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lesbianmonsterlover · 4 years

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Under New Skies (Female Lizardfolk x Female Reader)

Three days into your little solo camping venture, you were regretting not paying more attention during that one astronomy class you took to fulfill your science gen ed in school. The little clearing where you’d set up was about a mile down a dirt path off of a main thoroughfare, and only the fact that it was midweek and getting into autumn kept things relatively quiet. You hadn’t come across another camper since you set up your tent and fire pit, spending your time pretty happily alone. Something has felt off all day though. It was so misty when you woke up, damp tendrils coiling along the ground and into the trees, so dense you couldn’t see past the treeline at all. You felt electric, almost like what you’ve read about before lightning strikes, all of your hair standing on end. Nothing happened though, and by late morning the sun had taken care of the mist leaving the day unseasonably warm.

Now, though, it’s nighttime, and something definitely seems wrong. You should be able to see the big and little dipper at this time of year, but they don’t seem to be anywhere in the sky? None of the constellations you can name seem to be anywhere actually. You don’t want to dwell on it, chalking it up to ignorance, but it leaves a niggling in the back of your brain. You wish you’d paid more attention to a lot of things, now. Were these forest sounds familiar? You want to say you’ve heard these bugs before, and birds, and frogs, but really would you notice if they were different? You think you would, hope you would. Something feels off though, but you put it off to deal with it in the morning.

That lump of lead hasn’t gone away by morning, and even though you’re meant to spend another night here you decide to cut the trip short and trek back to your car. It’s a ten mile hike from where you are to where you parked, a straight shot once you make the mile back to the main trail. You take care to clean, making yourself a thermos of coffee for the road before putting out the fire, and leaving the campsite behind with nothing to signify your presence other than a small ring of rocks surrounding cold, damp ash.

The first few minutes of your hike, you keep telling yourself you’re cutting you trip short due to paranoia. But you promise yourself a treat to make up for it, maybe some pastries and a gourmet coffee to make up for the freeze dried instant stuff you’re currently drinking, with enough powdered non dairy creamer to choke an actual cow. You don’t notice how long you’ve been walking, until you’re pretty sure you’ve walked well over a mile on this dinky little pathway through the underbrush, and you really should have come across the main trail now. Sitting on a downed log you pull out your map and your phone. You curse the lack of bars, regretting not bringing your little handheld satellite GPS receiver, but you’d thought it would be overkill for a short and straightforward hike like this. That will show you to never do that again, you suppose. Still, your compass says you’ve been walking the right direction, and you wonder if maybe you just haven’t gone quite far enough. Still, you keep your phone out, knowing that you should at least get a bar or two on the main trail, considering you were using it on the hike in.

By the time lunch rolls around, you haven’t made it anywhere it seems like. Sure you’ve made progress, but you know you’ve walked at least half a dozen miles, and you still have no cell site, you’ve seen no main road, no other travelers. You sit, resting against a tree, and study your map while you eat a protein bar. You’re scrutinizing, trying to figure out where you might be if you’ve gotten turned around. You wonder briefly if you should head back for the clearing you came from and wait it out another night, but what would that do really? You left at the only trailhead leading out of the clearing, that leads onto the same straightforward little trodden path that should have hit the main trail hours ago. There are no paths branching off of that one, and you haven’t stepped foot off the path since you began walking. You finish your protein bar with a grimace and have a few sips of water before angrily folding your map and continuing to follow the path.

The sun is just touching the tops of the trees when the little path you’ve been walking down all day finally intersects with a trail. You say a trail and not the trail, because this road that you’re now standing on looks completely unfamiliar to you. It looks like an old through road, unpaved and with two well worn ruts for what look like cart wheels running along it. You don’t see any sort of civilization either direction, and you’re contemplating climbing a tree to see what you can make out from up that high, but you really don’t want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere in need of an ambulance and you aren’t exactly a spry young child anymore, capable of climbing trees on a whim.

You wrack your brain, trying to figure something, anything out. You know that when you left the main trail onto what had been a small path to your campsite you’d turned right, so you should turn left down the trail to get back to your car. You head that way, despite all contrary evidence you keep hoping that if you just push through it you’ll reach your car and be headed back home. Maybe you’d go see a doctor, or maybe you’d just sleep off this experience, but it would be over and you could go back to the regular world.

When it’s well and truly night, and you still haven’t seen hide nor hair of another person, you let yourself settle down for a good cry. The moon is full, and you can at least see where you’re going, but all that does is illuminate everything that’s wrong. You should be able to see some sort of light pollution nearby, the sky shouldn’t be this full of stars, why is there no noisy civilization. You should be close enough to hear cars on the road, so where are they? You know you should settle down and wait for morning, but you know your brain just won’t let you sleep. So why rest? You keep pushing forward, and by the time the sun is rising you just want to collapse into another sobbing heap as the road continues ever on in front of you.

You aren’t hungry, anxiety eating at your stomach as much as it is your head. You do make sure to choke something down though, knowing that if you’re going to keep walking you need to keep calories in you. You’re thankful that the road runs near to a running source of water, you can hear that at least sometimes in the background and it’s easy enough to find once you go looking. Filling up your large canteen, you drop a water purification tablet in and continue out on your trek. Running on fear and anxiety, you stagger on for what could have been hours, or maybe only minutes, or maybe even days (okay that’s a bit of an exaggeration) until you reach a fork in the road.

Now, do you go the Robert Frost take the road less traveled with its overgrown footpath and dark canopy, or do you listen to the horror trope screaming at you in the face and take the well maintained and nicely lit pathway? Your desire to not wind up murdered wins out, and you take the brightly lit road with its well worn ruts. Robert Frost will have to wait until you aren’t in an actual life or death situation to come in with his wisdom. Although when you trip in one of those well worn ruts and sprain your ankle two miles later you’re rethinking your decision. So, you break down, and I mean who can blame you?

-------

Two days ago, and a handful of hours, Rha’ss felt her chaining for the first time. Usually sometime around reaching maturity one’s chaining would make itself known. Some bloomed slightly earlier, some later, but most who made it into their thirtieth year without it knew that they would not find themselves being called by their other half. It wasn’t unheard of at all for these unfated pairs to still love and live together, but the connection of a chained couple was known to be unrivaled, such that even high born nobles would take their fated regardless of status.

At thirty-eight Rha’ss had resigned herself to life without a chain, becoming a sellsword content with the knowledge that there would be none to truly mourn her when the time came. So imagine her surprise when she woke in the middle of the night to feel that gentle pull in the center of her chest, a yearning wrapped ‘round her heart that would not be fixed until the subject of her desires was with her. Between contracts as she was, it didn’t take long for her to be fixed on her horse and following the gentle pull in her chest.

She wondered then what had happened to have brought the bond to life so suddenly. Were you just coming of age? How would she handle that, and the differential that comes with such a difference in life experiences? Was there something else that had kept the bond dormant for so long? Were you merely far from her, and only now in close enough proximity for it to kindle? She hopes you won’t be disappointed by her, a hardened and jaded mercenary. She long buried her love and affection beneath a tough veneer of indifference, necessary for the blood she traded in. How would you handle holding hands that had dealt death?

Rha’ss isn’t sure what to make of you when she first comes across you. You’re curled in the middle of the road, sobbing, with your hands pressed against your face. From what she can see you’re too tall to be a gnome, but your ears are round so you can’t be an elf. Maybe half elf half gnome? You’re dressed so oddly too. In bright colors and materials she’s never seen before. Your shoes are odd to her, your coat, your bag. Everything is so strange. But when you look up, and your watery eyes sparkle against the sun as you stare up at her, she can’t find it in her to be upset.

“What’s the matter sweetling?”

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You find yourself staring up at an imposing creature astride a rather large dapple grey horse. They look like a lizardfolk out of a fantasy game, their reptilian face gleaming like jade in the bright sun. Their head is crested with pink and teal moving down their spine in impressive pointed frills almost like a mohawk. Their slitted eyes are a bright yellow, matching some of the scales that look almost like freckles across their shoulders and down their arms. Their throat leading down into their shirt is a pale cream, and the whole look is rather impressive. You wonder briefly at the edge of your consciousness if you should be scared, but something in your chest that’s been tight since two mornings ago seems to have relaxed now that you’re thinking of it.

Still, this...person? Person. This person is definitely not a human. And isn’t that something to think about? You wonder briefly if you’re in shock, did you actually break your ankle? Is this some weird fantasy your brain has stirred up to keep you from passing out and dying? Is all of this some weird fever dream where you’ll wake up in your campsite after a bout of food poisoning vowing to never eat rations again?

“What’s the matter sweetling?” Their voice is rough and feminine, low and rasping but with a lilt and timbre that makes you think of your grandmother in some odd way. They’re off their horse now, kneeling over you and looking down at you with such tenderness that all you can do is start sobbing anew and throw yourself at them. They shush you with quiet murmurs of nothing, taloned hands gently sifting through your hair to scratch at your scalp soothingly. Somehow, you choke out everything. From the changed pathway, to the different stars, to the different bugs, even to themselves.

“I don’t know what’s going on. Everything is all wrong, none of this makes sense! I can’t - I don’t know where I am, I can’t figure out how to get home. What do I do?” The being surrounding you gives a low, soothing hum, and their cool skin helps ground you.

“Well, sweetling, I can tell you that you’re at the border between the riverlands and dragon’s spire.” They give a thoughtful hum when your face remains as confused as ever. “In Xanthalan?” Your brows knit together further, and she huffs a little. “Why don’t we start with where you’re from, sweetling, and maybe your name at that. I am Rha’ss, daughter of Sharath, protector of the dragon’s spire.”

When you introduce yourself, with much less pomp, she finds herself confused. “I’ve never heard of that land before, and I have traveled across the great East sea to the basin of the world, and across the great North sea to the kingdoms of ice.” She frowns in thought, staring down at you heavily. “Where is your map?” When you fumble your map out of your bag and hand it to her she frowns again as she unfolds it. “This doesn’t make much sense…” She studies the map with you caged in against her chest, her arms still wrapped around you. “I think we need to pay a friend of mine a visit.”

Rha’ss moves to stand and pull you up with her, and you go with it completely forgetting your ankle. Until, of course, it decides to give under you when you try to put your weight on it. You’re pleasantly surprised by Rha’ss’ strength, as she catches you easily without stumbling. You mumble a shy apology, but she just gives you a warm look and caresses your cheek with her thumb lovingly. She helps you onto her horse, mounting behind you and wrapping her arms around your waist to take the reins. You feel small in front of her, she must be at least seven feet tall the way the top of your head doesn’t even graze her chin. You don’t have much riding experience, and it shows, but she’s patient with you, and the way she guides your hips into the rhythm of riding is surprisingly sensual.

It’s only a two hour ride at a moderate pace before you come across a small town built alongside the road. There’s an inn, and what looks like a general store, but that’s all you can make out before Rha’ss is pulling you bodily from the horse’s back and carrying you into the inn like a bride over a threshold. After settling you gently in a chair by the fire she greets the innkeeper and barkeep like old friends, complete with embraces that make you suddenly and unexpectedly jealous, all in a hissing sort of language you don’t understand. They’re both lizardfolk like she is, so you’re guessing it’s their own language.

You take a few moments to look around. There are a few others in here, not lizardfolk so this isn’t a planet purely populated by reptilian people. It looks like some orcs, and something furry with round ears - maybe a gnoll? And then a pair of short but intimidating looking...you’d have guessed humans but who knows at this point, both with impressive beards. So dwarves? You’re brought out of your reverie when Rha’ss walks back over to you carrying two frothy mugs and a roll of what looks like linen. “Let me bind your ankle sweetling, and then we can talk more.” The care with which she handles you makes you feel secure down to your bones, but you’re dreading trying to come to terms with whatever it is that’s happened to bring you here.

Under Rha’ss’ watchful stare you take a long sip of the drink she’s brought you, thankful that at least honey mead is honey mead regardless of whatever else is going on around you. “I don’t even know where to start…” You sound exhausted even to your own ears, the kind of weary that extends past physical tiredness and into the realm of a soul deep exhaustion. “I was camping, having a fine few days in the woods, but the other night I noticed the stars didn’t look quite right. I couldn’t find any of my landmarks. And then my trail disappeared, and I don’t know where I am. I don’t know how I got here. None of this makes sense. I’m just a normal human, from a normal family, lizard folk and orcs and stuff, none of this should be real. I can feel you’re real like I am though, and I’m starting to think I’m not hallucinating all of this…” You take another deep drink of your honey mead before placing your tankard down on the table and resting your face in your hands tiredly.

When you look back at Rha’ss she’s staring with a confused look on her face. “What’s ‘human?’ Is that your clan?”

You give her an equally confused glance. “No? It’s my species? My race?”

She doesn’t look appeased by that. “I’ve never heard of ‘human’ before.” She hums thoughtfully. “You’re softer than an elf, but bigger than a halfling or a gnome. You’ve got the rounded ears too.” She jerks her chin in your direction and you touch the rounded top of your ear a little self-consciously. She drinks from her own tankard and stares away in thought, you can almost hear the gears working in her head as she tries to puzzle things out. “That map you showed me earlier, you said that was from your home?” You nod at her and she hums again. “But you were camping just along the dragon’s spire, I know that land better than almost any and your map is fully foreign to me.” She frowns in contemplation, mumbling to herself before pinning you with a serious look. “Tell me what you know of heart’s calls and chaining.” You stare at her as confused as ever, you aren’t sure what you’ve done wrong as her face falls while you look on. Her sigh is weary and resigned, but she gives a grimace of a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “Worry not sweetling, all will be revealed in time. Qruz has told me that the Wizard Gorux has made himself comfortable in the inn as of yesterday. It seems we were expected, we’re to meet tomorrow.”

You just nod your head tiredly at this point, too overwhelmed to even question it any longer. You can’t lift your head again though, crashing hard after the stressful past days. You’re already half asleep when Rha’ss picks you up again and settles you on a rather comfortable straw mattress in an upstairs room, and you’re out completely with barely enough time to mumble your thanks.

-------

When you wake the next morning, the first thing you notice is that you aren’t alone. While you’re alone in your little bed, you can see the lizard person, Rha’ss, from the day before, along with a somehow even taller and broader orc sitting across from her at a small table. They’re conversing lowly, and you can’t understand them over the crackling of the fire. The orc is dressed in ornately embroidered robes, and has a plethora of feathers and glass beads woven through his black hair. He looks wizened but not old, his hair lacking even a single streak of silver but his eyes carrying the weight of centuries.

You don’t really pay attention as he comes over and asks you a few questions, you can tell from them that Rha’ss has shared your story. He smudges you with some fragrant herbs, although you can’t place what any of them are and that sends a pang of sadness through your heart. Whatever he sees though makes his face go grim and he settles the lizard woman in the chair with a heavy look. “Aye, lass, it’s as ye thought. It isn’t the first time a bond has made it across time and space, but this is something I’ve only read about. It hasn’t happened in a millenia at the least. Do not take this gift lightly.” He turns to fix you with an inscrutable stare, dark eyes searching your face. His eyes soften though, and with an exhaled puff of air he places one large hand on the crown of your head and mumbles something in a language you’ve never heard before. “Blessings on you little one, I do not envy your position, but I know Rha’ss, I know she will love you and cherish you until the end of days if you let her. Do not ignore your chaining, the both of you will suffer for it.”

He’s gone before you can ask him about it, and Rha’ss is staring at you guardedly. “I guess it’s time for me to explain that eh?” She pulls a small leather pouch out of her pack, removing a pipe and what smells like it might be tobacco. You watch as she packs the leaf into the bowl of the pipe, soothing herself with the practiced repetitive motion. “Never thought I’d find myself doing this. See, sweetling, from the time we’re babes we hear about our calling. Our heart’s calling, or we call it the chaining. Because it’s said to feel like a chain pulling us together. I’d never felt it, my whole life. I dedicated myself to my sword, to battle. But I woke three nights ago to a feeling in my chest I knew with certainty was it.” She stands from the table then, leaving her pipe abandoned and unsmoked as she moves to kneel before you. “I was trying to fathom who might be waiting for me at the other end of my chain, and sweetling, it was you. Please, tell me you feel it.” Her hands are on your knees, and her yellow eyes are full of open affection and fear it won’t be reciprocated.

You reach up to stroke over her reptilian snout, soft little fingers skating up the butt of her jaw. “I know that I was panicking until I met you. That as soon as you held me I knew I’d never been safer in my whole life. I can’t promise this will always be easy for me, and that I won’t make mistakes, but I can promise to try.” Rha’ss relaxes against you burying her head against your stomach and gripping tightly at the back of your shirt. You lean down to kiss the top of her head between her eyes, and she curiously nuzzles up against your breasts when they crowd in against her. Your soft giggle at the action makes her face light up, and she begins rubbing against you with her jaw trying to make you laugh again.

Once she has you laughing you tug her face up to your own, kissing along the top of her nose. Her scales are cool and smooth against your lips, and she lets out an affectionate chittering noise when she feels your soft mouth on her. She strokes her tongue over your cheek and throat, letting out a high, throaty sigh at your taste. The gentle prick of her talons at your hips barely keeps you grounded as she laves over your skin with her dark, forked tongue in repeated strokes. You can’t help letting out a sigh of pleasure when that curiously dextrous appendage presses down the front of your shirt and skates over the cup of your bra. She seems intrigued by the garment, and with questioning eyes she tugs at the hem of your shirt.

You let Rha’ss strip it from you wordlessly, lifting your arms over your head until you’re left in your bra and hiking pants on the bed. Her talons gently trace the cup of your bra and up the straps to your shoulders. “This looks much nicer than a corset sweetling, not that I’d know much about that either way.” She leans down to lick a hot stripe down between your breasts before sneakily pushing her tongue underneath the front busk between the cups. You’re thankful to be wearing a front closing bra, and with only a little bit of experimentation she’s used her hands to pop it open, letting it fall aside to bare your chest to her. Her taloned hands have been smoothing and stroking up your sides, from your hips over the side of your chest and back down, gently massaging at your hips at they sit there momentarily before repeating their journey.

When you cry out Rha’ss’ name in frustration as she merely gazes down at you, she repeats yours back to you in a smitten sigh. Her knuckles gently graze over the peaks of your nipples, and she watches your face to learn what you like and how to touch you. She gently pinches them between two fingers, giving an experimental tug before fondling your breasts in earnest, her tongue licking stripes along your shoulders and throat. She has one firm thigh lodged between yours, and you can feel her cool skin heating beneath the languid thrusts your hips make up searching for friction.

Her head soon replaces her hands, that prehensile tongue coiling around one breast before giving a firm lick up the center to rasp over your nipple. You barely notice her hands as they skate down your stomach, talons dipping into the waist of your pants before she tugs at them softly, looking up at you with hopeful eyes. You lift your hips in assent, feeling bereft for a moment as she moves away only long enough to tug your pants and panties down in one fell swoop. She tugs her own garments off then too, a simple tunic and linen pants that whisper to the floor as she tosses them carelessly aside.

Rha’ss is on you again then, and over you. Her face is tucked into your neck, tongue scenting and tasting your skin as she presses your soft breasts against her cool, firm torso. The give of them against her is enticing, and she relishes in the way that you arch up into her when her thigh finally makes contact with your bare core. The heat is so intense against her cool skin, and she presses up against you harder in an attempt to feel more of it. You’re burning hot and so slick. She grips your hips, just careful enough not to prick you with her talons, although you may be sporting bruises later. She uses this leverage to move you up and down against her, drawing your slick heat over her flesh and painting her with your essence.

Your head is thrown back, baring your neck up submissively. One of your hands is caressing down over her head and neck, skating along the base of her frills. They had been tucked down against her back, but as she loses herself to pleasure you find them occasionally flaring unconsciously. Your other hand is at her back, at the base of her tail. You hadn’t really noticed it until now. Reaching down for a handful of her buttocks you instead catch the base of her tail, although the way it makes her stutter and cry out against your throat has you abandon your original goal in favor of stroking over where her tail meets her back with your soft hands and blunt nails.

Your orgasm sneaks up on you, one moment you’re lost in your partner and the next you’re almost whiting out as the heat licks down your spine and your back arches. You cry out Rha’ss’ name, toes curling and thighs cramping as you reach your ecstasy. She spreads you out before her, and as you’re fuzzy from your pleasure you watch as she teases something from a slit at the apex of her thighs. It’s not quite as large as a penis, although it’s much thicker at the base and tapers to an odd blunt, angled tip. “When you’re ready, sweetling, I’ll fill you with my brood, but this will do for now.” She sighs happily when she slips the cool organ between your labia to rut against you. The oddly cool and slick sensation against your clit has you clenching again, and you cry out loudly when the tip prods at your hole only to just barely slip inside.

Rha’ss lets out a guttural noise when your hot body surrounds her, and you can feel the organ lengthen inside you even as it gets thinner. One of her hands comes down to stroke at your clit, touching you in just the right way that has you clenching harder. You’re still so tight around her, gripping her in all the right places. You’re surprised by her orgasm, a cool fluid gushing from the tip inside of you and flowing out to coat your inner thighs. It smells strangely sweet and heady, and the feeling of her coming inside of you along with her incessant fingers on your clit has you reaching your peak again.

Rha’ss falls beside you, pulling you in to lay on her chest. She feels blissfully cool against your heated skin. There will be more to work out and talk about, this is only the beginning of something after all, but you find yourself feeling oddly at peace with things. You know there will be trials, and that things won’t always be easy for you considering the abrupt and complete change of your lifestyle. But in this moment, you find you’re more excited than anxious. You’re pulled from your contemplation by Rha’ss fingers gently sifting through your hair to reach your scalp, lulling you to sleep with gentle touches and soft words.

#lesbian love #lesbian fiction #lesbian romance #WLW #female reader #fem reader #female lizardfolk #fem lizardfolk #smut #thigh riding

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emrystranslates · 4 years

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[Haikyuu!! Light Novel Vol. 11 Unofficial English Translation] Michimiya's Lie

Translator's notes: Hello! It's finally here! The first story of volume 11 of Haikyuu's light novel. Just a few reminders I guess? These are unofficial translations and I can't guarantee 100% accuracy. I tried my best to stay as accurate as possible. Feel free to point our any mistakes or comments to help improve my translations <3 Other translation notes at the end of the story. PS. It's nice to read more about Michimiya. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did.

Where to buy the originals: Here

Masterlist

________________________________________________________ Even if you said it just turned 6 pm, the outside had become darker as night than it is as dusk. Lately, days are short and the wind that touches the face is cold. It was right to wear a coat when you left the house which you thought may be a little too early to wear.

By the rotary in front of the station, Michimiya Yui is finding stars in the open night sky.

“That one is Orion.” Then, where is the North Pole? Was it the one in the middle of the Big Dipper? No, that’s wrong. If she draws a line from a certain constellation, it should be there. But, what constellation was it? Ursa Major? Ursa Minor? She's sure she had memorized it back when she was in elementary.

After returning her raised head and immediately giving up on finding the North Pole, Michimiya Yui hurried back home.

Will she be able to come home before the 7 pm special program? Did she set-up the video recording in advance?

She was carelessly worrying about the television program while hurrying back home.

Then, her feet suddenly stopped.

“Eh, no way.”

Among the people who are similarly hurrying back home, Michimiya’s eyes are staring at the back of that person wearing a black jersey walking around a block ahead of her.

“What do I do? But what if, I’m wrong? No, I’m not wrong. What to do? Impossible, he is also not listening.”

Though for some reason Michimiya was muttering, she bit her lips like she'd made up her mind and looked down at the boots she’s wearing. From her boots, tights, skirt, and coat, she checked her attire from bottom to top.

“It’s okay. I’m not wearing anything weird.” As she nodded encouragingly, she fixed her bangs through the camera of her phone.

Yoshi!

Then, slapping her cheeks with her two hands, Michimiya kicked the pavement and started running on the night road. Like she was rushing towards the court as if there was a match starting.

“Sawamura!”

____________________________

“Ah, what the- So it’s you Michimiya.”

The man who turned back, wearing a black jersey and holding a sports bag was, of course, Karasuno High School’s volleyball team captain, Sawamura Daichi.

Hahaha, she was told, “what the…”

Though slightly hurt by that, Michimiya without being disheartened asked Sawamura, “Why are you around here? What about today’s practice?”

“Ah, since we ended early today, I went to buy some things like my phone charger. Here.”

After showing the plastic bag from the electronics store, Sawamura continued. “I think it’s because it’s worn out but the one I’m currently using is in really bad shape. I thought that since I can also use it in Tokyo, I should probably prepare a replacement in advance. I just don’t want to panic when it happens.”

“Preparation for Spring High, huh?”

“Yeah. How about you? Where are you going, Michimiya?”

Being asked back, Michimiya hesitated just for a moment.

“Eh? Ah, I just went to hang out with Mao for a little bit. Did you know that we really ate a lot? Recently I’ve been wasting so much that my pocket money is not enough, and I certainly gained weight after retiring!” she said and laughed.

Ah-- what is she saying? She didn’t need to specifically say that she gained weight. Michimiya felt disheartened. However, Sawamura replied.

“Heeeh, Ukai-san also said the same thing before. He gained weight after he retired.”

The matter about girls’ talk of gaining and losing weight was completely ignored.

“Haha, is that so!”

Though laughing with all her might, Michimiya is feeling down.

---- Somehow, she feels like she's the only one pointlessly going around.

Sawamura who is standing before her is completely and truly the same as always. He is a person who just blurts out things like “How about we run for a bit right now?” whenever he likes and who makes a face of a typical men’s volleyball team captain. Michimiya is somehow pressed for words. She doesn't know what she should say. Maybe, “Ukai-san and I are similar then?” She can only say trivial things.

Why is that?

During middle school, she wasn’t this nervous when she was speaking to Sawamura. They even usually talked about things like their club activities, family matters, and tv programs. No, sometime in middle school until recently, she feels like there was no feeling of not knowing what she should talk about. Since when has it been like this?

“Michimiya, that’s where your house is, isn’t it? Because mine is straight ahead.”

“Yes.”

When she lifted her face, Sawamura was pointing across the pedestrian crossing. That’s right. They will separate ways from here on. Sawamura goes straight ahead while Michimiya crosses the pedestrian crossing to the other side.

“Bye,” Sawamura said, and he quickly walked away.

“Ah, yeah bye.”

The moment she said that and waved her hand, a wave of sadness came over her.

Though it was one of the rare times they got to go home together, somehow the time passed indistinctly. At least, if the stoplight was red then he could have waited until it turned green, but it was already green. Rather, she could have called him out. No, isn’t it nice that until here they were able to walk together and talk a little? Like this, after a few months, it’ll be graduation.

That’s right. When this winter ends it’ll be graduation, and chance meetings like this will be gone. Ah-- but even if it’s like that, saying things like “bye,” he just went straight ahead like that as usual.

-----------------------------

Watching the back of Sawamura as he started to walk away, her chest got tighter. It’s difficult. Painful. The pain pushes tightly starting from her chest coming all the way up to her throat. It’s a reproachful green light and yet why does it flicker as if it drives her forward if she won’t cross the street. Ah, she hates it. She really hates it.

What she hates is that she's the only one who isn’t straightforward. She's weak, huh. She hates being weak. She wants to become stronger.

Then once again, she slapped her cheeks and tried to motivate herself at that moment.

To find the way out, the pain, which had forcefully and continuously come up from her chest all the way up to her throat, had become words that popped out of her mouth.

“Sawamura!”

_______________________

“Yeah, what’s the matter?”

Sawamura who was called stopped just ahead and turned around.

“Eh? Ah, No…..Uhm, It’s…., E--- The, hahahaha…..”

What does she do? She's troubled. She didn’t have a purpose for stopping him.

Since the earlier “Sawamura!” was similar to a hiccup or a sneeze which selfishly came out of her mouth contrary to what she intended to do, she really didn’t have a purpose for calling him out. But, she can’t say that.

What to do? What to do? She should say something. It’s going to be weird if she doesn’t say something. Uhh….

Though Michimiya was in a hurry, when she found the bright street lamp by the road ahead, once again her hand moved before she could think. She pointed at the street lamp and said. “Ah! Uhh, Salt! Right, salt and soy sauce, then olive oil? Yup, that! Somehow it looks like they only have it at the big supermarket here. What’s that? Pickiness? My mom seems to have something like that? It’s troublesome, isn’t it?”

“Eh? Ah, is that so?”

Without noticing Michimiya’s slightly peculiar energy, Sawamura said, “Ukai-san also said something similar to that. Something about beer, I think?” He looked at the direction of the supermarket once again, “Then, we’re going in the same direction.” He ascertained. Michimiya, without knowing why, thought “Thank you, Ukai-san!” While thanking him from the bottom of her heart, she nodded.

“Yes!”

“Then, let’s go?”

Behind the two who started walking, the stoplight turned red.

__________________

She lied.

The fact that she easily blurted out a lie, perhaps, she is bad. What does she do?

Mom, I’m so sorry. Until now, I planned to live an honest life but from today, I have become a bad liar.

