Chapter Text
It's summer break, you never go anywhere for summer break.
You like to think that your parents would have made you leave the house at least, but you haven't seen either of them since you were seven and they weren't all that hands on.
Your sister's a little more out going than you are, she has some friends here, you don't. Well, maybe that's a little untrue you like to think that you do have a few friends, but no one your own age.
Before you came into care you'd heard so many horror stories about families being split up but they've treated you and your sister quite decently really, the pair of you have never been separated for more than a couple of weeks, Mabel thinks that it's down to you great uncle putting in a good word here and there, you doubt that, you're not sure Stan can actually say good words.
There's a knock on your door, and the sudden noise makes you jump.
"Who is it?" You call going to answer it anyway, because if it's a child abductor you can at least save them the trouble of breaking down the door.
You open up just as the person outside calls "It's Soos" in a cheerful fashion, Soos is the chief (only) handyman, gardener and, much to your dismay, chef.
"Hello Soos" you say sounding slightly less forlorn than you feel.
"Hey, I'm here to make sure you still have a bunk bed"
"Why?" you say feeling the apprehension grow in you stomach.
"Because if you do, you're getting a roommate." He says it like he doesn't realise he's delivering something akin to a death sentence.
"I don't! Absolutely just one single, single bed!" Your lie is particularly ineffectual since he can see your bunk bed from where he's standing, he just laughs and ruffles your hair.
"Don't worry little dude, you'll have fun" you do your best to glower at him as he leaves, muttering "I'm not little" under your breath.
Once he's gone you let your glower drop, sigh, and decide to go outside and read while there's still a little light.
On the way downstairs you run into Mabel and tell her about the roommate situation - she tries to put an optimistic spin on it, of course.
"He might be better than the last one" she says shrugging and sitting down on the step beside you.
"Mabel, all he has to do to be better than the last one is to not deliberately burn out the room"
"Well, there's a good chance he won't do that"
"That doesn't actually make me feel much better"
"Why?"
You shake your head and start to stand up.
"Hey, it'll be fine if push comes to shove all you have to do is ignore him" she says getting up too.
"Yeah, while he burns down my room" she eyes you, judgingly "but, I suppose you're right" you concede.
"Always am, I'll see you later bro" she says patting you on the back and turning to run at break neck speed to the top of the staircase.
You head out to the garden and dodge straight into the nearest shade.
You read for a little while, until you spot Wendy (your former-kind-of-crush).
She used to be in care here, now she's a minimum wage care worker, and she's still here, when you were younger you couldn't understand why she would want to stay, rather than leave and try to get on with normal life, but you kind of get it now, you get invested in the kids, especially the younger ones, and then you don't want to leave them to fend for themselves.
"Hi, Wendy" you call to her, she's fixing a bike that looks like it's well passed it's prime.
"Hey Dip, got a new one coming in"
"I know, he's sharing my room"
"Yipes, I hope you have better luck with this one."
"Me too" you say turning back to your book.
You keep on reading until rain starts smudging the text, Wendy pulls the bike indoors before it rusts and you pull yourself inside before you soak.
You head for your room, dripping slightly.
You open the door and he's already there.
He's about an inch taller than you and thin with half shaved bleach blond hair.
"You'll get beaten up for that hair" you say, giving him a sideways look "And I'm not usually one to comment on a fashion sense , but you're...yellow"
"Thanks for the advice" he answers in a singsong voice "Are you the roommate then?"
"Yeah"
"I hear I have big, arson committing, shoes to fill"
"I'm sure you'll do your best"
"Anything less would be simply criminal" he says grinning "I'm Bill by the way"
"Dipper"
"Am I too late to call top bunk?"
"No you can have it, I have a mild fear of falling to my death while I sleep"
He chuckles "So, I'd love to hear the whole roommate story, I've only picked up odds and ends but it sounds interesting"
"Really?" you ask and he nods enthusiastically.
"Okay, I'm just going to power through this, number one got a 43 year old russian sex worker pregnant on my bed, I wasn't there because it was the middle of the afternoon, on a school day, I mean what even is that?"
"Yeah because the strange thing about hiring a 43 year old russian prostitute to come to your care home is the time of day you choose" he cuts in.
"Powering through" you comment putting your book on the radiator to dry out "Number two tried to smother me in my sleep, during a fit of paranoid delusion in which he believed I was actually, literally, Adolf Hitler"
"Well are you sure you aren't actually, literally, Adolf Hitler? Is anybody?" He interrupts again.
"And number three" you say, pointedly "Tried to burn down the home three times before he succeeded in setting our room on fire, I had to sleep in the hallway for, like, three weeks"
"Wow, you get some interesting ones here"
"We're basically the last ditch attempt before prison"
"How did you get here?"
