Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Dipper and Mabel had just arrived home to Piedmont, the 10 hour bus ride finally coming to an end. That ride being the heaviest both of them had slept on a ride ever. After Weirdmaggedon, or the Odd-pocalypse as some people in Gravity Falls called it, Dipper and Mabel had hardly gotten any sleep. With the only other rest they had gotten being another day or two after the nearly world ending event ended.

The twins got off the bus and approached their parents. Both of them immediately confused by the presence of Waddles.

“Whats with the pig?” Their mom asked.

“This is Waddles!” Mable replied, “He’s the pet I won from grunkle Stan's mystery fair.”

“Great that’s just what we need, a pig stinking up our house.” Their dad grumbled.

“Don’t worry, Mabel will take care of him. She actually cared for him over the entirety of the summer, even down to giving him a bath.” Dipper said.

Both their parents were shocked at the revelation that Mabel had actually responsibly taken care of a pet.

The family got into the car and departed for home. Waddles jumping into Mabel’s lap.

Eventually their mom handed both Dipper and Mabel back their own phones.

“Your birthday presents.” She said.

“No way! Our own phones!” Mabel cheered.

“Yes, we figured with high school quickly approaching, it was time we gave you both a way to keep in contact with us. Of course, you can also use them to keep in touch with your friends back in Gravity Falls, just as long as you don’t let it take over your lives.” their dad said.

Mabel immediately began texting all her friends back in Gravity Falls, letting them know that the number she was using would now be her permanent number. Dipper on the other hand simply pocketed the device, not knowing anyone’s numbers.

Grunkle Stan had given them both a device for them to use temporarily to keep in contact with him, but with Dipper getting caught up in Fords Journal, Mabel ended up taking it over, with Dipper only occasionally touching it.

Mabel’s phone immediately began blowing up with texts.

Mabel also texted Wendy and Soos, with those quickly becoming full blown conversations. Before long Mable, Wendy, and Soos all had started a group chat, with even Dipper pulling his device back out so he could be added to it.

After a little while, Mabel had finished talking with the group just to notice she had gotten a reply from Pacifica.

Pacifica was clearly annoyed that Mabel Never deleted her number.

Pacifica really did not want to tell Mabel that she wanted to talk to Dipper, but as far as she was aware, there was no other way to get in touch with him without going through Mabel, not aware that Dipper now has his own phone.

Mabel on the other hand, immediately became intrigued by the fact that she wanted to speak directly to Dipper.

Pacifica was already growing tired of having to interact with Mabel. She eventually just sent one last text, Knowing that Mabel was likely already jumping to many different conclusions on why she wanted to talk to Dipper.

Mabel immediately sent Pacifica his number.

“Hey Dipper, be expecting a text from someone…” Mabel said with a suspicious tone.

Dipper immediately recognized this as the tone she used when she suspected romance was afoot.

“Why are you already giving my number out to people Mabel.” He responded.

And as if on cue, Dipper received a text from an unknown number.

Given the suspicious tone that Mabel used to tell him, Dipper could only assume that this was Pacifica, as he already has Wendy’s Number.

After the Northwest Manor Haunting, Mabel immediately started suspecting there could be something going on between Dipper and Pacifica. Dipper regretted telling Mabel about what happened because she used it against him, but even if she hadn’t she would have done so anyways due to the fact that for whatever reason, Mabel decided to look into Fords journal, only to see the addition Dipper had made to the Category 10 ghost page.

Of course there was also the possibility that this was some sort of cruel prank Mabel had planned with Candy and Grenda.

That response immediately silenced any doubts he had. There was no way Candy or Grenda could replicate Pacifica’s sass that accurately into text, even with Mabel’s help.

After confirming it was indeed Pacifica, Dipper quickly added her contact to his phone.

Dipper wanted to dig deeper into this, but he knew that based on how annoyed Pacifica seemed from her texts, prying any further would likely end in disaster. So instead of continuing, he decided to move on, resolving to confront Mabel about it later.

Given how badly Pacifica wanted to talk, and how it could only be him she could talk to, he assumed that this likely had something to do with her parents.

Dipper made a note to text Pacifica later once he could get away from Mabel’s prying skepticals. He loved his sister, but her constant need to look for romance where there was none gets really annoying. That and if this did involve Pacifica’s parents like he suspected, she probably doesn’t want Mabel to hear about that anyways.

