Chapter Text
As always, summer was hot and lazy, killing the desire to do anything with a heavy bog of both intense sunshine and crappy humidity. Summer was supposed to hold the spirit of no school and no obligations and youth and freedom and heavy drinking, but Norman was having none of that. Because the season had always been about weight: Norman just felt physically heavy, unwilling to really think or care, building up walls and walls of heat-induced apathy.
And yet, just months before, just a few glorious months before… things had seemingly been going okay for Norman. Except—like most things in life—everything hit him. All at once, and in the face, and with the force of a titanium baseball bat.
Suddenly, he was done with his sophomore year of high school. Everyone in the world only knew how to talk about college and getting out. People in Blithe Hollow had actual goals for once in their lives.
Frighteningly, he started realizing that his hormones actually freaking existed, and that, even worse, boners could be spontaneously natural.
And the worst thing—the worst thing—was that Norman got asked out by this girl (an actual girl) that wasn’t afraid of him in the slightest and thought his hair was hilarious yet wonderful and he stuttered a yes and she had a cute smile and they went to go see a horror movie, and all of it went so surprisingly well that Norman’s heart was singing with joy, except for the part where she kissed him goodnight, and he realized he didn’t know how to, and that when Norman caught glances of her, she was flushed and so incredibly into it, but he realized with this awakening pit of doom from his stomach, that—nonononono, he didn’t like that at all. (Fortunately, the girl—Sophie—was incredibly kind, and when she realized he wasn’t responding to her making out with him, she stopped, and she and Norman had a nice, long talk about hormones and turn-ons and sexuality, to which Norman almost wanted to cry because of sudden epiphanies and general uncharted waters).
So no, Norman wasn’t going to think about Blithe Hollow. He wasn’t gonna think about his life. He wasn’t gonna think about plans. All he wanted to do was lie on the hardwood floors of their rented cabin and drink up the cold staleness of the fan sitting next to him; all he wanted to mentally process were his favorite horror B-movies, drinking in the fake gore and the cheesy screams. He was gonna absorb the laziness through his pores, conquer the days with awesome movies and doodles and books, and revel in the sanctuary of being absolutely, completely alone and unable to be found, so that he could sort out all the college crap and sexuality stuff in the peace of his own mind while he still had the chance.
At least, that was what this summer was supposed to be like. It was supposed to be quiet. It was supposed to be Gravity Falls. He was practically promised a vacation to nowhere. Nobody was supposed to find them here.
And yet, they did.
One day, there was a tight knock rapping on the Babcock family’s summer cabin. Norman blinked, startled that such a thing even happened; he could feel his blood coursing in the adrenaline of genuine surprise. Not only was their rented summer cabin a good ways away from any actual road, but it was pretty deep into the woods too. Sure, it was by a popular lake in the town or whatever. But nobody ever touched the peculiarly perched vacation homes on the side. Or at least, nobody was supposed to.
Norman, waking up from his laziness-induced stupor, began stirring as he heard the screen door clackity-clack open.
“Hey Perry, how are ya?” drawled an older gentleman from outside. Norman craned his neck from his slouched spot on the sofa. From his angle, he got a good view of his dad’s back talking to a shadowed face beyond the screen door. The smell of woods began filling the space, and Norman could feel the dry heat of an Oregon summer start bleeding into the bite of their cabin’s air conditioning.
“Oh hey! You calling me up to go fishing?” he heard his dad chirp.
“…Nah, I need a favor…” the mystery man grunted, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
Perry paused hesitantly. “Look, Stan. I know you have that Mystery Shack, but really… I know I came by to see it before ‘cause we’re fishing pals, but I really can’t bring myself to go back there again—“
“What? No, I’m not here for that! I, um… I need help”, Stan said slowly. He sighed loudly, messaging his temples. “Perry, the reason I’m always at the lake…” he trailed off. Determined, Stan said, “Right, I got this kid—“
“…you-you’ve got a kid?!” Norman heard his dad sputter out in surprise.
“Nah, not my own kid! I got this, like… great nephew or something. I think. Whatever, he’s family, that’s all that matters. Real…” Stan paused, “great kid. Bright and stuff, but not really… all together. I mean he used to, but right now… nah… He was always kinda too into the books you know? Not prepared enough for life’s curveballs, in my opinion—“
Perry shook his head impatiently. “Stan… I don’t get it. What’s this got to do with me? You want me to help out with your nephew?”
“Not… your help, per se…” Stan said after several moments of silence.
“Oh?” Perry’s voice took on a hard edge. “Then why are you here?”
