Chapter Text
Date: August 3rd, 2017
Days until School Begins: Three
Location: Bus to Gravity Fallz
A black ballpoint pen scribbled barely illegible words into a medium sized notebook, both covers padded with dark blue leather that felt good under Dipper's hands. The bus jolted, and the 's' that he attempted to write ended up looking like a sideways 'z' when his side hit the cold metal next to him. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, since he couldn't really erase it, and opted to turn his attention to the quickly moving scenery rushing by his window. Mabel had fell asleep against his shoulder a long time ago, practically the second they got to their seats. He didn't want to disturb her.
It was exciting, returning back to Gravity Falls after so long. How couldn't it be? Dipper had no clue how Mabel could sleep like this. Then again, she finally got her braces removed a couple days ago, so it made perfect sense that she'd be a bit more tired than usual. Dipper curbed the urge to shrug, a memory of Mabel clapping him on the back of his neck for waking her accidentally making his skin tingle. Regardless, a fond smile made it's way onto his lips.
They've changed a lot since they've left the weird town known as Gravity Falls, but from what Soos and Wendy have told them (through several text messages, since none of them could put away a decent batch of time to call one another), the 'weird town' was now more like a 'medium sized crazy city'.
Dipper, with his endless amount of spare time thanks to the small fact that he had very few friends and focused mainly on his studies in Highschool, had written down a small list of names that his and Mabel's old friends have mentioned in their group chats, private conversations, and the occassional Zoom call from Wendy whenever she was bored. They sounded like interesting individuals, so Dipper decided he'd try to make friends with them, since his current friends liked them.
Much like Mabel and himself, they just sorta.. showed up one day, like they were just visiting, only to end up staying. Some had parents, some didn't, and some.. well, some of them were usually found in the forest, but never outside it. Weird, but nothing too weird that Dipper and Mabel weren't used to. Hell- Dipper was once inside an alien space ship that tried to take his grunkle to an alien jail for tresspassing. Yeah. There was nothing too weird that they weren't used to.
At least, not that they knew of.
The worrysome thought made Dipper shiver, and he wordlessly flipped through his 'man diary' as mabel called it, and scanned a few journal entries that he's made the past few weeks. He wrote down anything interesting that happened to him and Mabel, and in the five years he's been doing that, he's only filled half of a single journal. Dipper brought four with him in his suitcase, (not including the half of one from his Senior year in Highschool), as well as the binder full of photocopies that held a couple important pages of Ford's journals.. which were, uh, every page.
The originals were burned to ashes by Bill.
A sudden a flash of bright yellow through the autumn colored trees had Dipper jerking his head to the side as the thought of the dream demon crossed his mind, furrowing his brow and subconciously gripping the pen in his hand tighter. Grunkle Ford had insisted that they defeated him after erasing him from Stan's mind, but Dipper was probably more paranoid than him, and the guy installed a metal plate in his head to keep Bill out. Dipper didn't do that but he did find out a way to keep himself and his family safe; magic.
Another smile fought it's way to his lips- memories of him and Mabel attempting to learn magic over the Summers past fluttered to the forefront of his mind, and he absentmindedly began to recite the few magic incantations that Ford had taught them. At first, they couldn't even conjure a simple flame on the wick of a candle, and Mabel insisted that they probably couldn't even learn magic. Dipper had groaned, exasperated, irritated with their lack of progress, and fumed,
"Mabel, unicorns literally exist! They spew magic from their horns and you beat the shit out of one, like, not even two months ago- what sense would it make if we couldn't learn magic too?"
And, in his anger, the candle began to smoke. Just enough for them to notice. And enough for Mabel to give it another shot.
Within a couple years, they learned simple protection spells, how to create fire from the palms of their hands, light candles with a simple thought, and even enchant items! Only Dipper's been able to really enchant things, but Mabel was on her way to figuring it out.
