About twenty minutes had passed since Mabel had left to get cotton candy. Since then, Dipper had peacefully passed out on the floor against the wall right beside the trash can he was using after the ride. He had his arms wrapped around his hat tightly as he drooled during his deep slumber. The nap only came naturally to him after The Gravedigger knocked what little energy he had left in him.

Soon, Mabel returned holding three cones of cotton candy. As she came back, she spotted Dipper as he slept against the wall. She quickly glanced around for Evan, but couldn't spot him immediately.

Starting to become a bit worried, she glanced back over at her brother. "Um, Dipper?"

No response came from him except for snoring.

"DIPPER!"

"What?! Who?! Where?!" Dipper questioned frantically as he suddenly woke up, shooting straight up from the ground back on his feet. He then looked over at Mabel and calmed down once he realized it was her. "Oh, Mabel. Where did you go?"

"I went to get cotton candy," she said, gesturing toward her hands. "Where's Evan?"

"He didn't go with you?" Dipper asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"No, I told him to stay with you," she said, growing even more worried.

"Well, he definitely didn't stick around..." Dipper pointed out, calmly looking around at their surroundings for him.

"Oh god..." Mabel said worriedly as she suddenly dropped all the cotton candy on the ground. "We lost him?! We're going to be in so much trouble with Ryland!" She then narrowed her eyes at him. "This is all your fault!"

"Woah, woah, woah!" Dipper shouted, holding his arms up defensively. "How exactly is this my fault?"

"He was with you!" Mabel scolded him, poking him in the chest with her finger. "You didn't stop him when he was leaving!"

"Oh! I'm sorry for being too busy emptying my stomach to notice a child walking off," Dipper argued, placing his hat back on his head. "Especially when you didn't even bother to tell me that you were leaving him with me!"

"So you're blaming this on me?" Mabel asked, crossing her arms.

"Honestly, I could blame most of today on you..."

"Oh, let me guess... I'm the stubborn and selfish one for not letting Evan go to the library? When all I was trying to do was follow what Ryland told me to do?"

"At what point did Ryland ever tell you not to let him go to the library?" Dipper asked. "That was entirely on you! You thought the library was too boring and didn't want to go, so you took him all over town to places he didn't want to go instead! Does that sound selfless to you?"

Mabel looked to the side somewhat guiltily. "Well, I-I-"

"Does it?"

"I got a lot of things on my mind right now, okay?!" Mabel snapped, the pressure and weight of the situation and everything else finally pushing her to her mental limit.

Dipper opened his mouth to argue back but stopped himself as he watched Mabel panting hard, very clearly stressed out. He sighed and calmed down a bit, looking over to the side to think for a brief moment. He then looked over at a nearby bench and walked over to it, taking a seat.

He took his hand and pat down on the bench space beside him, gesturing for her to sit next to him. "Let's talk for a second," he said calmly.

Mabel gave him an odd glare before walking over to the bench and sitting next to him.

"Look, we're not doing ourselves any good by going at each other's throats here, so let's just try and break this all down," Dipper suggested.

"Okaaaay?" Mabel accepted, though still felt somewhat weirded out by the sudden calmness he was going for.

"Let's start here- I know that you have a crush on Ryland."

"Pffft," Mabel scoffed. "Where'd you get that from?"

"Wendy told me, for starters," Dipper revealed.

Mabel scoffed while chuckling awkwardly. "I tell Wendy lots of things that aren't true!"

"Mabel, this is the same routine we go through every time you have another one of your boy crushes," Dipper continued to press. "Whenever you enter boy-crazy mode, you start to become inconsiderate about everything and everyone else besides the guy you're trying to impress. In this case, you're trying to impress Ryland by looking after his little brother for him."

"La-la-la! I'm not listening!" Mabel sang as she placed her hands over her ears, looking away from him.

"Mabel!" Dipper exclaimed, grabbing Mabel's arms and pulling them away from her ears while simultaneously turning her toward him again. "Can you stop acting like a kid and listen to me?"

She pulled her arms back from him and crossed them while looking away guiltily. "What do my feelings for a guy have to do with anything?"

