Chapter Text
Slamming the door fiercely shut behind him with a velocity that shook the frame, an older Gideon Gleeful panted heavily as he spun on his heel and frantically locked the door several times over with the various bolts and latches lining it from floor to ceiling.
A futile attempt to keep out the vile thing chasing him. He knew it wouldn’t last long.
He rushed through the small apartment and into the dark bedroom, grabbing several candles from his bedside as he dropped to the ground and began positioning them on the floor with trembling hands. Quickly, he had to act quickly. If he could just summon Bill—
Something heavy slammed against the front door with violent impact, causing the teenager to jump as a choked squeak escaped his lips. But just as he was about to use a lighter on the candles, the sound of soft padded footsteps within the apartment reached his ears.
It was coming towards the bedroom.
Wide blue eyes filled with fear as his heart pounded erratically against his ribcage. He jumped to his feet, scrambling to grab something from beneath his pillow. A second later, Gideon targeted a single shot pistol towards the ajar door, hands shaking as his finger hovered over the trigger. He gulped audibly.
But when a hot breath fanned across the back of his neck instead, all strength left him. A heavy and ominous presence radiated from directly behind his form, and the teenager released a whimper as tears welled in his eyes.
‘P-Please no…’
His whimpering soon dissolved into piercing screams as blood splattered across the wooden floorboards.
A hanging tapestry of a triangle with a solitary eye stared down upon the gorey display silently.
…And with promise.
‘Oooh ooh, girls do what we like! Oooh ooh, we're taking over tonight!’
Singing along to the old music pumping from her sticker-covered stereo, Mabel Pines ran several fingers through her hair as she drew it back into an experimental ponytail. Examining the look in her dresser mirror, the young woman tilted her head curiously only to make a face and let it fall as she attempted a different style instead. Maybe braids? Something over the shoulder? A side bun perhaps?
‘Urgh-!’ Leaning back, she analysed her reflection with a disgruntled pout. Maybe she should just go ahead and cut her hair short again. She’d impulsively done it when she was sixteen and it had looked super cool and saved her the hassle of having to brush and style it for a while. Maybe it was time to try it again after three years? That, or she could use some wacky hair dyes to change it up. It still had a red tinge to it after her last effort but that was almost entirely faded now.
‘Yo, Mabel!’
Her attention was diverted to the door as it was thrown open, revealing a freckled blonde in an oversized sweater. Mabel’s sweater in fact. It was fun having a college roomie she could share a wardrobe with.
As soon as the girls’ eyes fell on Mabel, she blanched. ‘What the hell, you’re still in your sweatpants! Isn’t your date meant to be arriving in like an hour?’
Mabel turned around on the stool and gave her roommate a pleading look as she clasped her hands together. ‘Emily, help me.’
“Emily” stared for a moment before her expression tightened and she gave a firm nod, pushing the sleeves of the sweater back with determination. ‘I gotcha. Fairy Godmother Em is on the case!’
Mabel allowed herself to relax at that. Emily was great. She was like the sister Mabel had sometimes dreamt of having who gave her tips about cosmetics and dating, and was there to give her boy advice.
(No offence, Dipper).
‘By the way Mabel, are you still wanting to borrow my skater dress with the unicorns on it?’
The brunette watched her roommate’s reflection in the mirror as Emily grabbed some curling irons and placed them in her hair. ‘Yes please. Is it alright if I borrow your black wedge shoes too? If I try proper heels, I’m just gonna trip on my butt.’
A laugh. ‘Sure, go for it.’
‘Are you still going out tonight, too?’
‘Yeah, my boyfriend’s picking me up at eleven, so I got some time to kill. I’m staying at his place all weekend so I’ll see you Monday after classes,’ Emily explained as she continued to curl Mabel’s hair. After a while she suddenly paused, tilting her head. ‘Heyyy, what’s this? You never told me you got ink before!’
‘What?’
Emily slapped her on the shoulder playfully. ‘This tattoo on the back of your neck! You said you didn’t have any when we were planning the ones on our ankles.’
Mabel paused, realising what she was referring to. ‘Oh, right. Haha, sorry… I forgot about that one, woops.’
‘What is it? Some Celtic symbol?’
Mabel averted her gaze. ‘Ummm, it’s a kind of a rune? For protection.’
‘Huh. To like ward away bad luck and stuff?’
Mabel nodded, drumming her fingers against her knees. ‘It’s sorta a family thing. My brother and uncles have one too.’
‘Aw, that’s cute!’ Emily grinned before redirecting the conversation to the more important thing tonight. ‘Anyway, I’m gonna curl your hair and then tie it into an updo with some loose pieces to frame your face. First date impressions are important!’
Mabel beamed. ‘Thank you so much, Em. You’re a lifesaver.’
The blonde winked back before checking the clock. ‘Alright, we have forty-five minutes before Prince Charming appears so let’s get you ready for the ball, Cinderella.’
Two hours later Mabel glanced discreetly in the restaurant window once again to check her hair hadn’t fallen out of place. Emily had waved her magic wand and transformed her into a Princess and damn if she didn’t look cute as hell.
She just had to avoid falling on her butt or confessing her undying love on the first date like she had before. She didn’t want this guy running for the hills.
‘Mabel?’
Speak of the Devil.
