Chapter Text
Dipper awoke in a cold sweat, the last thing he heard being the cackling of a maniacal, one-eyed demon from the second dimension. Staring up at the ceiling, Dipper kept his eyes open staring into the cold, dead emptiness of his room and took a deep sigh. The room was pretty bare, considering most of the posters, shelves, and other various bedroom items were packed away in a box labeled "FOR COLLEGE DORM". Dipper sighed and looked at his clock on his nightstand.
"What time is it?" Dipper mumbled to himself, as he rubbed his eyes to get a good look at the seven-segment LED.
The clock read "4:47 AM".
Dipper groaned and covered his face with his pillow. He had been having nightmares like this for years. Ones that would wake him up at unreasonable hours in the morning. It was frustrating to him, since it had been so long since the events of Weirdmageddon, and he had tried to get the events of it out of his head. But no matter what he did, the images never went away.
Dipper turned to the side and looked over at his twin sister, who was sleeping peacefully, next to her pet pig. He could still see a faint outline of her in the dark. His sister had barely packed up for college, her side of the room was still as sparkly as it was when they were 12.
How is she gonna pack all that up today? Dipper thought to himself with a smile.
Dipper pondered how much they had grown since 2012. During his 5 years away from the Falls, all Dipper ever really thought about was going back to Gravity Falls. He did fine in school, but had stayed secluded and away from most kids. He didn't go to a ton of parties or school dances (except for senior prom, because Mabel forced him to go). He spent most of his time doing homework and mystery hunting. At some point, in junior year, he thought if he was going to be a mystery hunter, he should probably do some sort of physical activity. He joined the schools cross country and track teams. He also did a small amount of weight lifting, maybe 2 times a week at most. Dipper had grown taller since leaving Gravity Falls, hitting the unfortunate height of 5' 11'' in the summer between his sophomore and junior year. For the most part, Dipper had remained the same. Confident when it comes to actual danger, but not too great in social situations. He had very few friends, and the ones he did have were "school friends".
Mabel, on the other hand, was a social butterfly. She was super popular at school, making friends with anything that breathed. Even Dipper had to admit that she was the "alpha twin" in terms of social standing. She was a mean 5' 7'', which even landed her a spot on the basketball team her junior and senior year. She wasn't all that at basketball, only ever scoring 10 points and playing maybe 2 minutes a game, but Dipper still supported her throughout it. He knew Mabel had his back, just like he had hers. She would always try to get Dipper involved in activities, like parties and school dances, and Dipper reluctantly went to a few. But he went because he knew it would make his sister happy.
Dipper checked his clock again. This time, it read "5:07 AM".
Damn, have I really been thinking about this for 20 minutes? Dipper thought to himself.
The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon, so Dipper decided to slog out of bed and make himself some coffee. As he walked quietly out of his and Mabel's rooms, he turned around and looked at the room.
"Almost back home," he whispered to himself, "almost back."
He turned around and headed down the stairs, trying to be considerate and not have the stairs make any noise as he tip-toed.
He strolled past his parents room, trying to be considerate to his mom, who was still sleeping. His father was already awake, however, since he had a flight to catch at 8 am.
Dipper kept to himself, but he grew to resent his parents. After the events of Weirdmageddon, their parents couldn't believe what had occurred. Their dad was least understanding of all, given the fact Grunkle Stan was on their mom's side of the family. Nothing worked when it came to "fixing" their kids. Their dad put them in therapy, tried gaslighting them into thinking what they experienced wasn't real, the whole nine yards. So, you can probably guess what their dad's reaction was when Mabel came out to them in the summer of their junior-senior year.
Dipper had already known, since Mabel told him at the start of junior year when she found out. Dipper was very supportive as well as their mom and their Grunkle's. All of the friends from Gravity Falls approved of it. But their dad couldn't get it through his thick skull that his daughter liked girls. Dipper grew a quiet resentment towards his father, but not as much towards his mother, the more understanding one.
Their parents came to an agreement that at the end of their senior years, they would be able to move into Gravity Falls permanently. This shocked Dipper and Mabel, as they had both gotten accepted into colleges near Gravity Falls. Dipper got accepted into the computer science program at the Portland Institute of Technology, where he intended on becoming a cryptographer, and Mabel got accepted into the art program at Portland State. Both had intended on moving to their respective colleges and sneaking off to Gravity Falls anyway, so it came as a surprise when their mom and dad were saying they were allowed to go back to Gravity Falls.
"Morning, Mason!" their dad exclaimed. This sent a shiver down Dipper's back. His dad knew that he hated being called Mason, but Dipper always put up with their dad's charade.
"Morning, Dad." Dipper said, groggily.
"Why are you awake this early? Shouldn't you still be sleeping? You've got a long drive ahead of you." Their dad rambled, while trying to fix his tie.
"Couldn't sleep. Plus Mabes is driving the first half, so I'll probably sleep then." Dipper croaked. He was not ready for a conversation yet, and squeezed past his father to pour a cup of coffee.
"Ah yes, forgot todays the 'big day' you guys move out!" Dipper's father exclaimed. He grabbed Dipper and scrambled his hair. Despite Dipper's height, his father still had a solid 4 inches on him.
Dipper pushed his dad away playfully and gave a half-hearted smile. Despite all his flaws, he was still Dipper's dad and nothing could change that.
About 30 minutes pass as Dipper and his dad sit in silence for about 30 minutes, while Dipper's father reads the morning news and double checks his suitcase.
"Ah shoot, gotta head out, love you Mason!" Dipper's dad said.
"Alright, bye Dad. Come visit us when you get th-" Dipper said, but his dad was already gone, with the door shut behind him.
