Chapter Text
It was a relatively quiet day for the likes of Gravity Falls. If it wasn’t filled with the mysterious growling coming from the shadows in the woods or the quiet scampering of the gnomes, the quiet was usually filled with Grunkle Stan leading the newest tour group throughout the shack. Somehow Mabel had stumbled onto one of those quiet days. With Dipper off doing something with Grunkle Ford, she uncharacteristically had the day all to herself. Summer was almost to its end, the twins would be traveling back to their parents’ house in only a few weeks. Mabel decided to keep herself occupied by taking a walk to town, a thing she had done many times before. She carried a backpack of snacks in case she got hungry in town. To keep herself occupied, she played an imaginary game of hopscotch down the path and without looking tripped over something lying in the street.
She wasn’t able to catch herself in time and stumbled into the concrete. Thankfully she didn’t hit the ground hard enough to break any skin. She looked behind her and saw something lying in the dust.
“Hey, it’s one of those time machine thingies” Mabel stood up and brushed herself off before walking to the time machine. She reached for the device. For some reason the machine had it’s tape already pulled out to a date. Gingerly, she picked it up and traced the tape all the way to the base of the tape measure. She squinted at the date it had been pulled to and slowly tapped her finger on it.
“1979? Huh,” Sticking her tongue out, she fiddled with the tape trying to make it become unstuck. “If I could just fix it, I could return it to that time guy…” She wiggled it with more force. She heard a faint clicking noise in the mechanism and without warning the tape snapped back into place, catching Mabel’s finger. She pulled her hand back fast, shaking it in the air.
“Ow!” She stuck her hand in her mouth and sucked on it to alieve the pain. “Stupid time thing..”
Wait. Why is it dark all of a sudden? She slowly lifts her head up and her eyes widen as she takes in the world around her. She stands in a dark alley, where the smell of fresh rain still lingers in the air. Ahead of her lies a barren street with a lone street light shining down. A single car passes by and the headlights glide across her face. Shaking her out of her trance. This definitely doesn’t look like Gravity Falls.
“Oh nononono-” She looks down at the device in her hands and frantically tugs on the tape. ”Grunkle Stan is gonna kill me.”
It pulls only a few centimeters before pulling back in. She keeps tugging as looks fearfully around her surroundings. She grabs the tape and pulls as hard as she can, hoping the tape will come loose. A low whirring starts up from the device suddenly sputters when the tape measure sends out sparks. Mabel suddenly drops as it burns her hands. The time machine clatters to the ground and sends out more sparks before finally dying out. Tears gather in her eyes threatening to spill out but she steels herself, taking a shuttering breath in and out. She carefully leans down and pokes the time machine, making sure not to burn herself. She gingerly picks it up and unzips her backpack to put it inside. Thankfully an extra sweater was already packed so she used that to wrap it up so no more damage would come to it. Zipping it back up, she swings it up and over her shoulder.
“Alright Mabel, nows not the time to freak out. W-We need to figure out where we are and then go from there, hopefully not too far from home,” She starts to walk forward out of the alley. “Or when we are.” She halfheartedly chuckles to herself. She makes it to the end of the alley and peeks out onto the street. Thankfully not seeing any shady characters she makes her way down the street.
“Okay, what would Dipper do?” She makes a face before continuing as a horrible imitation of Dipper, “Well, we should start by finding someone we trust to help.”
Mabel considers her impromptu advice and presses her lips together as she thinks. She even sticks her hand underneath her chin to stroke it thoughtfully, Her eyes glaze over the scenery before her as she continues to walk along the street.
“Mmm, well…” Mabel scans the street carefully making a note of each trustworthy person she sees… which seems to be no one… as no one is actually out here. A familiar gleam catches the side of her eye. In a far off parking lot, a red sedan is parked that looks suspiciously like the one Grunkle Stan drives. Getting excited, she runs over to the car and sure enough, the license plate is “STNLYMBL”.
Mabel gets giddy and excitedly claps her hands together. If Stan is here then surely he can help her get back home. Wait. What time did she get to sent to again? 1987? 1982? Well, even if she wasn’t technically born yet Stan should still feel that niece, Grunkle connection right? And if not she’ll just persuade him into loving her, she is America’s sweetheart after all. She reaches for the car handle and pulls on it. It doesn’t budge. She tugs on it some more and after a while, she gives up. Hmpf. How was she supposed to get into his car without the key? She strokes her chin as she thinks. She lights up as she remembers that one of the handles is faulty and if you turn it to a specific angle, it’ll open up. She goes to the back right door and twists it down about 47 degrees. She hears a click as it unlatches. Thank the lord for Stan being lazy even way back when. She hefts herself into the back seat and pulls the door closed behind her.