Turning back around, Mabel was greeted to the sight of a tall man standing beside her table with two glasses in his hand. With dark hair that was unruly but in a hot way and piercing blue eyes, she’d been lovestruck the moment he picked her up from the dorm. It didn’t help that he’d removed the charcoal cashmere sweater he’d been wearing at the beginning of the date to reveal a pale dress shirt with sleeves he’d since rolled back to reveal his forearms. And okay sure he wasn’t the most muscular guy and was kinda on the skinny side, but dayum did he have a sharp jawline and beautiful cheekbones. He'd also said he had two cute kitty cats which explained the multitude of scratch marks adorning his forearms.
He gave her a kind smile. ‘I got you the “Pink Squirrel” since that was the, uh, cutest sounding drink they had? Is that alright?’
Unable to contain the giddy smile that overtook her face, Mabel could only nod with a hum in response. This guy was so sweet. She’d made it two hours into a date without any red flags on either of their part whatsoever — that must be some kind of record!
Her date placed the pink beverage before her as he took the chair opposite and Mabel sent a silent prayer to the dating app that had matched them up earlier that week. The night so far had been great, almost as if it was straight out of one of her dating games. Her companion had picked her up promptly from the dorm in his 4x4 truck and brought her to an upscale restaurant in the city where they’d enjoyed a nice meal over light conversation.
Now the pair were enjoying a couple of drinks to finish the evening off.
‘So, Nemo,’ Mabel began, trying her best to give a coy look as she ran her finger around the rim of her glass. ‘You mentioned you’re in town for work, right? What is it that you do again?’
‘Oh, I’m a contractor,’ he replied, offering a warm smile that was making her heart do weird flips.
‘Right, that. Any particular area?’ She asked, batting her eyes.
‘Uh, not really. I sorta consider myself a jack of all trades.’ A pause and he gave an awkward laugh, looking briefly embarrassed as he scratched the back of his neck. ‘It’s… actually rather boring to be honest so let’s talk about you instead.’ Nemo leaned forward, diverting the attention back to her with a piercing gaze.
Mabel swallowed under the intensity of his eyes, and quickly took a deep gulp of her drink before replying. ‘Oh, um, well… Haha. Like I said in our chats I go to the California Institute of Arts. I’m in my second year at the moment actually and I’m hoping to go into fashion design!’
‘That sounds cool,’ Nemo said, looking genuinely intrigued. ‘And your family supports that?’
‘Oh yeah, they’re great!’
‘And you mentioned you have a brother, right?’
‘Huh? Oh, Dipper. Yeah, we’re twins. I'm older by a minute though!’ (And she didn't let him forget it).
‘What’s he doing?’
Mabel paused for a moment, something shifting in her gaze before she gave an exaggerated shrug. ‘Bluh, ol’ Dip-Dot is up in Canada at the moment.’ Her twin had been accepted to an esteemed college to nobody’s surprise but had then opted to take a “gap year” in favour of running an online cryptid hunting show which saw him travelling the country. Despite initial intentions for it to only be a year, twelve months had been and gone and her twin brother was still having the time of his life with his successful show boasting tens of thousands of subscribers. (Mabel had appeared as a guest in a few episodes herself).
The girl shrugged. ‘He’s boring though. Let’s talk about me instead and where we should go on our second date.’ Insert flirty wink here.
Nemo laughed. ‘Well, I’m glad you’re down for going out again.’
‘Well duh, why wouldn’t I?’
He flashed her a boyish smile and reached across the table to place a hand over her own. Oh wow. Was it suddenly hot in here or was it just her?
‘I like you a lot, Mabel.’
Oh yes, it was definitely her. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears like a drum, with her stomach flipping in tandem to the beat.
‘R-Really? Wow, well I like you too hot-stuff, heh heh.’ Keep it together, girl.
His expression softened as he leaned further forward and ooh, he was going to kiss her. Mabel could practically feel her heart dancing within her chest as she leaned in to meet his lips halfway. Her mouth slanted over his for only a fraction of a second however before she bumped the table, spilling the contents of her drink into her lap. God dammit.
‘Agh!’ Mabel stood up hastily in surprise only to stumble, letting out a small “woops” as she grabbed the table for balance. Whoah, head rush.
‘Hey, are you alright?’ Nemo stood up, looking concerned as he reached towards her.
‘Uh… yeah, yeah I’m fine,’ she replied, blinking rapidly. She peered down at her dress which was now drenched in pink fruit juice and grimaced. God, so much for her attempt to seduce this guy. When she raised her gaze back towards him, she must have done it a little too quickly because she stumbled again and forced a laugh. ‘I’m just a little dizzy. Wowzah, that stuff must be strong, heh heh.’
Nemo frowned. He didn’t look convinced. Which made sense since there was no alcohol in that glass to begin with. ‘Do you want me to take you home?’
‘I… uh…’ The room was starting to spin a little and she sighed dejectedly. ‘Yeah, that might be a good idea...’
He nodded and collected their jackets before paying and leading her outside. Mabel practically fell into the passenger seat as she tried to blink away the dizziness. Urgh, everything was spinning now. She closed her eyes before the sight could make her nauseous, lips tugging into a displeased frown. Had she caught some kinda bug? There had been a lot of sickness going around the dorm lately.
‘You alright?’ Her date’s voice sounded distant as he got behind the drivers’ wheel.
‘Mmhm, yeah, just fuzzy.’
‘You can try sleeping it off, I’ll wake you up when we’re back.’
‘...Yeah, okay. Sorry about this.’
‘It’s alright.’
Seconds later Mabel was unconscious.
And her date smirked beside her.
‘Sweet dreams, Shooting Star.’