"Because I want you to look at yourself and realize what you've been doing," Dipper told her upfront. "Today, you have been selfish and stubborn. You haven't been doing this job for Evan. You've been doing it for Ryland. You've been letting your feelings for a guy get in the way of the actual task at hand yet again. And I know this because this isn't the first time we've gone through these beats. It's happened many times before."

Mabel started to consider her behavior and thought deeply about what she had done. A look of guilt spread across her face as she turned back to Dipper and sighed anxiously.

"And I'm doing it again, aren't I?" she realized, stuffing her face in her hands. "Why am I like this?"

"Ryland's just another guy, Mabel."

"He doesn't FEEL like another guy, though," she said, suddenly rising from the bench. "Look, I know I've been crazy about guys many times before but I actually feel differently about Ryland. It's not like Gabe or Norman or Mermando or any of the guys from school. Ryland... he makes me nervous."

"Mabel, I've seen you act nervous around guys before."

"No, but this is different," Mabel insisted. "With other guys, I've always felt somewhat confident in myself. Like I could be bold and say anything and win them over off natural charm. But with Ryland, I get these butterflies. I sometimes forget how to speak and... being charming doesn't come as naturally to me. And well... I turn into you basically. Sweaty and awkward."

"Is now really the time?" Dipper asked, unamused.

"I'm serious though!" she defended. "Look, I told myself that I wouldn't get involved with guys this summer unless I thought I found someone really special. And Ryland, for as normal as he may be, feels special to me. So maybe that's why I really want this one to work. And if it doesn't, well... then I guess that's that..."

"Mabel, you falling for a guy isn't the problem. It's how you act to others when you fall for a guy that's the issue. The way you force yourself onto others like me and Evan, then push us to the side. It's great that you've found someone you think is so special, but this whole guy-crazy behavior? You gotta try to control it. We were put in charge of a kid's life this time, and today, you've belittled him, treated him unfairly, and now we've lost him. On top of everything, he's twelve, Mabel. Remember when we were twelve? Well, imagine getting pushed aside the way you've pushed him aside today."

Mabel stared ahead remorsefully as she sat back down on the bench right next to him. "Oh, man... I've really messed up this time." She looked back up at him. "I'm so sorry, Dipper. You're right about everything. I have been a jerk today, and I didn't see it. I guess I should really know how to manage my feelings at this point."

"Hey, I get it. Feelings aren't easy to manage," he said as he put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It just helps to have someone around to tell you when you're being stupid. Like right now."

Mabel chuckled as she playfully whacked his hand off of her shoulder. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Dipper. I know I can be a lot sometimes, and I really appreciate you being straight up with me when I don't know what I'm doing. I wish it didn't happen so much... but I know I'll get the hang of it one day."

"I know you will too," Dipper assured confidently. "And if you don't, then well, you're my sister, so ya know- siblings helping each other out and that sorta junk."

"Right," she said with a chuckle. She then looked back at the rollercoaster and grabbed her arm guiltily. "And I'm also sorry about forcing you on the rollercoaster. That definitely wasn't cool of me."

"While you're a little late for that one..." Dipper began as he lightly rubbed his stomach. "...I still appreciate the apology." He then stood up from the bench. "Now, c'mon. Let's go find Evan."

"But how?" Mabel asked, standing up from the bench as well. "He could be anywhere in this whole pier!"

"Orrr not... considering he never even wanted to be here in the first place."

"Oh, right," Mabel realized as she rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly at the obvious realization.

"Anyway, it's alright. I have a pretty good idea where he went," Dipper told her with a confident smile.

A little later, the two found themselves walking through the doors of the Gravity Falls Public Library. It was somewhat late and closing was within the hour, so the place didn't have a lot of people. The two looked back and forth around as they entered before stopping near the entrance.

"What if he isn't here?" Mabel asked Dipper as she glanced her eyes around the building.

"Trust me, I'd be more surprised if he wasn't," Dipper said. He then turned toward the right side of the building and began walking. "I'll check this side. You check the other. We'll meet up if one of us finds him."

"Got it," Mabel nodded as she walked toward the opposite side of the library from Dipper's.

