What If Dipper Stayed?

Catching up

Mabel was currently sitting in the passenger seat of Dipper's car, watching through the window as trees flew past. Music was playing over the radio, filling the comfortable silence. It was strange to think of Dipper driving around. "So, do Candy and Grenada still live in the same spots?" Mabel asked, turning to Dipper. "Dunno. I usually see them around town." "Then where are we going?" "Gravity Falls is hosting a birthday party for Mayor Tyler, and part of it is a kitten adoption thing. I figured they'd be there. If not, you can call them and get their addresses." "Aww! I didn't know Mayor Tyler liked kittens." Mabel gushed, making Dipper laugh. "Yeah. The town figured it out two years ago, when he found a mom cat with her kittens. He took care of them until they could go to someone else, and kept the mom. It happened a while ago. Anyway, how old is Waddles again?" "The vet said he was about seven. Pigs normally live from 15-20, so I have a few more years with him. Have you thought about getting any pets?" "I had one. A dog named Tyrone. He was pretty old when I found him, so I only got a few months with him." "Oh. I'm sorry." "It's okay. I knew from the moment I met him that he probably wouldn't live much longer. I'm just glad he got a few months of a good life before he passed." "Yeah." "Hey, cheer up. You said Waddles is coming in a week, right?" Mabel nodded. "Well, pigs can sense sadness. If you're sad, then Waddles will know you're sad. You don't want to make him sad, now do you?" Dipper grinned as she giggled, lightly punching his arm. "You're so stupidly smart." "Yep. Alright, I'll let you out here. It might be difficult to find parking, so just text me when you find them." Mabel gave a thumbs up, climbing out of Dipper's car. 

The party was taking place in the center of the town, and there were people everywhere. Familiar faces covered the area, both friendly and mean. Mabel even swore she saw a gnome or two. Red balloons were tied to pretty much everything, and streamers connected different booths. Everything from cake to omelettes were being served, and music was playing loudly. This was a Gravity Falls party, and Mabel was excited to get back into it. But first, she had to find her friends. Mabel made her way to the adoption area, where kittens were in carriers. Sure enough, Candy and Grenda were near a carrier. They were both gushing over a black kitten, which had beautiful blue eyes. Mabel ran up behind them, wrapping an arm around their necks. "Candy, Grenda! Your favorite party person is back in town!" The two immediately turned around, laughing and hugging her back. "Mabel! It's been so long. How was senior year?" Candy asked, adjusting her glasses. She'd grown like the rest of them, rivaling Mabel in height. Seriously, why was everyone getting taller than her? Was there some sort of weird growth effect here? "It was great! Stressful, but I got accepted into a lot of colleges. What about you two?" "Candy over here graduated as Valedictorian. I'm going to be working with the Corduroy's, chopping down trees and stuff. I can't wait to spend summer with you two." Grenda grinned, her voice still very deep. She remained the tallest in their trio, taller than Candy, who was in heels. "I know! By the way, have you guys seen Dipper? He's so much taller than me now!" Mabel exclaimed as she pulled out her phone, texting her brother. "I know! He's even taller than me. All the girls in school keep thirsting over him." "Really? My brother, the nerd who obsessed with the author all summer?" Mabel laughed. "Yeah! He's apparently super cool, and they all think he's hot. Besides, you know how they get about kids who don't go to school." Candy shrugged. "Actually, he's got a PhD. Grunkle Ford's been teaching him a bunch of stuff, and I think he did college online." "Do we have to call him Doctor Dipper now?" Grenda asked. "I don't think so. He doesn't make me call him that. Oh, hey Dipper!"

Mabel waved her brother over. He was on the other side of the green, chatting idly with Tats. He waved back, walking over once he was done. "Hey, guys. Grenda, how's Iggy doing?" "He's doing great! I got him these new worms that he seems to enjoy." Candy fixed her glasses again. "So, do you have any adventures planned?" "Not for today. We just got done with the gnomes yesterday, so we're taking the day off. My plan for tomorrow is to go into the woods and find the crystal forest again. We've been having trouble storing some of our equipment, so the plan is to find some crystals and use them to shrink it down." "What happened to the flashlight?" "We were studying the abnormal deep when one of them started freaking out, and they trampled it. We have to find the crystals again anyway, so we just left it. There was no point in fixing it when we were going back to where we found them." "You've so got to catch me up on the adventures you've had. A month of not talking leaves out a bunch of stuff." "Why didn't you two talk? Did you get in a fight?" Grenda asked. Dipper laughed, shaking his head. "No. Our schedules just didn't mix any, so we didn't have time to talk. Why don't we get some food and find somewhere to sit? I might as well catch you guys up as well." Mabel immediately started pulling Dipper towards the table. "Sounds great to me! Now tell me, did you see the Gnome that keeps trying to marry me? He's kind of creepy." "Nah. Grunkle Ford had him. I had Schmebulock and a few others. Luckily, they're all kind of copy and paste versions of each other, so it didn't take too much time."