As she was apologizing to her mother, the pain Michimiya felt until a while ago was gone. Her heart, on the contrary, was refreshed, her footsteps light. Even the awkwardness when speaking to Sawamura disappeared.

“Even so, it’s finally Nationals huh? It’s really amazing. Because when you speak of Spring High, it’s just so amazing that you’ve come to not really know what it is,” Michimiya said.

“That thing is not true right? Gestalt Collapse, huh.”

“No. But Spring High is just so unreachable. Ah, I shouldn’t say that. We aimed for that after all. However, rather than 'We’ll go to Nationals' things like ‘We won against Seijou’ or ‘We won against Shiratoriza’ are more familiar. You can actually feel it ‘like woah, it’s amazing!’”

“Aah, if it’s like that, I think I can understand.”

“For me, I can’t go to Tokyo but I’ll definitely watch on tv and give my support!” Michimiya replied.

“Aah, yes please.”

“But you see, both you and Sugawara are not only doing club activities but also studying at the same time, men’s volleyball really is amazing, huh.” While they were talking about things like that, Michimiya noticed something.

If it’s something about volleyball, they could talk normally. Ah, that’s right. It’s probably after she retired from club activities that she had come to not know what to talk about. Maybe it’s because they’re not both volleyball team captains anymore. Maybe it’s wrong? She wonders what it is. No, well, she guess it’s okay since they can freely talk if it’s about volleyball. However, up to the point that she told a lie, how is it that they can only talk about volleyball?

Sawamura without noticing the complicated feelings of Michimiya who was walking beside him, like the way he is, said and laughed. “No, back in first year I did receive failing marks you see. I’m worried about how next year will be.”

Things like who will be fit to be the next captain? Or how Seijou's 2nd years would be? What kind of people will Dateko’s 1st year players be? Even here, stories of nothing but club activities continue. If Sugawara were here, he'd probably say “You’re slow!” then get angry or laugh, but luckily or unluckily, Sugawara is not here. It’s only the two of them.

Then while both of them continued talking about their club activities, the two, at last, arrived in front of the Supermarket.

“Then, I’ll go shopping now!”

After she pointed at the almost blinding bright inside of the store, Michimiya laughed and then waved her hand as if it was nothing. “Bye!”

Truthfully, they were supposed to separate by the crossing but even if it’s just around 5 minutes, it was nice that they were able to walk together a bit longer. Yes, that’s good. She shouldn’t think things like disappointment or sadness, or “It’s ends here huh.” She told herself. However, not knowing about Michimiya’s resignation, Sawamura instead of waving back said, “I’m hungry. I think I’ll also buy something.”

_________________________

The apple is red and colorful while the carrot is bright orange. The radish somehow reminds her of negative things so she’ll ignore it while the cauliflower is fluffy like a puppy which makes it cute. The tofu is tightly lined up and if she looks at the Japanese pickled vegetables, surprisingly it’s beautiful as it is of various colors. How come? Was the supermarket always this sparkling? Michimiya cheerfully walks around the crowded store while holding an empty basket.

Whenever she goes out to the supermarket for errands she does not really think of anything but today whatever she sees looks delicious and fun. “Meat!” “Steaming Hot Pot!” Even the senseless BGM is fun. The various fruits, ice cream, pasta sauce, toothbrush, flour mix. The candies which change colors, even the combinations of sorts of the small steamed buns by grandma’s house. Anyhow, to the extent that she wants to put anything inside her basket, even herself knows that her spirits are way too high.

Calm down, dear self. It’s impossible. I can’t calm down.

“Ah, this one. Someone frequently bought this for me when I was a child. So it was 20 yen.”

Sawamura said who was beside Michimiya who in turn was holding a yogurt-flavored candy.

“This is the same one as Nishinoya ate just recently.”

“Eh, for real? It probably suits him.”

“Does cheap sweets suit him? Or does it not? No, wait. It does suit him.”

“Right?”

Then, they looked at each other and laughed.

Crap. This is fun. Forever and ever doing it like this.

“This. My mom usually buys this but honestly, it’s bitter.”

“No way! I discovered chocomint soy milk,” Michimiya exclaimed.

“Natto snack? What do you mean?”

I wanted to exchange things like that while walking round and round but I can’t do that. The things I have to buy have been decided beforehand. Truthfully, it’s okay even if I don’t buy anything.

“Uhh, salt, where is it again? This is where flour-related products are. Uhh… ah. There it is.”

As she arrived before the shelves where the condiments are, Sawamura who followed her was shocked.

“Wow. There are a lot. Which one are you buying?”

“Eh? Ah.. uuh”

Then, what should I buy?

More than she thought there were a lot of salt, salt, salt in front of her. Michimiya is at a loss. To begin with, she doesn't know what they were using at home. For now, she will just pick the one slightly expensive and put it in the basket. Well, it doesn’t really matter whatever she gets.

Beside her, Sawamura took the same salt and muttered, “Deep-sea water salt, huh. How is the taste different from the usual salt?”

“It’s a little mild, I think? But I’m not sure. I don’t lick only salt anyways.”

“Mildness, huh? I think I understand the differences in salt. I think if it’s Shimada-san, he probably knows.”

Looking at Sawamura’s face who was looking at the package of salt so earnestly, Michimiya, without thinking, laughed.

“What is it?” Sawamura questioned.

“Eh? No, it’s nothing! I just thought that maybe I should buy another one and try to compare them.” While dodging the question, Michimiya put a bag of ordinary table salt.

“Not a master of sake but a master of salt huh.”

“Yeah.”

Then, at the next shelf, she chose the barrel-prepared natural soy sauce because it also has a slightly higher price. Continuing at the opposite shelf, she chose the organic extra virgin olive oil.

“With these, I’m done! Then, what are you buying Sawamura? Bread? Onigiri?”

“Eh? Aah, do they have yakisoba bread?”

“You like that right?”

“It’s not that I particularly like it...wait? Hmm, do I like it?”

Sawamura is thinking while making a serious face again. It’s interesting.

But, to prevent not being asked “What is it?” again, Michimiya controlled herself from laughing and walked to search for bread. Not really. There’s not one thing that is particularly interesting. We’re just shopping as usual. But, she can’t help break into a smile anyway.

Eventually, she saw that there was no yakisoba bread. Worrying about what to get between hamburger bread and chicken sandwich was also fun. Choosing the money inside her wallet which was just barely enough was also fun. Everything was fun. Everything.

She probably understood the feelings of the people in musicals who suddenly sing and dance, Michimiya thought. If she does not pay attention and consciously make a meek face, she would to an extent carelessly skip inside the store. She can’t help that it’s just a fun, fun shopping experience.

_________________________

After exiting the supermarket, Sawamura immediately started eating the hamburger bread. Based on the reasoning that the poor can’t afford manners, in front of a young high school man’s hunger, things like manners are too much.

“You’re really hungry huh.”

When Michimiya laughed, Sawamura inserted the straw into the packet of his milk coffee and strangely asked back, “Eh, there’s no need to lie right?”

Ah. My ears hurt.

It was when Michimiya looked down.

“Ah, it’s Karasuno’s volleyball team”

Suddenly, after the name of their school was called, Sawamura and Michimiya at the same time raised their heads. In front of their eyes were three men wearing blazers standing.

With a half-eaten hamburger bread in one hand, Sawamura opened his mouth.

“Ah. It’s Datekou’s Moniwa-kun and...”

That’s right. The ones who called out were Date Tech High School Volleyball team’s 3rd year students, Moniwa, Kamasaki and Sasaya.”

“Eh, people from Dateko?”

“Yeah.”

Though the two students from Karasuno were surprised with this sudden chance meeting, the students of Dateko, on the other hand do not at all express their surprise through words and instead are showing inexpressible discomposure.

If one thinks that the ex-captain Moniwa is retreating while unsteadily staggering, the former middle blocker Kamasaki stands dauntingly, with eyes open wide and barely moving. At their back, former wing spiker Sasaya calmly opened his eyes wide. Though for a short while the three were at a loss for words without even saying any greetings. Eventually they looked at each other’s dumbfounded faces and with trembling mouths, talked.

“Ha…. more than the fact that you're going to the Nationals, a man and woman walking side by side? What is this? What’s with that? Reality?”

“Wait, these two…shopping together?”

“Shopping...no way….perhaps, this is that rumored ‘Nabe-pa’?”

“Wait, Nabe-pa is an urban legend, right?”

“What urban legend? Do you understand what we’re saying?”

“Is it bad if I don’t understand?”

“Well, of course it's not good.”

He doesn’t understand what the conversation is about. He doesn’t understand, but looking at the people he knew suddenly start a useless quarrel in front of them, Sawamura cannot stand quietly.

“No, Uhh, Sasaya-kun? Here is the front of a store, so….” As he was trying to stop the scene, the other three, who were now looking teary-eyed, glared back at him. Without thinking, he winced. At that time, the three people from Dateko gave out something like those times when Sawamura, who unifies the 1st and 2nd year problem children of Karasuno, almost lost his nerves or probably some iron wall higher than the one they face during matches.

Watching the three fighting over nabe on the road, Sawamura said, “I think they’re the type best left as is.”

“I think so, too.” Michimiya firmly nodded.

Together, these two, as captains, have come to unify their team members. On one side they are not at all dull nor late bloomers, but they fundamentally excel in assessing the situation. These two decided that this is where they should draw back from the three.

“Let’s go."

“Yeah.”

Then, the two left the three players of Dateko and started walking away from the Supermarket.

“I wonder what that was?”

“Maa, there’s a lot of things.”

“Right.”

After laughing, they looked at each other.

“Well, since I go this way...”

“Aah”

“Bye”

Michimiya laughed. Today, they said several goodbyes. Yet, there was no sadness like the one she felt until a moment ago. If she said any complaints about having a fun time like this, surely she’ll be punished.

“See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

The two waved their hands and then, they walked onto their respective paths.

_____________________

After fixing her hold on the grocery bag, carrying it with two hands instead of one, she muttered to herself.

“So heavy--”

The bag contains 2 bags of 1kg salt, 1 liter of soy sauce, and 50 ml of olive oil packed in a glass bottle. There’s no way it’s light.

After all, these are not needed. It would have been good if she had chosen lighter ones. Something like pepper or wheat or fried tofu. Either way, how will she explain to her mom the salt, soy sauce and olive oil. She can’t say the truth. With that said, she also has to say another lie.

Be that as it may, she was paying for her sins, and her mind was cloudy. At that time, a voice behind her was heard.

“Michimiya!”

When she looks back, she is surprised. The person who was crossing the pedestrian is Sawamura whom she just parted with just now.

“Eh? Eh?!”

As she stood holding tightly the rustling heavy vinyl bag, Sawamura, who caught up, said,

“I forgot to say something.” His face changed to a serious one after he smiled.

When Michimiya straightened her back without thinking, Sawamura talked.

“Thank you for the protective charm you gave before.”

“Eh. Ah, yeah.”

“I’ll bring it to Spring High as well.”

After saying only that, Sawamura said, “Bye.”

Then again, he turned back and started walking.

“Ah, yeah!”

With his back facing her, replying only was the best she could do.

“.......................”

It’s the usual Karasuno Volleyball Team Jersey. The back of a black jersey which is more familiar than their uniform will immediately tell you it’s Sawamura. No matter how dark it is. No matter how far he is. There’s no mistaking it. Indeed, it’s a back that has the dependability of a captain.

------ Indeed a captain?

Michimiya thinks.

Was I able to show my friends and kouhai a back like that? Without being ashamed, was I able to perform and be devoted?

As soon as she thought of that, Michimiya shouted, “Wait!”

Sawamura stopped his feet and turned back. “What is it?”

Michimiya held out the heavy vinyl bag and said. “This! You see, this, today, the truth is we don’t really need it.”

“Eh? Ah, is that so?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry.”

Michimiya put her head down after saying that. Sawamura answered, as if he was slightly troubled.

“No, there’s no need to apologize, right.”

“No. It’s no good. Because….” Michimiya shakes her head.

Sawamura spoke. “It’s okay. Even if you don’t use it today, someday you’ll use it right?”

“Eh? Ah, yeah. That’s right but…”

That is true but the problem is---- As she was thinking that, Sawamura continued.

“Recently, Ukai-san said --”

“Eh? Ukai-san again?”

“Yeah. Somehow, when he went along to do his family’s shopping, he was asked to line up several times to buy this bread called “Only 1 Loaf of Bread” from one of the famous stores. They have to eat it before it goes bad so everyday, every meal he continues to buy the bread and with that, it was really tiring.”

Bread? What is he talking about? Michimiya was doubtful but Sawamura’s face was serious all throughout so in the meantime she’ll keep listening.

“If you compared that to the bread, the salt and the soy sauce isn’t so bad.”

“Ah, yeah. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t get moldy?”

“Right?”

“Yeaaah?”

So, that’s it. That’s what the story was about, huh. Will it get molds? Will it not get molds? Is it good to talk about mold? Salt certainly does not get molds but…

At that time, her head was full of things about mold.

Sawamura spoke again, “Then, tell me how the Deep-sea water salt tastes like.”

“Eh?”

“Hey, salt master. Earlier, you said that it might taste mild but on the contrary, without putting unnecessary things, there is a possibility that it’ll have a sharp taste, right?”

Being lured by Sawamura’s serious face all throughout, Michimiya forgot about molds and pondered.

“You’re right. Yeah, I’ll try it once I get home.”

“Well then, tomorrow, please let me know.”

After saying that and smiling, Sawamura said, “bye,” and once again turned on his heel.

“Yeah! Tomorrow!” She cheerfully called out and waved her hand.

She saw his back walk across the street and watched it grow smaller and smaller as he moved farther away. It was when he finally turned at the corner and disappeared from her sight that Michimiya released her breath.

“Tomorrow, huh.”

As she said that, she held her cheeks with her two hands.

Hot, I’m sure my face has become bright red. Good thing it is dark, she thought. Since I’m absolutely making a weird face.

As she breathed in the perfectly clear winter air with all her might, Michimiya looked up at the night sky.

“So Tomorrow!”

She breathes out all her feelings together with a frosty breath. Then she faced front and started walking. Holding the heavy and precious package, she embraced in heart her small, small promise with Sawamura.

Salt, it’s okay to just taste it as is but maybe she should try making an onigiri and compare? There's also the option of dipping boiled egg to it and eating it.

As she is thinking about things like that, she starts to run before she knows it.

Just by running, it feels like tomorrow will come faster.

-------END------

Some Translation Notes:

Gestalt Collapse: ゲシュタルト崩壊 (Gestalt Collapse) is a term in Japanese which describes the phenomenon of a complex character breaking down into its component parts in one's mind and losing its meaning if one stares at it for a short while. Source: http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t8706.htm (Will try to find a more reliable source)

"Not a master of sake but a master of salt huh.” The original line is 効き酒ならぬ、効き塩 (Kikisake naranu kikishio) An alternative translation is "It's tasting salt instead of tasting sake"

Nabe - Hot Pot

Kouhai - Lower classmen

Nabe-pa - Short-term for Nabe Party

Natto - Fermented Soybeans

Tsukemono - Japanese Pickled Vegetables

一斤限り Ikkinkagiri Is the Japanese name of the bread the Ukai-san bought. There's no official translation for the name yet so I did my best to translate in English. 一斤 ikkin means loaf of bread while 限り means limit/only/degree.

衣食足りて礼節を知る[ishoku tarite reisetsu wo shiru]：the poor can't afford manners can also be translated as only when basic needs for living are met can people spare the effort to be polite

#Haikyuu #Haikyuu!!#volume11 #translation #light novel

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mind-writing0 · 5 years

Text

Chapter 17

One of the big things that was made to take his whole attention was the next Report. The last one had made him nervous to the point of nausea, but maybe this one would be better.

After Romelle had them run a bit late, what with her insistence of ironing Virgil's dress shirt twice, they were ready to go. Virgil joined the fourteen other Selected in the hall, and they walked together to the TV studio.

The procedure when they arrived was the same as the first, as they would be doing most of the same things. News, interviews, cameras flashing for magazines Virgil had never been able to afford before. They all filled in their seats when someone tapped Virgil's shoulder.

The black haired teen turned around to see Bill looking both agitated and frustrated. "Can I talk with you in the hall for a sec?" He asked, his voice sounding bittersweet.

Virgil hesitated for a moment. Why would he need to talk to him, and what could he do? Maybe he was trying to eliminate him, as he had been receiving a tad more attention from Roman than the others. Nodding, Virgil decided to follow Bill into a hall. If he did anything, Virgil could tell Roman and have him kicked out, right?

Bill found a room down the hall, a dressing room, that no one was using. Virgil followed him in, but he kept close to the doorknob.

"Your suit, I want it, give it over." Bill said, and his straightforwardness surprised Virgil. Here the blond boy was: threatening, intimidating, mysterious. Though just now he was cutting to the chase. And the oddity of the situation!

Virgil laughed a little, but it was a nervous laugh. "I'm sorry, what?" He looked down at his suit. It was a dark blueish-purple, bedazzled with tiny diamonds to make it sparkle like a night sky.

"Your suit looks better than mine, so I should have the right to wear it." Bill stated stubbornly, unbuttoning his yellow suit jacket.

"What the hell? No, it's my—"

"If you don't let me have it, I'll peel it off your—" Bill had reached up to the left sleeve and ripped some of the fabric off, leaving noticeable damage. "flesh. There, that's what you get for not comprehending me the first time. Bye!" He went around Virgil and slammed the door behind him, leaving him to bask in a problem that he hadn't caused.

Sighing and wiping away his watering eyes, Virgil calmed down before looking in the dressing room for any way to fix it. Luckily there was some sewing thread and a needle. Awkwardly, and with many pokes to the arm, Virgil half-heartedly stitched his sleeve. It still looked scrunched up and ugly, no where in comparison to the beauty his maids had created, but the show must go on.

Setting in his seat, he ignored Bill's smug look and instead insisted on small talk with Lance. When the show started, they stopped to listen.

"Oh, what's this?" Thomas said, "It appears Prince Roman has an announcement. What would you like to say, Your Highness?" He settled in his own round blue chair as Roman was handed a microphone.

Roman stood up from his seat and went to the center of the stage. He cleared his throat, looking out at all his potential subjects before beginning. "Hello everyone, I would like to use this opportunity tonight to inform you all of a problem that needs to be fixed."

Virgil nearly had an aneurysm right then and there.

"We, as participants in a life of luxury, have no clue what troubles the lower class faces to bring us these things. Things that we take for granted, like food, buildings, roads, and every day necessities. Though, sometimes, they must pay their own prices. I have been informed that some go without food, and water, and electricity. Some go without, while we take for granted what is given to us! That is why, as a small start, part of the salary for the Twos and Threes of the Selected will be taken." He was silent for a moment, as there was some gasps and noises of disapproval from the upper class Selected. "It'll be used for a good cause, as every District Services Office will now be supplied with a free meal for all Sevens and Eights. It's only one meal for now, but it has to get us somewhere. We have depended on the lower class, the backbone of society, for long enough. It's time we gave something back. Thank you." Roman handed back his microphone and went back to his seat. The king looked pissed, while the queen was practically glowing with pride, and it was an odd duo to look at.

Virgil couldn't believe it. He was past the point of where he thought Roman would kick him out for every little thing, though he still thought he had offended the prince somehow, as if he told him he was bad at his job before he'd even had a chance at it. But providing meals for the poor and homeless? Virgil could throw up from all the sugary-sweetness that Roman was radiating.

Soon, they started going through interviews, but Virgil was too excited to pay attention to the others.

"Sir Virgil?" Thomas asked, "Lost in a daydream?"

Virgil had indeed been lost in thought, but he snapped back to the reality of the fact that he was being interviewed. "What? Oh, yes...I'm sorry, what?"

"I said," Thomas smile patiently, "you are the last Five in the Selection. Do you think this effects your chances with Prince Roman?"

"No!" Virgil said immediately, offended in his tone. He then realized how passionate he sounded in the matter and decided to try to back it up with something less aggressive. "I mean, Roman would never judge someone on something like that."

Thomas sat up in surprise and interest. "Oh, really? And what else could you say about Roman?"

"Uh..." Virgil blanked out. He'd said just Roman on national TV, but everyone seemed more amused and intrigued than anything else. "I think he's great. Handsome and kind and..." he turned to Roman, meaning every word. "Unexpected."

"Interesting, interesting. Thank you, Sir Virgil, you've been lovely company. That will be all tonight, Ailea. Thank you, all!" Thomas concluded, and the camera crew stopped filming.

"Good j-job, Thomas." Virgil felt his stomach ache from nerves, which was odd considering the cameras were off, but Virgil wanted to put effort into talking to Thomas at least once. It would be cool to tell Valerie, after all.

"Thanks, Virgil! I thought you did too. You're doing well despite the stage fright, I'm proud!" Thomas replied before being handed a bottle of water by a stage hand, who then started telling him of more things he needed to do.

Virgil awkwardly walked off, and his eyes met Roman's. Grinning at him, he tugged his ear, and Virgil smiled back at the idea of a visit

Once he got to his room, his maids were all giving each other knowing looks for some reason.

"Hey, guys, Roman's coming to visit, so...you could leave, if you want. I dunno." Virgil said, feelings of immaturity creeping up on him. His maids all smiled politely and curtsied before leaving, so Virgil knew that his simplistic friendly tone did nothing to demean his status.

Virgil sat at his piano seat and began playing whatever song came to his heart. This one was something more upbeat, yet romantic. He'd usually think of the future with Dan while playing this, but now...now he wasn't sure what he thought about. After a while, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Virgil said, abruptly stopping his music. Roman entered, seeming lost and flustered. "What's wrong?"

"Your music...I'm sorry, it was just so beautiful, I didn't want it to stop, but...I also wanted to see you. I hope that one day, if we have the time, you could play for me?" Roman said quietly.

"Of course, Princey, no big deal. I play for customers all the time, but it'll come at a price."

"Really?" Roman raised his eyebrows in playful intrigue. "What would you want?"

"Um...I don't know." Virgil shrugged, then smiled. "More time to hang out with you, I guess."

"And that is a price I would gladly pay. Shall we go outside?" Roman offered, referring to the balcony outside Virgil's double doors. Virgil agreed with a nod, and they went out into the fresh air. Below them was the view and smell of the garden, and above was the full moon.

"It's nice out here," Virgil commented, "it makes me feel bad that I was so insistent on disturbing those guards that first night."

Roman sighed, and it sounded like a laugh as he rested against the railing with crossed arms. "I am so glad you did that, Virgil. You have no idea how much better you have made this experience for me. I'm not sure how some of these events would have transpired without you here to bring color to it."

"Oh," Virgil replied softly. "I—I don't know what to say. Thank you, Roman. I'm actually glad I got picked for this. I mean, don't get me wrong. It's prestigious and ridiculous and fake but...you're real, you know? At least, I hope so. Because if you are, I'd...I dunno, it'd be worth it. Not just the checks and the different life but...you too." Virgil felt his stomach almost flicker and his heart squeeze as he turned towards Roman. With a small puff of a gasp, he realized the prince was close enough to him to feel the heat on his cheeks. Virgil was surprised to see Roman was close enough to kiss him if he wished.

And he was even more surprised when he did.

It was not a magical first kiss, but it was alright. Quick, a little off aim, but he and Dan had had worse awkward firsts. Leaning back, Roman's wide sparkling brown eyes made him seem surprised by his own actions. "I am so sorry. I should have asked. Stupid, stupid!" Roman knocked himself lightly in the forehead. "I just thought...I thought you liked me, and I just wanted my first kiss to be with someone I really like—"

"Wait, Roman, calm down. That was your first kiss?" Virgil asked with a grin, and Roman looked relieved to the point of exhaustion to see it.

The prince nodded, "As I have mentioned, I've never had the honor of being in love before. Oh, you probably think I'm such a dork now!"

"I do," Virgil replied fondly, "but you're cute. And I do like you, but no offense, that kiss was kind of crappy. Wanna remake that memory?"

"What do you mean?" Roman asked, his cheeks a dark pink that contrasted his slightly pale skin. "Here," Virgil mumbled, reaching out for Roman's waist and guiding him until he was practically holding Virgil against the railing. The black-haired teen then raised his hand to Roman's cheek and leaned towards him, making this kiss a more romantic alternative.

They broke apart, and Roman gazed into Virgil's dark brown eyes with his own half-lidded ones, looking entranced than any man in any relationship. "Virgil Singer," he mumbled, still close enough to kiss every freckle on his face, and he made a note to do that one day if he'd let him. "Would you try for me, darling?"

"Yes," Virgil barely whispered his response, yet to Roman it seemed enough to last him a lifetime. "I'll try."

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minijenn · 6 years

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Water Pines: Dead in the Water (Part 1)

AHAHAHAH OH FUCK THE ANGST TRAIN IS HERE And yeah lemme just warn ya’ll that this one? Is fucking ANGSTY and SAD as fuck. So... if ya aint into that you probably won’t like this one cause there’s like, no fluff to be found here whatsoever. But yeah anyway, for those of you who don’t remember what Water Pines AU is all about cause we never talk about it around here anymore, its basically the AU where Dipper makes an ill-informed deal with Bill that results in him literally switching places with Lapis, so he gets turned into a gem and stuck with Jasper while Lapis is freed and turned into a human. Imo if you need more info on it (and wanna see some art I drew up for it way back when) feel free to check this out. And finally, I should inform you that this is a two parter and idk when I’ll actually get around to writing part 2 but I got burnt out trying to make it one part so yah, basically what ya see is what ya get until I eventually write the second part. And so with that stupidly long explaination outta the way, let’s get onto the PAIN!

Dead in the Water (Part 1)

“Ya know, Pine Tree,” Bill casually continued his appeal, an appeal that Dipper had no intentions of taking seriously, though out of morbid curiosity, he halfheartedly listened nonetheless as he watched the laptop continue to steadily tick down. “What happened to Water Wings is just plain tragic, it really is. I mean, just think about it: she’s locked down there at the bottom of that grimy lake, having just a grand old time duking it out with Stripes and spending every waking moment in an endless sea of misery and torment and its all—your—fault!”

“Don’t remind me…” Dipper muttered despondently, guiltily glancing over at the pile of photos of him and Lapis. Reminders of peaceful, happy times that only existed in the distant past now, times that certainly would never come to be ever again. Unless…

“But as ‘sad’ as it all is, kid, I could fix it all up for you, nice and easy!” Bill quipped, his tone as bright and deceptively cheery as ever. “And luckily for you, I’m willing to let you off by only asking for something small in return; in fact, you won’t even notice the difference!”

“You still haven’t bothered to tell me what that ‘something’ is, by the way,” Dipper remarked, sending the dream demon a distrustful glare.

“Huh, guess you do have a point there,” Bill shrugged. “Alrighty then, what I want from you, Pine Tree, is something sooooo easy that I’m sure you won’t even have time to think twice about it once the deal is sealed! And that something is… drumroll please!” At this, the demon snapped his fingers, materializing a self-rolling snare drum out of thin air before making his supposedly daunting proclamation, which ended up being not so apparently daunting at all. “I want you to stay out of my way!”

“Wait… what?” Dipper asked, largely caught off guard by this confusing request.

“You heard me, kid!” Bill said succinctly. “All your ‘mystery hunting’ this summer has gotten you way to close to some answers that you shouldn’t be finding, cause if you did, it’d just about ruin everything I’ve been planning for centuries now. But instead of coming up with some sort of cockamamie scheme to, oh, I don’t know, hijack your body and use it to destroy that journal of yours before flinging your empty skin off the water tower or some hypothetical screwball plan like that, I decided I’d save a whole lot of time and effort by cutting this problem off at the source! So all I’m really asking here is for you to put the breaks on all your little investigations and let me have my fun. See? I told you it was something simple!”

“Hold it so… you… just want me to stop looking into the mysteries of Gravity Falls?” Dipper frowned, still bewildered by how straightforward this all seemed. “And that’s… it?”

“Well, that’s mostly it,” Bill shrugged nonchalantly. “There’s… another small little tidbit in this contract too, something that’ll make sure you keep up your end of the bargain.”

“And… that something is…?”

“Aw, come on, Pine Tree, you don’t want me ruining all my surprises, do you?” Bill asked coyly. “Let’s just say you can expect a bit of a… change, but I’m sure you’ll get used to it eventually! Plus… at this point its just about your only sure-fire way to dredge poor Water Wings up out of both that fusion and that lake. After all, you don’t even know if that dusty old laptop over there could even help anything at all, so why not go with the safer route? I’m sure if she were in your place, Water Wings would do the same thing for you—oh wait! She basically already did by trapping herself down there with Stripes. Don’t you think its about time you returned the favor, kid?”

