Chapter Text
Norman didn’t fall back to sleep. He didn’t want another incident like the one before. What if he accidentally sleep-talked again and this time it was Dipper that woke up and heard? How could he have been so stupid for forget that he had that dream? He had it every night for the past two weeks! He should have told the twins he couldn’t sleep over because his Dad wouldn’t have let him, which wouldn’t have been too difficult to believe. He couldn’t quiet his mind down. For the first time in his life, he regretted the fact his insomnia has subsided.
Sandwiched between the sleeping twins, he silently sighed. Now Mabel knew he had a crush on her brother. Hopefully it’s just a stupid one that will go in a week or two; just a pre-teen infatuation. Could he trust Mabel not to tell? She already knew he could see ghosts and as far as he knew, she hadn’t blabbed to Candy or Grenada about it. Slapping his face, he wiggled his way out of the twin sandwich and off the pillow fort. He needed some air.
Walking over to the bedroom door, he looked back to make sure he didn’t wake up the sleeping beauties. Both of them still softly snored in unison. Unintentionally, his eyes fixated onto Dipper’s face. He felt a warm feeling spread inside his chest for the second time that night. Rolling his eyes inwardly, he pushed out of the bedroom door and made his way to the ladder leading to the roof.
Once on the roof, he decided to take a seat in one of the deck chairs. He needed to clear his mind, and this place was the perfect quiet place. Truth be told, he was a little jealous his home didn't have a roof like this. It must have been around 3am, he thought. The night sky glowed with a billion little lights. The woods looked spookier than normal under the cover of the moonlight. He could hear the rustle of bushes and leaves, and the occasional rattle of animals. To anyone else this place would be terrifying like a haunted house; but to Norman it was beautiful. Watching over the scenery, his eyes began to softly droop until his sight was emerged into total darkness and sleep claimed him.
***
The sound of a bird squawk woke him with a fright. The sun blinded him momentarily as his eyes adjusted to the daylight. Blinking, batting the sleep away, he stretched his arms out above his head.
"I must have fallen asleep."
"Morning, Spike!" A voice from the chair next to him greeted causing Norman to jump and to let out a not so manly cry. He froze to the spot, not realising anyone else was on the roof. Slowly turning to face his right, he saw mucky hiker boots attached to the end of crossed over legs, a green checkered shirt and red hair blowing softly in the wind toward him with an oversized fluffy hat on top. The older girl smiled down at him. Wendy?
"Erm ... H-hi...?" Norman squeaked out. He held a confused look on his face which made Wendy let out a breathy chuckle.
"This is my break place." She answered Norman's question which he couldn't remember asking. "I work in the shop at the weekends. Just chillin' before my hard day of doing nothing." She smirked and her eyes moved back down to a magazine that was on her lap. Norman rubbed his eyes to make sure she was actually here and it wasn't another one of his dreams.
"W-what time ... is it?"
"8." She confirmed not looking up from her magazine, shaking her foot. Norman stared at her. This girl was the infatuation of his best friend, who was his own infatuation. His eyes slanted slightly as his eyebrows furrowed. He had no real reason to, but he really disliked this girl. Turning his gaze back over the woods his features turned awkward. Biting down on his bottom lip, he realised he might have sleep-talked again. Turning back to the girl whose eyes hadn't moved from the magazine, he opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Closing his mouth, he tried to think of something better to say. He opened and closed it again a few more times before Wendy chirrup up without looking away from her magazine.
"If you've got something to say, say it, Spike. Nothing to get jelly about." He assumed when she said jelly it meant nervous and not jealous, because he had a lot to be jealous about.
"Erm ..." He began averting his eyes. "D-did you ... hear ... me s-sleep t-t-talk?" Rising an eyebrow, she turned to look down to him.
"So that's why you're up here?" Barely nodding, Wendy shook her head. "Nah, you're good." She confirmed and closed her magazine, sliding it under her seat. Norman let out a sigh of relief. He thought she was probably going to go back into the mystery shack, but she didn't. Instead, she leant over to her side and opened a cooling box Norman hadn't even noticed and pulled out two sodas, passing one to Norman. Shakily accepting it, Wendy popped hers open and took a gulp of the fizzy drink. Slumping back down in her chair, she stared over the woods. Norman, now sat on the edge of his seat, looked down at the can in his hands. Not wanting to seem ungrateful, he too opened the can and had a sip from it.
"So," Wendy began, looking down to him, "Dip show you this place?" Norman looked up at the mention of his name. Nodding lightly, he turned his gaze back to the woods. "Yeah, I showed him at the beginning of summer." Oh, did you now? His grip on his can hardened a little.
"O-oh." He breathed.
"Yeah, him and hambone are alright." Norman's eyebrow rose.
"Hambone?" He paused trying to think about whom she was referring to. "M-Mabel?" Wendy nodded.
"She's got a pet pig, dude. She's cool." She chuckled taking another sip of her drink. "And her knitting skills? Geez, the girls awesome." Norman smiled slightly. "Dipper's cool too." His smiled left. She's not allowed to think that. Turning his gaze away, he took a big gulp of his soda. "He's got a crush on me, you know." Spitting his drink out, Norman almost dropped his can at the statement. Wiping the soda off his chin and regaining his composure, he glared up at Wendy.