After grabbing platefuls of food and finding a table, the group sat and talked about everything that happened. Dipper recalled several of his adventures, pulling out his journal to reference a creature the others didn't know. He illustrated how he and Grunkle Ford navigated through Gravity Falls, narrowly escaping death at some points. He explained how his apprenticeship worked, how he and Ford scrounged for alien parts to new weapons and tools. Dipper had no problem answering any questions, even when it came to the scar on his face. In fact, he seemed to enjoy talking about his adventures. It probably helped that they would all believe him, especially since they'd all seen crazy things. People outside of Gravity Falls tended to think that stuff was crazy, and people inside didn't usually want to talk about the weirdness. Especially not after Weirdmageddon. Nobody denied it existed anymore, and claims were usually taken seriously, but conversations about it were limited. The Pines family and a few select others were comfortable discussing it, but most people wanted to forget it ever happened. Mabel talked about life back home in Piedmont, about how she still stayed in touch with many of the people she met on random trips. Candy talked about what she did in high school, and what musical achievements she'd recently earned. Grenda talked about her job, and how excited she was to start.

By the time they finished talking, most of the party had cleared out. There weren't any kittens left to adopt, and the sun was getting lower in the sky. "Well, we should be going." Dipper slowly stood up, grabbing his now-empty plate. "Yeah. Hey, why don't you two sleep over with me?" "Really?" Candy asked, excitement in her eyes. "Of course! Just like old times. That okay, Dipper?" Dipper nodded. "Of course. Just please go to sleep before midnight. I don't want to be up all night." The three girls squealed in excitement. "Great! We'll go home and grab some stuff, then meet up at the Shack. Don't start the party without us!" Grenda and Candy both raced off, Candy being much more careful in heels. "Come on, Mabel. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can warn Stan and Ford about the incoming chaos." Dipper called, opening the door to his car. "Coming!" Mabel called back, closing the gap between her and her brother. She slid into his passenger seat with ease, buckling up at his request. It was always funny that her brother, who constantly broke rules to discover new things, was so adamant about the seatbelts. 

The ride back was quiet once more. Mabel had done most of her talking during the party, and was now content with silence. Dipper seemed much more quiet now than he used to be, but she didn't blame him. Ford wasn't always chatty, and Stan was usually busy with the Mystery Shack. He and Soos co-owned it, splitting tours and the profit. Dipper probably didn't see much of their friend group because of school, and studying the weird anomalies of Gravity Falls didn't require much talking. Mabel stared out of the window as they drove, watching trees fly past again. Sometimes she'd see abnormal creatures, but she was used to it now. After Weirdmageddon, things didn't phase her as badly. Maybe she should be concerned about that, but she wasn't. It just felt like another part of her, something that most people wouldn't understand. Most people couldn't even begin to understand her, so that didn't bother her. She was too loud, too extroverted, too out there for some people. But she knew her family understood her, even if they got a  little annoyed sometimes. She was a lot to handle, especially if they were doing it every day. 

When they got back to the Mystery Shack, Grunkle Ford was working on something in the backyard. Some sort of device. Dipper turned off the car, taking his keys as he walked over to Ford. "Did we get it yet?" Dipper asked, kneeling down next to him. "Get what? What is that?" Mabel asked, observing the strange machine. It looked like a block of metal. "It's a special device we're building to make a database of magical substances, one that can also determine what those substances are. We're still getting it to work, then we'll be inputting the data." "Cool. Oh, by the way, my friends are going to be spending the night tonight. So, no freaky things in the middle of the night." Grunkle Ford laughed. "No promises, but I'll try. Why don't you go tell Stanley? He'll need to make extra for dinner tonight." Mabel ran inside, closing the door behind her. "So, how close are we?" Dipper asked, sitting next to Ford. "I think it just needs a few more tweaks. You're more familiar with this century's technology than I am." Dipper looked inside, smiling when he realized what the problem was. "You didn't connect the power pack to the actual machine. Let's just plug this thing in." Dipper plugged the machine into its power pack, smirking when the machine booted up. "There we go! Now, all I need to do is input the data, which should only take a few minutes, thanks to this chip. Why don't you go inside? You've got quite a hike to the crystal forest tomorrow." "Thanks, Grunkle Ford. I'll call you for dinner." "Thanks, kiddo. Make sure Stanley's putting enough seasoning into the food, please. I'm tired of bland food." "Will do, Grunkle Ford." Dipper stepped inside, closing the door behind him. The first full day of having Mabel back was a good one. He was now interested to see how tonight was going to go.