Author's Note.
Before beginning, I want to thank two beta readers - ZKang288 and Milky Boy Blue. They helped me decide on detailed directions, edit, and check characterizations to make sure important casts were in character. Try and read their works on AO3, they're worth trying at some point!
CHAPTER 1
"URRGH! THAT AGAIN!"
"Grenda? What's wrong? And where's Candy?"
"Oh no Mabel, it's THAT time. A WALKIE-TALKIE TIME!"
When Mabel returned from the toilet to join the last sleepover at Gravity Falls, she had no idea what just happened. Candy Chiu – one of her best friends in Falls along with Grenda Grendinator – was gone without a trace, leaving Grenda was terrified and alone. And she had never heard of "A Walkie-Talkie Time" before.
Minutes ago in the floor room, both Candy and Grenda were fine. They helped clean up after Dipper and Mabel's birthday party. A sleepover was arranged, provided the girls didn't disturb Dipper. Mabel convinced Stan to let them borrow the more spacious attic for the sleepover. Acknowledging her past bouts of self-centeredness, Mabel was determined to relinquish the limelight and showcase her newfound consideration for others, particularly her brother.t. Choosing a space instead of the bedroom was the best option she could think of. Mabel even promised that she would clean up the whole room by herself.
They were supposed to enjoy the whole night in a place where they first met each other, having lots of snacks and activities brought over.
"Grenda?" Asked Mabel. "What's the Walkie-Talkie Time?"
"It's Candy's worst moment in every summer!" Grenda bellowed, still unable to shake off the fear as sizeable as the whole trio combined on her shoulder. "Every summer ever since I met her, she suddenly goes away from anything for hours. After that, she comes back with pink eyes. Pink eyes, Mabel. Pink eyes with soggy shirts. A terrible combination!
"And it's not the worst. When she's back, she doesn't want to tell me what happened. She only says, 'A Walkie-Talkie Time.' Nothing else. She sounds hurtful. It happens completely out of the blue even when we're happy and excited! And there's nothing I can do. Even my SOOTHING VOICE CAN'T HELP!
"DIE YOU MISERABLE PAIN THAT TORMENTS CANDY, DIE!" Shortly after that, Grenda shouted with both arms raised over the top as if she couldn't hold her emotion anymore. "WHY CAN'T MY SOOTHING VOICE WORK WELL? IT USUALLY WORKED FINE!"
"Hold on Grenda!" Mabel stopped her, holding Grenda's muscle-packed arms tight after several moments of punching in the air. "There would be something we can do. Or, at least I can do that." .
"Oh no, you don't understand." Grenda shook her head. "I don't think she can hear you. All she does is listen to the same music again and again! And it's loud! GRENDA LOUD!" Then, she held Mabel's shoulder so tight that she nearly cut the blood circulation of a sugar-fueled troubleshooter with brown curls, signaling that there was nothing her friend could do to help their BFF. "You can't. Look into my eyes."
"No!" Mabel countered Grenda. "I'm too stubborn to give up my friend right now. Hold on!" Then, she managed to escape her friend's extraordinarily powerful grip with well-focused tickling, making Grenda free her instantly. "I'll be back later after finding out what happened to Candy!"
Within ten seconds, Mabel quickly disappeared into the bedroom.
"Dipper! I need your help!"
"My help?" Dipper asked, eyes widening. He was nearly finished with packing up his belongings before their departure – clothes and books all in his luggage. Mabel's side, on the other hand, was still in a cluttered mess of glitter, yarn and other clothes.. Dipper took a quick glance at her bed. "Wait, aren't you going to tell me to help clean up your bed?"
"No!" Mabel countered. "Candy is missing! And it's serious! Have you seen her?"
"Oh. I saw her going downstairs a while ago. But-"
"Thanks, Dipper! " She stormed off to the first floor.
Mabel searched through the whole Shack. She initially searched through the whole first floor including the kitchen (there were some leftovers from the birthday party) and living room (there could be a comfort show on TV, right?). Then she tried less likelier places such as the parlor, basement and the rooftop.
No Candy.
When she made it to the floor room in a desperate measure, she slowly noticed the uncomfortably heavy atmosphere around its entrance. A rocking, speedy melody consisting of electronic guitar and male vocals was gently vibrating the atmosphere surrounding her. She recognized the origin of the name a Walkie-Talkie Time; Steriogram's Walkie-Talkie Man. She even noticed that the music was looping again and again. Kinda her comfort song, right?
And the floor room was, yes, the place where she met both Candy and Grenda! Dipper would find it weird if she chose a place to hide, but Mabel knew it was a special place for a reason. It was one of the happiest memories in Gravity Falls for Grenda and Candy as much as it did for her.
When she decided to enter the place, a part of her signaled her that she should let Candy be alone. At the same time, another part was convincing her that her friend needs emotional support from the Relationship Genius. Is it worth interrupting her? Especially when Grenda told her it was severe and Mabel wouldn't be able to help the case.
In an instant, she decided that it was worth a shot, running towards the stairs quickly to see her friend, calling her name at the maximum volume from her throat.
She hit the stairs, breathlessly ran towards the couch, and only halted herself once she managed to reach the place.
