#what was dipper even doing with the flashlight

[sunburstsandmoonshadows]

the answer is no, obviously

[sunniskyies]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 || 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 || 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟒

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: A small installment about reader reacting to Stan and Ford’s swap, without her knowing the truth. 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: Ford Pines x fem!reader 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: Show-Typical injury and death, angst 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬: The usual fluffy romance stuff, marriage! 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1.4k 𝐀/𝐍: I wasn’t going to write anymore, so consider this short a 3.5! I had to rewatch Weirdmageddon again, so it’s accurate albeit overdramatic.

𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟏 > 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟐 > 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟑 > 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟒

Ford’s timing couldn’t be more perfect. Your lips have just parted, eyes still heavy-lidded, when your figures become silhouetted against a large, glowing red eye.

Bill is huge, his body crimson with rage; it’s only a matter of time until he discovers the Mystery Shack’s weakness.

“Quickly, Ford! Do something!” You say, drawing back from the warmth of his touch. His eyes linger on you for a second, before jumping to action. You watch, nail tip between anxious teeth, as Ford paints a large, almost cuneiform, circle reminiscent of a séance. You patiently listen to him as he instructs each of you your task (ignoring your lingering bitterness that you didn’t know he knew this). You frantically help the twins pull Stanley and Ford apart from trying to rip out each other’s throats.

And you watch as Bill Cipher looms above you, trapping you and the kids in a blue luminescent cage while the two most important men in your life are suspended in his grasp.

“Quickly, Dipper, grow the cage with your flashlight. The height-altering crystals!” You hiss under your breath.

“It’s really weird hearing you not deny the paranormal, Great Aunt ____,” he replies, pointing the magical flashlight at the bars, the cage growing until you can slip right through.

Mabel’s still helping you over the bars when Dipper calls to Ford and Stanley, “Save yourselves! Run, we’ll take care of Bill!”

“What?!” Ford cries, “That’s a suicide mission!” His eyes dart to yours, pleading. You only steel your expression further, trying to project something into that magnificent brain of his. It’ll all be fine, just get out of here.

“We’ll be okay,” Dipper replies, turning to his sister. “We’ve beat him before.”

“And we’ll beat him again!” She whoops. “Let’s go!”

You try to hurry out of the chamber quickly, but the kids refuse to go without taunting Bill further. Luckily, the demon does eventually give chase— but not before ensnaring the Pines boys once more when they try to follow you, Ford calling out a plea to you. You only look over your shoulder pained, reminding yourself that this will save them.

“When I get my hands on you I’m going to disassemble your molecules!” Cipher howls as his pyramid form hunts you down endless corridors. You pull the kids along, your heart racing with fear and adrenaline. You’re escaping, hope of safety within sight. But even after a daring ascent via grappling hook, and a smashed wall, the wretched entity still manages to seize you.

“Let us down!” You growl, trying to wriggle from his grasp as he smugly carries you back to Ford and Stan. “Please, let the kids down!”

Bill ignores you, all too eager to torment your fiancé. “Time’s up Fordsy! Look what I’ve got!” He coos down to the man. “It’s your family! I think I’m going to kill one of them, just for the heck of it!”

His eye scours over the three of you, squirming in his clutch. “Eeny, meeny, miny… you,” Cipher’s massive red locks onto you, and you're overcome by the hatred and jealousy that it instils.

You take a shuddering breath, trying to prepare yourself for what's to come. Your eyes flutter closed. Stanley, kids, I love you. Ford—

“Wait!” A small voice calls from the ground. From in the cage. “I surrender!”

You twist around to see a distant Ford gripping the walls of the cage, staring defiantly up at Bill.

“NO!” You cry, well, you try to. The air is stolen from your chest as you plummet from the sky, hitting the ground with a sickening sound.

Head and vision fuzzy, you look up to see Bill Cipher dismantling his cage, reaching out a flame-engulfed hand to the love of your life. And he… takes it.

Words knot uselessly in your mouth as you watch Ford sign away his life. “No Grunkle Ford, don’t trust him!” Dipper yells. But fate continues, the world rippling as a triangular shadow sinks into Ford’s hair, his knees buckling beneath him.

The knot unravels.

“STANLEY PINES DON’T YOU DO IT!” You shriek as the horrible man has the audacity to pull the memory gun from his interior pocket. “Please, Stanley! I just got him back! Don’t you kill him, goddammit!”

You think he’s just going to shoot, the steely man never one for hesitation. Yet, his head tilts, eyes catching yours. You’re taken aback; even from here, you sink into their endless sympathy. His warm gaze holds yours for a second.

His finger twitches, then pulls hard. A stream connects the gun to Ford’s head, a laser sinking into his mind and evaporating everything inside.

The scream that bubbles up within you is borderline demonic. As soon as Stanley drops the gun, you scramble over to Ford’s crumpled form. Your body falls into him, quivering hands clutching his face.

Almost instantly you're scrambling away again, perhaps shoving the body a bit too hard. Your back presses into ‘Stanley’s’ legs in your retreat. Your chest heaves, another pained sound peeling from within you.

“Ford?!” You garble. “What’s wrong with Ford that’s not Ford—”

A warm hand on your shoulder cuts you off. Still horrified, you glance up to see a tragically beautiful face looking down at you. The man crouches down behind you, wrapping two strong arms around your shaking form.

“Ford?” You whisper, disbelieving. Ford doesn’t reply, just tucking his head into the crook between your head and shoulder, looking over at Stanley.

Oh. Stanley.

“You horrid boys,” you whisper, a tear rolling down your cheek as you stare over at your best friend, Ford’s overcoat pooling around him. You reach a hand up to cup Ford’s face from its perch, the two of you resting in silence for a moment.

It’s almost poetic, Bill Cipher’s demise. The chaos around you returns to lush green valleys, bricks rebuilding themselves, demons disintegrating, all while your bodies stay pressed together.

“You’re okay,” you murmur to your beloved in this gap in time before you have to make your way over to Stan, before you have to be there for the kids.

“We made it,” he replies, so quiet you could miss it.

“How are we going to go on? What does the future look like for us now?” You ask, Stan’s form flickering in visibility before you as the chamber containing you dismantles itself. Your eyes watch him between the blocks of black stone and hellish artefacts.

“I don’t know, my love.” Ford’s hands have taken yours, rolling your engagement ring between finger and thumb.

In the middle of the Arctic Ocean, atop a bobbing grey-hulled ship, two lovers exchange rings. Their words are swept away by icy winds, waves folding them up and sinking their vows deep into the ocean’s heart. Salty spray makes the silver bands slide on, hands slick as they hold each other, an extra finger on each side.

You're bundled up in an old blue coat, borrowed from a man with a tan line on his temple from a lifetime sporting a fez. A new pair of sturdy black boots supports you from the ocean’s sway, a gift from your doting husband. You made an effort to wear a white blouse beneath your cold weather clothes, your silver hair a long veil swept out behind you, toiling in the wind.

Your face is flushed from the biting cold, but the man in front of you knows your ears are pink from the way he stares at you while he recites those honeyed words. In turn, you know his pupils are not dilated from the darkness of the storm clouds above, rather the way you clutch his face and press cool lips against his the second Stanley proclaims you can.

The warmth between your flush bodies is a sacred bubble from the arctic air, the sound of your twin heartbeats drowning out the creaks and groans of the ship. Ford’s lips taste like salt and biscuity rations, but when your nose buries into his face as you kiss you swear you can smell the tang of pine and ink. His hands against your skin are large and rugged and perfect for life on deck, yet you feel their calluses come from a lifetime adventuring a forested town rather than a life at sea.

Ford bends to you; arms ever supporting your weight, lips endlessly worshipping of yours. He smiles against you as he feels the coolness of your ring brush past him, excitement bubbling up at the idea that you are his wife. He is yours, and you get to call him as such.

Stanford Pines has traversed thousands of light years, slipped through countless dimensions and fought monsters well beyond our imaginations. But his favourite place in the whole universe, along every time continuum, is half a centimetre away from a woman, floating in the middle of the vast ocean.

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @sleeplessdreamer14 @2hiigh2cry @taffycandyqt @papi-machucha @muffin1304

 @space1crow @fries11 @yasuuuudere @shadowsandswords @darling-eos

 @bloodspatteredprincess @snake-in-a-flower-crown

© sunniskyies 2024, do not repost or translate my work

[piss-pumpkin]

🫧We’ve got nothing but time.🌤️

Douce amere chapter 18, older!dipper pines x reader, ~6.7k words masterlist Prev

What had Dipper learnt? It was July twenty-first, and it had been for nearly a week, stuck on the day after Bill possessed you and attacked him. You were in the kitchen in the morning, and hung out with Stan in the evening for an unknown amount of time. Mabel stayed in the shack all day, and Ford worked downstairs, probably. Dipper hadn’t seen him. And nobody else seemed to notice the repetitions. 

This was stupid. Downright stupid. That was about all Dipper was certain of, but he had his other suspicions. The first time he did today was when he found that weird cave, that seemed most logical. And it if wasn’t that, he was totally fucked with no other leads or clues.

So off he went. Dipper quietly sidestepped Mabel’s questions as he grabbed for his bag. At least she was confused, which meant she was distracted from what happened… yesterday. The last thing Dipper wanted was a repeat of the conversation they had… however many days ago. Iterations of today. It was all he could do to trudge out the door on heavy feet and keep his eyes forward. 

Okay. This is fine. He would go to that weird supernatural cave pond, and this would end. Tomorrow would happen. 

Oh god. How did time loops even work? If weirdness was just in Gravity Falls, was time passing outside of it? Dipper shook his head as he stumbled into the brush of the forest. Maybe time was passing and he was just insane. Dipper couldn’t tell if that would be better, or worse. 

As he ambled through the woods, he came to an unfortunate, unrelated realization. He had no idea where to go. The sun was coming up, just light enough to see clearly. He’d come to the fairytale part of the woods, that was a good sign. A few flickering fireflies left over from the night were still idly buzzing around close to the ground around colourful mushrooms. He’d definitely come through here last time, but he was mindlessly running away, then. He wasn’t trying to remember the path. Hell, even if he was, he probably wouldn’t.

Dipper furrowed his brow as he came to a fork in the path, squinting as he tried to remember which way. Fuck, this sucked. He took a gamble for left.

The sun was high overhead when he got there. The same grove, just as it had been days ago. Dipper sighed when he came to it, the slightclearing at the face of the cliff, hands on his knees to brace himself. God, how little had he slept this whole time? It was starting to weigh on him. Even just an afternoon of walking was enough to leave him stumbling.

 At least he knew his body was experiencing time. Dipper thought about it as he approached the cave entrance, without the hesitation of curiosity this time. He definitely felt like it had been a few days without proper sleep, that much was certain as he tripped through the tunnel with all the grace of Grunkle Stan on a Friday night. 

The water was still running down the floors and the walls towards the puddle chamber. Dipper didn’t bother trying to step on his tip toes or around the streams. With wet shoes, and without a flashlight, he groaned his way to the dim light. 

It still shone like a full moon, with ripples of the water reflecting all around the wide cave walls, sparking on the specks of minerals encrusted inside. Dipper stood miserably before it, staring in. His reflection stared back.

Hmmm. Last time the reflection was off, bad angle and extra people. This time though, it was just plain old him, exactly how he should look. The picture flickered with its drips like a puddle, and less like a mirror, or a gateway between worlds. That’s weird. Or there was always the off chance he was hallucinating last time. Or this time. Sighing, he pulled the journal out of his bag, and flipped to the last few pages he wrote. 

He was already reading by the time he noticed. He was reading. There were words written about the cave. Dipper squinted as he eyed the journal. He wrote those in the timeloop. Were objects immune? If it only affected people that would confirm time was passing. 

Dipper grimaced as he made note of it all. Any other time, this would be a fun mystery to unravel, an interesting thread to pull. If time was looping on any other day… 

Scratch that. It could be worse, he realized. It could have been yesterday. Oh god. His eyes widened as it dawned on him; he could’ve been stuck reliving the moment that you- Bill towered over him trying to kill him. His hands flew to his mouth to cover it instinctively as a shiver travelled up his spine. Deep breaths. 

Dipper knelt down slowly, balancing on the balls of his feet as he stared down into the glowing puddle. Ugh. His reflection looked worn down. Far worse then last time. Well, what it showed last time wasn’t real. Unfortunately. The bangs under his eyes seemed to be pulling down his face, far deeper than usual, and outlined with dark circles. 

Sighing, he touched the pond. That’s all he did last time, right? He just splashed it and the reflections vanished, and that was kinda weird. 

Nothing happened. Maybe because nothing was happening. No mystery in the water this time, and nothing to disturb with his heavy hands. Dipper pursed his lips. Did it… work? Was he out? He glanced around. Nothing looked or felt different. He splashed around again, waving his hand in the puddle as of to tread water. He could feel his lips turning into a scowl. This was stupid. 

Against all odds, he managed to stand up, pushing himself off his legs and staring down at the puddle. Same old reflection. Dipper sighed. Was there anything else he could do here? 

He couldn’t think of anything logical. He spared the pool one more glance, and turned back. He swallowed hard as he stepped back into the sunlight, a growing anxiety building in his chest. Dipper looked back at the cave entrance, it’s maw staring at him from the cliff face, and he shivered despite the summer heat. 

Fuck this. He went back to the shack, trekking through the woods, following the path he blazed in his tired trudge this morning. Still, it was evening when he got back. Dipper squinted at the shack from a distance. What happened in the evening? The first time, Mabel greeted him at the door, and told him you and Stan were together… somewhere. He couldn’t remember. 

So… no front door. Mabel could survive one today without seeing him. Dipper winced. If this is her first time, that would hurt. He thought back to the way she cried during their first morning conversation, or her tired face in the evening. He stared at the front door from the tree line. If he fixed the timeloop, then this would be the permanent version. The version she remembered. Is that what he wanted? For her to think he’d run away, abandoned her completely? He glanced at his wrist, the slowly healing bruise your foot had left when Bill attacked him. No. He could do better. 

Sighing, he walked to the front door, and Mabel opened it before he even reached the handle. He might have been growing desensitized to the raw emotion in the shack, but Mabel’s tired eyes still struck a dull pain in his chest. Yeah. This was the right choice. 

He hugged her, spoke to her, and sat with her until he passed out, brain melting and numbing to the sound of vaguely familiar Gravity Falls tv. 

                                             …

He dreamt of burning. A burning pain in his wrist and arm, a burning feeling in his chest, and the burning light in your eyes that flickered and sparked with hate when you looked over him. That image was so clear. Your- Bills sadistic grin while he was pinned. Like it was seared into his brain like a brand. Felt like burning. 

And he woke in his bed, his body holding into that burning feeling with a vice grip. With sweaty hands he wiped his sweaty forehead. Bed. And then it all went cold. Somebody could have brought him there. There was a non zero chance he wasn’t in the loop. 

It was dark outside. Mabel slept, with all her stuffed animals bundled near her head. He didn’t want to wake her to ask, at least one twin deserved sleep. There was one good litmus test though. Quietly, he stood, creaked open the door, and descended the stairs.

There were lights on, but that wasn’t something exclusive to today. That could mean anything. Non zero chance. 

Light was on in the kitchen. Dipper winced, stopping short. Maybe you weren’t in there. Ugh. The sinking feeling in his chest only grew when he approached, and he head a few familiar sniffles and shuffles. God fucking dammit. There you were. On the floor. With a coffee pot in your lap and a half empty mug beside you. Dipper gritted his teeth, staring at you a moment. 

Dipper could barely hear you ask your familiar question; “do you…” you started. “Do you want some?”

He blinked, and waited a moment. Well shit. It was still today. He was so fucked. Wordlessly, he walked out, leaving you to your usual activities… whatever those were. He didn’t care to find out. Aimlessly, he walked through the house. So completely fucked. 

Or… maybe not. His eyes caught on the vending machine in the gift shop, and he grimaced. If anyone knew anything about this, it was probably Ford. He probably could’ve thought of that yesterday. Ugh. Another today wasted on a bad hunch. 

He sluggishly typed in the code, and the vending machine popped open to reveal the stairs behind it. Ford might be awake.  Hell, he totally was, Dipper thought as he went down. No shot Ford could rest more then he could while Bill was out there. 

He stopped at the study. The room that once terrified him, lined with alters and shrines to Bill. With a sigh, he knocked gently on the door. He hasn’t seen Ford today. His schedule was the only complete mystery. 

He heard a few paper shuffle on the other side, before hasty steps came toward the door. It slowly opened to an only slightly dishevelled Ford.  “Dipper,” he said, opening the door all the way. “Are you alright?” 

Dipper smiled as he came in, “Yeah I’m… fine.” He glanced around. There was writing on the whiteboard, scribbles he wasn’t even sure Ford could read. The desk was covered in papers, some looked old and yellowed, some white and new, with pen ink drips staining most of them. “Grunkle Ford, uh-“ Dipper started, turning back to his great uncle. He sucked a breath in through his teeth. How to word this? “Have you noticed anything… weird, lately?”

Fords expression hardened, his brow furrowed with curiosity. “Well, Bill,” he said simply. “Is that what you mean?”

Dipper shook his head, lips pursed. 

“I thought so,” Ford said, sounding disappointed. He gestured at the white board, “I have no idea who wrote most of that.”

Dippers eyes widened. Right. Objects weren’t affected. That meant… anyone could learn about it if they left themself something in writing. 

“My best guess is I’m being possessed,” Ford said sadly. “The writing is clearly mine, but I don’t recall doing it. I’m not certain what Bills return means, but if he can possess my body even with my metal plate,” he tapped his head for emphasis, “then we’ve got big problems.” 

Dipper looked at the floor. “I, uh, don’t think that’s it,” he started, scratching at his wrist. “What if there’s some sort of a time-loop, and you wrote that yesterday, and you just…” he met his mentors eyes, “don’t remember.”

Ford raised his brow. “You… know something about this? He asked.

Dipper nodded, eyes glued to the floor. “So far I’m the only one who’s noticed,” he muttered. 

Ford seemed sceptical, all six fingers tapping against his chin as he looked over Dipper intently. He hummed, “are you certain?” And sighed when Dipper nodded again. Ford grimaced, and kicked over a stool on wheels and a swivel, gesturing for Dipper to sit. 

Sighing, he did, his feet idly pushing him back and forth in small motions. Ford pulled another chair out from behind the whiteboard, and sat down in front of him, hands laced together and held against his lips, as if to hold back words. Dipper shuddered thinking about what he might say. At least he believed him. 

“How long?” Ford ask simply, unreadable tone or expression. 

He swallowed. How long had it been? He wasn’t keeping track at first, and the days seemed to blend together in the pile of mush that was his brain. God. “A few days… maybe a week?” Dipper sighed. “I don’t know for sure.”

Ford pursed his lips, brow furrowed. “Okay, can you start from the beginning?”

Ugh. How many beginnings had there been? And the one he thought was the key turned out to be a dud, and wasted another day. Dipper grumbled, went through it from the top. As much as he could remember. He thought about leaving out what he saw in the puddle, since admitting to hallucinating didn’t seem like a great idea, but if anyone would understand, it would be Ford. So he told him. 

Ford listened intently, and groaned when he was done. Ford adjusted his glasses a few times as he grimaced, “Well, this isn’t ideal,” he managed. 

Dipper sighed.

”-But there’s… probably a way out,” he finished.  He tapped his fingers against his chin. “You said you saw… us, in the pool, correct?”

Dipper nodded, grumbling. Suddenly that part seemed really dumb. He got lured into a weird puddle by hallucinating something that probably happened, like, a few days ago. Longer than that, now. 

“That’s… interesting,” Ford said, transfixed on Dippers face. Or maybe he was looking through him. “I might be familiar with the concept.”

Dipper waited for him to say more on the subject. It took a few moments of silence for him to speak again.

“I encountered a similar issue in another dimension,” Ford started, swivelling his chair over to his desk to flip through the papers. “I doubt I have the written record anymore,” he said, shuffling them around. “Actually, I don’t even think I wrote it down… it wasn’t something I particularly wanted to study.”

Dipper swallowed. Alright. So he was stuck in a situation that even Ford wasn’t comfortable with. Just great. 

“It was just after I left the alternate dimension where I never fell into the portal,” Ford sighed, putting his papers down. He grabbed around his desk until his hand landed on a pen, and he started to write while he spoke. “There was a fountain, and I guess I was feeling,” he rubbed the bridge of his nose, “homesick.”

”What… did you see?” Dipper asked, fearing where this was going. What it meant for him. 

“Oh lots of things,” Ford sighed wistfully, not looking up from the paper that was now splattered with ink. “Stanley,” Ford said. “And Fiddleford, firstly. I never imagined they could be friends, but they were in the vision.”

Dipper shivered as he spoke. Homesick, huh? The image of himself with you, Mabel, Stan and Ford knocked around his head. And Grunkle Ford wasn’t done. “And my lab was there, from the alternate world. I had it all, so to speak.”

”Did you touch the water?” Dipper asked, wincing.

Ford nodded, and Dipper could see him start to sketch a drawing. “I did, and that’s how it started. I’d left that dimension by nightfall, but by morning I was waking up right back where I started.”

”Well, how’d you make it stop?” Dipper sighed, this time with relief. If Ford could get out, so could he, right? 

Ford spun in the chair to face him, looking grave. “To this day, I’m still not sure.”

Well shit. Statement rescinded. 

“I was stuck for a long time,” Ford paused, and eyed Dipper intensely. Dipper couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. “I’m not sure how it happened, but one day it just… ended.”

Dipper blinked. “And you have no idea how?” He blurted out. 

Ford shook his head. “I don’t,” he sighed, resting his head on his palm. “I’ll do some thinking on it, or try to find anything written about it, and see if I can find something to help you,” he said sadly. 

Well, fuck. Dippers foot bounced on the floor anxiously, and he wiped some sweat off his palms onto his pants. So he was on his own. Sort of. Maybe Ford would find something. But how long could that take? How long was he stuck? Dipper guessed… too long, if even Ford didn’t want to write this one down. Something better left forgotten. Dipper swallowed, and stood up, “Okay, well,” he started. “I’ll try to figure something out, then.”

Without another word, he left. Okay, so. What did he learn? He might be so fucked. He glanced around the gift shop. Completely empty. The sun was up outside… so the shacks probably closed. Dipper sighed. Wendy wasn’t here either. Guess she had the day off. 

Dipper walked to the counter with the register, and rested his elbows on it. He had to figure this out. Time was still passing. He had to get out of this. Mabel might kill him for cutting her summer over a week short. 

He needed a plan. 

                                             …

He did not come up with a plan. That marked two days since finding out that that were compete busts. He groaned, waking up from another nightmare. Those were some of the only things that changed from day to day. At least there was a little variety. At least he had Fords help now. Hopefully he left himself a note to remember. 

Ugh. Today might have been the groggiest yet. 

Dipper ambled down the stairs. He was getting that coffee. This one doesn’t matter. He was still stuck in today, and unless something crazy happened, he would be tomorrow too. He deserved a break, a cheat day, if you will. It had been over a week of this shit. Today was becoming a full time job. Dipper took a deep breath, and gripped the kitchen doorway. “Out,” he said decisively, really more of a demand, pointing his thumb at the door as he pushed through. 

You were slow, looking up at him with confused eyes for a moment before you tried to come to your feet. Your legs were shaky, and seemed stiff. God, how long do you sit there each day? Dipper looked down at you a moment before turning his head back to the cupboard. 

He scowled when he saw it, his fingers curling around the cupboard panels until the tips turned white. There was none left. “Y/n,” he said, whipping his head around. You were nearly out the door, but stopped like a deer in headlights. “Did you finish-“ he glanced down at the mug in your hand. 

You followed his eyes to the half empty cup, then drifted back up to him. 

Dipper sucked a sigh in through his teeth, approaching you for the first time in… a while. “I need that more than you do,” he said tiredly. 

Timidly, you handed him the cup. His tired reflection swirled in the dark, tepid liquid. Nothing about it looked completely appealing, truth be told. 

“Um, Dipper,” you started, looking at the floor. It was only once you spoke that he realized you were still there in front of him, and hadn’t scurried away. You were tired as always, but your clothes seemed far worse for wear than they did before: decorated with stains, a little dirt and dust. Guess that checks out. If you just slept in whatever you were wearing, you’d never change clothes. Had you not changed clothes all loop? “-and I’m just- just sorry, I guess.”

Oh shit. Dipper blinked a few times, tuning back in. He hadn’t registered much of what you said. You were looking at him expectantly, wide eyes like glass. If there was one thing to note about you, it was how little you looked like Bill. Your mouth was held in a restful frown, and brow raised as you waited. And you body language wasn’t anywhere near the way Bill carried you. Your hands fidgeted at your chest, and the cruel and smug confidence was gone. Dipper couldn’t see Bill at all. Just you. Just you. And you looked rough. 

He sighed. Just you. “Not now, alright?” Dipper said. At least he could look you in the eyes. That was… maybe a first. He couldn’t remember. But he wasn’t started by the movement of your hands, or the flicker of your eyes today. 

And he must not have sounded too harsh, because you didn’t seem too bad after. You nodded, slow at first and then quickly, and turned and shuffled away, and Dipper was alone again. 

He looked into the coffee again, thinking back to the same way the cave puddle swirled when it lured him in. He sighed, slinking back to the counter to lean on as he sipped the, admittedly terrible, coffee. He couldn’t take a cheat day. He had to figure this out. You looked terrible. At least he wasn’t stuck in the same way you or Mabel were. You’d spent the last week sad and on the floor. Dipper frowned, sighing. You didn’t deserve that. As much as he might’ve said otherwise a few todays ago.

