Chapter Text
The blonde leaned out the car window, admiring the view of the town below from the high cliff they were driving around. “Hello Gravity Falls!”, the girl shouted into the wind.
“Pacifica Northwest!”, Gideon exclaimed, tugging on her jacket, “get back in here”.
“Relax cuz, I’m perfectly fine”, she said, rolling her eyes dramatically as she climbed back into her seat.
“You’ve got leaves in yout hair”, Gideon said.
She looked ridiculous. About a dozen green leaves were stuck in her pale blonde locks, courtesy of the wind and one wayward branch that had smacked her in the face. She even had some branches clinging to the top bright blue part of 80’s themed jacket. The jacket that once belonged to her mom which the girl now wore daily, usually zipped over a t-shirt with a 90s cartoon reference on it. Today it was a green tee with the teenage mutant ninja turtles painted across the front.
Pacifica patted her head and shoulders, dislodging all the dead plants. “Got them all?”, she asked. Gideon nodded.
“You could have fallen back there”, the boy grumbled.
“But I didn’t and that’s all that matters”, Pacifica sang, booping Gideon’s nose for emphasis. Gosh, she was so immature. It was a mystery how the two even shared the slightest drop of blood. Appearance wise, the two were definitely similar enough to be recognized as related. but not enough to be siblings. They both had near flawless pale skin, but Gideon’s was a few shades lighter as a result of his hermit lifestyle. Pacifica had a slight tan, earned from frolicing under the Calafornia sun all day. The two both inherited very light hair, Pacifica’s being platinum blonde while Gideon’s grey. And while Gideon’s nose, as well as everything, was bigger and rounder than Pacifica’s slimmer sharper features, both teens had noses that pointed upwards.
Gideon just grunted and turned to the adult driving the car. The adult who was supposed to be watching over the pair of 16 years olds the entire summer so they’d stay out of trouble. He was big and round in shape, with thick limbs and a red nose. He looked odd in his attire of a black suit, red felt hat, and black dress shoes.
“Uncle Bud aren’t you going to say anything?”, Gideon asked, demanding the man show at least some recognition to his cousin's unsafe actions.
“Oh Gideon Pines, stop being such a square and let your cousin live a little”, Uncle Bud said without taking his eyes from the road.
“See, even Uncle Bud thinks you’re lame”, Pacifica teased.
“I am not!”
“Gideon, we’re spending an entire summer in a new town with Uncle Bud as our only supervision”, Pacifica motioned towards the man for emphasis, “how many other teenagers do you think can travel to a brand new place with barely any parental management?”
“Not a lot?”, Gideon said weakly. Pacifica had a pretty solid point.
“This is a once in a lifetime chance!”, Pacifica exclaimed, throwing her hands above her head. She was grinning widely, showing off the rainbow of neon colour elastics decorating her braces. “We’re going to meet new people, go to parties-”, she gasped, hands coming to smush her pale cheeks, “Maybe I’ll even find love!”
Gideon chuckled at his cousin's dreamy expression. He was glad his cousin’s summer was going well. He directed his attention to the window behind Pacifica. Gravity Falls, a small town that probably had terrible internet access and active teenagers that chopped their own firewood.
The white haired teen looked down at his body. He wasn’t big and tall like his Uncle Bud, nor did he have strong thick arms and legs he could use to wrestle with a bear. Instead, he was a short, chubby 16 year old boy who stayed in the library during lunch to avoid bullies.
Gideon signed and listened to Pacifica ramble about her Summer Romance plan, wishing he was home in Piedmont, California with his air conditioning and books.
<3
“Welcome kids, to the Mystery Shack!”, Uncle Bud exclaimed, extending one arm into the air to display the wooden building. Shack was definitely the right word to describe the place. There were large squares of metal nailed to places in the roof to cover holes. Uncle Bud probably didn’t want to pay for roof repairs. The wooden logs making up the walls looked extremely old. The building didn’t seem one bit stable.
Gideon eyes the shack wearly. Beside him, Pacifica had lost some of her original enthusiasm.
“What do you think?”, Uncle Bud asked.
“It’s… definitely got character!”, Pacifica said.
“Yeah”, Gideon said, attempting to come up with some sort of small talk, “Is this place really World Famous?”
“Nah that’s just something attract more customers”, Bud winked, “tourist are so dumb, they’ll believe almost anything they read!”
The signs attached to the shack were definitely tacky. But Gideon would be lying if he said his parents haven't spent 50 dollars on items that would be 10 at a local Walmart simply because someone slapped the word “vintage” on it.
“Let’s go put your bags in your room and I’ll give you all a tour”, Uncle Bud said, leading the two teens through the main entrance with the words “Mystery Shack” written above with black paint.
