Chapter Text
Buttons
Chapter 1:
It was like any other day in Gravity Falls. Normal. Well, normal enough for this town. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary. It was rather boring, actually. Not ordinary for this town at all, come to think of it.
A little after three, the sun began to weaken over the woods of Gravity Falls. Three best friends somberly wandered back to the Mystery Shack after a tedious day at school. Two of the three were twin brother and sister Dipper and Mabel Pines. Both had quite long chestnut hair and hazel eyes and were both a little short for their age of 14 (and a half, as Dipper would remind everyone). Dipper covered up his shaggy, unkempt hair by wearing a white and blue baseball cap with a pine tree on it (their family crest) whilst Mabel's neat and perfect hair was held up with a pink headband that matched her homemade sweater. The other boy walking alongside them was much taller than the other two by at least a foot (not including his black hair which stood up straight on the top of his head pointing towards the sky without the need of any hair products) was called Norman Babcock. He had only recently turned 14 himself. Even though it was quite warm in the spring breeze, he still wore his favourite red jacket zipped up to his neck and worn out blue jeans.
A little over two years ago, Norman moved to Gravity Falls following an incident that involved him, an angry, misunderstood poltergeist and a group of stupid un-dead people. After the incident, the family decided it would be best to leave that town and move to a smaller town where Norman had a better chance at a normal life.
But little did they know of the mysteries that Gravity Falls held.
At least, the mysteries it held any other day than today.
Life hadn't always been the easiest for Norman. Since he was very young, he had a gift that no other person he knew possessed; he could see ghosts. But not ghosts of every single person who had ever died, just the ghosts of people who could not move on, who were chained to this world to complete their unfinished business.
Back in his hometown of Blithe Hollow, Massachusetts, nobody believed him. They thought he was a freak, insane, a liar. Nobody took the time to get to know him or his gift. Even his own father didn't want to know him. He had only one friend in the world; his cousin Coraline. They were inseparable. They would always play and sing and dance with each other until their stomachs hurt with the laughter. Life was bearable when they were together until that horrible day when his Aunt and Uncle decided to move and Coraline had to follow. They were just like his father; they never had time for Coraline. They were too busy with their work to care about her. She was just as alone as Norman was. He guessed that one day she just had enough of being alone and decided to run away. Nobody has seen or heard from her since. It happened was when Norman was 9 and she was 11. He knew no one was really looking for her. Around the time she disappeared, another boy had disappeared too. He could never remember the name of the other child, but he knew they were neighbours. Or at least that’s what the newspapers had said. His mother tried very hard to hide the article from him because of how upset he had become, but it didn’t stop him from finding it. There was a quote in there from the boy’s grandma saying she knew they had been stolen, just like her sister very many year’s earlier.
The following years, Norman never had a friend who was alive. Every day he was bullied and hurt by people who didn't have the time of day for him; from people who just didn't understand. He wanted them all to suffer like he suffered, but there was no point in wishing for that. He was too kind of a boy to want to hurt anybody. One day, a sweet lad named Neil decided to invite him over to his house to get to know him. Norman wasn't sure why Neil wanted him as a friend (especially after his jock-star brother had told Neil that he shouldn't be friends with 'freak's' like him), but he was glad he did. Neil was smaller than the Pine's twins. His cheeks were chubby and soft like a babies and he suffered from a lot of allergies. People would always bully him, too, because they thought he was too inadequate and couldn't defend himself - but they were totally wrong. Neil was one of the toughest people that Norman knew and would always protect his friends.
Though, not very long after becoming friends with Neil did that horrible night with the Witch’s Curse arrive. A month or so later his parents decided it would be best to pack up the house and dragged them down to Oregon. Norman feared the worst that everything would go back to how it was before Neil became his friend. He made sure they stayed in contact with each other and still invite's him down to stay over at every opportunity. Though he feared the worst, nothing of the sort happened to him. Within the first hour of his first day at his new school, Norman already had more friends than he had ever had before.
The first lesson he had was science with Mr. Bulmoth. Everyone had to group off in teams of two or three. This wasn't a great start for him since he hadn't met anybody. He placed his arms over his head as he lightly bashed it against his desk wishing for the day to be over already. However, to his surprise, he felt a small tap on his shoulder. Turning to meet the eyes of the tapper, he felt as if he was suddenly punched in his stomach. His cheeks flushed beetroot red. He wasn’t sure what this feeling was that spread over him. It felt warm and tingly. Slightly panicking that he had been possessed, he gulped.
"Hi! I'm Dipper Pines!" The young boys voice cracked "Want to be my partner?" Stuttering his words, he replied.
“Erm … yeah. Yes … I’m Norman.”