Okay. He had to think through this. What does he know? The water lures people in by showing them stuff. Stuff they want. And it’s escapable, Ford was able to do it. But he said it took him a while, and he had no idea how it happened. 

The water seemed to think the thing Dipper wanted was for thing to go back to normal, with you, Mabel, His Grunkles. The stupid puddle might’ve been right. 

The question seemed to be: was there something there? Something to do with that? Or was that just the predatory strategy it used to draw people in? If that was the case, then he was even more fucked, because that was his only lead. The only thing in common between him and Fords experience was the water, and that. 

Dipper paced around the shack. He walked a few circles through the house part, the tourist part, the parlour. He needed a plan. Something with the water… or something with the things in the water… Dipper scratched at his chin. Ugh. There had to be something. Maybe his brain was too tired to think straight. 

He walked through the tourist trapped hallways as he thought, and Dipper stopped dead in his tracks when he heard Stan’s voice a room over. He hadn’t seen Stan a single time in the loop. Mabel said that he was with you in the evening, but it was barely noon. Carefully, he stayed still and quiet enough to listen. “Hey kid,” Stan said. 

He heard vague shuffling noises, and decided he needed to get closer. He edged his way to the wall, careful to keep his steps quiet. 

“Hello,” you said softly. 

Dipper pressed his ear to the wall despite himself. This probably wasn’t his conversation to hear.

Stan’s voice was soft, but confident. “Listen kid, it happens to the best of us. I’m proof of that,” he laughed. Dipper felt his lips curl in into the smallest of smiles. 

You must not have been convinced, because you stayed quiet. 

“You’ll be fine, Y/n,” Stan said. “They’ve all done this before, they know how to bounce back.”

”I don’t want to be in their nightmares,” you said, and Dipper winced. You knew all too well about his. And you weren’t far off. You’d been a feature in most of them lately. He carefully and quietly slumped against the wall to support, and sunk to the floor. It sucked that you were right. 

Stan sighed. “Yeah, that sucks,” he said. Tactful, as always, Dipper thought, rolling his eyes. But Stan wasn’t done, “but you’ll be there to help with those.” Oh. Dipper curled his knees close to his chest. Yeah, normally you would be. 

“I don’t think they want that,” you said. Also right. God, it sucked when you were right. Each word tightened a knot in his chest. 

“They’ll come around. I think Dipshit will just take a bit,” Stan said. 

Dipper decided he should probably stop listening. You weren’t wrong often, and he didn’t want to hear what you had to say about… him. If you were right again, and you didn’t… you weren’t.. if you didn’t think he could come around.

He stood up, slowly and carefully, and kept pacing around. He could get you guys out of this. He had to. Relieving those emotions everyday sounded like hell on earth. 

                                             …

At least the nightmares were getting better. Not great, but less intense, more of a dull ache than a stabbing pain. That was something, right? Dipper went to the kitchen. Guess there was no avoiding you if he wanted to eat. But he might be okay seeing you today. 

Well, there you were. As always. On the floor, this time with a can of peaches, since you’d used up the coffee yesterday. Your face was still blotchy from… probably crying. Guess Dipper couldn’t judge. You were looking up at him with wide eyes full of guilt, and he cringed.

Sighing, he walked over, and slumped down beside you, back to the cupboards. “Hey, Y/n,” he said tiredly. 

You swallowed, clutching the peach can in your lap. “Um, hey, Dip,” you said timidly, throat sounding ragged and rough. You gestured at the can,  “Do you… want some?” 

Dipper smiled weakly, shaking his head. You always offer him whatever you have. “I’m good,” he said. 

He looked you over again. Nothing new, really. At least he wasn’t seeing Bill. The worst part was that he didn’t know what to say to you. It had been a while since you’d both spoken, at least for him. And worse for you; you were probably still recovering from being possessed. 

And he didn’t normally get this close to you. It was only at this angle that he saw the fading bruise on your jaw just past your chin. The spot he hit you with the journal. “Sorry about, uh-“ Dipper started, and gestured at the same place on himself. “Getting you, the other day.”

You shot him a weak smile. “Ah, don’t be,” you said, voice light. “Glad you did. And it… doesn’t hurt much, actually.” 

Yeah, it’s practically healed by now, he thought. Dipper winced thinking about earlier loops. Drinking all that coffee must have hurt. Even now, the bruise was a slight yellow. 

“I’m sorry about getting you, too,” you said, looking at the floor and holding up and tapping your wrist. “Must suck.”

Oh right. Dipper had practically forgotten. He turned over his hand to look at his wrist where your foot had been pressed. It was practically gone. He might’ve been happy it healed if it didn’t mean he’d been in this loop for longer than he’d like. 

“Oh,” you said, eyes catching the same way his did. “It’s-“ you stopped for a moment, and looked back to his face. “I’m glad that didn’t leave much of a mark,” you murmured. 

“It did,” he said, and immediately regretted it. That wouldn’t make any sense to you. Well. You probably  wouldn’t remember tomorrow, anyway. “It, uh, really hurt for a while. I think the bruise is just… healed.”

You smiled, almost laughing. It looked a little unnatural, given your somewhat puffy eyes and dirty clothes. “Well, that’s good,” you said softly. 

Dipper couldn’t help but smile a little. He hadn’t realized how much he missed you these past days. Even if you kind of sucked. “Actually,” he said, pointing at your peach can. “I do want one.” He aimlessly reached up, and pulled open a drawer above him, scrounging around until he found a fork. “May I?” He asked.

Wordlessly, you held the can out to him, and he stabbed a peach slice through. He cupped one hand under it to catch any dripping juice. It was sweet. 

“Hey, Dipper,” you said hesitantly. “I’m- uh, sorry that I got us into this.”

He sighed, wiping a little peach juice from the corner of his mouth. He pursed his lips. “It’s… fine,” he managed. It mostly wasn’t, but whatever. It was fine enough. Nobody died. 

You stared at the floor, putting your can of peaches down so you could fidget with your hands. “Not really though, right?” You said. “I mean, this sucks. I know you and Mabel gotta hate this… and Ford and Stan.” You tapped your fingers against the tile floor, your leg bouncing a little with each word. “I mean, I thought for a second that he was gonna kill you,” you said, finally tuning your eyes back to him.

“I-“ Dipper faltered. You weren’t wrong. It might’ve been your voice bouncing around his head saying: when are you ever? “I couldn’t’ve let him kill me,” Dipper said, completely lacking confidence. And you had to know that. Dipper wasn’t sure who he was lying for: you or him. Bill did almost kill him, and he almost let it happen. 

You looked over at him, eyes wide with worry. “If you say so…” you trailed off. Your eyes held on his a moment longer before you sighed, grabbing your peaches again. “I’m just sorry that this happened. I should have…” you pursed your lips. “I don’t know,” you said.

“It’s…” Dipper swallowed. “It’s not all your fault,” he said, surprising himself. He mostly knew that. “I mean, it is party, but-“ he started, looking at the wall. The kitchens faded wallpaper looked right back, staring through him with its faded stain eyes. “Bill tricks people, it’s what he does. And this wouldn’t never have happened if I just mentioned what he looks like,” Dipper admitted, the weight of the words nearly crushing him. 

You stared at the wall with him, silent for a few beats. The fridge dully hummed in the background. “It’d been a really good summer before all this,” you said wistfully. 

Dipper smiled tiredly at you. “Yeah,” he said, “It was.” Maybe even the best. No, definitely. He thought back on things… he’d really waited years to kiss you, didn’t he? And Mabel was doing shockingly well at flirting this summer, too. And he didn’t realize you and Stan were as close as you were, before yesterday. And at least he had Ford to help him through this.

Oh god. Everything he wanted. You, Mabel, Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford, that’s all that stupid puddle showed him. All he wanted. For things to go back to normal. 

It was like you could read minds. “Do you think things can go back to normal?” You asked, still staring blankly in front of you, the weight of your eye bags bringing down your face. 

Dippers palms were sweaty. Could they? “I- I don’t know,” he stuttered. He licked his lips, suddenly realizing how dry they were. “I want them too.”

You smiled sadly, “well, that’s not the question, is it?” His chest tightened as you curled your legs up closer to you, and stared at the floor by your feet. “I do too,” you sighed, “But I’m not sure they will.”

Well that was the truth, wasn’t it? That he might not get… the only thing he wants. Things might not go back to normal. His face fell, and he stared at you. A wave of grief hit him all at once. He got to study your side profile for a moment before you finally turned to face him, that same sad smile still on your lips. You looked like you’d aged a year in a week. He couldn’t have been doing great, either. It was only, well, yesterday that you’d looked like yourself. 

But that wasn’t you, it was Bill. This is what you looked like now. The same, but different. A little tired. At least you were you, even if you might not be the person from before, anymore. 

You cut through the silence like a butcher, “if things are different,” you started, glancing over at him. He could see you chewing the inside of your cheek. You swallowed, eyes drifting back to the floor. A pained look crossed your face as you took a deep breath,  “I think I could live with that, if I still had you guys with me.”

Dippers mouth hung just slightly open as he stared at you. Oh god. He felt like he’d been hit by a train. If you still had them with you. The words bounced around his… seemingly empty head. He felt a sinkhole in his chest where his heart usually was. If you had them with you. And here he was avoiding you like the plague the last few days, he could almost laugh. If you still had them with you, you could live with it. 

Dipper didn’t realize he was crying until he tasted a tear. Shit. He hastily wiped his eyes on his sleeve. If you had them with you. What did the time puddle show him? You, Mabel, his family? “I think,” he said. It came out weak. He cleared his throat to steady his voice, “I think I could live with that too.”

You looked up at him, a small smile tugging at your lips. Your eyes flickered back to the floor, “Well, that’s good.” 

Dipper blinked, his eyes were still watery. You were just a little blurry, as his eyes fixed on your face. Man, you’d barely smiled this whole loop. It almost looked foreign. If I had you with me, huh? Yeah. He’d survive as long as he had them all with him. He smiled, wiping his eyes again. “Hey, I’m sorry for avoiding you these past… last night,” he said, sniffling. “I probably should’ve made sure you were okay.”

You shook your head, “It’s… fine,” you smiled. You crossed your legs, skewering another peach slice on a fork, and offering him the can. He poked another onto his fork, too. “I get it, Dip,” you assured. “Nothing to apologize for.”

Well, you didn’t know the whole story, did you? Dipper sighed, “still, I am. Cheers?” He asked, holding his peach fork out to you. 

You smiled, and clinked your slice against his, “Cheers.”

The kitchen tile floor had a few drops of peach juice on it, and a couple coffee stains from the previous days, but it was still comfortable. Maybe you were into something, sitting here this whole time. Dipper leaned back, his back sliding further down the cabinet. If I have you all with me, I can live with it, he thought. Unfortunately, you had some pretty good words sometimes. Things might not be how he saw them in that dumbass puddle, but… that’s fine. Things had changed before, and he survived. As long as he had his people. He could feel the tears fighting to get out again. 

“I’m going to get you out of this,” Dipper sighed. 

You half smiled, nodding at him, “Yeah?” 

“Yeah,” he said again. All of this. First the loop, then… the rest. Dipper stood up, brushed himself off, and looked down at you. “I’m going to figure something out,” he promised. 

You smiled, “Go get em‘.” 

                                              …

Dipper tried to. He paced, he thought, he talked to Ford, who wrote himself a note to remember. And they came up with some ideas, some stupider then others. Some plans: what if he drank the water? What if he just told everyone? What if he left Gravity Falls? He talked to Mabel a little. He saw Stan, since this time he didn’t end up comforting you. Guess Dipper did that, himself. Or… more the other way around. He ended the day feeling better then he started. 

He still woke up early, though, still felt sluggish as he went down the stairs. Later then before, though. At least it was light out. Food, and then Ford. And he’d quickly tell you everything was fine while he was there. He smiled when he saw the lights on under the kitchen door.

What. The hell. The kitchen was in fact, empty. Dipper blinked, caught in the doorframe. Where… or, shit. What the fuck happened? He looked around for traces of you. There were still coffee stains on the floor, and an empty can of peaches on the counter… but nothing new. Was he out? 

He thought he would be thrilled to see something change, but instead his heart was stuck in his throat. Where’d you go? 

It wouldn’t make any sense for him to be out, he didn’t do anything. His legs only started to work when he got the idea to find Ford. He stumbled to the vending machine, punched the code, and sped down the stairs. 

Dipper didn’t bother to knock on the study door. “Grunkle Ford,” he said, swinging the door open. “What was yesterday?”

Ford whipped his head around, practically jumping out of his skin. He was standing at the white board, seemingly reading the notes they’d scribbled last time. “We came up with ideas to get you out of a time loop,” Ford said. “But I was thinking-“ 

“-you remember it?” Dipper asked, cutting him off.

Ford nodded, “I do. Can I assume this means something worked?” 

Dipper shook his head. “That wouldn’t make any sense,” he said, pacing closer and around the room. “We had ideas, but… I didn’t do anything.”

Ford sat down as Dipper walked in circles. “You know, I wasn’t sure how I got out, either,” he said. He tapped his fingers along his chin. “Maybe it… ran its course,” he suggested. 

“Only, like, a week…ish?”

Fords mouth hung open, “you’re lucky, mine was months…” he mumbled, fingers still tapping. His eyes were fixed on the floor as he hummed. 

As Dipper paced, he caught Fords face fallen with lament, eyes softening on the floor. “You know, the fountain showed me my brother, and Fiddleford… that’s what it thought I wanted,” he started hesitantly. “By the time I was out, I resented them both, and wanted nothing to do with either.”

Dipper stopped pacing. “I saw… normal stuff,” he said. Things going back to the way they were. Things he’s okay with not having, as long as his family is with him. 

Ford shook his head, “I’m not sure.” He stood up, and wiped off the whiteboard of plans. “Well, no matter,” he said, eraser in hand. “That’s one problem out of the way.”

Dipper nodded idly, still puzzled. He went back upstairs. What day was it? Things looked different outside. When he ascended to the gift shop, it was bright out. Yeah, that was new. He walked the shack aimlessly. Well, he did it. He checked his phone. July twenty-eighth. 

He ambled around, and stopped in front of Soos’ break room. Quietly, he knocked on the door. He felt a little dumb standing alone in the hall when nothing happened. Maybe you weren’t staying in there. 

But then he heard the shuffles. And the door creaked open, you on the other side. “Uh, hey,” you said softly. 

Oh wow. It was a trip to see your face this way. You hadn’t been crying, your eyes weren’t red, you looked… better. Dipper sighed, a weight coming off his chest, “Hey.”

Next

Fellas I just couldn’t resist. I thought this chapter might kill me when I was writing it. Like I thought “hey what if I explored dippers trauma response and the lasting effects of bill” and then it turned into like 13k words between both parts 😭

Taglist: @cipheress-to-k-pop @dead-esque (lmk if you want to be added)

[ckret2]

Editing's going faster now. Here's chapter three of The Mystery Shack Takes Human Bill Cipher Prisoner. (Real title TBD.) Edited 7/31/2024 for TBOB compatibility!

####

In the middle of the night, Ford knocked on the attic door: "Eye check!"

Mabel and Dipper groaned.

"No complaining! This is for everyone's safety." Ford opened the attic door. "This will be the last one before Stanley and I take over guard duty, you can get some uninterrupted sleep then."

Mabel squinted up at Ford's flashlight with her blanket pulled up to her nose. Dipper groggily sat up as Ford inspected his eyes, but then he snatched the flashlight. "You too."

"Good thinking, Dipper. I know I'm me, but the rest of you shouldn't take my word for it." Ford crouched by the bed and let Dipper shine the flashlight in his eyes.

"Okay, clear." Dipper handed it back.

Mabel yawned. "What if Bill got colored contacts? We wouldn't be able to tell he's in someone's head, right?"

Ford froze halfway out the attic doorway. "Nobody go back to sleep! I need to do another eye check!"

The entire household groaned.

####

Once Soos reassured the Pines that Bill was "Still sleeping like a creepy, tied-up baby," he and Melody went to bed as Stan and Ford took over guard duty.

Usually, the cellar was one of the least interesting rooms in the shack. A water heater, a washing machine, storage for some old furniture and electronics. But when Stan and Ford opened the cellar doors, the first thing Ford's flashlight beam fell on was the body of Bill's puppet, face covered in a cloud of hair, curled up small on the bare mattress at the bottom of the stairs. The bright yellow and purple in the dull room was as shocking as a scream.

Ford quickly turned his flashlight off. He stood stock still on the top step.

Stan locked the doors behind them. "So, uh. Do you wanna just... stay up here?" 

Ford nodded stiffly. "That seems wise. It keeps us between him and the only exit." 

"Yeah. Smart thinking." 

They sat on the stairs together.

Even with the flashlight off, Ford couldn't stop seeing the figure curled up below—invisible in the dark but nevertheless vividly, dreadfully imagined. It changed the room, transforming it into a tomb. The walls seemed to tilt in on the unconscious, unseen silhouette, forcing Ford and Stan toward the thing that wanted them dead.

Ford tried to remind himself of how he'd seen Bill last fall, when his family had found Bill's book and laughed over his pathetic attempts to wheedle them into helping: as a dying has-been, a dimming light. It was harder to cling to that dismissiveness in the same room as Bill. From this close, Ford felt like the thing he was in the presence of was less like a light bulb about to burn out and more like a neutron star about to collapse into a black hole.

After about fifteen minutes, Ford was on the verge of being driven insane by his own heartbeat pounding in his ears (and was "We'll Meet Again" playing in his head for the first time in over half a year because Bill put it there or because he was thinking about Bill?) when the cellar's silence was interrupted by a soft shuffling-creaking on the mattress below.

Ford elbowed Stan. Stan snorted and started awake. "Huh—what—?"

"Shh!"

There was more shuffling—then a gasp that turned into a sharp, strangled scream.

Stan and Ford simultaneously put a hand on each other's shoulders to keep each other from doing anything rash.

For several seconds, there was nothing but heavy, shaky breathing; it steadied; and a high, fearful, feminine voice called out, "Wh... where am I? Am I tied up? What happened? What—"

Ford turned his flashlight on. The person on the mattress flinched, blinking heavily at the sudden light. "Hello? Wh-who are you? How did I get here, what do you want with me?"

"All right, calm down," Ford said brusquely. "Tell me, what do you remember?"

"I..." The person on the mattress frowned in concentration. "It's a blur. The last thing I remember is... is... a book about a golden triangle?"

Ford exchanged a glance with Stan. "What did the triangle do?"

"I think he offered me some kind of bargain? After that, I'm not sure... I think I remember sleepwalking—"

"That was Hebrew," Ford said. "You speak fluent Hebrew?"

The person below blinked. "Jewish school?"

Stan snorted.

"Fine," Ford said. "Where are you from?"

"You mean, before all this? Arizona—I'm from Sedona—how far am I from home—?"

"And," Ford said, "that was Latin." Stan wheezed.

Open mouth. Shut mouth. Open. "I... majored in classical studies—"

"Give it up, Bill."

The expression of innocent fear melted away into a tired, almost bored look. "Ha. All right, I'm too tired to talk my way out of this one." Bill's natural voice wasn't much deeper than the affected one he'd put on, but it sounded somehow harsher. "It was worth a shot." He struggled in his restraints to roll over. "Turn off the light, would ya? My head's killing me."

"Leave it on," Stan said.

Without looking at them, Bill said, "I can make my voice very annoying."

Stan said, "Leave it on, and I'll get a sock and duct tape."

Ford turned off the flashlight.

When Bill had been unconscious, he'd been a vague, undefined threat. The dark seemed different now. Less frightening. Knowing Bill was awake made it easier to remember what he was:

A pest. A nuisance. A pain in the keister.

Stan quietly pantomimed chucking something at Bill's head, then muttered under his breath, "I don't know why he's tired. He's almost got a full night's sleep."

"I don't know if he's ever controlled a human body for this long," Ford said. "Much less been magically trapped in one by a unicorn belt. Maybe prolonged psychic puppetry drains his energy—"

"Or maybe he's a wimp," Stan cut in. "That's what I was going for, I'm suggesting he's a wimp."

Ford snorted quietly. "Or he's a wimp."

There was no sound from below. Either Bill had already fallen back asleep, or he was doing a darn good job of pretending he had. For a moment, Stan and Ford remained silent, listening.

Then Ford stood, unlocked the door, and quietly left.

####

There was a clatter at the attic window. Dipper and Mabel both bolted upright, fully alert—they'd never quite gotten back to sleep—and exchanged a terrified look.

There was a second sharp tap. They scrambled out of bed, peered out the window—and then flung it open. "Wendy!"

Wendy froze in the middle of winding up to throw another stone. "Hey! Dipper, Mabel! I couldn't sleep, I was worried about you guys. Is your secret weird paranormal thing over?"

Dipper and Mabel leaned out of the window. They were wearing pajamas and matching tin foil hats.

Wendy stared at them. "I'm... taking that as a no." She bit her lip to keep from laughing. "You guys look exhausted."

Mabel groaned. "It's been keeping us up all night. It's impossible to lay down with tin foil on your head?"

"And we've been getting checked on every couple hours," Dipper said.

"Plus it might not be safe to sleep!"

"And—" Dipper grimaced. "And we can't even talk about it until it's over..."

"Okay, yeah, got it," Wendy said. "Secret family business, it's cool. Just—tell me you guys are safe? I don't want you to get eaten by a T-Rex-nado or something before we get to hang this summer."

Were they safe? They exchanged a look. Mabel tilted her head and shrugged uncertainly. Dipper said, "The threat... is... securely contained."

That time, Wendy did burst out laughing. "Okay! I'll accept that. I already told Soos, but—call me if you need backup, all right?"

Mabel stuck a thumbs up out the window. "You got it!"

"Thanks, Wendy."

"I'll see you in the morning if the Mystery Shack's open," Wendy said. "If not... I dunno, my day'll be free, maybe we can do something? If you don't have to deal with the contained threat."

"Yeah, that sounds great," Mabel said. "I'm gonna see Grenda and Candy sometime tomorrow, buuut I don't think Dipperhas anything planned—"

Dipper kicked her ankle. She kicked his back, grinning.

"Awesome. See you tomorrow, then."

When Wendy had biked away, Dipper said, "You're not gonna spend all summer teasing me about last summer's crush, are you?"

"Nooo, I'm not, I promise! But I had to get one in." Mabel laughed and flopped heavily on her bed. The old mattress springs wheezed. "Besides! I know your heart belongs to that girl at the judo club who likes you."

"Mabel, I don't—" Dipper paused. "Do you really think Kelsey likes me?"

Mabel laughed again. "Good night, Dipper."

Dipper shut the window. They both got back in bed, slid under their covers, and stared at the ceiling. And stared at the ceiling. And stared at the ceiling.

"Pssst. Dipper."

"What is it?"

"I can't sleep. Can you?"

A heavy sigh. "No." Voice low, as if afraid they could be heard all the way from the cellar, Dipper said, "I just keep wondering—did we really trap him in that tourist before he escaped? Or did he escape as soon as he fainted?"

Mabel kicked off her covers, sat up, and turned to face Dipper, hugging her knees. "Actually, I think we did trap him. I... kinda think Bill can't escape?"

Dipper sat up as well. "What do you mean?"

"The last time we saw him, he was stuck in that weird fleshy book or something, right? And he was trying to get our blood, not to shake the book's hand or something."

"Books don't have hands."

"You could draw a hand on one! I'm saying what if he used all that blood to make a body or something?" Mabel asked. "Remember how I wrestled him when he was you? Your body was really, really cold. Like, dead-cold. But when I was drawing on Bill's face, his skin felt..."

"... Normal." Dipper had spent six hours tackling Bill. When he'd been trying grip Bill's arms and ankles so he couldn't flail free, Dipper hadn't noticed anything unusual about Bill's body—but not noticing anything unusual was unusual, wasn't it?

"Yeah. Normal. So—what if he's not controlling somebody? What if he, I dunno, used somebody's blood to magically turn into a human or something? Like a unicorn."

"Unicorns don't do that."

"Unicorns can turn into humans if a wizard helps! That's not the point. The point is..." Mabel struggled to put her mountain of emotions into words, and finally, simply finished, "...what if he's just a human now?"

They both had to sit with the suggestion, waiting to see if it filled them with relief or dread. A human was less powerful than whatever Bill had been; but in some way, the human body shielded Bill, too, making it impossible to properly confront and defeat him.

"What if his human body is like a Trojan horse?" Dipper asked. "And this was all a big trick, and he's just—waiting inside it? For one of the remaining micro-rifts to the Nightmare Realm to widen, or for somebody to finish some ritual with his book, or—or the perfect moment to return to his real body?"

Mabel hugged her knees a little tighter. "But if he could leave the body any time he wants, do you think he'd just wait?"

"He was patient enough to wait billions of years to get into our universe."

"I don't think that counts. He would've gotten here sooner if anybody else made a working portal, right?"

"Then... I don't know."

That was just it. They didn't know.

They didn't want to talk about the dread pooling in their stomachs and creeping up the backs of their necks. They didn't want to talk about their anger—the injustice that he was back, that this wasn't over, that even after he died he just kept finding new ways to harass them, that another summer was going to be overshadowed by him.

But if they weren't talking about that, what else could they talk about? It was all they could think about. For a moment, they just sat together in silence.

Which was when they heard Ford yelp in alarm.

####

Soos had answered the knock on his bedroom door holding a baseball bat.

Ford drew back, hands raised. "Soos, it's me! What's this for?"

"Sorry. It's been a crazy night. I keep having dreams about the Roman Senate assassinating Bill? Like, Julius Caesar, except he's a triangle?" Soos put the bat down. "Anyway, what's up? Is it time for another eye check?"