According to Grunkle Ford, magic was 'pretty damn hard' for humans to learn and replicate, as a human's soul starts out with no magical potential at all! Only through the exposure to other magical entities and artifacts could make one able to effectively use it, and, well... they've certainly had plenty of that. Considering the ample amount of time they've spent being exposed to the weirdness of Gravity Falls, it definitely came easier to them, just like Ford expected. It took both of them a little over a year to fully perfect their physical shield spells, and even then they'd only be able to take so much. It was easier in the mindscape, which the twins definitely used to their advantage after learning how to consistently enter it. All thanks to Ford, though, who often called them on Zoom to assist them in learning magic (whenever he was anywhere with WiFi).
Ford himself very rarely dabbled in it, since he was still a man of science first and weirdness second, but he of course picked up a few things here and there, and was happy to teach his great niece and nephew what he had learned.
To pass the time, Dipper absentmindly wrote and practiced his runes in his notebook, using much more ink than nessecary to create the protective sigils- one Summer, Ford came down to California to visit, and had taken them to a tattoo parlor to get them tattooed vertically on his spine, along with a secondary different set that was displayed on his left forearm. Mabel shared the same tattoos, which protected both of them from magical spells, curses, and apparently should help ward off any lesser demons. Ford had his own, and got them while he was stuck in the other dimension, since demons were much more frequent over there. The man figured that there wouldn't be much to protect themselves from, magical wise, outside of Gravity Falls, but it was better to be safe than sorry when dealing with magic.
Spiritual and demonic entities were quite attracted to those that had magic in their souls, after all.
Dipper could feel the power in the symbols he wrote, and absentmindedly mumbled the names of each sigil under his breath as he wrote them. As long as he didn't string the words together, he wouldn't accidentally cast a spell while in a moving vehicle. The last time he did that, his dad's mini-van had to go to the dump because it wouldn't take gas anymore (the spell acknowledged it as a 'dangerous substance' and repelled it back into his face everytime he tried to refuel).
They were only an hour to the Falls, from what Dipper knew, and he didn't want to be unprepared for what they experienced. From the little information Soos had given them on the town, it, as well as the giant bubble keeping all the weirdness contained, had grown. More strange people, more terrifying creatures- it was genuinely alarming to the man, who had lived in Gravity Falls his entire life. Dipper nor Ford knew why the barrier seperating Gravity Falls from the rest of the world had grown so immensely, but they were both quite eager to find out.
All of a sudden, Dipper felt a strange force travel through his body, startling him out of his calm state. His heart hammered against his chest, and the feeling in his veins was achingly familiar. He knew exactly what it was, and couldn't be more surprised that they had passed the threshold so early. He knew it was serious, since it startled Mabel awake the moment it hit her as well. She snorted sharply, and flinched hard enough to make her jump off of his shoulder.
The young woman's eye shades (pink, of course, with cartoonish eyelashes on them) were crooked when she fully sat up, wobbling upright and rubbing the saliva from her cheek. Dipper was now ramrod straight as well, and peering out the window to examine the sky while his sister got herself orientated. That confirmed it- the slightly too orange color, the way that the clouds curled and swirled in unnatural angles, and especially the small flashes of colors between the trees other than green and varying shades of brown. They were definitely in the boundaries of Gravity Falls, and being here, after years of being gone..
Fuck, it's as if he was an alcoholic taking a sip of alcohol after years of abstinance. The feeling coursing through his body, the sheer amount of magic that flowed into his bloodstream, carressing him as if he had never left.. he hadn't noticed it the first time they arrived, considering he had no magic in his soul, but... this was what called them, what silently begged them to return after they left. It was this strong, invisible, dense magical energy. It flowed in and around Gravity Falls like air, and he instantly understood exactly why the barrier had expanded. There was too much- way too much, and it needed more space. Loosely, while allowing some of the energy to take residence in his soul, he wondered if the bubble around Gravity Falls could burst if too much magic coalesced inside of it.
Dipper willed the thought away immediately- who knew what horrors would be unleashed onto the rest of the Earth if Gravity Falls didn't keep it within it's bounds?
