June 15th, 2013

"Jesús Alzamirano Ramirez, sun of my solar system, Player 1 to my Player 2, my brother from another mother… will you use your valuable free time before work to help me move furniture?"

Soos chuckled at Nicola's highly dramatized request, putting his manga aside. "Sure thing dude. What're we moving?"

Nicola led him to the large room with the fireplace that had long served as his bedroom. "Everything in here."

Soos looked around the space skeptically. "Isn't this your room?"

"It's also the only area in the shack large enough for a party."

"A party? What for?"

"It's Dad's birthday."

Soos gasped. "Mr. Pines never told me!"

Nicola shrugged. "We usually don't do much for it, but he needs a pick-me-up so…"

"Does he want a party? Some people don't."

Nicola knew full well Soos was referring to himself with that statement.

"We're not gonna make it obvious it's for him. We'll make it an event he can charge people for that just happens to have his favorite desserts."

Soos nodded in approval. "Good plan."

"Now we just have to talk him into it."

Stan's gruff voice interrupted. "Talk who into what? And what are you two menaces doing?"

Soos beat Nicola to replying. "We're gonna throw a party to appeal to the youth! I got a book on how to DJ R-R-Right and Nic bought supplies."

"We'll charge an entrance fee!" Nicola added.

Stan grinned. "Throw in an exit fee and I'm on board."

Nicola gave a mock salute. "Sir yes sir!"

Stan turned back towards the stairs. "Let me get the kids in on this."

Party prep went swimmingly, though Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy exhausted the silly string supply long before they were even close to starting. Stan seemed to embrace the whole thing as a new money-making scheme, while his cousins saw it as a chance to make friends/ flirt with Wendy. (Dipper was not even a little subtle.)

This left Nicola conveniently free to work on his own "special touches". First things first, Stan's favorite desserts, courtesy of their favorite baker, Ms. Dixon.

"I've made three flavors of pie and a more traditional cake, he still likes marble right?" Emma-May rambled as she pulled the respective desserts from her refrigerator.

"He does," Nicola confirmed. "Is Tate doing alright after yesterday?"

"As well as can be expected. We've been going through old photo albums together. I feel like such a fool for never taking the time to reminisce on the good parts of my marriage around him. I didn't realize he couldn't remember the type of man Fidds used to be."

Nicola placed a hand on her shoulder. "Better late than never."

She sighed. "I suppose you're right. No point in wasting time regretting. Do you need help carrying all this?" Emma-May motioned to the desserts.

"Nah, I did some busboy work for extra cash during college, I can balance food."

"Alright, tell your dad I said Happy Birthday!"

"You got it, Ms. Dixon!"

The other piece of the puzzle wouldn't slot into place until the party was underway. Soos was mostly on top of the whole DJ thing, Stan had broken out a low-cut shirt that showed off his chest hair for the occasion (only some teens looked scarred by this), Mabel was dancing like a maniac, and Dipper seemed to be enthusiastically chowing down on popcorn with Wendy outside. Then he spotted a familiar head of golden blond hair barreling his way.

He only just managed to open his arms for a hug before his goddaughter collided with him.

"Hey Buttercup, glad you could make it!"

Pacifica backed out of the hug, tossing her hair. "Yeah, well I didn't have anything better to do. Plus, Mom wanted me to pass these on to you." She held out a pair of similarly sized rectangular wrapped packages.

Nicola took the packages and tucked them on a side table. "Thank you Paz. Everything going okay at home?"

She shrugged. "As okay as ever. Dad's only gotten more paranoid about… certain things."

"You mind telling me what those certain things are?"

Pacifica rubbed her arm. "He thinks Mom's having an affair with Uncle Tate."

If Nicola had been drinking, that statement would have triggered an impressive spit-take. "What on earth gave him that idea?!"

"You're technically an employee, so she has an excuse to be around you. Uncle Tate isn't."

"We've all been friends since elementary school. We like hanging out together!"

She crossed her arms. "Well, he doesn't see it that way."

Nicola pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know what, we can figure this out later. Right now, it's a party. You should be enjoying yourself with other kids your age."

Pacifica avoided eye contact under the pretense of checking her nails. "Other kids my age are lame. I'd rather hang out with you."

He threw an arm around the blonde. "Aw, come on Buttercup. You've gotta give people a chance. Heck, you haven't even met my younger cousins yet!"

Pacifica raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "Cousins?"