Dipper searched around in between sets of shelves on his side, checking every spot where he could possibly find Evan. Being in a library, calling out his name wouldn't be quite appropriate, so he had to rely on his ability to simply stumble upon him. However, he wasn't having any luck finding him around the bookshelves.

Eventually, he reached the back of the right side and found a few desks for computers, where he spotted the back of Evan's head at one of them.

"I knew it," Dipper whispered to himself.

Evan sat in front of a computer screen and was working on something, although Dipper couldn't immediately identify what. He contemplated going back to Mabel and bringing her over, but given the current bad blood between her and Evan, he felt as though it was best to handle him on his own first.

He walked over to him and stood over his shoulder, casually smiling. "Hey, Evan."

Evan flinched as he looked up at him. Realizing who he was, his eyes narrowed. He sighed. "I guess you're here to take me back to the pier, aren't you?"

"What?" Dipper questioned with a chuckle. "Nah, man. No one's taking you anywhere."

Evan raised an eyebrow at him, suspicious of his plans. He then looked around behind him for Mabel but didn't see her. "Where's the other one?"

"Don't worry about her."

"Why? What's the game?" he asked, still suspicious.

"There's no game, man," Dipper told him, smiling to try to assure his safety. "Just relax for a second, will you?"

Evan was still unconvinced but calmed down like he was asked to and looked back at the computer screen. Dipper kneeled beside him and looked at what he was up to. However, whatever he was working on was way more complex than he figured. There looked to be a bunch of random code on the screen, followed by a dozen computer commands. It took him another moment just to realize that he had plugged in some sort of odd small device through the USB drive. He planned on asking him what he was doing anyway, but now he was really curious.

"What're you working on?" Dipper asked.

"It's... complicated," Evan replied.

"I can do complicated," Dipper insisted. "C'mon, lay it on me."

"You're probably going to think this sounds ridiculous..." Evan began as picked up the device that was plugged into the USB drive. "But it's somewhat of a hacking device, I guess."

"Hacking?" Dipper repeated. "You know how to hack stuff?"

"Something like that," Evan answered, not feeling confident enough to directly confirm so.

"Really?" Dipper asked, genuinely surprised. "And you're twelve?"

"I knew it was gonna sound ridiculous," Evan said, somewhat embarrassed.

"No, no! It doesn't sound ridiculous!" Dipper reassured. "It sounds more impressive than anything. Why don't you show me how it works?"

"Well, I've actually been using it all day," Evan told him, rubbing his arm awkwardly. "You just didn't know it."

"What do you mean?"

"Please don't be mad," Evan pleaded as he showed him the device up close. "This is something I call a 'code rewriter'. That's probably not what these things are actually called, but I named it that. Anyway, it basically redoes the code to any nearby piece of technology. Think of it almost like a remote control for any device you could think of."

"And why would I be mad about that? That sounds awesome."

"Well, when I said that I've actually been using it all day, I meant that I was doing it to mess with you," Evan revealed. "Your glitched bowling score. The fan that randomly turned on and blew your golf cards away. Your arcade controls not working. And your laser tag gun being set to my player."

Dipper stared at him in shock for a moment at this revelation. "That... was all you?"

"Me using this device, yes," Evan said, feeling somewhat guilty.

Dipper's mind was too blown to be mad about something like this. "How?"

"Easy," Evan said as he pressed buttons on his 'code rewriter'. "Look at that computer over there," he said, pointing at another computer a few desks away from them.

Dipper looked over at the computer as he was asked and saw it was on the desktop, as normal. Suddenly, the desktop disappeared from the screen and then displayed a black background with the message 'HEY DIPPER' in bolded white.

"Wow! How about that?" he chuckled as he looked on at the message. He then thought for a second and turned back to him. "But why did you mess with me like that? I never even did anything to you earlier as far as I know."

"It's not that you did anything," Evan began to explain. "I just thought that maybe by messing with you, you'd end up getting upset enough to convince Mabel to let us go to the library." He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "It... obviously... wasn't efficient. I'm sorry."