"Dip-dot..? Did- did you feel that too...?" Mabel asked sleepily, eyes fluttering when she lifted up her enchanted eye coverings (Dipper enchanted them for her yesterday with a simple protection enchantment). She got a face full of whatever magic was being blocked out in an instant, and yelped in surprise, jerking away from the sudden pulse of energy. "Gah! Wh- what the heck?!" She exclaimed, rubbing at her eyes with her palms. Dipper supposed that what Ford said about magic reflecting the soul was right, considering Mabel acted as if she was shocked, instead of gently caressed like he was.
Snorting in amusement, Dipper rubbed her back, "Yeah.. it's strong, isn't it?" He mumbled under his breath, peering down past his thick rimmed reading glasses to look at his free hand. He could see the soft blue outline of magic that engulfed his body- it held him in such a way that he felt the need to be submerged in it for the rest of his life. Perhaps that's why none of the magical, sentient creatures had teamed up to figure out a way to break it. They had power here. Much more than they'd have anywhere else. Dipper couldn't wait to hear how Grunkle Stan reacts to it- probably like if he got smacked in the face.
The girl shook her head a few times as if to get rid of sand in her hair, rubbing a hand across her face with a look of discomfort, "I think strong is an understatement here, bro-bro! It feels like every inch of me is covered in glitter! And I usually love... glitter... woah-" Mabel was suddenly distracted when she completely opened her eyes, finally noticing her own magical aura, stretching her arms out before her with a giant grin. She waved her hands back and forth, the hot pink glow pulsing and wiggling around her, comparing it to the controlled and steady way Dipper's was. The color faded within a few moments of appearing, their souls quickly becomming used to the power surge known as Gravity Falls, easing. Feeling it settle allowed Dipper a moment to sigh and tilt his head back to let it fall on the dark green leather seat, promptly ignoring how bouncy and erratic Mabel got now that she was up.
One of her pigtails slapped Dipper in his face, though, and being able to ignore her was suddenly impossible when she started talking.
"Oooh my gosh- Soos was right! Gravity Falls has grown! I think this is, like, still super far from where the barrier was five years ago, yeah?" She asked excitedly, bending down to pull her purse out from under the seat and digging through her bag of goodies. "I wonder if Grunkle Ford and Grunkle Stan are gonna notice- well, of course Grunkle Ford will notice, but Stan is a little- ooh! A lolliepop!" She pulled out the sweet treat with a wide grin, as if she herself didn't put it in there, and promptly ripped off the wrapper to pop it between her lips, talking past the white stick poking out and searching through her purse again.
"Yout think you'th finally geth a girlfriethd thhs'Schummer? Or a boyfriethd?" The brown haired girl spoke (with a slur, thanks to the candy), and the sudden question had a short blush to cross Dipper's face. The young man locked eyes with her, and they both paused, before he turned completely toward the window and covered his face with a hand, avoiding her gaze. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind! How could he think about getting into a relationship with someone, whether they be a girl or a boy (he found out he could honestly go either way after Mabel had him watch a bunch of KDrama's with her during a nasty breakup two years ago), when there were so many new mysteries and magical entities in Gravity Falls?
Dipper didn't even know if he was bi, or pan, or any other term that he didn't care to know of, but he didn't care. He cared more about documenting new creatures, new fauna, new anomolies, anything and everything new that now resided in the barrier of Gravity Falls- all of it. Mabel could tell that every spare moment he had, he'd be in those woods, but she couldn't help but be curious.
"Not if I can help it, Mabes. I'm more interested in, like, anything else." He rolled his eyes, which quickly locked onto the water tower coming into view outside. The muffin, molded and discolored, was still proudly painted on the side of the tall steel object, years of rain and hot Summer days warding away at the red paint. It made Dipper smirk a little- Robbie had meant for it to be an explosion, sure, but it still looked like a muffin.