It was, it really was, and this was something Dipper had felt from the very moment he realized that Lapis would be trapped in that lake possibly forever if nothing was done to rescue her. And up until now, that was an effort he hadn’t found too much hope in, his spirits dropping every time he so much as thought of the blue Gem, struggling and suffering all because of her clear, devoted dedication to him. Dedication that Dipper largely felt undeserving of, for he knew he hadn’t really demonstrated it towards her in return. And yet… now he could, in such a simple, easy way too. True, he loved investigating the boundless, incredible wonders to be found in Gravity Falls, and he knew with every one he uncovered, he drew closer to unraveling the entire mystery that was the town and its baffling strangeness. But at the same time, Lapis had become one of the best and closest friends he had ever come to know in the short time that they had together. Her sacrifice for him alone was proof enough of that. And it was a sacrifice that Dipper felt more than ready to honor by making one of his own, if only it meant that they could finally be together in safety, happiness, and freedom once more.

And so, that’s exactly what he did.

Dipper saw no point in exchanging any more deliberation on the matter as he watched Bill extend a hand out in offering, unnatural blue flames sparking around it. He hesitated, only briefly, upon remembering the dream demon’s warning that there was another element to this purposed deal, but from how he had made it sound, it didn’t seem like it was anything too drastic or important. And even if it was, then certainly liberating Lapis from her longtime prison would make whatever that unknown addendum was worth it.

Right?

“So, Pine Tree? Do we have a deal?” Bill asked almost goadingly, calm in the assurance that he had his young, unwitting pawn right where he wanted him.

Keeping his manner steady and resolved, Dipper only nodded, taking in a deep breath before he carefully met the demon’s hand and shook it, solidifying their bargain once and for all. “Alright, fine,” Dipper said sternly as he looked to Bill rather coldly. “No more mystery hunting. Now fulfill your end of the deal and save Lapis.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Pine Tree, I already got that one covered!” Bill exclaimed with a mischievous chuckle as the flame encompassing both their hands suddenly grew brighter. “But in the meantime, there’s still the matter of the other half of your end of things…”

“M-my… wha-” Dipper barely had any time to get anything out before his voice caught in a startled gasp, his eyes growing wide and his body still and rigid as he felt a sharp pain course through it. In fact, so great was this pain that it ended up completely incapacitating him, to the point that he couldn’t even cry out for help or for a release from it. In a way, it almost felt like all of his cells were violently tearing apart, or better yet, that they were burning, glowing even, but in the worst way possible. Amidst this torrent of unstoppable agony, he hadn’t even registered the dream demon’s incredibly amused and sadistic laughter ringing in his deafening ears, nor did he notice the pale white light ripping away at every part of him, effectively disintegrating him until there was nothing left at all. His consciousness was the last thing to fade away, but before it did, the last thing he heard was the triumphant teasing of the demon who had so easily tricked him with a promise that had ended up resulting in what must have been his own complete and utter destruction.

“See ya, Pine Tree! Hope you enjoy your new digs! Oh, and be sure to send Stripes my best! I’m sure she’s just gonna love to see you!”

The very first thing Lapis felt before awakening was a stark, sudden beating inside her own chest. In fact, the sensation was so strange and alarming that it only seemed to quicken, to the point that it ultimately ended up tearing her right back into consciousness. She let out a gasp, her eyes opening wide as she felt the air fill in another part of her chest, the beating continuing rapidly as she found herself in need of even more air, which she took in heavily as she tried to make sense of what was happening to her.

Despite her effective hyperventilating, Lapis was able to focus enough to notice that whatever surface she was lying on wasn’t anything remotely similar to the darkened, drenched, despair of Malachite’s mindscape that she had grown so accustomed to over the past several weeks. Instead, the surface below her was hard yet warm, crisp, red light pouring in from an unseen source and illuminating a wooden ceiling above her. Disconcerted, Lapis slowly began to pick herself up to get a better look around, though she stopped short upon catching a glance of her arm. Her pale, fleshy, not blue arm.

“Augh!” Lapis cried, grasping her wrist as she glanced over the rest of her form. The usual blue coloration of her dress was apparently no more, replaced by a mix of navy, orange, and grey, and upon pulling a lock forward, she found that her hair had somehow turned a shade of chestnut brown. “W-what… what is this?” she muttered to herself, her brow furrowing as her breathing and the beating in her chest gradually slowed to a normal, natural tempo.

She didn’t have too much of a chance to wonder what had happened or where she was, however, before she noticed something lying on the ground right beside her: a blue and white hat with a tell-tale print of a pine tree on it. An article Lapis immediately recognized, to the point that even picking it up and holding it close made her ache with both regret and with a curious sense of hope as she took another look around.

“D-Dipper?” she ventured, her voice small at first, especially as she failed to find the boy anywhere in the immediate vicinity. “Dipper, a-are you here?” she asked again, feebly rising to stand only to find herself strangely unsteady. All the same, she clung onto the hat, a spark of terror and dread filling her as she realized this place, whatever it was, was surprisingly bereft of Jasper. Regardless to the bizarre alteration of her form, certainly she had to still be part of Malachite, which meant that her orange adversary couldn’t be too far, right?

Lapis shook her head, steadying herself as her expression filled with resolve. If she was indeed still Malachite, and if Dipper, of all people, had managed to find his way into their incredibly toxic mindscape, then she knew her mission, above all else, had to be to protect him from Jasper’s wrath and bring him back to safety. Which meant that her starting step in doing so had to be finding him first.

And so Lapis picked herself up off the ground, her footing initially unsteady as she had to get used to being solely in control of her own form once more. Even so, she wasted no time in checking just about every single nook and cranny the room had to offer for any further sign of Dipper’s presence there, only to find none at all. As a result, an even deeper sense of worry filled her, one that was more than enough to prompt her to set out beyond the boundaries of the room to check elsewhere in the hopes of finally reuniting with him if nothing else. However, as she tentatively opened the door, she ended up reuniting with someone else entirely.

“S-Steven?!” Lapis gasped, her eyes wide as she caught sight of the young Gem standing right outside the door.

Startled, Steven gaped back up at her, his hand held up ready to knock on the now-opened door as he tried to make sense of exactly who was standing before him. “Uh… do I know you?”

“Of course you do!” Lapis exclaimed as though it was obvious, despite her new appearance. “It’s me: Lapis!”

“L-Lapis?!” Steven’s jaw practically hit the floor as everything connected for him, but sure enough, it did make sense. Save for her oddly familiar but markedly different coloration, the woman before him looked exactly like the blue Gem who had trapped herself at the bottom of the lake several weeks ago. “Wha—I don’t understand; how did you even get here?! When did you and Jasper unfuse? And… and why do you look so different?”

“Wait, wait, hold on, what?” Lapis shook her head, her eyes wide with surprise. “I… I’m not fused with Jasper anymore? But… but I thought…”

“Well… I’m pretty sure you’re not since you’re here,” Steven pointed out. “But what I wanna know is why you look like that. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were a human!”

“A human?” Lapis scoffed, crossing her arms. “Don’t be silly, Steven. I may not know how I got separated from Jasper or why I look like this, but if there’s one thing I do know, its that I’m still a Gem. See?”

At this, she turned around to show the young Gem the stone on her back, only for Steven to let out a stunned gasp at what he actually saw there. “L-Lapis…” he muttered, clearly shocked. “Your Gem… it… it’s gone!”

“What?!” Lapis frantically reached both of her hands to her back, feeling around desperately for her familiar teardrop-shaped gemstone, only to feel nothing but smooth, warm skin where it should have been. “H-how… what happened to it?! Where did it go, I-” She stopped short with a gasp, her eyes widening even more in a dawning, almost sickening form of realization. “N-no way…” she whispered, absolutely shaken by this revelation as she pressed her hand against her chest, only to feel what could only be a heart hammering away underneath it. “I-it can’t be… I… S-Steven… I think I really am a human…”

“B-but… how did you just turn into a human like this?!” Steven asked, just as frantic as Lapis was over this alarming news.

“I don’t know!” she exclaimed, running a hand through her now brown hair. “One minute, I was keeping Malachite chained to the bottom of the lake, and then the next I woke up here and found-” Lapis interupted herself once more, remembering that she had much more important things to worry about aside from her shift in species as she glanced down at the hat still tightly trapped in her grip. “Dipper…” she whispered before hastily placing a firm hand on the young Gem’s shoulder. “Steven, where’s Dipper?”

“Wait, you mean he’s not in there?” Steven frowned, glancing past Lapis and into the otherwise empty attic. “That’s weird… Mabel sent me up here to find him, so… maybe he’s in another part of the shack? He’s been working really hard lately to try and find a way to save you, so I’m sure he’ll be really happy to see you!”

“H-he’s been trying to…” Lapis trailed off, letting out a sad sigh as she held the hat close to her chest. “Oh, Dipper…”

“H-hey, I’m sure once we find him, he’ll be able to help us figure out exactly what happened to you,” Steven reassured upon noticing Lapis’ obvious melancholy.

“R-right…” Lapis nodded in absent agreement, following after the young Gem as he led her through the rest of the shack. The two searched diligently for Dipper, with Steven claiming that it only made sense that he’d be somewhere in the building since that was the last place he had been seen heading to. And yet, despite their best efforts, neither of them managed to find him inside the shack whatsoever, leaving Lapis in a rather distraught state as she was filled with both dread over her new form as well as over Dipper’s whereabouts, which by all accounts, seemed to be completely unknown.

With their search of the shack completely exhausted, Steven and Lapis agreed to check outside for Dipper, just in case he had ended up slipping out of the house without anyone noticing somehow. And yet, instead of finding him, they managed to run smack dab into his twin instead as she was heading into the house carry a high-piled basket of sock puppet supplies, which was easily knocked out of her hands the moment her and Lapis accidentally collided.

“Hey!” Mabel huffed, disgruntled as sock and craft supplies spilled all over the floor. “Steven! What’s the big… idea…?” She trailed off, her jaw dropping as she watched the familiar figure beside the young Gem start to pick herself up off the ground to stand once more. At first, Mabel thought she was seeing things, because certainly there was no logical way she could be here like this; but sure enough, it seemed to be true, as completely unbelievable as it seemed.

“No way…” she muttered in amazement as she stared at the former Gem, her mouth gaped in awe. “Lapis?!”

“H-hey, Mabel,” Lapis greeted, offering the girl as much of a smile as she could, though it was clear her primary concern was still with finding Dipper. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“It sure as heck has!” Mabel exclaimed, still completely awestruck. “How are you even here? And how are you all humany? And most importantly, does Dipper know? Cause if when he sees you he’s gonna freak out. I’m not even kidding, he’s been driving himself crazy looking for a way to save you and-”

“I-I know,” Lapis interjected, glancing down somewhat remorsefully upon hearing this. “Steven already filled me in. But we are looking for Dipper, if you’ve seen him anywhere.”

“Not since we-” Mabel quickly cut herself off, a worried look crossing her expressions as she looked down to the scattered sock puppets on the ground below and remembered the rather harsh words her and her brother had just exchanged only just a few moments prior. Words that, in light of Lapis’ sudden, unexpected, but still miraculous reappearance, seemed incredibly petty now, especially on her end of things. “Uh… never mind,” she said quickly, pushing several of the sock puppets away with her foot as she dropped her basket. “W-why don’t I help you guys look for him? Three heads are always better than two after all.”

“Are you sure, Mabel?” Steven asked with a frown. “I mean, your puppet show’s coming up really soon and you still have a lot to do to get ready for-”

“Eh, the show can wait for a sec,” Mabel interupted with a somewhat forced wave of her hand. “After all, I… I…” she trailed off, not particularly wanting to bring her bitter argument with Dipper up in front of Lapis, especially since said argument had largely centered around the former Gem in the first place. “I really wanna see the look on Dipper’s face when he sees you again, Lapis!” she intercepted, being both truthful and dodgy all at the same time. “Now come on, let’s go find him!”

“Right,” Lapis nodded firmly, crouching down a bit, almost as if she was anticipating something. Steven and Mabel looked to her in confusion when nothing did end up happening, something that confused the former Gem even more, until she stole a glance behind her and let out a startled gasp. “M-my wings!” she cried, distraught as she stood properly. “W-why can’t I summon my wings!?”

“Uh… probably because you don’t have a Gem anymore,” Steven informed gently. “Humans can’t fly, Lapis. Well, at least not using water, that is.”

Lapis shook her head in disbelief at this, grief filling her expression over the loss of something she had always treasured so much. Her wings provided her with freedom, with a chance to escape to safety in an instant if the need arose. But now, they were gone and she was tethered to the ground, anchored almost just as much as she had been with Jasper at the bottom of the lake. The only difference now was that she was at the very least, no longer trapped within a prison of her own design with a cellmate she would have just as rather shattered than let survive. All the same, her lack of wings only added onto the several disconcerting discoveries she had made since awakening in her new human body. A worrisome change that she hoped could at the very least be eased upon finding the one she had given almost everything up for until now.

Since searching by air was out of the question, the trio split up, investigating the immediate woods around the shack on foot. Though Lapis was unfamiliar with the area, Steven and Mabel made an effort to venture out a bit further, their own respective concern for Dipper starting to rise upon catching not a single sign of him anywhere. From there, they decided to check in up at the temple, Lapis keeping her distance outside as the kids asked if any of the Gems had seen Dipper around, only for all three of them to offer sympathetic no’s. It was only after they decided to join in on the search themselves that they discovered Lapis and her now human condition, something that aptly shocked all three of them, though the former Gem had no interest in garnishing any help from them, except for when it came to looking for Dipper. As minutes turned into hours, Mabel decided to make a tough call and postpone her puppet show, knowing that, for the first time all week Gabe Bensen could wait; her brother was, by all accounts, apparently missing. And after putting him on hold all week for her own selfish pursuits, she wasn’t about to rest until she made things right, found him, and apologized for the lack of support she should have been providing him with all along.

As the sun began to sink across the forest, the Gems insisted that the kids finally check in with Stan, all of them hoping that he at the very least had some sort of clue as to where Dipper had run off to. The conman however, was simply quite surprised to hear that his nephew was missing alone, making it quite obvious that he was just as clueless as everyone else. After calling up Soos and Wendy, a rather sizable search party had been formed, one that forged on late into the night and stretched as far as the town boarders itself. And yet, despite their collective, valiant efforts, Dipper never seemed to show up anywhere, much to everyone’s immensely growing concern. It truth, it seemed as though he had disappeared completely out of nowhere, leaving only his hat behind, which Lapis hadn’t let go of since the moment she found it in the shack’s attic. Speaking of the former Gem, what struck most of the others as odd was that her sudden appearance seemed to perfectly coincide with Dipper’s abrupt disappearance. There was no question the two events were connected, but as to how and why, no one had the slightest clue. Even Garnet, with her future vision and all, was unable to foresee them locating the missing boy anytime soon. Still, that didn’t mean they were going to give up hope so easily; Lapis and Mabel in particular were both insistent on continuing the search until Dipper was found and brought home, safe and sound.

And yet in the midst of foraging through the darkened forest in the very late hours of the night, Lapis soon discovered another aspect of humanity that she had previously never experienced before: exhaustion. With each passing moment, it seemed as though her pace grew slower, her eyes grew heavier and her focus drifted away altogether, to the point that at one point she almost tripped over Steven, who was every bit as tired as she was. Upon realizing this and detecting the same sort of fatigue from Stan, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy, the Gems concluded that they would continue looking for Dipper while all of the humans headed home to bed so that they could be better rested up to help in the search tomorrow. Of course, there were protests all around concerning this as all of them did indeed want to find Dipper as soon as possible, but once Garnet put her foot down on the matter, there was no arguing with her about it.

And so everyone save for the Gems headed home for the night, their hearts equally heavy with worry and dread. After a healthy round of convincing and bribing Stan on Mabel’s part, Lapis was allotted to stay at the shack, with Steven sleeping over as well since the Gems would be out for the rest of the night. Together, the pair fashioned a makeshift air mattress bed for the former Gem to sleep on, though all the same she still really wasn’t quite familiar with the process of “sleeping” to begin with. Being a human was, at least from her perspective, a rather odd experience as a whole. Only just a few hours ago did she “eat” for the first time, with her first meal consisting of something Steven called “the bits” that he got from Gravity Fries downtown while they were searching around there. To Lapis’ surprise, she actually enjoyed the snack quite a bit, though she was somewhat anxious when Steven and Mabel informed her that eating was something she’d have to do regularly now that she was a human.

In fact, the reality that she was no longer a Gem but rather a human on its own was enough to keep her lying awake in bed even after Steven and Mabel had already fallen asleep. In the full moonlight streaming into the attic room, Lapis stared at her hand—her now flesh-covered, pale, human hand—as she let her thoughts wander. How did something like this even happen? How had she been torn away from Jasper and put here, of all places? How long was she going to stay like this? Was it ever possible for her to return to her original form? And most importantly, the question that had been largely plaguing her all day, even about her own concerns about herself: where could Dipper have gone to? The former Gem couldn’t deny that her now human heart ached whenever she thought of the mysteriously missing boy, the boy who, even during her own self imposed imprisonment in the lake, she had missed so very much each and every day. Lapis couldn’t deny that she wanted to see him, probably even more than she wanted to be a Gem once again. As far as she was concerned, thoughts of anything else other than finding him and bringing him home could wait. To know that he was safe and sound and where he belonged would be more than enough to set her worried mind at ease. Which was why, as she slowly drifted off into her first fitful, fretful slumber, the last thing on the former Gem’s mind was the warm reassurance Steven had offered both her and Mabel just a few hours prior. A reassurance she hoped more than anything would come true:

“Don’t worry! I’m sure we’ll end up finding Dipper tomorrow!”

Except they didn’t. They didn’t find him then, or the next day, or even anytime in the days or weeks after that.

And when they finally did find him, he was in the last place any of them had ever thought to look.

Earlier…

A flash of blinding light sparked from the depths of Lake Gravity Falls, completely filling its empty surface, though no one was around to see it. Likewise, no one was around to see the tiny, squarish blue stone drop into its murky waters from seemingly out of nowhere, sinking lower and lower, down towards the bottom of the deep lake on its own accord. For a moment or two, fish occasionally flocked to it, investigating the odd, dully shimmering gem until, out of nowhere, light began to explode from it, scaring the sealife away as a small humanoid shape began to form around it. The light took on a bright blue pigment as it began to define its previously amorphous form, with clothes and features taking shape as the gemstone found its place upon its forehead. And, with another flash of solidifying light, the radiant glow disappeared, once again sending the lake depths in obscuring darkness and leaving a small, singular figure floating in its place.

Upon regaining some sense of cognizance and feeling, the very first thing Dipper did was abruptly open his eyes, taking in a sharp gasp the moment he did, only to inhale a large mouthful of water instead of air. As panicked and disoriented as he already was, his first instinct was to panic at the thought of drowning, flailing about as he floated just above the lakebed, neither rising towards the top nor sinking to the bottom all the while. It was only as he unintentionally ended up taking in more water that he noticed something both relieving and alarming; he wasn’t drowning. In fact, it seemed as though he was somehow able to breathe within the water just as easily as he could breathe air.

“W-what the…?” Dipper trailed off, whispering to himself as he began to curiously touch his throat only to stop short upon stealing a glance at his hand. For a brief moment, he thought it was simply a trick of the incredibly low light surrounding him on all sides, but upon a second glance, he realized that his hand was indeed somehow strangely blue as opposed to its normal pale pigmentation. He was quick to discover that everything else about him was some varying shade of deep blue too: from his skin, to his clothes, to his shoes, to even his hair as it covered what he found to be the most disconcerting of all: his birthmark. While it was usually mostly unnoticeable considering he kept it concealed so well, Dipper couldn’t hold back a soft gasp of surprise as he realized he could actually feel the copy of the constellation on his forehead, smooth and solid and almost… stone-like to the touch.

For a moment, Dipper took pause, his hand floating away from his birthmark as he tried to make sense of exactly where he was and what was going on. Surrounding him all around seemed to be a vast aquatic void, with only the occasional deepwater fish, plant, or sunken canoe to be spotted anywhere nearby. With nothing visual to go off of, the most Dipper could do was think back to how he might have ended up in a place like this when, as far as he knew, he had just been in the shack’s attic just a few minutes prior. The last thing he remembered was his own exhaustion amidst his endless attempts at trying to decode the laptop’s password, but that was it. He couldn’t recall falling sleep, which meant that there really wasn’t any chance of this being some sort of dream. Even so, he couldn’t help but feel as though he was missing an important piece here, a piece that, if he ended up actually remembering it somehow, could quite possibly explain both his unknown location and his bewildering condition at the same exact time.

However, instead of finding that missing piece, he soon found something, or rather someone else entirely. Or rather, they found him.

“YOU!” The outraged shout boomed across the lakebed, scaring off any fish that was even remotely in the vicinity. Dipper, on the other hand, froze up completely, his eyes going wide as the massive shadow of a Gem he had hoped to never encounter again fell upon him. Yet before he could fearfully spin around to face the vicious warrior, she did the job for him, unexpectedly grabbing him by the arm and wrenching him around roughly. Dipper had only a moment to register the thought that such a maneuver could have easy broken his arm entirely as he glanced up and shuddered with unconcealed alarm at the fact that he was now somehow face to face with none other than Jasper herself. “I know you,” the orange Gem growled, scowling fiercely at him all the while. “You’re her favorite little human pet, the one she wouldn’t stop thinking about while she kept me chained down here! So why are you here? And where is she?!”

“W-who?” Dipper dared to venture, his voice much smaller and more frightened than he had hoped it to be. “Lapis?”

“Who else?!” Jasper snapped hotly, her already inescapable grip on his wrist tightening. “Up until a few minutes ago the two of us were fused, just like we’ve been for weeks now. And then all of the sudden you show up and she disappears! What’s going on here?!”

“I-I don’t know!” Dipper answered truthfully, confused just as much as he was terrified. In fact he was so disoriented that he barely even registered an essential part of what Jasper had just said, namely that her and Lapis had been fused. Which meant that, even though it was really beyond all sense of logic, they weren’t fused anymore. “I was just-”

“Quiet!” the orange Gem barked harshly, giving the unfortunate boy in her grip a violent shake. “I don’t know where she thinks she gets off, just running off after everything she did and leaving you behind to-” Jasper cut herself off, her confusion with the unfolding situation seeming to grow as she noticed something that only seemed to anger and disgust her even more. “What is that?”

“W-what?” Dipper tried to glance up at whatever it was Jasper was pointing at, only to find that she was oddly referring to him. Or rather, to his forehead.

For a moment, Jasper didn’t answer, opting to finally relinquish her tight hold on Dipper’s arm only to suddenly grasp his chin instead, still effectively holding him in place as she swept a bit of his hair up to find something that made her gasp in clear shock as she finally let go of him altogether. “You’re not a human!” she exclaimed, obviously baffled as she continued sending him the same bitter glare as before. “You’re a Gem!”

“Wha—no, I’m not!” Dipper countered, though he still lifted a curious hand up to his now tangible birthmark, wondering if Jasper might have somehow confused that for a gemstone somehow. But then again, his now oddly blue coloration, his strange, newfound ability to breathe underwater… both of these things seemed to speak to the contrary. Which in and of itself was an alarming possibility he didn’t even have time to think about as Jasper continued, apparently growing even more incensed by the second.

“I get it now…” the orange Gem growled coldly. “The little game you and her have been playing… the reason why she wanted to protect you so badly that she decided to trap me… You’re a Lapis Lazuli, just like her!”

“N-no!” Dipper tried to protest, knowing that such a claim was completely preposterous. “I’m-”

“Let me guess…” Jasper continued, her feet firmly planted on the lakebed as she marched closer towards him. While Dipper had the wits about him to wisely float backwards out of her immediate range, he was still largely too engulfed by fear to make a real escape attempt. “You two came out of the same Kindergarten, didn’t you? I know you Lazulis like to travel in flocks. So when she got stuck on this backwards planet, you were the only one of her kind still left around to take care of that mirror she was trapped in. Then, when she flew back here to warn you that we were coming, you tried to hide yourself by shapeshifting into that weak, pathetic form you’re in now, just like Rose did! But it didn’t work, because I’ve got it all figured out now...”

“No, y-you really don’t, trust me,” Dipper tried to clarify, though of course, in her ongoing anger and thirst for vengeance, she was hardly listening to him.

“And… since she took so much from me… and now that I know just how much you really mean to her…” A sly, almost sinister smile crossed the orange Gem’s face as she stood essentially towering over him menacingly. “I think its only fair that I return the favor and take something from her…”

Dipper didn’t even have a chance to ask what she could have meant by this before she suddenly latched onto his arm yet again, wrenching him upward before, surprisingly, spinning him around with almost a flare of what could have been mistaken for grace. She relinquished her hold on him for just the slightest second and in that second, he did all he could to try to swim away, only for her to pull him back down by his ankle before he could really make any progress at all. Once she had him back down, she began swiftly spinning them both around in something that almost seemed like a dance. And it was as Dipper realized this, that he realized with a burst of apt panic exactly what Jasper was trying to do.

“W-wait!” he cried as Jasper’s smug smirk only deepened at his obvious fear. “Don’t-”

“Go ahead and beg all you want, Lazuli,” the orange Gem hissed with a hateful sneer as she suddenly dipped him low, just as she had done with Lapis on the lake shore weeks ago. “I begged too, for weeks on end, in a futile attempt to escape her,” Jasper’s grin only deepened as the gemstone that was in the place of her nose began to take on a bright white glow. “But it never worked; if she had her way, she was going to keep me trapped down here forever. All because of you!” Dipper gasped in growing alarm as the same sort of glow began to pour from his birthmark, or, as he now realized with a sense of sickening shock, his gem. “Well now its your turn to see what that’s like. I hope you enjoy it, because just like she said, I’m never letting you go!”

With this final, fierce proclamation, she roughly pulled him towards her, a blinding light enveloping them both. While Dipper’s past experience with fusion was extremely limited, he knew that both times he had formed Stepper with Steven had felt absolutely nothing like this. With Steven, the act of fusion had felt warm, calming, even welcoming, even if the initial aftermath had been largely tremulous and uneasy. But with Jasper, fusion was anything but those things. It was like she was throwing him into a tight cage and throwing away the key. It was like she was anchoring him, weighing him down to the bottom of an ocean that, even with the ability to breathe underwater, he would surely drown in. It was like—no, it wasn’t like, it was her trapping him, locking him into something he wanted no parts of and desperately wanted to escape.

Which was why, even as the eventual fusion gained its form, it was screaming, half of it crying out for release while the other half simply laughed vindictively. As a result, their sharp-toothed maw split cleanly down the middle as their form solidified, resulting in two mouths, two sets of eyes, and six sets of arms, two of which acted as legs. Most everything about this fusion was monstrous, yet familiar, their coloration a mix of mangled, sickly greens and their build bulky, awkward, and uneven. Their white hair was a wild, untamed mess, their skin markings garish and garbled, and their newly-shared mind a complete and utter disaster as they both were forcibly plunged into its darkened depths.

As for the fusion themselves, they hardly faired much better as they were still caught in a chaotic flux of sadistic satisfaction and horrified anguish over the realization of the awful monster they had become. “Augh! L-let me go!” they screamed through one of their two mouths, their voices mangled together and uneven yet nightmarishly unified all the same. “Not a chance! Not until you see just how much she made me suffer because of you!”

At this unhinged declaration, the fusion, out of sheer desperation alone, reached up to the far off surface of the water far above them, hoping they could somehow breach it and alert someone, anyone to their horrific plight. Unfortunately, before they could even get anywhere close, a sudden chain, composed entirely of water, rushed up from the lakebed, latching onto both of their wrists and keeping them anchored heavily down to the ground itself.

“N-no! Stop! Please!” they begged, not even bothering to hide how outright terrified they were by this seemingly possible, absolutely miserable turn of events. “I-I already told you! I’m not a Gem! Hmph! You really are stupid if you think you can fool me again!” they sneered, yanking the chains back to force them down even more. “If you’re ‘not a Gem’ then how did we just fuse? I-I don’t know! I don’t even know what’s going on! P-please, I just want to—Ha! You really think I care about what you want?! The only thing I care about is making both you and her pay for what you both did to me! B-but I didn’t—QUIET!”

The fusion gasped as an entirely new set of watery manacles suddenly latched around both sets of their feet, pulling them down until they were basically tethered to the lakebed itself with no hope of escape whatsoever. “I’m done listening to what you have to say!” they barked harshly, so caught up in their lust for revenge that they didn’t even place any second thoughts or concerns with the other, absolutely panicking half of their ruinously shared mind as they essentially drowned him in the darkness of their fusion’s hatred altogether. “She might have tried to protect you, but she failed. You both failed! Because from here on out, you’re not a Lapis Lazuli or a human in disguise or anything else anymore.” At this, one of the fusion’s mouths leered into a sickening smirk while the other one quivered in pained whimpers, heartbroken tears starting to well up in two out of their four eyes as they began to sink, quite literally, into their unimaginable fate. “The only thing we are now is Malachite. So get used to it; because as long as I’m around to keep us together, that’s something that’s never going to change.”

The first few days and nights were, simply put, completely unbearable. True to her word, Jasper kept Dipper, and by extension, the newly-recreated Malachite tightly chained to both bottom of the lakebed as well as to the murky, inescapable depths of their now forcibly shared mind. And from the very moment his unexpected, nightmarish imprisonment began, Dipper wanted nothing more than some form of release from it. A release that seemed like it would never end up coming.