Dipper stared blankly at him for a moment, still trying to process all he had just been told. But the thought of anger didn't even occur to him. He was actually somewhat relieved to know that he wasn't actually screwed by fate and that it was just a twelve-year-old trying to get what he wanted. It wasn't right, of course, but he appreciated the confession.

"Are you mad?" Evan asked, somewhat fearful of Dipper's reaction.

Dipper smiled and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Nah, Evan. I'm not mad. I'm impressed. You have a gift for someone your age. You should be proud of yourself and what you're capable of doing."

Evan smiled at Dipper, which must've been the first time he had genuinely smiled all day. "Thanks, Dipper. That means a lot."

"Of course," Dipper nodded. "Just remind me to never play video games with you."

"Probably a good idea," Evan said with a smirk.

"HEYOO!" Mabel shouted as she suddenly appeared behind the two, causing them both to flinch.

"SHHHH!" a nearby librarian shushed her, holding her finger to her mouth.

"Sorry!" Mabel whispered back to her. She turned back to the two boys. "I see you've found him," she said to Dipper.

Evan's eyes narrowed at the sight of her. Despite the fact that he had tied things up with Dipper, that didn't mean he was straight with her. Dipper looked over at him and saw his face, understanding what he was thinking and feeling. He suddenly had an idea.

"Yes, I did," Dipper told her before looking back at Evan. "Evan, why don't you show Mabel what you showed me?"

Evan just faced forward at the computer stubbornly, remaining silent.

"Please, Evan?" Dipper tried to coax.

Evan sighed before picking up the 'code rewriter' and holding it out for Mabel to see. "This is what I call a 'code rewriter'. It basically rewrites code."

"Woah..." she said as she looked at the device closely. "I don't know what that means, but it looks cool!"

"It's a hacking device, Mabel," Dipper simplified for her. "Evan's a hacker."

"A hacker?" Mabel questioned, raising an eyebrow. "You mean a guy who works with…" She stopped herself once she came to a certain realization. "...computers."

"Yeah," Evan nodded. "That's why I wanted to come here to the library. To work on this," he told them as he placed his device down on the table. "Seeing as my room was probably gonna be locked up all day, coming here to use the library's computers was probably my best bet."

"Evan, I didn't know," Mabel said, feeling apologetic. "I was just…"

"...following my brother's orders," Evan finished for her. "I know."

Mabel looked on at him, not knowing how to respond further. She clearly felt extremely guilty for pushing him to the side when he had such a talent that he just wanted to expand upon.

"I'm sorry, Evan," she said, rubbing her shoulder. "I didn't treat you the fairest today and took you for granted, which I shouldn't have done. I should've let you come to the library a lot earlier today instead of forcing you to do all these other things that made you miserable."

Evan stared at her unemotively for a moment, processing her apology. After a couple of seconds, he smiled at her.

"It's okay," Evan said forgivingly. "I'm also sorry for how I acted. I was just mad that you never focused on what I wanted to do, which is also kind of selfish in a sense. And I didn't act very appropriately when we did the things you wanted to do."

"No, no! You had every right to be mad," Mabel assured him. "As my brother reminded me, I was acting stupid, and I should've considered what you wanted."

"Well, I appreciate the apology," Evan nodded.

"So now that all of that is out of the way," Dipper finally interjected. "Are we all cool now?"

"I think so," Mabel said.

"Yes," Evan agreed. "In fact, I've realized now that these library computers don't quite have the power I need to properly program my rewriter," he said as he unplugged the device from the USB drive. "I'd like to go home, and if you guys trust me enough now not to blow up the house as my brother said, you could open up my room, and I can show you both what I really work with."

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other for a brief second. Then they smiled and nodded at one another before turning back to Evan with reassuring looks.

Dipper, Mabel, and Evan had finally arrived back at the Reeds' residence after a long, eventful day. By the look of things, it appeared as though Ryland had still not returned from his BMX event.

The three made their way up the stairs toward Evan's room. Mabel took the key to the room that Ryland had given her from her purse and inserted it into the doorknob lock. There was a click, and the door was unlocked. She turned the knob and opened it, pushing the door open all the way. Dipper and Mabel gasped at the sight of the room just as Evan stood confidently in front of the two.