"Aww," Mabel bemoaned, removing the lolipop from her mouth with a... well... 'pop', wrapping an arm around her brother's shoulders and lovingly sloshing him back and forth in their seat, "c'mon Dipstick! Live a little! You haven't had a crush since Wendy, and she's, like, engaged now." She put unneeded emphasis on the word, and Dipper instantly turned towards her with a look that translated roughly to 'really?'. He spared his sister an accusatory glare, an eyebrow raising up and under his bangs, and she raised her arms in defense with an amused giggle.
"Okay, okay! I know you're over her and already said that her fiance is SOOOOO hot so it doesn't matter anyways-" his glare hardened, since he's positive he did not say that, "-but whatever! Fine! Just promise me that you tell me if you develop any crushes, okay? Girl or boy or sweaty weird monster," now his glare turned more confused than irritated, but Mabel continued, "doesn't matter, doesn't matter at all! I just wanna know all the juicy details!" The smile on her face that told him that she was half joking a little was still as contagious as always, regardless of how annoyed she made him, so Dipper found himself grinning a small bit in return, crossing his bare arms over his broad chest and hanging his head a little in surrender.
"Fine-" his willingness to agree prompted Mabel to cheer, so he stopped her with a finger on her nose and grinned wider, "-on one condition." Her deeply annoyed groan and slouched posture only amused Dipper further. "I'll, begrudgingly, tell you about my crushes, but only... if you don't tell me about yours," his amusement grew, because she obviously hated that condition, considering she always told him about her crushes, "because, frankly, I don't really care unless you end up accidentallg dating a murderer. Or a zombie. Or a bunch of gnomes in a costume."
Mabel groaned louder after he finished speaking, slumping and crossing her own sweater covered arms over her chest, "That was one time..." she complained, tilting her head back and then flailing her sweater sleeves around uselessly in irritation. He knew he had won then- she always started stimming when she knew she'd lost.
The commotion made Dipper realize just now that she had a big blue pinetree on the front of her sweater, and that his own Mabel-made sweater-vest (she only branched out into making them when Dipper complained about the sleeves making him itchy) had a shooting-star. Such a thing made him smile, since they were wearing eachothers symbols from Bill's wheel. It was a cute idea, since the star and rainbow contrasted well with the dark blue material the rest of his sweater was made of, as well as the bright pink of Mabel's. The star's that rested in her hair that held up her pigtails matched his sweater, and Grunkle Stan mailed him a bigger pinetree hat to wear a couple weeks ago (on the house, but for the price of any others he needed if he damaged his current one being marked up), so he of course had that on too. Anyone who saw them would instantly know they were twins, regardless of how similar they looked in the face.
"Whyyyyy are you like thiiiiis..." Dipper's sister complained, puffing her cheeks out much like a chipmunk, making the boy snort fondly. She waited for Dipper to change his mind, because of her 'suffering', even willing a few fake tears to bubble up in her eyes, but the young man had a will of steel compared to her, and she completely faltered after a few seconds of staring him down. "Fine! Fine. Fine. If you see a cute boy or girl that you might like, I wanna know within minutes, mister! Minutes!!" She demanded, and slapped him upside his head with her sweater sleeve a few times.
Dipper couldn't help but laugh, ducking his head and slapping her away until she stopped, fixing his hat and bangs back to where they were shortly after, "Okay okay, I will. And if you see a cute boy or girl, I don't wanna know." He spat back playfully, sticking his tongue out at his sister. She did the same, and he opted not to mention the funny green color that her tongue was thanks to her candy as she popped the lollie back between her lips. The stiffled snort that he made was enough to earn him another sweater slap, though.
---
Soon enough, Dipper and Mabel had arrived at the Mystery Shack, and the first thing that they noticed was that it was less of a shack and more like a museum, now. That's what it was called, too. The Mystery Museum.