"Family connections" you say grimacing "or rather, lack there of"
"Good for you"
"Not so much, what about you?"
"What about me, what?"
"What did you do to get sent here?"
"Is this shag carpet?" he asks looking directly at the linoleum floor.
You think that he must be hinting for you to change the subject.
"...No" you say and then, looking at your watch "It's still early, do you want me to show you around?"
"Yeah, why not" he says, cheerfully.
"Who have you met already?" You ask as the two of you walk along the landing "Because there's nothing more awkward than introducing two people who already know each other"
"Just the gardener who showed me up I don't know his name though"
"That'll be Soos" you say glancing out of the window "It's raining, how do you feel about a solely indoor tour?"
"Sounds great, pine tree" you raise your eyebrows at the name, but you've always wanted a nickname that wasn't a reference to your deformity of a birthmark, so you let it slide.
You wander down to the hall, Pacifica seems to have planned an ambush because as soon as you get through the door she's making a beeline for the two you.
"Dipper" she says, coldly.
"Pacifica" you answer with a similar feeling "Bill, this is Pacifica."
"So I gathered" Bill says, grinning.
"Bill" Pacifica says suddenly sickly sweet "You're new aren't you?" he nods "Daddy asked me to make sure you were settling in okay, are you?"
"Absolutely" he beams, looking more amused than actually cheerful "Is your father the owner of this" he gestures around "Fine establishment?"
"Technically yes, but he owns all the care homes in this part of the country" she says, all aloof "So he's the owner's boss"
"Who is the owner then?" he asks pushing his original point.
"It's his" she waves towards you "Uncle"
"Great uncle, actually" you say as she studiously ignores you.
"Well anyway sweetie" she says turning her attention back towards Bill "If you need anything, I'm always around somewhere"
"That's very kind of you" he says nodding to her, still apparently amused.
She starts to walk away and you turn to Bill "Why on earth does Pacifica's dad care whether you, personally, are 'settling in'?"
"Have absolutely no idea" He answers and you wonder if he's telling the truth "I was wondering why she's here if her father still talks to her and is presumably quite rich?"
"Her parents didn't have time to look after her, so they left her here and she liked lording it over the little poor people, so she stayed" you shrug because this is actually the least interesting subject in the world.
"You don't like her very much" he summarises.
"You noticed?" you ask with just a hint of sarcasm.
"You make it quite obvious" he answers apparently not picking up on said sarcasm.
"I do, don't I?" you say turning around to continue the tour, you don't get far though.
"Dipper!" your sister calls from across the room "Is that the new kid?!" she interrupts you before you can answer "Hang on, I'm coming over!" she shouts before proceeding to hurl herself from her end of the hall to yours.
"Hello" she greets, gasping for air "M-mabel" she says gesturing to herself and holding her hand out to your companion.
"Bill" he answers shaking the proffered hand.
"Nice to meet you" she wiggles her eyebrows "Bill"
"Ew, Mabel he just got here, don't scare him off already"
"Are you two twins?" Bill asks, and you notice that he's about the same height as Mabel, which means she's grown again, goddamn it.
"Yeah, we are" Mabel answers and then turning to you"I can't believe you didn't tell him about me, are you taking him on the tour?"
"Yes, actually"
"Are you going to show him outside now?" she asks.
"I wasn't going to"
"Why?" she says, sounding personally offended by the fact.
"Because it's raining" you state, flatly.
"That's no excuse! Have heard of umbrellas?"
"Have you heard of avoiding the rain?"
"Oh shush, it's hardly a tour without the garden is it?"
"It's hardly a tour with it" you mutter and she just shakes her head at you, as she starts pulling you towards the door.
"Behold, soggy foliage in all it's splendor" you say as Mabel flings the door open dramatically.
"Well at least it's stopped raining" she says, grinning.
"Hm" you agree glancing at the sky "Looks like it's about to start again any minute though"
"Stop being such a downer" she says glaring at you "Oh I know! Let's go to the treehouse, that way it doesn't even matter if it starts to rain again!"
"Fine" you say, but you'd be surprised if she'd heard you since she's already running pretty fast in the direction of said treehouse.
You're about to start running after your errant sibling when Wendy pops out from behind a tree.
"Hey Dip, is this the new 'un?" She asks scrutinising your new roommate.
"Yeah, Wendy, this is Bill, Bill this is Wendy"
"So what'd ya do to get sent here, kid?"
"Shouldn't we catch up to your sister?" He asks you, ignoring her question as pointedly as he'd ignored it when you asked.
You raise your eyebrows but nod in agreement "I'll catch you up in a second"
He starts to walk briskly down the path.
"Was it something I said?" Wendy asks skeptically.