"And this is where the magic happens," he announced as he walked inside.

Evan's room had computer monitors all over the place with various parts and electrical equipment installed in the walls and a bunch of wires running around as well. However, it was all kept well organized. All the wires were kept wrapped together rather than hanging out from one another, the monitors were precisely placed and aligned, and any other equipment was kept orderly too.

In the very back of the room was what looked to be his main computer, with a three-monitor display and a large keyboard. And in the corner beside the door was his bed and other 'normal' things like his nightstand, a bookshelf, and video game cases.

"Holy..." Dipper said as he walked into the room, completely blown away by the sight.

"And I used to complain to Mom and Dad about not having a TV in my room," Mabel said, also stunned. "Also, no wonder your brother complains about the noise."

"Yeah, I admit, it's not exactly the quietest thing," Evan agreed as he sat down at his main computer. "But what this thing lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in power."

He pressed a key on his keyboard, and the entire room appeared to activate. The monitors lit up, the computer fans turned on, and multiple beeps and boops began sounding throughout the room. The monitors began to display various different things. Some displayed what seemed to be camera footage, others displayed bits of data and charts.

"So... uh... I assume that drone job is really working out for your dad, huh?" Dipper asked, still stunned by the amount of expensive equipment the room was filled with.

"My dad used to build computers before working on drones. All of this was a perk of the gig," Evan said as he gestured around at all the equipment.

"What does all of this stuff do?" Mabel asked, walking up to a monitor out of curiosity.

"It would take way too long to explain every single function, so let me just explain the gist of it all," Evan told them. "Firstly, I need to ask- do you know anything about the weirdness of Gravity Falls?"

"Are you kidding?" Dipper asked. "When we were your age, we basically had another big weird encounter every week."

"Yeah, we basically live the weird in this town," Mabel said with a nod.

"Really?" Evan said, somewhat excited. "So you know about the gnomes? The unicorns? The possible upcoming apocalypse of man-eating cockroaches?"

"Wait, you're saying you know about the town's anomalies too?" Dipped asked. "Also, can we talk more about those cockroaches later on?"

Evan turned back to his computer and began typing on his keyboard. "Ever since we moved to this town, I've immediately noticed how weird things are. From the floating cliffs over the valley to the odd eyelid patterns in the birch trees. It didn't take long for me to come across the town's weirdness lurking in the forest. Since then, I've hacked into several old archives, government files, and private servers searching for more info on them."

"You've hacked into government files?" Dipper asked, eyes bulging in surprise.

"Without getting caught, yes," Evan nodded with a smirk.

"But how?" Mabel asked. "Is it because of all your fancy equipment?"

"Actually, it was actually because their password was so insanely easy to breach. Never make your password the entire alphabet followed by all the numbers," Evan chuckled. "Once I was in, that was it. Where my 'fancy equipment' comes into play is that it can disguise my connection so that I'm entirely anonymous whenever I enter their servers. I'm able to search for a limited amount of time until they're able to pull apart the breach details and possibly trace them back to me. So I just do it again a little later and repeat the same strategy. Go in, grab a few details, go out, repeat - no trouble. You wouldn't believe all the info I've managed to find."

Dipper listened in on Evan's words with amazement at his abilities. He knew that his shared interest in the town's weirdness and his hacking talent would make him a very welcome addition to their circle. His abilities unlocked new potential for uncovering the greatest secrets of Gravity Falls.

"That's pretty amazing, Evan," Dipper complimented with a smile. "You've got a lot going for you here."

"Yeah," Mabel agreed with a somewhat unsure look on her face as she stepped up to him. "But why does Ryland think so low of you? He's your brother. I figured he would've been more, I don't know, supportive?"

Evan then frowned and looked down sadly. "Because Ryland doesn't believe in the things I do on my computer. He just complains about how he can never sleep because of how loud it is and assumes I only use it for games and nothing more, always insisting I 'get out of the house' and 'stop sitting around in front of a screen all day'."

"Why don't you tell him?" Dipper asked.