“Look, your son… he can see ghosts and what not, right? You told me yourself, your son’s quite the talent—“
Norman sat up suddenly at the mention of him. Not only did his father apparently just let loose that he had a paranormal gift… (Like seriously, they’d only been in this town for what… a week? Who was this dude anyway?) But his dad called his… thing… a talent? Just as Norman began readjusting himself to get a better view of the front door, his dad spoke again.
“What do you want with Norman?” Perry’s voice had an edge to it.
“Look, my kid… Family calls him Dipper. He… He had a twin sister,” Stan said slowly, drawing out the word “had” incredibly slowly. “Uhm… yeah. It’s been like… two years? Car accident in California a while back, and Gravity Falls just happened to be their last vacation together, where it was just the two of them. Dipper didn’t deal with the accident well, but he… wanted to prove he was finally over it, and he got this idea that visiting Gravity Falls by himself would bring closure or whatever… Now he’s too stubborn to admit that it was a bad idea, because he’s just being depressed all over the place—”
Norman’s heart fell into a different wing of the stomach pit of doom.
“Look, Stan, I don’t know if I want to get Norman involved in that… All that doom and gloom—”
“I’ll pay your son. Paying that kid… Maybe not the best pay, but hey, that’s better than nothing on what’s supposed to be a vacation anyway, right?”
“Yeah, it’s a vacation, Stan. I told Norman that it would just be us three—oh, Courtney has this summer job at her college, lay off—and you know, the town back home never really got over his gift,” Perry winced. “Though they’ve been giving him enough grief as it is on this new thing apparently, geez—”
Norman winced. There had been talk about him and Sophie when it didn’t work out (because like, who else would apparently be into Norman ever?). And while Sophie and him had gotten to the point of hanging out regularly (he, Sophie, Neil, and Salma even started sitting together at lunch), people were talking again. Why aren’t they dating? Or are they? I can’t really tell, you know? I wonder what happened on their date? That was pretty big for Babcock, yeah…?
Norman gulped at the memory. Just the thought of people talking about him made his mouth dry and his throat tighten. Pushing it out of his mind, Norman tried refocusing on his dad. “I don’t know about springing this up on him; this was a time to get away and—”
“Babcock,” Stan interjected sullenly. “You know when someone you care about’s so down that you don’t know what to do with yourself?”
And his words sucked the air out of the room. Perry fell quiet. Norman blinked. There was this dude. Outside his front door was someone he had never met, who—not only didn’t care about his gift at all—actually believed in it. Who wasn’t judging it or whispering behind his back, but was actually begging his dad to help him, and—
Norman gulped, knowing he was defeated. The last sentence that Stan had said completely rendered Norman helpless. Because the thing about the way he said it… he was pleading. He was desperate, and it came off as one of the most incredibly genuine things Norman had ever experienced, and it just made Norman’s skin crawl, in this weird mixture of discomfort and the desire to ultimately fix it.
“Perry, that’s me right now,” Stan’s growly voice said quietly. “The kid won’t eat. He won’t leave his room. I’ve been making him breakfast. I never make breakfast! I made him freaking pancakes, and he won’t even eat them. It’s weird. He won’t see his friends here. He won’t talk to me. He doesn’t do anything. I tell him to work, he does. Used to fake doing it while going out adventuring or whatever. That was okay. At least that was him, you know? Just… god, I don’t know what to do. Can you help me?”
“I’ll do it.”
Norman’s eyes blinked, registering that he had even spoke. Processing that he had just butt into a conversation in which neither participant had even known he was even awake, the older men just stared at him in surprise.
“Norman, what are you doing—“ Perry started off quietly.
I need to help this guy.
“Hey,” the teenage seer ignored his father, stretching and climbing over the sofa. He untangled himself, making his way towards the doorway. “When do I get to meet this kid?”
“As soon as you can…” Stan said softly, his eyes shifting from Babcock father to son.
Norman ignored his father’s piercing glare. “And you’re sure… that there’s a ghost involved? I don’t want to show up and… make him… like, worse,” Norman’s voice came out as a whisper on the last word.
Stan paused. “I’m pretty sure. Too many weird things have happened that… you know… there’s no way she’s not hanging around. She must have done them.”
Norman’s heart pounded. “Like what?” he leaned in, his voice an edgy whisper.
Stan shuddered, thinking of it. “All of my fezzes have been bedazzaled,” he winced seriously.
And just like that, Norman Babcock’s summer suddenly became not as dull as he had hoped.