The inside of the building was just as cheesy as the outside. Phony exhibits lined the cabin walls, some in glass cases while others displayed on a small homemade stage surrounded by worn out curtains. Some of the exhibits were so obviously fake, Gideon wondered if even tourist were dumb enough to fall for them. Like the Cornicorn, which was literally corn glued together into the shape of a Unicorn. The wireframes were even showing from underneath.
“And here’s the Gift Shop”, Uncle Bud said. The gift shop being another section in the tourist attraction where there were shelves of tacky skulls, red t-shirts with question marks, and a variety of mystery themed snacks in quirky packaging.
“Robbie’s the teenager who works the cashier. He’s your age so you can hang out and do whatever teens do with him, but he won’t be here until later”. Bud said, motioning to the cashier.
“These are so cute!”, Pacifica squealed from the other side of the room, looking over a bin labeled Handcarved Wooden Animals.
“Why don’t you take one, on the house”, Uncle Bud said.
“Really?”
“Yeah, consider it a welcoming gift”, he turned to Gideon, “You can take something from the gift shop too”
“This one!”, Pacifica held up a light brown llama. She pressed the palm sized figure against her cheek and giggled.
Gideon looked around the gift shop of the shack. It was mostly filled with useless knickknacks and figurines for the tourist. The teen settled on a light blue and white hat, with a light blue pine tree symbol on it. He needed something to protect his pale skin from the sun after all.
“Thanks Uncle Bud”, Pacifica said.
“No problem kid. Just don’t expect handouts in the future”
“Yes sir!”, she shouted, actually drawing her hands to her forehead to perform a mock salute.
Bud smiled. “I’m gonna go get some work done. Go take your cousin outside or something. Gideon looks like he needs sunlight”
“Hey”, Gideon yell in offence. At the same time Pacifica gave a cheery “Okay!”, and grabbed her cousin’s arm, dragging him through the front entrance.
“Let’s go explore the forest!”, Pacifica exclaimed, waving the hand not tugging the other teen in the air.
“What?”, Gideon spluttered, attempting to free his hand from Pacifica’s grip. Damn, the girl was strong. “Pacifica that’s dangerous! What if we get lost or eaten by an animal or-”
“You worry too much”, she said, waving a hand in the air as if she were brushing aside potential problems. “We won’t go far, it’ll be fun!”
“Well I’m not going”, Gideon said as he planted both feet into the ground, refusing to budge.
Pacifica rolled her eyes. “Find, I’ll just go by myself. Alone”, she said, letting go of Gideon’s hand. She walked towards the forest, not bothering to look behind her.
She only took two steps before Gideon started running after her again.
“Changed your mind?”, she grinned at the teen walking beside her.
“Someone needs to make sure you don’t get lost”, he muttered.
The pair walked on the path in silence, admiring the forest. There was a large variety of wildflowers of all different colours and sizes scattered across the forest floor. Shades of red, yellow, white, pink speckled in between lush green grass.
Eventually, the two teens reached a small clearing, still not to far from the Mystery Shack.
“Let's rest here for a while before we head back”, Gideon said, taking a seat on a fallen log.
“But we haven’t even gone that far”, Pacifica protest.
“Paz we have the whole summer to explore. We can come back tomorrow with an actually map and better chances of not getting lost”
The blonde grumbled but didn’t offer anymore protest. Her cousin had a valid point after all, and besides, he had just promised a return trip.
Pacifica leaned against the tree behind her, bumping her elbow against the trunk. To her surprise, an unexpected sound was created, like her elbow hit a sheet of metal instead of wood.
“What the…?”, Pacifica turned to face the trunk. Cautiously, she put her ear against the trunk and knocked. It was definitely not wood.
“Pacifica what are you doing?”, Gideon said, heading towards her.
“I think I found something”. She felt around the trunk with her fingers until she found some sort of opening. She slipped her nails under the space and opened the small metal door, revealing a secret compartment.
Inside was a contraption covered in spiderwebs and rust. The technology looked decades old.
“I wonder what this does”, she said, flipping one of the switches.
“Pacifica that could be dangerous!”, Gideon exclaimed.
The sound of something opening came from behind the teens. The pair turned around, eyes landing on the recently discovered compartment in the ground. It had been previously covered by a metal door disguised as grass.
Curiously, the blonde teen walked towards it. She bent down and found a single book in the hiding place. The book looked as worned out and old as the machine, also covered in spiderwebs and dust. She brushed aside the grime, revealing a dark red cover and a yellow six fingered hand design with the number two written in black marker.
“What did you find?”, the boy called from the tree trunk.
