Chapter Text
The drive back home was quiet, the only sound being Morty’s snores from the back seat and the radio, tuned into some Top 40’s station. Dipper was riding shotgun, sitting ramrod straight and taking deep, slow breaths. Wendy had found the two of them while Mabel was away and fed them ‘just a drinks for the road’ and that was just too much for Dipper, apparently. He wanted to lean his seat back and pass out like Morty had, but every time he leaned back, his stomach tried to start crawling up his throat. So he was forced to sit up and watch as they cruised through the empty Mountain Town as they headed for home. Despite his discomfort, there was no arguing that there was something a little magical about driving around in the middle of the night.
“Did you have fun, Dipper,” Mabel asked her voice oddly subdued but still filled with mirthful giddiness. Slowly, he rolled his head and smiled at his twin. She hadn’t stopped grinning since she came to retrieve them.
“Mmhmm. Don’t wanna do it again anytime soon, though. I feel gross,” he mumbled, making his sister chuckle. Dipper flinched a little when he felt something cold and went bump against his arm. Mabel was passing him her half-empty water bottle.
“Drink up. Water helps some. I’m glad you had fun. Maybe next time I’ll find something to take you to that is more your speed. Wendy said tonight was one of Tambry’s things. Robbie usually does more rock/punk type stuff with local bands,” she offered, keeping an eye on her brother in case he looked like he was about to puke. The last thing she wanted was to have to clean vomit out of their car.
“Donno if I’d like that any better,” Dipper admitted, fumbling to get the cap of the water bottle open so he could sip at it. Thankfully it did seem to help ease his churning stomach for a moment.
“Oh come on! It may not be BABBA but you have to admit this sort of stuff is kinda fun right! Even if it’s just because we’re out so late. Everything seems so surreal when the world’s asleep,” Mabel teased, speeding up a little as they left the limits of the town and started heading back toward the shack.
Dipper didn’t answer too drunk and tired to even be bothered by her poking fun at him. The water bottle was loosely gripped in his hand as his head tilted back against the seat, eyes closed. Mabel had thought he finally found a position he could sleep in when he suddenly spoke again, making her jump in her seat.
“What happened when you disappeared,” he murmured, not opening his eyes or bothering to turn his head to face her. “You were all smiley when you came back… kinda like when you come home after someone asks you out on a date.” Dipper grinned at that, cracking one eye open and reaching out to poke his sister’s side. She giggled, swatting at his hand as the color rose in her cheeks.
“Shut uuup,” she laughed, biting her lip as she slowed and turned onto the road leading to the Mystery Shack. Melody and Soos were the ones running it now-a-days. However, if one continued past it, they’d find the cabin that Stan and Ford erected when they got back from their first year of adventuring. It was simply dubbed The Shack, home to their many treasures and the experiments that Ford was constantly fiddling with. “Nothing happened… Or probably nothing.”
“Let me know if it turns out to be something,” Dipper asked letting his head droop towards her.
“You got it, bro-bro,” she said with a smile, turning off the car as she parked it in front of the house. “Now help me get Morty into the house,” Mabel ordered, climbing out of the car and opening the back door.
“Okay Just… Just give me a sec,” her twin replied, hauling himself out of the car. The world spun for a moment as he stood. After sucking in a shuddery breath, the young man promptly leaned forward and started to retch. “Oh god,” he whined, gasping for breath.
Mabel was hauling Morty out of the car, the young man half awake with his arms wrapped around her neck. Grumbling, he rubbed his cheek against the top of her head and nuzzled into the shorter girl’s hair. It was soft and smelled nice.
“You okay, Dip,” she called quietly, pushing the door shut and guiding her friend around to the other side of the car where Dipper was groaning. He was hunched forward, hands on his knees as he gazed at the slimy, yellow puddle around his shoes. Reaching out, his twin patted his back and twisted her hand into the back of his shirt, using it to guide him toward the door. “Come on. We’ll get you up stairs and give you some water,” she whispered, trying her hardest to keep the boys quiet as they headed into the shack.
From the front door she could see the flash of the TV still on in the den. Biting her lip, she lead the boys down the hall. Hoping that there wouldn’t be anyone there. She wasn’t that lucky. Rick and Stan were on the couch, still. Stan, however, was sound asleep. His chin was tucked into his chest as he slouched down on the couch with Rick slumped against his shoulder. The skinny old man’s head was resting on top of Stan’s and his eyes were half open, watching them as the three shuffled into view. His grin was sharklike as he made eye contact with Mabel. Lifting one of his thin, bony hands he pressed a finger to his lips and gave her a nod.
