the corner leading to the bathrooms before a small cylindrical object emerged and floated into her awaiting hand. Steve immediately recognized the label and felt overwhelming relief wash over him as he recognized the familiar eyes of Farrah Fawcett staring back at him from the can.

They found it, and his hair felt fuller already.

"Just the one?" Ma asked.

"That should be—"

"Actually, Uncle Steve, can we please get two?" Wendy asked, still playing along with Steve's story. "I mean, as long as it's ok."

Steve almost shivered at how good of an act Wendy was putting on. Her sudden deference to authority was…alarming, to say the least. Her request also caught him off guard as well, as he figured that he'd really only need one to last him until Blendin fixed the time machine and he returned home. He realized buying an extra can didn't really make all the difference, however, so he shrugged and answered with a smile.

"Sure, kiddo. Anything for my favorite niece!"

Wendy deliberately coughed to cover her laughter as Ma summoned another can from around the corner and floated up to the cash register as Steve pulled out his wallet and produced some bills.

"Well, look at that!" Pa exclaimed, marveling at the cash in Steve's hand. "You really are as old as you say! I haven't seen that style of bill since the 1980s!"

Steve and Wendy shared a glance as Pa opened the cash drawer with a loud ding. A bat flew out as it opened, startling the two teenagers and kicking up a large plume of dust as it did so, but neither of the two ghosts paid it any mind.

The rest of the transaction was completed without issue, and amidst the chaos of pretending to be Wendy's uncle and buying extinct hairspray from two phantom shopkeepers in an abandoned convenience store, Steve almost felt a sense of normalcy at the familiar feeling of handing over the bills and taking the two cans of hairspray from Ma.

The thought startled him a little bit. There was no way that he was actually getting used to Gravity Falls, was there?

"Keep the change," Steve said politely, pushing his thoughts away and picking up the two cans of Farrah Fawcett Spray and slowly turning for the door with Wendy following behind.

"Oh, bless you, dearie! Come again soon!" Ma said with a wave of her hand.

Steve turned around to wave in return, then paused when he caught sight of a brightly colored packet of children's candy laying on the ground amidst a bunch of scattered popcorn kernels and empty slushie cups.

"'Smile Dip,'" he read aloud from the side of the package. It didn't look all that different from any other kinds of candy he knew, but the color of the package and the undoubtedly high sugar content made him consider getting it for Mabel, but before he could step forward to pick it up off the ground, he felt Wendy place a halting hand on his shoulder.

"Not the best idea, dude," she said with a shake of her head. "That stuff will mess you up. Mabel learned that firsthand last time."

Steve raised a curious eyebrow, but he shrugged his shoulders and decided to leave it at that.

Both Steve and Wendy waved goodbye one last time before exiting the store, and as they approached the El Diablo, Steve suddenly got a hunch as to why Wendy had requested he buy the extra can of Farrah Fawcett Spray. Holding up one of them, Steve gave the can a small shake to get the redhead's attention.

"This for you?"

Wendy shrugged in response and put her hands in her pockets as they drew closer to the car.

"Yeah. I figured maybe I'll need it at some point. And I'd much rather get it now than have to come back and buy one. I mean I'd be in trouble if I had to come back here without my favorite uncle, wouldn't I?"

Steve chuckled easily as Wendy then took a moment to stretch her arms over her head and yawn deeply.

"Tell you what though, buying those cans took a lot out of me. I might fall asleep on the way back to the Shack."

Steve pondered an idea that suddenly sprung up in his head, then fished the keys to the El Diablo out of his pocket and tossed them easily over to Wendy, who caught them with a surprised look on her face.

"Let's hope you don't, Corduroy, because you're driving."

Wendy stopped walking just as they reached the car, and she stared slack-jawed between Steve and the El Diablo as though Christmas had come early, the keys held in both of her hands like she was expecting them to disappear if she didn't hold on tightly. Any trace of weariness from her evaporated into the evening air.

"Dude…seriously?" she asked, and Steve couldn't help but smile at the barely contained excitement in her voice.

"Seriously."

"But…I don't know how to drive stick…"

"I know, but hey, you helped me out…"

Steve raised a can of hairspray again for emphasis.