"Yes, but that's not the main reason I'm here."

Still in bed, Melody groaned, "Are all these really necessary?"

Soos had to use his fingers to hold his eyes open for Ford's flashlight. "'Fraid so. Bill's really good at taking over people. He's got Dipper, he's got Ford... One time he got me! That doesn't really count though, it was in a dream. Not my dream, Stan's. Also, he didn't exactly take over me—?"

"All right, you're clean." Ford looked at Melody, decided that since he'd had confirmation that Bill was still in the body in the cellar it might be a little too rude to examine a half-asleep young woman in bed, and offered the flashlight to Soos so he could check his fiancée instead. "What I really came up here to say is that Bill woke up. Now we know he's still in that body."

("Melody, have I told you lately that you have really pretty eyes?" "Awww, Soos.")

Ford cleared his throat. "Stan's 'friends' are waiting. Time to gag him and go."

Soos's expression hardened. (It wasn't terribly intimidating.) "I'll get the sock and duct tape."

Melody rubbed the spots from her eyes. "Are you up for this? You've got a long drive, and you've been up all night looking at everybody's eyes."

"I've lost more sleep than this thanks to Bill," Ford said wryly. "I'll be fine."

"You're sure? If you need someone to help drive..."

"Melody, you're an angel for helping as much as you have. Especially when none of this is your problem yet." Even though she occasionally spent the night with Soos, she wouldn't be moving into the shack until after the wedding and honeymoon, which they'd scheduled for after the summer tourist rush. She shouldn't have to worry about the shack's crises outside of work hours. "And I know you have reservations about—how we're handling this."  

Melody shrugged ruefully. "I mean—I don't like that you've got the demon triangle in your cellar, but Soos says you're some kind of insane space wizard and an expert on this stuff, so..." In the dim light, she flashed Ford a strained smile. "Just—I guess—tell me if there's anything else I can do to help prevent the apocalypse." 

Insane space wizard. Ford hoped that was a compliment. "Just hold down the fort while we're moving Bill. Thank you."

####

Dipper and Mabel pulled their ears away from the attic door. Dipper whispered, "Anything could go wrong while they're moving Bill. Do you think we should...?"

"Pfff!" Mabel rolled her eyes. "C'mon bro, is that even a question?"

Wordlessly, they put on their backpacks—already packed—and pulled sweaters on over their pajamas, and tiptoed downstairs with their shoes in their hands.

####

Ford inspected Stan's eyes again before he said, "Soos will be down in a minute."

Stan blinked the lights out of his eyes. "You'd better not keep doing that while I'm driving." He shut the cellar door so that if Bill woke back up, he couldn't listen in on their plans to relocate him.

"You're not going to drive. I am."

"Come on! It's my car!"

"It's night, you have cataracts, and you already fell asleep during guard duty."

"I wasn't asleep, I was resting my eyes!"

"In the dark?" Ford asked. "Would you prefer Soos or me to drive?"

Stan grumbled and crossed his arms, but decided he wasn't going to win this fight. He nudged Ford and changed the topic. "Now, that Latin was all Greek to me—but is it just me, or is his Hebrew better than yours?"

He was saying it to be annoying. Ford knew he was trying to be annoying. It worked. Ford was annoyed. "Well—of course he's better. He's probably been speaking it three thousand years. And his accent's probably just as old."

"Ah, excuses. Bet his Latin's better, too."

He was doing it on purpose. He was doing it on purpose. "You wouldn't know Latin from Latvian!"

"This isn't about me." Stan gave Ford his most annoying grin. "Hey—when did you pick up Latin, anyway?"

At least he wasn't teasing anymore. "I took it for an undergrad foreign language requirement."

"You just couldn't go for something useful that living people speak, huh?"

"On the contrary, Latin's been enormously useful in my study of weirdness. It's very popular with sorcerers and occultists alike," Ford said. "And it got us out of that bar brawl in Atlantis, didn't it?"

"That gobbledygook was Latin? I thought it was some kind of mermaid language. Or Italian," Stan said. "Good job going to the only college in the world teaching Conversational Latin, I guess."

Ford grimaced. "Actually... I only learned to read and write Latin at Backupsmore. The reason I can speak it... is Bill."

"Oh," Stan said. "Right."

An uncomfortable silence settled over them, the way it always did when Stan asked where'd you pick up—? or how'd you learn about—? and Ford had to say Bill. It was an answer that demanded more questions that Stan didn't really want to ask and Ford didn't really want to answer. Usually, when Ford said Bill, Stan changed the topic.

Ford didn't mind avoiding it. Sure, Stan already knew the most humiliating parts of Ford's history with Bill. How he had waxed poetic—called Bill divine, a deity, blessed, a miracle, a muse—been inspired to draw sunrises and sunbeams and constellations and nebulas because a mere drawing of an eye in a triangle couldn't convey the all-encompassing awe Ford's muse filled him with; how Ford had blindly trusted Bill with his body and mind; how he'd really thought that monster was his best friend. So it wasn't as though Ford had anything left to hide. Talking about Bill wasn't shameful anymore.

It was just... painful. It was hard to talk about just how enraptured Ford had been by an interdimensional grifter. Hard to talk about how nothing else had enraptured him so much since. All that for a two-dimensional two-bit con artist who'd been slumming it in the lawless no man's land between civilized dimensions, now chained up on a dingy mattress in Ford's cellar. Nothing sparkled quite like fool's gold.

But—it was also impossible to ignore a topic that was sleeping just a flight of stairs away. Stan shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his gaze on the weeds sprouting in the shack's parking lot. "So," he said, and Ford nearly flinched. "How are... uh..." Stan cleared his throat and tried again. "You good?"

Ah, the famed emotional sensitivity of Pines men. Ford tried to think of a way to express the tumult of negative emotions that running into Bill again had reawakened. "Eh." He made a so-so gesture with a hand. (He'd always been better at expressing himself in writing.) "I'm not as surprised as I wish I was. As soon as his book showed up, we knew this was possible."

Stan nodded. "I always kinda thought you were waiting for this." (Had Ford been waiting for it?) "You weren't... expecting it, right?"

"Wh—? No! Of course not! It just stands to reason—an indestructible book by a professional con artist, it only has to fall in the hands of one person ready to be manipulated—that doesn't mean I wanted—"

"Whoa, easy Sixer. I'm not accusing you of anything, I'm just... you know—checking in." Stan put a reassuring hand on Ford's shoulder. "You're the one who's called yourself a recovering Cipherholic, gotta make sure my brother's not falling off the wagon."

Ford supposed that was warranted. He couldn't deny that even now, he didn't fully trust himself around Bill. "There's no risk of that." Especially not with Stan looking out for him.

"You sure? Not interested in asking him about the secrets of the universe?"

"Absolutely not."

"Maybe some time travel kung fu tips so you can go for your black belt?"

"As I recall, Bill claimed he was self taught," Ford said, with a tone of faint disapproval. "If I'm going to ask anybody for advice on time travel combat, I think it should be Dipper and Mabel." He could feel himself relaxing a tiny bit. It didn't make the whole situation better, but it was reassuring to remind himself that even with Bill right there, Ford wanted neither to follow him until the end of time nor to hunt him to the ends of the earth. "I just want to get rid of him."

Stan paused. "Yeah." His hand dropped from Ford's shoulder and he crossed his arms. "You and me both."

####

Apparently Bill really had fallen back asleep that fast, because he didn't stir as the Pines and Soos gagged him and carried him into the back of Stan's car. Soos sat in the back with the prisoner and his baseball bat, and Ford and Stan silently envied him for not having to turn his back on Bill. The car pulled away from the Mystery Shack with its headlights off.

Moments later, Dipper and Mabel followed on bikes.

####

(If you enjoyed, I'd appreciate a comment!)

[thefallenangel2008]

Evil Little Shooting Star AU: The deal

Mabel was in the woods. She had run away from the Mystery Shack and was now sitting against a tree. She couldn't believe her brother wanted to leave her behind...

"Only party chocolate can cheer me up now..." She muttered. She took off her backpack and searched through it, only to find a bunch of science-y stuff. "Nerd books?! To the pins! Ugh, wrong backpack." She rolled her eyes and pushed it away. "It's not fair... I just wish summer could last forever..." She pulled the neck of her sweater up her head and the hem of it over her knees. She hugged herself and she was officially in sweatertown.

It really wasn't fair. How could Dipper want to be away from her? Didn't he love her anymore? She didn't want them to end up like Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford, but... Maybe it was inevitable. Maybe that's a Pines curse, or maybe that's just what happens with twins everywhere.

She didn't want much. She just wanted to be with her brother. What if their parents ended up getting a divorce? She didn't want to go through that alone while Dipper was living his best life here.

"Awww, is little Shooting Star here all sad?"

"What? Who said that?" Mabel was sure she could recognize that voice. She slowly lowered the sweater neck. She glanced right and left before noticing the yellow triangle floating above her. Even without a mouth she could tell that he would have been grinning. "Bill!"

"Did you miss me? Admit it, you missed me!" He spoke in a happy and cheeky voice.

"Stay back! I have a flashlight and I'm not afraid to use it!" She got up and grabbed the flashlight. She turned it on and off repeatedly.

Bill rolled his eye. "Relax, Shooting Star, I'm not here to hurt you!" He snapped his fingers and the flashlight vanished from the girl's hands. "I actually quite like you! It'd be a shame for that chaotic mind of yours to go to waste!"

She raised a curious eyebrow. "R- really?" She sniffled and wiped her watery eyes. "Then why are you here?"

"A little birdy told me that good ol' Sixer wants to keep Pine Tree here! And from the looks of it you're not taking it very well!"

Mabel hugged herself and looked away. "It's just that... I've never been away from Dipper before, and, now that our parents are talking about a divorce, I thought that- I thought that we would stay together..." She fidgeted with a strand of hair and put it between her teeth.

"I know the feeling, Shooting Star." Bill sounded oddly empathetic as he put his hand around her shoulders. "I know what it's like being left behind, and being cast away for being... Different."

She sniffled again. "You- you do?"

"Of course I do! Every freak does!"

Mabel frowned a little. "You think I'm a freak...?"

"You say that as if it's a bad thing! Cheer up kiddo! Being normal is overrated. Like, do you really think you're normal?" The triangle waved his hand in a dismissive way. "Pfft, come on! I haven't seen many kids your age fight off gnomes, fist fight unicorns or straight up eat glitter! And I've seen... A L O T..." He slowly floated closer to her. It was like he was becoming bigger, his singular eye wide and making him look threatening. Mabel suddenly felt small and unsafe in his presence.

Bill suddenly backed away and laughed. "You'll fit right in with my Henchmaniacs! And I can help you stay with your brother for as long as you want! Easy peasy!"

Mabel stared at him curiously. "... Why do you want to help me?"

"Us freaks need to stay together, Shooting Star. In a world where we are outcasts, we need to have eachother. That's the only way we survive."

"Well that sounds depressing..." She muttered.

"But it doesn't have to be that way anymore! I can make the world a better place for us. Here's the thing. I can help you stick with your brother in exchange for an itsy bitsy thing..." He squinted at her in a mischievous way. Bill came close to her and put his hand around her shoulders again.

"What?"

He floated away from her and acted as if he was looking at his nails carelessly. "I just need you to get this thing for me from your grunkle." His eye suddenly acted as if it was a TV, showing something that looked like a snow globe. "With the Rift I will be able to get my plan to start."

She thought about it. "Huh... Maybe Dipper has something like that in his nerd bag." She knelt down and looked through the bag. She eventually pulled out the thing, the Rift. "Huh, that's... Odd... Is this it?"

Bill looked ecstatic all of the sudden, a bit unhinged, even. "Yes, that's it! Now come on kid, give it to me unless you want to leave Gravity Falls."

Mabel stared down at the rift in fascination. She then looked at Bill's eager expression. She frowned uncertainly and drew the Rift closer to herself. "But... What happens if I give it to you?"

"I'll fix the world! It'll be a world where freaks rule and a world where you'll stay with your brother no matter what! If you join my Henchmaniacs you'll be able to do whatever you want with no consequences! You can throw a gigantic party where everyone can join! You can even make your parents not separate! Just hand it over and I promise you your brother will stick to your side no matter what. So what do you say kid? Do we have a deal?" He extended his hand, blue flames coming out of it.

"Deal."

[fanficsiwillneverwrite]

Gravity Falls: See You Next Summer

What is the scariest part of growing up? Is it the process of you changing and growing, or is it seeing the people closest to you also change? I thought I had all this stuff figured out last year, but the world is chaos, crazier than I could ever imagine. Crazier than Bill could ever create. I’m terrified of what the future holds for me, for everyone.

I thought I’d be happy being back. And I am. I’ve actually been counting the days. The guys back home are still and will always be brutes (bullies, despite everything) and the girls want nothing to do with me. But now going back, I don’t know. I can’t explain it. I can’t wait to see everyone. But…

Who will I become, even after everything? And is it wrong for me to admit sometimes I do want to see this world burn? I’m not going to… obviously I don’t actually want to

In my worst moment can I still trust myself to make the right decision? I don’t know.

Grunkle Ford says not to worry, about him coming back. I’m not sure I believe him. I’m not sure he believes himself. I think, maybe…

Well, think of it this way:

Like the sun is meant to set and then rise again the next morning, like a flashlight is meant to give you light when there’s only darkness, Bill is always going to find a way to come back.

—

Dipper stops his shaking hand, deciding to look out the window before the thought consumes his mind. Sometimes he obsesses over it. He dreams about shaking his stone hand and seeing the world collapse into utter chaos. It’s always a trick. He never means to actually do it. But he can just get so angry sometimes…

“You seem so quiet,” reflects Mabel beside him, a glue stick in one hand and a polaroid picture of a blurry tree in the other. She’s scrapbooking their journey back to Gravity Falls.

The song Mr. Rager starts on the radio. Dad turns it up, nodding his head to the beat. He remains unaware of the weirdness that is Gravity Falls. He remains unaware of Grunkle Ford and the truth behind the Stan brothers. It’s safer this way, Ford says—Dipper isn’t too sure. It feels wrong keeping everything from him.

He closes his journal. “It’s just–”

“We’re winding down here, kids,” dad tells them as they pass a sign saying, ‘Gravity Falls: 5 miles,’ and Dipper adjusts Wendy’s hat. It reeks of sweat and generic men’s body spray. Just another part of growing up. All perfectly natural, dad tells him after Mabel teases him about it.

The thought is already gone. He moves on, no longer dwelling on the world’s impending doom, and him being the possible cause of it. They’re one year older, which means one year wiser. Right?

“It’s… nothing,” he tells her.

Mabel, not quite believing him, continues scrapbooking as Dad starts singing along to the song, even though he doesn’t know the words. And Dipper looks down at his journal: the big dipper is glued onto the cover to embrace his own anomaly, like Ford.

A nervousness settles within him. He pictures Bill tipping his top hat and holding up a martini glass in his honor. Here’s looking at you, kid, he says.

Dipper shivers, blinking the thought away. His attention returns to the window. The blurry trees are all that he sees. He begins nodding his head to the beat of the song with his dad. It’s all in his head. It’s all in his head…

[a-gil-rebel]

People have been leaving some really nice comments on my Reverse Portal AU X C!GF fic "Wrong Twin" on AO3, so I wanted to share some of my favorite scenes I wrote in chapter 1!

"Mabel!" Dipper scolded, "Sorry Mason, I didn't mean to." Mason just laughed, waving away puffs of flour and rolling up his left sleeve to get the flour away from his hands.

"No worries, I can change later." Dipper stared at his arm, and couldn't help but blurt out.

"Is that the telescopium constellation??" Mason jumped a bit before looking down at his arm and laughing.

"Oh right- yeah, I started getting more constellations appearing when I hit puberty, so that might be something you can look forward to. Theyre all down my left arm for now, though I'm sure more will show up later."

"That's so cool!" Dipper flapped his hands and Mason laughed.

"Yeah, scared the hell out of our parents at first but, just more Pines Family weirdness. Honestly, I'm glad I got to keep the Big Dipper in the end, I guess facial reconstruction on a child is pricier than just removing the extra fingers."

Mason jumped at crash that followed, everyone turning quickly to Ford, who had the remains of a coffee mug at his feet.

"Wh...what did you just say?"

Mason blinked, and even Mabel looked confused. "The... wait, were you two born without polydactyl hands?" He asked Dipper, who was looking at him like he grew and extra head.

"I mean, in our family Ford is the only one with six fingers." Mason shook his head a bit in disbelief.

"Thats.... huh. I mean it is a dominant trait but I'm not too surprised you don't have it."

"What do you mean, removing them?" Ford almost demanded, and Mason and Mabel came over to show him his left hand, and her right, where along the pinky on each hand, there was a small surgical scar from the base of the knuckle to the wrist.

"We didn't really find out we even had them until we were older and Stanley found out what had happened." Mason shrugged as Ford looked over their hands.

"He tore mom and dad a new one that night. It explained why there were no baby pictures of us till we were almost a year old." Mabel added.

"Woah woah, wait. So you two were both born with six fingers, and your parents cut them off!?" Dipper exclaimed. Mason scratched his neck with his free hand.

"Were they... double jointed? Conjoined?" Ford asked, still looking down at their hands. Mason frowned.

"No... they were healthy, just like yours. Our parents just saw a flaw, I'm not even sure they knew you well enough to know you had six fingers too.... Ford I'm sorry."

Ford looked up at them both and finally let their hands go, hiding his own behind his back again. "You have nothing to be sorry for... excuse me." He rushed past them, and Mason felt something like guilt settle in his stomach. Dipper and Mabel started to go after him, but Stanley told them to stay put, and went after him himself.

------------‐------------------------------------

Mabel woke up to the room being silent, which wasn't good. Even though they had their own rooms back in California, she could usually still hear her brother snoring through the wall. A silent room meant he'd walked out. Groaning, she heaved herself off the bed and slipped into her shoes. The makeshift gag he had on was on the floor by the door. If she was lucky, he only made is as far as the kitchen, but she'd definitely found him outside before. Sneaking out the door, she whispered for Mason, just in case he'd somehow woken himself up. No reply, and no creaking, not good. She looked around a bit still, expecting to find him facing a corner like some kind of horror movie, finding nothing until she heard a creak of wood above her.

No.

Theres no way.

The shuffling sound continued above her, and she bounded outside to look up at the roof, the almost full moon illuminating the house better than any flashlight could. Her stomach dropped when she saw a figure swaying, stumbling toward the tip of the shack.

No.

Nononono!

"Shit Dip, how the hell did you get up there!?" She whispered, quickly running around the house to figure out how he got up there. Finding a drain pipe that looked somewhat sturdy, she used the window next to it to try and shimmy up it, but once she got a grip on the edge of the gutter, the whole corner fell off, and she fell back onto the damp grass, groaning.

------------‐------------------------------------

Is this a shameless plug? Maybe. Maybe I just like sharing my writing. 🤔🤷

[asterkiss]

4. "Just remember if we get caught, you're deaf and I don't speak English" with Mabel and Bill please?

4. Remember if we get caught, you’re deaf and I don’t speak English.” Highschool!AU time! Because why not? This... took on a life of its own. Have some MaBill makeouts. Nothing too raunchy but teen rated.

- BREAK IN

'Hold this.’

Mabel almost dropped the backpack as the blond threw it in her direction. She grunted, holding it with both arms as he began fiddling with the door lock before them.

‘Jeez, what do you have in this thing?’ she said, eventually dropping it to the floor between her feet. ‘You’re worse than Dipper with his millions of books.’

His face soured at that even as his gaze remained focus on the door lock. ‘Rule one for tonight, don’t bring up Pine Tree.’

‘Why? Because he beat you on the maths test?’

He shot her a dark look, and she smiled brightly. ‘Kidding, kidding.’ She didn’t want to piss him off and have him stop helping her.

He regarded her for a moment longer before resuming his actions. A moment later there was an audible click and he stood up straihgt. ‘Alright, we’re in.’

The pair entered through the door, walking into the high school which was eerily quiet and empty in the dead of night. They’d come through a back door leading into the end of a corridor on the first floor.

Mabel pulled out her flashlight except his hand came out and plucked it out of her grasp. ‘Hey!’

‘No lights, idiot,’ he said, and she could just make out his stern expression from the light still filtering in from outside through the open door.

‘Well how are we meant to see?’ she asked as he closed the door behind them, plunging them into complete darkness.

‘Give it a second, your eyes will adjust. Don’t you know anything?’

Mabel frowned, not appreciating the jabs he kept shooting at her. Then again, Candy had warned her that Bill Cipher was an asshole when she mentioned she would be asking him for help.

‘I am sorry I can’t help you Mabel, but I am too ill to get out of bed. If you really want to fix things, you should go to Bill Cipher in my computing class. He is an A-Grade asshole but when it comes to computer hacking he is second best to me. Make sure you tell him that when you ask him for help.’

So she had. And he’d gotten really annoyed, insulting Candy and stating he’d help her out just to prove he was number one. Mabel wondered why it was the smartest guys that were somehow still the dumbest.

‘Rule two, stick by me and don’t go wandering off.’

They began to walk down the corridor, their footsteps echoing throughout the empty building. Her eyes did eventually adjust and she could make out his shilouette walking ahead of her.

‘Sooo, any other plans for tonight?’ she asked, disrupting the quiet atmosphere. ‘Other than breaking in with me, I mean.’

‘Eating babies and kicking some puppies.’

'Huh?’ Mabel looked at the back of his head in bafflement before a second passed. ‘You’re messing with me.’

‘You could tell?’

‘Do you act like a dick to everybody?’

‘Yep, it’s fun! You should try it.’ He glanced over his shoulder as they walked past a window, his face briefly allumianted and revealing the amusement dancing in his eyes. ‘I bet the old codgers in this place would have a hernia if you suddenly switched it up and told them to fuck off.’

‘I’m not going to do that!’

He shrugged, resuming his attention forward. ‘Have it your way, be boring.’

‘I’ll be nice!’

‘Same thing.’

>

>

>

They eventually found their way to the teachers office, where Bill pulled out his laptop from his bag and conncted himself to a computer. Mabel stood behind him, swaying on the spot as she watched him do... well, whatever it was you needed to hack in.

'Are you in yet?’ she asked after several minutes.

‘No.’

More minutes passed by.

‘Now?’

‘No.’

More minutes.

‘What about now-’

‘Do you ever shut up?’ he asked, shooting her an irritated stare.

Mabel blinked back at him. ‘Not really. I drive my brother up the wall.’

Bill glanced back down at his laptop. ‘You and your brother are both annoying in different ways.’

Before she could respond a light suddenly flashed through the door and they both froze as the sound of footsteps drew near. Bill cursed, closing his laptop and plunging the room into darknesss once again. He dropped to the floor beneath the desk, grabbing her arm as he yanked her down alongside. She released a small yell of surprise at the abruptness of it, the sound piercing through the air before he could slap a hand over her mouth.

‘Hey! Who’s in there!?’

Bill swore under his breath, his warm hand still covering her mouth. There wasn’t much space under the desk, and she was practically kneeling in his lap.

As the door to the room began to creak open, he whispered in her ear. Mabel shivered as his lips brushed against her, his breath fanning over her skin. Being all alone in the dark with a guy was kinda exciting.

But then she reminded herself who it was and quickly shoved those thoughts aside. Down girl. 

‘Rule three: if we get caught, you're deaf and I don't speak English,’ he hissed. 

They remained silent as the security guard walked through the room in the dark, his flashlight meandering over the desks and flooring. As the light shone on their side of the room, it lit up their positions briefly and she flinched as it revealed just how precarious their positon was. His face was inches from her own, and the dancing shadows cast by the moving light only served to highlight his features. His hands were still on her, one covering her mouth (almost as if he didn’t trust her to be quiet) and the other gripping her elbow and was it her, or was it suddenly warm in here?

They both stared at one another, her eyes wide in panic and his scrutinising as he regarded her expression. 

The light eventually went away, but she knew he was there. Her heart beat rampantly against her ribcage, willing the guard to hurry up and leave so they could move.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, the door closed. Mabel pulled herself away with a gasp, taking in a deep gulp of air she didn’t realise she’d been holding in.

But then, just as she was about to stand she heard the door open - again!?

Bill’s grip on her arm tightened, and she felt his hand reaching around her head as he tugged her back towards him.

He covered her mouth again before she could make a sound, but this time he didn’t use his hand.

Mabel’s mind internally screamed as she felt the unmistakable sensation of his mouth over her own. What, what, what!? Whaaaaaaaat!? Was she dreaming right now? Was this a hallucination? What. Was. Happening!?

As his hand left her elbow to snake around her waist, he tugged her closer so she was pressed flush against him. She would have gasped if she was able, but instead he took the opportunity of her lips parting to plunge his tongue into her mouth.

Into. Her. Mouth.

Oh my god. She was defintiely dreaming. This didn’t happen. Her mind was melting, all thoughts turning to goo and dripping away until there was nothing left behind except the feel of his lips against hers. 

Wow, he was a really good kisser.

‘There’s nothing in here, Ian. I checked.’

‘You sure?’

She froze at the sound of two voices, her mind returning somewhat to reality as she became aware of the guards standing in the door. Bill pulled his lips away and she thought he was stopping to listen to the security, but instead she felt something wet against her bare neck as his lips brushed over her skin. She jumped, eyes wide in the darkness as her heart threatened to burst out of its ribcage. She could feel a tight sensation coiling in her stomach, lips pressing together to contain a whine and when he began to suck on her skin she gasped. Was he giving her a freaking hickey?

‘What was that?’

‘What was what?’