"You don't think I've tried?" Evan asked back. "I used to tell him to just sit down and check out what I do all the time, but he never bothered. He just cares about going BMXing with his friends and doing his own things. Not taking five minutes to just go into my room without thinking I'm gonna blow the house up with all my computers. So, whatever. It's not like I need him. At least Mom and Dad support me. At least they actually care about what I do."

"Wait... even the hacking the government stuff?" Dipper asked.

Evan gave him a blank stare for a minute. "I'm, uh... not sure they'd support me as much if they knew about all of that..."

"But, wait... Ryland doesn't even know that you can do any of this? At all?" Mabel asked, looking somewhat saddened.

"You think he'd keep me locked out of my room if he did?"

With this thought, Mabel started to reconsider the idea of who Ryland may have really been according to Evan. All this time, she had thought that he was a nice guy and a selfless, mature older brother. She never would've thought that he was actually a selfish jerk who didn't care about his younger sibling and his gift.

All of a sudden, a noise was heard from the hallway, coming from downstairs. It sounded as though someone had just come inside. The front door was then heard shutting.

"Hello?" Ryland's voice called out from downstairs. "Anyone home?"

"Speaking of whom..." Dipper said quietly.

Ryland's footsteps were heard walking up the stairs. Soon enough, he peeked his head into the room and spotted the three.

"Ah, here you all are," Ryland said with a smile as he stepped out into open view of the doorframe. "I just got back from Semifinals. And guess what- I actually made it to Finals later this month! Now that's gonna be crazy!"

He chuckled, waiting for a follow-up response from someone, but the three just looked at him with blank expressions. Evan then turned in his chair back to his computer while Dipper just looked down awkwardly. Mabel, however, started to narrow her eyes at him. Ryland was thrown off by the lack of response for a moment but shrugged it off.

"Anyways, I see you guys unlocked Evan's room. Which I don't mind since you're watching him, but I wish you guys could've maybe given me a call or something and let me know beforehand."

He stood at the doorway and looked back and forth between everyone, getting no response yet again. Now he was beginning to grow uncomfortable.

"What's going on here? Is everything alright?" he asked, somewhat worried.

"You jerk!" Mabel suddenly exclaimed as she went up to Ryland and poked her finger at his chest. "Have you seriously been blowing off and ignoring your own brother when all he wanted was to share his amazing talent with you? How could you be so selfish for so long?"

"What? Selfish?" Ryland repeated with confusion.

"Calm down, Mabel!" Dipper ordered as he grabbed her by her shoulders and held her back away from Ryland, which she didn't show much resistance to. But that didn't stop her from showing her anger toward him.

Ryland stood back a few steps as well, still surprised by Mabel's sudden and unexpected aggression toward him. "I am so confused. What the hell happened while I was gone?"

Dipper sat Mabel down on Evan's bed, where she just crossed her arms and looked away annoyedly. He then looked back at Ryland and gestured toward Evan, who was still looking and typing away on his computer.

"Let's just say you're long overdue for a talk with your brother," he simply told him.

Ryland then looked over at Evan, seeing how he still wasn't paying him any mind since walking in. But clearly, he had told the twins something that warranted his attention.

"What's this about, Evan?" Ryland asked, raising an eyebrow.

Without even looking, Evan tapped a key on his keyboard and an image displayed itself across the multiple screens of his room. It showed Evan dressed up in a suit on a stage, holding what looked to be a type of award as he stood beside two adult figures- a man and a woman. Ryland stared at the picture for a moment, glancing at it between the multiple monitors.

"Okay. So... that's you with Mom and Dad," Ryland pointed out. "When was this?"

"Three weeks ago," Evan told him. "At the National Acknowledgement for Youthful Achievers where I presented my computer skills as a hacker."

Ryland looked over at him curiously. "You're a... you're a hacker?"

"Something like that," Evan shrugged.

"And what- you got an award for it?" Ryland asked, trying to process the thought. "I mean, that's pretty cool, yeah."

"It's not the first one," Evan said, looking away disappointedly.

"Huh?"

"It's not the first award," Evan repeated, pressing another key on the keyboard.

At that moment, one picture of Evan started flipping through a series of other similar pictures of him standing on a stage to accept an award alongside his parents. Throughout every picture, there was another award handed to him for a different reason. His parents stood behind him proudly in each one. Evan smiled while holding his award in each one.