"Stupid bitch." mumbled Dipper. Still resentful, he sipped on his coffee.
Dipper went back to his room to grab something. When he opened the door, he screamed and leaped back, almost spilling his coffee as Mabel was in his face.
"Hey, dorkface!" Mabel squealed.
"GAH! MABEL! What the hell was that for?" Dipper said, still trying to balance his cup of coffee to keep it from spilling.
"I don't know. Just wanted to keep you on your toes," Mabel said, "Can you believe we're finally going back today?"
"It still doesn't feel real," Dipper exclaimed, "I had all but lost hope we were ever gonna go back!"
"You always lose hope too quickly! You gotta be more positive! Like Waddles and I!" At this, she held out her pig who was getting to be quite big, on the higher end of 5 year old pigs.
Dipper chuckled, "Waddles is always positive cause your always hanging out with him, give me a week with him, and he'll be doom and gloom."
Waddles squealed.
"... or not." Dipper laughed and pet the creature.
"I can't wait to see all my friends! We've been counting down the days! Candy, Grenda, Wendy, Soos, even Pacifica!" Mabel yelled.
Dipper almost spit out his coffee at the hearing of the last name, "P-P-Pacifica? You're still in contact with her?" Dipper was still in contact with a couple people from the Falls, mainly his 2 Grunkles, Soos and Melody, Old Man Mcgucket and even Candy and Grenda from time to time. He still talked to Wendy a decent amount too, but that was mostly to play video games or talk about cool finds in the forest. But Pacifica, that was different.
"Uh, yeah, of course dummy, Pacifica is like my best friend."
"You said that about Candy a week ago and Grenda two weeks ago."
"They're ALL my best friends!"
"O-kay, then. Sorry about that reaction, just didn't think you kept up with Pacifica still."
Mabel frowned at this, "Why wouldn't I?"
"Well for one, she hated us for half the summer," Dipper said, "and for another, I just didn't think her parents would allow it."
"Well she doesn't hate our guts after you two kicked that ghosts ass!" Mabel said, a smile returning to her face, "And I honestly think she has a burner phone. I rarely get texts from her, maybe once or twice a month."
Dipper smiled, half-heartedly "Yeah, I guess you're right, we did kick that ghosts ass." Dipper was still tired, but now he was also confused. Weren't he and Pacifica friends? He remembered the "See you next summer" note, there was a heart on one of the i's in Pacifica. Surely, that meant they were at least friends? Dipper felt a panic attack coming on, but was able to put it aside to finish his conversation with Mabel.
Mabel frowned again, "Hey, is everything alright? Did you have the nightmare again?" She put a hand on Dipper's shoulder.
Dipper sighed, "Yeah, that's why I was up so early. The medicine Dad put me on isn't working." He picked up a small orange pill bottle from his nightstand.
"To hell with that medicine!" Mabel yelled, and snatched it out of Dipper's hand and stuffed it in her pocket.
"Hey! I need that!" Dipper tried to grab it, but Mabel was able to box him out.
"Nope! Besides, you need to help me."
"Help you with what?" Dipper questioned.
"I need you to help me with packing! All this has to go into a box!" Mabel exclaimed.
"Ugh, I told you that you need to pack, I've been telling you for the past month!" Dipper exclaimed.
"Oops!" Mabel smiled and giggled.
Dipper sighed, but couldn't stay mad at his sister. He smiled and ruffled her hair. "Fine, but only if you drive first!" He knows he told his dad that Mabel was driving first, but truth be told, he thought he was driving the whole way.
Mabel put her head on his shoulder, Deal! I am very excited! Let's do this!"
"Let's do this, Mabes."
After a quick 2 hours, everything was packed. Their mom came in after about an hour and helped with the packing.
"Gah! I'm gonna miss you guys so much!" their mom exclaimed. She grabbed her two children and pulled them into a hug, tearing up a little.
"We'll miss you too, Mom. You can always come visit and we'll come home from time to time!" Mabel exclaimed.
"That is a boldface lie" Dipper thought to himself. Mabel wanted to be far away from this house ever since her dad didn't accept her for who she was, she was just biding her time.
Dipper and Mabel stuffed their boxes into the family sedan. Mabel hugged her mom while Dipper made a bed contraption in the back seat for Waddles.
"Oh, shoot! Almost forgot one thing!" said Dipper.
He quickly ran back into the house and into his, now former, room. On the end of his bed frame was Wendy's hat that she gave him all those years back when they left Gravity Falls. He would pull it out on occasion in the winter or sometimes for a party Mabel forced him to go to, but he didn't really wear it anytime else. Grabbing it and throwing it on, he took one last look at his old, shared bedroom. He sighed, smiled, and closed the door.
He quickly ran back down the stairs while thinking about all the friends he was going to see again, all the people he would talk to, all the weird mysteries him and his Grunkle would find.
However, one thing couldn't get out of Dipper's head. Why was Mabel talking to Pacifica? He couldn't wrap his head around it. Did she know that Dipper has a massive crush on Pacifica? Did PACIFICA know that Dipper has a crush on her? Nothing was making sense and Dipper wanted to get in the car and sleep ASAP. He was tired after that long morning. He hugged his mom goodbye and got in the passenger seat. Waddles got in his bed in the backseat, and Mabel got in the driver's seat.
Mabel pulled out her phone and typed in "Mystery Shack" to her maps app. She took a screenshot and sent it to Candy and Grenda with the caption "Next stop, Gravity Falls!". She plugged her phone in and backed up. Dipper moved his seat back and leaned back.
"Mystery Shack, here we come!" Mabel exclaimed as she pulled onto the road.
"Home, here we come." Dipper smiled.