Both of his hands grabbed her face as his mouth crashed against hers again, and she squeezed her eyes shut as she kissed him again. Oh look at that, she was kissing him back. When had that happened? I mean, could you blame her? There was only so much hot and heavy a girl could take from an attractive guy (yes, he was attractive, she could admit that!) before she gave in.

‘Be quiet,’ he growled between kisses, and although he meant it as a warning the deep voice made her stomach flip. 

She wasn't sure how long she sat there making out with Bill Cipher, it felt like forever but in reality it was probably only a couple of minutes.

Her mind was completely frazzled when he finally pulled away leaving her dizzy. Her lips felt swollen, her hair unkempt, and she was pretty sure she'd have a hickey on her collar bone come morning.

'All right, they're gone,' Bill said, grabbing his laptop as he resumed his seat and acted normal. He opened the device up, powering it back on. 'It should take me long to get in and out.'

Mabel looked up at him from the floor, all coherent thoughts long gone.

'Uh....' Were they just meant to act like that hadn't happened?

He peered down at her, and she noted how tusseled his hair was from where she'd run her hands through it several times. Other than that, he didn't seem worked up one bit.

'What class is it you want changing?' he asked, arching an eyebrow as he looked back towards the screen.

Mabel blinked, trying to force her mind into gear again. 'Class?'

'Yeah.'

Mabel stared at him for several seconds before finally struggling to put a sentence together. 'But I'm not trying to change my grades.'

Bill paused in his movements, slowly dropping his gaze back down towards her. '...Then why the hell did you want me to hack into the school database?'

Mabel paused. She'd orchestrated this whole thing to get into the student files and find out some information on one of the most popular guys in the year. She figured if she knew his birthday and stuff like that she'd have a shot over the other girls.

(Not unhinged and stalker-ish at all).

But that seemed stupid now. And honestly, Mr. Whats-His-Face was long since cast from her thoughts curtesy of the fella in front of her.

Yeah, there was no way she could admit the truth now.

'Kidding, ha!' She forced a laugh. 'Of course I want you to change my grade for, uh..... maths?'

Bill looked fowards. 'Maths, huh?' A moment later. 'Wow, you really suck at this. I ain't putting it too high or that'll be suspicious. A passing C will do ya, right?'

'Yeah...'

Bill worked away and Mabel pinched herself on the arm but no dice, this apparently wasn't a dream.

What the heck?

>

As they left the building behind and walked down the streets, she observed the boy from the corner of her eye.

'Sooo, are we not going to talk about what happened?'

'Hm?'

'I'm talking about the smoochville that happened back there!' she cried, not able to hold it in anymore. She stepped in front of him, jabbing a finger in his direction. 'You stuck your tongue down my throat!'

Bill blinked. 'You didn't seem to mind.'

'Th-That's not the point,' she replied, face red. 'Why did you do that?'

He paused for a moment, appearing to consider her question. 'Three reasons, I guess.'

'Three?'

'Yup. First of all, I know it would piss off Pine Tree if he found out I swapped spit with his twin sister.'

'Wha-' Mabel's face turned even redder this time, but from anger. But before she could yell, he steamed on.

'Second, to keep you quiet.'

Mabel's face twisted, anger rising. She was going to punch him in the face.

'And thirdly,' Bill said, suddenly leaning closer with a wry smile. She scowled as they stood eye to eye, hands clenched at her sides. He remained unphased by her obvious malice however, reaching out to push a lock of hair behind her ear. 'Because I wanted to.'

'You asshole-'

'I might wanna do it again even,' he tumbled on, straightening up as he leaned away.

Mabel faltered at that. 'Huh?'

'If that's alright with you,' he added, winking.

Her mind had short circuited again. She looked up at him in bewilderment. 'Why?' she asked, eyebrows drawing together as her expression became pinched. 'To piss off my brother?'

'Well that can be a bonus,' he replied casually with a shrug. 'Main reason is I think you're attractive and liked kissing you.' He arched an eyebrow. 'Is that good enough for you?'

'Uh...' Mabel was caught off guard. Usually she was the one coming on to guys in a forward manner, not the other way around. 'Only if you don't tell Dipper.' Not only would her brother freak that she was making out with his arch-nemesis, but that way she knew he wasn't fooling around with her just for the sake of sticking it to her brother.

He thought over her words for a moment, before grinning and reaching out a hand. 'You got yourself a deal.'

'Sure?' She took his hand, shaking on it. This was bizarre.

'See ya tomorrow,' he brushed past her and walked away into the night, leaving her alone with only her thoughts for company.

The girls were not going to believe this.

[lkfarrout]

What Happened Last Summer (18+) Chapter 10

Last chapter of the main story but there's still more to come :)

Start with Chapter 1 here if you're new and read Chapter 11 next

Enjoy! Thank you to everyone who has stuck through with this series, it's been super encouraging!

“Can I put the code in, Grunkle Ford? I’ve never gotten to do it.”

“Go ahead, Mabel. Do you know it?”

“I think so,” Mabel tiptoed to see the panel on the vending machine in the dim light of the closed gift shop. With a few beeps, the large machine swung open to reveal a passageway, and Stan’s grip on Kathy’s hand tightened slightly. Ford led the way with the small flashlight he always kept in his pocket, with Dipper and Mabel close behind.

“Watch your step, pumpkin.” The light wasn’t quite bright enough to be useful for Kathy and Stan, who brought up the rear. Still, he confidently led her along, as if he knew the passageway like the back of his hand. 

____

“Don’t get too close,” Ford held an arm out in front of the twins, “it still isn’t completely stable.” The sheer enormity of the thing was incredible. Kathy stared in awe at the massive chasm that surrounded her, and the giant triangle that stood as the focal point of it all. Even with chunks missing, and cables strewn about the concrete floor, it was still impressive.

“You built all of this, Stanford?” She asked.

“Hardly,” Ford placed both hands into his coat pockets, “Bill designed it, Fiddleford assembled most of it, and Stanley here perfected it. My job now is just to clean up the mess I started.”

The group fell quiet again as they all gazed around the cold room.

Ford broke the silence once again, “I could use some help, you know, Stanley. Removing some of the larger pieces will require both of us.”

Stan scoffed at him, “Sixer, you got ‘em up there yourself.”

Dipper cleared his throat and stared at Ford, as if to remind him of something they’d previously discussed. The latter sighed, defeated, “And, I suppose things would go faster if you could explain to me a few of those final calculations you did.”

Stan perked up. He slapped a hand onto his twin’s shoulder and leaned an ear in, close to his face. “Sorry, didn't quite catch that. You said you need my help with what?”

“With math,” Stanford rolled his eyes, “I need your help with some math.”

Kathy and the kids giggled.

Stan continued to relish in the moment, “Oh, I know what’s goin’ on. You got me confused with my brother – see, he’s got all these fancy degrees, but I never made it through high school.” He inspected his fingernails casually. “Course, that wasn’t my fault.”

Ford took the hint. “Stanley, I’m sorry I got you kicked out, but I could really use your help. I’m a little… rusty after thirty years.”

Stan slapped his brother playfully between the shoulder blades, “Why didn’t ya say so, Poindexter? Course I’ll help you.”

[harper-collins]

When You're Missing A Face [Halloween Special]

Dipper had gotten himself in a bit of trouble just a day before Halloween and needed a way to sort things out quickly... Little did he know what he was getting himself into.

WARNING: GORY!! Graphic descriptions of gore and slight violence. Please be aware and do NOT read this if you're squeamish about that sort of thing.

Requested by @tinyriver-neonlights (I hope you enjoy!)

“Dipper, why don’t you come? You are dressed for the part!” Mabel pressed, looking at her brother with a slight amount of disdain. The male brunette could only shake his head. He had a large frown on his face, but it wasn’t visible as he had a mask over his face. It covered the majority of his face and didn’t show anything of the features you could see, and that, Dipper liked.

“I told you, Mabel, I have plans,” he replied, moving to grab a coat and his bag. She pouted and watched her brother for a moment. “You didn’t tell me about these plans! Is it with Pacifica?” She asked hopefully, a twinkle showing. Dipper’s frown deepened, just because he was bisexual, didn’t necessarily mean he wanted what many men and lesbians thought was the sexiest woman in Gravity Falls. He may have had the slightest little crush on her when they were twelve, but that was just him trying to get over Wendy, and by the time he’d returned a year later to see his uncles, he couldn’t have cared less.

“She’s coming to the party isn’t she?” Dipper pressed, his voice getting a little scratchy with his patience running out. “Ohh yeah… So what are you doing?” She asked, moving a small bit of her hair out of the way of her face. The male shook his head and began to walk towards the door, he wasn’t going to tell her even if she begged him. It was too dangerous, he shouldn’t have even thought of doing this himself, but he was desperate.

“Look, just have a nice time at the party alright? And uhh… Say hi to Gideon or whatever for me,” he told her and left. He closed the door before she could even muster a response. As soon as that door was shut he got going, speed-walking into the forest before his sister could run after him. With it getting dark earlier now, and him wearing black, it was easy to completely miss him in the darkness. It helped Dipper feel a little better about his circumstances, but he knew it wouldn’t be for long.

Next was the long trip to his planned Halloween evening. It was far enough so no one would disturb him or get hurt, but close enough that Dipper could find his way back without trouble if something went wrong. He was hoping his possible partner wouldn’t recognise their surroundings though, as things could end up going seriously wrong otherwise.

The path was long and windy, its twists and turns also proving to be a bit of a challenge at times. Halfway through said journey, it began to be a little too dark for Dipper’s tastes, so he whipped out a quick flashlight from his blazer pocket and continued on his trek undeterred. By the time he had arrived at the final place for his plan, it was around 8 pm and a continuous run would take him around half an hour of praying that he wouldn’t trip without his light before he got back to the Shack.

Despite this backup plan though, he was hoping that he wouldn’t have to use it, after all, he was tired of hiding what others thought was him getting into the mood of Halloween, tired of feeling the constant burning and prickling of his skin every time it brushed up against anything. He may have been able to bandage some things up, but others were impossible without anyone finding out. Which was why he was hoping for a quick get-out-of-jail-free card with what he was about to do. 

Clearing his throat, Dipper opened his bag took out the second journal and flipped over the page that Gideon had taken out of the book which had been half-heartedly taped back together by himself. Bill Cipher’s summoning page… The one he’d used to get Bill to go into Stan’s mind all those years ago.  There had been no word of Bill since their final battle, but Dipper had always had this distinct feeling that he’d never truly left. Surprisingly Stanford had lost that feeling, but Dipper thought it more of a relief after reading how badly the demon had affected the other’s mental health.

Shortly after this, he began to set things up, such as getting the most recent picture of himself that he could find that he had scribbled his eyes out with, setting up the eight-candle circle formation and placing the picture in the middle. After quickly lighting them all up, Dipper stepped back with his mask being kept on and he began to read from the book using his flashlight.

“Triangulum, Entangulum. Meteforis Dominus Ventium. Meteforis Venetisarium!” He spoke, looking down at the circle with anticipation. From the little holes of the mask, Dipper’s eyes began to light up as he began to speak seemingly gibberish as a triangle began to appear inside of the circle. Once the light inside of the brunette’s eyes had subsided, he looked over in front of him to see the triangle, the myth, the legend… He had to gulp in the nervousness that coursed through his veins.

“Well well well well well well well! What do we have here?” Bill asked, looking around and quickly realising where they were. Dipper kept silent as he watched the other look around before finally having his eye land on the brunette himself. “Well… I was expecting you the least Pinetree after what happened last time,” Bill spoke loudly, laughing to himself in the way that always made Dipper’s skin crawl in hatred before. Things hadn’t changed.

“Yeah well, when you have to be called as my last option, things are getting pretty dire,” he snapped, looking for pure hatred, although Bill wouldn’t have been able to see it past the mask. “Yeah yeah, how long has it been Pinetree? You’ve had quite the growth spurt since I last saw ya! And where’s Shooting Star? Surely she would be here! Unless… She doesn’t know what’s going on,” Bill guessed. Dipper decided to just ignore the demon’s attempt at angering or making him uncomfortable, so he decided to answer his first question.

“It’s been about eleven years since you were last here,” he sourly replied, crossing his arms as he watched the demon. “So, what do you want Pinetree? For a price of course,” Bill replied, his voice as high pitched as it always had been, scratching just the one itch that Dipper hated to be itched. “Well… I need you to fix something,” he awkwardly began, putting a hand on the back of his neck as he moved positions to one of discomfort.

“Whatcha want fixing? Is it a body part? Is it something you got in that bag? A relationship?” Bill suggested, trying to probe and prompt the other. Dipper sighed and kept his head away from the other. “I think it would just be easier if I just showed you,” he murmured, keeping his voice low. The demon put a hand out to tell the brunette he was ready, and with heavy hesitation, Dipper took his mask off.

What Bill had been expecting… Well, it was nothing like this. As the mask dropped, blood cascaded out, landing on the floor in front, almost landing on the other’s smart shoes. As the other looked up to see the damage, he almost felt a little shocked himself. It wasn’t a simple cut or two, no, it was something much worse. There was no skin where his face should be, the only bits left that could be represented as skin were limply hanging at the sides of his face, near to his cheekbones, where you could see a bit of bone peeking out.

With the skin torn off, his entire face was continuously bleeding, making it look like the other was crying non-stop, only the tears were blood and they weren’t just coming from the eyes. One of the brunette’s eyes was blind too, Bill noticed, as he got a little closer to examine his face. As he examined further, he could see that there was still a slash mark beginning from Dipper’s left eye, the blind one, to his bottom right chin and then even further down, although that wasn’t too visible due to the black suit that the other was wearing.

There were no lips, nor were there any cheeks. All you could see was Dipper’s teeth, half of a tongue and more bits of his skull. Bill couldn’t even pinpoint what could’ve done this in the forest. Bill moved back a little to give the other some space as he slowly watched the other. The demon got the distinct feeling that Dipper hadn’t told a soul about his face, or what had happened. Why else would he be here alone in the dark?

“How did you manage to keep that a secret?” Bill blurted, instead of the fairly obvious ‘How are you still alive being a mortal flesh bag?’. Dipper turned and took the mask back off the floor, and the demon watched closely as the small bits of flesh that were still hanging on by a thread moved fluidly with each movement the other took.

“I’ve been using this mask, I kept putting tissues and gauzes there to try and lessen the damage, but that ended up just making it worse,” Dipper explained, showing the mask insides. It looked as though it had been painted a light shade of red, but Bill knew it was stained instead of painted. The entire show had taken Bill off-guard, and he’d completely forgotten that he wasn’t here to just examine the other’s blatant wound.

“So erm…. Do you think you’d be able to fix it?” Dipper meekly asked. He would’ve looked cute if it wasn’t for his face being torn apart. Bill thought to himself for a moment as he watched the other. He could do his thing and purposefully screw Dipper over… Or he could put his revenge plan into motion… Suddenly, it had been decided. Bill got closer to the male before talking, wanting to see every emotion that was visible in… the mess of a face the other held.

“Well, that depends, what do you have to offer?” Bill asked, giving the other a grating laugh as he stayed close to the brunette. If it was possible to show disgust, Dipper was pulling that face. He hadn’t brought anything. He had been hoping that Bill would do something like curse him to get payback whilst also sorting out his face. Not this.

As Dipper reflected on his idiotic hopes, however, he realised where he had misplaced his hope. After the last time with his body, he should have known that the other wouldn’t have been that nice. “I can get you something from Ford’s lab,” Dipper offered, feeling hesitant about the proposition. In reality, Dipper was ready to give anything away to fix his face. No one had known he’d had it torn off, and he felt desperate to fix it before they got suspicious.

“Mighty offer to me Pinetree, but I was talking something better than that,” Bill murmured, chuckling shortly after. What could he possibly want that was better than Ford’s inventions? Some of those things could seriously damage a creature. Sighing, Dipper kept his eyes away from the demon as he briefly thought of what could be better, only for his mind to come up with nothing.

“Well…” Dipper awkwardly began, turning back to the demon. “What do you want if it’s not Ford’s things?” he questioned, his voice heavily hinting at his exasperation. Bill hummed momentarily and circled Dipper as he did so. This was very unnecessary as the demon already knew what he wanted, this was more for dramatic effect because, of course, Bill would do that.

“Make me a body and I’ll fix your face. It has to be tonight because I don’t see how you can last much longer Pinetree, and I’ll help you to make sure you aren’t giving me a worthless piece of meat,” Bill spoke, watching the other with his singular eye. Even though the triangle could not smirk due to his lack of features, it was clear that he sounded very smug about his side of the offer. He also knew under these circumstances that it was highly unlikely for the other to turn him down.

The demon was right on both accounts. Dipper had been surviving off of some drugs he’d found in Ford’s basement, some extra blood packs he’d pushed into his body and trying to fix his face (although that’d only made it worse and caused his life expectancy to go down by a couple of days). The other thing the demon was right about was that Dipper would take this offer because it was the only option he had.

Not telling anyone about the situation and knowing that no doctor would probably be able to fix his face and make sure he didn’t die at the same time meant that he had been efficiently backed into Bill’s corner. Not that this wasn’t already the case before he summoned Bill. Dipper cleared his throat as his mind swirled with possible questions to ask the other. If this was physically possible in any way, then he’d have to do it.

“I need to have some clarifications first,” Dipper mumbled, subconsciously playing with his hands as he spoke. As he partially looked down on himself, the blood from his face began dripping onto his black suit. Some of it also went onto his hands, making the anxious movement a little slippery as he continued to awkwardly play with his hands.

“Please do go on Pinetree,” Bill offered.

“First, will you temporarily fix my face to do the job easier of making the body?” He questioned, moving his hand to touch his face. He stopped just before he touched it, however, thankfully avoiding any infections he might receive from mixing opened flesh with all of the bacteria he held on his hands. “Of course, don’t want you bleeding all over my body, do we?” Bill let out his grating laugh as he finished his sentence, obviously finding this extremely funny.

“Okay then… How are we going to make this body?” He uneasily replied. Watching the triangular being get momentarily confused. “What d’you mean Pinetree? How do you flesh bags usually make another version of yourselves?” Bill asked, his eye frowning a little. Oh. Oh. He didn’t know. Of course, he wouldn’t know… He had been partners with Ford and the male had never been and never would be interested in having children of his own.

“W-well… I’m not sure you want to be in a baby Bill, I thought you wanted an adult body,” the other blurted, feeling embarrassed. As the other felt quite uncomfortably red-faced, some bloody genuinely came to where his cheeks should have been. But as there was no skin there to keep it from going everywhere, the extra blood being pumped to flush his cheeks only pushed out of his body and onto the grass in front of him. The only reaction this caused out of the demon was a cackle at the other’s misfortune. Dipper felt ready to put the mask back on.

Once the demon had calmed down from laughing at the other, moved a little to hover next to the brunette. “I suppose you’re right… Well, I’ll show you what to do then! I’m sure I’ll be able to use my magic to make a good human body,” Bill thoughtfully replied, putting a hand just underneath his eye as though it were a chin for the human body. Dipper kept his eyes away from the other for a moment as he quickly tried to get his blood off of his hands. Once he’d successfully gotten the majority of it off, he turned back over to the demon who’d been watching him closely.

“Deal then?” Dipper asked, watching the demon with his eyes, even if only one was currently working. “Deal,” Bill replied in his smug, grating voice. The demon put a hand out, it glowing in the blue flames the brunette remembered from their last deal from back when he was twelve. He moved and grabbed the other’s hand, shaking it properly. Then it was as though everything happened at once.

He felt a prickling begin in the hand that was shaking the demon’s and then all of a sudden, the prickling moved from his hand up into his face. The feeling caused the brunette to let go of Bill’s hand and take a step back. Everything got momentarily blurry from all sides. His nerves were buzzing, his screen was re-creating itself, and he felt a wave of energy hit him as his blood finally stopped leaving his body. He let out a small shiver once everything had begun to die down. 

Blearily, Dipper moved hastily towards his bag which he’d left on the floor to try and grab the mirror he’d brought. He was walking like a man who’d drank way too much, but he didn’t care, he needed to look at what Bill had done, just in case it was wrong. Once he’d shoved his hand down into the bag, he quickly found what he’d been looking for and awkwardly got up, moving it in front of himself. As he began to stare at himself, he heard Bill chuckle to his side.

Everything was how it had been before, except for one detail. He was still blind in one eye. Even worse than that though, Bill had left a scar around the eye. The creature that had gotten him had three claws and those three had sunk into his face fairly quickly yesterday, but now one of those claws was showing on his face. It gave more the impression that he’d gotten into a swordfight than one with a creature three times his size.

Dipper turned to the demon with raised brows. “Will you get rid of this when I make your body,” he questioned, touching it lightly as he put the mirror back into his bag. Bill only shrugged, not giving a clear answer. The brunette put his hand on his face and sighed. Well, at least he’d live like this. “Right erm… Where do we start?” The human awkwardly asked, watching the demon carefully.

From there, the rest of Halloween became a blur. It was first a gathering of objects, a gathering that led to the death of two deers, visiting a graveyard, and the statue of Bill that had been left behind shortly after Weirdmageddon. There had been other objects, but those had been the most difficult to find and execute. After grabbing everything that was needed, it needed to be placed in a specific place around the small outline of a rather lanky male Bill had made in the mud just in front of his statue.

This had ended up taking another hour of messing around with the objects, as Bill had been rather specific about what had to be where. After all of that, Bill had told him to go back home and rest up, as he’d come over tomorrow. Dipper had questioned the other’s method, but Bill had given affirmation that Bill just needed some time to conjure the magic and work out all the kinks of the human body before they saw one another. Shrugging, the brunette left, knowing the quicker way back to the Mystery Shack from Bill’s Statue.

He put his mask back on due to the scar on his face and shuffled back inside, trying to be as quiet as he could getting back into his bedroom. Thankfully, everyone had either been asleep or in the basement, so no one had heard his reappearance. He had managed to even get comfortably in bed and asleep without issue, despite the events that had occurred earlier that very day. What did end up bothering him though, was when Mabel crashed into his room first thing in the morning after him not appearing back home before she had.

“Dipper? Dip-Dop?” Mabel shouted, running into the room and to the bed. The male could only groan out in exasperation at her loud behaviour. He covered his face due to the light, not even thinking about the scar that was still very much present across his eye. “Where did you go last night? I went looking out for you for a whole hour! Grunkle Stan and Ford said they hadn’t seen you since you left!” Mabel complained, shaking her brother in an attempt to wake him up further.

“Mabel, leave me alone,” he groaned, curling up a little bit. He moved a little, letting his arm fall limp and suddenly there was a loud gasp from his sister. That, was when he bolted up and stared at her, suddenly realising the situation. “Y-you’ve got a—!” Dipper crashed his hand onto her mouth to muffle her words, he didn’t want her to say it. Not right now.

“Shhh, Mabel please, don’t tell them about it!” He whispered to her, although it sounded a lot more as if he were talking normally than whispering to her. Dipper quickly moved his hand away from her mouth and she stared at him, genuinely shocked by the scar on her brother’s face. “But… You’re blind in that eye! What happened Dipper? When did that happen?” She asked, grabbing her brother’s arms and shaking him in a fast and seemingly uncomfortable manner.

Suddenly, there was a loud shout from Stan downstairs about someone being at the door for Dipper and the brunette’s blood ran cold. Mabel stared at him for a long moment and then they were both scrambling to get downstairs the fastest. The female brunette wanted to get there to see who was calling for him so early, and if it was a date, and Dipper wanted to make sure that Mabel and Bill didn’t see each other.

Unfortunately due to the situation of the male brunette still being in bed and Mabel not, it meant that she got to the door first and the blonde almost mistook her for Dipper at first glance. Mabel looked the blonde up and down briefly before stepping back, unintentionally allowing Dipper to step in front and slam the door behind him. He was sure if he and Bill didn’t move now, Mabel would surely try and rejoin the conversation.

The brunette turned to look at the man in front of him for his jaw to drop. Instead of a weird nerd or awkward man like he’d been expecting, or even the demonic version of a human with horns and sharp teeth that gave people nightmares, Bill looked like a beautiful angel. His blonde hair was fluffy to the point that even Dipper wanted to put his hands in it, then there was the beautifully tanned skin and the wonderfully blue eye that reminded him of the sea… Then it was the slightly filled lips, they weren’t too big, but they were plump enough to make Dipper shiver.

Bill had also dressed nicely as well, but that had always been expected, more because the demon always wore a bowtie. It had always given the impression that he’d wear a suit or something similar if he ever were to become a human. The other had also covered one of his eyes with an eyepatch that reminded him of a pirate, but he supposed there were not many ways to not look like a pirate with an eyepatch on your face. Far away, there was the noise of a door opening and the murmur of noises next to him, but Dipper wasn’t listening, from the sight in front of him… Well, there was nothing else to think about.

That was, of course, until Mabel pushed him out of the trance he’d fallen in. “Dipper!” He heard her cry as he regained his stability. Warily, he looked over to his sister, who looked… Excited? Why on earth was she so excited? “I’m sure he’s just a bit surprised since we last saw each other in the dark,” Bill replied, a small chuckle leaving him. The brunette had to stop a small shiver from going through his spine. That voice was not Bill’s. That voice wasn’t unnaturally high-pitched or grating when it laughed. It reminded Dipper of soft and smooth honey, the type you get new from a store.

“Y…Yeah,” Dipper muttered, turning to look at Bill briefly again. Bill smirked something that he expected to see often if Bill was planning on staying around. “What’s your name anyway?” Mabel asked, glancing between the two with a smirk of her own. She could easily read Dipper like a book, hence she knew exactly why he wasn’t talking very much.

