When Gravity Falls

CHAPTER ONE: "Right Back Where We Started."

As the bus lurched to a stop, Mabel squealed a girlish squeal as she pulled the handle from her suitcase and ran down the aisle of the bus. They stopped at a bus stop just a block from the Mystery Shack. Dipper slugged his duffle bag over his shoulder and trudged off the bus. He couldn't put into words how he was absolutely dreading coming back to Gravity Falls, even now that he was 16 and it had been nearly 4 years after Weirdmageddon.

"Dipper!" Mabel whined as Dipper took his time to climb down the stairs and plant his feet in the familiar Gravity Falls soil.

"I'm coming," Dipper muttered. He thought that, maybe, once he was off the bus he would feel more comfortable. Less anxious. But he had to admit, he hadn't fully thought about being back in Gravity Falls until now. He was disquieted, knowing that Grunkle Stan would be here any minute to walk them back to the Mystery Shack.

"What time will Stan be here?" Dipper wondered out loud, hoping he would get at least 5 minutes to gather himself and keep the nausea from bubbling up in his stomach.

"Probably in–oh! There he is!"

Dipper nearly hurled as Mabel whipped her body to the face the other way and waved at the familiar gray-haired man in the distance. "Grunkle Stan!"

"Kids!" Stan called, overjoyed at the sight of his great niece and nephew. He jogged as fast as he could and pulled Dipper and Mabel into a bear hug, to which Mabel giggled, but it made Dipper panic greatly and he pulled away once the hysteria set in.

"Woah, kid-" Stan said carefully, noticing Dipper's uneasiness. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Dipper answered flatly. "Fine."

Mabel and Stan exchanged a look, but Stan brushed it off and continued. "Okay... Well, Soos and Wendy are waiting at the Shack for you guys. They've super excited to see you guys after all these years."

Dipper would usually be elated at the sound of Wendy's name, but not even 1 butterfly awoke inside him and decided to flutter. Mabel took the initiative of answering Stan; "We're excited to see them, too! It's been way too long." Mabel eyed Dipper. "Right, Dipper?"

Dipper, who had zoned out completely, snapped back into reality when he heard his name spoken out loud. "What?"

"Wendy and Soos," Mabel said.

"Oh, yeah." Dipper stuffed his right hand into his pocket. "Super excited."

~

The walk back to the Mystery Shack was long, humid, and dreadful. But just as she was back during their first summer in Gravity Falls, Mabel was beyond euphoric to be in the sleepy town again. She was in awe at the 3 deer they caught sight of on the way.

And when they climbed the steps to the porch of the Shack is when the feeling truly set in, and Dipper heaved and gasped for air.

"Dipper, are you okay?" Mabel asked gently, frowning.

"What?" Dipper barely realized how fast his heart was beating. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just hot... can we go inside?"

Stan swung the door open, and all at once the lights flickered on and the word, "SURPRISE!" was yelled by a group of people that jumped out from various hiding spots.
Candy, Grenada, Soos, Wendy, Sheriff Blubs, Deputy Durland, Toby Determined, Great Uncle Ford, Tyler Cutebiker, and even Gideon and Bud all grinned as Mabel squealed and ran to hug each and every one of them. Dipper stood against the front door, overwhelmed at the sight of everyone that he had fought with during Weirdmageddon all in one room. Sweat beaded on his forehead. Was it hot in here? Was his shirt choking him?

"You guys!" Mabel giggled as she, Candy, and Grenda had a big group hug. "I didn't think you guys were going to be here today!"

"We wouldn't miss your first day back in Gravity Falls!" Soos said as he squeezed the life out of Mabel, a happy tear rolling down his cheek.

"Yeah, no way!" Wendy said, nonchalantly making her way over to Dipper who still hadn't moved from his spot near the front door. She pulled him into the back room as everyone chatted with each other.

"Hey," Wendy said, not wanting to make a big deal.

"Hi."

"You okay?" Wendy asked, sitting herself down on an armchair. "You don't seem okay."

"I'm fine," Dipper reassured her. "Happy everyone is here. Even Gideon."

"You don't seem fine," Wendy prodded, kicking Dipper in the shin lightly. "Talk to me."

If Dipper was going to talk to anyone about what was going on, it surely would have to be Wendy. She wasn't the type of person to snitch on him about anything. She was always on his side (besides that one time at Dusk 2 Dawn, but that's a different story and completely unrelated...)

Dipper sat down on the carpet and pulled his knees to his chest, resting his head. "I don't know, Wendy. Honestly I don't want to be here that much."

"What do you mean?"

"This place just brings back bad memories, you know? After Bill and Weirdmageddon..."

"Yeah, but we defeated Bill. You and Mabel defeated Bill. He's gone now."

Dipper wanted to protest. There was no way they defeated the Bill Cipher, the world's most powerful dream demon, so easily. But he didn't say anything. That was another conversation to be had with someone else. Someone like Ford.

"Yeah," Dipper said as more of acknowledgment than agreement. "Something just feels off. I don't feel safe here, I guess. Like something could go wrong any minute. Like me and Mabel's first summer here back in 2012. One minute I thought I was going to be trapped here sweeping all summer, and the next thing I knew, we were trying to prevent the end of the world. We all almost died, Wendy. I don't get how you're so chill about this."

"It's been three, almost four years, Dipper," Wendy said, carefully picking her words to not upset Dipper any further. "You have to get over it sometime."

That made Dipper want to claw her face off. "Get over it?" Dipper hissed, lowering his knees. "You want me to "get over" the fact I nearly died at the hands of the apocalypse? And that I can't talk to anyone besides Mabel about it?"

"You have us."

"No," Dipper said. "No, I don't. Nobody gets it. You were all just bystanders while Mabel and I did all the hard work. And once the summer is over, I'm back in California with nobody to talk to about Gravity Falls besides Mabel. Nobody knew about Weirdmageddon. Nobody knew about Bill. Or Ford, or the journals. People barely know Gravity Falls exists. It's not on any maps, remember?"

"Dipper..."

"Dipper!" Dipper heard someone call from the kitchen. "Get out here, will you? We have someone who wants to see you!"

Dipper looked back at Wendy, who went to say something else, but Dipper interrupted her; "I gotta go."

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AUTHORS NOTES: Okay, hi. Wowie. Originally I was going to keep this fanfiction to myself nad just write it on my laptop for fun; but then I thought, Hey, want not upload it to Wattpad and see what happens?
I have no idea how many parts this will be but this is only the first chapter. Be prepared for most angst, arguments, and heartbreak.
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Words: 1161.