She found Candy sitting on the same couch where she met her two best friends in the town. One of her best friends with glasses was curling herself up while holding her flip phone with two hands. From what Mabel quietly observed, a device wearing a hot pink metallic color was the source of the music. Slowly watching her friend, Mabel also noticed Candy had a long face. Should she interrupt her? So that the Relationship Genius can troubleshoot her in no time?
Yes, she thought it was worth a try. She's going to help her friend at any cost.
"CANDY!" Mabel shouted. "It's me, Mabel! Your best friend! Along with Grenda! Are you a-okay?!" She spared no expense in snapping her friend out of misery, but the only reply she could get was yet another silence under the loud music.
"Candy?" Mabel asked, coming closer to Candy. "What's wrong today? Mabel's here to help you out. Can you listen to me? Please?"
Again, yet another silence. Mabel began to lose her confidence in and out.
"...Please?"
It was followed by something hitting her consciousness to convince her otherwise.
When she thought she was the Relationship Genius, there was a fiasco of the Love Potion. Mabel thought she brought Robbie long-time happiness by shipping him with Tambry, by 'borrowing' the potion from the Love God to emotionally connect them (which eventually happened, even after three hours was expired by seven additional hours), but the Multiverse thing brought her the bad aftertaste of Wendy gangs' troubled friendship caused by her action. Sure, it was eventually resolved and she could claim herself as a Great Matchmaker once again, but realizing her self-centeredness changed her perspective this time.
Maybe Grenda was right, Mabel thought. Leave Candy alone. Maybe she needs space right now…
Mabel decided to leave the floor room, finding out she couldn't let the last sleepover of this summer be ruined. While she was quietly going upstairs and thinking Grenda might need a company to hang out with, she couldn't think of the possibility that Candy might heard her voice calling her name…
At three 'o'clock in the night, Mabel found herself awakened while Grenda was sleeping with her loud snoring. The noise was instead something familiar to her, not affecting her condition that much. It was coming from her concerns towards Candy.
Her decision to give her a room may be the right choice, but it was also a way she rarely went with. It was unfamiliar enough to not be able to get rid of her concerns, and it was no wonder she wasn't sure if it was not being selfish and helping her best friend or neglecting her instead when help was necessary.
When Mabel was too uneasy to sleep tight thanks to her concerns toward friends and herself, she couldn't notice Candy was going upstairs to the attic.
"Mabel?"
"...Candy?!" Mabel couldn't hide her surprise from her comparably weak voice.
When Mabel looked up at her friend from her sleeping bag, Candy had pink eyes with a weak pair of eye bags underneath her thick glasses. It seemed like she spent hours in the floor room, as the semi-dried traces of tears on her pajamas told her without actually speaking. At least, plenty of traces indicating her previous slumps aside, she didn't look as gloomy as hours ago.
"Are you okay?" Mabel carefully asked.
"Yes," Candy calmly replied. "And to be honest, I knew you would find me."
"What?
"It was no wonder why you came. First, you care about people so much that you do not know when you should give people space. Like how all of us have been with everyone." Candy calmly replied. "No offense."
"Yeah, sounds like us. Ha ha ha…" Mabel answered, with nervous laughs followed.
"And second," Candy continued, but she hinted at a degree of regret. "I didn't tell you about my Walkie-Talkie Time before. Only Grenda knows it." Then, she flashed a curious face. "Did Grenda tell you about it?"
"Yeah. She was so horrified." Mabel answered with a trembling voice.
"Then, you were concerned about me. Very understandable." She thoughtfully answered back.
As Candy took the hint, Mabel was concerned about her friend. She has done what she thought as good deeds to help people, including each other. They had been pushy. They believed that they were helping people when they tried that. Part of Mabel's Guide series was about 'helping' people by doing so, such as establishing Flash Makeovers to 'improve' people's fashion in no time by 'saving time' to invest in them. It was the way she, Candy, and Grenda believed that was right.
This time, however, was a bit different. While her involvement technically worked, it wasn't as effective as she had hoped. Unlike the Flash Makeover or physically shipping people, there was no room for her to affect meaningfully. Maybe she shouldn't have been carried away when Grenda was in a panic. Maybe she should be calm and ask her better about Walkie-Talkie Time better. Or, just wait and ask Candy about it.
As she kept agonizing over to reflect on herself, she found she could ask her about it directly. She wasn't as unwilling to have talks with her as hours ago. But there was her self-centeredness issue. Should she hold herself up since her friend was upset for hours?
"Candy," Mabel finally opened her mouth. Then, she noticed Grenda sleeping in the tight sleeping bag struggling to contain her build properly. She wasn't sure if it was the right moment to ask her - and Grenda's - best friend something uncomfortable and personal issues. She was struggling more than usual to ask out something. "Can, can I ask…"
"Ask me about a Walkie-Talkie Time?"
With a question she was struggling to ask, Mabel was instantly snapped out of it.
"...Yes?"
"Yes, I can tell you." As she finished the initial answer, Candy adjusted her glasses for seconds before carefully asking her friend a favor. "Can you promise me that…" Then, she lowered her voice and continued. "...keep our conversation private?"