As the twins stepped out of the bus with their bags in tow, their jaws were already hanging to the ground. The dust that kicked up cleared, and holy moly, had Soos done much more than simply run the Shack. It was kinda, uh, how could Dipper put this.. huge. Not like Northwest Mansion huge, but, like.. library huge. And it looked like an actual legitimate business!
There was a medium sized clearing of trees that was once behind the Shack that was now more of the Shack, which had been cut down and uprooted to expand the place. It was three stories now, instead of two, and was less of a tourist trap made for selling merchandise and moreso like a real museum, just like the name said. Funnily enough, Soos still kept the 'S' on the front lot, so 'Mystery Museum' was 'Mystery Mueum', with an open spot of where the 'S' should be. Dipper heard Mabel audiably let out a long gasp in disbelief, and he would have too if he wasn't so speechless.
"Heya, doods! Welcome back!" A familiar voice called out before them, shocking the twins out of their amazed stupor. There he was, the madman himself, Soos in full Stan getup. He even had the coattails, which was frankly quite dashing on him. His mustashe had grown a bit, he had a bit less weight to him, and the visible muscle in his arms was a bit indimidating! Dipper and Mabel took little time to drop their stuff and rush over to capture the man in a big hug, an exclamation of 'Soos!' springing from their lips. The large man easily caught them, and hugged them back twice as hard, making the twins giggle and wheeze. He was still taller than them, but they were up to his shoulders now.
"Aww, I missed you guys too! It's so good to see you!" He laughed out excitedly, placing down the two young people as gently as he could. Dipper couldn't wipe his smile off his face, and neither could Mabel- it resonated through her voice when she spoke, excitedly jumping in place and holding one of the older man's hands in her own. "It's! Good! To! See! You! Too! Soos!" She exclaimed eagerly, stars practically shining in her eyes. Soos, all too used to Mabel's 'Mabel Juice' induced excitement, simply put a hand on her head to stop her from hopping. An instant spout of laughter came from the three of them, and Dipper found it hard to shy away from the obvious question anymore.
"Dude, what'd you do to the Shack? It's so.. big! And so... professional! It's great!" Dipper ran a hand under his hat, shamelessly pushing back his bangs, uncaring about showing his birthmark anymore- he was more proud of it than anything. Soos seemed to take notice, and a sort of prideful aura made him practically glow (about the transformation of their home and about Dipper's newly found confidence).
With a short clearing of his throat to make sure his voice wasn't weird or anything, but also in a way that sounded like 'without further ado' he quickly switched the unneeded cane in his left hand to his right, and the twins excitedly ducked their heads when it swooped past them, knowing the drill like the backs of their hands, Soos gestured to the large structure behind him, and his voice seemed to boom deep in his throat.
"Welcome to The Museum of Mystery, doods! I named it myself after an intense year of remodeling and rebranding!" He added the last part after a small pause, knowing they wanted the reason behind the name change. The twins felt their smiles grow, and they quickly went back to grab their bags when Soos began walking into the establishment, following behind him at a brisk pace.
"Stan told me I could do whatever I wanted with the Mystery Shack, so me, Billy, Melody, along with a bit of help from some of the new kids in town," he gave the two of them a funny wink a couple times, which just looked like he was blinking because of the eye patch, "gave the place a total makeover!" Overall, the building itself didn't look vastly different in style. It still looked old and abandoned, and had an air of, well, mystery to it. Old looking wood and nails digging into places that nails didn't need to be, wood creaking under their shoes when they stepped up to the porch- the smell of gift shop was notably gone, now, and instead, history and artifacts took it's place.
The awe of it all was put on hold for a moment as Dipper registered what he said, and he peered up at Soos confusedly, "Billy? We don't know a Bi-" "Feast your eyes, doods!" Soos interrupted him with a flourish of his cape as he opened the front door, causing the thought to quickly take a spot on the backburner of Dipper's mind. The inside was bigger than it looked outside, and, past the reception desk on the right, which they had to go through because of the lane dividers, the reason why Soos renamed it as the Mystery Museum made total sense.