In fact, if there was any one word Dipper knew he could use to sum up his still relatively newfound existence as Malachite, then that word would be drowning. Largely because a majority of his time seemed to be spent doing exactly that in just about every sense of the word. He seemed to always in a state of constant drowning; drowning literally in the toxic waters of Malachite’s dark and desolate mindscape, drowning in the mire of hatred of the Gem who had cruelly trapped him in the name of her own vengeance, and drowning most of all in his own crippling, crushing fear that he’d never be able to escape, a fear that only steadily grew the longer it went on for.

In fact, the only times Dipper didn’t feel like he was drowning were the rare occasions when Jasper, for whatever reason, decided to dredge him up to the surface level of their forcibly shared mindscape. The orange Gem only ever did this for the sake of antagonizing her unfortunate hostage, by giving him a glimpse of the sparse rays of light that shined through the surface of the lake far above them, light that offered the elusive promise of hope and freedom. Promises that, Jasper would all to quickly remind him, he would never achieve again as she always ended up dragging him back down to their cripplingly cold subconscious, never even allotting him a single moment or inkling of any sort of control over their twistedly fused form whatsoever. In fact, he was lucky if she ever even let him have a word in edgewise against him, always callously brushing off all of his fierce, sometimes downright desperate attempts to fight back or resist against her. And yet, for as much as Jasper’s vengeful cruelty was starting to wear him down more and more, the worst part for Dipper by far, was that he essentially had no idea how he had even ended up in this seemingly unending waking nightmare to begin with.

In the agonizingly long stints of lonely drowning he had to endure, the question of why he was there at all was really the one Dipper was really able to grapple with. As chained as his hands were, he wasn’t really able to reach up to his forehead, but as far as he knew, there was a gemstone there, a gemstone that, by all accounts, apparently made him a Gem. The fact that he had been able to fuse with Jasper at all was proof enough of that, as disconcerting and alarming as the very thought. And yet how exactly he had somehow changed from human to Gem and wound up in the lake in Lapis’ place was a complete and utter mystery to him, one that, he believed if he could figure out the answer to, then perhaps he could begin to puzzle out how free himself from his current, miserable plight. The only problem was, he had no idea where to even start.

That is, until the day the normally lonely, dark corner of Malachite’s mindscape he now called home received the very last visitor he could have ever expected.

And what a surprise it certainly was for Dipper when, amidst floating miserably and silently in the dreary, empty darkness, a sudden sadistic, familiar cackle echoed through the water, sending heavy ripples throughout both it and the newly-turned Gem trapped within it. Ripples that turned into outright shock as a certain triangular demon suddenly materialized quite out of nowhere before him.

“Well, well, well, look at you, Pine Tree!” Bill exclaimed in bright greeting, startling Dipper quite a bit by his abrupt appearance. “Turns out you don’t make that shabby of a space rock after all, if I do say so myself. You’re still pretty shabby overall though; guess some things never change, even if your species does!”

It took Dipper a brief moment to break out of his relative alarm, but when he did, he was still rather baffled by his new, rather unwelcome ‘guest’ all the same. “B-Bill?! What… what are you doing here?”

“Aw, come on, kid, isn’t it obvious?” Bill asked, only for Dipper to shake his head in continued confusion. “Seriously? You don’t remember?” the demon pressed, almost surprised by this fact before letting out an exasperated groan. “Hmph. Guess I should’ve figured that suddenly having your entire human DNA rewritten into nothing a bunch of solid light molecules would scramble your brain up a little bit. Well, it would if you still technically HAD a brain anymore! But if you’re still in the dark (which you definitely seem to be right now) then let me refresh your memory for ya, Pine Tree!”

Surprisingly, true to his word, Bill did just that with a simple snap of his fingers, one that sparked a brief, bright glow in Dipper’s gemstone and instantly filled him in with flashes of everything he needed to know. He saw himself, human and free from the fused oppression he now knew; he saw Bill, cheerfully rattling on about some kind of ‘deal’ that would help free Lapis from her own dire straits; and finally, he saw himself accepting that deal, desperate to finally rescue the blue Gem who had done so much to rescue him, he saw himself shaking the demon’s flaming hand, he saw himself disintegrating into nothing but pure, formless light, he saw Bill somehow compress that light into a deep blue stone, one in the very same shape as his own birthmark. And finally, he saw the demon carelessly drop that stone into Lake Gravity Falls, into the very spot where it would be easy, almost inevitable for Jasper to find him and force him to fuse with her.

And just like that, he finally had it all figured out.

“Y-you!” Dipper gasped, pulling back away from Bill as much as he could with his arms and legs still changed as they were. “You did this! You’re the reason why I-I’m… I’m a Gem, and why I’m here, and trapped with her and-”

“Yeah, yeah, kid, no need to waste any of our time reiterating what we both already know,” Bill remarked, clearly not taking the new Gem’s apt anger seriously.

“Why?” Dipper interjected before the demon could get any of his callous remarks out, largely since he was seething with so much raw fury over how Bill had effectively turned his entire life upside down altogether. “Why would you even do something like this?!”

“Because its hilarious, Pine Tree!” Bill laughed unapologetically. “Or wait, guess I can’t really call you that anymore, seeing as how you’re the new Water Wings and all! See what I mean?” With another snap of the demon’s fingers, Dipper’s gem glistened briefly once again, though this time, a wide pair of rather elegant aquatic wings, almost identical to Lapis’, unfurled from its spot on his forehead, catching him off guard quite a bit, though the somewhat embarrassing sight only elicited even more twisted amusement from the sadistic demon. “Ha! And just when I thought this couldn’t get any more priceless! I don’t know why you look so cross, ‘Water Wings’! After all, I’m sure you’ll catch some great headwinds with those beauties, huh?!”

Dipper only offered the demon a hateful glare before glancing fretfully up at his new wings, ones that he tried to force back into his gem, though despite all of his mental straining, he had no such luck, much to his ever growing frustration with his situation as a whole. “T-this wasn’t our deal, Bill!” he shouted furiously, a part of him realizing he probably looked quite ridiculous with his watery wings coming out of his forehead, though he hardly cared.

“Oh, see, that’s where you’re wrong, kid,” Bill said. “See, I seem to remember you promising to stay outta my way in exchange for freeing your friend. But that means that somebody had to take her place, and since you wanted to save her sooooo badly, I figured you’d be the perfect fit!”

“But you never mentioned anything about turning me into a Gem or about Jasper forcing me to fuse with her!” Dipper countered hotly. “In fact, you hardly mentioned anything at all! I didn’t know anything about what I was getting myself into because you lied about it all! This isn’t fair which is why I’m calling our deal off. Change me back and get me out of here, Bill, now!”

“Aw, sure, I’d be more than happy to do that for ya, ‘Water Wings’,” Bill remarked, though his tone darkened somewhat as he pressed a bit closer to the new Gem. “Giving you back your boring old human meatskin would be a piece of cake! Of course… you do know that means that everything will go back to the way it was before. Which means… Water Wings—or I guess I should call her Pine Tree now—has to come back here to Stripes too, right?”

“W-what…?” Dipper took pause at this, his eyes widening at the alarming implication. “What… what do you mean? Where is Lapis anyway? What did you to do her?!”

“Well, I put her in your place, duh!” the demon quipped, pointing down to his flat form as it depicted an image of Lapis herself, surprisingly completely human, sitting sandwiched in between Steven and Mabel. While there were hints of worry in all three of their expressions, they still smiled to one another, their happiness only growing as the former Gem hugged both of the kids close to her, clearly relieved to be free and with them instead of trapped and alone. The very sight of finally seeing a genuine smile on Lapis’ face after so long stirred something warm up inside of Dipper, and even despite his own horrific circumstances and the fact that he couldn’t be happy there with her, he still couldn’t deny just how glad he was to finally see her released from the nightmarish prison he now found himself trapped within.

“Y-you… you turned her into a… a human…” he mused, his voice almost a whisper as he continued staring at the depiction of Lapis with a ghost of a smile on his face.

“Ya got that right, kid,” Bill remarked evenly. “I gotta say, the shift from Gem to human was probably a bit of a downgrade for her, but hey, at least she’s finally outta this unending hellhole of pain and misery, huh? Then again, I guess she won’t be for too much longer since you’re so deadest on getting outta here yourself and forcing her back in, right, Water Wings?”

Dipper practically froze as Bill once again extended his hand out to him, blue fire licking at it as he offered him the promise of freedom, safety, and normality yet again. A promise that, by all accounts, as much as he wanted it, he knew he couldn’t take. Not when Lapis had already suffered languishing imprisonment for so long. Not when she had sacrificed almost everything she had just to protect him. Not when she was finally free and happy and living a life she never really got to enjoy before. True, Dipper did miss his own freedom; he missed Mabel and Steven and Stan and the Gems and being a human and even Lapis herself. But as much as he wanted all of that back, as much as he wanted his very life back, he knew that taking it back while taking it all away from Lapis would be nothing more than selfish, especially in light of how much she had given up for him before. And though the thought of being locked away in agonizing solitude with no one but the carelessly cruel Jasper to keep him company was nigh unbearable to him, Dipper knew that he had no choice but to endure it. After all, if Lapis was willing to go that far for him, then it was only fair that he return the favor and do the same for her.

“N-no…” he finally sighed, looking away sadly as he thought of all he was giving up. His family, his friends, his future… all of them would now only be a distant dream he’d never be able to have anymore. And even despite his righteous resolve, that alone was more than enough to bring a tear to his eye. “I… I can’t… As long as she’s safe and happy out there, then… then I’ll stay down here, like this…”

“Forever?” Bill pressed with almost twisted curiosity, clearly reveling in getting his way in the matter.

“F-forever…” Dipper muttered in defeat as that tear finally fell, knowing that, just like that, he had sealed his now hopeless fate, once and for all.

“Well, if you say so, kid!” the demon quickly pulled his hand back, taking Dipper’s seemingly only chance for freedom along with it. “But just so ya know, from here on out, there are no more take-backsies! Which means you’re pretty much stuck in here with Stripes for the long run!”

“Yeah, I… I know…” Dipper acknowledged quietly, looked down at the chains that would now keep him bound and trapped for the rest of his existence, however long that might be.

“Then I guess that’s that!” Bill concluded brightly. “Ya know, it really is a shame, Water Wings, that Pine Tree will never get to know just how much you’re giving up for her here. But oh well, with that new short human lifespan of hers, its not like she’ll have way too much longer to feel guilty about it. Unlike you, kid; you get to spend the next several millennia hanging out down here with Stripes. Who knows? Maybe by the time she decides to let you out, some of the people you love and care about will still be around… Nah, I’m just kidding, they’ll all be long dead and gone by then! Ha! This can’t get any better, can it!? But, I guess if you don’t have any further need for my ‘services’, then I’ll just be taking off here. See ya, Water Wings! Oh, and have fun spending the next few thousand years as a lonely little prisoner inside of a grotesque, hulking monster of a Gem fusion! Like always, I’ll be watching you!”

And, without sparing another word to the hapless new Gem he had so cruelly deceived, Bill disappeared, leaving Dipper alone in the dark depths of Malachite’s mindset once again, a prison that only seemed even more suffocating as he realized he had just condemned himself to being confined to it forever. And as that realization sunk in more and more, his aquatic wings finally dissipated in his growing despair, his eyes welling up with more and more tears that he was powerless to contain as they came out in heartbroken sobs.

Though Bill had told him he’d exist practically forever, Dipper felt as though his life might has well have ended right then and there. Because now, as a result of his own haste and foolishness alone, he’d never again get to experience anything but the empty darkness currently surrounding him, he’d never know anything but Jasper’s senseless burning hatred and cruel punishments and torture. He’d never again get to feel the warmth of the sun or breathe in the fresh morning air or even exist as his own being, his own person outside of the monstrous fusion he now was. He’d never get to hang out with Steven or Connie or Stan or even any of the Gems again, never tell any of them just how much they all meant to him. He’d never get to see Mabel again, to make amends for their final argument or take back the heated words he regretted so much now more than ever. And perhaps worst of all, he’d never get to thank Lapis for her sacrifice, for taking on the immeasurable burden he had now accepted in her stead. He’d never get to keep up his end of the promise he had made to her, that they would be safe and happy and together once again. He’d never get to do any of that, and he only had himself to blame for selling it all away in a moment of pain and desperation, two things that would now only accompany him forevermore.

Because now, he was just as Jasper herself had said; nothing more than a prisoner, a piece of the monstrous Malachite and all that they entailed.

And, from then on out, that’s all he ever would be, for the rest of time itself.

Or at least, that’s what he thought.

It took almost a month for any of them to finally discover where Dipper had been for so long. And when they did, it was in the least expected, and most alarming way possible.

Because when, after another long night of combing the surrounding area near Gravity Falls for any hopes of finding him, Dipper began to suddenly and inexplicably appear in Steven’s dreams, Lapis, Mabel, and the Gems all pressed him to keep going, to look further for the longtime missing boy who had seemingly vanished without a trace. And it was only as Steven found himself dropped into a vast, shadowy teal ocean, one that’s bitter cold water seemed to carry a feeling of mournful agony and hopeless suffering to it, that he finally, finally found Dipper. Though the state in which he found him was anything but relieving.

He floated amidst the seemingly fathomless ocean only a few feet away, his head hung and his eyes closed in an expression of complete and utter beaten exhaustion. Though what concerned Steven the most upon a first glance wasn’t just the fact that his entire coloration was now inexplicable shades of dark, deep blue; rather it was the thick, watery chains locked tightly around his wrists, ankles, and even his neck, all keeping him secured tightly in place, for whatever reason. Something that wasn’t going to continue for too much longer if Steven had anything to do about it.

“D-Dipper!” the young Gem cried, launching himself forward amidst the water he could somehow breathe in. This call was surprisingly enough to rouse Dipper from whatever stupor he was in as he weakly glanced up at Steven, letting out a gasp of shock to see anyone other than Jasper for the first time in what felt like years.

“S-Steven?” he asked, immediately perking up with both surprise and with oncoming fear as he glanced up anxiously. After all, in light of his self-imposed isolation here, he could have never expected Steven of all people to show up, though seeing such a friendly face hardly relieved him now. “W-what are you doing here? No, wait, how did you even get in here in the first place?! D-don’t tell me she-”

“W-wait, hold on, where is here, Dipper?” Steven asked, not hesitating to get the most important details first. “Is this where you’ve been for the past month? If it is, then you have to tell me where we are so we can finally come find you!”

“…I-it… its been a month?” Dipper asked, eyes wide with disbelief upon hearing this disconcerting news, one that almost brought tears to his eyes as he realized just how long he had been a prisoner for. “I-I’ve really been trapped here all that time?”

“Trapped where?!” the young Gem insisted almost desperately, placing his hands on Dipper’s shoulders in an attempt to shake him out of his rattled revere. “Dipper, please, you-”

“S-Steven!” he suddenly interrupted, fear filling his expression even more as he looked back up to his friend. “I don’t know how you got here, but you have to leave, now, before she realizes you’re here! Please, you can’t be-”

“Before who realizes I’m here?” Steven asked, confused. “Dipper, you’re not making any sense. I-I just want to help you, which means you have to tell me what’s going on. A-are you hurt? Who’s trapping you here? Why do you seem so scared?”

Dipper hesitated, flinching away out of genuine anxiety as he stole yet another glance upward, as if he was expecting something to emerge from above. Yet all the same, he forced his very apparent dread aside to finally try and offer some concrete information as he met Steven’s fretful gaze once again. “S-Steven, I’ve been-”

Before he even had a chance to finish, however, Dipper was suddenly lurched upward by the chains binding him, and despite a brief bout of resistance against this force, he was ultimately powerless to keep himself from being pulled up sharply by whatever was above him. “D-Dipper!” Steven cried, acting on instinct as he lunged forward to grab onto his friend’s ankle and keep him weighed down, though that hardly did anything except pull him upwards as well.

“S-Steven, what are you doing?!” Dipper exclaimed in immense panic as the young Gem continued to hold on. “You need to let go! If she sees you, then she’ll-”

“N-no! I’m not letting go!” Steven insisted, tears starting to well up in his eyes that were reserved solely for the friend he had been morosely missing for so long now. “I have to save you!”

“Ugh, you don’t understand!” Dipper shot back, somewhat frustrated with his persistence. “You can’t save me! I’m not-”

Once again, he was cut off as they both finally surfaced above the water, essentially landing on top of each other as they collapsed together upon its somewhat solid, dark surface. As breathless and worn as both of them were, however, neither of them had much of a chance to recover as they were joined by a new figure altogether.

“Alright, what’s with all the noise down there?” Jasper growled to her unfortunate captive as she marched over to him, her expression set in an unsavory scowl as she practically towered over both Dipper and Steven. “I thought I told you to…” The orange Gem suddenly trailed off, her eyes widening with shock as she noticed the young Gem in particular as he slowly began to pick himself up off the ground. “It can’t be… Rose?!”

“J-Jasper!” Steven sucked in a sharp, frightened gasp as he quickly stood, unquestionably afraid of the fierce Gem warrior who had nearly killed him in their first encounter. However, before Jasper could take another step closer to him, her approach was suddenly halted as none other than her own young hostage who had rushed to stand in between her and Steven.

“Leave him alone!” Dipper shouted defiantly, refusing to let Steven endure anything remotely close to the same kind of abuse and torment he had been going through for the past month. Unfortunately though, despite his selfless resolve to protect the young Gem, Jasper was, as always, much stronger and much more in control than he could ever hope to be. A fact that she easily proved as, with just a simple nod of her head, another burst of water shot up from the ground, one that formed something of an aquatic gag meant to silence Dipper as it latched onto him and covered his mouth. At the same time his other chains all tightened oppressively, keeping him essentially locked in place and helpless to do anything but watch in horror as Jasper sulked ever closer to the aptly frightened Steven.

“You stay out of this, Lazuli!” the orange Gem shouted back at him quite threateningly as the young Gem backed away from her apprehensively, especially as she turned to him with a triumphant grin. “And as for you, Rose… I don’t know how you got in here, but am I ever glad you’re here to see this. You thought you could take my Diamond away from me all those years ago? Well, look! I’ve taken one of your ‘Crystal Gems’ away from you!” Her twisted smile deepened as she motioned to Dipper, who was still trying his best to pull against his restraining chains, though of course, it was to no avail at all.

“Y-your… what?” Steven asked, completely confused amidst his ongoing fear. “I-I don’t understand! What are you doing to him?!”

“I’ll tell you what I’m doing,” Jasper sneered haughtily. “I’m getting even with both you and with her,” she nodded back to Dipper once more, who was only able to shake his head in worried warning to Steven, trying to beg him to get away while he still could. Something that, unfortunately, the young Gem didn’t understand as the orange Gem continued. “When Lapis disappeared and this one showed up in her place, I figured it was only fair that I make her suffer every ounce of suffering she put me through because of her! So I figured the best way to do that was to give her a taste of Malachite first hand…”

Steven couldn’t help but gasp in disbelief, his eyes wide with worry as he looked back to Dipper once more, who only looked away from him in shame out of the deal he had made, one that he wasn’t even able to properly explain for himself thanks to Jasper. “Y-you… you fused with him?” the young Gem asked with dawning horror. “But… but how? He’s not even a Gem! You can’t-”

“Ha! You really think I’m gonna fall for that tired old trick again?” Jasper scoffed, stepping over to Dipper and wrenching his chains even tighter as he pulled him towards her. “If she’s not a Gem, then what’s this?” Once again, the orange Gem roughly brushed her captive’s hair aside to reveal the stone fixated to his forehead, a sight that left Steven completely floored from the very moment he saw it.

“D-Dipper…” Steven said, his voice soft and sad as he looked to the new Gem, finally piecing everything about his ongoing mysterious absence together; and the picture he got once he had, was anything but comforting. “Y-you and Lapis… you guys… you’ve been-”

“Enough talking,” Jasper huffed impatiently as she roughly shoved Dipper aside to focus her attention back on Steven. “You know, Rose, I wanted to finish you off in front of what’s left of your pathetic army. But since you’re already here, I might as well make the most of a perfect opportunity. At least you’ll have one member of a captive audience around to see you in your shattering moments…”

It was clear that Jasper was taking quite a bit of sadistic pleasure in the obvious fear as was causing Steven, especially as she towered over him, her heavy helmet summoned and ready to land a brutal blow upon the defenseless young Gem before her. And yet… before she could throw her helmet down, something completely unexpected happened instead.

In an instant almost too quick to notice, a sudden burst of water lashed out at the orange Gem, latching itself around her neck in a thick, bulky chained manacle. Jasper lurched back, startled as more chains began to wrap around her wrists and even her legs until they managed to pull her down to the watery ground altogether. “W-what?!” she gasped, shocked as both her and Steven glanced back to none other than Dipper. His own chains and even the gag were completely gone, replaced by orbs of water that seemed to control Jasper’s chains entirely as they surrounded his tightly clenched hands. But what was by far the most surprising was his expression: fierce, outraged, and absolutely hostile as he struggled to pull the orange Gem back away from Steven and towards himself instead.

“I-I said… leave him alone!” he shouted as he threw his hands down, brutally shoving Jasper back down into the depths that were usually his prison. It was easily the first time he had ever had any semblance of actual control of Malachite’s mindscape, which was why he was left in slight shock as the orange Gem disappeared, leaving him and Steven alone and relatively safe, if only for a moment.

“D-Dipper…” Steven began rather breathlessly as he slowly began to approach the new Gem. “T-that… that was… are… are you really a Gem now?”

The most Dipper could do as the young Gem posed such a question was let out a small sigh, averting his concerned gaze once again as he instead looked to the water now surrounding his hands. “Steven, I-I-” Suddenly, he was cut off as his hands were pulled sharply downward, clearly by Jasper trying to work her way back up to the surface once more. Which of course, meant that there wasn’t much time before Dipper knew he’d be pulled back down in her place, with not a single soul to relay what could very well be the last message he might ever be able to get out. And so, he wasted not a single moment in telling the young Gem everything he could in what little time he had left. “S-Steven, listen to me!” he said, his tone serious and intent even as Jasper continued trying to pull him back under and herself back up. “I made a huge mistake b-but there’s no way to undo that now. Right now, I need you to get out of here a-and tell both Mabel and Lapis that I’m so sorry for all of this! I didn’t know things would turn out this way, but like I said, I can’t change that anymore, so… so I’m just going to have to stay here… l-like this…”

“What? No!” Steven cried, horrified by the very thought of Dipper keeping himself trapped in such an awful state. “Dipper, you don’t have to stay here! We can—no, we will help you! T-the Gems, I’m sure they can figure out a way to split you and Jasper up and then we can-”

“No, Steven!” Dipper insisted somewhat harshly. “I can’t leave. Because if I do, t-then Lapis has to come back here and be trapped with her all over again a-and I can’t do that to her, Steven, I can’t! She’s already been trapped enough!”

“But what about you, Dipper?!” the young Gem pressed almost desperately. “You don’t deserve to be trapped like this either! Lapis wouldn’t want this; I know she doesn’t! She wants you to safe and at home and with her! T-that’s why you have to let us help you. We just want you back already; everyone misses you, Lapis misses you, I miss you! S-so just tell me where you—or I guess where Malachite’s at and we can come and-”

“Just stop already, Steven!” Dipper shouted fiercely, clearly struggling to focus on keeping Jasper anchored down at this point. “Like I said, you don’t get it! I made this mess, which means I have to deal with it, alone! I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me!”

“But-”

“Just let me do this for you, Lapis!” Dipper suddenly snapped, yanking Jasper’s chains tightly in anger before he realized how he had misspoke. His eyes were wide and pained and filling up with oncoming tears as he looked to Steven once more, reaching the agonizing realization that this was perhaps the last time he’d ever get to see him. A fact that barely seemed to barely matter and matter more than anything at all, all at the same exact time. “I-I mean… I didn’t…”

“Dipper…” Steven said sadly, reaching a shaking hand out to his suffering friend. A hand that he made no attempts to take as he pulled away in both grief and shame.

Dipper still wasn’t exactly sure how his new water wings worked, but even so, he somehow managed to summon them from his gem, awkwardly maneuvering them around himself to block himself off from Steven more than anything else, despite the young Gem’s persistent attempts to reach out to him. “I’m sorry, Steven, but… I’m not Dipper anymore…” he said coldly, his tears lost amidst the water he was trapping himself within as he felt Jasper inch ever closer to the surface, ready to overtake him at seemingly any moment. Even so, he did let out a sigh of both sadness and relief as he saw Steven begin to inexplicably vanish from their mindscape altogether just as Jasper brutally emerged back into it. Surprisingly enough, however, she didn’t immediately shove him back down as she realized exactly what his intent was. An intent that she only smiled cruelly over as she stood behind him, a hand gripped tightly on his shoulder as they proclaimed her vicious triumph, his broken defeat, and their twisted fusion, all at the same exact time in perfect, empty unison:

“We’re Malachite now…”

To be continued…

#universe falls #jen writes #water pines au #uf 3 year anniversary extravaganza #oneshot #angst #dipper #steven #lapis #jasper #bill cipher #gravity falls #steven universe #crossover #au #au week

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mdizzle999872 · 6 years

Text

Pacifica’s Lumberjack Challenge

Summer had once again come to Gravity Falls, and for Pacifica Northwest that meant only one thing, the return of the Pines Twins. Yes the town heroes had come back to Gravity Falls at every opportunity in the past year. Every holiday, every season break, somehow they even managed singular day offs from school just to come back to this town. What was even more impressive was that their Great Uncles manage to come back for these days as well so Dipper and Mabel would have them to look after them, exactly how was a bit of mystery. When confronted on how they were able to pull any of this off, considering how they were supposed to be traveling the world, they would usually respond with 'It's a family secret'.

It didn't matter to Pacifica though, she always took advantage of any time they were back in town. The Pines twins, the younger ones, were very special friends to her. Mabel was fun and more emotionally understanding than her brother was, the golf courses she came up with were a lot of fun. Then of course there was Dipper Pines.

Ah yes, her emotionally grounding rock labeled Dipper Pines. The boy was blunt, straightforward, and made her knees weak whether he knew it or not. Yes Dipper had shown her a path which was different from the one her parents had picked out for her, a path in which she could develop herself in to her own person. A certain level of freedom came from associating with Dipper, Mabel too but on a different level, he was basically a worry free zone for her. Naturally she was still an elitist for everything she tried and a perfectionist for every goal she set but with Dipper she could explore areas of herself without fear of persecution or judgement.

The truth was that Pacifica wasn't sure what type of person she wanted to develop in to but whoever it was seemed to be leaning more in the 'nice girl' direction. Of course this could all be because of Dipper's influence on her, the boy somehow knew what it was like to be insecure and how awkward it can feel to venture in to new social areas. The boy knew how to give her 'the grins'... whether he was aware of it or not.

Yes Dipper's obliviousness was both a blessing and a curse at the same time for Pacifica. A blessing in that he wasn't on to her at all so she had no worries about embarrassing herself and a curse in which he probably wasn't going to make a move on her so long as he was in the dark.

Mabel on the other hand was completely on to her. And while she did promise not to tell Dipper about it herself, that didn't really stop her from trying to hook the two of them up. Doing things like sawing a leg off a bench they were sitting on so Dipper would end up sliding down close to her or when she rigged the Mystery Shack with hanging mistletoe all over the place. That created many awkward situations for many people visiting the tourist trap.

She liked to think that the thing she liked best about Dipper was that he believed in her. When he believed in her ability to change it felt like well founded optimism as opposed to the blind optimism she would have come to expect from your average thirteen year old. When he believed in her she found it easier to believe in herself, he created an aura of confidence for her.

So this was basically why she couldn't get enough of the guy, the more time with Dipper the better. One oddity she noticed however, was Dipper's hat. He no longer sported the trucker hat with the blue pine tree on it, instead he now had some brown hat with ear flaps. She wasn't sure what that was about, or why he would get embarrassed when she tried to talk to him about it. She guessed it didn't matter though, not as long as she could spend time with him.

Riding through town, Pacifica smiled lovingly as she thought of Dipper, but she became quickly grounded back to reality when she spotted the genuine article in the town square as she rode by.

"Stop the limo!"

Getting out of the limo, Pacifica found that it was more than just the Pines twins mulling about, the whole town seemed to be gathered. Which was odd. As a Northwest she was usually well versed in Gravity Falls events and celebrations. They even had the stage she stood on during Pioneer Day set up; how could she have missed this one? It was probable that her crush on Dipper was distracting her from the town's annual events. She tried to think what this one could be but for the life of her she couldn't bring it to mind, like she was suffering from some sort of mental block or something.

Cutting her way through the crowd she finally worked her way to Dipper.

"Hey Dipper, do you know what's going on here?"

"Oh! Hey Pacifica. Don't you know? I mean aren't you supposed to be all about the parties and celebrations of Gravity Falls?"

"Yes, but I've been a little... distracted as of late."

