Chapter Text
"I'll be home at 5." a boy with curly brown hair, dressed in a red flannel shirt and jeans, briefly kissed his black-haired boyfriend on the cheek.
"Just don't be late" he replied and pulled the boy into his arms, returning a kiss to his forehead and nose "Otherwise you'll miss all the fun, babe."
"Hey, Dib! Let me free!" curly laughed, playfully pushing other boy away from him "I need to go now!"
"Okay, okay. Go." Dib let go of the boy, Dipper grabbed his backpack and, saying goodbye once again, jumped out the door.
The boy in red flannel is called Dipper Pines. He met Dib 4 or 5 years ago. A few months ago, they bought a small house on the outskirts of Gravity Falls and lived together for a while. Right now, Dipper was in a hurry to meet his sister Mabel, whom he promised to help at the opening of her small exhibition at the local museum, although he did not know what exactly he would have to do. Running along a gravel path through a small garden, Pines went out onto the road and immediately noticed his sister's car. The body and rear seats of the pickup truck were littered with various things. Dipper walked briskly to the car and, after waving to his sister, reached for the door to get into the seat next to the driver. Mabel quickly moved from the driver's seat to the seat next to her and opened the window.
"Take the wheel. I have to finish something."
Dipper nodded, walked around the car and got behind the wheel. Mabel was already busy with things in the backseat.
"So what exactly are we going to do?" Dipper decided to clarify.
In response, there was only a rustling sound from behind, but after a few seconds Mabel spoke.
"It is necessary to install exhibits, signs, decorate the room, hang a few posters."
"Do you think we'll be done by 5?"
Mabel was distracted from her work, leaned her hand on the back of the driver's seat and rested her head on her hand.
"Are you in a hurry somewhere? Probably on a date?" the girl asked playfully
"Just dinner." her brother shrugged.
"Of course. But yes. I think we will. If you don't distract me." she's back to work "Turn on something fun."
Dipper turned on the radio, adjusted the volume, and was silent for the rest of the way, listening to his sister fiddling in the backseat.
Soon they arrived at the place and Dipper parked the car at the service entrance to the museum. Loaded with materials and other things, the Pines headed inside. A small hall was allocated for Mabel's exhibition, into which the twins dragged all the things from the pickup truck.
"I'll hang up the "fish", while you arrange the other things somehow." Commanded Mabel, Dipper nodded, deciding not to specify what kind of "fish" and why it should be hung.
After a couple of hours, all the exhibits were installed. The exhibition of Dipper's sister turned out to be very diverse. It seems there was everything from light installations to strange paintings made of threads (Dipper hoped they were threads). Mabel dusted off her hands and jumped off the ladder.
"Done! Now we will place signs and fences." The girl hurried to the plaques standing in the middle of the room, took a few and began to arrange them next to the exhibits.
Dipper also took one and looked at the text. The name read "jgdhjswlut".
"Mabel, what is this!?" the boy's eyes widened as he read the plate of the exhibit "What is this supposed to mean!?"
Mabel came up behind Dipper and looked at the sign over his shoulder.
"God, smartass, it's obvious!" she snatched the sign from him, walked around the hall and put the sign next to the installation, consisting of a monitor and a keyboard that pierced through it.
Dipper just shook his head with a grin and switched to the next sign. He didn't really understand his sister's passion for contemporary art, but he tried to support her in everything.
The Pines spent another hour on signs and fences.
After finishing his work, Dipper walked up to his sister and stood next to her.
"Phew. What now?" he asked, smoothing his disheveled hair and his stomach rumbled with hunger.
Mabel looked at him and grinned. "I think we'll take a break and go grab some pizza."
"Do we have time?"
"If we eat and work at the same time, it won't hurt. Let's go." She dropped her sketchbook on a pile of boxes and headed for the exit.
Dipper hurried after her.
They returned to the museum an hour later with 2 boxes of pizza and continued to work.
By half past 5 the exhibition was finished. The twins were sitting on the floor and finishing their pizza. All they have to do is put up some posters. Dipper took the last slice of pizza out of the box and stood up.
"Okay, let's finish with these posters. And I can get home in time." He looked at his watch.
Mabel waved her hand. "No, I can do it tomorrow. Better help me clean up here."
She picked up a roll of trash bags from the floor and threw it to her brother. Dipper flinched in surprise and awkwardly tried to catch the bags, which caused him to drop the pizza from his hands. The whole piece flew down and, turning over in the air, fell to the floor.
"Fuck..." Dipper swore under his breath and bent down to pick up the piece, but Mabel with burning eyes grabbed his wrist.
"Stop! That's great! We have to make an exhibit out of this!"
"Wh- Mabel, it's just pizza."