Bill eyed Dipper momentarily as if he were trying to figure out whether he should fake his name or not, but when he realised the brunette was intentionally ignoring him, he turned back to Mabel with a naturally fake smile. “Bill! Nice to meet you…?” The demon replied, raising the only brow that could be seen. “Mabel Pines! I’m Dip-dop’s twin sister,” she said with pride. Bill nodded a little and put out his hand for her to shake.

The immediate realisation that they were going to shake hands immediately brought him back to the night before with his face and very quickly he could feel the blood drain from his face. He felt conflicted as he stared at the singular hand. Should he try to stop it just in case? Unfortunately, though, Mabel was a bit too quick for Dipper to have an existential crisis about the entire thing, as she shook his hand without any hesitation.

There were not any blue flames, but the brunette could’ve sworn that Bill had done something.

“You don’t know any movies?” Bill whined, sitting on the couch in a jumper that reminded Dipper greatly of his triangular form from years ago. Bringing a coffee and orange juice to the table, the brunette shook his head and sat down, giving the demon his orange juice. “But you looked so good! If these movies are supposed to be scary, then why don’t they have any with people’s faces chopped off?” Bill asked unhappily as he went through the selection they had on Netflix.

“Look, why don’t we find something new to watch as a TV show?” Dipper asked, holding his coffee cup for warmth. Bill let out a low hum as he began to go through the TV show section, specifically listing all the horror TV shows. “Look, why don’t we play a game instead of watching something?” Dipper asked, glancing warily over to the demon. He only let out a soft chuckle at the other’s hesitance in watching something to do with Horror.

They then stopped on what appeared to be a show about Cannibals, with the show conveniently being named ‘Hannibal’. That was right up Bill’s alley for their Halloween evening. Dipper was never letting the demon be in control of the remote ever again. The demon was quick to put it on and get settled down, drinking his orange juice from time to time.

When they began it was early during the day and it was still light out, but as it got later and later, darker and darker, Dipper began to feel more disgusted and on edge the further this went on. It had gotten to a point where he was trying not to listen about it either since it just made him feel that sick. There was a certain time during season two that Dipper decided he’d try to listen and watch the show again, but it was possibly one of the worst times he could’ve begun watching once more.

He saw someone begin to chop off their nose and suddenly his stomach turned upside down. He quickly faced away, moving to stare at the wall behind Bill’s head instead, but that was the wrong option because moments later, there was a loud bang against their window in real life. Dipper screamed and fell off the couch, landing on the floor back first. If Bill hadn’t felt a little shocked himself, he would’ve laughed loudly at his roommate’s misfortune, but the only thing that left the demon was a small chuckle instead.

Bill himself quickly got up from the couch and paused the show, walking to the front door rather quickly. Without hesitation, the other opened the door and began to look around for what could have caused such a loud noise against their window but not break the window. Dipper quickly got up and sat down, clearing his throat as he settled down and ignoring looking at the TV. 

The next thing Dipper knew however was Bill bringing in a little cat from outside. Instantly, Dipper furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. The demon looked over briefly to Dipper before looking back down to the cat and sitting down with said cat on his lap. It had barely past the age of one by the looks of things with its small body. Yet, both men could tell it desperately needed a proper wash as its hair was matted and covered with mud.

“Is that..?” Dipper questioned, keeping his voice low. Bill nodded, confirming this was what crashed into their window while watching the TV show. Dipper huffed a little as the small cat found its way onto his lap and dirtying his legs, for he only had shorts on that didn’t go far down his legs. “Seems it likes you,” Bill murmured, seeming rather genuine with his comment. Dipper only hummed in response, unsure of what to do with the little furball. Should they clean it first? Take it to the vet? Give it food and water? It seemed rather content to stay on the male’s legs.

“What are we going to do with it?” Dipper asked instead, patting the cat’s head softly. Bill hummed momentarily before getting up again and leaving Dipper with the cat. The brunette let out a small sigh, but he knew the other was probably just trying to get something to help do something with the cat. About a minute later, he was proven right as he sat Bill entered their living room with a big towel. Very quickly, he scooped up the cat in his arms and the towel and started to gently scrub and carry the small creature, getting rid of any loose mud that he could.

“Thank you,” Dipper murmured, looking at the two. Bill shrugged.

“It’s nothing Pinetree, I was thinking we bathe the cat to see if it has anything bad on it before we do anything you humans would deem drastic,” Bill spoke, rolling his eyes at the way he knew humans reacted over the little things. The brunette would have been offended if it weren’t for the fact he knew the demon was quite right. Mabel started overreacting if someone hurt her nails, and he knew that he got quite uptight with his book collection if someone tried taking a book.

“Alright then, let’s get the bath running,” Dipper announced and began walking away from the living room, relieved that they could stop watching that god-awful show. From a room or two away as Dipper turned the taps on for the water, he could swear that Bill was babying the cat and giving it his high-pitched ‘this is a cute thing’ voice. The brunette merely shook his head and made sure the small bath was hot enough for the small cat before turning the water back off.

Once Bill heard the tap turn off, he brought the small one in and gently put it inside the water. Very quickly it began to meow and shake in the small tub. Dipper, who was closest and sat down next to the bath, began to try and bathe the small kitten, but the smaller only took this as a threat and bit Dipper to the best of its abilities. Dipper swore and tried to retract his hand, but the little cat only clung onto the brunette and grabbed onto his face when it lost perch of his hand.

A slight swearing suddenly turned into screaming as he felt a claw inside of his already damaged eye and then the feeling of some skin being torn off of his face. Very very quickly, Bill yanked the cat off of Dipper, but it was only a detriment as the cat somehow managed to yank Dipper’s eye out of where it should have been whilst it let go of the rest of Dipper’s face.

Almost immediately after the cat had been taken off of the brunette’s face though, Bill got to work with his magic and replaced said eye, although he did leave it blind. The horrifying pain that he had felt merely moments ago that had been bad enough to push Dipper into shock was suddenly gone. That in of itself made Dipper feel dizzy off of a mixture of emotions. His entire body felt tingly, reminiscent of the time that the demon had originally fixed his face. 

“Pinetree, you okay?” Bill asked, filling the brunette’s limited vision. Not that Bill didn’t have limited vision either, he had just never experienced having two eyes before, so it wasn’t a pain to him. “I’ll be fine after I calm down with some coffee,” Dipper mumbled, putting a hand over his blind eye. The demon took a step or two away to assess the damage across the room. There was blood everywhere, mixed with little bits of skin that the small cat had been playing with whilst the entire scene had been going on, it looked like someone had been seriously hurt in here.

Sighing, Bill tried to ignore the sight for now and helped the brunette get up. “Let’s get you to bed, then I’ll finish sorting out that cat,” Bill murmured, watching the other closely. Dipper merely hummed and looked down to assess the damage himself before looking over to the small cat. It was playing with Dipper’s eye.

The brunette choked on air and Bill quickly changed the direction the other was facing and got him out of there quickly. That might have been a bit too much gore for someone tonight.

[isuckatwritingsobenice]

could i request some headcanons for aged up dipper bringing his girlfriend to gravity falls for the summer for the first time? just some fluffy headcanons about that please? thanks so much!!!!

OF COURSE! This is so cute and such a great idea. Kiss your brain for me please <3

Aged up! Dipper x Fem! Reader

He’s excited to show you the little town that changed his life forever

you always hear him talk about the memories he made with Mabel, and the two love to tell you the stories of their little adventures

When you get there and you see all of Dipper’s friends, your immediately nervous, feeling anxious as you step off the bus

truth be told you had never even heard of Gravity Falls, and probably never would have if you had never met Dipper

while meeting everyone, you were given the rundown of who everyone was and what they were about

“ This is Candy and Greta, my two best friends.” Mabel said as she hugged them both. Quickly you could see Greta as the bolder one out of the three, aside from Mabel.

“ Hey I’m Wendy.” Meeting Wendy was… awkward. At first, since you had heard from Dipper how she was his first puppy love. After a bit thought you grew more comfortable around her, finding her presence calming.

Now meeting Grunkle Stan and Stanford was, definitely something.

Stan was very welcoming, in his own way.

Stanford was very, paranoid…

He shined a flashlight in your eyes and kept asking you questions

“ What invention did Waddles make?”

“… Waddles is a pig…”

“ What do you see when you look at this?”

“ A Dorito chip… am I supposed to see something?”

After that Stanford was calm around you, as Dipper anxiously explained that his traveling with Grunkle stan made him paranoid of new people.

Seemed reasonable enough

Meeting the people of gravity falls was definitely something, all of them seemed to be the weird type but in a good way

you were incredibly shocked to find out Mcguket owned the mansion, since he seemed a little … crazy-

However as Dipper gave you the tour of the mystery shack and all gravity falls had to offer, you quickly realized why both Dipper and Mabel loved it so much

everyone was so warm and welcoming, and though the atmosphere could be unexplainable sometimes, it felt like the perfect place to just hide away from the world.

“ So, what do you think?” Dipper asked, once your little trip was over, the two of you waiting at the bus stop

“ I think, Gravity Falls is an amazing place. I’m glad you were able to show me this.”

If you didn’t make his heart explode then, you definitely did it now

[piss-pumpkin]

🎃The Summerween special🩸

Douce amere chapter 12, Older!dipper pines x reader, ~3.8k words Prev Masterlist

The upstairs bathroom of the mystery shack had never looked so good. Clean, which was relatively unusual, and even more so, decorated with candles and flashlights. Almost midnight. 

Dipper lit the last of the candles, a small tea light, and placed it on the counter. “Alright, I think that’s all of them.” 

The counter was covered and lit, despite the overhead lights still being on. Mabel shined a flashlight under her chin, and waved her fingers in the air. “Looks perfect!” she exclaimed, nearly bouncing off the little stool she sat on. “If what I read online is true, she might grant us wishes!”

You looked up at her from where you sat on the floor, legs crossed. “What exactly did you read online?” you prodded. “Like where did you get the instructions for this?”

She puckered and popped her lips, “you know, a few places… and it’s not like Dip or Ford knew anything,” she shrugged, smile creeping onto her lips. “So if you think about, I’m the most knowledgeable person here on the subject.”

”That does not answer my question,” you said, folding your arms. 

Dipper leaned against the counter, “Yeah, I’m with Y/n on this one, I really think that if she’s real, not all the shitposts are accurate.”

”Hey, hey, my sources are trusted,” she claimed, shaking her head at his dismissal. “And if you don’t believe in the wishes, why are we even doing this?” 

Dipper paused for a moment, as if unsure she was even serious. “Dude, to find out what happens,” he said, as if it were obvious.

You smiled cheekily, “Yeah, plus, it’s Halloween, we need a little spooky time.” You looked around the brightly lit room, wincing a little bit, “or at least it will be when we start.”

”Summerween,” Dipper corrected absently. “Not Halloween.” As you rolled your eyes, Dipper squinted, and started to flip through his journal. “Speaking of, Summerween has literally no spiritual or historical significance, if this works it’s because Gravity Falls is crazy, not because of the day.”

Mabel’s face contorted, “then why are we doing it today?”

You threw your hand out to hit her on the leg, “If you’re gonna get murdered by Bloody Mary, wouldn’t you rather do it on a night of horror and whimsey, and not just like, some random Tuesday?” 

Mabel nodded along, “yeah, I guess.”

”What?” Dipper asked. He looked up from his journal with his brow furrowed, “None of us are gonna die.” He was still idly reading his journal, and tapped and prodded at the counter behind him looking for his pen. When he found it, he started to chew the back end in between jotting down notes. 

You shook your head with a smile, “well, yeah, duh, but if it comes down to it,” you trailed off, waving your hand in the air. You looked up at him. He looked down at you. You smiled, and his faux annoyance faded. 

“Well I guess if I had to get murdered by Bloody Mary,” he sighed, smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

Mabel kicked him as she pumped her fist and legs in the air, “That’s the spirit, Bro!”

His annoyance came back as he recoiled his shin away from her feet, “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he said, glancing at the clock. “It’s almost midnight, we should turn off the lights.”

You stood, and started toward the switch. “What in the rules says it has to be midnight?” You asked, flicking it down. The room darkened everywhere but the mirror area, which stayed lit with burning the candles. 

The twins looked at you, then each other. When neither of them spoke, Dipper sighed. “Mabel, you looked up the ritual, why did we wait until midnight?” he sighed, head in his hand. 

She flipped her flashlight at him, and shrugged with pursed lips. 

“Turn that thing off,” you said, tapping her flashlight with your foot, “Only candle light, it’s spookier that way,” you said, wiggling your fingers.

Dipper scribbled something down in his journal, then set it and his pen down. He took one glance at his phone before shutting it off and pocketing it. “Okay, let’s start, we’ve got like a minute.”

You and Mabel gave a thumbs up, standing off to the side while he looked into the mirror with skeptical eyes. “You guys are standing way over there, huh,” he deadpanned, raising his brow at you and Mabel. 

You waved your hand in dismissal, “Dippy, don’t be scared,” you chided. You blew a kiss at him with a smile, “if she tries to get you, we’ll beat her off.”

Mabel snickered, “I mean, I’ll leave you two to that,” she said, earning a punch from you straight to the arm. 

Dipper waved his hands, “Okay, everyone shut up, it’s midnight, we’re doing the thing.” He sighed, looking at his reflection in the mirror, and started to speak. “Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary,” he said, in a rather subdued voice. 

The room was silent. You waited a beat, then two. Then the light from Mabel’s phone drew your eye. She had open a Wikihow article. Great. 

She frantically whisper yelled at Dipper, “now you have to spin three times!” 

He sighed, quietly shouting right back, “that’s stupid,” before complying with her order, and spinning in a circle where he stood. 

Mabel cheekily scrolled through the wikihow article as the three of you waited for something to happen. Dipper pursed his lips, turning to you and Mabel, “I blame Ma-“

He stopped, and side eyed the mirror with puckered lips. Slowly, he opened his mouth again as he raised his hand to point at it. “Hey, wait a second,” he said curiously. Then all of a sudden he was leaning closer to the mirror, and squinting harder. 

You tapped your foot on the ground impatiently, crossing your arms. “Dip, Buddy,” you said, raising your eyebrows. “What’cha got there?” You could vaguely remember playing this exact prank on some friends as a kid, and Dipper was a worse actor. 

He turned toward you, and your eyes widened as you saw his wide smile. He pointed a finger gun at the mirror with one hand, and steadied himself on the counter with the other. He nearly laughed, “Guys, are you seeing this shi-“

Before he could finished, you and Mabel gasped, her hands flying up to point at her brother. Worse, before either of you could say anything, it was too late for a warning. In blink, something launched out of the mirror, and in a blur of black motion, even more obscured by the darkness in the room, attacked Dipper. 

It stuck to his head like a face-hugger, but with arms. Arms with hands that held tightly. Dipper struggled and moved and writhed, and tried to pull it off, groans and screams muffled. The dim light of the candles started to fade as he put them out with his flailing. 

Well shit. Suddenly you could think enough to tear your eyes away. Lights would be good. As Mabel screamed and pointed, you raced over to the switch, and illuminated the scene. 

Mabel was swatting away the creature, which looked a lot more like a person in the light. Its arms were still wrapped around Dippers head, and its legs pressed against his chest. A long mess of wet and dripping black hair obscured any face of hers. 

The more you looked, the worse it got. Your eyes skimmed over her sickly white skeleton thin limbs on your first look in the dark. And on that skeletal frame, a small white dress with… red stains. And dripping the same. Well fuck, that’s probably bad. 

In an instant Mabel punched it, coming at a side angle to avoid hurting Dipper. Maybe she’s learning. I should help, you thought, still staring. Yeah. Let’s do that. 

Without any semblance of a thought, much less a battle plan, you dove in. With quick step you lunged, grabbing for the creature. Or… the girl. Blindly, you wrapped your arms around her chilled torso, and pulled with all your momentum. 

Suddenly Dipper’s voice returned with a desperate gasp for breath, and then a stifled groan as Mabel punched him. 

You, on the other hand, were tumbling down to the floor at rapid speeds. The sounds of Mabel and Dipper faded away as you screamed, both at the terror in your arms, and your impending impact. At least the hair was covering her face. Your eyes squeezed shut, bracing for the fall. 

And all of a sudden the wind was knocked out of you, the creature folding under your chest. “Ugh,” you groaned. You pushed with shaky arms off the ground, opening your eyes reluctantly.

As you did, you locked gaze with red eyes above you. Shit. Sunken in and white cheeks contorted as it opened an unhinged jaw to hiss and shriek. Piercing. Your hands quickly released her to fly to your ears as you winced, kicking her off of her. The wood floor hit your back hard as you rolled away. In a ditch effort to do some damage, you threw your leg out to get another kick in as you rolled and she screamed. 

Your foot never landed though. Just as you tried, something was grabbing you by the arms. You jolted away, and whipped you head around with bated breath. 

Dipper. He was trying to pull you up. You looked at him with wide eyes for a moment before he tried again to get you on your feet. “Come on, you’ve gotta get up,” he said, shifting his arms under yours to pull you. 

Legs shaking, you managed. And looked up to see Mabel doing your job for you. With a jump and a battle cry, she soccer kicked bloody Mary’s face in. 

Dipper didn’t let go of you, and you were more than glad. His arms around your shoulder was so warm compared to the chill that came over the room when the creature let out her final shrill cry. She went limp on the ground, and your mouth fell open in small shock. 

You looked behind you at Dipper, who wore a very similar expression. 

Mabel turned around to you both with a wide smile, and a thumbs up. “How crazy was that?!” She said, beaming ear to ear. Her socks were specked with red from the creatures… mouth, eyes, nose… something. 

You pointed at her, eyes darting between Mabel and bloody Mary. “Dude, Mabes,” you started, brow furrowed. “D-did you fucking kill her?”

Mabel looked at the limp skeletal body on the ground near her feet. Then back at you. Then back at the body. She shrugged silently, lips in a blank smile.

Dipper stepped forward from behind you, and caught you eye with his worried expression. He pointed hesitantly to a detail you seemed to miss on first glance. “Uh, Mabel,” he spoke, voice level and controlled. “What’s happening there?” 

You followed his finger to her socks, and the red splatters adorning them. They were starting to move. They weren’t the only one. The body started to convulse. With jolting and jittery movement, she extended an arm, you heard a bone crack, and curled into a ball, hiding her bloody face. A small red pool was forming where her shaking body laid. And it was inching its way, almost deliberately toward Mabel. 

“Oh my god, Mabel, start moving,” you stated, not really an ask, waving arms at her, still just standing there.

She looked down, and face contorted. “Augh,” she exclaimed, jumping away from the blood. She slid her socks off with her feet, kicking them across the room as the blood overtook and enveloped them. She pointed at them very aggressively, “What the fuck is that?!”

Dipper grimaced, pursing his lips as he crossed his arms. “Yeah, you tell me, you were supposed to look up the ritual.”

”Shut up,” she said simply. She narrowed her eyes at him, “I prefer fucking around and finding out,” she snickered.

You stared with raised brow and dumbfounded expression, seemingly the only one who noticed that her now bare foot was… bloody. Mary’s body was shrivelling as the shaking started to slow, and the blood was still creeping over. And a few drops of blood must have seeped through the socks before she threw them. “Fuck around and find out, huh?” You asked. Rhetorical question. Because the answer was yes. 

The few drops started to grow. And started to seep in. Her skin started to red below the ankle, and it spread like mold in spots and streaks. 

Mabel looked down, “Oh shit.”

Dippers eyes widened, “ugh, gimme your phone,” he demanded, making his way toward his sister. “I need to see the instructions on the ritual you gave us,” he sighed, hand outstretched. 

Mabel’s eyes were wide and a shaky smile crossed her pale lips. Pale? That’s not good. Her face was losing colour as fast as her feet and hands were gaining it. Dippers face was cool and calm, but his eyes started trained on his palm rather than her. Easier that way. she gingerly handed him the phone, letting out an awkward laugh as she did. “The password is 80085,” she winced. 

Dipper sighed, rolling his eyes as he typed it in. He sucked a breath in through closed teeth, “Mabel, fucking wikihow?” He breathed with barred teeth. He waved his hand in the air, gesturing at the phone, “wikihow.” 

She shook her head, “what did you want me to do?” What’s wrong with wikihow?” She asked, pointing at him accusingly. 

You sighed, shaking your head. “Well it’s not very good, for one,” you said. “Secondly, this is not a productive use our of time right now,” you pointed at… Mabel, her whole condition. She was a rich blood red from the knees and the forearms to the tips of her fingers and toes, and ghostly white on her face and chest. “Mabel, you’re getting worse.”

You turned to the limp creature on the ground, who seemed smaller than before as she huddled into herself. Dipper seemed to have similar ideas, carefully sidestepping the blood pool creeping toward his sister as he went to investigate. He knelt before the body, and looked back to you before touching it.

You did you best to nod reassuringly, and shot him a thumbs up. He pursed his lips, smiling just slightly. 

Dipper poked the body, gently on head, on the wet and plastered hair. Nothing happened. You heard a faint grumble come from him as he wiped the finger on his pants. 

You scooted over to Mabel, who was emitting cold like an ajar freezer. Side eyeing her, you could see her breath escape her lips. The closer you stood to her the more goosebumps seemed to crawl their way up your arms. You did it anyway, nearly shoulder to shoulder with her as you both watched Dippers observations. If he wants to touch it, all him. 

Dipper moved to the shoulder, brushing away the blood wet hair with a grimace on his face. 

Ugh. You sighed, crossing your arms as you stepped away from Mabel. You knelt beside Dipper, nearly falling over as you refused to uncross your arms while you sat on your heels and balanced on the balls of your feet. 

He glanced over at you, “Are you gonna touch it?” he asked, brow raised and deadpan. 

You shots him a crooked smile and Mabel came and knelt beside you. “Mayhaps?” you offered with a shrug. Mabel nodded along, giving an encouraging thumbs up to her brother with blood red hands. 

Dipper stopped just short of touching the body, eyes locked on his sister. His brow furrowed and mouth hung ajar. “Mabel…” he started, squinting at her. “Mabel you should go see Ford, he might know what’s going on with you.”

”Uh, okay,” she said. Her voice was practically a whisper, almost echoing. But the bathroom wasn’t spacious enough for that. “Yeah, I’m looking kinda off,” she winced, staring at her pale ghostly face in the mirror. She was silent as she stood. Oddly so. The moving of her bones, skin or clothes made no sound, and you had to check to see if she was still beside you. 

And as she snuck off, with a stealth a predator would envy, the room felt a little warmer. You eyed the door she closed behind her. “I think you should text Ford to want him,” you said.

Dipper sighed, nodding as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Yep,” he affirmed, starting to type. 

You crossed your arms as you stared at the body at your feet. It was… gross. Her white silk dress was stained red all over. Definitely a good thing you couldn’t see her face. You looked at the body, stared and bit the inside of your cheek. “We should probably go see Mabel.”

                                             …

Mabel was screaming. The moment you stepped out of the elevator you blocked your ears to defend from her shrill cry. Tired down to a chair, thrashing with her blood red hands, and staring you and Dipper down with her now blood red eyes. Fords basement study was askew, with books knocked off of his desk, and a few pieces of shattered glass pushed to the corner of the room. 

Ford looked at the two of you with wide eyes and furrowed brow. He pointed aggressively at Mabel, not nothing trying to speak over the haunted telling and thrashing, silently asking what the fuck happened? 

You grimaced and looked at Dipper, whose eyes were wide as he stared at his sister. You waited a moment for him to speak, but he doesn’t. You sucked a breath in through your teeth and shouted, “Bloody Mary,” with hands cupped around your lips. 

Mabel started to squirm harder, fists balled as she tired to break free of her restraints. A closer examination enlightened you to the blood dripping from the corners of her mouth, dripping on bloodied clothes from blood red lips. You recoiled slightly, lightly grabbing the sleeve of Dippers sweater. Lucky you, he didn’t seem to notice. 

Ford was livid. He put his hands to his forehead and tiredly pushed back his hair. He gestured wildly at the two of you, and then to Mabel, and then back towards you. He shook his head. “Well, now we have to do an exorcism,” he said angrily.

You raised your brow and yelled across the room, “Those are real? Like they work?” 

Ford nodded gravely. Or maybe it was tiredly. “Yes, they work,” he sighed, gesturing for you to come closer and see his notes.  

You start to step, but there’s a pause. Not in the background noise, Mabel is still going strong, but in the conversation. Usually he’d have something to say by now. You glanced at Dipper beside you, whose eyes are fixed on his sister. It wasn’t hard to notice the way his lips were twitching, and tugged down in the corners. Other than that, completely stoic. And you knew him well enough to know that wasn’t right. Carefully, you tugged his sleeve. 

In a swift motion his head jerked to face you, mouth hung slightly open, and eyes widened as he saw you. “What?” He asked, seeming startled. You still cling to his sleeve, twiddling the fabric between your fingers.

Your voice soft, you nearly mumble, “exorcism.” You hoped he could read your lips through the noise. 

Despite he banging and assortment of odd sounds coming from Mabel, he seemed to have understood you, because he nodded, and finally saw Ford. 

The old man’s face was troubled. You probably weren’t looking amazing yourself, trying to avoid staring down Dipper to gauge his reactions. He came closer to the both of you for better speaking, and carefully explained what they had to. 

And the whole time it was done, your eyes kept wandering to Dipper, praying the clouded and distant look didn’t come back to him. But it always did. Subtle, soft, but so noticeable to you, and probably Ford. The way he twitched, on occasion, when Mabel resisted with a voice not her own. The shakiness of his hands when she thrashed. His furrowed brow and distressed eyes, even when it was done, and she was back and laughing about it. It all seemed to follow him, even as you went back upstairs, completely safe. 