"It's the annual Gravity Falls Lumberjack Games. I have a friend competing so Mabel and I come out here to cheer her on!"

''Her'? Who is 'her'? Mabel and Candy don't seem like they would have the build for these type of games. Grenda? I guess she would but I doubt she could get Dipper this excited. Wait, is he staring? Shoot he is! Been quiet for too long! Quick! Say something!'

"Oh right, actually forgot about that one!" she admitted.

"I think she's here now. Would you mind hanging back here with Mabel while I try to get closer to the stage?"

"Of course not. Sure thing."

She stared at his retreating back as he cut through the crowd to the stage. She jumped when Mabel put her hand on her shoulder. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed her sooner. Mabel stood wearing a sweater with a picture of a rainbow pig on it. She had an inordinate amount of cotton candy in her right hand. The cone was covered in something sparkly but Pacifica couldn't be sure if it was supposed to be glitter or sugar. With Mabel it was impossible to tell.

"This looks like it's going to be a lot of fun, huh?"

The Lumberjack Games was actually the one event her family didn't bother going to. It was something about her mother being afraid they would all end up with maple syrup in their hair or something. The townspeople never seemed to care about their absence to this event so Pacifica never gave it a second thought.

"Suuure does!"

Pacifica offered Mabel an awkward grin and while it did result in a raised eyebrow from the sweater girl it didn't stop Mabel from offering Pacifica some of her cotton candy.

"So who is this 'friend' Dipper wants to cheer for? Candy? Grenda?"

Pacifica grabbed a handful of the cotton candy offered and ate in an almost 'grumpy' way. Then she turned her attention back to the crowd and tried to spot Dipper.

"Oh my Gummy Koalas! You're jealous, aren't you?!"

Pacifica immediately blushed at Mabel's accusation. She could already feel Mabel staring at her with those 'matchmaker' eyes of her's.

"No! I am not!"

"EEEEEEE! So precious!"

"Get back to my question, Mabel! Who is the girl?!"

"Oh it's just Wendy, you know her."

"Oh." While Pacifica knew OF Wendy she didn't really KNOW Wendy. As far as she could tell, she was the red headed girl who worked at the Mystery Shack; she knew she was part of the weird hand holding circle thing, but outside of that she didn't really know anything.

The crowd cheered as Mayor Tyler made his way on to the stage toward the podium.

"Hello good friends of Gravity Falls. It is once again time for our yearly Gravity Falls Lumberjack Games, where we celebrate our wonderful lumber industry which keeps our town thriving. As usual our winner will be decided by the contestant with the most wins. Let's bring up our reigning champ, Wendy Corduroy!"

The crowd cheered in applause as the red head sprinted up on to stage. Pacifica couldn't help but scoff as Wendy waved to the audience.

"'Wendy' huh? Pfft. What's so great about... wait, is she wearing Dipper's hat?!"

"Oh yeah, didn't you know? At the end of our first summer they traded hats as sort of a goodbye thing."

Pacifica narrowed her eyes at the red head and grabbed a handful of Mabel's cotton candy and ate it noisily.

"Now I know Wendy has been our undefeated champion at these games but I still encourage any of you to get on up here and sign up."

The sign up sheet was actually just a canvas on a stand, but there was an array of different colored markers to make it more fun.

Wendy pulled out an air horn from her back pocket and blew it earning a few cries of protest from those in the front row.

"Come on people, I gotta have someone to beat!"

As the crowd laughed at Wendy's joke, Pacifica spotted Dipper being closer to the stage laughing with the crowd. However, something seemed off... there was a certain level of awkwardness with the way Dipper was laughing.

"So what? They're like hat-buddies or something?"

"Oh no. See she cares about him but in a platonic way so that made his crush on her..."

"HE HAD A WHAT ON HER?!"

(Insert Gravity Falls Opening Here)

"Yes Pacifica, Dipper always had a crush on Wendy but she was too old him for so it never worked."

"Oh yeah?! And what was it that did it?! Her stupid red hair?! Any girl with a BOTTLE could..."

"Calm down girl! If you gotta know it's because she's so awesome..."

"Awesome? I'm awesome! Wait, awesome how?"

"Okay, if you don't stop interrupting me like that then I'm going to start stuffing gummy worms up in to your nose!"

Pacifica held up her hands in alarmed surrender. "Whoa, okay!"

"Okay! We're calm?"

"We're calm."

"We're good?"

"We're good."

"T's'alright?"

"T's'alright."

"T's'alright?"

"T's'alright."

"Alriiiight! Dipper always liked Wendy because she always did this cool physical stuff like using pine trees to get down from the roof of the Mystery Shack, or climbing a tree using only a belt, stuff like that."

Pacifica winced. "Physical stuff?" The most 'physical' thing she liked to do was mini-golf, she was globally ranked at it but that didn't seem to impress Dipper all that much. It seemed to barely even register with him.

Mabel placed a supporting hand on Pacifica's shoulder. "But hey, you and Dipper still have great chemistry. And Wendy did let him down easy, telling him he was too young for her, and he has had a long time to try and get over her."

"Right." Pacifica gave a small smile. "Yeah! You're right! But if Dipper WAS over her, exactly how would a girl know?"

"Kiss him and find out!"

"Mabel!"

"Okay, okay! Well when he was crushing he would always say his feelings for her 'under his breath', or at least that's what he called it. We could all hear him! My bro-bro isn't quite as quiet as he likes to think; I suppose if he stopped doing that then that would mean he's moved on... Hey! Where are you going?"

"To find out if he's over her!"

The crowd was much more tightly knitted together than when she tried the first time to get to Dipper. She did shout out some insults at the people when she couldn't find a way to get around them but she managed to get to Dipper none the less. He was as close to the stage as he possibly could be, right in front of the stairs which lead up to it. While Pacifica was on her journey to Dipper, Mayor Tyler stopped a contestant from signing the canvas. He found the man's constant swaying and wobbling in his raincoat suspicious and decided to intervene. In one swift motion he opened the man's trench coat to reveal he was actually a bunch of gnomes stacked on top of one another. He stayed true to his 'Never Mind All That act' by shooing them all off the stage with a broom.

"Dipper!"

"Oh hey Pacifica! Are you here to help me cheer on Wendy?"

"Yes." She narrowed her eyes. "Wendy."

"Isn't she the greatest?"

"Well I don't think I'd go that far! I mean seriously, like, what's so great about her?"

"Are you kidding me?! She's so awesome that only three other people signed up to compete against her!"

Pacifica crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Well so what?! There can be more to a girl than just intimidation! You taught me that, remember?"

"Well that's not really the point I'm trying to make here. She's so awesome, that she's going to clean house at these games."

"Yeah?! Well uh..." She rubbed her arm and bit her bottom lip, struggling for something to say. She hated floundering like this but what he was saying was actually hard to argue with. Perhaps if she knew more about Wendy then she could find a flaw to exploit but that probably wouldn't help her in this case. "Well, what if another girl beats her?"

Pacifica almost slapped her hands over her mouth. She couldn't believe she had just said that, it sounded dumb even to her. She had a rough idea of what Wendy could do from based off of what Mabel told her, the odds were definitely in her favor. The look Dipper gave her made her feel nine inches tall, a look of confusion and disappointment, she never wanted to see him give her that look again.

"What girl could possibly beat Wendy in games for lumberjacks? She's practically bred for this stuff!"

"I know! Uh...Just hypothetically, if another girl could beat Wendy in these games, HER games, then she wouldn't seem so great anymore. Right? I mean, just hypothetically. You know?"

"Well... I guess so. But Wendy is the only girl competing this year, the only other people who have signed up are like big burly guys. So the chances of that are pretty slim, unless one of them happens to be a girl in disguise. Ha ha..."

Dipper and Pacifica shared a laugh at his little joke, but when Pacifica stopped laughing Dipper kept it going to the point of awkwardness.

"I-highly-doubt-that-there's-any-girl-who-could-even-compete-with-Wendy!"

(A/N: At first I wanted to jam all the words together to emphasize Dipper 'talking under his breath' but I have a feeling that'd be more trouble than it'd be worth.)

'Was that supposed to be him 'talking under his breath'? I guess he's not over her yet. Shoot!' thought Pacifica. 'Wait! He thinks NO girl could even COMPETE with Wendy?!'

"That does it!" Pacifica snapped.

Pacifica marched up the stairs to the stage but got stopped by Mayor Tyler. "Whoa there little Missy, I think you're a little too young for this competition!"

Pacifica only responded by slapping the man in the face with a stack of hundred dollar bills.

"And now you're not!"

"Uh Pacifica?" Dipper poked his head up above the stage. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to show Miss Redwood she's not unbeatable!"

Pacifica took a pink marker and wrote down her name on the canvas.

"Oh boy," Dipper deadpanned. "This doesn't look good..."

Dipper and Pacifica were going around town visiting shops and buying lumberjack supplies for the quick coming games. Dipper was following Pacifica around mostly to try and talk some sense in to her.

"But I don't understand! Why do you feel like you have to do ANY of this?!"

Since he was insisted on following her around, Pacifica had Dipper carry her bags as they walked from store to store.

"Someone like YOU wouldn't understand! You're too much of a..."

"A what? Lame-o? Peasant? Poor person?"

"No! A boy!"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You're a smart boy! A boy, but a smart boy none the less! Figure it out!"

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Whatever, but you do know you're outside of your element on this one, right?"

"Me? How so?"

"These are games for lumberjacks. The roughest, sturdiest, type of people in Gravity Falls."

"So?"

"So you're... Pacifica. You're practically a princess; you're not about mud and bark, you're about lavender perfumes and diamond earrings."

"Dipper, I think you'll find out today there's more to girl than just her interests."

"Yeah but..."

"No more buts, now help me find some functional boots that are still fashion forward."

In the forest area near the town square, everyone had gathered for the first event of the Lumberjack games. Pacifica was dressed in a hot pink flannel shirt, navy blue blue jeans, and a matching set of pink boots. And for good measure, she even bought a pair of novelty hatchet earrings. There was a number of stumps with a large wood pile next to each one accompanied by an axe.

"I don't get a podium this time?" asked Mayor Tyler. He seemed to be asking on of the event coordinators but they could only shrug helplessly at his complaint. "I mean it's fine, I just was under the impression... you know what? Never mind! Good citizens of Gravity Falls, welcome to our first event! Wood chopping! A personal favorite of mine because this one involves audience participation! Contestants, pick an assistant from the audience to hold your wood, and get'em! Get'em!"

Wendy walked out in to the audience and spotted Dipper. However, before she could say anything to him the boy was bowled over in a flying tackle to the ground by Pacifica with a shout of "MINE!"

"I call dibs on Dipper, Red! Wait, dibs...Dipper...He's my Dibsper!" With emphasis upon her new nickname for her crush she hugged his head protectively without even realizing it.

Wendy threw up her hands in a 'calm down' gesture. "Whoa! Okay, I'll just go get Thompson then!"

Pacifica dropped Dipper's head as Wendy backed away.

"What was that all about?!" Dipper snapped.

Pacifica stood up and cleared her throat. She pulled out a fifty dollar bill from her back pocket and hung it from her fingers in front of Dipper.

"Think I could pay you to pretend that didn't happen either?"

"Not before I get some answers! What was up with you back there?!"

Pacifica swallowed a lump in her throat and nervously averted her gaze from him.

"Uhhh...You're... the only one I can trust to help me chop wood! Yeah! That's it! You think I can trust my two REGULAR friends with this? Touching something as dirty as wood? As if!"

"Well that's no excuse for tackling me!"

"Oh! Hey, look! The challenge is starting! We'd better get to our stumps!"

"Alright, fine! But we're not done with this!"

Thankfully, Mayor Tyler hadn't started his speech up again so Dipper and Pacifica were able to get to a free stump with no problems.

"Now this challenge couldn't be any simpler. Our audience members hold the blocks of wood and splitter for our contestants while they chop. The team with the biggest pile of wood is the winner. You have exactly five minutes!" He pulled out a signal gun from his coat pocket and aimed it towards the sky. "Contestants!" *BANG!* "CHOP!"

Pacifica stared down at her axe embedded in her stump and cracked her knuckles by stretching her fingers. This was not an exercise she was used to doing however, so she was surprised when it ended up hurting her a little bit. "...Ow."

"Want me to help get that out for you?" Dipper offered.

"I can handle it!"

She grabbed the handle with both hands and pulled with all her might.

"Oh! They wedged it in there good!" She grunted trying to pull it out several more times. "They knew nothing could budge this out! It's a conspiracy against me!"

Pacifica let go of the handle to catch her breath, she didn't appreciate the eye roll Dipper gave her. He grabbed the handle with one hand and plucked it out effortlessly.

"... Oh sure! After I loosened it!"

Dipper gave her a sympathetic smile and handed her the axe.

"You don't have to take it like that! You know I used to bench press with a stick? I know what it's like to be not quite as strong as you'd like!"

Despite the circumstances, Pacifica found herself laughing at Dipper's little confession.

"Okay, enough fun! Now we gotta chop wood so I can..." Pacifica almost confessed her ulterior motive but thankfully caught herself. Dipper was giving her quite the stare at the moment so she had to think up something quick. "Um... have fun?"

"Right..."

'Great!' Pacifica mentally swore. 'Now he thinks I'm some kind of weirdo!'

"Uh let's just get chopping!" Dipper placed the splitter in the center of the log. "Just hit the center!"

Pacifica lifted the axe over her head and stumbled backwards from the weight of the blade. After regaining her footing Pacifica swung the axe down for all she was worth. The impact forced the splitter in to the wood a little but didn't break it.

"What?! I put everything I had in to that swing!"

"Hit it again, Pacifica! There's still time! Keep at it!"

Pacifica hit it again and again but the splitter went deeper at a very slow pace. She stopped so she could take a moment and wipe some sweat from her brow.

"Well, it is a little harder than I thought but I think I'm making at least some progress. Right Dipper? Dipper?"

Dipper was looking away giving his entire attention to something else.

"Dipper, what are you looking a..." She followed his gaze and dropped her axe at the sight. "Oh you have GOT to be kidding me!"

One stump over, Wendy Coduroy was effortlessly chopping through log after log while her friends cheered on her holder.

"I'm really scared you guys!" Thompson whimpered. "Wendy's really fast!"

"It's just an axe you big baby!" criticized Robby.

"You're doing great, Thompson!" noted Tambry.

"Wendy's going to win because of you!" cheered Nate. "Thompson! Thompson!"

Their unified chanting made Pacifica grit her teeth in anger. "Dipper! Come on! Focus!"

"Huh? Oh! Sorry!"

Pacifica swung her axe down at the splitter like an angry child with a bat at a pinata party. Dipper was starting to get nervous but she had to stop once the log finally split!

"Quick! The next one! We gotta catch up!" Pacifica ordered.

"Right!"

*BANG!*

"Axes down! The challenge is over!" Mayor Tyler announced. "Everybody line up so your wood can be counted!"

One by one, he inspected everyone's wood pile until he got to Pacifica's.

"Hm. One log? Really? I mean I know you're not built for this stuff but I thought you'd at least have finished a row or something!"

Pacifica crossed her arms and looked away. "Whatever! Like I even care!"

"Okay, moving on then!"

Wendy's pile was so huge it was actually taller than Mayor Tyler. "Whoa-ho-ho! I think we have a winner!" He held up Wendy's arm in victory and the crowd cheered.

Pacifica scowled at the red head but a quick tap on the shoulder snapped her out of her rage. "Huh?"

"Hey Pacifica, I just want you to know that I'm proud you didn't try to buy your way to victory like you normally would."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know; like the singing contest with Mabel? McGucket told me about how you paid him to give you more applause."

Pacifica's eyes shot open in shock. "You know about that?!"

"Yeah, but you didn't try to use money to win this time and... well I guess I'm trying to say is that I'm proud you tried to win fair and square."

He placed his hand on her shoulder and she couldn't help but grin.

"Well it's not an 'I love you' but I guess I'll take it. It's not much but at least it's a little victory." "Okay, everyone! It's time for the next challenge! Follow me!" announced Mayor Tyler.

As everyone followed their mayor, Wendy actually stopped when she spotted Pacifica's 'wood pile'. She let out a small laugh and smirked at the heiress.

"Don't have a lot of muscle mass on ya, huh? Don't sweat it! I've been chopping wood since I was six!"

With Wendy walking off, Pacifica's vicious rage of jealousy came back in full force.

"Oh yeah?! Well I've been winning competitions since I was four! This isn't over yet by a long shot!"

Dipper frowned as he watched Pacifica storm off with everyone else.

"This is going to get worse before it gets any better. Isn't it?"

The next challenge lead them out of the woods and back in to town at the Greasy's Diner. Fold up tables were placed next to each other out in front as a buffet of breakfast items were on display ranging from pancakes to waffles and everything in between.

Mayor Tyler stood on the steps to the front for the diner. It wasn't a podium but at least it was something he could work with. "Contestants I hope that last challenge worked up an appetite for you because this challenge is an eating contest! You will all five minutes to eat as much of this All American Lumberjack Breakfast Buffet as you possibly can!"

Pacifica sat down at the table with a fork and knife in hand staring uneasily at the smorgasbord before her. She didn't even feel hungry. There was no way she could eat as much as the others. She considered talking to Mabel about using her pig waddles to cheat or perhaps bribing the judges but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Especially not after how Dipper just told her that he was proud of her he was for not resorting to such tactics.

She was up the proverbial creek on this one.

When looking over the food on the table she found the majority of it to be vastly foreign to her. Naturally she knew WHAT the foods were but growing up on fancy foods for a living made her unaware of how tasty or filling each item was. Then there was the toppings which were a complete mystery to her. Like ketchup. Why was there ketchup? Exactly what was she supposed to use ketchup on? The waffles? The eggs? Any of those questions got thrown to the back of her mind when she spotted her inanimate enemy for life. The bane of her existence, the stain on her... well anything really. Blue berries.

Sitting in the center table on her right was a small mug full of blue berries with a spoon sticking out of it. So close. It was sitting so close to her. How had she not noticed it until now?

"DIPPER!"

The boy raced over to her from the crowd. "Pacifica, what's wrong?!"

"The blue berries!"

Dipper looked at the blue berries and then at Pacifica.

"What about them?" he asked quizzically.

Then Pacifica whispered to Dipper in the quietest voice she could muster "Make them go away. Please?"

Pacifica was expecting Dipper to do any number of things here. Rolls his eyes at her, judge her, laugh at her, pretty much anything other than what he actually did. He nodded at her silently and then took the blue berries away and placed them on a different table far away from Pacifica.

Pacifica sighed lovingly at the sight. "I'm going to marry that boy one day." She quickly snapped out of her love daze when she saw Dipper running back to her.

However, before she could say anything to him, all the other contestants ran to their seats.

"Wait! Could we hold up for a second? I just want to..."

*BANG!*

"Hey! That's not fair! I just want a moment to tha..."

"PACIFICA!" Dipper shouted from the front of the crowd. "DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT! JUST EAT!"

She frowned but used her fork to stab a stack of pancakes and drag it over to her plate. She knew she was on the clock so she didn't bother with toppings like whipped cream or the monster which is syrup, but whatever time she may have acquired was quickly lost by her technique. Instead of stuffing the pancakes into her mouth like the other contestants, she was cutting each slice individually in to little squares and eating said squares one at a time. And while she was cutting quickly, the fact that she was eating the pancakes 'raw' as it were caused her to take her time with each bite.

"Oh for the love of... PACIFICA!" Dipper shouted. "You don't have time to do this neatly! If you can't stuff the pancakes then move on to the sausages and bacon strips!"

"You mean the 'greasy' foods?! No way!"

The crowd watched the two bicker back and forth like an old married couple and slowly adoring smiles appeared on their faces.

"Okay, fine then!" Dipper growled. "Move on to the fruit!"

"It's imported right?"

"IMPORTED?!"

"Alright! Alright! I'll try!"

She grabbed a banana and quickly peeled it, it still had some skin on it but she knew she was against the clock so she just wolfed it down. She regretted this choice almost immediately. No more bananas! Not if she had to pluck the skin off!

A muffing had the promise of too many crumbs so she moved on to an orange. It was already peeled so she just sunk her teeth right in to it. As soon as she did though, juice shot up from the hole she made and hit her in the eye. Screaming in pain and surprise, Pacifica fell over backwards in her chair.

*BANG!*

"Forks down everyone! The challenge is over!"

Dipper raced over to Pacifica and propped her up. "Are you okay?"

She rubbed the back of her head as she let Dipper help her sit up. "Did I win?"

"I'm sorry but you didn't even place."

"Then who won?"

Dipper didn't say anything but instead pointed on top of the tables where Wendy stood triumphantly.

"Oh come on!"

Mayor Tyler pinned a blue ribbon to Wendy's multi-stained bib as Wendy threw her arms in to the air victoriously. Pacifica felt her jaw drop as the crowd continuously chanted Wendy's name.

"But how? She's as skinny as a tree!"

"Well Pacifica, some say she has a high metabolism while others say she just burns off all her fat with her extreme antics!"

"It was a rhetorical question, Dipper!" Pacifica snapped.

"I'm sorry. Are you gonna be okay?"

Pacifica stuck out her tongue to emphasize her bloated feeling. "I think I need an antacid. Bad."

"You hang tight. I'll see if I can find you one."

"What? Dipper, exactly where are you expecting to find..."

Pacifica's inquiries fell on deaf ears as Dipper was already asking people from the crowd if they had any antacid tablets on them. Pacifica sighed tiredly and watched Dipper with a loving smile. "What am I going to do with that boy?"

The next stop in the Lumberjack Games lead Dipper, Mabel, and even Pacifica to a place none of them had ever been to before, the Gravity Falls Lumber Mill. The mill itself was a large open aired warehouse but neither the Pines twins nor Pacifica had a chance to look inside since the challenge was set up outside in front of the building. Log posts stood in a row a few feet away from the building, nailed to these posts were wooden bullseye targets. The bullseye was made up of three rings, a green outer ring, a blue middle ring, and a red center ring. The red center was so small only a child's hand would be able to cover it, so Pacifica figured that would most likely be what she would have to aim for.

"Attention everyone! Our third challenge brings us to the Gravity Falls Lumber Mill where we create our chief export, the very life blood of our town, lumber. This challenge was created by the good workers of our mill to spice up our little games. The challenge itself is similar to a game of darts, but instead of actual darts our contestants will be using hatchets. The center ring is worth one hundred and fifty points, the middle ring is worth thirty points, and the outer ring is worth five. Everyone will have exactly five hatchets; that's five tries to build up as many points as you can. There are no retries, I cannot stress that enough!"

Pacifica dropped her antacid pill in to her cup of water and let it fizz for a moment. She stared intensely at the targets as she took a drink. She had been doing very poorly in these games, it was obvious for anyone to see, and it didn't look like that was going to change anytime soon. And then there was Dipper, the boy she was participating in these whole games for; his nagging for her to quit was really getting on her nerves.

'And here comes Dipper now.'

"Pacifica, you have to quit now! You remember how you did in the wood chopping challenge, and this time you're going to have to actually THROW the axe!"

"Hatchet."

"Same thing!"

"Not really. The hatchets are a lot smal..."

"Whatever! My point is you gotta quit NOW!"

"Oh you'd just loooooove that, wouldn't you?! Well too bad! I'm not quitting until I win!"

"Grrr! Why do you always have to be so stubborn?!"

"I don't know, why can't you look at what's right in fro..."

"Shiiiiiiiiiiii-ip!" The sound of Mabel's voice cut Pacifica off. It was then they noticed Mabel circling them crouched down, her tuft of hair poking above like a shark fin.

"Shiiiiiiiiiiii-ip! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship! Ship!"

"Dipper, why is your sister circling us and saying the word 'ship' to the theme of Jaws?"

"Because my sister isn't just a hopeless romantic, she's a dangerous one."

"Should we, like, run and hide or something?"

"No, just duck when I tell you."

"YOU TWO ARE SO CUTE!"

"NOW!"

Mabel soared over their heads as she tried to hug tackle the two of them only to be met with air. Unfortunately this lead her to crash on the ground; sliding on the dirt before coming to an eventual stop. Dipper and Pacifica quickly raced to her side.

"Whoa, sorry about that Mabel. I didn't think you'd get such a rough landing." Dipper apologized, helping his sister to her feet.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh don't worry about me you guys! It takes a lot more than a rough landing to keep THIS Mabel down!" Mabel boasted. Mabel had a coughing fit for a second but pounded her chest a couple of times forcing a twig to come flying out of her mouth. "That's nothing. Anyways, what I really wanted to point out is the two of you! It is so ADORABLE how you two are arguing like an old married couple!"

"What?! Uh no!"

"No we're not!"

"So precious!"

Pacifica stomped the ground in anger. "Ugh! I don't have time for this, I have to get to my spot or whatever."

Mabel let Pacifica walk off in a huff, content on savoring the blush on the heiress' face. She turned her attention to Dipper who was busy burying his face in to his palm.

"Mabel, could you just not play matchmaker today? Especially with me and Pacifica? She's acting weird enough as it is and I can't have you getting her angry on top of that!"

One of Mabel's famous ear to ear smiles raced across her face. "So she's acting 'weird' huh?"

"Stop smiling like that! And stop 'shipping' me!"

"NEVER!"

"But yes, she's acting weird. She won't duck out of these games but if she keeps going like this she's going to end up getting herself hurt! I try to tell her to quit while she's still in one piece but that only makes her mad for some reason!"

"Okay Goober, time for real talk. I don't think I should tell you why she's in the contest but do you know why she gets mad? Because everybody in this contest, you included, keeps telling her to quit! That she's not good enough! There is nobody who believes she can live up to these challenges. Don't you know what that's like, to have no one believe in you? That you're not up to snuff?"

A mental image of Dipper being inside the Greasy Diner and failing a manly test flashed in his mind for a second.

*BANG!*

"Oh no! The challenge started!"

As Dipper ran off he failed to notice the growing grin on Mabel's face.

"Yep! I'm still a master match maker!" With that being said she took a pair of pink sunglasses out of her pocket and placed if on her face. "Now get your princess, Bro Bro."

Pacifica Northwest was having the worst time yet. She had her turn first this time so none of the others had gone yet, which was bad since it meant all eyes were literally on her. She had thrown her other four axes and her throwing arm only made them go a couple of feet in front of her.

'How long are you going to let your feelings for Dipper embarrass yourself? You're a Northwest, you got a reputation to think of! And all because of a stupid boy who doesn't even believe in you, you might...'

"GO PACIFICA!"

"Huh?"

From the sidelines Pacifica spotted Dipper, and he was actually cheering for her.

"YOU CAN DO IT, PACIFICA! I BELIEVE IN YOU!"

This changed everything for Pacifica. Her face blushed to the point where she thought it might catch on fire but she didn't care; she was beaming to the point where her face was actually starting to hurt.

'He believes in you! HE BELIEVES IN YOU! You can't stop now girl! He's watching AND cheering for you! You're never going to get a better opportunity than this to actually impress him! Don't blow it!'

She reeled her hatchet back, closed her eyes, and threw it with all her might.

*CHUNK!*

She slowly opened her eyes. The sound of metal striking wood was promising to her but she didn't want to get her hopes up. Eyes opened, she saw her hatchet was embedded in the very center of the bullseye.

"I hit it? I HIT IT! I ACTUALLY HIT IT! Dipper, did you see that?!"

"Way to go Pacifica!"

"Ha!" Pacifica pointed at Wendy. "A bullseye! Let's see you top that, BOOTSTRAP!"

Pacifica turned her attention back to Dipper who was facepalming now for some reason.

"Fine by me." Wendy shrugged. "It's my turn now anyways."

Wendy scooped up her hatchets and threw them at her target effortlessly one at a time. The first hit the center of the bullseye just like Pacifica's but the next one hit the first's handle and stuck out of it like a thorn. The third did the same to second which was done to the first, and the fourth and fifth followed the pattern which was set.

Pacifica's jaw dropped, the action Wendy just managed to pull off couldn't have been physically possible. It just couldn't. Even as the others took their turn Pacifica still stood in her stupor at the sight which she had just witnessed.

She was brought back to Earth when she noticed Dipper was inspecting Wendy's hatchets. He was careful not to actually touch any of them, especially when he went underneath it.

"Man, this is actually pretty cool!"

"Dipper!" Pacifica scolded.

Dipper stood at attention at the sudden call of his name. He had a nervous look on his face like when a child gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"I wasn't doing anything!"

This time the challenge lead everyone to the trees surrounding the back of the Mystery Shack. Since the Pines family had helped everyone in Gravity Falls, they Mystery Shack had become a cherished town landmark so Mayor Tyler was more than willing to pay to have the place involved with the games.

This next challenge was tree climbing, sounded simple enough but you needed special spiked boots to compete. Each boot had two large blades by the heel on each side. And Dipper, for reasons unknown to himself, was continuing to help Pacifica. Her constant complaining and criticism of the game was starting to work on his last nerves.

"Yuck! These boots are so ugly!"

"They don't have to be pretty, they just have to help you climb!"