Dipper and Mabel shared a long gasp as they went behind the purple and red curtains to reveal the first floor, completely decked out with an area with old looking books, glass cases with items and fossils of creatures behind them, a whole wall featuring what appeared to be to-scale paintings of creatures they've seen in Gravity Falls- even the vending machine was converted into what appeared to be a photo booth! Dipper was positive that Soos changed the mechanism so that the basement could be entered in a different way, but he was way more interested in... well, everything else!
They gave Soos an eager glance with a silent question, and the man sweetly took their bags and suitcases from their hands with a grin, "I'll take your stuff to your rooms, doods. Go ahead and explore to your hearts content!" He yelled with a fist pump to the air, immediately prompting Mabel and Dipper to scream at the top of their lungs before running like mad at the first things that caught their eyes. He heard Soos add on that Melody was at the store and would return soon, but he was too damn excited to hear.
Of course, Dipper's first instinct was to go to the books. He knew he left whatever books he had collected in Gravity Falls, since he didn't have any room in his bags and stuff to take them with him, but they were actually all here in the 'Ancient Text' section! Along with dozens of new things that he couldn't wait to read a million times over- hell, one book was literally only ciphers! He almost audiably screamed when he realized they weren't ciphers with symbols he recognized, and knew he'd have the time of his life translating it all page by page. The pictures looked a little worn, but he didn't recognize half the creatures and plants in it! Oh my god- felt faint, holy shit, this was exciting.
"Dipper! Dipper! C'mere- come look at this!" Mabel suddenly shouted across the dark red carpeted floor, prompting Dipper to look up in slight surprise before sliding the book as gently as possible back into the dark oak shelf. He made sure to be careful when sprinting over to Mabel, but the exhibits seemed very 'kid' proof- bolted down and insanely sturdy. Bulletproof glass, too, if Dipper knew any better.
Mabel was hopping in place again next to a glass case when Dipper got to her, smile reaching the edges of her pierced ears, though Dipper could tell she was a little surprised, "Lookit lookit lookit!" The girl demanded, pointing at whatever was in the case. The boy.. genuinely couldn't tell what it was, at first. It looked pretty, uh.. phallic.
"What is it?" He asked, stepping over next to her to read the plaque in front of the display. His brain couldn't register the words before Mabel yelled it in his ear, "It's a unicorn horn!" He winced, and rubbed his ear before looking back up at the exhibit. It... was in fact a unicorn horn. Huh. She was way too giddy about it though, which made Dipper think 'why the hell would she be excited about a unicorn losing it's horn?'. "Like, a real unicorn horn! And it's probably from-!" Dipper figured it out the second she spoke, and almost knocked foreheads with her when he turned to face his sister with an equally giddy expression.
"-from that unicorn you/I beat the shit out of!!" They exclaimed together, wild and possibly insane looks on their faces. The amount of laughter they shared at the words on the display case was probably unhealthy.
"The Horn of a Unicorn: After the tragic events of Weirdmegeddon in 2012, this severed horn was found by Gravity Fall's own Wendy Corduroy. The cause of death to the creature it belonged to is unknown, but Wendy insisted she punched it in it's eye, once. We are unsure if she was the one who killed it, if it died of natural causes, or died during Weirdmegeddon. But, honestly, good riddance."
After laughing at a few more exhibits (some honorable mentions include a gnome skeleton, which Mabel flipped off, and a manotaur horn, which Dipper claimed would probably have enough testosterone in it to give him enough to grow an entire dick by himself), Dipper and Mabel spent about two hours talking and reminiscing in the new 'Mystery Museum', fondly talking about their past adventures. In front of a big piece of amber with a T. Rex claw in it, they remembered that time they had to save Waddles (RIP Waddles, December 18th 2015) from a dinosaur, and after going upstairs to the second floor that served as the gift shop, they remembered that time a ghost turned everyone in the Northwest manner into wood, since there was a funny looking headband Mabel put on that made it appear as though an axe was stuck in your head. Dipper had to pretend not to notice how excited Mabel became at the mention of seeing Pacifica again. God- it was all so fun. It felt as if they never left, almost. Dipper was still disappointed that, after they told their parents about all the crazy adventures they went on that Summer, they were forced to stay in California with them.