"...so I figured I'd return the favor."

Wendy almost looked delirious by this point, seemingly teetering on the edge of fainting right there in the parking lot or wrapping Steve up a ginormous hug, or both. He noted that he hadn't seen her this exhilarated since, well, ever.

"Mount up, Corduroy," he said with finality as he slid into the passenger's seat with the cans of hairspray in his lap. "I'll teach you on the way."

…

Robin leaned up against the wall of the lodge as she watched Dipper and Pacifica talk (and sometimes argue) from a little ways away. She was too far away to hear the details of the conversation, but the body language between the two seemed to suggest that it had started off abrasively, then had cooled down a little bit, then heated up slightly again when Dipper had pulled out the photo of the "Time-diamond" or whatever it's name was. God, they needed to think of a better name for that rock…

Pacifica had studied the picture with an air of familiarity, which Robin took as a good sign, then the girl seemed to grow sly in her interactions, which Robin did not take as a good sign. She'd said something to Dipper, which had obviously ruffled his feathers up again, and the two of them were now currently arguing over that same thing as she continued to watch.

"It's like a silent movie, dude!" Soos said as he leaned on the wall next to her. A bag of popcorn was in hands, and Robin knew better at this point to ask where he'd gotten it from. She doubted she'd like the answer anyway.

"Agreed!" Mabel said as her camera flashed less-than-conspicuously at the two arguing teens. "This one is going in the eventual scrapbook I'm going to make for them as a marriage present!"

"You don't think that's a little, I don't know, bold, to assume that those two are going to get married?" Robin asked Mabel, taking her eyes off Dipper and Pacifica only to look down at the other Pines twin.

"Maybe," Mabel replied. "But I've got a good feeling about these two! Something about the two of them that just screams: 'YES!'"

"Not sure I'd get my hopes up," Robin said. "Crushes usually don't last that long, at least mine don't—"

Robin froze as she realized her mistake, but the damage had already been done. She had just alluded to her personal love life in front of the one girl in the country that had proclaimed herself to be the ultimate matchmaker, and there was no doubt in her mind that doing so had just painted a massive target on her back.

"Oooooo, do tell!" Mabel said, her interested smile enough to entice the feeling of dread in Robin's chest. The absolute last thing she needed right now was for a girl like Mabel to become invested in her personal love affairs. Despite having the best intentions, of course, Mabel wasn't exactly subtle, and Robin knew that if she shared anything with the younger girl, then she may as well be sharing it with the entire town, and that, she definitely wasn't ready for.

These people were cool, of course, but Robin was most certainly not comfortable enough around them yet despite the far more tolerant mindset that seemed to exist here in the future, or at least here in Gravity Falls.

"It was nothing much, really," Robin said with an attempt at a nonchalant shrug, trying to play it off like it was no big deal. "I crushed on someone, but they never knew, and I eventually got over it. The end."

"Anyone I know?" Mabel probed, wiggling her eyebrows. Robin recognized the unspoken question and shook her head with a smirk.

"It wasn't on Steve if that's what you mean."

"Just checking," Mabel replied, and thankfully, the girl seemed content to drop the conversation for now in favor of saying hello to a passing patron of the country club that Robin didn't recognize.

"Looking good, Mr. Mayor! Those tennis balls aren't gonna know what hit them!"

The person she was speaking to was a shorter man with rounded cheeks and a large bushy mustache that seemed right at home on his upper lip. His attire was definitely not what Robin expected from a member of a country club like this, as the man wore a white tank top and a pair of rather short jean shorts complete with a belt with a sizable buckle on the front. The look was completed by a pair of large brown boots and a green and white trucker cap sitting on his head, and the only way that Robin could tell that this man was a member of the club was by the pristine tennis racket he held in his hand. Wait a second, did Mabel just call this guy the mayor? If anything, Robin would've guessed this guy made a living driving trucks…

"Awww, thanks, Mabel!" the man said, his eyes seemingly growling larger with excitement as his chubby cheeks puffed out. "There's a tournament starting next week, and I want to be as ready as I can. That first place trophy at the end of the tournament? Imma get it! Fame and adoration from fellow club members? Imma get it! Propose a new law to banish anyone that beats me from the town entirely? Imma get it!"

