Little Dipper

Grounded

"Ouch, Grunkle Stan, not so hard!" Mabel tried to pull her arm free as Stan pulled her up the stairs, holding Dipper under his other arm.

"You two are GROUNDED!" Stan pushed open the slightly-ajar door and pushed Mabel in, dropping Dipper onto his bed. "Until I say you can go out, you're not leaving this room unless it's for dinner or to work in the shop!"

"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel protested.

"What about the bathroom?" Dipper asked.

"Tell me when you want to use it and I'll let you out, but until then you're going to stay in here!" Stan turned to Mabel. "And if you try to sneak out the window, I'm putting BARS on it!" He stormed out, slamming the door shut behind him. "I'm going out shopping, you better not sneak out while I'm out!"

"He was really mad..." Dipper looked at his blanket.

"Wow, I never thought that he'd get so angry over that." Mabel sighed. "Wait, we just went shopping. What is he shopping for?"

She got her answer when he came home and grabbed Soos' toolbox to start replacing the doorknob with one that locked, the latch on the outside. "Grunkle Stan, isn't this a bit much?" Mabel asked.

"No, it's not. You don't know the creep like I do. Or did you forget he put a CAMERA in our BUSHES?!" Stan looked at her. "I don't want him taking you away and sacrificing you to some dark god or whatever! This is for your own safety!"

"But he's not like that! He's nice!" Mabel insisted.

Stan looked at her. "Have you known him for ten years? No? I didn't think so. You don't know anything about him, Mabel." He checked the knob to make sure it was secure and picked up the toolkit. "Now stay in here until I let you out!"

"Grunkle Stan, can I use the bathroom?" Dipper asked.

Stan looked at him. "Alright, come on."

Dipper climbed off the bed and followed him, Stan closing and locking the door behind them. "Why are you so mad? What did Gideon do to you?" He asked.

"He's a two-faced creep that's after my Shack." Stan scowled. "Every year for the past three years he's been trying to trick me into giving it up somehow!"

"But why?" Dipper asked.

"I have no clue! He refuses to tell me!" Stan looked at Dipper. "But he's not to be trusted. Ever." He opened the bathroom door for him.

"Okay, Grunkle Stan." Dipper walked in and shut the door.

Stan sighed. "If only his sister was so easy to convince."

–

"Why would Gideon want the Shack?" Mabel asked.

"Maybe he found out something about it in the 2nd Journal." Bill theorized.

"Why would there be?" Dipper asked.

"The author used to live here." Bill said matter-of-factly.

Mabel sighed and lay back on her bed. "I want to go outside!"

Dipper sighed and curled up with the 3rd Journal. "Me too. Dumb Grunkle Stan..."

–

Their days for the rest of the week passed as follows: Wake up, go down to eat breakfast, use the bathroom, go back upstairs, go down to help in the shop, eat lunch, use the bathroom, go back upstairs, go downstairs for dinner, use the bathroom, go to bed. Dipper was starting to get bored of the routine and was doodling in the dew on the window when he noticed something outside it. Curious, he opened it and gasped. "What the?"