After making the note Dipper finally put his new phone back away.

“So are you both going to tell us about your summer?” Their dad eventually spoke up.

“We are its just-” Dipper started saying before getting cut off by Mabel.

Dipper really did want to tell his parents, but he was really nervous to tell them, fearing that them knowing would mean they never return to Gravity Falls.

“Its a realllly long story.” Mabel finished for him, “It would probably be better to wait until we get home to start.”

“Okay.” Their mom said, “Though I’m not sure how it could be that long of a story with as small of a town Gravity Falls is.”

Eventually they pulled up to a mid sized two story house with the typical red bricked exterior most houses had. Both Mabel and Dipper recognized this as home.

Stepping inside, the twins immediately felt relief at seeing their home, although they noticed that there was new furniture in the living room.

The layout of the house was fairly simple. On the first floor sat the Living Room, Kitchen, Laundry room, Office, and their parents bedroom, along with a powder room. And on the second floor, that's where Dipper’s and Mabel’s rooms sat, along with their shared bathroom. Contrary to the past three months they had spent in the shacks attic, Dipper and Mabel didn’t actually share a room with each other at home.

Their mom immediately headed for the kitchen.

“Before you both start telling us about your summer, I think its time you both ate. After all its has been over 10 hours since you both left Gravity Falls.” She said

The twins couldn’t argue, both of their stomachs in agreeance that they were long overdue to eat.

After eating, the family headed for the living room. Which now housed a tan sofa and love-seat, along with the same glass coffee table and brown entertainment center which they did recognize, the 65” TV sitting atop the entertainment center still in the same place.

Before Dipper could sit down, he got a call on his new phone, he looked at the caller ID to notice that it was Pacifica.

“I know we are supposed to tell you about our summer, but can I take this call?” He asked.

“Go ahead.” His dad replied annoyedly.

Dipper immediately started heading up to his room, answering the call as he got to the stairs.

Mabel, along with her parents barely overheard the first part of his call.

“Pacifica!” He exclaimed, “What happened to you waiting for me to text you?!”

By this next point he was in his room outside of the range for where Mabel and his parents could hear.

“I’m sorry” She apologized, “I just couldn’t wait any longer, things are getting bad over here.”

Dipper immediately calmed down, realizing just how stressed Pacifica sounded, it also sounded like he could hear two people shouting in the background, those two people likely being Pacifica’s parents.

“Is that your parents I hear in the background?” He asked.

“Yes. That’s why I wanted to talk to you. Ever since father sold the manor, my parents have constantly been at each others throats. My parents arguing isn’t too out of the ordinary given how they came to be together, but usually aren’t this bad. In fact My father has even gone as far as pushing my mother into the wall.”

“I almost forgot that your parents sold the manor, where is your family staying anyways?”

“My parents vacation home in Malibu. We probably aren’t any more than 6 hours from Piedmont. After selling the manor, my father then sold almost every other property he owned other than the mansion we are currently staying in trying to regain the fortune after the failed Weirdness bonds. The only other thing he kept was the yacht. To be honest, he cares more about that blasted boat than he does his own daughter.”

“I know I might regret asking this, but how much of your family’s fortune did he manage to get back doing that?”

Pacifica did get annoyed at Dipper for asking, however, she decided not to snap at him for it knowing he was asking more out of concern for her more than anything. Instead she just sighed.

“Probably about 25 percent of it. And now that hes run out of things to sell he’s started resorting to suing people trying to wring them of as much money as possible.”

“That’s horrible!” Dipper said, “Why cant your parents just accept that they lost their fortune?”

“I wish they would, but like I said, all they really care about is their money and the family image.” she said disappointed.

Dipper deciding to change the subject, decided to ask Pacifica if she just wanted to stay on the line as he and Mabel started to explain the weird reality that is Gravity Falls to their parents.

“Me and Mabel were about to tell my parents about our summer in Gravity Falls if you wanted to listen in. You might even be able to help explain a few things here and there.” he said.

“I think I would like that. But you do realize that may not end well for you and Mabel right? I mean you both got up to some pretty dangerous stuff over the summer. Not to mention Weirdmaggedon.”

“Well for me and Mabel, its better than keeping it from them. Even if it does mean we get grounded.”

Back in the living room, Mabel’s parents looked at her with confused looks.