The way the man emphasized the last portion of his statement caused Robin to raise her eyebrows questioningly, but neither Soos nor Mabel seemed to notice.

"Just kidding about the last part," the man suddenly said cutely. "I do feel good about my chances though!"

"All right!" Soos said encouragingly. "You're gonna crush it, Tyler! You go show those balls who's boss!"

"You got it, Mr. Mystery!" the man said back with a grin before continuing on his way.

"That's Tyler Cutebiker," Mabel clarified to Robin as the man passed. "A local enthusiasm enthusiast like myself and the mayor of Gravity Falls!"

"Uh huh," Robin noted, nodding slowly. She did not want to even think about what absurd way this town elected its officials, so she opted to just let the conversation drop and turn her attention back to Dipper and Pacifica. To her surprise, the two teenagers were coming over to the three of them, and Robin nudged Soos' arm to get his attention on them as well.

The first thing that Robin noticed was that Dipper seemed distraught about something while Pacifica had kept her sly look from earlier, prompting Robin's stomach to sink in preparation for what she was about to hear.

"Soooooo?" Mabel prompted once the two of them had joined the group.

"I have agreed to help you guys out," Pacifica said, her tone betraying her arrogance. "That rock you guys are obsessed with getting just so happens to be the number one main attraction that my dad is planning to show at the party next week. He's been slaving, spending, calling in every favor he can to get a hold of one, and I'm pretty sure his fanaticism has finally paid off. He seems to think that thing the final push that he needs to restore his reputation."

"And because Pacifica is more than willing to do anything if it undermines her dad, she's agreed to help us get a hold of it…for a price," Dipper clarified, though he mumbled his last few words.

"Awww, don't be so sad, Dipper!" Mabel said cooingly. "It's just one night of fancy dinners, crystal glasses, and cider fountains! I'd trade places with you in a heartbeat!"

"I'm…not going to be Pacifica's date to the party," Dipper said, refusing to meet anyone's eye at the moment.

The stunned silence dragged on for far longer than Robin would have liked.

"She has only agreed to help us if we give her someone else…" Dipper finally muttered.

"Huh?" Soos questioned. "But who…?"

Pacifica's smirk grew wider as Dipper's shoulders slumped further, and though it took her a moment, Robin felt a mixture of nervous anticipation and extreme humor as she realized exactly who they were referring to.

…

Steve gave Wendy an approving nod as the two of them pulled back into the Mystery Shack's parking lot, jerking forward and back just a little bit as Wendy downshifted to slow down.

The results of their driving lesson had been…mixed, to say the least. They'd started off slow, with Steve showing her the basics and the theory behind driving a manual, and after a few stalls, Wendy was able to shift into first gear and get the car moving with relatively no issues. Stopping and placing the car in neutral seemed to be ok for her as well, and with a bit of preemptive confidence, Steve had instructed her to try switching into second and third gears next as they pulled onto the main road.

As it turned out, Wendy was not quite as good at matching engine speeds as she was with the other techniques they'd covered already, and more than a few severe stalls on the main road had nearly given Steve whiplash as a result.

Thankfully, Wendy slowly began to get better at that as well, and as she pulled the El Diablo back into its original parking space, Steve informed her with a hint of pride that at this rate, she'd be driving stick like a pro within a month.

Wendy cut the engine and relaxed her head against the headrest as silence filled the cab, and Steve noted with a smile that she seemed to be basking in the moment.

"Best. Day. Ever!" she said, the lingering high she had from their lesson still evident across her features. "Dude, when I get a car, I am absolutely getting a manual, one hundred percent!"

Steve said nothing, but he gave an approving nod before opening the passenger door and stepping out into the open air. In light of Wendy's happiness, Steve figured that the day hadn't been that bad after all. He'd managed to replenish his stock of hairspray, and had only suffered a light bout of disorientation and a minor existential crisis because of it. All things considered, it could have been much worse.