"They're my uncle's grandkids, so technically first cousins once removed, but it's easier to just call them my cousins. They're good kids, I think you three could be friends."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

The music paused as Soos spoke into the microphone propped by his keyboard.

"Remember dudes, whoever um-" He squinted at his guidebook. "Party hardies, what?" He shrugged before pulling out a tacky costume crown. "Gets the party crown! Most applause at the end of the night wins!"

Nicola smiled at his goddaughter, knowing this was likely to trigger her competitive streak, but she seemed disinterested. Mabel on the other hand sprinted to the DJ booth, trailed by two girls he recognized from town.

"We'd like to compete!" His cousin cheered with a wide smile.

Soos held out a hand to fistbump her. "Right on Hambone!"

Nicola lifted his voice to shout his own encouragement. "You got this Mabel!"

Pacifica looked between him and Mabel. "Is that one of your cousins?"

"Yeah, Mabel's pretty great. She made me this sweater!" He swung out his arms to better display the purple sweater arrayed with some tune in D minor Mabel had insisted just 'felt right'.

The blonde's eyes narrowed before she strutted over to the table, propping an elbow on it confidently. "I'll be taking that crown, thank you very much!"

Soos pulled the crown out of her reach. "I can't just give you the crown, it's sorta a competition thing."

Pacifica scoffed, flicking a hand in Mabel's direction. "What, you think she can actually beat me? Please! I didn't win Little Miss Gravity Falls on looks alone!"

Mabel's grin never wavered. "We don't mind extra competition, right girls?" She turned to face her new friends, but they'd long since backed away. Mabel turned back to Pacifica, sticking out her hand for a handshake. "Well, I don't mind it! I'm Mabel!"

Pacifica eyed the extended hand like it was a dead rat. "Sounds like a weird grandma's name."

"I consider that a compliment!"

The blonde sneered. "Well then Grandma, may the better partier win."

Pacifica sashayed back to her godfather, whipping out her compact to check her makeup. as Mabel yelled a cheerful. "Nice to meet you!"

Nicola frowned down at her. "What was that about?"

Pacifica blinked innocently up at him. "Just some friendly smack talk. All the good contests have it!"

"Well just don't take it too far, you don't want to hurt her feelings."

The music started up again, and Mabel quickly returned to her dancing as Soos cheered her on over the mic.

Pacifica watched it all through the reflection in her compact. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

What his goddaughter was doing appeared to be making it her personal mission to upstage his cousin at every turn. Mabel danced? Pacifica pulled a choreographed routine from her dance lessons and synced it flawlessly to whatever song was on. Mabel drank punch? Pacifica called one of the Northwest servants to deliver specialty ice shaped like swans for everyone else's punch. Mabel mentioned her handmade sweaters? Pacifica loudly described her custom-made designer clothes expensive enough to buy a car.

It was quickly getting aggravating for the local pianist, but the rest of the crowd was eating it up.

Currently, Pacifica was performing her karaoke go-to, somehow shattering a plastic cup in the process. After finishing the song with a dramatic whisper, she poked the mic into Mabel's chest.

"Try to top that! And don't think you can call on your bass singer for backup." She taunted with a glance at the larger of Mabel's new friends. "Unless you want to admit you can't beat me on your own?"

Mabel smiled back. "It's not over til it's over!"

Pacifica tossed her hair. "Whatever you need to tell yourself."

Mabel ran onto the stage, poised like she was about to jump at the crowd. "Soos! Give me the 80s-ist, crowd pleasing-ist, rock ballad-y-ist song you got!"

As she started belting the lyrics to Don't Start Un-Believing, Nicola made his way over to his godaughter.

"Hey Buttercup, having a good time?"

The blonde shrugged. "It's not the worst."

"I couldn't help but notice you're taking this party crown thing pretty seriously."

"I take all competitions seriously."

Nicola hummed in acknowledgment. She wasn't a level 100 Deathslayer for nothing. "I just think it might be a bit much, you're coming off as a bit mean to Mabel."

Pacifica crossed her arms. "Because Mabel's the important one, right?"

He sputtered. "What? No! I mean, she is important, but you're all important to me!"

"Really? Cause it seems like you've been awfully focused on her. I haven't even met this supposed 'other cousin' of yours. Not to mention, I came to this party to spend time with you, and instead you tried to talk me into buddying up with her all night! Dad's already forbidden me from spending time with Uncle Tate, I don't need you pushing me away too!"

Nicola reached a hand to her shoulder, "Paz I-"

She shoved his hand away. "Whatever, I'm going up to the roof. Tell Jesús I forfeit."