Pacifica rolled her eyes. "These games are so dumb!"

"Then why do you want to be a part of them?! If it's so terrible then why don't you just quit?!"

"Ugh! You just wouldn't understand!"

"Then help me understand! Explain to me why you want to participate in challenges where you're only going to get frustrated and embarrassed?!"

Pacifica eyed him oddly for a moment. As if he had just said something shocking and hurtful to her, the glimmer of disbelief in her eyes shimmered visibly for a moment.

Before Dipper could say anything about it, Pacifica shook her head furiously shaking away anything remaining of those feelings.

She glared at Dipper in a way no other girl ever had before. There was a mix of insult and disappointment in it which made Dipper feel as if he were nine inches tall.

"Are you trying to say you don't think I can do it?!"

"Well... no, I'm not saying that exactly... but..."

"You know what?! I was finally feeling good about myself! Like I actually had someone in my corner! Just when I was finally feeling confident, like someone believed in me, you give me that cold splash of reality to remind me that I'm alone in this!"

"You're not alone!" Dipper snapped. "I HAVE been helping you! I've been helping you in every challenge you've been in! I held the logs for you, I got rid of the blue berries, I even cheered for you when you were throwing your hatchets!"

Dipper was expecting a lot of reactions for Pacifica to give him at snapping at her, but what she gave him was not one of them. Instead of getting angry at him or crying, she smiled at him much to his confusion.

"So what you're saying is that no matter what you're in this with me for the long haul?"

There was such a sparkle of hope in her eyes Dipper wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to it.

"Um... well...I do think you should quit but only because you don't seem to be good at these games and... listen, I just don't want to see you get hurt!"

"Well do you know what you're about to see?" Pacifica stood up, the blades sinking in to the ground. "Pacifica Northwest is a champion! I got my own trophy case for crying out loud! And I never back down from a challenge! Even if I have the odds against me! I'm coming out on top no matter what!"

She took two steps forward with her hiking boots and then fell flat on her face with a force which made Dipper wince.

"Would you like me to help walk you to the next event?"

Still flat on her face, she let out a helpless, muffled "Yes please!" to Dipper.

Mayor Tyler cleared his throat before speaking. "This next challenge is... Oh! What's this?"

The sight of Dipper and Pacifica walking together commanded the total attention of the crowd. Pacifica was leaning on Dipper for support and Dipper, just to make things less embarrassing for Pacifica, was moving his legs in time with Pacifica's making it fun for the both of them.

Finally making it to the front of the crowd, Dipper and Pacifica fell over and laughed together for a good two minutes. When the laughter finally died down, Pacifica felt the crowd's eyes on her and blushed in embarrassment.

"Ahem. Dipper was just, like, helping me walk to... here."

With everyone watching her she had never felt more exposed, and all the smiles on the crowd certainly didn't help matters.

"Well let's hear it for the little gentleman then!"

Upon the mayor's command, the whole crowd uproared in a cheer for the young Pines boy. Dipper blushed bashfully under the crowd's flattering approval and chuckled nervously.

"Alright, that's enough gushing everyone. Our next challenge is a little more difficult. Tree climbing! A flag is set at the goal height for each contestant's tree. Each contestant must climb to the goal height, retrieve their flag, and come back down. And no, you can't just jump down!"

For that last bit Mayor Tyler looked directly at Wendy who sheepishly chuckled under his gaze. "You each are assigned a tree, if you follow me I'll lead you right to them."

One by one he lead them each to their tree which collectively formed a semicircle. Wendy however, did not join in just yet, she wanted to have a word with Dipper first. She found the young teenager dusting himself down from the fall he had with Pacifica.

"Hey Captain Funtimes!"

"Wendy!"

Dipper immediately stood up straight as the redhead walked over to him.

"So what's this with you and Pacifica?"

"Pacifica?"

"Yeah, you seem to be helping her out a lot. Is she like your new girlfriend or something?"

It was an honest question but it made Dipper blush furiously almost immediately.

"Wh-What?! No! Of course not! How could you even think that?!"

"Are you sure dude? It wasn't me you were cheering for back there."

"What?! I could cheer for you! All you had to was ask!"

"No, you're missing the point! Dude, you chose to cheer for Pacifica and..."

"She needed it! I was only helping a friend, I'd do the same for anyone! I just want her to come out of this in one piece!"

Wendy frowned and gave him a curious look. "Alright dude, if you say so... I gotta get to my stump but you think about what I said."

Dipper watched Wendy's back as she walked away, he absentmindedly scratched his elbow as thoughts turned to Pacifica.

Wendy whistled a little tune as walked to her stump. Dipper was a good kid but in Wendy's opinion he needed to learn to be more honest with his own feelings.

Her stump was the last one on the right but to her surprise, the stump next to her belonged to the very girl she and Dipper were talking about.

Pacifica stretched her arms behind her back, it forced her to bend over but anything that could save her from looking up at the height of the tree was more than welcomed to her. She didn't even want to imagine how high the flag was.

"Hey Paz! Guess we're neighbors in this challenge." greeted Wendy.

Pacifica jumped a little at Wendy's voice, she honestly hadn't heard the girl approach. She shook off her stupor and glared at Wendy defiantly.

"Whatever! I'm gonna beat you!"

Wendy smirked at Pacifica's challenge. "Gutsy kid, but are you sure you can do this? You can't just have your butler climb FOR you, ya know?"

"I can do this! There are branches on the bottom for footholds so I can get a leg up!"

Wendy almost laughed at the heiress' naivety but managed to keep it to herself.

"Yeah but I don't think you have the muscles to get all the way up to the flag. Sure you don't want to bail out? I'm sure nobody would think less of you for it."

Pacifica shot her eye towards Dipper and saw he was giving the two of them his undivided attention.

"No way! Anything you can do, I can do better! And I'm going to prove it!"

Wendy's smirk grew. "You got moxy kid. More than I would have expected. Game on Princess!"

"Contestants get ready!" Mayor Tyler ordered.

Pacifica did some stretches on her stump while she waited. She didn't know what type of stretches were supposed to help her in this challenge but she made sure to stretch everything just to be safe. She made sure to focus on her arms since that was probably what she was going to be using those the most.

"Alright! Go Pacifica!" Dipper cheered.

Pacifica smiled as she posed herself to get a jumping start on her climb.

"And you know, go Wendy too or whatever!"

"Hey!" Pacifica snapped. "What the..."

*BANG!*

"CLIMB!"

Thanks to Dipper, Pacifica had lost her mind set and failed to remember her plan of a jump start. She stumbled a little in her charge towards the tree but hugged the trunk and steadied herself. This made her actual start very slow and awkward, it took her a moment just to get a good foothold.

"Need a little help there, Pacifica?" Dipper offered.

"After you just cheered for 'Wendy'? No way! Take a hike, I can do this without a backstabber like you!"

"Backstabber?!"

"That's right! I don't need your charity cheering!"

"But I... it wasn't..."

"Save it for somebody who cares! You've only been helping me because you feel sorry for me! Push comes to shove, it's clear whose side you're really on! I'm in this ALONE for the long haul! Go and talk to your uncles or something! I don't care what you do, just leave me alone!"

Dipper felt a fury from within rise to the surface, he had never felt a whirlwind of emotions like this. Outrage, shock, frustration, but most surprising of all was that there was good bit of sadness thrown in as well.

"Alright fine! Maybe I will!"

"Good! I don't need you anyways!"

If Dipper had only looked back just once while he was stomping off he would have seen Pacifica wipe away some tears from her face.

"Just climb girl. You can fix your makeup later!"

It took her a little longer than she would have liked to admit but she finally started to gain some ground in her climb. However, she could not find herself able to enjoy the progress she had made since she was still feeling upset with Dipper.

"Stupid Dipper!" she grumbled to herself. "If he's so smart why can't he figure out why I'm doing this? Why AM I doing this? I've crushes before but I never resorted to something as physical as climbing a tree. Sigh. What is wrong with me?"

"Well for starters your make up seems to be running."

Pacifica almost lost her grip at the new voice. Over on her left was Wendy, she was sitting on a branch with her back against the trunk and her legs resting on the branch.

"What do you doing here?! Shouldn't you have, like, already won this challenge or something?!"

"Eh I'm just hanging out here so I can give the others a fighting chance at winning. Can't make it too easy, you know?"

Pacifica fought back an eye roll. "Yeah. Sure. Great."

"Listen how about I help with your makeup there? This way when you come down it won't look like you've been crying."

"Why would you do that for me? Furthermore, why should I trust you?! You're the competition!"

"Well first off we do have some history together, we went through Weirdmageddon together at the end. Second, despite my reputation I do know how to fix makeup when it runs, been there. And finally third, I think we both know you don't want anyone to see you with smeared make up."

"Alright, fine! You've made your point! I don't know what you expect me to do though, I can't jump over to your tree or I'll be disqualified and junk."

"I'm not asking for much, just lean your head in my direction and I'll take care of the rest. After all, I'm the one 'out on a limb' for you."

"Is that supposed to be funny?"

"It's hilarious!"

Pacifica leaned her head over in Wendy's direction as the red head took a wash cloth from her pocket to Pacifica's face.

"Just hold still. I know you wouldn't want Dipper to see you with smeared makeup on."

Pacifica's face immediately started to blush.

"Yeah right, like I care! He's just a stupid lame-o nerd!"

"Uh duh! That's the point! That's who he is and something about that struck a chord with you."

Pacifica blush only intensified with this accusation. "I... you see..."

"Save it. I think we both know why you're still in this competition."

As hard as she thought, Pacifica couldn't come up with anything to say. There was no escape from this one, Wendy had her down pat. There was nothing; so she clung the to tree silently and let the flannel girl continue.

"Now I know he's a dweeb, and he isn't as quiet as he likes to think he is, especially when he's 'taking-under-his-breath'. And despite him being so smart he doesn't always realize the emotional impact he can have on his friends and family."

"I... wouldn't know anything about that."

Wendy rolled her eyes. "Yeah I'm so sure! Anyways, the point I'm trying to make here is that he doesn't really want to hurt anybody. If he does, then he's probably in the dark about it. Try to cut him a little slack. He is a boy after all."

Despite everything Pacifica went through she still let a small chuckle.

"Well your face is cleaned and I've said what I wanted to say. Anything you want to say?"

Pacifica knew Wendy was her competition, she knew she still had to face Dipper down on the ground about their little tiff, but despite all of this... Wendy still made her feel better about her whole ordeals. She felt... lighter now. Maybe Wendy wasn't so bad after all. She didn't know what she 'should' or rather 'could' say to Wendy so she just said the first thing that popped in to her mind.

"I will give you five hundred dollars for that hat!"

Wendy laughed at the offer before turning around and beginning her climb a new.

"Sorry, but it's not for sale. I'll see you on the ground, I think I've given these posers enough of a head start."

As Wendy climbed up past Pacifica, the struggling blonde shouted to her "I could always add some zeros to that price!"

With Wendy gone, Pacifica was left with two choices. Up or down. Victory or defeat. To try or quit.

She looked down and immediately regretted it, the crowd looked so small to her she let out a scared squeak, then she looked up. Wendy was speeding past the others but hadn't gotten her flag yet. The others were past Pacifica too but not by as much as she had feared.

"No! Not yet! I'm not done with these games yet! Win or lose! I'm not going to just quit! I refuse!"

With renewed vigor she threw her arm up and grabbed a new handhold of a branch. She hoisted herself up continued her climb with an ease she had not before.

'I can't believe I'm actually doing this. Not even five minutes ago I was ready to collapse and now I'm doing better than ever! Is this that 'second wind' thing everyone always talks about?'

Just as Pacifica was starting to pick up speed, Wendy slid down her own tree holding her flag but stopped when she reached Pacifica's level.

"You got your flag already?!"

"You might feel like a princess with all the big money you throw around but in these games I'm the queen sucker!"

Pacifica glared at Wendy as she slid her way down to the ground. 'And just like that, I hate her again!'

Down on the ground, Dipper was sitting on the porch steps of the Mystery Shack wearing an angry pout on his face. He could hear his great uncles talking about him inside the gift shop.

"I don't know, what's the proper great uncle protocol here? You've been at this job longer than I have.""

"The proper term is Grunkle."

"It's the same thing, Stanley!"

"I can hear you ya know!" Dipper shouted to them.

The Stan twins walked over to Dipper and sat down next to him.

"Hey kiddo, thinkin' about how Miss Bucks'a'Plenty gave ya the cold shoulder?"

"I just don't understand it. I thought me and her were good but when I cheered for Wendy she turned around and bit my head off."

Dipper's Great Uncles made a noise of understanding.

"Okay, I understand what you're going through. Girls can be crazy with their mood swings and their balls-targeting high heels!"

"Their what?"

"Never mind that!" Ford snapped with a glare at his brother. "Listen Dipper, when a woman is this mad at you there's only one thing to do. Apologize."

"What?! But I didn't do anything wrong!"

"You might want to listen to him, Dipper." Stanley agreed. "My know-it-all brother tends to know what he's talking about. Even if he does have less experience with the ladies then me."

"Hey! What's that supposed to... ugh, whatever! What it ultimately boils down to is a question. 'Do you want her mad at you?'"

Dipper thought about it for a moment and then hung his head.

"No... I guess not. It's just she keeps going at these games and I know if she doesn't quit something bad is going to happen to her! She says she's doing this because 'Northwest are the best' and 'Northwests never back down from a challenge' but no matter what she says I know that's not why she's really doing this!"

"Well how does that make you feel?" Ford asked.

Stanley rolled his eyes at his brother's therapist attempt.

"I don't know... scared she's going to hurt herself... confused as to why she's doing this in the first place, angry that she's pushing me away, sad I made her upset... but surprisingly, I also don't want to see her lose... which doesn't really make all that much sense. Why do girls got to be so confusing?!"

"You really seem to care about how she's doing in this." Stanley noted.

With a smirk Ford added "Ever thought as to why?"

For reasons unknown to himself he blushed as red as a tomato at the question.

"I... don't know. I guess I just know it's going to make her more upset which is probably going to make her more reckless! Which is going to get her hurt!" As Dipper droned on his Uncles shared a knowing look. "What's wrong with her?! What's wrong with ME? Why do I even care, it's none of my business really. I..."

A sudden gasp from the crowd rose some alarms from inside Dipper. "I gotta go help Pacifica!"

As Dipper raced off, the Stan twins each wiped away a tear.

"They grow up so fast!"

"Seems like just yesterday he was having a showdown with an alien security drone to keep me from being transported across the universe!"

"Yeah... wait! He was what?!"

Dipper ran to the front of the crowd and looked up at Pacifica's tree. He joined them in the shocked awe as he witnessed Pacifica hanging from a broken branch. The fresh green insides of the branch told of it's strong healthy connection to the tree. Pacifica held on to it with one hand, dangling in the air like a Christmas Tree ornament.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

"Mabel, go get the golf cart! The special one me, Soos, and Wendy tricked out that one time forcing Grunkle Stan to buy a new one!" Dipper ordered.

"The one you guys crashed in to the roof? Did Soos even finish repairing it?"

"Yes! He keeps it in the garage, now go get it!" As Mabel ran off Dipper turned his attention to Soos. "Soos, I need a ramp here and I need it yesterday!"

Soos held up his power drill and gave Dipper a salute. "Right, bring out yesterday's ramp! On it!"

"Wait, you made a ramp yester...forget it! Just go get it Soos! PACIFICA, IT'S DIPPER! I'M GOING TO SAVE YOU!" he yelled up to her.

"YOU'D BETTER!" Pacifica snapped.

A sudden screeching told Dipper that Mabel had just arrived with the Soos-ified golf cart. She jumped out and pointed at it with her arms in a 'Ta-Da' gesture. Because Soos had decided to make 'As rad as possible' it had all types of bells and whistles on it. This included but was not limited to: Purple flames painted on the front, a spoiler on top of the canopy, a pirate ship steering wheel, and a space muro painted on the back.

"Great! SOOS, WHERE'S THAT RAMP?!"

"OVER HERE, DUDE!"

Behind the crowd was huge ramp made of wood, prompt up by a large barrel. "If you're ready to roll then it's ready to... be a ramp. Aw geez, I really need to work on my rhyming!" Soos shook his head in shame. "Dude, it's just getting sad now."

Dipper was about to comfort Soos on the matter when a scream from Pacifica alerted Dipper that the broken branch she was hanging to was about to give way.

"Work on it later, Soos!"

Dipper raced to the golf cart, thankfully Mabel had kept it running.

"EVERYONE LOOK OUT! COMING THROUGH!"

The crowd dodged out of the way as the golf cart came barreling through them. Thankfully nobody was hurt but Mayor Tylor did make a mental note to have the police investigate that golf cart. Making a sharp u-turn Dipper got his vehicle in front of the ramp, there was some distance between him and the incline.

"I wonder if this is a good idea?" Dipper pondered.

"AAAAGH!"

"No time to second guess it!"

The golf cart peeled out in place as Dipper floored the gas pedal before shooting forward. Dipper screamed as the cart rocketed up the ramp and in to the air. When Dipper saw Pacifica falling he knew there was only one way he could catch her in time.

"Time to hit the nitros boosters!"

Dipper slammed his hand down on a button in the center of the 'steering wheel' activating the illegal boosters hurdling the cart even faster. Pacifica landed on the canopy rougher than she would have appreciated; the speed of the golf cart forced her down through the canopy where she landed in the passenger seat next to Dipper. Normally she would have been delighted by such a position but with the cart hurtling towards the ground all she could do was scream.

As soon as the golf cart hit the ground Pacifica threw her arms around Dipper and hung on for dear life. The golf cart swerved left and right as Dipper did his best to steer them away from the trees. Screaming in unison, Pacifica finally let go of Dipper just in time for him to apply the breaks. He didn't slam down on it because he knew it would have sent them both flying out of the cart; instead he tried to gradually press on the break as he tried to steer them to a place with less trees.

Pacifica realized that she still had the broken branch she had been holding on to in her hand. In an attempt to slow down the golf cart she jammed the broken end of the branch down on the speeding ground but instead of slowing the vehicle down it broke in to pieces instead. She pulled her hand out right away, it felt like she had splinters now.

Things seemed utterly hopeless until much to both the passengers' surprise something long and white appeared ahead in the distance.

"What is that?"

"Looks like..." Dipper squinted his eyes as he tried to make it out. "Some type of banner? Banner! It's Mabel!"

"Mabel?!"

"It's one of Mabel's party banners, the type she does for her sleepover parties! She must have set it to catch us!"

"How'd she get all of that done so fast though?!"

"You'd be surprised what my sister can do with three shots Mabel Juice!"

Once again, they screamed in unison as the golf cart hurdled them towards the banner.

*FWOOMP!*

The golf cart had halted completely with Mable's banner covering the cart and it's passengers.

"Well..." Pacifica and Dipper both worked to get the banner off the cart and out of their faces. "That was absolutely terrifying!"

"'Absolutely terrifying'?!" Dipper echoed. "You want to know what was 'absolutely terrifying' for me?! Seeing you nearly fall to your death! Now do you see what I mean when I say that these games are too dangerous for you?! I mean seriously, do you have ANYTHING to defend your actions right now?!"

Pacifica said nothing, for she did not need to, instead held up the flag she was supposed to get. Dipper looked on with a face of disbelief which slowly turned in to a smile. "I don't believe it! You actually got the flag?"

"Yep. I was on my way down the branch broke."

Despite everything, Dipper actually started to laugh and before long Pacifica started to laugh too. None of them knew exactly why they were laughing or what was supposed to be so funny but it felt good all the same. The laughter came to an abrupt end when Pacifica suddenly winced in pain.

Pacifica held out her hand and revealed splinters sticking out of her palm. "Must have been from the branch I fell with. I kind of used to try and slow down the cart... didn't go so well and..."

A sigh from Dipper put an end to Pacifica's ramblings. "Let me see it."

He reached in to his hat's ear flap and pulled out a pair of tweezers.

"What? Where did that come from?" Pacifica asked.

"Sometimes," Dipper started as he began to pull out splinters "On my mystery solving adventures I'm little empty handed, so I had Mabel sew some pockets in to the hat so I would always have some bare essentials with me."

'So what, he always has a pair of tweezers hanging next to his head?' Pacifica let out a small chortle at such a thing. "Lame-o."

Dipper raised an eyebrow at her insult but when he saw she was smiling at him he guessed it was meant to be more of a playful jab if anything. So he shrugged it off and continued his work.

"I guess I don't need to worry about you anymore today. You didn't climb down so I guess you got disqualified."

"Technically I'm still in the game."

"Huh?"

"He said I couldn't 'jump' down, I fell. I didn't plan for it but the important thing is I still got my flag."

Dipper sighed in defeat and shook his head. "Fine. I haven't been able to convince you to drop out so far, so why would that change now? There! I'm finished, your hand is now splinter free. I guess we should head back now and let everyone know you're okay."

"Carry me."

"Excuse me?!"

"We've already established I can't walk in these boots and believe it or not there's a lot of mud surrounding us right now..." Dipper leaned over the side of the cart and saw the blades of grass were individually sticking up out of the mud ground.

"How did... wait, did Mabel take this in to account too? A precaution in case the banner didn't work? That's actually pretty smart for her." Dipper noted.

"Like I was saying; I can't walk in these boots on normal ground without your help so this mud is pretty much out of the question. So unless you can get the cart up and running..."

Dipper looked towards the hood of the engine; smoke was starting to rise from it. This thing wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, Soos would probably have to tow it back to the shack. He turned back to Pacifica who was smiling at him triumphantly.

"I'd suggest you'd start doing some stretches. Now then, I accept two forms of carrying me. I'll which one up to you. Now then, piggyback or bridal?"

A couple of seconds later, Dipper was carrying Pacifica bridal style although he didn't appear to be very happy about it. Perhaps it was because Pacifica weighed more than he would have guessed, making him move with slow calculated steps. The mud was deeper than it looked, he was already up to his ankles in it, and because of this his 'slow calculated steps' caused a splash for every step forward.

Pacifica on the other hand was enjoying it to no end, completely oblivious to Dipper's discomfort.

"Wow Dipper, I didn't expect you to actually pick bridal style! I'm flattered!"

"Don't be!"

"Huh?"

"I think we both know if I picked 'piggyback' you would've used the blades on your boots as spurs!"

"That's not true... I think!" Pacifica seemed to stare off in to space for a moment. "I hope!"

"I'm hoping that maybe NOW you want to tell me what you're trying to get out of all this?! Seriously, you almost died back there!"

"I..." Pacifica turned away. "All I can say is... thank you Dipper, for saving my life."

"You still don't want to tell me?!"

"...sorry... I can't..."

Dipper said nothing but started to walk faster.

The final challenge was taking place at Lake Gravity Falls for the most absurd lumberjack game Pacifica had ever heard of, log rolling. From what she understood, two contestants would stand on a log in the water and run in place rolling the log. The first one to fall off in to the water loses, the whole thing sounded pointless to Pacifica.

She sat on a log bench away from the shore and rolled her eyes. "Commoners..."

Pacifica spotted Wendy rolling three logs down the hill towards the lake. She was doing this by actually running backwards on top of one of the logs, how she managed to keep all three on the road was a mystery to Pacifica.

She knew Dipper was going to show up at some point to try and yet again talk her out of these crazy games. Pacifica wasn't stupid though, she knew exactly how terrible she was doing in these games. She got bruises which were going to hang around for the rest of the summer, most likely. However, she knew this was her last chance to beat Dipper's crush at her own game. She wasn't going to stop now!

She watched as Wendy rolled the logs to the dock and jumped off at the last moment, landing effortlessly on the ground.

"Show off..." Pacifica scoffed.

Soos rose up from behind Pacifica's log bench and got her attention with a little tap on her shoulder. She jumped a little and stared at Soos for a moment. When the surprise and awkwardness finally wore off, Soos finally spoke up.

"Dude, it's like you're the robot dude and Wendy is the air based robot which you just can't seem to defeat! We should totally sing a song about it!"

"...I don't understand a word of what you just said, so I'm just going to pretend you didn't say anything. See ya later Soos!"

Soos waved goodbye as Pacifica walked down the road (she got her regular boots back) towards the lake.

"Okay, maybe later then? I got to get Mabel in on this idea!"

Pacifica arrived at the docks just in time for Mayor Tyler to begin his speech. "And here we are at Lake Gravity Falls for the finale of our games. Log rolling is simplicity in itself; two contestants to a log where they both start running on the log trying to get their opponent to fall off the log and in to the water. You fall in the drink and you're out! Match ups are decided by lots and..."

What he said next Pacifica never got to hear as Dipper appeared and motioned for her to follow him. He lead her away from the crowd to the base of the hill, he did a quick look around to make sure nobody was around to butt in or eavesdrop. When it was clear that they were alone he let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay Pacifica, I've been thinking about this long and hard and you've got to pull out! Like now!"

"What?!"

"That last challenge was too close of a call for you! You need to drop out!"

"No!"

"Why not?! Exactly what are you trying to gain from this?!"

"Grrr! You're so stupid! If you were half the nerd you looked like then you would've been able to figure it out by now!"

"Then just tell me! If I'm so 'stupid' then why don't you give me a clue?! Huh?! You are giving me NOTHING to work with here other than guess work! I have done nothing but help you and in return you've given me NO answers to my questions!"

"That's because YOU'RE supposed to figure it out! YOU'RE the mystery hunter! YOU'RE the sleuth! YOU'RE the know it all! YOU'RE supposed to find the answers!"

"But not when you're fighting against me on it! I can't help you if you don't let me!"

"OH YEAH?! WELL I NEVER ASKED FOR YOUR HELP!"

"FINE THEN! DO THIS ALONE, SEE IF I CARE!"

"FINE!"

The two stormed off in different directions but Pacifica could have sworn she heard Mabel shoot out from the bushes and chase after her brother.

Pacifica rejoined the crowd just as it was starting to disperse. Thankfully she caught Mayor Tyler's eye, he had been waiting for her by the looks of it.

"I'm sorry Mayor Tyler, I had something... personal to take care of. You said that the match ups were going to be decided by 'lots'?"

"Yes I did, sweetie. But the thing is we've already drawn the lots without you. You're on log three, you're up against Wendy."

"Of course I am, I've been going up against her all day! Why would that change now?"

Log three had been easy enough to find, it had been right there in the water next to the dock. She was hesitant about boarding it though, the way it bobbed up and down in the water made her afraid that she would fall in to the water as soon as she TRIED to step on it.

"Hey there Princess, need some help?"

Pacifica jumped at the sound of Wendy's voice. Turning around, Pacifica found Wendy staring down at her as nonchalant as ever. Before Pacifica could offer a retort, Wendy picked her up by the back of her shirt. Then with a simple step, Wendy walked on to the log and placed Pacifica down in front of her.

"Don't expect a thank you or anything! I didn't ask you to do that for me!"

"I wasn't looking for one."

As other contestants got to their logs, Pacifica looked out to the audience to see if she could spot Dipper. There he was, in the front row. Their eyes met and then he turned his back to her. A small mixture of shame and guilt at making him feel like this but she shoved those thoughts away.

She looked up at Wendy and growled in frustration at her completely relaxed attitude. Pacifica would never adopt such a mannerism when it came to competition, especially now. She knew this was it, her last shot, her all-or-nothing gambit, she HAD to win this one!

"Contestant on your mark!" Mayor Tyler announced.

Pacifica started to do some deep breathing exercises for preparation.

"Get set!"

Pacifica stopped her deep breathing exercises and got in to a ready position.

*BANG!* "Roll!"

Wendy crossed her arms and started to roll the log forward by pacing backwards. To her surprise, Pacifica kept pace without a problem. Wendy went a little faster but Pacifica continued to keep up. Finally, Wendy decided to give her a real test and sped the log up to a pace she would've kept reserved for only major competitors. Pacifica was out of breath but she stayed on the log just as easily as any of the other competitors.

"Pretty good Princess! I'm actually impressed; I thought for sure you'd be in the water a few rolls ago!"

Pacifica ignored the compliment and just pointed at Wendy dramatically.

"You're going down!"

"Well I don't know about that. I'm impressed you can keep up with me but it takes more than guts to take me down!"

Wendy sped up her rolling but to her surprise Pacifica was still keeping up.

Pacifica was running out of breath and she was pretty sure she had never sweated this much in her entire life but her little mantra she was chanting under her breath kept her going. "Not yet! Not done yet! I'm not beat yet! I can keep going!"

At first Wendy stared at her like she was some type of crazy person but when she stumbled a little from the log it all started to make sense. Pacifica was doing more than just keeping up, she was trying to speed up the log as well. To take advantage of Wendy underestimating her, Pacifica was starting to take control of the log.

Wendy almost fell in to the water when Pacifica sped up the log again but she quickly adjusted herself. 'Okay, no more kid gloves!'

"Ha! See that, Redwood? I can take anything you can dish out AND give it back!"

"I'm not so sure about that. Don't get me wrong, I'm impressed you took control of the log from when my guard was down but..." Wendy jumped up and landed on the log, stopping it cold. "This competition's over!"

