Chapter Text
Change is hard to stomach.
Like a knot getting tighter and tighter in your chest, tears wanting to fall from horrified eyes.
Things were changing too fast for Dipper’s liking.
Mabel’s made so many friends at school, and he’s so genuinely happy for her. She deserves every inch of love and affection brought her way. But she never even noticed herself drifting away from him, as their social circle’s split between Mabel having everyone as her friends, and Dipper…
Also attending the school.
Someone got his name right last week, he’s been making progress. But nowhere near the same speed Mabel achieves. She’s irresistibly lovable, like a cute cat video you can’t help but adore.
By contrast, Dipper is a maths tutorial video. People talk to him, but only if they need his help. Otherwise, he’s considered ‘Very boring.’
They got separate bedrooms for the first time. And since then, they only see each other at mealtimes and heading to/from school.
Well, maybe not only. Mabel often comes to his room because she wants to check in, or wants a listening ear, or had the nightmare again.
He never goes to her.
Maybe he’s the one drifting away.
It’s safer up in his room, anyway. Mabel goes out with her friends to escape the constant arguments between their parents, and she seems a lot happier for it.
He wished he had the friends to escape to…
But a closed door will do. He can still hear every word, but there’s a barrier.
Besides, he’s strong. He’s great at being alone, he’s done it for long enough.
…
He does have friends.
He knows he does.
They’re out there, waiting. Among the thick trees and the twisting dirt roads, there’s a place where he can feel safe, and connected with his sister, and genuinely wanted as company by people he cares about.
And he’s going to go back there some day. Soon, too.
They both are.
He just needs to rot here a little longer, and summer will come.
…
“Can I come in? I had the dream again…”
“Sure. Me too.”
He let his sister in, pulling her into a wordless, tight hug.
In the few days before heading back, the nightmares were getting constant for them both. In their letter conversations, Ford suggested they might have some form of trauma related to Gravity Falls since the whole…everything went down.
It’s hard to argue he’s wrong. But that town is the best thing that’s ever happened to either of them
At least, it’s definitely the best thing that’s ever happened to Dipper. Maybe Mabel thinks the day she got an extra piece of gum in the packet to be the best, for all he knows.
But she probably wouldn’t be going back tomorrow if she didn’t agree at least a little.
“It’s gonna be okay.”
Dipper did his best to be reassuring, but he was barely convincing himself.
“I know that. I know it’s fine, it’s just…hard to get him out of my head…”
She pulled away, pushing her bed hair behind her ear.
“…I know the feeling. But he’s dead, dead, and quadruple dead. I promise.”
A promise he has no say in, really. He just really, really hopes it’s true.
Ford hasn’t found any proof Bill is still kicking around. And they checked so many times before leaving the Falls, and everyone still there kept checking for anything suspiciously long after that.
Soos apparently punched Toby Determined for sleepwalking. But it sounded pretty valid, apparently Toby does it with his eyes wide open??? Weird guy.
Her pathetic nod only broke his heart more.
What if he isn’t dead, what if she’s right to be afraid, what if-
No.
No he’s gonna prove that there’s nothing to be afraid of. The moment they set foot in Gravity Falls, it’s his mission to destroy that statue and prove to Mabel (and himself!) that there’s nothing to be afraid of.
Cipher is dead, and Dipper’s made it his mission to desecrate Bill’s grave.
After that, he and Mabel can hang out, finding creatures and mysteries, like last year without the looming threats. They can be close again, as soon as neither sibling is trying to escape.
They can finally fill out his Pine Tree journal together. He’s kept it empty during his…shut in period. While it would have been nice to work on, he didn’t want to start without Mabel, and she was busy coping in her own way.
The narrative will be rewritten.
It is going to be a good summer.
Even if it kills him.