“It looks like a journal”, Pacifica replied, making her way back to her cousin. She flipped to the first page, which would have had the author’s name if the spot under “This journal belongs to” wasn’t torn out.
The blonde quickly flipped through the pages, both teens silent from awe at the information given to them.
“Do you know what this means?”, Gideon asked.
“That I can still potentially become a fairy princess?”, Pacifica replied excitedly, staring in awe at a page providing detailed information about fairies in the forest.
“Well, there’s that, and”, he said, smiling, “this summer isn’t going to be a complete waste”
<3
There’s a teenager sitting behind the cashier table when they return. He looks out of place compared to the messy cabin surroundings. His visible outfit consisted of a white button up under a baby blue cardigan. His black hair was neat and clean, not a single strand out of place. The teen looked like his mom had made him clean up for Sunday lunch with grandma.
“Hey, nice to meet you. I’m Robbie”, he said, extending his hand towards the two.
“Hi! I’m Pacifica and it’s nice meeting you too”, Pacifica smiled, face slightly flushed as she shook his hand. She motioned to the shorter teen beside her, “this is my cousin, Gideon”.
“Hey”, he said, giving a little wave. Handshakes were always awkward for him.
“You’re both new in town right?”
“Yeah, we just arrived this morning”, Pacifica said.
“There’s going to be a party at Thompson’s house while his parents are out of town. Do you guys wanna come?” Robbie said, “You’ll get a chance to meet other people”
“A party sounds great!”, Pacifica said.
“I don’t know. Parties aren’t exactly my thing”
“Non sense, we’re both coming”, she said, hushing her cousin when he opened his mouth in protest. “ Thanks Robbie!”
“It’s not big deal”, he said, “My shift ends at 4, we can leave then”
<3
The pair walked up the stairs to the attic room they’d be sharing. The large curtain Uncle Bub had installed to separate the room into two halves was drawn to the side.
“Paz, I am absolutely not going to this party”, Gideon said, crossing his arms and staring at his cousin firmly.
“But it’ll be fun”, Pacifica whined.
“It’ll be fun for you”, he said, “I’m going to end up standing in a corner by myself the entire time”
“You’re by yourself because you don’t talk to people”, Pacifica said waving her arms in his face, “You just need practice being social, which is exactly why you should go to this party”
“Nope, not going”
“Gideon you’re going to this party even if I have to drag you there myself”
“Have fun trying”, he said, sitting down crosslegged on the floor.
Pacifica groaned, knowing full well she doesn’t have the strength to pull Gideon all the way to the party. Also Robbie might think it was strange if she could.
A new approach then. Blackmail.
“If you don’t go I’ll tell Auntie you spent that $50 dollars she gave you on a paranormal book instead of a dress shirt”
Gideon looked up at that. He squinted his eyes at his cousin. “You wouldn’t”, he said.
Pacifica smiled, wiggling both her eyebrows.
Gideon glared at her. Minutes passed with nothing but the two staring at each other, daring the other to break contact first.
Eventually Gideon signed. “Fine, I’ll go”.
Pacifica squealed in delight.
“Now for the important part”, She said, skipping to the foot of her bed where her bright pink suitcase was left lying opened on the floor.
She pulled out a neon blue crewneck and held it to her front as she inspected herself through the mirror.
“What we’re going to wear!”, Pacifica stated, throwing the shirt on her bed, reaching for another article of clothing.
Gideon groaned. This was going to take hours.
<3
The two managed to finishing cleaning up right on time. Majority of the hours consisted of Pacifica badgering her cousin to shower and change into something nice. Gideon eventually gave in, not giving that strong of a fight to begin with, and switched out of his usual light blue puffy vest over a black long sleeve shirt and grey shorts for a red hoodie and jeans. Pacifica attempted to tame the puffy white mess on his head that he called hair. The hair had won and they ended up slapping his new hat over his head.
Pacifica clapped her hands together under her chin and looked over her work. “Gideon you look so cute!”, she said.
“And you look dazzling, as always”, he said in regards to Pacifica’s outfit.
The blonde was decorated in an array of neon articles of clothing. The bright pink colour of her loose fitting crop top stood out against the black tank top she wore under it. Neon green tights adorned her long thin legs while electric blue leg warmers covered the bottom part of her calves. Her long platinum blonde hair was tied into a high ponytail, held together by a pink scrunchy with the wooden llama attached. Pacifica didn’t have any make up on, she didn’t like the feel of it on her face.
“Aww Gideon you’re always such a sweety”, she said swinging her neon pink messenger bag over her shoulder. “Now let’s go, I don’t want to keep Robbie waiting”.