Mabel joked with him, picking up on his manner. And it worked, for a time. He smiled, and you watched, perplexed. And then, her body’s energy, completely wasted by the angry spirit, she slept like a rock. 

And once again, in front of the lull of the TV, you watched it take hold of him. You were close together on the small couch. The hour was late, and despite everything, neither of you were sleep tired. More like bone tired, if anything. He was, at least. “So, are you alright?” You asked, finally. 

Dippers head turned, tipped, and toiled as his lips pursed. “I don’t like possession,” he managed, fingers running up and down the sleeve of his sweater. 

Your fingers seemed to scratch at your knuckles with a mind of their own. Ah. You glanced at him, the silhouette of his side profile. The TV running was suddenly in the background, whatever shitty reality show you were making fun of faded out. Like you couldn’t even hear it.  You nodded, lacking any worth while words. 

He let out a little nose laugh. “Yeah,” he snickered, shaking his head, “I know.” 

You sighed, shaking your arm behind him and wrapping  it around his waist, your hand gently crawling up his side. “Sucks,” you agree, pulling yourself closer to him and resting your head on his chest. You glanced up at him, seeing his soft smile. “But it’s over, at least.”

He carefully took your free hand in his, and kissed the top of your head as he spoke nearly into your hair. “It is.  I’m glad Ford got it done with quickly.” 

“Yeah, this didn’t really go according to plan,” you said, thumbing over his knuckles. 

He laughed softly, and you felt the air from his nose on your head. “Was there even a plan?” He asked, leaning into you. “I thought we were just fucking around to find out.”

You smiled, “well, yeah, but-“ you paused, thinking for a moment. “You know, I don’t think we planned for Mabel to…” you trailed off, shaking your head against his shirt as you chuckled. 

“She knows how to party,” he laughed. His grip on your hand tightened, and you looked up. Tired eyes. A little sad looking. His brow was furrowed as he looked aimlessly down at you. Past you. Through you? 

You huddled impossibly closer. “Over now. No more possession,” you said, throwing your legs across him like a seatbelt. Completely safe. 

“Yeah,” he murmured. He laughed silently through his nose, small smile returning to his lips. “Yeah.”

Next

Fun fact: I started writing this a little before Halloween and ended up finishing it in December. My procrastination is a menace. I’m doing it right now. I have math homework and a philosophy paper due tomorrow and I haven’t started either. Doing great btw (lie)

Another fun fact: me and some friends are gonna go into the woods and look for skinwalker a this weekend to prove to some friends that they aren’t real (real paranormal investigators?? Woah??) so if I stop uploading it’s cuz I’m dead

Taglist: @cipheress-to-k-pop @dead-esque

[ilovelifeandiwanttotalkaboutit]

Ryan Tedder Imagine:

🌶️ Darling Pt 1: Ryan Tedder x Virgin!Reader Insert

Summary: You're a new artist and you're working with Ryan exclusively on a new song. He whisks you on a week long getaway to a reclusive snowy cabin to try and stir inspiration. Instead, it only stirs something else: enjoy ;)

Warnings: Minors dni or I'll scoop out your eyeballs, implied age gap (still legal tho babes), loss of virginity, oral female receiving, missionary PIV

Word Count: 8,641

A/N: Genevieve is lovely and beautiful (and the fucking luckiest woman alive), and the things I write sometimes makes my skin crawl, but the things that I mentioned about her in the fic are purely fictional. I love her; please don't come for me >_<

Link to Ryan Tedder Masterlist

I wrapped a towel over my arm, stepping out of my room. I felt a little self conscious in my swimsuit, but realized it shouldn't matter. He shouldn't care, so neither should I.

Opening the sliding glass door towards the back deck was a shock factor. My arms and legs prickled with goosebumps, and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stiffen. I stepped out into the snow with my flip-flops, thankful Ryan shoveled the majority of the snow off the deck earlier today. In the darkness, I could spot him sitting facing towards me, shoulder-deep in the water of the hot tub.

Seeing me come out, he shifted and grabbed the flashlight off the side and turned it on. "Careful, don't fall."

"I'm alright," I say, coming over quickly. In the beam of the light, I notice my breath forming a puffy cloud in front of my mouth. My teeth chattered as I set down my towel. "God, it's freezing out here!"

"Well, yeah," he says with a wide smile.

I came up the steps, leaving my flip-flops behind. As I came to step over the edge, he swapped hands with the light to offer me help.

"Thank you," I mutter, taking his hand and ignoring the feeling in my stomach as I come into the hot water and simultaneously, accidentally, get a better look at his shirtless self. I sigh with relief as I get both feet in, coming down the steps to sit beside him. "The heat feels nice."

As he turns off the light, I let my eyes begin to get used to the darkness. The night is silent. A small breeze rustles the trees and drops resting snow onto the ground, but that's the only thing other than us that can be heard right now.

"Wow," I whisper, wrapping my arms around myself and keeping my legs tucked together.

"Told you it was nice," he says quietly.

"No kidding," I responded with the same tone. "I love the stars."

I sink down into the water a little more, letting the base of my neck sit on the edge of the tub. I was able to see them better now, spotting the famous constellation Orion. There wasn't very much visibility because of the trees, but what we had was more than enough.

When I don't gain any response, I turn to look at Ryan. The moon wasn't out yet, but the light the stars gave wasn't bright enough. All I could make out was the surface of the water and the shape of his face. Even in this gentle darkness, I could see the glistening of his eyes as he's watching me.

I get a little nervous, ignoring the flush working its way up my neck. "Do you know anything about the stars?"

"Honestly, no," he responds sheepishly. "I know there's constellations, but I don't know any other than The Big Dipper."

I laughed lightly, "Yeah, I think a lot of people ride that same boat. Mind if I show you what I think the coolest thing in the sky is right now?"

I swear I can see him smile a little as he shakes his head. "No, please."

I scooted forward a little and sat up straight, pointing up at the sky. "Do you see that bright star, right there?"

He shifts forward too, craning his neck up. My heart stutters as he leans over to get a view of what exactly I was pointing at. Ryan speaks in a quiet tone now that he's so close, but he only moves away a little, "Yeah, I see it."

"Um," my mouth runs a bit dry, but I try to ignore it, "That's a star called Aldebaran. If you look diagonally left, do you notice that smudge in the sky?"

There's another moment while he's observing the sky. He seems a little confused, pointing a little lower than I was talking about. "That smudge?"

"No," I shake my head, my touch connecting to his arm to lift it a little more. "Just there."

"Oh," he says, "Well, I see the one you're talking about, but what was the other one?"

I smirk a little, unable to hide my giggle. "That's a cloud."

Ryan hangs his head a moment, making me chuckle louder. He joins me in the laughter, bright eyes seeing mine. "Oh."

"A brilliant discovery though. You should call NASA," I joked, shaking my head with a grin on my face. "But anyway, you see the smudge, yeah?"

"Yeah," Ryan's still smiling with his pathetic observation.

"That is called The Pleiades," I say proudly. "It's a star cluster, which is why it appears so foggy and you can't directly look at it. It's 444 light years away and is about 17 light years in radius. I think it also has about three thousand stars or something like that, I can't remember."

"Oh, wow," he smiled, teasing me a little with a touch to my arm that sent my mind spiraling. "It's almost as if you're Google."

"I know, thank you," I responded with a sarcastic tone, trying to play off my fluster. "But seriously, if you ever see a smudge in the night sky, it's probably Pleiades."

When he's quiet for too long, I nervously glanced at him again. We're sitting so stupidly close, our arms bumping into each other. In the starlight, I can see the silhouette of his face, and his eyes are staring right at me.

"Sorry," I mutter without thinking.

He shook his head in an instant, disagreeing with me, "Don't apologize. It's nice to listen to you talk about something you're passionate about."

I try to rest my racing heart beat, almost feeling sickly nervous in my stomach. "Thank you."

My face and body is burning with the heat from a thousand suns. I feel like I'm about to collapse with his soft gaze on me.

Looking at him, I find myself unable to move. It's like I'm trapped, but not in a bad way. My nerves are twisting around in my stomach and making me feel nearly sick, but my heart hurts too. My head is spinning but I don't feel dizzy. Instead, it feels uplifting.

I feel myself breathing deeper, unable to function properly as he gets closer. Closer than I'd ever imagined him being to me. We're nearly forehead to forehead, and I can feel my eyes faltering. He's so close and yet I struggle to see him, I only hope he struggles to see me too.

He whispers my name, it plays as a ghost on his lips.

I found my lips part, "Ryan."

My eyes flutter shut as I can gently feel his breath fan across my face. I suddenly feel as if I crave it. Like he's got some power over me that I can't live without.

My mind spins into oblivion and he catches me on the other side, his lips connecting to mine. I feel as if I'm melting. The kiss was small, and chaste, almost as if I imagined it happened because it was so feather-light. Then, he came back again. A hand leaves the water to caress my cheek, skin hot, damp, and burning against my cold face. He pressed an open mouthed kiss to my lips, and I can't help myself but return it. It really was real. He was kissing me on purpose.

There was a certain way he shifted, his hand leaving my cheek down my shoulder and to my arm. It caused shivers to go down my spine, having been perfectly warm. My hand came out of the water too, placing itself on his shoulder towards the back of his neck. Yes, he was real.

He leaned over to me. I could feel his opposite hand graze my thigh underneath the water. I felt my heart leap as the other came around my waist, touching the curve of it to my hip.

I sat up straighter, hands on his shoulders then to the top of his chest. Ryan began to pull me towards him, the sound of water rushing and goosebumps welcoming my arms as I'm brought out of the water a little to sit on his thighs. My fingers threaded into his hair almost desperately. With both his hands on my waist now, then to my hips pulling me more towards him as close as I could get, my brain felt fuzzy.

Even though it was such a head rush, the consequences of my actions were beginning to creep up on me. I pushed myself away, and he followed towards me only a little before stopping. His hands fell silent on my hips, sensing my hesitation as a bad sign.

"What the fuck are we doing?" I couldn't help but whisper.

My lips felt bruised and swollen, as somehow did my heart and body. My fingers rested at the bottom of his jaw. I shook my head and rotated my legs back around to where I was sitting before. He lets me go, allowing me to sit back against the seat where I was before this fiasco occurred.

"I'm really sorry," he began to apologize. He shifts to face me, but gives me my distance. "I'm really, really sorry. I didn't mean to."

"You didn't mean to?" I repeat hoarsely. "Well, that sounds a little stupid, don't you think?"

"Okay, I did mean to," he said. "But hear me out. I know it's not really right. I mean, it could be, but I... I shouldn't have done that."

Regret began to fill every inch of my body. It started from my toes and brought a thick wad of spit in my throat towards my mouth. I felt as if I could be sick.

I held myself accountable, tears beginning to fill my eyes. "You have a wife."

"It's... It's more complicated than that," he sighs, pressing his palms to his eyes.

I blinked away my tears and shook my head again. I stood up, now unable to feel the freezing air around me. I was running on boiling hot steam and nothing was going to stop me. I swiped my towel and began to step out.

"No, hold on, please--" he stood and started to follow me.

"Just--" I held my hand out, stopping him. I was one foot out of the tub and one foot in. "Don't."

His voice echoed my name.

"I said don't," I repeat, not even bothering to slip my feet into the slippers as I picked them up. "I don't care how complicated your marriage is. That's between you and her. We didn't just do that, alright? I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. This didn't happen. I'm really sorry. Maybe we can talk about it in the morning, but I really don't want to right now. Good night."

I swiftly turned myself towards the sliding door and let myself inside. The guilt wouldn't even rub off in the shower. Images flashing in my mind coating it with both disgust at the act and unrevealed lust. I continued to shake my head at myself in the shower.

I couldn't ever think about him like that ever again. No matter what happened, I had to stop myself. But the feeling of his lips on mine, hands on my body was still stirring something. I briefly thought about rubbing shampoo in my eyes as punishment, but I just couldn't.

When I finally let myself out of the shower, I changed into my pajamas and brushed my teeth. I looked at myself in the mirror. From being upset with myself, my eyes were red and my lips were puffy. Although, my lips could have been puffy from something else. I rolled my eyes and just brushed my teeth harder.

After finishing up, feeling as if now I was taking my sweet time, I let myself out of the bathroom with my towel in my hand to sit in the washer for tomorrow.

I'm stopped though when I find Ryan's figure is waiting for me on the other side of the door.

"Jesus," I avoid eye contact with him, placing a hand over my heart. "What is it?"

"My wife is divorcing me," he said blatantly.

I nearly choked on my spit and I gazed up into his eyes. He looked determinedly upset, lips held in a serious regular pout, eyebrows furrowed.

"What?" I whisper.

"She's divorcing me," he states yet again. "We haven't been fine for a while now. We were mainly trying to stay together for our boys, but uh, rightfully so, she couldn't do it anymore."

I searched for the right words to say. It made me only a little more relieved with what we did, but I still couldn't help but feel wronged.

"I'm... I'm so sorry," I muttered, fingers tracing the damp towel out of anxiety.

"I've been into you since I met you," he admitted strongly. He notices my gaze falters and gives a small nod of his head. He pushed off the door frame and stepped back into the hallway. "I know that's pretty awful, but it is the truth."

Now I really didn't know what to say.

"I didn't mean to be so off-putting out there," he apologized, taking a lean against the wall opposite of the door. "I got caught up in how I was feeling and I acted out without thinking about the consequences. Or ultimately how it would make you feel."

My eyes glanced over his features. He changed out of his swim suit and dried off, currently in a white shirt that hugged his arms and a pair of black sweatpants.

"I'm really sorry," he says once more, quieter now.

"I know," I mumble, taking a deep breath as more tears fill my eyes. "I'm sorry too."

He gave a small amused exhale, cracking a gentle smile before it looked a little pained. "You must think I'm some-- some creepy old man or something."

"No, I don't," I shake my head.

I managed serious eye contact with him for a few seconds as I said, "I kissed you back, you know. I'm not in the clear either."

His eyes grew soft and he stared at me. I grew flustered and averted my gaze towards the floor. "You... You probably think I'm some naive little girl, huh?"

"No," he disagrees, "I don't."

The silence between us was shocking. I could feel my knees tingling with an itch, feeling myself fall deeper and deeper in.

As I stared at him, I chewed on the inside of my cheek. I wanted to do something so terrible, so awful, something I've never done with anyone before. All of it was so new for me, the feelings and the actions I wanted to pursue. And it was all beginning to become too much for me. Looking at him now: his body facing mine, eyes set on me and me only. I wanted to do something.

I take a hand off my damp towel and put it on the light switch in the bathroom, flicking it off. Surrounded by the new ambient light of the lamps in both the living room and my room, I could still spot his outline. I drop the towel to the ground and step towards him.

My hands find his cheeks and I pull him down towards me, connecting our lips this time. His hands, in no time, are around my waist, running up the length of my spine to dig deep into my hair. A small contentful sigh escapes me as his large hands gently squeeze and massage my body.

My hands moved from the sides of his face towards the collar of his shirt. I grabbed some of it between my fingers and pulled him more, wanting him as close to me as humanly possible.

It's the moment when his tongue touches mine that I feel like I could mentally convulse. We relax into each other, my fingers now threading through his hair and tugging it a little. A small groan escapes him and he's quick off the wall to flip me into it.

His hands came to my waist, thumbs gently rubbing on my stomach. As he finally broke his lips from mine, he began to kiss down my neck, settling on a spot below my ear. I feel myself lift one of my legs off the floor to hook around the back of his thigh as his knee comes between them. A small noise of surprise escapes me when he rubs it just slightly against me.

He sucked a spot on my neck, a low chuckle erupting from him as he leaned into my ear and said, "I ought to be real careful with you, haven't I?"

A burning sensation began between my legs and I twitched against his knee. I could feel him smirking against my neck as his hot breath ran down it. He placed several kisses down it and towards my collar bone. His hands came up underneath my shirt and caressed my back, helping to pull me towards him. My hands were still in his hair, giving gentle pulls on handfuls every now and again that made him sigh.

His hands grew higher and higher on my skin, and as soon as I thought he was going to take off my shirt, they came back down towards my hips.

He stood up a little straighter, cupping my face in his hands. I leaned up and kissed him, running my hands down his chest. I could feel his lean figure and my heart beating in my ears.

"Listen," he murmured, speaking against my lips. "I'm not going to make you go all the way if you don't want you. You mentioned before how you've never been with anyone, I'm assuming that means you're a virgin."

I backed away just enough, playing with the hem of his shirt. My breathing was so calm and so deep, yet excited. My heart felt that way too.

"I am a virgin," I admitted, looking at him with half lidded eyes. "Does that bother you at all?"

A smile etched its way onto his face. He caressed my cheek, brushing some of my damp hair behind my ear. "No, it doesn't bother me."

He leaned forward ever so slightly and placed a warm kiss on my forehead, hovering, then between my eyebrows, then the tip of my nose. "I'll be really gentle with you. I'd be happy to show you."

"Good," I say, playing with the hair on the base of his neck, "For a second there, I thought you got me soaked through my underwear for nothing."

I can see his gaze falter slightly, breathing hitched. I find myself smirking. It was nice to know my words had just the same effect on him as they did to me.

"Oh, you're going to mess me up, aren't you?" He said with a bit of vocal fry that made the smirk wipe right off my face.

I couldn't even respond as he ducked back down and placed a hot, open mouthed kiss on my lips. I pulled him back towards me by his shoulders, arching to connect our chests with desperation.

Getting so close to him, I could feel something hard and twitch against my stomach, making my nerves grow.

I take a shot and move my hands more downward again, one of them picking up the bottom of his shirt to run my hand along his stomach and the other just grazing his groin. A groan escapes him and he pressed his lips harder to mine, taking me by surprise when my bottom lip was caught between his teeth. He pulled away ever so gently, then let it go.

I slowly opened my eyes, vision blurred. His hands curl around my wrists and put them back down to my sides. I tumble over in my mind about his grip on my wrists, but frown at the loss of touching him. At first, I thought I'd done something wrong, but then he began pulling me with him towards his room.

His room is dark, and I'd only ever glanced at it. The bed was a king, compared to the queen I was sleeping in in the room next door. He took me by the hands, pulling me in front of him.

"If at any point you feel uncomfortable, tell me immediately," he says, fingers grazing down my arms and giving me goosebumps. "The last thing I want to do is scare you."

The thought of him being almost animalistic with me made me excited. "Why? Are you usually rough?"

I hear a smile in his voice as his fingers go back to my arms and take a short hold on the bottom of my shirt. "Sometimes."

His warm hands connected with the soft skin of my stomach, looping around to my back. He leaned against me, not low enough to kiss me, but his breath was grazing past my forehead. His lips graze my ear, and it lulls my eyes shut.

"What do you want me to do, honey?" he asked calmly. The nickname sent another wave of a burning sensation towards me. "Do you want me to take this off?"

It felt as if my voice had been taken away for a second. "Yes, please."

He begins to lift it, fingers still barely touching my skin. I lifted my arms as the cool air in the room touched my bare self. He dropped my shirt on the floor, hands coming back down my arms and tracing me. Now, he kisses me. My fingers subconsciously rest on his waist, enjoying the feeling of his large hands beginning to touch me properly. They came up to my shoulders, then slowly down my front. Palms came down to touch my bare breasts, giving them a testing squeeze.

My brows furrow, humming into his mouth contentiously. He suddenly broke off the kiss and began kissing down my neck again. Without a wall to lean on, I felt weaker in the knees. He began to sink almost down to his own, lips trailing past my collarbone and towards the top of my chest.

My hands were in his hair again, relishing the sensation of his warm mouth trailing across my skin. He came down on my right nipple, playing with the other one with his hand. I squeezed my thighs together when he began to kiss and ever so slightly gently sucked on it. I shut my eyes and sighed, taking in the feeling.

He moved his head then to the other, giving it its fair share of attention. I suddenly felt like I needed a lot more. I needed something else. I appreciated him going slow more than anything, but I ached too much.

After he leaves a small hickey on the inside of my breast, I pull away enough to connect our lips once more. He stumbled a second with his balance before standing up straight. I brought both my hands up under his shirt again, almost unbelieving in the strong, taut, and smooth skin.

Then I began to lift his shirt, desperately wanting it off.

"You're quite the natural," he compliments quickly, pulling his shirt off by the back of his neck before tossing it elsewhere.

"Well, I'm about to try something else," I say softly, beginning to gently push him backwards by his bare chest. He came down to the edge of the bed and his knees caved, making him sit. I briefly walked up between his legs before moving to straddle him.

He was grinning like crazy, hands coming down on my hips to hold me in place. We both were playing with each other, lips hovering by one another without touching. Ryan's eyes were on fire as he hissed, "You're dangerously asking for it."

I could feel myself aching for the need to get touched, and it nearly, nearly made me whine. I rested my hands on his firm shoulders, beginning to slowly grind forward and backward on his thighs. He pulled me closer, hands groping and squeezing my ass as encouragement.

"I dangerously want it," I struggle to say, feeling down his strong arms that were holding me.

"You need something a little more?" His hands down my hips and it made me grind harder on him, the brief relief made a shiver go up my body.

I felt back up his chest, to his shoulders, then his face. I could only muster a whisper, "Really bad."

That seemed to be enough permission for him. He took the next move and swiftly flipped us over, laying me down on my back so he was hovering above me. He gave me yet another hot kiss momentarily before trailing kisses down my jaw and neck, and down to my breasts yet again. I feel my brows furrow as he begins down my stomach, placing sweet and loving kisses. Then he came to the edge of my sweatpants, his fingers gently going under the elastic.

His eyes were on my face as he began to slowly tug them down. "Is this alright?"

"Yeah," I nod, lifting my hips to help pull them off.

He pulled them down my smooth and freshly shaved legs. He took them off my ankles and kneeled down by the side of the bed where my legs hung off the edge. I had my head raised, resting on my elbows a little to try and see him. His hand goes on my thigh, touching me gently as he smirks and crawls back up. He placed a quicker kiss on my lips, and I felt him shift again. When I open my eyes, I can see he's reaching far up to his left. I'm confused about what he's doing at first.

He comes back not a moment later with a pillow, carefully lifting the back of my head to slide it underneath. "Better?"

I find myself smiling a little, finding he still managed to be sweet to me even in a moment of intimacy.

"Thank you," I say, growing a little nervous when his hands go underneath my knees, pulling my legs up and opening them. They traced down the inside of my thighs, then back up my stomach.

His body hovered over mine now with his hands on either side of my body, trapping me in. As he kissed me, he pressed his body against mine, flush. I could feel him against me, my hands curling to his waist, encouraging him for more.

As he began to swirl his tongue around a spot on my neck, I could feel my eyes shut with ecstacy. He was rubbing against me, but at points, it still didn't feel like enough. Even with me rocking my hips and moving to meet his grind, I still wanted more.

I began tugging down a little on the edge of his sweatpants. I want them off, but with him so adamantly on me, I couldn't reach all the way. Then as he began to slide down my body again, his sweatpants really got out of my reach.

"I've been praised before for giving head," Ryan speaks softly into the skin of my stomach, placing several kisses on it. He tears his eyes away and looks at me. "Would you be interested, or do you want to do something else?"

I thought for a moment, his words sending pulses of electricity right down my legs and towards my toes. "Yeah, let's try it."

Getting the green light, he nodded and continued worshiping my body with his lips and hands. He came down to the top of my underwear and stopped, playing with the elastic around my body for only a second. He didn't take them off like I expected him to, at least immediately anyway. Leaning over to kiss my inner right thigh, he took the inside of his hand and carefully gave me a test feel through my underwear. I slightly inhale at the relief. I felt like I had another part of me alive down there, and it was finally getting the attention it needed.

"Holy shit, you weren't joking," he says, lifting his hand to feel the wetness that pooled in my underwear.

My brain tried to come up with something snarky, but I just couldn't. The heat his hand was delivering was making my brain feel scattered. "No, I wasn't."

His thumb came down and began to gently rub my clit through my underwear. My hips gave a small twitch, wanting more.

He placed yet another kiss on my thigh, his other fingers coming up the wet part of my underwear, feeling the dampness. I could feel him smile against my skin at my reaction. "What do you like, honey?"

"What... what do I like?" I repeat.

"Mm hmm," he hummed, now gently rubbing his thumb on my clit ever so slightly. It was as if he wanted me to whine. "Do you touch yourself at all?"

My cheeks flared red. "Um, yes."

"Then tell me, darling," he said lowly, "what do you like?"

"I've uh," I try to find my words. The sight of him looking up at me with half lidded eyes, patiently awaiting my response, still gently rubbing me through my underwear was rendering me speechless. "I've only ever really rubbed my clit to get off. I don't like actually feeling my insides. I'm worried I'm going to hurt myself."

He nodded, hoisting himself up on his elbows to play with the elastic on my underwear again. "I'll see what I can do to you."

The way in which he said it made me blink slowly. I still couldn't believe this was actually happening. I lifted my hips as he began taking my underwear down my legs. He stood, letting me close my legs momentarily while my underwear came down to my ankles. He pulled them off of me and I shyly rested my legs back down. It wasn't completely dark here, but there was enough light to see each other.

He very gently coaxed my legs back open, fingertips tracing my thighs, then my inner thighs. He worked himself back into a kneel. With him so much closer to me, the sensation of his warm breath on me was indescribable. Before ever even touching me, he looked up at me one last time. His hands found my own that were resting by my sides, holding them endearingly. "If you ever change your mind, don't hesitate to tell me."

"I know," I whisper.

"And if there's something you want me to do more, less, different..."

I squeezed his hands. "Ryan, I trust you. I understand."