Pacifica screamed as she was hurdled through the air and in to the lake.

*SPLASH!*

"And Pacifica Northwest is the first to be eliminated from the log rolling challenge!" Mayor Tyler announced. "Better luck next time, Hon. Who will be next to fall in to the drink?"

Pacifica swam to shore silently, she could see Dipper in the front of the crowd waiting for her. She walked on the lake bed until she found herself in front of Dipper, she knew there was no way to avoid him after that challenge. She stood silently waiting for Dipper to say something, she wasn't even all the way out of the water yet, her feet still hadn't technically made it out of the water. Finally deciding she couldn't take the silence anymore she spoke up.

"So is this part where you say 'I told you so'?"

Dipper gave her a glare and crossed her arms.

"No, this is the part where you tell me why! Why did you want to do all this?! I'm sorry I can't just read your mind and automatically know why you did this but you chose not to tell me anything! Now tell me why! Why would you put yourself through so much?!"

"BECAUSE I LIKED YOU!"

With her shout she pushed Dipper down to the ground. "I'm sorry for ever thinking that I could get you to look at me the way you look at her! It's clear that the only girl you'll ever really care for is Wendy! Dipper Pines, I wish I never met you!"

With tears in her eyes, she ran out of the water and past Dipper in to the woods. Dipper reached a hand out to her in an attempt to grab her but it was too late.

A log in the woods sat on the ground with nothing special about it other than some grass growing on it's bark. This was where Pacifica Northwest found herself a seat to have a good cry. She had no idea how long she was there, all she knew was that she was still wet and she felt very cold. Crying felt good but she still knew it solved nothing. Dipper was still waiting for her, all of Gravity Falls had seen her fail each and every challenge, and she was probably going to have to explain to her parents why she bothered entering in the first place. None of which she was looking forward to.

"Here you are." Dipper's voice shot out from behind her. "You actually ran pretty far."

He walked over to the front of her, she could see some of his famous awkwardness plastered on his face as he tried to offer her a friendly smile. "You know this is the same log I told Wendy my feelings for her, only for her to shoot me down?"

Pacifica said nothing but started to hug her knees.

'Great! I found the Friend-Zone Log!' Pacifica thought bitterly.

Dipper sighed and scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. He sat down next to her and placed a comforting hand on her far shoulder.

"I was... a jerk. I'm sorry about that."

"I know a thing or two about being a jerk. I understand..."

"Yeah, but I still could have tried harder to pick up on your signals. You said it yourself, I'm the smart one."

"Yeah, but I can't expect you to be a mind reader. I couldn't flirt with you like I would with a normal boy because..." She looked at him with red cheeks and smeared makeup. It was probably one of the most vulnerable things she had ever allowed herself to do. And yet, through it all Dipper could see the sincerity in her eyes. "Because you're not like a normal boy, not to me. To me, you're...special."

Dipper blushed furiously, his awkwardness doubled over as he rubbed his arm. He was probably getting more sweaty too because he decided to wipe the hand he was rubbing with off on his pant's leg.

"Wow Pacifica. I don't know what to say."

"I get now that I can't compare to Wendy. And I will..." She visibly winced. "Get used to that, but you don't have to do anything Dipper. I'll get over it. So... friends?"

"I wouldn't say that."

"Huh?"

"Listen Wendy is awesome and everything but she pointed out to me that you're the one I've been focusing on all day. I didn't want to see you get hurt, almost to the point of a panic attack, but surprisingly I also didn't want to see you lose. Which didn't make ANY sense to me, but I decided to help you out anyways. It's true, you're not like Wendy, not at all. You're Pacifica Northwest, you can't be anybody else and you don't need to be. I got to admit though, even I didn't think you had that much guts."

Pacifica blushed lightly at the comment.

"I know what it's like to have everybody think you're going to fail before you even try, I should have been nicer about that and I'm sorry. What I'm trying to say here is that you really impressed me with your tenacity and I care a lot more about you than I thought I did. And, if you're still interested, I think I'd like to try to be something more than friends."

He scooted a little closer to her. Pacifica didn't seem to react in any way and it was making Dipper feel whole new levels of awkwardness. Pacifica's face was being hidden by her bangs and hung head, and in all honesty it was starting to drive Dipper nuts. He leaned down to try and get a look at her face, unfortunately he tried too hard and ended up falling over on to the ground. He accomplished what he set out to do though, looking up he saw Pacifica with very red face and a loving smile which was getting bigger by the second.

"Heh. Dipper Pines... No matter what I do, you always find a way to turn my whole world upside down."

She helped him up to his feet but didn't really move from the log. He shifted a little uncomfortably as she looked at him patiently, as if she were expecting something. At first he couldn't figure out what she wanted, then it hit him.

"I can't give you my hat because I already traded it with Wendy, and I doubt you would want her's."

"You got that right!"

"Since you still look cold how about you take my vest instead."

Dipper took off his vest and placed it on Pacifica's shoulders. "Unless you would rather I give you something else..."

"No! No!" She pulled it a little tighter around her body. "This is good! I like this!"

Dipper chuckled nervously. "So I guess this make us officially a couple now, right?"

"Wow! There is, like, no off switch to that awkwardness huh?"

"Um, no. Not really."

"Meh. I guess I'll take you anyways." she said with a flirtatious smile.

The two shared a laugh before Dipper sat down next to her.

"So instead of friend-zoning me, you hooked up with me." Pacifica said. "So I guess it would be safe to say we sort of defied the Friend-Zone Log."

"Friend-Zone Log?" Dipper echoed.

He stared down at their seat and let out of short laugh. "Hey I guess it is kind of the Friend-Zone Log." He got up and started to kick it. "Or at least it was!"

Normally Pacifica would chastise a boy for kicking a thing she was sitting on, but in this case she was on the exact same page as him. She got up and started kicking the log with him. "Ha ha! Yeah! Take that!"

They continued to kick the log, enjoying a feeling similar to that night when they destroyed the favorite rug of Pacifica's parents. Their good time came to a screeching halt however, when Mabel came out from behind the bushes.

"What is going on here?"

"What the... Mabel? How long were you hiding in those bushes?"

"I followed Dipper, I was content to let you have your moment but then you guys started kicking a log and I was like 'Whaaaaat?' So why ARE you guys kicking a log?"

Dipper and Pacifica shared an awkward stare before giving Mabel a sheepish grin.

"Well, Mabel, since it's the same log Wendy shot Dipper on we've been calling it the Friend-Zone Log. So because me and Dipper became more than friends on it we feel like we kind of defied it and are now defiling it." Pacifica explained awkwardly.

Dipper looked at Pacifica appreciatively. "So this is what awkwardness looks like from the outside in. Hm, not as bad as I feared."

She shot Dipper a playful glare which didn't go unnoticed by Mabel.

"The important thing is that you're doing stuff together as a couple now. So are you going to kiss now or what?"

Pacifica face palmed as Mabel bounced on her feet eagerly.

"Mabel listen, me and Pacifica..."

"No Dipper," Pacifica cut in. "I got this one."

Mabel looked between Pacifica and Dipper enthusiastically, grinning from ear to ear.

"Got what? What're we talking about?"

"Okay Mabel, here's the deal. I need some more alone time with your brother right now, and in exchange for giving us this time... without you!" she added with emphasis. "I will make sure you and your two friends get free limo rides for a week!"

"DEAL! Enjoy the sunset you two!"

As Mabel ran off Pacifica just seemed to echo what she said in confusion. "Sunset?"

"Oh. Didn't you know?" Dipper asked. He pulled a bush out of the way and revealed a setting sun. "Sun's going down. Days' over."

"The sun is setting?! How long have I been doing these games?!"

"All day. I mean why do you think eating challenge was so big. That was both a lunch AND a dinner."

"But it had breakfast foods!"

"You can have those for other meals. But seriously, day's over."

Pacifica sat back down on the log. "Wow! I didn't even realize. I mean I know I can be goal oriented but..."

Dipper sat down next to her. "I know what you mean." He placed his arm around her. "I can be so focused on solving a mystery or cracking a code I end up missing sleep. It can get to the point where I start to chew on my own shirt."

Pacifica laughed and then placed her head on his shoulder.

"Sorry about your shoulder. My hair is still wet from the lake."

"It's okay, I've had worse. Still feels a lot better then when Candy was doing it."

Pacifica whipped her head off his shoulder. "CANDY?! Like, Mabel's friend?! I have to worry about her too?!"

"Oh! No! No! No! It was just like a one day crush, and it already came and left. We're just friends now I swear!"

"Oh..." She placed her head back on his shoulder. "Well that's okay then. Sure you don't mind having a damp shoulder?"

Dipper rested his own head on top of her's. "As long as you're mine then I will always have a shoulder for you to rest on. We should probably get back though, let everyone know you're okay."

"We'll go there in a little bit. I just want to watch the sunset a little longer with you."

"I'm not complaining. Take as much time as you need."

The End.

Roll Credits

A camera jostled left and right as it tried to focus on Pacifica.

"I can't believe you're making me do this!"

Pacifica was dressed up in a pink and cyan cardboard robot outfit standing in front of a camera. He had even managed to cut in a cardboard W neck for her. A cardboard helmet also rested under her arm

"Oh come on Pacifica, it's not that bad. It'll make Soos happy. Admit it; if you really hated this idea you wouldn't be here right now!" said Dipper.

"Yeah, it's all in good clean fun." added Mabel.

"I don't know, if my parents ever found out..."

"I'll throw in some pictures of Dipper doing his lamby dance!"

"What?! Mabel! She doesn't need to know about that!" Dipper protested.

"Lamby dance?" Pacifica smiled, looking a little more confident. "Tempting, but I think I need a little more."

"Oh geez, like what?"

"Well Dipper, I pick our next date night!"

"Well... okay..."

"And it's going to be a trip to the spa! Your friends and whatever can come too but they have to give us all the private time they can! Oh! I get to call the shots on it!"

"Okay! Fine!" Dipper rolled his eyes. "I swear, the more things change the more they... wait, what do you mean by 'call the shots'? Why are you smiling like that?!"

"And Action!"

"Wait! What?! Soos!"

The music of airman ga taosenai (A/N: If you don't know what that is then you are missing out. P.s. I don't own it.) started up as Pacifica suddenly ran on screen.

"It just occurred to me, that I've been doing these games again and again, and no matter how hard I try I repeatedly faaail!"

Pacifica, with complete cardboard costume on, acted as if she were knocked back by some enemy force 'crash' landing on the stump of a tree.

"I never will give up as I attempt to turn Dipper's head away from that annoying red head but again I just keep landing on my face instead!"

Dipper pretended to look off in one direction whiled Pacifica jumped around in the background flailing her arms trying to get his attention.

"If I only had Dipper's cheering from the third challenge, it would make it so much easier to compete in these games!"

Pacifica placed a megaphone and a 'Go Pacifica' picket sign in front of Dipper, but he just shrugged non-nonchalantly at the sight.

"But somehow every time, somehow every time, some how every time I lose!"

Out from behind a tree ran in Wendy with a turn table fan tapped to her cardboard chest.

"I can't defeat Wendy-Girl!"

Pacifica made some shooting motions with cardboard arm cannon but Wendy stood proud and undamaged. Pacifica looked to the camera and made a face of shocked awe.

"No matter how hard I try to upstage her she just beats again!"

Pacifica faked trying to pick up a hatchet wedged in a stump while Wendy threw a different one in to a tree.

"And even though I can get a head start on her it's no use. I try to win but I just get last place again!"

On a three stepped pedestal Wendy stood on the top labeled 1 while Pacifica stood on the last one labeled. On the step labeled 2 rested a hatchet.

"I try as hard as I can, but when I had to go head to head against her I was helpless again!"

Wendy got Pacifica in to a play-headlock and gave her cardboard helmet a fake noogie.

"I'll try again of course, but this is my plan: I'll keep my Mabel-Wing Woman in reserve as long as I can!"

Mabel ran out in front of the camera with a couple of cardboard cut out wings on her arms. Deciding she couldn't take it anymore, Pacifica fell to the ground laughing.

"Ha ha ha! That's not what I meant and you know it! Ha ha ha! Okay, that's it! I can't do anymore! This silliness is going to be burned in to my memory forever!"

"I told you you'd have fun!" beamed Mabel.

"Here, let me help you." Dipper laughed.

Pacifica took Dipper's hand... and pulled him down to the ground with her. The tumbled in a roll on the ground, laughing blissfully before stopping and sharing a peck on the lips.

"Cut! Print! That's a wrap dudes!"

Soos placed a cardboard sign in front of the camera which read 'Fin'.

#Dipper Pacifica Dipcifica

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invisibletinkerer · 6 years

Text

Ficlet: Hang on and survive

A missing scene between Gideon and Ford in Bill’s Fearamid.

Length: ~2000 words.

AO3 link.

---

Gideon danced.

His feet ached, his heart beat like a sledgehammer and his arms felt like lead, but no matter how he tried, he couldn’t stop. Bill wasn’t even in the throne room any longer, but Gideon’s body had a mind of its own, obeying the demon’s commands. It was slowly starting to dawn on him that Bill might have been literal about telling him to dance for all eternity.

He’d scream, but for once the last thing he wanted was attention. The dance was embarrassing enough without the walking nightmares actively laughing at him. It was like a curse out of a fairy tale, painful and humiliating and completely and utterly unheroic. Why did he have to listen to Dipper Pines today of all days? As if standing up to a chaos god would make any difference at all, or would allow him to go down like some kind of hero worthy of love and adoration. It certainly didn’t. This was nothing but ridiculous pathetic forced cuteness with no end in sight. He’d rather die than have Mabel see him like this. In fact, he’d rather die than dance like this forever even if Mabel didn’t see him, but he didn’t seem to have any choice in the matter.

He flinched – without missing a beat in the dance – when the giant golden triangle reentered the room from a side passage, though Bill didn’t even glance in the direction of Gideon’s cage. The demon was holding the end of a glowing blue chain in one hand, the other hand waving for his henchmaniacs. The throne made from petrified humans hid whatever was on the other end of the chain from Gideon’s view, but the way Bill held it made it seem like a leash.

“Hey guys!” Bill said, his unearthly voice as chipper as ever. “My old friend here has the key to unlock the full armageddon on the universe, but he’s reluctant to give it to me. What do you say we all get creative on him?”

As he was talking, he pulled the prisoner into view. It was a greying man in a beige trenchcoat, shackled by the neck and wrists by the glowing chain. As Bill pulled on the chain again the man stumbled, his left leg folding under him, and he was unceremoniously dragged along the floor for the last few feet. Gideon couldn’t see his face, but he thought he could hear his labored breathing even over his own.

Bill turned around and looked down on his victim. “Think about it, IQ,” he said. “It’s not too late to change your mind.” He only waited a couple of seconds for a reply, and when none came he dissolved the chain and threw the man up on the seat of the throne. Gideon could clearly hear the strangled cry of pain as he landed on the uneven stone. A moment later the chain reappeared, this time only cuffing his left ankle, like an afterthought to keep him from escaping.

The man groaned and curled up on himself, but Bill paid him no more heed as he left to talk to his demon henchmen some distance away. Gideon went completely ignored, but even so, he was still dancing. He wished there was something he could say to the other prisoner, but he couldn’t think of a single thing. He remained quiet and watched.

The man below took a deep breath and struggled to get up to a sitting position, like he was trying to salvage some small part of his dignity. He ended up resting his forehead against his knees. It was obvious from the way he moved that he’d been badly manhandled already, and it made Gideon uneasy. This person must have annoyed Bill even worse than Gideon himself had managed to do. He wasn’t sure if it was sympathy or comiseration or what it was, but Gideon somehow felt bad for him.

Eventually the man raised his eyes towards the sound of Gideon’s tapping feet, revealing a dirty red turtleneck sweater, cracked glasses, and a bruised but very familiar face.

Gideon gasped. He didn’t know why he’d expected it to be a stranger – perhaps because he didn’t recognize the trenchcoat – but seeing this particular face right now was a chock.

“Stanford Pines!?”

Stanford blinked as if trying to get Gideon into focus. “Yes, that’s me.” Something in the cadence of his voice seemed wrong, but perhaps that was just the result of the way he’d been treated.

“What does Bill even want with you, old man!?” How deep down the rabbit hole did Stanford Pines’ secrets go? Gideon hated Stanford Pines, but right now he could barely remember why. When you’re prisoners of an insane chaos god bound to torment you both for the rest of eternity, everything else suddenly seemed petty. He was the closest to a friend Gideon might ever see again.

Stanford winced, then sighed. “Weirdmageddon has been deterred by a natural weirdness barrier around the Gravity Falls valley,” he explained. “I know how to disable the barrier, but I won’t let Bill cause the end of our universe if I can help it.” He grimaced and added with more than a hint of bitterness, “He likes me for my brain.”

“Dang.” Now that sounded positively heroic, even if it filled Gideon with dread. Bill could do anything. Anything at all. Stanford was just an old man, he wouldn’t stand a chance. If Gideon’s body hadn’t been hijacked by a dancing curse he might have tried to think of something wittier to say, but right now he was too exhausted to be anything but completely honest, and if Stanford’s uncharacteristically straightforward answer was any indication, he felt the same way. “I always suspected you were more clever than you looked, with the way you outsmarted me last time and all, but I never wanted—”

Stanford’s face shot back up towards Gideon. “Wait, what?”

The old man’s confused tone made Gideon shut up. “Wait what, what?” he replied, flummoxed.

Stanford squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again. “Alright, I see what’s going on here. You must be mistaking me for my brother. That only makes sense.” He held up his right hand, making Gideon aware that something was off with it – and not just the fact that several of his fingers were discolored purplish red and bent in unnatural directions. It looked hideously painful. “The most obvious difference between us is the number of fingers.”

Gideon’s eyes widened. He’d only seen a six-fingered hand once before. “But... Does that mean... You’re the author of the journals? Are you?”

The man who might or might not be Stanford Pines smiled weakly. “You’ve read my work, too?”

“I certainly did! I read it backwards and forwards and used it for all sorts of things. Honestly I don’t think much good ever came of it even if I loved it at the time.” He stopped to breathe, then continued because he needed to say this, and if this man really wrote the journals he might even be able to understand. “I summoned Bill, too, twice, if you’ll believe it. I think… I think this whole apocalypse business might actually be my fault.” There. He’d put words to it. It was the nagging guilt that had been the final drop making him turn against Bill, and see where that had gotten him.

The man sighed again. “I’m afraid that honor belongs to me and no one else. And it seems my only other legacy in Gravity Falls has been the corruption of children. I’m sorry – I should never have allowed those journals to be found.”

Fair enough, probably. It still didn’t seem quite right. “He just seemed so reasonable. In the beginning. It all seemed to make sense at the time! I guess he tricked me.”

“You and me both, child.”

They were silent for several heartbeats, the only sound being Gideon’s shuffling dance moves and panting breath and a few raspy coughs from the man below. “Where did you come from, anyway?” Gideon asked. “I never knew Stanford Pines had a twin brother.”

Stanford’s twin scoffed. “I’m Stanford Pines.”

“If you’re Stanford, then who’s the old man with the fez?”

“He’s my twin brother, Stanley. He took my name and identity when I fell into an interdimensional portal thirty years ago.”

“Oh.” Gideon grimaced. He didn’t know what else to say. It occurred to him that Stanford – Stanley? – might have been a conman out of his league after all.

“Exactly.” Stanford raised his broken hand again in Gideon’s general direction. “Greetings, my name is Stanford Pines. Please call me Ford. I’d shake your hand, but I don’t think either of us can reach that far right now. What’s your name?”

“I’m Gideon. Gideon Gleeful.”

“Nice to meet you, Gideon.”

It didn’t even matter who he was, did it? This “Ford” might have six fingers and a might have written the journals and might be a complete stranger, but he was still the closest Gideon had to a friend right now. “It’s not nice!” he blurted. “Bill is dang near omnipotent and we both know he’s going to hurt you for that information and look at me, he put a freaking curse on me to dance cute dances for all of eternity!”

“Yes, I noticed. I wasn’t going to mention it.”

Gideon wasn’t sure if that was polite or insufferable. “Everything is horrible! How can you be so calm?”

Ford lowered his eyes. His shoulders sank visibly, but it was several moments before he said anything. “I’m not,” he finally admitted. “I’ve been through some bad things before, but... Bill means business this time.” He flexed his broken hand slightly, shuddering. “I can take it, though. I have to.”

“You could just give him what he wants,” Gideon found himself saying. “We’re all done for anyway! He could torture you for all eternity, and maybe it’s better to just let everything end. You know?”

Ford’s shoulders shook, but Gideon couldn’t tell if he was laughing or crying. Possibly both. “No,” he managed. “Don’t you think I’ve considered that? But it’s never better to give up.” He took a deep breath and looked up at Gideon again. “Sometimes all you can do is to hang on and survive and bide your time until a chance opens up. I’m not about to let the world end unless I’m absolutely certain all hope is lost.”

“But what hope could there possibly—?”

Ford glanced over to the other end of the room. Gideon followed his gaze and noticed that the demons seemed to be wrapping up their conversation. Bill was turning his eye back towards the throne. They were running out of time.

“I’m sorry you’ll have to see this,” Ford said. His voice was shaking slightly.

Bill was already towering over them. Gideon swallowed. His arms were still waving around, but he could barely feel them anymore.

“Hey Fordsy,” Bill said. “I’m giving you one last chance to let me in your mind with no harm no foul. What do you say? Give me a tour for old times’ sake?”

“No! Never.”

“Stubborn as always, Sixer. Let’s see how long you’ll keep that up. We have forever here – time is dead and meaning has no meaning, remember?”

With that, more glowing chains appeared and attached themselves to Ford’s ankles, wrists and neck, lifting him spread-eagled into the air. For a moment he glared defiantly at Bill, who glared back with as close to a smirk as a triangle with a single eye and no other facial features could manage. Then the demons got to work.

Gideon would have looked away if he could. If his limbs had been his own, he would have curled up in the far end of the cage, covering his ears and squeezing his eyes shut, and he knew the screams still would have pierced his heart and mind.

They tore Ford’s body to shreds. They put it back together only to do it again in a different way. Bones broken, limbs pulled out of joints, blood and guts spilling from open wounds. Fire and electrical currents on unprotected skin. Time and again Bill would take a break and ask in a reasonable tone if Ford wanted it to end.

He refused every time.

Gideon danced.

#gravity falls #fanfic #gideon gleeful #stanford pines #missing scene #cw torture #it writes

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sevralships · 7 years

Text

“Mabey, Baby” (Jolene AU)

~The people asked for more Jolene AU, and more Jolene AU they shall get~

The Pines triplets are back at their Grunkle’s for another summer. When Mabel has the idea to host a talent show for the residents of Gravity Falls, both Dipper and Jo help make it happen. Jo struggles with stage fright and forgiving herself.

TW incest. Angst, fluff, and smut in one tidy package. Jolene AU/Pinecest. NSFW. 7,104 words.

Fic under the cut. Enjoy!

(This story takes place AFTER the events of “Just Because You Can” and contains spoilers. If you have not read that fic, read on at your own risk.)

The sun had already gone down, but the night air was still warm and fireflies dotted the lawn. Jolene loved Oregon in the summer, how lush and damp it was, the dense woods fecund and teeming with adventures to be had. No, she hadn’t come to Gravity Falls that first summer, but she had every summer since, and her heart belonged to the mysterious secrets and green woods of this town.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Her heart may thrive here, but its ownership was indisputably in the hands of her triplets. It didn’t feel so whole right at this moment because of where she was, but because of the people that stood to either side of her. To Jolene’s left, Mabel was laughing her head off, her long brown hair dancing a little in the light summer breeze. To her right, Dipper was crouched down, fastidiously buckling his sousaphone into its seldom-opened velour-lined case. When he straightened up again, there was a greenish tinge of embarrassment on his face before it was chased away by his own laughter at the spectacle before them.

About a week prior, Mabel had had a sudden inspiration, as she often did when things got boring for more than a day. “Let’s host a talent show!” she had exclaimed, her eyes glittering and her smile wide. Although this sort of thing wasn’t exactly their forte, Jo and Dipper had only shared an uncertain look and shrugged. It was no use resisting it, Mabel would talk them into it in the end either way. And as ever, the triplets had worked together like a well-oiled machine. While Mabel had spitballed ideas, sitting upside down on the couch with her head hanging off the side, Dipper had taken incredibly detailed notes. He had thought of everything, refreshments, admission, contact information, judges, potential contestants...everything, all drawn up in a neat grid, complete with cost and revenue estimates. Jo had designed the flyers, and (with Soos’ help) constructed and arranged the outdoor theater. Tonight was the night, and Jolene had to admit, they’d really pulled it off. Their persistent advertising (which hinged on badgering) and the flyers they’d plastered all over town had drawn a sizable crowd. The rows of chairs they had set out were nearly full. And Soos had even set up lights and a mic. Currently, said mic was in his hand, as he stood a bit stiffly in the center of the stage.

“But her aim is getting better!” Soos said cheerfully, in a voice slightly more gravelly than his own but not reminiscent of Grunkle Stan in the slightest. Stan had in fact only just told that joke a few minutes prior, when he had occupied the stage, doing stand-up and embracing the ‘BOO’s of the audience. The audience was absolutely eating up Soos’ act, however, laughing riotously at his weak impressions and privately patting themselves on the back for getting the references.

Jolene couldn’t help but laugh along a little, watching the pride blooming on Soos’ face at the reception he was getting. He wasn’t looking out at the Gravity Falls residents seated in rows in front of him, however, but at the screen of his laptop, open on a stool by the front of the stage. The tinny sound of Melody’s laugh over the video-call was barely audible over the crowd, but from where Jo and her siblings stood, the screen was in view. They could see Melody laughing and giving Soos an encouraging thumbs-up.

Soos stopped in his emulation of Stan and gradually the laughing and hooting of the crowd subsided. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Melody, and cautiously, he raised an eyebrow in her direction, as if asking her something. “You’ve got this, baby, they’re loving it. I think you should go for it.” Melody’s voice was comprehensible only to Soos, the triplets by the side of the stage in what passed for the wings, and the judges at a card table by the foot of the stage. Soos nodded resolutely, his face taking on a daring expression, “AHAHAHA!” he gave a sudden cackle, nothing like his own friendly chortle, “I’m going to make deals and take over the world!” An astonished gasp rippled through the crowd.

Beside her, Dipper muttered an impressed expletive under his breath. Jo risked looking over at him. Both of her triplets had good days and bad days, even years later, but Dipper was more prone to beat himself up. However, she could detect no sign of distress, and if it were there she would have seen it. Dipper had his hands in his jeans pockets, his demeanor relaxed. His eyebrows were raised, causing a single wrinkle to crease across the birthmark on his forehead, but his expression was one of admiration and surprise. His brown eyes were glued to Soos, but with no more distress than there would have been if he had been watching a particularly compelling documentary on hauntings.

“That takes some marbles,” Mabel said, her eyes wide but still grinning at the stage. She crossed her arms in a relaxed challenge, eager to see where Soos was going with this.

“Shake my hand, stupid mortal person,” Soos said, sticking out his right hand a bit awkwardly, his face relaxing slightly as a few people in the crowd chuckled nervously, Grunkle Ford the only one laughing outright, “I am super flat and you have more eyes than me but don’t let my looks deceive you! I am a mean triangle guy and I rule nightmares and stuff.”

“That’s...not how Bill talked, right?” Jo asked, having ascertained that neither of her sibs was likely to begin hyperventilating. She dearly hoped that the entire town hadn’t somehow been fooled by the stilted voice Soos was using.

“Not even remotely.” Dipper said, laughing in earnest now at the absurdity of Soos’ performance. Soos cackled unnervingly again, “The laugh is the closest.”

“Reality is fake and the galaxy is artificial!” Soos said, triumphantly, in closing, “Bye gold! Byyeee!” He then mimicked dropping the mic, but opted instead to place it gently on the floor. Mabel rushed onto the stage and grabbed the mic from the floor.

“Giiiiiive it up for impressions by Soooooos!” she said, transitioning seamlessly into her rousing emcee voice, and the audience redoubled their uproarious applause, “I’d like to take this moment to ask the lovely Miss Melody if she would do us the favor of being an honorary cyber-y judge?” Mabel held the mic towards the laptop, but it did not pick up Melody’s response from the speakers. Mabel heard her, however, and scooped up the laptop, depositing it on the judges’ table in front of Wendy, Lazy Susan, and Mayor Cutebiker, “Ladies and germs, she accepted! A round of applause for the abso-tively charmtastic Miss Melodyyyy!”

While the crowd humored Mabel with applause, Mabel met Jolene’s eyes. This is your chance, she was saying wordlessly. Mabel had been begging Jo to perform all night, and only one performance slot remained. Jolene felt her stomach somersault thinking about getting up in front of all those people and singing, and broke away from Mabel’s gaze by way of response. Averting her eyes from her sister, Jo saw Pacifica making her way to the front of the crowd, her face stern with determination. She watched mutely as Pacifica got the okay from Mabel and climbed onto the stage.