Now, they were old enough to make their own decisions, and of course their first stop was going to be the place where they had the best Summer ever.
"Man, I can't believe how great this place is now. Real artifacts, real exhibits, real evidence and depictions of the monsters and magical beings in Gravity Falls- I can't believe Soos did it!" Dipper exclaimed as he and his sister walked down the stairs leading out of the gift shop, taking another big glance at the area around them.
"I can't either, doods." The twins visibly jumped, and whipped around to see that Soos was now behind them at the top of the stairs. He looked smug that he was able to sneak up on them, and Mabel verbally expressed her proudness of him with a small 'eee!' and a clap of her hands. "Good sneakin', man!" She whisper yelled, and Soos waved her off with a look of mock bashfullness.
"I had a lot more help from the new kids in town than you'd believe, actually! A bunch of 'em are just as ambitious as you doods, and certainly not as big as me." He patted his big belly with a lazy grin, and Dipper at least tried not to laugh while Mabel flat out giggled. "Most'a the new stuff you've haven't seen before is from them, too! I know you'll like em, but you both should probably get settled first, yeah?" The man winked, and gave the twins a few airgun shots, which they returned without a second ot hesitation. "Yeah!" They replied, and Soos seemed eager to lead them back to the second floor and up into what appeared to be the new attic.
A hidden string in the corner was pulled, and a ladder came down from the ceiling- Mabel and Dipper shared an excited glance before they climbed it, giggling with eagerness laced between their teeth. Dipper was first up, since Mabel had a skirt on, and when he got to the top, the gasp of surprise that bubbled in his throat wasn't able to be held.
It was.. honestly, beautiful.
The attic was big, now. It was more like a master bedroom rather than a regular one in size, and took up about half of the first floor in square feet, which made sense, as it was a little off to the side compared to the first and second floors when you looked at the building from the outside. A big, triangular shaped window hovered over their heads, including three smaller ones on three sides of the wall, and a giant triangular shaped one on the fathest, longest wall, where their beds laid. Mabel pushed past Dipper as quickly as she could to squeal and run about in their newly shared room, Dipper still taking it all in when he slowly climbed up all the way.
Along their walls were the posters and papers that they left here last summer- boybands and bright pinks held Mabel's side of the room, and research notes along with browns and blues decorated Dipper's. Their styles never really changed, so it was perfect. Small pinetrees were carved into the wood on Dipper's side, and he couldn't help but trace them with a finger when he got to it. Mabel seemed compelled to do the same thing when she saw the shooting stars on her side.
"Soo, how'dya like it, guys? It used to be Billy's room, but I just added another room for him a year ago when we heard y'all were comin' back! Now, it's you's'es room!" Soos called down from the ladder, opting not to climb up because of his weight. Dipper called back, since Mabel was too busy hopping on her too springy bed, "It's great, man! Everything looks- wait." He paused, the thought on the backburner of his mind quickly coming to the front again, walking over to the ladder and peering down at Soos, "There's that name again- who's 'Billy'? Is he someone we're supposed to know or something?" Dipper frowned.
"Or something, kid!" A new, familiar voice suddenly called out, making Dipper and Mabel let out twin screams of surprise, the young man almost tripping down the ladder before a hand reached out and grabbed the back of his sweater vest to keep him steady. "Woah there, Pinetree! Don't want you dying sixty eight years too early! Shooting Star would freak!"
Dipper felt real, tangible dread curl and grasp his soul as his brain registered the nicknames, his face turning bone pale with fear. Soos below him looked both apologetic and worried, as Dipper slowly turned his head up and to the side to see someone he hoped he'd never see again.
In the body of a human, no less.
"Bill?!"