Chapter Text
At the beginning of the summer, Mabel wasn’t sure about Gravity Falls or her Grunkle Stan. After all, the house they were staying in was a popular tourist trap, the attic they were sleeping in smelled old and dingy, and she was pretty sure half of what Grunkle Stan was doing was illegal. She and Dipper only stuck around because the magic 8 ball told them to, and even then, they hadn't been sure.
Even a week into their summer, though, she was happy they had stayed. The people here were awesome! Wendy was super cool, and Soos was full of unique wisdom and relevant jokes. Everyone was a little bit weird, which was Mabel's favorite part of Gravity Falls so far. Being weird was… well, it was normal! She was finding herself fast friends with everyone, which wasn't necessarily the case back in Piedmont. Back there, she had a few casual friends, the type she saw at school and hung out with during gym and recess, but never got to talk to outside of school.
Already, though, she could feel the strong bonds she was making in Gravity Falls, and she was certain they would last a lifetime.
One bond she always knew she could count on was the one between herself and her twin brother, of course. Her and Dipper had been best friends their whole life, which was why she never let her lack of deeper bonds at home bother her: she had one good, solid bond, and that was all she needed in the end. Until it was time to get a boyfriend, of course, but her parents were forbidding that until she was in college. That was another pro, of course, of Gravity Falls: She could do what she wanted, and didn't have to sneak around her parents! (Though, she might not have much success this summer if Norman was any indication of what dating in this town would be like. She chose to believe he wasn't.)
It had always been the two of them against the world. When he found a random journal in the woods, he came to her and told her about it. She was excited about it, and maybe not as much as he was, but it was a mystery, and who didn't love a good mystery? And the six-fingered hand on the cover was so weird, too, just like everything in this town. Everything was perfect!
Then Dipper came to her, told her about this "Bill" he'd read about in the journal that supposedly came to him in a dream. He told her what the journal — the author — said about him, and she hoped against hope he'd had a bad dream that night, because yeah, this mystery stuff was cool and interesting, but really and truly dangerous was where she drew the line, and he sounded like seriously bad news bears.
But the dreams kept coming, and Dipper started talking about how the author was wrong, how he was unstable and Bill was actually the good guy of the story. Mabel wasn't buying it, but every effort she made to stop him from listening to the triangle in his head was only met with stubborn refusal to listen to her. She was pretty sure she was making sense with this. Bill was weird, but he was bad weird. If the author, a human, called him a dangerous demon, then he probably was!
Still, the only thing that seemed to be changing was that he trusted Bill. He was still her twin brother, through and through. Ultimately, she knew that would never change. If he was willing to do something like break up with a guy for her and almost die for it, that bond would never break!
The whole almost dying thing had sort of freaked her out, though. Weirdness and mysteries were all well and good, but again, she drew the line at downright dangerous, and Gideon certainly had been. She had acted bravely in the face of danger, but she and Dipper had almost died. That night, she laid awake in bed for hours, staring silently at the ceiling, exhausted but unable to fall asleep until early morning. She expected her brother to have the same issue, if not worse, but he got to sleep pretty easily, to her surprise.
When Dipper brought up the idea of Gideon having a journal like his, Mabel didn't want to believe it. He was dangerous enough with the one thing he had! Let alone a whole journal filled with who knew what information? She didn't want to think about it, so she denied the possibility entirely.
The Bill talk had also been ramping up. Mabel just didn't believe he could be trusted! Her instincts tended to be pretty good, darn it, and she would trust them! Dipper told her he wouldn't believe her without some sort of proof… so she would have to find some. For that, though, she didn't know where to start. For now, she probably had to wait to get more information.
She found it adorable that her brother had a crush on Wendy. Finally, he was coming out of his shell a bit! He was handling his crush better than she thought he would. She'd expected him to be an awkward mess around Wendy, but amazingly, while he started that way, he quickly got… oddly cool around her.
She was proud of him, though! Gravity Falls was making it easier for Dipper to be social, too! This time away from their parents was going to be good for them both, she was sure of it. They were both too caged by their parents. This freedom was what they both needed.
When Dipper ran out of Greasy's, clearly upset, Mabel thought maybe she took it too far. Then again, Dipper always bounced back from things like this, apologized for overreacting, and moved on. It was a good system, so she didn't bother to go after him. She could tell he needed space, anyway. He would come back when he was ready.
"Yeesh, how am I related to that?" Stan gestured vaguely towards the door Dipper had run out of.
"Come on, Grunkle Stan, I'm sure deep down, you have a soft side, too!" Mabel waved a hand. Stan denied it, but the way he talked to Lazy Susan… Mabel had a new plan for today!
She spent the day trying to get Stan ready to date her. Every attempt at a makeover was ending in disaster! She almost wished she had Dipper here too see whatever it was she couldn't, whatever obvious piece she was missing on how to make this work. Just when she was starting to maybe give up hope, Dipper came home. At this point, it was normally safe to tease him again, for him to roll his eyes and apologize for overreacting to basic jokes and loving teasing. So she teased him again… but that wasn't what happened at all. He snapped at her. Dipper never did that, like, ever!
She was hurt and upset. She hadn't meant to hurt him! She meant it when she said she didn't mean anything by it! Good-natured teasing had never been an issue, until now. Why was he so mad? And to say she didn't care about him? What had spurred on this reaction?
He stormed off, and Mabel turned to Stan, who cleared his throat awkwardly. "Er… Give him some time. Let him stew. Boys get a little more worked up at his age, you know? It's normal. Uh, hormones, and all that." He explained, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I've never seen him blow up like that before." She mumbled. "He never gets mad at me."
"It's okay. You kids are at that age where all your emotions can get out of wack. That's probably what happened. He'll apologize later." He hesitantly put a hand on her back, and she leaned into the comfort it provided. Soon, she had her arms wrapped around him in a hug.
"I hope so." She mumbled into his shirt.
Despite everything she had thought at the beginning of the summer, her Grunkle Stan was a really sweet guy, and she was glad she had him right now. She couldn't have gotten the same wisdom from her parents, and even if she had, she wouldn't have believed them. She rarely believed anything they said to try and comfort her.
Dipper didn't apologize that night, and Mabel cried. His words and their implications kept her up all night. The next morning, she woke up and apologized. She asked if he meant what he said… and it kinda sounded like he didn't really, so that made her feel better. Still, him blowing up like that was unlike him, and maybe she was just connecting two things that weren't connected, but somehow she worried it wasn't just normal teenager hormones — he had never blown up like this before this summer.
Before Bill.