“You’re really not getting up there?” Dipper asked, trying to keep his tone gentle, as Mabel went about introducing Pacifica to the crowd of townspeople all of whom already knew who she was.

“Shut it,” Jo said, a little more sharply than she intended, “I forgot to bring my tuba.”

“Har har,” Dipper mocked, but his heart wasn’t in it and he dropped it. Jolene’s stomach was twisting uneasily, watching Pacifica pull up a track on her phone and place it on the stool, clearing her throat softly and getting ready to sing. Why didn’t you just do it? She scolded herself, This was supposed to make it better, but you’re just letting Mabey down all over again! Pacifica started singing, and Jolene recognized it as a ballad cover of a pop hit by &sandra. Pacifica had a pretty voice, not a singer of outrageous talent, but certainly capable and she had stage presence. Jo had never heard her sing and had internally hoped that she would be awful, but she wasn’t awful at all. As the song reached its first chorus, Pacifica loosened up more, getting more into the performance and garnering a couple cheers and whistles from the otherwise attentively listening crowd.

Dipper was humming along softly. He had long since given up on concealing his love for pop music. In fact, of the three triplets, Jolene was the only one who rarely found a top 100 song worth listening to. That right there was a reason not to get up there, she wasn’t going to sing any song these people wanted to hear. They didn’t want to hear her, and she didn’t want them to hear her. She liked singing, she truly did, but it seemed disingenuous to do it in front of a crowd somehow. She liked to sing when she was in the shower, or alone in the woods, or lying in bed, her legs tangled with Mabel and Dipper’s. It seemed dishonest to do it when she didn’t feel it.

But Mabel had wanted her to, for some reason. Really wanted her to. Does she want me to embarrass myself because we embarrassed her? It didn’t really sound like Mabel to just want straightforward payback like that, but she didn’t really think that it would have been unfair for her sister to have felt that way. It had been a few months now, but when she thought about it, Jolene still felt sick with guilt over the way she and Dipper had forgotten the production of ‘Twelfth Night’ that Mabel had worked her ass off for. They had attended the first performance they could, sitting next to each other in the very first row while Mabel took care of business backstage. Once the house lights had dimmed and the first wonderfully, garishly bedazzled players had entered, Dipper had furtively grabbed Jo’s hand, squeezing it for dear life. He didn’t have to say anything. She knew that seeing Mabel’s hard work glittering under the stage lights, imbued with a little bit of that glitteriness that Mabel seemed to have in surplus, it made it all the more real. She knew the guilt churning in her stomach was the same guilt that churned in his. Mabel had poured so much of herself into this, worked at least as hard as they had on their expedition to Tahoe, devoted her life to it for months. Neither of them took for granted how they had hurt her.

There was so much Jo would change about that opening night if she could. She wouldn’t just have been there, she’d have gotten there early. She’d have brought Mabel snacks to keep her going, knowing she often forgot to eat when she was neck deep in a project. She’d have sat in the front row, with or without Dipper, and she would have cheered until she was hoarse. And if she had somehow still failed to make it to the damn play… well, needless to say she wouldn’t have done the rest over. When she’d said as much to Dipper once, he had pointed out to her how much good had come out of that debacle. Not only the recognition and opportunity (and cash prize) that came with the photos Mabel had gotten of the Lone Pine Mountain Devils practically by accident, but more importantly the transparency in their newly blossoming relationship. Even so, she was still having a difficult time trying to forgive herself. For embarrassing Mabel and letting her down, for recklessly putting herself and the two people she loved most in danger, she didn’t understand why they seemed to think any of it was forgivable.

And now Pacifica was singing when she should have been the one singing, and Mabel was standing on the other side of the stage, watching the performance and artfully avoiding Jolene’s gaze. The song was almost over and Jo wished it would just end already. Every note that Pacifica sang into that microphone, she found herself feeling just a little guiltier. Mabel had been so proud of everyone that had performed, no matter how poor their performance had been. She’d applauded them for their bravery as much as their talent. Aren’t I supposedly brave? Jolene asked herself bitterly. Even Toby Determined had gotten up their and tap danced, did that mean even he was braver than she?

Pacifica finished the song on a sustained note that to Jolene’s ear sounded a little flat, but the crowd was applauding her all the same. She did a somewhat affected little curtsy and said, “Thank you, everyone.” into the microphone before handing it off to Mabel and leaving the stage. As she passed, Jo tried not to glare at the blond girl. She’d never had any problem with Pacifica, but at the moment she wouldn’t have minded wiping the self-impressed smile off her face.

Mabel looked at Jo one last time, giving her an opening even though Pacifica’s slot had been the intended last one. Jo shook her head stiffly, almost automatically, telling herself that if she got up there this angry, she wouldn’t perform decently anyway. Really, she knew it was just stage fright, pure and simple. Mabel turned back to the audience, “Wowee, for a small town, there’s a crazy lot of talent up in here!” the crowd cheered for themselves, “Our esteemed judges have one tough decision ahead of them! They’ll have a quick chat to talk it over and then we’ll reveal the winnerrr!” She hopped down from the stage lightly, making her way to the judges’ table to check in with them. Mabel just didn’t get the way that this felt for Jo. Mabel didn’t have to do anything special for people to love her. She got onstage and just acted like herself and that was enough. But of course it was, Mabel positively glowed, no matter what she was doing. She didn’t realize it didn’t come that easily for everyone.

The judges conferred hotly for a few minutes before quieting down. Even without hearing their discourse, it was easy to tell that Mayor Cutebiker was voicing his concerns about Soos’ disregard for the Never Mind All That Act. Jo could see Mabel confirm that they were all okay with the verdict, each of them nodding in turn, before she climbed back onto the stage, “Ladies and gentlemen, after much consideration the judges have made their decision!” The audience cheered even though Mabel hadn’t announced much of anything yet, “Although there was some squabbling about the content of the winning act, the judges unanimously agreed that this person showed the most chutzpah!” The audience cheered louder, although Jo was sure some of them had no idea what chutzpah was, “Without further ado, I’d like you to put your hands together for tonight’s winner,” she paused theatrically, letting the anticipation build, before squeezing her eyes shut and gleefully yelling, “SOOOOOOOOOS!”

Soos clambered onto the stage, looking astonished and honored, his eyes tearful, “Oh wow, doods!”

“You win, dude!” Mabel chirped at Soos.

“Cool, what do I win?” Soos asked.

Mabel punched his shoulder playfully, “Bragging rights, of course!” she replied smoothly, “From now on,” she continued, wrapping an arm around Soos and gesturing broadly at the middle distance, “ You can tell anybody that asks and anybody that doesn’t that you and only you were the victor of the first ever Mabel Pines Talentacular Spectacular!”

“Oh man, dood,” Soos said, his eyes narrowing, his fist clenching for emphasis, “That is one killer prize. Thank you doods so much!”

The crowd applauded for a moment longer before they began filing out of their chairs, walking to their cars, and leaving. Soos got down from the stage and retrieved his laptop, excitedly relaying the events of the talent show to Melody as if she hadn’t just witnessed it herself. She could be heard matching his delighted tone, laughing at each punch line all over again, and telling him how proud she was. Before the last people had gone, Wendy started folding and gathering the chairs the audience had occupied and Dipper and Jo joined in. Mabel set about gathering garbage into a trash bag while Stan and Ford set about dismantling the makeshift stage. In the span of half an hour, they had the ‘theater’ turned back into a yard, leaving the stacked folding chairs and the wooden pallets and boards to store away the following day. Stan and Ford went off to bed, up a few hours later than their standard bedtime. Soos and Wendy hung around a little longer, joking about some of the night’s acts with the triplets before saying their goodnights and heading off to their respective homes.

The triplets trudged up the stairs to the attic without speaking. They had had a long day prepping for the talent show and it was quite late now. Jolene’s body was tired but her mind was whizzing in circles. Mabel had been unusually quiet while they had been cleaning up in the yard, and even when they’d been hanging out with Wendy and Soos. Dipper entered the room first, opening the closet and eagerly stuffing his tuba case in the bottom where he could go back to trying to forget about it.

Without shame or ceremony, Mabel went to the trunk by the foot of her and Jo’s bunk bed (the top bunk of which was now very rarely occupied) and set about changing into her pajamas. She’d worn a grass green dress for the talent show, a small pink handkerchief tied smartly around her throat in a style that Jolene didn’t think anyone else would be able to carry off without looking like a total tool. As always, Mabel had looked luminous, the image of summer itself in green and pink with her hair loose and wild around her shoulders. And now she was matter-of-factly draping the green dress over the baseboard of the bottom bunk, reaching up behind her back to deftly unclasp her bra.

Jolene knew her sister’s body as well as her own (not that she could ever know it well enough) but it seemed somehow immodest to watch her like this at the moment. She averted her eyes, feeling sickened with herself that she could let herself enjoy Mabel’s nudity when she’d only just hurt her. She sat down heavily on the bottom bunk and tugged off her scuffed orange hightops, letting them fall where they would. Across from her, Dipper had removed his shoes and socks and was unbuttoning his jeans just as she looked over. There was something somehow less graceful and wistful about the way a boy got undressed, she thought. It wasn’t a complaint, just an observation. She’d had had plenty of time to observe and relish the differences and similarities between her two lovers in the past couple months and it always gave her a sort of satisfaction to see them repeat a specific quirk she appreciated. She watched Dipper remove his pants, the unrestrained way he kicked them off so different from the gentle way that Mabel handled her more fragile garments.

In boxers and tee shirt, Dipper plopped back on his bed with a relaxed sigh. Folding his hands behind his head, he said conversationally, “I think the show was a success.”

“Sorry you didn’t win, bro-bro.” Mabel said, with a small snide smile.

Dipper snorted, “Oh, yeah, I really thought I had it in the bag. I mean, Sev’ral Timez’s never-released magnum opus ‘Mabel Girl’ on the tuba? That’s an instant classic.”

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Mabel said, slipping into an airy aqua nightgown.

“I was really depending on winning,” Dipper said with a mock-grave expression, “I don’t know how I’ll pay my bills without those bragging rights.”

“Hey, that was a good save!” Mabel countered, grabbing a brush and tugging it through her wind-tangled hair.

“I’m not denying that,” he said, laughter bubbling up from his chest, “It was freaking masterful. I just can’t believe we didn’t come up with a prize!”

“I know, even with all your spreadsheets!” Jo kept her eyes trained on the floor as they conversed, “It’s a good thing Soos won,” Mabel pointed, “If it had been Pacifica we’d be looking at a lawsuit.”

“True.” Dipper said, grabbing his hat off his head and hanging it from the bedpost, “She sang pretty well, huh?”

“Yeah.” Mabel said, lightly, before stepping into her bunny slippers and leaving for the bathroom. They were silent until after they heard Mabel brushing her teeth.

“I can’t believe you did that, Dipman.” Jo said, leaning back on her arms.

“Wait, what?” Dipper said, still absentmindedly ruffling his own hair, loosening it up after it had been cooped up under his hat all day, “Mabel and Pacifica worked their shit out ages ago, I was just saying.”

“No, not that, Dip,” Jolene said impatiently, ready to not hear another word about Pacifica’s performing in her place, “I can’t believe you got up there with your fricking tuba and did a Sev’ral Timez song that only Mabel’s ever even heard.”

Dipper propped himself up on his wiry arms and shrugged, “Ain’t no thang,” he said, with good-natured sarcasm, trying to get a smirk out of his mysteriously grumpy sister. His dorky attempts at nonchalance usually succeeded at that when all else failed.

Not this time, “Why’d you do it, though?”

Dipper frowned slightly, “To make Mabel smile.” he said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. Because it is, genius, Jo chastised herself, It’s really fucking simple and you didn’t do the obvious good girlfriend thing. Scratch that! Just the good friend thing!

Just as it was dawning on Dipper that Jolene was considerably more than run of the mill grumpy, Mabel came back into the room, kicking off her slippers and bee-lining for the bed, “Scoot yer boot,” she said to Jo, giving her shoulder a small nudge so she could crawl into the bed. Jo wanted nothing more than to lie down and curl into Mabel��s arms and leave this failure of a day behind her, but she couldn’t let herself do that. It wouldn’t be right. Jo could feel Dipper studying her, picking up on her distress but currently running through a mental flow chart of possible ways to address it.

“I’m so sorry, Mabes!” Jo said, the words bubbling out of her before she knew they were coming.

“Wha--?” Mabel began, caught off guard.

“I’m so fucking sorry!” the words continued gushing out of Jo, “I didn’t mean to let you down again, I wanted to make it up to you--I do want to make it up to you--but like that? I just, you know I hate public speaking and I wanted to, but I just couldn’t, and you worked so hard on this and it’s the stupid play all over again and--”

“Whooa there, cowgirl, slow your roll!” Mabel exclaimed, sitting up and putting her hand gently on the top of Jolene’s head, “What in the hey are you apologizing for?”

“For not singing.” Jolene said, her words suddenly thickening in her throat and resisting being spoken.

“You don’t need to apologize to me for that,” Mabel said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “I’ve heard you sing. It’s the rest of the world that’s missing out. I just wanted to show you off, Jo-jo.”

“But I owe you more,” Jolene said, her voice raising slightly, “You worked so hard and I was supposed to do right by you this time!”

“First of all, you don’t owe us anything,” Dipper said evenly, as Mabel placed her hand on Jo’s back, moving it in soothing circles, “The second you start doing something because you feel obligated, we have a problem.” Dipper sat forward in bed, “You don’t need to apologize.”

Jolene hoped Mabel couldn’t feel the way she was trembling, “And second,” Mabel spoke up, adding onto what Dipper had said, “I worked so hard? You were busting your cute patootie putting up flyers all week and putting together the stage with Soos. I had an idea and you helped make it happen, Miss-Sis,” Jo could hear Mabel’s smile, “That’s doing right by me right there!”

“But that’s not enough!” Jo cried, feeling the tears welling in her eyes, “I put you through so much crap and I want to make you proud of m--”

“Oh my goshh, get down here, you absolute doof!” Mabel interjected, exasperated, grabbing Jolene around the waist and pulling her down into her embrace, “I am proud of you,” she said softly against Jo’s ear, squeezing her tightly from behind, “And that’s not changing.”

“But...you could’ve died,” Jolene said, plaintively, losing track of what she was apologizing for as the tears won out against her resolve.

“Plans-a-lot, do you copy?” Mabel said, her tone a bit urgent despite the gimmick, squeezing Jo tighter but lifting her head to look across the room at Dipper, “I’ve got a soldier sorely in need of a group hug. Requesting backup.”

Before Mabel had made it halfway through her plea, Dipper was across the room, wrapping his arms around his two sisters. Jolene’s face was pressed against Dipper’s chest and she wept openly against him, finding the smell of grass and sweat on his tee shirt oddly comforting. It was a very Dipper smell somehow, fresh and earthy and crisp. Mabel scooted back until she was very close to the wall, clutching Jo flush against her, making room so that Dipper could climb into the bed, never fully breaking their embrace. He squeezed them tighter, tucking Jo’s face into the crook of his shoulder.

Jo didn’t know how long she’d been crying when her tears slowed and her lips found Dipper’s. She tasted the salt of her tears between them, but his kiss was unhesitating, his lips gently but eagerly meeting hers, his tongue sweeping ever-so-gently, just into her mouth. There was something reassuring about the way his tongue approached her, not tentative, but subtle and entreating. It was like he was placing his hand in hers, but leaving it up to her to close her fingers. Dipper was not the most outwardly thoughtful person in the world, but his kisses were a glimpse into the infinite sweetness and goodness within him. It often felt to Jo as if Dipper was the only thing in the world that could calm her, that could contain her. His kiss was steady and encompassing, like the most reassuring of hugs.

As she met Dipper’s earnest kisses, Mabel spoke up, saying very gently beside her ear, “This wasn’t a test, and you didn’t fail it.” An ache of tenderness bloomed out from Jo’s chest at her words, realizing just how frightened she had been that she had failed. As if this talent show was some measure of how sorry she was, or how much she loved them, “And please stop with the blamey jazz in your head,” she stroked Jolene’s hair for emphasis causing her to sigh slightly into Dipper’s mouth, “If you guys hadn’t screwed up, we might never have gotten our shiz together. And this right here,” she pressed her cheek against Jo’s shoulder, “Is worth all the missed plays and angry devil birds in the whole universe, forever.”

Dipper broke into a smile, interrupting their kiss. Jo opened her eyes, to see his relaxed smile right it front of her, brown eyes soft even despite his lopsided grin, “It’s true, ya know,” he said, teasing gently and quickly kissing the tip of her nose, “A whole universe forever worth. That’s the scientific term.”

“Yo, bro,” Mabel said, lifting her head even as Jo giggled at Dipper’s comment, “Quit undermining my wooing!”

“I’m well and completely wooed, Mabey,” Jo assured her, with a watery smile, “I swear.”

Mabel grinned despite herself, her cheeks flushing slightly, “D’aww, listen to the smooth-talker,” she said, her hand finding and cupping Jo’s cheek, “Lemme woo you a little more just to be one hundred and ten percent suuuure.” Jolene was feeling well and thoroughly wooed as Mabel’s lips met hers. Sweet. There was just no word that fit Mabel better than the word sweet. She always wondered if it was a result of the sheer sugar intake, or if people really tasted like their personalities. She tried not to wonder what that would make her own flavor, but that was easy enough as kissing Mabel wasn’t exactly conducive to linear thought. Mabel’s kiss was not so heartbreakingly tender and almost polite like Dipper’s, no, it was fireworks bursting, cymbals crashing, fruit bubbling over with juice. If Dipper’s kisses contained her, it was Mabel’s that filled her. She opened her mouth, eager to catch all of Mabel’s sweetness on her tongue.

Beside them, Dipper laughed softly, “You always have to one-up me, don’t you?” he teased. Mabel pulled back just slightly, Jo catching her lip between her teeth to keep her from breaking their kiss entirely, but Mabel still sent a saucy wink at her brother over Jo. Before diving back into the kiss, proving Dipper’s point by running her hand intentionally up from Jo’s waist to her breast. Jo’s breath hitched just slightly at the contact as Dipper hissed out, “Oh, it’s on.”

An instant later, he had tackled Mabel, bumping his head on the top bunk but not letting it slow him down at all. Mabel wriggled and squealed as Dipper held her shoulders firmly in his hands, peppering her face and neck with fast, playful kisses. Jolene couldn’t help giggling at the spectacle. Gradually, Dipper’s kisses slowed and moved back towards the slow tenderness that was his norm. Mabel made a soft moan against him that sent a jolt through Jolene, surprised by the sudden shift to a sound she knew to be carnal in nature. She glanced down and found the cause, Dipper’s hips grinding slightly against Mabel’s.

The shift in her was instantaneous, as sudden as Mabel’s moan had been. She moved forward, eliciting a surprised gasp from Dipper’s as her lips found his neck, kissing firmly from his collarbone up to his ear. She took his earlobe swiftly into her mouth, in the way Mabel loved. Dipper, however, they had discovered, was very ticklish in that particular spot, and true to form, he yelped suddenly, breaking his and Mabel’s kiss and bonking his head on the upper bunk again. Jo snickered softly as she pushed him onto his back and climbed on top of him, claiming his lips again without further ado.

“Oooh, what’s this?” Mabel cooed, silly as ever despite the soft husky tone her voice had taken on. She sidled up flush against them, “Miss Jo-jo looks like she’s got a hankering for the Dipstick!” Dipper snorted but didn’t break their kiss, his hands tangling in her hair, “Well, let the Mabel be of assistance, my darlings.” Her hands slipped between Dipper and Jo’s bodies, surprising them both slightly. Reluctantly, Jo broke the kiss to see what Mabel was up to, only to be met with a mischievous smile as her fingers found the button of Jo’s jeans, raising an eyebrow challengingly as she slipped it through the buttonhole and began to drag the zipper down, teasingly slow.

Jo grinned, climbing off of Dipper just long enough for Mabel to peel her out of her jeans. She leaned down to kiss Mabel, kicking her bunched up jeans from her ankles. Dipper’s hand surprised her slightly, gently cupping her bottom before gliding around to the side to give her plain black undies a tug. He began kissing her shoulder while she kissed Mabel, his grip on her panties getting slightly more insistent. After a few moments of this treatment, he gave a small exasperated groan and took matters into his own hands, simply grabbing Jo by the waist and pulling her back on top of him. She managed the briefest of mock-glares before gamely diving back into his kisses, her veins electrifying each time she felt Dipper’s cock grind softly against her through the thin fabric of their underwear. Mabel sat up and decisively grabbed the hem of Jo’s tee shirt, pulling it up and off of her, breaking her and Dipper’s kiss for the briefest possible moment. Her small, nimble hands wasted no time, diving between them at once to fondle one of Jo’s breasts, carefully freeing the other from her bra and taking her nipple in her mouth.

Jo moaned into Dipper’s mouth at the stimulation, Mabel having spent many happy hours learning exactly what tooth to lip ratio worked the best. Without properly breaking the kiss, Dipper muttered a hoarse ‘oh my fucking god’ against Jo’s lips, looking down hungrily at his sisters. Jo opened her eyes (not knowing when exactly she had closed them) and glanced down at Mabel. As if the sight (and feel) of her sister’s ministrations wasn’t enough, she instantly followed Dipper’s gaze to Mabel’s free hand, hidden beneath the skirt of her nightgown. Involuntarily, the sight made Jo grind harder against Dipper and he gasped. He broke away from Jo’s kiss for a moment, his breath labored, his eyes glued to the movements of Mabel’s wrist. Without hesitation, he grabbed her wrist gently and her hand stilled, her mouth releasing Jo’s nipple so she could look at Dipper and find out why he had stopped her. Before she could even begin to formulate her question, she felt his hand slip under her nightgown, giving a small squeak as his fingers nudged her panties to the side. He ran his fingertips along the length of her wetness for a moment before pressing inside of her.

Jo relished the sound her sister made, the sound simultaneously primal and somehow delicate. She ground more insistently against Dipper’s erection, his hips rising to meet her, as she watched Mabel lay back beside him. Mabel and Dipper’s lips crashed against each other at once, and Jo thought as she had before how perfect it was the way that Dipper’s kisses held and Mabel’s kisses filled. The change in position twisted her nightgown up around her waist, and Jo bit her lip hard at the sight of her sister’s flat tummy, and the way her soft pink lips partly around Dipper’s finger, already glistening with her wetness. Jolene grunted softly, humping against Dipper in earnest now. Time didn’t exist, so hypnotized was she by the sight of the two beautiful, impassioned people before her.

Her trance was interrupted by Dipper’s free hand, his fingers grazing her hip, catching in the waistband of her undies and tugging. Getting the non-verbal signal and agreeing enthusiastically, Jo got up just enough to shimmy out of her underwear and to pull off Dipper’s boxers. Perched between his knees, she felt a tugging desire in the pit of her belly at the sight of Dipper’s penis, but couldn’t help smiling slightly at the way it swayed as his hips gave a couple of discreet thrusts. Although she could feel her own wetness between her thighs, before climbing back on top of him, she couldn’t resist taking him into her mouth. He gasped at the unexpected sensation, bucking against her face. She fell into a rhythm, sucking him steadily as she moved her mouth up and down, nearly off of him, and swirled her tongue lazily against him.

She glanced up to see Dipper and Mabel both watching her, Dipper’s fingers moving faster inside of Mabel. Mabel was trying to watch, but Jo could tell she was very close to cumming, recognizing the shade of her cheeks and her shortness of breath easily. She met Mabel’s eyes, never slowing her ministrations, and watched in disbelief as the moment of eye contact pushed Mabel over the edge. Jo’s eyes jumped at once to Mabel’s pussy, seeing the smallest flicker of her contractions around Dipper’s fingers.

Unable to wait any longer, Jo straddled Dipper again. He met her eyes intensely, his pupils dilated and dark and a faint sheen of sweat on his face. Reaching under herself, Jo carefully guided him to her entrance before easing her weight onto him. A delicious, guttural sound escaped him as he was engulfed in her wet heat. Mabel planted kisses all over his cheek and neck as he stared up at Jo, entranced. His hands, one still wet from Mabel found her hips and he pushed her down into his thrust.

Jo had resisted admitting her feelings for Dipper for so long, long after her feelings for Mabel had become undeniable. She had pushed her desire for him away, hoping that it would just evaporate. Of course, it never did and now she couldn’t believe how much better he felt than she ever could have imagined. It took no thought to fall into his rhythm, matching each other’s thrusts the most natural thing in the world.

She managed to tear her eyes away from Dipper’s intent face and darkly shining eyes to look at Mabel. She looked so luxuriously sensual, the aqua fabric in a frothy nimbus around her waist, her arms extended loosely above the cloud of dark curls, her wet flushed sex exposed, her face dewy and dreamy and pink. She had stopped peppering Dipper with kisses for a moment to watch their lovemaking. Absently, Jo’s hand strayed from Dipper’s chest, gliding along Mabel’s creamy thigh. Mabel gasped slightly, but her hips strained towards Jo, eagerly trying to meet her touch. Dipper grunted at the sight, thrusting even more deeply inside of Jo and dragging a moan from her. Jo trailed her fingers ever-so-lightly across Mabel’s lips, delighting in how insistently she bucked towards her from so small a touch. Without further hesitation, she dove two fingers deep inside her and Mabel cried out.

Dipper captured Mabel’s lips in his, interrupting her cry, thrusting desperately into Jo at a staccato pace. Jo met Dipper’s thrusts, her mind somewhere very far away as she relished the feel of him, the orgasm building steadily inside her belly, and the intense heat and slickness of that part of Mabel that Dipper had only just filled. Everything here was steam and flesh and sweet sweat and through it all, a pervading devotion that made Jo’s heart feel ready to break. She would give anything in the world not to ever hurt them again, to let nothing hurt them. Just being their sister, just knowing them at all was a blessing, being here in this transcendent world of pleasure with them was more than she could ever have asked for. She could tell that Mabel was close, those same familiar indicators on her face and her thighs trembling.

Jo’s orgasm crashed down upon her without warning. So deep in trance had she been, she wasn’t sure when she and Dipper had switched places, but there she was, underneath him, tremors of ecstasy shaking her to her core. He only lasted a few seconds longer than her, pulling out and clutching himself as he came on her quivering belly. He leaned down and bestowed her with a few more of those preciously sweet kisses before flopping down beside her. Again she was lying with Mabel to one side and Dipper to the other. While Dipper was gulping in lungfuls of air, Jo turned to check on Mabel. She was dazzled by the blissful smile with which she was met. She couldn’t help but smile back, as Mabel purred a quiet, “Heyyyy, Miss-Sisss…”

“Hi there,” Jo said slowly, unable to clear the cobwebs from her brain just yet. She said nothing for a moment and then, with a startled realization, asked, “Oh, man, Mabey. Did you…?” Her words failed her, no word seeming to come close to what she had just experienced.

“Mm-hmmmmmm,” Mabel replied with a slow, contented nod. Relieved that she hadn’t left Mabel hanging, Jo pulled Mabel to her shoulder. She luxuriated in the feeling of Mabel’s soft, misty skin against her. Just then, Dipper gave a sudden snore, causing Jo to start. Mabel giggled against Jo’s neck, “Guess we really tuckered the ole boy out.”

Jo grinned against Mabel’s forehead before planting a long, grateful kiss there, “I love you, Mabes. So fucking much.”

“I love you too, nerd.” Mabel said, barely above a whisper.

“I’m serious, Mabey. I’d do anything for you.” Jo said, suddenly overwhelmed with a need to make sure Mabel knew just exactly how adored she was. Mabel snickered, and Jo knew that laugh. That was the laughing at you in my head laugh, “What? What’s funny?”

“Nah, nah, just the lil teensy devil’s advocate in my head…” Mabel said lightly.

Dipper gave another loud snore as Jo insisted, “What’s that little shit saying now?”

“Now this isn’t what I think, it’s just a thing that my brain did,” Mabel said, as if that explanation would assuage anyone’s concerns, “Ms. Advocate said that you wouldn’t sing for me.”

“She’s wrong,” Jo said, without hesitation. Mabel raised an eyebrow sluggishly, “I will always sing for you. It was the crowd I don’t want to sing for.”

“...will you sing for me now?” she asked, giving Jo a doe-eyed upward glance from her spot on her shoulder.

“I will, Mabey, baby,” Jo said, phrasing it intentionally. She watched the grin spread on Mabel’s face as she recognized the in-joke, knowing immediately what Jo was going to sing, “Mabey, baby,” she crooned softly, barely above a whisper, “I’ll have you,” Mabel cuddled still closer, “Mabey, baby, you’ll be true,” Jo pulled Mabel near, curling lovingly into each other, “Mabey, baby, you will love me someday--”

“Surprise!” Mabel said, popping up suddenly and making Jo jump. She cocked her head quizzically, “I love you today.” Jo kissed her, hardly able to stop smiling long enough to do it right.

#Pinecest #Pinescest #Jolene AU #Jolene Pines AU #sevralfics

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