And that was it. Dipper stuck with Norman like glue for the rest of the day, introducing him to his twin sister Mabel and her two best friends Candy and Grenada at lunch time, and then offered to invite him back to their home for tea. Norman had never felt this happy in his life. When Neil came over, he introduced them all to him and they welcomed him into their lives with open arms. They all still speak to him via text messaging, too, which made Norman elated. For two years he has his own family of friends - and even his first crush that he had yet to mess up.
"Man, I am so bored!' Dipper complained. "Today was the most boringest day ever!"
"Pshhh, boringest" Mabel snorted to herself. "You're funny."
"Can we please do something tonight, guys? Anything! Suggestions! Mabel?" Dipper pleaded with his sister.
"Hmmmm ..." She pondered long and hard, stroking her chin as if she was playing with a beard that wasn't there. Snapping her fingers, she excitedly sung, "let's give waddles a makeover!"
Without much enthusiasm, Dipper denied that thought. "We did that last week! Nor-my-man!" He shouted, causing Norman to blush slightly under his pale white skin. 'Norm my man' he quietly thought. "Tell me you have an idea of something we can do tonight?"
"I ... don't know? M ... maybe we could ... all ... watch a movie or ... something?" Norman asked more than suggested. Dipper shook his head.
"What's wrong with us, guys?!" Dipper cried. "We're usually never bored! How have we run out of things to do?!" Reaching into his vest pocket, he pulled out a book that had a hand with 6 fingers and the number 3 on the front. Aimlessly flicking through the book, Dipper prayed he could find something worth investigating. Alas, he could not.
"Ughhh" he grumbled.
"Come on, Dip Dip!" Mabel smiled. "We can put on a show! We can all put on costumes and perform musicals! Oh oh OH!" She shrieked. "And you can perform the lamby lamby dance for Normy!"
"Yeah!" Norman half joked, but half really wanted to see it. Dipper huffed at his expense and crossed his arms.
"Never."
"Tut, boring." Mabel groaned as she pushed her grumpy brother in his arm. "My act would be the best! I would dress waddles up as Sandy the dog and perform Annie!" Taking in a deep, over exaggerate breath, Mabel began to sing (more scream) down her brothers ear "THE SUN WILL COME OUT TOMORROW!! BET YOUR BOTTOM- Haha! Bottom!" Mabel fell to the floor cackling over such a childish thing. Norman smacked his hand over his mouth and spurted his laughter out over it.
Dipper with his arm's still crossed, tried as hard as he could not to smile, but couldn't help but laugh at his sister and friend's amusement. Tears began streaming down Mabel's face as she rolled around in the mud smacking down on the floor hard.
"Haha! Oooooh! Oh, I'm a comedy genius!" She praised herself as she calmed her giggles. Happily smiling, Dipper held out a hand for his sister and pulled her to her feet.
"Yeah, yeah..." Turning back to his friend beside him, Dipper smiled. "Nor-my-man! Are you staying over tonight?"
"We can really perform musicals! You know you wanna see me do Annie!" Mabel cheered, nudging him lightly in his arm.
"That is tempting..." Norman giggled at his two best friends. He enjoyed staying over at their home; it got him away from his for a while.
He never enjoyed going home: his father wasn't very understanding of him and would always make Norman feel embarrassed for existing; his mother was lovely and caring but still made Norman feel uncomfortable if he ever brought up his gift; his sister was never home to see since she was too busy with her friends these day's; the only person he enjoyed seeing was his grandma who came with them when they moved. She died many years earlier, but she was still chained to this plane to look out for Norman. Other than her, no one believed him about his gift until he met Dipper and Mabel who thought it was the most ‘coolest thing ever’!
"Go on..." Dipper urged him nudging him in his other arm with a smile. Returning the smile a little wider than was necessary, he sweetly nodded.
"Oh, okay then! I'll have to ring my Mum when I'm back at yours, though"
"Yes!" The twins hi fived in the air, causing Norman to blush slightly.
They fell peacefully silent as they continued to follow the path back to the shack.
A few moments later, Mabel piped up.
"Normy! You never told us! What would you perform?" She glowed. Dipper, slightly more curious then he felt he should have been, glanced at him sideways causing Norman to blush even harder.
"Oh ... m ... me? I ... I guess ... I'd properly ... Erm … well … my friend used to make me watch … and sing ... songs from … Oliver?" He winced. "N ... not like I would ... perform ... it now …"
"Still secretly listening to that musical, Norman? Geez, I thought you’d grow out of that!” A voice from behind them joked.
Norman froze to the spot as his eyes grew wide with fear. The hairs on the back of his neck tingled and stood up nearly as straight as the hair on his head. He was paralyzed.