Gravitational Phantoms

Chapter Three

Danny shrank back into the pillow behind him, shaking slightly. There were just so many people! What if they tried to hurt him?

The girl with long brown hair that he had guessed was Mabel hopped forward and gave him a small smile.

"I'm Mabel," she said happily, confirming Danny's suspicions about her name. "And this dork is my younger-by-five-minutes brother Dipper."

The younger, fatter man with buck teeth waved. "I'm Soos."

The two final people other than Wendy spoke.

"I'm Stanley, but Stan is fine," the slightly shorter one said. The other one studied Danny for a moment longer, and he trembled underneath his gaze.

"I'm Stanford. But Ford is less confusing."

Danny nodded, only moving his head a fraction.

"I-I'm Danny," he said softly. Mabel grinned, showing off her blue-and-silver braces.

"Wendy told us. Are you hungry?"

Danny blinked. Why did all of these people want his opinion? He was just a no-good freak, who got what he deserved.

Realizing that Mabel was still waiting for an answer, he moved his shoulders in a small shrug. Danny was hungry, and he couldn't remember the last time that he had eaten something. But he didn't want them to see him eat. They hardly knew him, so why were they being so nice?

"Awesome! I'll go make you something right now!" Mabel left, mumbling to herself about what she was going to make.

Dipper sighed. "I'll go make sure she doesn't put anything inedible or glittery in it."

He followed after his sister. Danny's shoulders relaxed ever-so-slightly. He was far more comfortable around people younger than him, but there were just too many humans in the room.

Wendy noticed his discomfort and made a filcking motion with her hand.

"Shoo," she told the buck-toothed guy (Soos, right?). "There's too many people in here."

He nodded backed out the door. Wendy nodded in satisfaction before turning back to Danny.

"I've gotta go now, or my dad will accidentally break my house." The redhead waved to the remaining men in the room. "See you two tomorrow."

When she was gone, Danny stiffened again. He was glad that there were less people in the room, but now he was alone with a pair of men that he didn't know anything about.

The shorter one, Stanley, coughed. "Well, this is getting weird."

He walked over to the table-thing and leaned on it, followed by his brother. Danny tensed even more, because now they were uncomfortably close.

Stanford elbowed the other man. "You're scaring him."

Stanley backed up. "Sorry."

They stayed that way rather awkwardly for another few minutes. Danny did not relax, because he didn't know if they were just trying to get him to lower his guard before they attacked.