His thumbs grazed the tops of my hands before letting them go. He smiled up at me, now tracing my inner thighs again, kissing my left one. "Okay," he hummed into my skin, "Are you ready?"

"Please," I mumble. He kissed inwards my thigh, his breath hitting me.

He gently kisses closer and closer before he gives me one solid lick up my slit, making me shiver and exhale. He hummed yet again, taking another long lick before kissing my clit. "You taste amazing."

As his tongue began tracing my clit, feeling the scruffy skin of his face against my soft skin, I shut my eyes, leaning my head back in the pillow. It felt extremely good. I ran my hand through the hair on the top of his head endearingly, holding a handful to gently tug on it. His hands were around me, supporting my hips from around my legs.

He kissed and sucked on my clit some more, making my legs quiver. I could feel him smiling against me as he continued the motion, gaining the same and similar reaction out of my body. I gave a small exhale, stopping myself from accidentally closing my legs down on his head. He could see me restraining and he came up, continuing to rub my clit with his fingers.

"Does this feel okay?" He asked.

"Yes," I answered immediately, placing my hand over his on my hip. As his thumb moves in a small circular motion over my clit, I raise my head from the pillow. His eyes watch me as I reach down over his thumb and begin guiding it a little, saying, "What usually works for me is less of circles, but more of a side to side-- oh--"

My legs twitched as he immediately tried what I recommended, and a warmth spread over my abdomen. He grins as he watches my reaction. "Like that?"

"Yeah, just like that," I curl my head back onto the pillow as he continues his motions.

"Can I try a finger?" He asked gently.

"Yeah," I nod.

He removed his fingers from my clit and replaced it with his mouth once more. A chewed on the inside of my cheek at the sensation again, hoping I wasn't nervous enough to stop myself from coming for him.

I felt his fingers begin to tentatively touch me, running up and down my slit. After gathering my wetness, he pressed one into me a little, then a little more. It felt different than when I did it. I liked it a lot more.

"Are you alright?" he briefly asked.

"Yes," I nod immediately, lifting my head to look down at him. "Please, could you do more?"

His pupils dilated and he began slowly pumping his finger in and out of me. My eyes began to flutter shut, then suddenly I felt it grow tighter. He's now put two fingers in me, more than I've ever tried and began massaging me out. I gasped slightly and chewed down on my cheek.

"Okay?" he asks.

"Yes," I nod once more.

He brought those fingers in and out of me, licking and sucking in my clit. I nearly cried out at the sensation. I'd never done both at the same time and it was nearly making me see white.

"You're holding back, sweetheart. I can tell," he hummed, continuing to reach deep in me and hit a spot that was making my hips twitch. "I wanna hear you."

I clenched my teeth through a moan, letting the sound pass my throat unlike the others.

"What do you need, honey?" He purred, placing suckling kisses on my clit. "Use your words."

"Please, faster," I cried.

He did just that, making a sensation pool in the bottom of my stomach. I pressed into him as much as I could without falling off the damn bedside. He began wiggling his tongue back and forth on my clit and increased the speed in which he was fingering me, and it was all too much.

I found myself arching my back, pressing my head hard into the pillow below my head as my orgasm washed over me. My thighs twitched and came together slightly, but not hard enough to crush him. He continued the moves on me, making me squirm at the stimulation.

"Ryan!" I cried out, being gentle to really make sure not to crush him as I realized what my legs had done. A harsh shiver ran up my body. As I reached my hand down to his hair, he calmed his motions down, gently licking me clean after he took his fingers out.

I sighed with ecstacy, feeling as if I were drunk and my eyes were hazed over.

He began to smile, crawling back up the length of my body. He placed his lips on mine, and I could taste and smell myself. I loved it. I held his face endearingly, then trailed them down his body.

"Can you lick these clean for me, honey?" He asked, raising his middle and ring finger to my lips. I opened obligingly, and he put them in my mouth. They were still damp from being inside of me, covered in my juices. I moaned a little, looking him in the eyes as I sucked them clean.

"You're such a good girl," he praised, stirring a little something inside of me once more. "I'm surprised you came so fast."

Once he took his fingers out of my mouth, I felt my cheeks grow a little pink. "I'm sorry I squeezed the hell out of you. I didn't know I would do that."

"Hey," he said quietly, his fingers coming below my jaw to make me look at him. He pressed his forehead on mine, speaking in a lower tone, "You could crush me with your thighs any day of the week."

I felt my face flush bright red and I began to smile. My hands were now on his chest, feeling his warm skin under my touch.

"Now," he began sweetly, placing a kiss on my forehead, "Do you want to do more, or do you think you might be done?"

I shook my head, pulling him towards me in a kiss. I spoke against his lips. "I want you."

We both smiled against each other, and he hoisted me up further on the bed, coming with me. He stood for a moment, bringing his sweatpants down his legs revealed a pair of boxer briefs.

He crawled back over me and placed his lips back onto mine. My legs were spread still and I wrapped them around him, ankles pushing behind his thighs to make contact with me. I laced my fingers once again in his hair as he kissed me, then raking my fingernails down his back, which earned a guttural hum from him.

He slowly grinds on me, the feeling of having his full body pressed against my naked one feeling so amazing. Moreover, I was still a little sensitive from my orgasm and whenever I could feel his hard length rub against my clit, my body would give a little jerk. I held my hands at his waist, fingertips gently feeling up and down.

As my hips began grinding upwards to meet his, he let out a small noise that reverberated against my lips. I smirked only a little, our kisses being so sloppy that it was easy to take his bottom lip between my teeth and very gently pull it like he had to me in the hallway.

As he pulled away from me, I watched his eyebrows unfurrow with focus, looking at me with a dazed look in his eyes. So, he really liked the biting.

With one swift move, almost making me dizzy, he slipped an arm under me and flipped us over and sideways so we were with the length of the bed. Being naked and upright almost seemed like a new form of taboo. I had the upper hand. My hands felt his bare chest, and I continued to grind down on him, covering the front of his underwear in my slick.

His eyes slightly closed and he let out a small groan, holding my hips. But he shook his head, holding them tighter so I couldn't move. I stopped immediately, almost feeling embarrassed.

He smiled a little as he spotted my expression, beginning to scoot further up the bed and out from between my legs. He guided me to come with him as we scooted to the top of the bed.

"You're doing perfect, sweetheart," he cooed, brushing a few strands behind my ear before tracing his fingertips down towards my breasts. I sighed and leaned into his touch, wanting to grind again as my sensitivity was gone and I wanted another one.

His hands then traveled to my waistline, down the curve and out towards my ass, giving it a squeeze. I'd given another small wiggle back and forth to get some friction along with a little whine, but his hands gravitate back towards my hips as another groan escapes him.

"But understand, honey," he says through a clenched jaw, "that when I come and make you come again, I would like it to be when I'm inside you."

My heart was rattling. Holy shit, a man actually said that to me. This man. Ryan said it to me.

He began to reach over to his right where the bedside table was much more accessible, opening the drawer. His left hand was traveling up and down my body, giving me comforting squeezes. Out of the corner of my eye, I see his fingers find a packet.

He looked up at me as he relaxed into the back of the bed, the sweet and sincerity in him coming back out to play as if he hadn't just said one of the hottest things ever.

"Since this is your first time, do you want me to take the lead again?" he asks kindly, his fingers gently brushing my waist. The touch is so nice I lean into it. "Or do you want to be in charge so you have more control over how it feels?"

I think briefly about me riding him properly, then really think about how I really don't know how. I don't even know how this is supposed to feel. Some say it hurts, some say it doesn't.

"Uh," I say, my heart fluttering, "Could... Could you, uh..."

"Use your words," he hummed teasingly, fingers tracing my thighs.

His words sent a stinging down to my heat again, begging for more attention. My thighs tensed under his touch, and he smirks a little as he feels it.

I gazed down at him, right into his eyes, and I held his face again, my thumbs tracing the bottom of his bottom lip. "I... I want to ride you."

I watched like magic as his gaze darkened right before my eyes. His hand trailed up my arm and to caress my face, his thumb now tracing my bottom lip too.

"Oh," he lets escape his lips, "I would like that too."

I began to get nervous though, breaking eye contact as I muttered under my breath, scared I would now disappoint him. "But... I don't know how to."

In the deafening silence, I hear him whisper my name. I swallow hard and look back at him.

He gave me a small smile, brushing more hair from my eyes. "We don't have to do this if you don't want to--"

"I really want to," I confirm yet again. "Please, I really want to."

Ryan smiled gently, wrapping both his arms around me, locking behind my waist as he sat up with ease. I slid down more towards his thighs, looking gently down at him as he gazed up at me.

"I just want this to be a good experience for you too," I whisper, my hands on the sides of his warm neck.

He lets out a small amused breath, holding me tighter with his strong arms as he leans up and kisses me. When he pulls away, he begins to peel the covers on the bed beside us. I smile a little and reach over and help him. He flips us over again, and my head hits the pillows with a soft plop.

He peels back the covers only a little more to slip inside himself, and I waste no time in spreading my legs once more when he stations himself between them. He pulled the covers up to his back, making this indefinitely a more private experience. My heart was thudding in my ears with anticipation.

I watch as he takes off his underwear, tossing them somewhere on the other side of the room. He tears the packaging to the condom, tossing it somewhere too. I can just barely see him in the dim light and under the covers. But also from what I felt earlier grinding on him, I was most likely entering a world of pain.

"I'm going to go real slow," he says quietly, his thumb beginning to gently rub circles on my clit. I bounced at first at the contact, not expecting it. "Do you think you feel ready?"

I nod, fingers rising on the arm he stationed next to my head, holding himself up. "Yeah, I'm ready."

At first, he rubbed himself up and down my slit, making me wait with eagerness. I could feel the lube of the condom as well, making me even more slippery.

Then, he stopped the motion, and I nearly stopped breathing. He began to press himself inside of me, and I finally took one single deep breath as the tight feeling stung me.

"Holy shit, you're tight," he breathed out.

"Sorry," I squeaked, trying to focus.

Ryan shook his head, eyes watching my face. "Are you alright?"

I nod. "Yeah, very slowly now--" I cut myself off by biting down hard on the inside of my cheek, tears springing to my eyes. Holy shit. This really did hurt.

"Hey," he says quietly, finger brushing against my cheek, "Hey, hey, hey. Am I hurting you?"

I couldn't even talk. With my eyebrows strung though, I'm sure he noticed that the answer was yes. Within a millisecond, he had pulled out of me. My lips parted, eyes shooting to his face.

He looked at me really unsure, "Maybe you're not quite ready yet. I don't like that I'm hurting you this much. You have tears in your eyes--"

"I'm okay," I whispered, wiping them quickly as the dampness gathered in the corners of my eyes. "I don't think it's supposed to be completely painless the first time. I'm really okay. You're not traumatizing me. It's alright."

"But--"

I leaned up and pecked his lips, noses brushing against one another. "I still really want to do this. I can handle it."

"Okay," he says finally, carefully pressing himself into me once more.

It still stung like hell, but not as terrible. I tried to coax myself into relaxing, imagining how good it'll feel when he's fully inside of me instead of the measly third he's made so far. To try and gain some control, I let my fingers trace down his waist and rest on his hips, gently easing him towards me more. A pained gasp however escapes me when his hips twitch forward and I get more than I bargained for.

"Fuck, I'm sorry," he says, voice strained, eyes dancing over mine in apology. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," I whisper, more tears coming to my eyes as I try to relax once more.

"You feel really fucking good, and I'm--" he begins to laugh, "I'm trying really fucking hard right now to keep it together."

I find myself grinning, beginning to laugh as well. We laughed with each other, and for a second, his head came down as he chuckled and rested it on my shoulder. Having been laughing and smiling, I can feel myself getting more and more used to his size. I press my fingertips into his hips once more, easing him into me. And finally, our hips connect.

His laughter is choked with a sigh, and he lifts his head back up.

"Okay," I whisper, wiping the midst of my tears away once more. I reach up and brush some of his hair off his forehead, feeling the stinging sensation pulsing in my legs. It was much more tolerable now though.

"God, you feel really good," he readjusts his hips.

"So do you," I breathe out. The thought does cross my mind that I really love the feeling of this. His insinuation of him being rough earlier flashed me again, and I say, "And once I get used to you... you can rail me all you want."

My words send him twitching, and I can feel it happening inside of me. His eyes darken on me once more, and he slowly pulls out, then pushes back in until our hips connect. It still stung a little, but I can feel him filling me up and it makes a pathetic sigh fall from my lips. After several of these motions, nice and slow, I start to feel more alive. I feel like more of a participant than a watcher. It starts to feel incredibly good.

As he starts to pick up the pace, he lets out a whimper, sitting up straight to pick up my hips. I whine and move my hips with his, feeling with every millisecond our hips meet that he hits a spot that his fingers were barely even grazing earlier. It sends my legs jolting, and I can feel the familiar sensation build in my stomach.

I couldn't believe I was already going to come again. We had just started properly having sex and he had me gone within a couple of minutes. However, it seemed as if I wasn't the only one. His movements began to get more sloppy, but he raised one of his hands off my hips and began to touch my clit again with his thumb, sending me seeing white once more.

My eyes were rolling back into my head, shutting as I nearly squirmed away at the sensation again.

"Come on, sweetheart," he groaned, then coming out as a whisper, almost a plea, "Come on."

"Are-- Are you-- oh!" Suddenly, one movement on my clit and one deep thrust sent me tumbling over the edge and I reached down to his hand on my waist. I had taken a few of his fingers in my grasp as a moan shivered its way out of my body, an orgasm unlike any other I'd ever had rolling through me.

I thought he'd rendered me deaf because of it, causing my legs to squeeze Ryan tighter around me. Only moments after me, he let out a guttural low moan, his hips smacking into mine at a sloppy and desperate rate. I forced my eyes open, the sight in front of me completely amazing and unlike anything I'd imagined.

His brows were furrowed, the upper half of his face full of blissful distress. His eyes were half lidded, looking down at me having my own fit. Then, his eyebrows raised as his jaw fell slack, his head rolling back on his neck. When he came to, his teeth were clenched and small noises escaped him.

He shudders out my name with a tight jaw, causing a mental circuit breaker to turn loose.

I almost felt like I could come again at the sight. How glad I was to have opened my eyes and seen it. Finally he had taken a deep breath, connecting our hips only a couple more times slowly before he slipped himself out. He slowly collapsed himself beside me, body just slightly damp with sweat.

Our bodies gently shivered and twitched against one another. Though I was still on my back, Ryan lay on his side, facing me. His large warm hand flat out on my stomach and waist, pulling me towards him, our legs tangled.

We both caught our breaths, and I shut my eyes for a moment. My head spun like I had been drinking. Holy shit, we just had sex.

When I opened my eyes, tire ridding my body, we were both just sort of looking at each other. Then suddenly, we both just laughed.

I didn't even know what was funny. With my brain swirling around now, it could have been a number of things. When it died off, Ryan slowly got up, his hand slipping off of me. I pushed myself up by my elbows, watching him as he shakily stood by the bedside. When I thought for a split second that something was wrong, he then turned and offered me a hand, smiling at me.

"Come on, beautiful," he says softly, "Let's get cleaned up."

[sovengardeswag]

The Pines Files

After the events of Weirdmaggeddon, Dipper and Mabel are contacted by the SCP foundation and join the ranks. The adventure never ended, it just took a different turn. And now, years later, they're back to Gravity Falls, aka SCP-████. And it is up to them to investigate the ever-growing mystery behind the town and protect the most dangerous and important SCPs there are and face their past.

Chapter One: Deal With The Devil

Dr. Mason Pines stared at himself in the mirror, hands gripping the sink, and wondered what his life had become. Sure, he knew what he’d signed up for, but still. He hated this. The near constant testing, the things that went on in this place. The dark circles under his eyes were as bad as they had ever been, and he was pretty sure he had gray hairs. Working where he did could do that to a guy. Mason let the water drip from his face before getting some paper towels and drying himself off, leaving his birthmark exposed. It felt like just yesterday he was a little kid.

He and Mabel had only been thirteen when they’d been approached. It was any other September day. The air was turning colder, they had started to settle into their school routine, and they were walking home together as they always had. He was listening to her talk all about her art class, where she had drawn some bits of a fun dream she had, but made a few modifications of course. “Those colors aren’t really possible in pencil, ya know! So I made up for it by putting on lots of glitters! Ms. Walker said I had a lot of imagination! But she also told me I’ll probably have to tone it down for the style units. I don’t think I’ll need to though.”

He’d been nodding along as she talked, writing down a little bit in his pocket journal. He was listening of course, but he also needed to keep track of all of his own little discoveries and theories. However, he was quickly pulled out of both Mabel’s retelling of events and his writings when they turned a corner. Right there, at their house, was a black van, “Mabel. Mabel!” He tugged on her sweater sleeve a little bit.

“I wonder if I should start drawing-” she stopped dead when he pulled on her sleeves and brought her attention to that van. Her eyes widened as she looked at Dipper, “I thought Great Uncle Ford wiped all those government guys’ memories with the mind eraser thingy.”

Dipper gripped the straps of his backpack, telling Mabel, “Maybe it’s not them. Maybe Mom and Dad are working on with some clients.” But even back then, he knew that was just something he said to comfort his sister. “Come on, let’s just head inside. It’s not like we can avoid them forever.”

And so they walked into their house, Dipper calling out, “Mom? Dad? You guys home?” before the two dropped their backpacks and headed into the living room. And their parents were certainly there, but they weren’t the only ones. Sitting on the couch, drinking coffee, were two people. Both were men, one was wearing a suit, sunglasses, and an earpiece. The other was dressed in a sweater and khakis, staring at Waddles as the pot-bellied pig sniffed him.

Their mother waved them over, telling them, “Mabel, Dipper, your father and I were just talking about you and your great uncles to Agent Young and Dr. Gordon. About what happened last summer. They wanted to talk to you.” Her eyes darted between her children and the armed agent taking a sip of his coffee.

Before either twin could answer, Dr. Gordon was up, approaching the two children with a flashlight, their father telling him, “Hey wait! We told you our children aren’t anomalies or whatever! They’re just kids!”

As Dr. Gordon shined a light in Dipper’s ear, he retorted with, “Yes, I know what you said. But you never know with twins! Especially not after that incident.” He then turned off the flashlight and inspected Mabel’s eyes, holding one of them open. “Did you have any sugar today Miss Pines?”

“Y-yeah! I mean no! I mean- Why do you wanna know?” The poor girl was sweating already.

Dr. Grant, completely ignoring her terror, told her, “So that’s a yes.” He went to sit back down, the agent with him nodding towards the other couch. “Let’s get to business then. Have a seat. Your parents filled us in on the situation, but we want to hear from you two.”

“And what situation would that be, exactly?” Dipper was clenching and unclenching his fists. Not sure if he should run away or be honest as he headed onto the couch and sat down, Mabel fidgeting with her hands a little bit as she joined him.

The agent spoke this time, telling the two, “Well, our biggest concern is how you managed to stop an apocalypse-level threat at only twelve years old. And the other is the location of Stanford and Stanely Pines. We want all the details of what happened.”

Dipper, having learned to not trust government agents, asked, “Depends, why do you want to know? And who are you guys anyway?” Mabel was beckoning Waddles over, not wanting him too close to Dr. Gordon.

Agent Young put his coffee down on the table and looked directly at Dipper, telling him, “Smart kid, making sure you know who you’re dealing with. We’re not government if that’s what you’re wondering. We’re from an independent organization that tracks, studies, and contains anomalies. Your uncle, or, I suppose, uncles, have been on our radar for a long long time. And that incident you stopped, well, you wouldn’t expect that kind of work from civilians, let alone children. Minimal casualties, clean termination. Our question is how two preteens and a couple of madmen did that.”

Mabel spoke up, asking, “How do we know you’re not gonna take us to jail after this?”

Dr. Gordon told the kids, “You have our word. Also, Agent Young can give you his handcuffs.”

“What?”

“Just go with it, Young.”

Agent Young hesitated, but he handed his cuffs over to Mabel, who held onto them as if her life depended on it. “Ok, so, Bill possessed Blendin and told me he could make a time bubble to make summer last longer because me and Dipper had a fight and I didn’t wanna grow up so I gave him a weird globe thing that turned out to be a space rift so Dipper and our friends Wendy and Soos had to get me out of a prison Bill put me in and I realized growing up wouldn’t be so bad so we went back to the shack and met up with Grunkle Stan and some of our other friends and made the shack into a big mecha and went to attack Bill and save Great Uncle Ford though that didn’t stop him we got into his pyramid anyways and managed to distract him and Grunkle Stan and Ford came up with the idea to switch places cause they’re identical twins and Bill wouldn’t be able to tell the difference and once Bill went into Grunkle Stan’s mind Great Uncle Ford wiped his mind and that killed Bill and we had to fix Grunkle Stan’s memories and now they’re on a boat but we don’t know where!”

The agent and the scientist both blinked, Mabel finally taking a breath and still gripping those handcuffs with all the strength in her little hands. Agent Young looked to Dipper and asked, “Mind filling in the gaps, son?”

Dipper considered lying, he considered refusing to elaborate. He really did. But something told him they’d just find out. They found out where his family lived, they had known about Stan and Ford. How did he know that they wouldn’t just already know about what had happened? So, he told the truth, about Bill, Blendin, everything. He watched them nod along and his parents cringe at the messier details. He knew that they thought it was all imagination on Mabel’s end. He’d hoped it would stay like that.

Dr. Gordon had been writing this down the whole time and when Dipper was done, he closed his notebook. “That should finish up the incident report. Now, onto business. The big reason we’re here is that you managed to take down the threat. We had operatives in Gravity Falls at the time, and yet, you fixed it. And, as Young said, there weren’t any civilian casualties, aside from your uncle’s memories. However, your uncles are still responsible for all this. In normal circumstances, we’d be interrogating you for their location. However, seeing as they’ve left the site and are a minimal threat, we want to make you an offer.”

“When you kids are older, we want you to be a part of our foundation. We could use people like you on the payroll. And in exchange for your cooperation, we’d be willing to let your uncles go. We’d be willing to pay for your education on top of that, as long as it’s relevant to the foundation.”

Dipper squinted. They were offering… a job? To teenagers? “What’s the catch?”

“Smart kid. The catch is that once you take this offer, there’s no turning back. If you reject the offer or leave, we’ll have to arrest your uncles if we encounter them. We’d wipe your memory of not just us, but that whole summer. You would be completely safe, but it’ll be as if the summer never happened. And as if you never met your uncles. So, the choice is yours.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? You’re telling me that my kids, who are thirteen, mind you, have to join your weird organization, or else you’re going to arrest our uncles? Do you know how insane that sounds? What makes you think you can blackmail them, anyway?” Dipper’s blood ran cold at that moment. He’d never heard his father swear like that before.

And then Mrs. Pines chimed in. “Alex is absolutely right, you’re not doing this to our kids! And we’re not just going to let you arrest my husband’s uncles either! He JUST got his uncle Ford back! Honestly, we should just call the police on you. I don’t care if you supposedly have authority, y-.” And then their parents went down, hitting the carpeted floor as the twins yelled out in horror, Waddles squealed. Agent Young was holding a gun.

“Relax, they’re not dead, they were hit with a sedative and amnestic. They’ll wake up and won’t remember a thing about us coming to your home.” And indeed. Their parents were still breathing. Instead of bullet holes, there were small darts. Only noticeable now that it was pointed out.

“W-why would you knock them out and make them forget?” Dipper’s voice cracked as he said it. Dr. Gordon pushed his glasses up, trying to lure Waddles out from his hiding spot under the couch.

“Simple, this isn’t their decision, it’s yours. You’re only thirteen, that much is true, but you’re also already thirteen. A lot of kids don’t get to live that long because of anomalies, like the ones you stopped. Some get to your age and end up suffering in ways you could never conceive of. Imagine what you can do when you’re eighteen, twenty-five, or thirty. The kids just like you who you’d save. Not to mention the huge favor you would be doing for your uncles. Wouldn’t it be nice to do them a favor? To save them the way they saved you?”

Mabel and Dipper looked at each other. These guys had a point. They couldn’t just let their uncles get arrested. And they certainly didn’t want to forget the summer. But, this was also a shadowy organization. Dipper knew that they were thinking the same thing. “Can we think on it a little bit? Before we make the decision?”

“Not overnight,” Young said, knowing exactly what they were thinking. “Your parents will wake up within the hour, so you have a little less than that to decide.”

To that, the twins got up from the couch, heading up to their room. Waddles came out from under the couch to follow them, though it was a tight squeeze for him. When they got to their room, Dipper set out to look for anything that looked bugged, and Mabel turned her stuffed animals away. “I don’t trust them, Dipper.”

“Yeah, neither do I! Mabel, they knocked out Mom and Dad! Honestly, how do we even know that they haven’t been poisoned?” He made sure the window was closed and checked the charge on his phone.

“Because they’d either have to kidnap us or deal with CPS?” Waddles had climbed up onto Mabel’s bed after she sat on it and she was scratching his ears.

“That’s a good point.” Dipper started to pace then, thinking over their options. “Obviously, we’re not gonna let them arrest Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford. But we can’t just do what they want! They’re weirdos!”

“Total weirdos.” "

But at the same time, that was the best summer of our lives! We can’t just forget that!” Mabel nodded along, watching Dipper pace ever more fretfully. “It’s like it’s a trap! Work for someplace we don’t even know about or let them ruin our lives!”

Mabel wasn’t sitting idly by as she pet Waddles, of course. As she watched the pig wiggle happily, she was having her own thoughts on the matter. Dipper’s verbalizations laying it out for her. “Maybe we can ask them to do stuff for us? Make sure they’re not evil?”

