Chapter Text
“Broski, where have you been?” Mabel complained as she saw her brother walk through the door to the Shack. “I’m so boooooored!” She flapped her hands around inside the arms of her sweater. She’d had nothing to do all morning, with Wendy off with friends, Soos busily working on cleaning, and Stan scamming customers the whole time. Candy and Grenda both had to work on their summer assignments for school, forced by their parents to spend at least some time on it.
“I was just exploring out in the forest.” Dipper said with a shrug.
“You’ve been doing that, like, all the time lately. Why don’t you ever bring me with you?” Mabel sat down at the kitchen table, trying not to look too worried and hoping she sounded nonchalant.
“Well, I always figure you’ll be hanging out with Candy and Grenda.” Dipper replied shortly. “You can just do your girl things with them, hang out with your best friends!”
Mabel raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you… jealous? ” She asked. He couldn’t be jealous, right? He was the whole reason she’d been spending as much time as she had with other people lately. If he wasn’t so busy doing his own thing, she would have plenty of time to spend with him! It was his fault!
At least she knew that, whatever he was doing, Bill wasn’t involved, unless he was going off and napping in the woods, which he definitely wasn’t.
“No! I’m not jealous, I’m just saying. We don’t have to spend every minute of our summer with each other. You made your friends, and I- I have my mysteries. We’re just different, that’s all.” Dipper began rifling through the fridge.
“Well it’s not like I’m not interested in your mysteries, Dip, I’m not hanging out with my girls every day or anything. They have lives, too! And… I wanna spend time with you. You’re my twin, my bro-bro.” She hoped he knew how much she meant it. This summer was supposed to be a summer of fun together, of stability and relying on each other, because who else could they really rely on? Not anyone from home. Though, Mabel was finding a lot of comfort in talking to Grunkle Stan. Soos, too, seemed to be a wellspring of weird wisdom — which was just the kind she liked!
“Well, we can play something and hang out in the shop?” Dipper suggested. “Since I’m home now.”
“Yeah! We can play Kittens vs. Unicorns!” Mabel punched the air. He raised an eyebrow at her.
“Okay, I was thinking more like… I dunno, chess?”
“Boooo! Boring!” Mabel blew raspberries. She knew it was a game he was good at, and she wasn’t. She didn’t care about strategy games like he did. She wanted to do something they would both enjoy — she knew Dipper would like Kittens vs. Unicorns if he’d just give it a try for once — but he insisted.
“Listen, Mabes, I’m tired after walking through the woods all morning. Something like chess will help me clear my mind, get some of my energy back, you know?” He closed the fridge without taking anything, and started going through the snack drawer instead.
“Fiiiiine! I’ll meet you in the gift shop!” Mabel got up and ran off. She had to dig around to find a chess set, after all.
She had been a little surprised by how curt he was, but maybe she shouldn’t have been. It was valid for him to be tired, and with the way he was searching, he was probably a little cranky because he’d forgotten to eat breakfast again, which he did often. Boys.
A few minutes later, she was back with a chess board. They played that and a few other games, which, like always with this kind of game, Dipper won. Why couldn’t he let her pick something? Why couldn’t they play what she wanted to play? It wasn’t fair. She was getting close to getting cranky, herself, when Soos pointed out their minor height difference. Finally, something else she could beat him at! Growing!
It only seemed to upset Dipper, though. Still, if he had apologized for blowing up the last time he was upset, surely he could control himself better for this one. He would get over it. It wasn’t like it was a big deal, anyway. A millimeter would change in a few years,, anyway, when he inevitably got tall the way boys were supposed to.
Apparently Dipper had taken it to heart, because he came back with some sort of height-altering flashlight. Well, a crystal taped to a flashlight, and the crystal was height-altering when light went through it. The two of them fought over it, and eventually encountered Gideon in one of his many plans to steal the deed to the Mystery Shack. He caught the flashlight in his hand, and Mabel accidentally revealed what it did, saying it a little too loudly, so he overheard.
There was another fight over the object, and Mabel got shrunken while Dipper dodged the ray, putting up a hand as if that would stop it. After some taunting from Gideon, he did it again, but Mabel saw some sort of magical force around his hand, which shot the beam back at the fake psychic, who shrunk and dropped Mabel when he did. Dipper said he’d used another crystal to do it, but… it didn’t look like it. What else was going on?
“Mark my words, Dipper Pines, I know you’re lying to me, and I will learn the truth. And when I do, I can go toe to toe with you and win.”
Mabel would be the first to admit she didn’t like Gideon, but… maybe he was right. Maybe Dipper was lying. But any alternatives there could be… they might involve Bill. And if they did, it meant some sort of creepy demon was getting a better hold on her brother.
