Chapter Text
Somniloquy
It had been almost two weeks since Norman had first met the Pines twins. Never in his life did he find it as easy to be himself until he befriended the mystery duo. No one had accepted him so welcomingly in his life – not even Neil (and he was rather accepting of Normans ‘gift’). Every day for the past two weeks, the three of them spent together. They would go to each other’s houses after school to hang out, sometimes with Candy and Grenada, or they would go to arcade or just muck around like a couple of happy children. They hadn’t yet gone on a ‘real’ adventure; Norman thought that Dipper might still be weighing up the pros and cons whether Norman would be able to handle it or not. But tonight was going to be the first big adventure that Norman had with the duo. They were having a sleepover in the shack; Norman’s very first sleepover.
He was extremely nervous for it, though the excitement he felt in the pit of his stomach counteracted his fears. The idea of being able to spend a whole 24 hour’s with his new friends overwhelmed him with joy, though he had a niggling voice in the back of his mind telling him that this was going to be a bad idea. For once, the voice wasn’t a ghost; it was his own conscious.
Staring at his watch, he anxiously tapped down on his kitchen table to which he was sat. 12:00 noon. He was going around at exactly 13:00 hours according to Dipper’s plan. For the past few days, he’s admired Dipper’s cute obsession for writing lists and planning out the whole weekend down to the minute. He couldn’t be the one to ruin his perfectly laid out plans by coming a little early; his head might explode! It wasn’t hard to noticed how high strung his new best friend was. He was nothing like his sister, Mabel, who was too carefree to worry about the little things. Even though they were both the complete opposite of each other, Norman had never met anyone so alike, either.
“Hello, sweetie. How are you? Aren’t you going around to Dipper’s today?” Norman’s mother smiled to her youngest as she walked into the kitchen and over to the cupboard with a bag of groceries. She was elated to see how happy her son had been for the past two weeks. Usually she was up all night worrying about him, for him. Some night’s she would stay awake with him just to try and help him sleep because of what she used to think were hallucinations a few years ago wouldn’t leave him alone. She would sing a soft lullaby to calm him to sleep. It still knots her stomach to think that there were real ghosts in his room stopping him from sleeping because they wanted his help. But since coming to Gravity Fall’s, Norman had been sleeping soundly. You wouldn’t even recognise that the boy used to have insomnia. He smiled back to his mother.
“Yeah, I’m going around at one o’clock. Tonight’s the night of the sleepover!” He cheered a little too enthusiastically.
“Oh, I forgot!” She lied; her back still to her son as she absently put away the shopping. She knew perfectly well what tonight's plans were for Norman. Though Perry put doubt in her mind that Norman might 'screw it up' and reveal his secret causing him to lose both his friends (neither of them knew that he already had told them and they both accepted it), she was so thankful that he was able to go out and enjoy himself with his new friends and that she didn't have to worry about him.
"Make sure you have something to eat whilst you're there, and not too many sweets before bed, okay?" She mothered. Norman rolled his eyes without her noticing.
"Okay, I promise." He stared back at his watch. 12:15, half an hour more before he could finally set off.
"Have you got your sleeping bag? Toiletries? A pillow? Pyjamas? Clothes for tomorrow? Clean underwear?"
"Yeah, I've got it all, mum." He grinned. It's not like he had his bag packed since Dipper had mentioned having a sleepover as a passing comment earlier in the week ... Nope.
"Good. I hope you have a great time, sweetie! And don't forget to text me when you go to bed, okay?" She turned away from the cupboard to face her son. "Promise?"
"I promise."
***
Finally it was time for Norman to go to his friend’s home. He almost took off in a sprint towards their house until he remembered Dipper’s overly compulsive need to stay on schedule. Instead, he decided to take in the scenery of the woods he walked past. It seemed eerie and unsettled, but that just intrigued him even more. I wonder how many ghosts are in there. But that adventure would have to wait for another day; he already had a big enough adventure to deal with. Reaching the edge of the clearing, Norman skipped down towards the Mystery Shacks path with his overly large bag knocking against the back of his knees and stopping short of the door. He looked back at his watch. 12:56, hopefully Dipper won’t have a field day for being four minutes early.
Closing the gap between him and the door he lightly knocked. Inside he could hear the muffled sounds of his two best friends.
"I'll get it!" Dipper shouted.
"No, I will!" Mabel retaliated.
"No! Mabel!"
"Beat me if you can!"
"Mabel! He's my best friend!"
"He's mine too!"
"Just ... Mabel!"
It was easy to hear the scuffle from behind the door and Norman couldn't help but giggle to himself. After a minute or two, the door slowly opened.
"Sup dude." Soos greeted him with a brush in hand and moving to one side to allow Norman access. In the background he could see the twins in a headlock unaware that Norman had just entered the shack. He stood and watched for a moment before coughing abruptly. Both of the twins froze to glare at boy who interrupted their fight. Pushing away from each other, they grinned at their tall haired friend.
"Hey Norm!"
"Hey Normy!" They spoke in unison hovering over to him.
"Hey" he shyly smiled.
"Ready for a sleepover to remember?" A cheeky grin tickled onto Dipper face as he pulled out a piece of paper covered in many scribbles from his pocket. "Norman turns up at 1300, tick!" He read aloud, mentally checking off the first bullet point. "So now ... we're going ... too ..." He slowly spoke whilst intently reading his list.
"LETS BAKE CAKES!" Mabel threw her arms high in the air giddily.
"But Mabel ... that's not until 15:00..." He scanned the paper.
"Oh come on Dip!" She blew a raspberry in her brother’s direction. "When was the last time you were impulsive?"
"I ... er ..." Dipper stammered. Rolling her eyes with annoyance and turned to Norman who was still stood uncomfortably at the door. He was already used to his twin best friend’s playful arguments. He found them funny, truth be told, but not when he was dragged in to choose a side which had happened a number of times this week alone.
"What'd you say, Normy? Wanna bake cakes? Mabel's specialty!" Grabbing ahold of his hand she dragged him towards the direction if the kitchen.
"Erm, sure" he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. Sobbing and sighing, Dipper heavily stomped behind them.
"Fine. I guess we can play video games later ..." His teeth clenched.
"Yay for Dipping Sauce!" She grinned dragging Norman behind her. “Baking cakes! Baking cakes!”