Now to wait for Stan.
Well, that was a letdown. All this time spent and he couldn’t even get the simplest of backhanded tricks past those idiots. Luckily the fates were on his side tonight and although he didn’t make more than he had, he thankfully didn’t lose more. He frowned at the coins he was haphazardly tossing in his hand. This wasn’t gonna cut it for a stay in a hotel, looks like another night in his car it is. Digging in his pocket, he fishes out his keys and lets the money in his hand fall back into his pocket. Stan fiddles with the keys for a bit before placing them into the lock. Turning them slightly, he unlocks the car and slides in. Shutting the door with a soft click, he lets out a breath. He haphazardly reaches for the car mirror and turns it to reflect himself. His eyes glance over his ragged face and his horrible haircut that society called a mullet. He runs a hand down his face, feeling all of the cuts and scruff that had begun to grow on his chin. A flash of pink in the backseat catches his eye. He freezes and his head slowly begins to turn towards the back of his car.
“HELLO!” Suddenly, a head pops up from the dark backseat.
“AHHHHHH!!” Stan’s hand reaches for the nearest weapon and his hand finds purchase on a bat. He raises it above his head, ready to swing. Now it’s time for Mabel to scream.
“AHHHHHH, HEY, HEY, -NONONO, DON’T DO IT, MULLET GUY!” She throws her hands up in front of her face.
Hearing the screaming and seeing the face of young girl made Stan pause. He wasn’t going to actually swing but he kept it above his head for leverage - he still didn’t know why or how she was in his car.
“How’d you even get in here!” He yells back to the girl.
Stan clearly didn’t know who she is. Her eyes travel across his face, taking in how young he looked, although looking more tired than she had ever seen her Great Uncle. But he was definitely still Stan. “ I uhh... o-one of the handles is broken! You can get in if you t-turn it a certain way!”
Stan’s eyes glance to the handle she was talking about. He really needed to get that fixed. He looks back at the girl.
“Well, get out! Go find your parents or something!”
Mabel laughs nervously. If Grunkle Stan doesn’t know who she is, then surely her parents don’t either. Who was she was kidding, how was Stan even gonna help her if she wasn’t even born yet. She has no one to go too. “ I can’t”.
“What do you mean “you can’t”?”
Mabel looks into Stan’s eyes as tears gather in hers. “I-I can’t” she chokes out.
He knows that look. Stan is thrown back into when he was kicked out as a kid, he sees himself in her shoes. Nobody ever gave him a helping hand, maybe he should be the one too change that cycle. Plus she was only a little kid, a lot younger than he was, when he left home. His hard outlook softens and his grip on the bat loosens. He lays it down next to him on the seat. They both sit in silence for a while.
Stan sighs. “Look, kid. I know it’s late and I won’t make you leave-,” Mabel brightens at the statement.
“Oh my gosh! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You won’t regret it!” She bounces up from her seat to give him a tight hug.
Stan couldn’t remember the last time someone gave him a hug, its probably been at least ten years since then. He never was really good with the whole wear your emotions on your sleeve thing.
“Heh, heh, kid. I, uh, like your spunk” He pulls her off of him awkwardly and sets her back in the seat. “But tomorrow we’ve got to find someone else to take better care of you”.
Mabel seems to ignore the last comment and continues to swing her legs off the seat cushions, beaming up at Stan. He turns back to the front of the car, gripping the wheel.
He tilts his head back a bit to see her out of the corner of his eye. “What’s your name anyways kid?”
She looks at him confused for a moment as if she couldn’t believe he had asked her that question.
“...oh yeah... he doesn’t remember me” she mumbles.
“What, kid?” Stan fiddled around the keys before finally placing them into the ignition. The car shuttered to life. This spot was too out in the open to sleep in, he needed somewhere that had a little bit more security.
“Oh, haha, it’s Mabel, yeah… Mabel” She preoccupied herself with looking at her fingers.
The car began to back out of its spot and stan laid his arm on of the back of the seat to see better out of the back window. He flashed her a show winning smile.
“You can call me Stan, Kid.”