"I dunno, I think so, he clammed up when I asked him about it too"
"Well all I can say is I hope it's not arson again, the whole second floor still smells of smoke"
"You're telling me" you say grimacing "Well, I'd better catch up to them, see you later Wendy"
"See ya, kid" she says before going back to what ever she was doing behind the tree.
Just as you turn the corner you hear a scream, a worryingly Mabel like scream.
You start to run in the direction of the scream and bump into Bill on the way.
You see Mabel standing alone looking relatively uninjured, she's standing over something.
"Mabel seriously this had better not be about road kill again, I just nearly had a heart attack..." You trail off as you get closer because the thing she's looking at is considerably bigger than a hedgehog.
"Oh my god, Dipper, it's Gorney"
"What's Gorney?" You ask, trying not to look at whatever's on the ground.
"He is!" She shouts pointing at what looks suspiciously like a kid. A dead kid.
"What happened?!" You shout at her.
"Why would I know?!" She says, and she's crying now, you feel really bad.
Bill walks around you and towards Gorney "Is he okay?" Mabel calls over.
"Not really" Bill calls back "He's dead" he says sounding way too jovial for the situation in hand.
She starts to cry more at that and you can't blame her, you'd be hysterical if you actually knew the kid by name.
"Hey, Mabel" you say as gently as you can "You should go and fetch someone to help, go get Wendy, or Soos."
"Y-yeah that's a good idea" she says trying to steady her breathing "I'll do that now" she says taking a few shaky steps before breaking out into a full fledged sprint.
You look back over at Bill and notice he's rolled the kid onto his side.
"You probably shouldn't move him, you know, police evidence and things" you say shakily, kneeling down on the other side of the body.
"Look at this" he says, sounding positively ecstatic and pointing to the kid's neck.
"Ew, maybe he injected himself with something?" You ask, trying not to look for too long because you think you're about to throw up anyway.
"Twice? In his throat?" He questions, skeptically.
"Well, I don't know, I'm thinking aloud here, bar vampires the options are pretty scarce"
"Why are we baring vampires?"
"Seriously? Now is so not the time"
He rolls his eyes at you "Why don't you think vampires exist?"
"A more logical question is why do you think they do"
"I think it's more reasonable to believe in things than not"
"And I think it's more reasonable to believe in real things than imaginary ones" you say, unable to believe you're actually having this conversation "baring in mind that I'm very fond of conspiracy theories"
"Well if it looks like a vampire and it bites like a vampire..." he trails off meaningfully.
"We only know that it bites like a vampire, which is though because they aren't real"
"And you call yourself a conspiracy theorist" he says shaking his head.
"I'll give you that it could be a serial killer who thinks he's a vampire" you concede, living up to reputation.
"Comforting thought" he acknowledges.
"Isn't it?" You say glancing around, in search of imaginary vampiric serial killers.
Suddenly he sputters with laughter "Ha! You are so freaking out right now!"
You just stare at him incredulously "I don't need an excuse to freak out! There's a dead kid right there!" He raises his hands still giggling slightly.
"No harm no foul, pine tree, but I don't think it was vampires"
"Good" you say glancing down at the body again.
"Urgh, what do you think did happen to him then?"
"Probably fell out of the treehouse" He shrugs, not sounding particularly interested.
You look up and sure enough there's the treehouse.
"Yeah" you say trying to shake the urge to look behind you.
"Don't touch him!" A harsh voice shouts from across the lawn and you both instinctively jump back a couple of feet.
"Who's that?" Bill whispers, waving towards the old man making his way towards you, straight through the flower bed.
"That's Stan, he's, um, the owner"
"Oh, your uncle" Bill says, sounding hopeful.
"He's not going to go easy on you just because you're with me you know"
"He's not?"
"No, I have no doubt that it's going to be worse than it would have been if you were on your own" you say, grimacing.
"Oh" he says edging slightly further from the body.
"Yeah 'oh', it looks like I'm pretty high up his list of suspects right now" you say, your great uncle looks more mad than you've ever seen him, and that's a high bar.
"Move out of the way!" He shouts kneeling down next to the kid.
"He looks like he's lost a lot of blood" Bill chips in, in a helpful if ill-advised manner, still sounding overly cheerful.
"Who the hell are you?!"
"He's the new kid" you say pushing Bill backwards to put some distance between him and Stan.
"Well did he see what happened?"
"No, he got here at the same time as me"
"Who found him?"
"Mabel"
"Did she see anything?"
"I don't think so"
"You don't think so? Didn't you ask?"
"I didn't-"
"Have you called the police?"
"No, you don't let us have phones so-"
"Good. Don't. Go inside and don't tell anyone, we don't need them panicking about this"
"Don't we?"
"No, he fell out of a tree kid, nobody needs to turn into child runaways, go back inside" he says glaring at you "Now!"