When Gideon was gone, the truth came out. “Look, Mabel, the truth is… Bill protected me.” The mention of his name sent off alarm bells in her head, and also raised a bunch of questions, so many that she hardly knew where to begin. She decided to start with the obvious:
“Bill? The freaky triangle guy who shows up in your dreams? How is that even possible?” Mabel tilted her head.
“Don’t call him that!” Dipper said, loudly enough that it threw her off. “He can’t interact much with this world, but I guess that’s one of the things he can do.”
“How did he know we were in trouble, though? And why did he only help you, not me?” She was still deeply suspicious. How couldn’t she be? Why was Bill only targeting her brother? Why not try to talk to her, too? She had read something like this in a few novels she liked, and she thought maybe he wanted Dipper alone for a reason. A bad one.
“Bill helped us, Mabel! I dodged the first beam, but Bill deflected the second one for me, when you were already shrunken, which benefited both of us.” Dipper explained. It still didn’t quite line up, but maybe she should just ignore it for now.
Mabel pursed her lips. “Was it really Bill? You’re sure? You don’t actually have some other magic thing, like Gideon’s amulet? He seemed sure you had help from the Journal somehow.”
“No magic artifacts, Mabel, I promise.” Dipper said. “Bill was helping out.”
She chewed her bottom lip. “Well, I guess you can tell him I said thank you. Maybe… I guess maybe he’s not so bad.” She wasn’t certain that she should be entertaining him like this, but if they would stop arguing, it was worth it.
Dipper smiled brightly. “He’s really great, Mabes, seriously. I’m glad you’re finally coming around!”
“I wouldn’t go that far, broski. I still think he’s weird, and I don’t trust him, because a demon’s a demon. But if he saved us from Gideon, he can’t be that bad, so he gets a sticker for that.”
“Thanks, Mabel. That really means a lot.” Dipper said.
“Of course.” Mabel scooped him up in a big hug, and he laughed.
For now, unless things got dangerous, she could keep her mouth shut, just observe. She needed to be smart about this if she was going to save her brother.
Mabel was excited about Summerween. It was like Halloween, but in the summer! She did twin costumes with Dipper every year for Halloween, so this should be no different. She heard he was in the bathroom, talking to himself, so started to crack the door to give him his costume, but paused when she saw him.
He was looking in the mirror, and he adjusted a clip-on bowtie around his neck with a grin. The outfit he was wearing was reminiscent of Stan’s Mr. Mystery, but with a few key differences. He didn’t have his hat on, but his bangs were still pulled down. He adjusted the eyepatch over his eye. “No one will get it but me. I figure I can tell everyone else I’m just dressed as Mr. Mystery.” He shrugged. “I like to think you’d wear a lot more yellow than this, but I know you get it.”
Who was he talking to? Clearly not himself. And if he wasn’t supposed to be Stan, then that begged the question of who he was supposed to be. Only one name came to mind, and she didn’t want to even think about it.
“W-well, no. But I thought you might like it!” Dipper pushed his bangs up, combing them up from his forehead.
Mabel swore she didn’t even blink, but a small, black box appeared on the bathroom vanity. Her brother picked it up and opened it. Inside sat two, golden cufflinks shaped like triangles. He laughed a bit. “Of course you’d wear triangles.”
Dipper’s smile grew as he put the cufflinks on. Mabel pulled back, quickly and quietly shutting the door and heading downstairs. Dipper couldn’t know that she’d been spying on him while he talked to… well, apparently to Bill. Out loud. That couldn’t be good. But with how deep he was in, she couldn’t confront him. Not again. It would only hurt things if she tried.
When he walked out, she looked at him and saw just how much he was changing. The idea that he was publicly going out displaying his birthmark showed that the most to her, with no fear or apprehension or nervousness on his face. She was glad on one level, sure, but on the other hand, it was change. And he was changing without her, apart from her, and it terrified her.
Maybe bringing it up the way she did, panicked and frayed, wasn’t the best way, but she was really and truly scared. Everything around her was moving, and she couldn’t stop it. With her parents unstable at home, and now Dipper unstable here, she didn’t have anyone familiar, anyone safe to rely on anymore. Maybe she could still turn to Stan. If she was indirect and vague, he seemed already like a caring confidant who would be happy to help. Candy and Grenda were a little more used to Gravity Falls, and they understood her as other girls her age. She could confide in them, too! And Soos, and Wendy!
She still had allies. Friends. People she could talk to. She was determined to save Dipper, even if she had to do it from a distance.