Two teenage girls had appear in the gift shop by the time Pacifica and Gideon had arrived downstairs. Robbie was still there, still dressed in his posh clothing from earlier and behind the counter. There was a dark skinned girl sitting on the countertop beside Robbie. Tiny braids streaked her dark auburn hair, which was all pulled back in a perfect bun. She wore a pastel blue spring dress decorated with white flowers.
She and Robbie didn’t seem to notice the arrival of the cousins as they were listening intently to a story the other girl seemed to be telling. The other girl had shoulder length red hair that was currently tied into a ponytail and wore clothing associated with a lumberjack, green plaid, plain jeans, muddy rainboots, and a brown lumberjack hat.
“So dad socks the bear in the face and it totally wimped out and runs aways”, the redhead said, punching the air as if reenacting the event.
“Wow your dad seems really strong”, Pacifica said in awe.
“Yeah I know, he’s only the biggest, manliest man in Gravity Falls”, the redhead boasted proudly. “I’m Wendy Corduroy by the way and that’s Tambry”, she said, motioning to the girl sitting on the counter.
Tambry waved, “Hi, it’s nice to meet you. You two must be Bub’s niece and nephew”
“Yep, I’m Pacifica Northwest and this square here is my cousin Gideon Pines”
“Hello”, Gideon said.
“Square?”, Wendy snorted, “He looks more like a circle to me”
“Wendy! That’s rude”, Tambry scolded. She quickly turned to face Gideon with an apologetic expression on her face, “I’m so sorry my friend can be a bit brash sometimes”
“Don’t worry about it, I don’t really mind”, Gideon said waving it off.
“Are you sure?”, Pacifica asked. She looked concern and Tambry was glaring at Wendy. Gideon really did not want the night to start off on a bad note.
“Honestly, nothing wrong with being a bit chubby right?”
“Absolutely, you’re adorable”, Pacifica said, pinching his cheeks.
“Ow, Pacifica”, he groaned leaning away from his cousin’s fingers. He rubbed the sore part of his cheek. “So you guys wanna head out now?”, he asked, hoping to change the subject.
“Yeah my vans parked outside”, Wendy said twirling her keys.
“Let’s go get this party on the road guys!”, Pacifica cheered, pumping both arms over her head.
The five teen piled into Wendy’s green van. They drove on the dirt path through the forest, heading out of the semi isolated location to town.
“So what kind of party is this?”, Gideon asked.
“Well it’s one of Thompson's parties so it’s obviously going to be off the charts!”, Wendy hollered.
“Yeah, Thompson’s a really cool guy”, Robbie agreed.
“Guys I just remembers something really important I need to tell you!”, Tambry yelled suddenly, flapping her hands around until she got everyone’s attention.
“What happened?”, Robbie asked.
“I served Mabel Gleeful and her friends today during my shift at Greaser!”
“So?”, Wendy asked. Gideon had the same question in his head.
“Oh gosh I actually got to talk to her and she’s an absolute sweetheart! Absolute perfect in everyway. Anyway, she told me she and her twin brother would be performing at Thompson’s party tonight!”
“Dude no way”, Wendy said in disbelief.
“Yes way!”, Tambry squealed in delight. “Golly, I hope I get to see Dipper Gleeful”
Gideon turned to look at Pacifica, who was seated beside him. She was looking at him with the same confused looked.
“Sorry, could you guys get us up to date”, Gideon asked, “Who are these Gleeful Twins?”
“Their great-great grandfather founded Gravity Falls”, Robbie explained, “The Gleefuls are the richest family in town”
“So they’re pretty powerful huh?”, Gideon asked anxiously. Originally, he thought Gravity Falls had the perk of not containing popular rich kids. Guess he can’t ever escape them.
“Yeah there isn’t a lot they can’t get with money”, Robbie said, “I wonder how Thompson got them to perform tonight”
“Who cares, lets just enjoy a free show”, Wendy said.
“I’m so excited! I love watching those two perform”, Tambry shrieked. “Mabel always designs the best show clothes and Dipper always plans the coolest tricks”
“Ooooh are they part of a band?”, Pacifica asked eagerly, eyes twinkling with stars. She had a thing for boys in bands.
“Actually they’re magicians”, Robbie corrected her, “so they perform magic acts”
“Magic acts?”, Pacifica said in slight disbelief.
“I know it sounds lame”, Wendy said from the front, “Trust me, when I first heard about them I thought they were going to be a couple of losers doing elementary talent show magic acts”
“They’re actually really, really skilled”, Tambry said, hands clasped tightly together and eyes shining with excitement. “Just wait till you see them perform, it looks like they’re really doing magic!”