The pianist lingered in the middle of the dance floor, so entrenched in his emotions that he didn't even notice the sudden influx of boys that looked remarkably similar to his hat-wearing cousin.

The party was winding down by the time Pacfica reemerged, entering the room side by side with Dipper. Nicola was quick to rush over.

"Hey look, I'm sorry I gave you the impression I didn't want to spend time with you, I just-"

"Thought I'd get along with your cousins," The blonde finished. "Yeah, I get that now. Ran into this guy while I was sulking on the roof." She jabbed a thumb towards Dipper.

Nicola switched his attention to his cousin. "She didn't talk you into gaming with her, did she? Cause she will kick your butt."

Dipper chuckled. "No, we just commiserated about feeling ignored by the people we wanted to hang out with."

"And Pitt Soda," Pacifica added.

"That too."

"I can't believe how long that list you made was."

Dipper rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Can we pretend you never saw that? The last thing I need is for Wendy to find out how weird I was being."

"I'm a Northwest, we excel at keeping secrets. Now ask her to dance, you dork!"

Nicola watched proudly as Dipper approached Wendy under Pacifica's watchful eye. "You giving relationship advice now?"

Pacifica smoothed her dress. "Some people just need a woman's perspective. Besides, we both know Wendy wouldn't say no to a friendly dance."

"True, very true. Hope it doesn't give him too much false confidence, she's too old for him."

"He'll figure it out."

Nicola nudged his goddaughter. "We good?"

She nodded. "We are, but I won't turn down any attempts to further win my favor."

"Dipper's tag on Bloodcraft is GhostHarasser7 if you want to catch him off guard in the future."

She smirked. "I'll keep that in mind."

Nicola ruffled her hair affectionately. "It's late, you should probably head home before your mom worries." He raised his voice to address the rest of the room. "And the rest of you hooligans should think about heading to bed!"

His declaration was met with a chorus of groans and protests, but the pianist ignored them in favor of walking Pacifica to the door.

"You're always welcome here Buttercup, same with my house."

She hugged him back. "I know. I'll see you soon?"

"As you wish."

Stan watched from the doorway as Mabel declared the party would continue 'ALL NIGHT!' It might mean no chance to work on the portal this evening, but it wasn't like he'd made much progress recently. Let the kids have their fun.

He tipped his soda back only to met with the dull clank of the pitt against aluminum. He scanned the room the ensure Soos was still with the kids, then trudged to the kitchen to grab a refill.

"Grabbin' a new soda do de do, don't care if I rot my teeth da de dum," he sang to himself as he pulled a fresh can from the fridge. Cold can in hand, he shut the door-

And nearly had a heart attack when he saw Nicky waiting behind it.

"Hot Belgian Waffles kid, you're gonna make me greyer than I already am sneakin' up like that!"

The brunette grinned sheepishly as he held out a rectangular package. "Happy Birthday Dad."

Stan snorted, grabbing the package in his free hand, whatever it was, it was hefty. "Ya didn't have to do anything kiddo."

Nicola shrugged. "I know, but I wanted to. Now open it you geezer!"

"Hey, this is the face of your future pal! Don't go insultin' it!" Stan shot back with a smile as he tore open the paper.

Beneath the wrapping was a book, bound with thin slabs of yellowish wood with what seemed to be a burn mark in the center of the front 'cover'.

"Uhh… thanks Nicky. It's… great?"

"Open the book Dad."

Stan obligingly flipped the book open and felt his breath catch in his throat. "This.. this is-"

"A collectors edition of Treasure Island," Nicola finished. "Bound with wood from a real ship, hand-numbered, and signed by the engraver who made the illustrations. The thing on the front is the black spot!"

"How much did this cost?"

"Cilla was purging some stuff from the Northwest Manor library, sold it to me for twenty bucks! I figure you can keep it if you like it, or sell it for its going rate of 560 dollars if you'd prefer the money."

Stan wrapped his son in a hug. "I love it Nicky."

The younger man shifted from foot to foot. "That's not all."

"It isn't? You trying to bribe me or something?"

Nicola pulled out a similarly sized package. "I got Uncle Ford a book too. I thought maybe we could leave it near the portal? So he has a birthday present when he comes back?"

The old book must be covered in dust, there was no other explanation for why Stan's eyes started watering. "Sounds like a plan Nick-Knack."

When he finally made it down to check on the portal early that morning after the kids had crashed, Stan placed the wrapped book beside his brother's journal.

"I know it's a day late, but happy birthday poindexter."