“You mean we should negotiate?” Dipper stopped his pacing and looked over at her. “

Yeah!” She slipped off her bed and headed to her drawer, pulling out some pink, strawberry-scented, lined paper and two gel pens. “We can tell them stuff we won’t do if we join them!”

“Of course! Mabel, you’re a genius!” He took a gel pen and a sheet of paper before he lay belly down on the floor. Mabel joined him, and they came up with negotiation points together.

It took 20 minutes total to think of everything they needed, and when they came downstairs, Agent Young had placed Mr. and Mrs. Pines on the couch and was currently trying to maneuver them. Probably trying to make it look like they had fallen asleep after a long day of coding and repairs. He was the one to notice that they each held a paper in their hands. “I suppose our terms weren’t enough for you?”

Dipper nodded, telling him, “We have a list of assurances, demands, that sort of thing. Just to make sure that we’re not gonna get black bagged and murdered by some weird agents. For all we know, your organization isn’t even real.”

Agent Young raised an eyebrow. “You’re not exactly in a position to make demands kid.”

“You’re the one who said we were valuable,” Dipper retorted. “And that means you want us working for you when we grow up more than you want to arrest our uncles.”

“He’s got you there,” Dr. Gordon pointed out. He was still sitting around. Not wanting to help his colleague with the heavy lifting. “Lay it on us kids.”

“First of all, we want to know exactly what you guys do and who you work for. We don’t even know who you are. For all we know, this is a trap from those government agents getting their memories back.” He passes his paper to Agent Young.

“And we want a promise that if we say no, you won’t get rid of our memories of our grunkles or the summer. We know you can get rid of only some memories. You can’t take the best summer of our lives, and it’s not like EVERYTHING that summer was weird,” Mabel added as she passed her own list of demands to Dr. Gordon. Their grunkles would at least appreciate knowing someone remembered them, especially after all that time they were ignored.

As the agent and the doctor looked over the negotiation points, they both knew the kids had a point. Dipper could see it in their faces. Agent Young told them, “We’re from the SCP foundation. It stands for Secure, Contain, Protect. We track down anomalies and capture them, keeping them from harming the populace. We work with governments but not for any government. We are beholden to no law enforcement agency. Essentially, we’re humanity’s best defense against the supernatural.” Dipper and Mabel listened to that explanation and it did not calm them down. Some weird secret foundation? A bad time all around. But they were smart kids. They kept quiet during the explanation.

“Alright then, let’s get down to business then, you’ll find our negotiation points are very clear.”

Both agent and Dr. looked at the lists properly and made the same face of confusion. “The right to maintain a supernatural Youtube channel?”

“No uniforms?”

“What kind of demands are these?”

“Simple ones. You guys are obviously a secret organization. You’re going to want to control our free time to make sure we don’t spill everything. I want assurance that you won’t shut me down if I do ghost hunting in my free time.”

“And I don’t wanna wear a uniform! I’ve never worn one before and I’m not gonna start just cause I’m working for a secret monster jail!” Gordon and Young thought for a moment.

“You can have your YouTube, but it’s gotta be fake or just things that the Foundation would never bother with.”

“The best I can do is to let you be able to customize your armor if you join the Mobile Task Force. Stickers, decals, that sort of thing.”

“And our summer?” Dipper crossed his arms.

“You’d really let your great uncles get arrested after making all these demands?”

“No, we just want to know that you won’t make us forget our own family if it turns out you're, like, super evil or something.”

The agent and the doctor looked at each other, clearly thinking the same thing as they looked back at the twins. “We can do this. The terms just need to be looked at by higher-ups.”

The twins nodded, those conditions were amenable. And after going over the rest of the negotiation points, it was settled.

“We’ll see you again in five years. Your parents will wake up and won’t remember a thing about us. I expect that you’ll want to tell your uncles, but I recommend that you avoid doing that. We don’t want those two on us.” And with that, both agent and doctor left, and the fates of the two children had been sealed. Because that’s what they had been, children.

Did they save the world? Sure they had, and now they had done it multiple times. But who makes two kids join an organization like this? Who threatens two kids into compliance like this? And then, there was a knock at the door.

“Dr. Pines, come back. The test next test is about to start.”

Mason groaned, and he grabbed a paper towel to dry his face. “Right, right.” And then, he left the bathroom. “Has the D-class been given 2107 yet?”

“Yes, he’s been given the variant.”

“Alright, let’s go then.” Just what he needed, to watch a man be haunted by category-10 ghosts that came from a can.

As he walked into the testing room and picked up his clipboard, Mason couldn’t help but sigh, his supervisor telling him, “Don’t be like that Pines, you’ve dealt with ghosts before.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he approached the two-way glass, watching as the D-class just sort of sat there. The diet ghost hasn’t set in yet it seemed. He wondered what took so long to test this new variant though. A “classic” flavor was bound to be stronger based on non-anomalous soda trends.

And then, it started, the guy got up and started looking around in confusion. Another scientist stated out loud for the recording, “15 minutes in, the subject has started to experience auditory hallucinations.”

The poor guy started to pace around, getting up from his chair and pacing, telling the ghost that was haunting him, “Shut up! Shut up!”

“The subject has started to show signs of distress, pacing, trying to make the voices stop.” Mason wondered where this D-class had come from. Was he a murderer? A political prisoner? He wrote down that the guy was getting scared.

And then, the real effects started to set in. The nearby video feed started to go out and the recording was starting to break, they were reliant on the two-way mirror now. “Electronics are now going out. The ghost is now affecting the subject’s surroundings.”

Did they really have to go to 270ml so fast? They had barely gotten the last guy out of the room by the time they got this guy in. And then, it started. The walls started to drip something before the flow got stronger and stronger. It was red. The guy screamed.

“The testing area has started to release a red liquid, tests will be run after the procedure is finished.”

Mason wrote down that the walls were bleeding. There was no way that wasn’t blood. This wasn’t a horror movie; that wasn’t red corn syrup. It certainly didn’t help that despite the lack of a microphone and the soundproofing, he could now hear the ghosts chanting, “Murderer, murderer, murderer!” He wrote that down. “The subject is now bleeding! I repeat the subject is now bleeding!”

From his eyes specifically, the man screamed in pain before he started to cough up blood as well. Guards began to move towards the door, knowing what was about to happen. Mason headed toward the drawer and got the ipecac. "Doctor Pines, what are you doing?"

The room was starting to look like The Shining. Blood was all over the floor from all walls. He strode right in with the agents, almost slipping on the floor as he went up to the D-class. “Come on, man, you’ve gotta take this.” He uncapped the syrup and tried to offer it to the D-class. But it was no use, as Mason tried to pour the liquid into the D-class's mouth, he just coughed up more blood, some even got on his face. There was no way they would be able to get the diet ghost out of his system. All they could do was watch, the agents taking out their mirrors in case they needed to catch the ghosts. But they found that when the D-class stopped coughing and his eyes stopped dripping, the walls stopped bleeding; the chant of “murderer,” stopped.

“The subject has expired, cause of death, blood loss. Take the day everyone.” Mason just knelt there for a bit before getting up, the body being dragged away. And to think he was having a bad day before this. He tried to wipe his face but just found that he smeared more blood on himself. Great.

He heard footsteps from behind as he got up, and heard his supervisor’s voice “Dr. Pines, you need to report to decontamination. D-57351 was due for his monthly blood test.” On top of the ghostly blood.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll go do that. Just give me a minute.” He turned to look at his supervisor. A short woman in her 50’s. Despite her height, she always had an air of intimidation to her.

“There was nothing you could have done. You know that right?”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just a lot. Didn’t expect to see a guy bleed out through his eyes and mouth.”

“Yes, well, you heard the ghosts. He wasn’t exactly a good person, don’t beat yourself over it.” She patted his shoulder, and he had to resist the urge to not let her touch him. At least he could go ahead and get clean before going home. Just as he was about to clock out though, there was a call over the Speakers. “Dr. Pines, report to Dr. Casper’s office. I repeat, report to Dr. Casper’s office.” He groaned and headed straight to there anyways.

Dr. Casper was a no-nonsense kind of woman, despite being head of spectral anomalies with a name like hers. Mason sometimes wondered if she got into ghosts because of her name or if it was a coincidence. She stopped her writing when he came in, her Newton’s cradle going clack clack clack on her desk. “Ah, Dr. Pines, you made it. Please, sit.” She gestured to one of the chairs.

As Mason sat down, he asked, “Is this about the incident with the test? I just followed the procedure. I thought he’d be able to drink the syrup, honest.” It wasn’t his fault the poor guy choked so much. “He would have expelled the diet ghost if it wasn’t for the choking-”

She raises her hand, telling him, “You’re not in trouble for that. We may not be short of D-class, but that’s no way for anyone to go. You did what procedure says you should and just couldn’t get it to work, that’s all. No, you’re here because I have an assignment for you.”

“An assignment?”

Dr. Casper nodded, telling him, “Yes. You see, I think you would benefit from some fieldwork. In the five years you’ve worked at the foundation, you’ve shown exceptional professionalism and excellent results. And in the two years you’ve worked in my department, you’ve been extremely diligent, handling ghosts about as well as people who’ve worked here for fifteen years. However, I don’t think you’re a good fit for lab work or this department.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry, I’m not demoting you. Goodness no. I want you out there in the field. And I want you to focus on living anomalies. I’ve seen you run around in those videos you make, and your first incident report shows you have the quick thinking and the instincts to do more than work in just one area. Especially with your doctorate credentials.”

“Right, so, you’re saying I need to get out there and actually look for anomalies. ”

“Not exactly,” she folded her hands on top of her desk. “Look, I’ve read your contract, I know you’re not going to leave any time soon. But I want you to succeed, not just be held hostage like a D-class. As I said, you’ve already been approved.” She reached into her files and pulled out some forms. “All you need to do is agree.”

Mason looked them over, reading very carefully. You didn’t survive long in this industry without knowing exactly what you were getting into. His eyes widened once he realized what site he was sent to. Because it wasn’t just any site, it was an entire SCP. Codename: Weirdest Town In America. “You’re sending me to Gravity Falls?”

“I’m not. I’m guessing the director thought you’d do best there.” Mason thought he was being pranked at this point. This was too good to be true. But there it was. Dr. Casper’s signature was right on the line, and Dr. Bright’s signature was right on the line that said: “Director’s signature here.” And the handwriting indicating his transfer to Gravity Falls sure wasn’t in Dr. Casper’s.

“So I just sign here right?” Dr. Casper nodded and Dipper did not hesitate to sign his name. Dr. Mason Pines, Ph.D. in anomalies. He was going home.

23-5-12-3-15-5-0-20-15-0-20-8-5-0-19-3-16-0-6-15-21-14-4-1-20-9-15-14

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If you liked this fic, please check out my writing tag (Sam writes and sam's writing) here on tumblr. For author notes, please check the AO3 link in the reblogs. The hint for the code in this chapter is 0=space

[isabel3710]

Haunted location for 'bad things happen bingo'

This one is a tad shorter than other prompts are/going to be. But I was in a hurry and didn’t know how to take things

Fandom: Gravity Falls

Prompt: Haunted Location

Masterlist

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Dipper Pines was laying on his bed in his college dorm room, staring at a computer screen. But for once he wasn’t doing homework. Instead he was on a random form in the backlogs of the internet.

The form was full of people talking about a bunch of different haunted locations. Or at least places they thought were haunted. 

“Been there.”

“That’s fake.”

“That place was torn down.”

Dipper muttered to himself under his breath as he went throught the list. Most places on this so-called ‘list’ he had already heard of or been to himself. Dipper paused when he came across a message about an old warehouse not too far from his apartment. 

“That one’s new.”

Dipper pulled out his phone, he should have some time tomorrow to check it out. Even if it was fake it still would be interesting to look into.

—--------

The warehouse was old and rundown looking, Dipper slipped around the back and found a slightly open window. He pushed it open and was able to get inside. According to the chat form this place had been abandoned after a workplace accident and was now being haunted by the spirit of the person who died here. 

Dipper hadn’t been on a proper mystery hunt since the last time he saw Mabel over the summer. It felt strange to be doing one without her but he decided he couldn’t wait. As much as Dipper loved college he was feeling a little stir crazy and a good old ghost hunt was just what he needed. 

Walking around, flashlight in hand, Dipper couldn’t find much to suggest that this place was haunted, there were some crates and a few old pieces of machinery but that was it. Most Ghost Possesed places had things thrown around and broken glass or something. There wasnt even any graffiti on the walls. 

Dipper pulled out his Journal and made a few notes, maybe the ghost was a lower category. Perhaps a level one. Not much of a threat and Dipper couldn’t really do anything to get rid of it. A bit disappointed, he was hoping for a good fight. 

(Unknownth to him there were hidden cameras following Dipper’s every move) 

He kept poking around and looking at stuff. It was a bit strange, Dipper thought this place was supposed to be abandoned but except for some dust there really wasn’t much evidence to prove it. 

Most of the abandoned or haunted sites Dipper has explored were run down and falling apart. “Maybe this place was abandoned more recently.” He mused. 

Dipper stopped, what was that sound. It sounded like creaking floor boards, like someone was walking around. He tightened his grip on his flashlight and began to move slowly and quietly to the sound. 

As Dipper walked he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching him. Maybe it’s the ghost he thought, maybe it’s toying with me. 

Wouldn’t be the first time a paranormal being decided to mess with him, Dipper just needed to be on guard and be careful. 

Maybe he should have brought someone with him…

No matter, Dipper could handle this on his own. 

(Dipper didn’t hear the sound of a car pulling up outside)

He turned a corner and saw a shadow moving in the distance. Dipper quickly ducked behind some crates and tried to catch his breath. He waited and listened, but the sound had stopped.

Dipper took a deep breath and slowly peeked out from behind the crates. He saw nothing but darkness. He turned his flashlight on and shone it in the direction of the shadow he had seen.

It looked like a person. 

He went to move closer but heard a voice speak behind him. “And who are you?”

Dipper turned around to see a human (definitely not a ghost) woman looking right at him. 

Oh no. 

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Author's Note:

Another day, another prompt.

IRUFLEOB VWLSSHG

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Tag List:

@badthingshappenbingo

[dangercocktail]

Ranger Danger

The vibrational dance of Noah’s cell phone dragged him away from the horror movie splaying blood across his television. As a young starlet screamed and ran with poor coordination through the woods, Noah scanned the stream of incoming texts. 

“Damn,” he muttered, running a hand over his dark hair. The incoming texts were from work. As his supervisor implored Noah’s help, he discerned they needed him to come in even though he was off duty. Some sort of mild emergency that he couldn’t quite put together. Glancing at his phone’s clock, he read that it was a little after midnight. He quickly replied ‘be there soon’, flipped off the movie, and headed into his bedroom.

Noah slipped off his gym shorts and quickly dressed in the forest ranger uniform all his coworkers wore. He gave himself a routine glance in the mirror to finish buttoning his shirt. Noah filled out his uniform with a lean beefiness acquired from miles of hiking and lifting fallen trees, his sizable biceps straining the short sleeve cuffs of his shirt. With his striking brown complexion, easy smile, and muscles, Noah was a handsome representation of the Forestry Department, frequently called in to give tours to visiting government officials or bored tour groups of sexually frustrated housewives. He always maintained a calm demeanor in the most straining of circumstances, deftly handling questions with charm. He assumed the ‘emergency’ he was needed for now was something that required his level headed thinking. Weaving his belt into the buckle of his trim waist and grabbing his hat, he headed out to his Jeep.

As Noah drove into the darker recesses of the woods where his ranger station was located, he lowered the windows on his Jeep to take in the bracing smell of pine trees and cool night air. He inhaled deeply. He loved these woods. Having worked as a ranger now for almost five years, he felt at home in this forest, having hiked its expansive trails many times over.

Pulling up to Ranger Station #04, Noah saw his District Ranger standing in the soft yellow light of the station doorway waiting for him. Taking the only remaining parking spot next to the station, Noah observed that Ben and Daniel were on duty tonight, their cars parked next to the DR’s own Ranger Jeep. 

“Hey Jim,” Noah said, lifting a hand in acknowledgment as he approached the station. “How’s it going? You were slightly ambiguous in your texts...what’s going on?”

“Hey Noah, thanks for coming on such short notice,” Jim said, his smile tired but friendly. Jim was middle aged and handsome, having served in the military for several years before leaving service for a position in the Forestry Department. His body was slightly thicker than Noah’s in the middle due to Jim’s fondness for doughnuts but the small rounded softness there was offset by thick arms that easily heaved many forest obstacles.

“Ben and Daniel missed their last two audio checks so I drove over to check the station,” Jim explained, walking with Noah into the small station. He gestured to the radio log. “Last I heard from them was at nine thirty, then radio silence.”

Noah raised an eyebrow but only slightly. This wasn’t a big emergency, the guys were probably taking their time on their latest rounds. Ben and Daniel were known for getting high on these late night shifts, then strolling deep into the woods observing the enhanced beauty of the stars.

“Where’s their observation log?” Noah said, shuffling a few of the scattered papers on the desk to the side.

“Here,” Jim said, handing a clipboard to Noah. Noah flipped through a few of the sheets before reading the top page. Ben and Daniel had logged every hourly observation walk up until 10 pm. The last two spots for the day, the eleven and midnight observation, were conspicuously blank. Still, Noah wasn’t alarmed.

“They’re probably sitting under a tree marveling at the Big Dipper,” Noah said with a smile at Jim, looking up from the clipboard. He handed it back to Jim who set it on the desk.

“You’re not wrong but let’s follow protocol and run our own observation. Shouldn’t be too hard to find these two” Jim said, adding a new sheet to the clipboard. “I apologize for making you come out here but safety first right? Two man teams always”.

Jim scribbled the time, his rank, and initials in the one o’clock slot then handed it over to Noah for his own initials. Both of them grabbed a flashlight and radio, locked the station door, and headed out into the woods, following the well worn starter path every ranger had trod day in and out.

The night air settled around the two rangers in a cool mist as fallen pine needles crunched underneath their boots. They made small chatter occasionally but mostly remained quiet, something Noah appreciated about Jim. They both enjoyed the quiet of the forest, preferring the majesty of their surroundings to the noise most humans make to fill the air.

Nearly halfway through their observational walk with no sign of other rangers, Noah stopped and looked closely at a break in the trail. The trampled and well worn path of the trail continued on but to the right, the undergrowth was disturbed. Pointing it out to Jim, the two concurred that this was a recent disturbance of the forest and most likely Ben and Daniel had veered off trail, high and looking for a place to watch stars. Picking their way through the flora, the two rangers followed the new trail.

Despite the circumstances, Noah was enjoying the walk into this new part of the forest. It was rare for the rangers to disturb parts of the forest beyond the trail without good cause. Finding Ben and Daniel was sufficient cause enough to walk in these uncharted paths and Noah took in his surroundings with a slight feeling of contentment and awe. The forest really was beautiful.

The upended pine needle path continued for some time, Noah estimating nearly fifteen minutes since they had veered from the main trail. He was starting to feel slightly concerned and opened his mouth to say something to Jim when he heard a sharp slapping sound. Glancing over, he saw Jim removing his left hand from his right arm.

“God damn mosquito,” Jim uttered, wiping the remains of the crumpled creature onto his pants. 

“Yea, consistently the worst thing out he-...” Noah started saying then cocked his ear as his sentence dropped off.

“Do you hear that?” he asked Jim, tilting his head further. Jim froze in place and listened as well. Somewhere in front of them, not too far, there was a low rumbling noise. It sounded almost guttural to Noah, like water pouring from a giant jug.

Putting a finger to his lips to keep silent, Noah began carefully walking forward with Jim right behind him. The noise grew slightly louder with each step they took until suddenly, it stopped. They stopped in their tracks. Noah cocked an eyebrow at Jim and motioned with a questioning gesture of his hand, “keep going?”

Jim nodded and the two men pressed forward through the darkness of the forest and bush. Noah noted in a corner of his mind that he had never been to this part of the forest on any of his inquiries or observations; the wood seemed completely untouched by humans save for the newly beaten down path they were following. Jim stopped for a moment and appeared to be fidgeting with his belt but at Noah’s curious look, he waved them forward and they continued. Eventually they reached a small clearing by a pond that immediately struck Noah with its serene natural splendor. However as they stepped out into the clearing, they both heard and saw them at the same time. It took Noah a beat to fully comprehend what he was looking at. 

Near the edge of the pond lay a blanket and small radio, still playing the local college station. On either side of the blanket were two enormous spheres of flesh, completely naked and wobbling slightly as Jim and Noah approached. 

“What the fuck…” Noah said as he approached the shapes slowly, observing them not moving from their spot but jiggling and shaking in place.

“Oh shit, it’s fucking Ben and Daniel,” Jim uttered as he drew closest to the quivering shape on the right. Noah’s face took on incredulity as he drew close to the left. The flesh colored ball was indeed a man but blown up to enormous proportions. His legs and feet hovered almost a foot off the ground from the immensity of his ass, Noah judging it to be almost eight feet wide. The legs themselves were encased in roll after roll of fat to the point that Noah couldn’t discern where the knees might have been, the feet themselves swollen almost unrecognizable and sinking into the fat above them. Moving his eyes up, Noah took in a belly that covered half of the fattened legs and spread out in all directions, matching the width of that enormous ass, with a belly button itself six inches wide and receding darkly into the piles of belly fat. 

Two enormous breasts sat atop the behemoth of a belly, swollen and perky like two plastic grocery bags filled with pudding. They shook slightly in the night air as Noah observed the entire body jiggle, then suddenly swell out a little more. The feet at the bottom of this mass had almost disappeared. Two arms lay to the side of the massive torso, seemingly stuck and disappearing into the expanding rolls of fat as well. As his eyes traveled finally up to the face, Noah saw the faint hint of the face that used to be Ben. His neck had ceased to exist as roll after roll of fat took up the space above his breasts and connected with his cheeks. Ben’s cheeks had become intensely rosy, swollen to a state that it looked like he had a baseball in each.

Noah saw Ben glance down at him and begin to grunt, uttering something that Noah couldn’t make out. 

“Ben, what the fuck happened…” Noah said in shock, recalling the two fit men who he had joked with a week ago in passing shifts. This quivering mass of fat was at least eight times fatter than Ben had been.

“Moosh..” Ben uttered, slurping and trying to enunciate with his fat forced pouty lips. 

“Moosh!” he forcefully said, his eyes darting wildly as that rumbling Noah had heard before in the woods sounded. It was coming from Ben’s belly. Glancing over quickly at Jim and Daniel, he saw Daniel’s belly start jiggling then begin swelling in all directions. The man was expanding massively. His arms and legs disappeared into the expansive fat of his belly, leaving him almost completely ball-shaped. He was nearly nine feet around, with only hands and feet still visible on his appendages. His breasts, the same size as Ben’s, inflated as they jiggled, nearing the size of basketballs.

Noah looked back to Ben, absentmindedly slapping the back of his neck as an insect bit him. The now almost unrecognizable ball of fat that was Ben was going wild eyed, trying in vain to shout something, his lips forced even more open from the recent gains to his cheeks.

“Msssh!” he sputtered, his whole body quivering. 

“I can’t understand you..what the hell happened here Ben?” Noah asked in horror, then turned sharply when he heard Jim cry out.

Jim stood next to the enormous ball that was Daniel, holding his stomach and looking down in shock.

“Jim, what’s wrong?” Noah yelled, beginning to walk over. 

“I..don’t...know…” Jim uttered, right before the first button on his ranger uniform popped off. It was quickly followed in succession by a second and third button as Jim’s dough middle rapidly swole into a beach ball shape. His love handles quickly expanded to the sides as his chest developed two breast shaped mounds. His cheeks fattened and a double chin wobbled into place as Noah heard Jim’s pants rip as his ass followed suit. In the matter of thirty seconds, Jim suddenly looked to be over three hundred pounds.

“Oh fuck, Noah, it’s happening to me!”  Jim yelled, waddling slightly over to where Noah stood. 

“The hell is happening here?” Noah exclaimed, his eyes shooting from the fat man in front of him to the unrecognizable blobs of men to his side. The rumbling noise came back then, but this time, it started with Jim. Jim’s eyes went wide as he clutched with chubby fingers at the fattened sphere now occupying his front. The noise rose exponentially as it began coming from Ben and Daniel as well. Noah watched as Jim’s belly began growing again, pounds and pounds of fat piling on in waves. Jim began waving his arms in shock as his entire body inflated and began to take on a generally round shape, his feet slowly slipping on the wet grass of the clearing until he fell with a thud onto his immensely fattened ass. Noah observed him begin rising in the air as the fat continued to grow and Jim began to become another ball.

Ben and Daniel themselves had also grown more, their faces beginning to sink into the sheer mass of their rolls of fat. Ben was still trying to tell Noah something but it was just sputtering noises at this point. Noah backed away from the insane scene like he had observed something otherworldly, his eyes wide and his feet stumbling occasionally. A pit in his stomach had developed which he attributed to terror but as he turned to begin running, something brought him up short. A small popping sound rang through the air as he tried to run and he felt something heavy bounce on the front of his body. Looking down, he cried as watched his own midsection, now the size of a fleshy basketball, wobble and grow double in size. 

“No…” Noah uttered, stumbled a bit as his chest began to swell. He looked back to Jim who now was completely naked and becoming fully ball shaped.

“No!” Noah yelled, as he heard the rumbling begin again in Ben, Daniel, and Jim’s bellies. He grasped at his shirt as it fully ripped open, then felt his fingers clutch his doughy middle when he heard the rumbling start in his own belly. Turning to face the other fattened spheres that were once rangers, Noah felt his entire body begin jiggling then quickly begin to grow…