His attention was diverted to the sound of Soos' truck rolling up to park a few stalls down from theirs, and Steve gave a two-fingered salute as Robin, Soos, and the twins climbed out of the cab and greeted them.

"Ahoy, Popeye," Robin began, returning his salute. "Did you get what you needed?"

Steve held up one of the cans he'd purchased in response, which earned him an approving nod from Robin, and almost immediately, the older teenager noticed that there was something she was dying to tell him.

"I'm guessing you guys got into some trouble too?" he ventured, and before seemingly everyone could start talking at once, Dipper cleared his throat.

"Actually, yeah, we did."

The kid then turned to address everyone else.

"Do you guys mind if I, uh, talk to Steve for a minute?"

Steve was surprised by the sudden stoic behavior from Dipper, and judging by the kid's tone, he could tell that there was something serious on his mind.

"No problem, dude," Wendy said, picking up on Dipper's earnest behavior as well and starting for the shack. The redhead gave Soos, Mabel, and Robin a grin a mile wide as she twirled the car keys in her hand, though Steve noticed with cheeky satisfaction that she seemed to address Robin most directly.

"Boy, do I have a story for you guys…"

As the four others left the scene, Steve turned back to Dipper to see that he was rubbing his arm in a very sheepish manner, and before the older teen could prompt him, Dipper spoke up, his voice abrupt and embarrassed, but clear all the same.

"I just wanted to apologize, man. I know I've been acting kind of weird these past couple of days, and I just wanted to say that it wasn't because of anything you did. Truthfully, I don't even know why I was being a jerk, but I want you to know that I'm done with that now."

The apology was definitely sincere if not a little bit awkward, but Steve found himself skeptical of the fact that Dipper didn't know why he'd been abrasive towards him for the last few days. Even Robin had figured it out.

"I also wanted to ask if maybe we could try again?" Dipper asked, meeting Steve's eye. "With learning how to fight, I mean. I promise I'll be more receptive this time."

Steve considered for a moment, then nodded his head.

"It's cool, man. Water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned."

The relief in Dipper's posture was evident, and Steve offered his hand in a sincere handshake as the younger teen breathed a sigh of relief.

"As for the fighting stuff, I think we're past the whole asking-like-it's-a-favor bullshit now. You guys have been literally giving me and Robin the food off your table for almost two weeks now. If you guys need something, just ask. I seriously doubt the answer is going to be 'no'."

As if by magic, Dipper's slight timidity returned even as he shook Steve's hand. From his posture, Steve guessed that the younger teen was about to change the subject to an even more uncomfortable topic, and for some reason, Steve got the feeling that it was going to be even more uncomfortable for him.

"It's…uh…it's kind of funny you say that," Dipper said with a nervous laugh, suddenly refusing to meet Steve's eye again.

"I…er…well…we kind of…"

"Dude, just spit it out already," Steve said, his own internal sense of unease growing larger by the second and rapidly turning into irk.

"Ok, look…" Dipper said, taking a deep breath and holding his hands up placatingly.

"...How do you feel about…dinner parties?"

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...

A/N: Boom! Chapter seven! As I mentioned at the start of the chapter, this one is definitely longer than usual, and for a while, I genuinely considered splitting this one up into two separate entries, but I decided to just keep it as one for now and ask for y'all's opinion on what to do. Would you prefer that I break up longer chapters into two-parters, or is it fine to just leave it as one long one? It really makes no difference to me, so I figured I'd ask to see how everyone felt.

Also, I must again apologize for the lateness of the chapter, but my attention has unfortunately diverted over the last few months, and I haven't been able to write as much as I would have liked to. That being said, my schedule is starting to open up a bit again, so while I cannot make any promises, I would like to confidently say that I should be able to deliver more chapters in a timely fashion for a while. Yay!

Before I go, I want to give a little hint about the cipher at the end since it's a bit more complex than the others I've used so far! This particular form of cipher has made an appearance on the original Gravity Falls show before, and is noteworthy by its use of a keyword! In this particular chapter, the keyword is a word that is defined as: "a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other." Good luck! Also don't forget to leave any criticism you guys may have in the form of a review! I'd love to hear your thoughts on how I can improve!

-ImpulsiveWeaver