But Ryland wasn't in a single one of them, nor did he recognize the outfits of his parents and brother from any of them. Not one moment he can recall them leaving the house wearing what they were wearing. And the thing was that they were all clearly within the last year, given how similarly Evan appeared in each of the pictures.

"When were all of these award shows?" Ryland asked as the pictures flipped. "And why didn't anyone ever tell me about them?"

"Because you were always out of the house BMXing with your friends right after work," Evan answered. He then gripped his shoulder and looked down sadly. "And because... you never cared. This conversation we're having now? I've tried to have it with you several times before, but you just walked away and out of the house like you always do. Then you just assume that I spend all my time playing games. Wasting time when instead, I've had even professionals ask for my help in setting up secure internet networks and doing a bunch of other security precautions to protect them from other unethical hackers. You're always doing your own thing though, and so you never get to come to my award ceremonies. Mom and Dad always go. But you never do."

Ryland stared at Evan with a look of guilt. He looked back at all the monitors flashing between the different award ceremony pictures, realizing the mistakes he had made. He never thought about how he had actually treated his brother. He had always called him annoying and never really thought of him above that. But then he remembered that Evan had always tried getting his attention before, and instead of giving it, he blew him off.

Now here he was- being shown many pictures of events he had missed. Times when he could've been there to show support for his little brother but didn't. All the times his genius was celebrated and he wasn't there to celebrate with him. Dipper and Mabel had the right to be upset with him for this knowledge. He messed up. He disappointed his brother far too many times.

"Evan, bro…" Ryland began as he walked up and kneeled down in front of him. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for not being there, for never listening, for being a terrible older brother. I'm so mad at myself for pushing you to the side every time you tried to reach out. I've been... so incredibly selfish and only cared about myself."

Dipper nudged Mabel with his elbow as they watched Ryland apologize. "Hey, I think I see why you like him so much now," he whispered jokingly to her.

Not finding the joke all that funny herself, she elbowed him back in the shoulder, causing him to wince in pain, but quietly enough not to distract the brothers from the moment.

"You're my little brother, Evan," Ryland continued as he put his hands on Evan's shoulders. "Maybe I don't show it, like, ever... but you mean something to me. And knowing now how much more you really are when I used to treat you as less... well, it makes me feel like a huge idiot. What you do is amazing. You are amazing. And I am so sorry for never giving you a chance."

Evan stared at Ryland blankly for a moment after this statement. But then his eyes started to well up with tears, which he was visibly attempting to fight back. Ryland saw this look in his eyes and was instinctive to stretch his arms out for him. After a brief moment of trying to fight tears back, Evan gave into his emotions and wrapped his arms around Ryland, and the two shared what was potentially their first real brotherly embrace. Ryland wasn't getting as emotional as Evan had gotten, but he felt touched to be hugging his little brother and gaining his forgiveness, and he shut his eyes as he lived in the current moment.

Dipper and Mabel continued to sit in Evan's bed and watch the two from behind. Mabel smiled as she watched how the two had finally made up. She was happy that Ryland had actually owned up to his mistakes as a brother. But generally, as someone who loved seeing people happy and together, this moment wasn't an exception for her.

A little later that night, Dipper and Mabel stood outside the house across from Ryland and Evan, who stood inside by the front door.

"I guess I should kind of apologize for everything," Ryland told the two as he rubbed the back of his head. "If I hadn't been so ignorant for so long, I probably wouldn't have needed you guys over."

"Well, it's okay," Mabel said. "Meeting Evan was a joy. And I kinda like to think that you two wouldn't have made up if it wasn't for us."

"Heh, you might honestly be right there," Ryland chuckled. "In that case, I should be thanking you guys."

"Either way, it was no problem," Dipper said until he recalled the earlier events of the day. "Well, except for maybe when I kept losing at everything and then the rollercoaster..."

"Rollercoaster?" Ryland questioned.

"It's been a long day," Evan said simply. "But yeah... sorry about all of that again. And you know, for what it's worth, I actually did have some fun today. For as much as I didn't want to admit it earlier in the day, I'd totally be down for another rollercoaster ride that isn't forced against my will one of these days."