"You don't understand, Dipper! It's... It's... Anyway, you have to help me! Bring more fencing from the storage room. We'll make a sign and..."
"Mabel, it's time for me to go, remember?"
"It won't be long! Please, Dipper! It's for the sake of art! Dib is not going anywhere!" She looked at Dipper with pleading eyes.
He sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. "Fine. Just quickly."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she quickly got up, hugged her brother and ran to collect materials to make a sign. Dipper looked at his watch again and sighed.
"Well, now I'm definitely late." He thought and left the hall.
The boy walked down the corridor towards the storage room and quickly found the door he needed with the "staff only" icon.
Dipper put his hand on the door handle and slightly opened the door, when suddenly he was seized by an unpleasant feeling that someone was watching him closely. He closed the door and looked around, but he didn't see anyone in the corridor in the vicinity.
Dipper exhaled, trying to drive away this feeling, pushed open the door and entered a large dusty room filled with shelves. Pines turned on the light, looked around and headed to the back of the room, where there were fences.
Dipper took a few poles and ropes, and was about to leave when he suddenly heard the door open with a creak.
The sound made the boy tense up. He slowly peeked out from behind the shelf, and looked towards the door.
In front of the entrance stood a tall man in a black hoodie, jeans and boots. The hood was raised, hiding the head of the newcomer, and the lower part of the face was covered by a black cloth mask. He slowly closed the door behind him, apparently trying not to make any noise.
A shiver ran down Dipper's spine, but he tried to banish the anxiety. Pines came out from behind the rack, clutching the fencing to himself and cleared his throat, attracting the stranger's attention.
"Hello! You must be lost? This room is for staff only."
The man's gaze, which a second ago was carefully scanning the room, now froze on the curly-haired boy. Dipper shivered at the intensity of his gaze.
"Oh, yes." The man abruptly took off from his place and approached Dipper with a quick step "Sorry. I saw you come in here and followed you to ask for directions." He grinned awkwardly and stopped right in front of Dipper.
What a strange action to walk through a room right from the entrance to ask someone to get you out of here. Pines took a step back.
"Yeah... Sure. I can take you to the exit."
Brown eyes under round broken glasses slid over Dipper's face, studying him carefully. The stranger was silent and did not move from his pl
ace.
Pines was also looking at the stranger: familiar glasses, attentive, focused gaze, boots. The boy darted his gaze to the hood of the hoodie and found that it was slightly raised because of the hidden spike of hair under it. Dipper was overwhelmed by a wave of relief.
"Oh my God, Dib!" he snorted, taking a more relaxed pose. "Did you think that if you dressed like a creepy guy, I wouldn't recognize you? What are you even doing here? It's not even 5 yet. I honestly would have made it to dinner!" He laughed and took a step towards the boy.
The man was silent, continuing to look at Dipper, and anxiety stirred in Pines' chest again.
Dipper's confidence dissipated in an instant when the stranger pulled a three-fingered hand out of his pocket and removed the hood from his head, freeing two black disheveled spikes and exposing a strange round gray-pink device on the back of his head.
"No one has called me that for many years." The stranger gasped, and then rushed to Dipper and grabbed his wrists. The posts that Dipper was holding in his hands fell to the floor with a clang, and Pines recoiled from him in horror. The wrong-looking Dib pulled the boy to him.
"Say it again!" he whispered, burning Dipper with an icy look. Pines leaned back, trying to keep his distance somehow.
"Um... Dib?" Dipper stammered in confusion and felt his hands clench on his wrists, this clearly excited the stranger "Please let me go." he asked, hoping to reason with the interlocutor, but he did not react, only continued to examine Dipper.
Then Pines sighed softly, leaned forward sharply and crashed his forehead into the man's forehead, and hooked his legs with his foot. The stranger lost his balance, let go of Dipper's hands and fell to the floor. At the same moment, Dipper took off and ran to the door.
A low growl came from the man in the hoodie and metal tentacles burst out of the device on the back of his head. In the blink of an eye, they entangled Dipper's legs and lifted him into the air, turning the guy upside down.
The man in the hoodie stood up and hissed, rubbing his forehead.
"And I've almost decided to let you go."
He took a small blaster from his pocket and fired at the floor. A whirlwind of gray clouds formed on the floor, and then the vague outlines of some spacious dark room appeared.
Pines looked down, startled.
"No, no, no," he waved his hands "Please don't do this! Listen, whatever happens, we can decide -"
The stranger interrupted him with a quiet laugh and threw Dipper into a whirlwind with a flourish, as if shaking off a small bug from his hand.
The boy flew screaming into the hole in the floor, and his captor removed the tentacles, approached the portal, looked over the edge and jumped after Dipper. A little later, the portal slowly closed.