Smiling she waved her thanks with the arm wrapped around Morty’s waist and continued guiding the two young men to their beds. Morty fell asleep as soon as he fell into bed. Dipper on the other hand groaned and whimpered, smashing his face into his pillow and panting against the feeling of nausea. Blindly he clamped his hand down on Mabel’s arm.
“Oh God Mabel… This is it,” he groaned piteously. “I’m gonna die.”
“You’re not gonna die. Just go to bed. You’ll feel better eventually,” she said, detaching herself from her twin. “I promise you’ll feel better tomorrow… today… whatever.”
When her brother didn’t try to grab her again, she slipped away, ready to go to bed, herself. Hopefully whatever lecture they got for being out sou late wouldn’t be too bad. After running back outside to close the passenger door and kick some dirt over Dipper’s vomit, she hauled herself back into the shack. As Mabel slipped into her room, she slipped into her room she started stripping out of her clothes. She barely took the time to clothe herself in a pair of soft, cotton shorts and a tank top before scrubbing the makeup off her face and collapsing into bed.
The last thing to cross her mind as she began drifting off to sleep, was the kiss Pacifica had surprised her with. Humming softly to herself she pressed her fingers to her lips. Even though it would probably turn out ot be nothing, it had still been nice.
*********
Morty was to first to wake as the morning light crept into the attic. Groaning, he rolled over onto his side and blearily stared across the room at a still sleeping Dipper. Memories flooded in from the night before, fuzzy and a little disjointed. Slapping his hand down over his eyes, Morty wondered why fun had to have such painful consequences. It felt as though his skull had been shattered and his stomach kept urging him to throw up every time he moved. After huddling under the covers for a good ten minutes, the young man finally pulled himself out of bed.
With his eyes as good as closed, he shuffled down the stairs and to the kitchen. Every now and then he’d bump into the wall or a piece of furniture. When he arrived in the kitchen Rick was already there with Stan. The lanky old man grinned and dropped the jumbled mess of wires he’d been tampering with. A glass of water appeared by his side and the young man looked up, startled by Stan walking around behind him and dropping in a vacant chair with the paper propped up in front of him.
“You kids have fun last night,” he asked with a shuffle of newsprint. Rik looked ready to bounce right out of his seat.
“Y--yeah. It was kinda like a rave I guess? Not really my th-thing but it was fun watching Mabel and Wendy dance,” he admitted taking the glass of water and sipping from it. It was nice but didn’t do nearly as much as he would’ve liked for his headache.
“Th--that all you did last night Morty? Perv on the pretty girls w--while they danced,” Rick snarked, making Morty flush.
“Awe Shut up Rick! It w--wasn’t like that! It wasn’t like sexy d--dancing,” Morty tried to explain, while Stan lowered his paper enough to watch the two bickering. “It was like.. Some crazy shit. H--here, give me my laptop,” the young man demanded, irritably, leaning forward to snatch the device from where it was sitting by Rick’s elbow. He wondered for a moment why it was even in the kitchen but decided that if his grandpa had been the one using it, then he didn’t want to know. “Th--there should be a video of it somewhere. I heard Wendy yell about someone getting it on their phone.”
Morty had quickly been forced to friend Mabel on facebook, and then Dipper. Later he added Wendy as a friend too, not seeing any reason not to. Which turned out to be helpful since as soon as he got on, the first thing on his page was a video that the redhead had shared of herself and Mabel dancing. Seeing as that was exactly what he’d intended to show the old men, he should’ve just turned the laptop around. There was a post, however, directly under the video that made him freeze.
“M--Morty, you alright,” Rick asked after a beat of silence while Morty was stuck, staring wide-eyed at his computer screen.
“Oh shit,” the young man muttered, swallowing hard.
On his newsfeed was a picture that Mabel had been tagged in, showing her in a dark room with the blond girl, apparently named Pacifica. And they were kissing. Whoever had caught the moment on camera had uploaded it with the line, “Lol look at these dykes”, attached to it. Rick broke through Morty’s hypnosis by grabbing the laptop and spinning it around to face him, tired of not knowing what had stuck his grandson speechless. When his eyes landed on the picture they nearly popped out of his head.
“Oh sh--shiiiit,” he yelped, looking up at Morty and then Stan who had dropped his paper in favor of tuning in to what was going on.
“What is it,” the man asked gruffly, looking between Morty and Rick as the pair shared a nervous look. Finally, with a little reluctance, Rick turned the screen toward him and… “Well shit.”
“Morning everyone!!!!! What are you guys looking at,” Mabel piped from the doorway, looking disgustingly cheerful in her canary yellow robe. Each of the men started casting nervous glances at each other but in the end all three pairs of eyes ended up on her. “Guys?”