"HA! I KNEW YOU'D LOVE IT!" Mabel shouted victoriously.

"Well, I don't know about love, but-" Evan tried to clarify.

"I DON'T CARE! A POINT FOR THE MASTER OF FUN!" Mabel said, pointing exaggeratedly at herself.

"But... uh…"

"Trust me, you're not gonna win," Dipper warned him. "Just let her have this one."

Evan looked at him for a minute before just shrugging and accepting it as he was told.

"Anyways, thank you guys. For everything," Ryland said as he rubbed the top of Evan's hair. "Now Evan and I have some catching up to do."

"Treasure your sibling bond, Ryland," Dipper reminded him as he and Mabel began slowly walking away from the house. "Trust me. As much as having a sibling can be a pain at times, it's something special to know you have someone who's always by your side," he said as he nudged Mabel with his elbow.

"Agreed," Mabel nodded with a smile.

"I promise to keep that in mind," Ryland assured them as he began waving. "You two have a safe drive back to the Shack!"

"And if you two ever need anything that I could help out with, just let me know," Evan also reminded them.

"You know, I think that's an offer we'll definitely be taking in the future," Dipper said, looking back as he and Mabel approached Soos' pickup.

"Again, just let me know," Evan said, smiling as he began to wave at the two as well.

Dipper nodded as he opened the door to the pickup and got inside. Mabel pulled open the passenger door and jumped in beside him. The two then looked back toward the brothers and waved back at them one more time. Ryland and Evan continued waving at them as Dipper appeared to start up the pickup truck and drive out of the driveway back onto the main streets. Soon, they drove out of sight and disappeared into the night.

"You already said you don't play games, right?" Ryland asked, putting his hand down from waving.

"Not most of them," Evan confirmed, putting his own hand down.

"Which ones do you play?"

"I like Uber Thrash Bros," Evan told him.

"No lie?" Ryland questioned with an eager smile.

"You play it too?" Evan asked, getting a bit excited as well.

"Of course! I'm like a pro with every character!" Ryland said.

"I once hacked into the source code and found ten hidden DLC characters," Evan told him. "I already have them loaded on my console, but I haven't tried any of them."

"Oh, my brother..." Ryland said happily, placing his hand on Evan's back and leading him back inside the house. "Get your console started. We have a whole night of catching up to do before Mom and Dad get home."

Dipper was focused on the night road ahead of them as he began driving back to the Mystery Shack. He slowly came to a stop as they reached a red light and sat in place, waiting for it to change.

He sighed. "Well, I think I had more than enough 'fun' for one day. I'm exhausted," he said before yawning. "How about you, Mabel?"

His tired eyes widened a bit in surprise when he looked over at Mabel and found that she had already been knocked out in her seat, snoring away. She hadn't said anything since leaving the house, but he hadn't noticed that she was actually asleep until now.

Still, he smiled over at her and sighed. It was a long day and although she had been a pain through much of it, things still ended on a decent note. Regardless of what had happened, he was just happy that she was able to recognize her faults and right her wrongs before it was too late. He knew they were both still young and still had much growing to do, but at least they had each other to get through it. Today, it was him helping her. Another time, she would help him. So it didn't matter much to him if some days were a bit more annoying than others. No matter what, he wouldn't trade having her as a sibling for anything in the world.

Eventually, the light turned green, so he stepped off the brakes and began driving again, focusing on the road ahead. As he turned a corner, Lake Gravity Falls came once again into view. And if there was one good thing he could say about the new pier after that day, it's that it actually did make for quite a gorgeous and luminous view as it sat by the lake, lighting up the night in the distance.

VEVIBLMV DROO IVZORAV GSV RNKLIGZMXV LU UZNROB

Mabel is a fascinating character to explore. Delving into the human psyche, sometimes we repeat mistakes. Often unintentionally. It has happened in the show, and I personally have no doubt Mabel would do so as well. But she's learning, and this was a major lesson for her.

That's all that matters going forward.

-Absolute Rift

(Chapter updated as of February 19, 2024)