Chapter Text
It has been a long and very eventful summer for Mason "Dipper" and Mabel Pines, a pair of very recently 13-year old twins. One full of meetings, emotions, and surprising events. After a long, but relaxing bus trip, they finally arrive back in their Californian home, on September 2nd, with a smile on their faces and a new pet pig.
They reach home for the first time in what feels like an eternity, happily greeting their parents, who are very glad to reunite with them after the summer break. The two kids had to justify the pig, but it was barely an inconvenience since all Mabel had to do was to promise she'd do all the necessities whenever she's home and look sad in case they disagree.
As the parents ask if anything bad happened to them, the kids brush the question away, saying it was a regular summer enjoying the place and making friends. They left out all of the oddities away, both in order to not have them worry, and also in order to get a chance to visit the next year.
The two kids then enter their bedroom and take time to unpack everything with a lot of emotion in their hearts. Mabel then sees Dipper staring at something in silence and she surprises him from behind.
"Hey, what's this, Dipper?"
Her brother jumped from the question, and she can see he's holding an envelope.
"Oh, it's, uh... It's something Wendy gave me at the last moment before we left."
"Wendy, eh?" Mabel felt in a bit of a teasing mood. "Did your desire come true...?"
"No, not like that..." Dipper groans of annoyance. "Okay, sorry you didn't get the chance to see it before, but... just take a look."
Mabel opens the letter and as soon as she sees all the written farewells, her smile of eagerness turns to her looking teary-eyed.
Dipper acts both comforting and stern about this as he grabs her shoulder. "Sis, we've already gone through this... This isn't the end. We'll visit the place again! We'll see them in person again! And don't forget we can contact them whenever we want!"
Mabel wipes her tears away, getting a smile back. "You're right. Thanks, Dipper..."
Dipper then puts the envelope and other souvenirs from their vacation in a safe corner of the bedroom, finishing to unpack everything and making themselves back at home. He puts Wendy's hat in it as well, fearing to lose it for some reason. He did have an extra cap identical to his old green one on his wardrobe, which feels a bit bittersweet to him, but he still takes it gladly.
As the kids settle for the rest of the day, they hear the house's doorbell, and one of their parents calling.
"KIDS! Someone's here for you!"
They come down the stairs to meet a bushy dark-haired boy their age, that arrived with a backpack, clearly eager to see the two again. The feeling is definitely mutual.
"SAMUEL!!!" The two kids speak in unison and run to hug him.
"I really missed you guys...", says the boy, who's very overjoyed.
"What have you been up to?", asks Mabel, immediately.
Dipper, as impatient as he is, takes the logical approach to the situation. "Wait, come to our room, we'll have all the place to talk!"
"Good idea! I'll get snacks!" His sister runs to the kitchen immediately.
Samuel notices, amused. "I see you're both as chipper as always."
Dipper smiles. "You know it..."
Once they reach the bedroom, Samuel's first reaction is to notice the elephant, or rather pig, in the room.
"Oh, who's the little guy?"
Dipper answers. "His name's Waddles. We met him during our vacation, but it's a long story..."
The guest gets approached by the animal.
"Aww, he likes you..." Mabel almost squees as the three sit down to talk.
Samuel then asks the most important question right now: "So, how was summer?"
The two kids are a little... concerned about everything they've seen happen. So they focus on the positive as they speak almost at the same time. "We met a relative...", "We made very good friends...", "We went camping...", "We helped at a shop..."
Dipper concludes saying cheerfully: "It was very eventful. You wouldn't believe how much!" His tone suddenly gets serious: "Trust me, you wouldn't!"
Samuel giggles it away as a joke. "It seems you guys had a great time! I'm happy for you! My summer was a lot more chill, but I still had a blast!" He then reaches his bag. "I did promise it and, this is for you!" He takes out something covered in wrap. "Happy birthday!"
The two kids are touched, but also confused. "What do you mean, you promised it?", asks Mabel.
Samuel is taken aback. "I tried to call you for your birthday without success, and I ended up leaving a mail stating it. Did you miss that?"
Mabel thinks about what happened around their birthday. "Weeeell..."
Dipper invents a small lie on the spot. "Excuse us, our birthday was coupled with our preparations for leaving, it was a very eventful time period, so we just... didn't think to check for this kind of stuff at the moment."
"Oh well, I get it, no problem..." Their friend is very understanding of the situation.
Dipper concludes by taking the gift with gratitude. "Thanks, Sammy! We'll open it this evening if you don't mind!"
Samuel brings up a question that he feels might make them a bit nervous. "So, what about school? It's a new year tomorrow, are you... concerned...?"
Mabel shrugs it off. "It'll be okay, even if I would've taken a couple days of free time at home..."
"I wonder if we'll all be in the same class this year...", wonders Dipper.
Samuel concludes in a positive note. "Oh, even if we aren't, we still have the recesses and the time outside school. I'll always be there for you two, you know?"
The statement turns out to hit a little too close at home, but they find his optimism to be the biggest takeaway of the sentence.
After some more talk, Samuel ends up leaving home as the evening starts. "See you two tomorrow!"
He waves goodbye, and the twins do too before being called for dinner preparations. They then get some well deserved sleep as the night comes, a peaceful sleep before the first day of school.
But someone, from somewhere in a void, lets its loud voice echoing in a cheerful tone.
"Oooh, a best friend, eh...? I think I'm going to have FUN!!!!!" Ensues evil laughter...