“Who’s Pacifica?” her mom finally asked.

“Oh, she’s just a friend that Dipper made back in Gravity Falls, one that he’s gotten pretty close with.” she replied.

With how Mabel was speaking, her parents realized that she was indicating that it was possible that Dipper was developing feelings for the girl. If it wasn’t for the fact that Stan had assured them that he had given Dipper the ‘talk’ over the summer, Stan still not realizing that it was actually Mabel he had given that talk to thanks to the fiasco caused by Stanford’s Electron Carpet experiment, they likely would have given Dipper that talk themselves, but they decided that once was enough for Dipper.

“And that’s all we are Mabel.” Dipper snapped at her, having come back down from upstairs.

“Mom, dad, if you don’t mind, Pacifica will be listening in as we talk about our summer, maybe even chime in to help add in extra details.

“That’s fine Mason.” His mom said, Dippers face immediately flushing red at the mention of his first name.

“Wait Mason? He introduced me to him as Dipper.” Pacifica said confused.

Their mom didn’t even think about the fact that Pacifica was on the phone, given she was his mother, she always used Dippers real name instead of his nickname, in fact she had accidentally revealed his real name to quite a few people before even Pacifica because of that.

“My first name is Mason” he told her “I just don’t like to use it very often, which is why I like to introduce myself as Dipper.”

“Well, I kinda like it” Pacifica said, trying to reassure Dipper.

“Sorry Mason, I didn’t realize you hadn’t told her yet.” His mother said to him. “Anyways, its nice to meet you Pacifica, and you are more than welcome to help the twins tell us about their summer.”

“Its a pleasure to meet you too Mrs. Pines.” she replied.

Over the next few hours, Dipper and Mabel their parents about their summer, not leaving out a single detail, even if it meant they would be grounded. They even told the about how Stan was actually Stanley pretending to be Stanford, while trying to bring his brother back to this dimension. Of course Pacifica chimed in where she could, adding details that the twins missed, and Mabel of course pulled out her scrapbook, knowing it would be the best proof they have that it was all real.

“Wow, that definitely was a lot to take in.” Their father said.

“We’re grounded because of how we acted, aren’t we.” Dipper said worriedly.

“Normally, yes.” Their mother said, “But given how upfront you both were, and how you both made sure to be safe during these adventures, I’m going to let you both off with a warning this time. But just know if we do let you both go back to Gravity Falls next year, you have to keep us updated. Now time for bed, tomorrow may be Sunday, but given what you told us about this Weirdmaggedon, it sounds like you too haven’t gotten the sleep you both need.

“Understood.” They both replied.

“And Pacifica,” Their dad said, “It really was a pleasure to meet you, I hope we get to meet you in person soon.”

“Same to you Mr. Pines.” she replied.

Dipper and Mabel immediately retreaded up to their rooms, both of them deciding that tomorrow would be spent unpacking.

Dipper and Pacifica talked for a bit longer.

“Dipper, thanks for being there for me even if the call was mostly just me listening.” Pacifica said.

“Of course Pacifica. And I know I can be weird about my first name, but if you want, you can refer to me by my first name. After all we are best friends, aren’t we?

Pacifica was immediately taken back by his comment, they had only just gotten to the point of friends not even a month ago, then again the circumstances that caused them to go from hating each other to friends probably helped to accelerate the process.

“If it were anyone else saying we were best friends, I think I would have just slapped them, but coming from you, I think I can agree with that statement.”

“Just don’t use it in front of other people please, its bad enough that my parents accidentally do that. Also that rule also applies to Wendy and Soos too.”

“Why don’t you want them to know about your first name?”

“Its not that I don’t want them to know, in fact I’m pretty sure that they both do know. But its like I said, I’m just weird about it. I don’t let just anyone use my first name.”

“Well, I guess I should consider myself one of the lucky few that gets to call your nerdy butt by your first name then. Goodnight Mason.”

And with that, the call ended. Mable opening his door shortly after.

“Aww, you both make a really good match!” she gushed.

“Its not like that Mabel, shes my best friend.” he snapped.

“You keep telling yourself that ‘Mason’.”

Dipper just groaned, knowing Mabel wont let this go anytime soon.

Dipper decided to warn Pacifica before Mabel could text her.

And as if on cue, Mabel started texting Pacifica, gushing over the end of their conversation.

“Ugh.” she groaned.