"O-oh ..." He didn't realise she knew; not that he should be surprised it was pretty obvious.
"Yuuuup." She dragged out. "I feel bad for the kid though." Norman stared in confusion. Why is she telling me? It felt as if she was talking about things she wouldn't normally tell anyone.
"W-why?" Frowning slightly, she looked down at her soda can.
"Cause when he realises that not only am I older, but really not the person he thinks I am, it'll break his heart." She sighed and turned back to Norman. "Crushes suck, dude." Norman's eyes were glued to Wendy's. Frowning, Norman nodded.
"Y-you're t-telling me." Looking down to the ground, he realised he had Wendy all wrong. She was actually a really nice person who cared about the fact Dipper had a crush on her and worried about hurting him. "I-I've seen my sister ... get hurt from c-crushes a lot." Chuckling softly, he added, "b-but don't get me w-wrong ... she's broken a f-few h-hearts herself." Wendy smiled widely and stared up to the sky.
"I bet she has." Norman felt her whole demeanour change at the mention of his sister. She seemed lighter, like she was floating in thought. "Well!" She snapped out of whatever she was in, and flung her soda can off the side of the roof. "I best get to work, catch ya later, Spike." She winked and two-finger saluted Norman as she stood. Smiling back to her, he watched as she walked over and descended the ladder. He definitely had her all wrong. Turning back to the scenery of the woods, he finished his soda. Spike? Deciding to place the can down next to the chair instead of littering, he stood. Closing his eyes he allowed the wind to tickle his cheeks. He was completely wrong about Wendy, and he was glad for it. He couldn’t blame her for something as silly as someone having a crush on her. Smiling to himself, he decided to return to the attic in a much better mood than before.
***
Quietly opening the attic door, Norman could see the twins still soundly asleep. Hopefully they hadn't woken in the night to find him missing. Walking over to the pillow fort, he accidentally stood on a floor board that creaked. Norman froze as both the twins stirred. Mabel continued to sleep, but Dipper however sleepily sat up. Staring at Norman, he rubbed his eye.
"Norm ..." He yawned, "what you doing?" His eyes strained to stay open. Norman couldn't help but grin.
"S-sorry." He whispered as to not awake Mabel. "I ... went the b-bathroom...?" He lied, but it appeared as if Dipper was oblivious to Norman disappearing in the night. Nodding clumsily, Dipper scooted over to allow Norman more room to get on the pillow fort. Lightly stepping over, he climbed next to Dipper and lay down. Not a moment later, Dipper was back to sleep, his head close to Norman's shoulder. He wouldn't go back to sleep now. It was 8:30am. He was more content to watch the sleeping boy next to him, which he sure wasn't as creepy as it sounded. Blushing wildly, he slapped his face looking away. It’s definitely creepy. Sighing, he pulled out his phone from his pyjama pocket and decided to text Courtney. Hopefully she’ll be awake.
Hey Courtney, did you know your friend Wendy worked at the Mystery Shack?
Send. He didn't know why he sent that but he thought it would be a good opening. Maybe he could talk to her about the weird conversation Wendy and he had on the roof. He definitely couldn’t tell Dipper about it. He’d be mad that he spoke to Wendy, especially what they spoke about. Not a moment later, his phone buzzed.
Norman! OMG! It's 8:30am on a Sunday! What the hell?!
Cringing, he could practically hear Courtney shouting at him.
Sorry ... I didn't realise. I've been awake awhile, the twins are still asleep.
He sighed, and placed his phone on his stomach. He doubted she'd text him back now. He was so bored but didn't want to wake the twins. His phone buzzed again.
Mum said I've got to pick you up BTW. I'll be there at 1. But FYI, if you EVER text me at 8:30 on a Sunday again I swear I'll hurt you.
Sighing out loud, he replied with okay and shoved his phone back into his pocket. He wished the twins would wake up. At at moment, Dipper rolled over again and let out a heavy yawn. Blinking away the sleep, he looked over to Norman. Norman couldn’t help the smile that crept on his face.
“Morning, Dipper.” He softly whispered. Sleepily smiling back to Norman, he sat up and rested his weight onto his elbows and peered around the room.
“What time is it?” He yawned.
“About 8:45.” Dipper bolted upright and glared at Norman.
“PM?!” He shrieked, causing Mabel to stir.
“Dip-er.” She murmured with her eyes still closed. “It’s a Sunday, let me sleep ... forever preferably.” Norman chucked as she fell instantly back to sleep.
“No, it’s AM.” He smiled to reassure his friend. Dipper sighed heavily.
“Oh, thank goodness … wait, why are you awake?”
“I couldn’t sleep.” He danced around the truth. It wasn’t that he couldn’t sleep; more that he didn’t want to risk it. “I’ve been awake for a while.”
“Oh …” Dipper wiped a hand over his tired face. Turning back to Norman, he flashed a half smile to Norman. “Video games? I challenge you to a race on Mario Kart!”
“Well, that is a challenge that I am going to accept!” The boy’s crawled off of the pillow fort and snuck downstairs leaving a snoring Mabel to snooze on for a little while longer.