Pointdexter: A Swooning Over Stan-fiction

Chapter Nine

Alice woke up to a loud crash from the kitchen, jerking off her air mattress with a gasp.

Over the few days she had been in the Mystery Shack, she found it wasn't unusual to wake up to chaos, though it was still disconcerting. She dressed quickly as more clatters and thumps piqued her interest, leading her from the storage room to the kitchen. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it was not Mabel teetering on a short-step ladder in front of the pantry, reaching as high as she could for a small yellow box on the top shelf.

Pancake mix.

Motherly instinct kicked in before Alice could help it, and without a word, she moved to Mabel's side and plucked the box from the shelf, setting it in her outstretched hand.

"You know you can ask for help, right?" She asked with a smile, bracing her hand at the small of the girl's back as she clambered down.

"Alice!" Mabel grinned up at her, clutching the box to her chest. "Thank you! Grunkle Stan put it on the top shelf for some reason, but I want- No, need- some Mabelcakes! It's a breakfast emergency!"

The girl wagged her free fingers at Alice, and she couldn't help but laugh. The house was so alive with this girl around. Mabel grinned, setting the box on the counter.

"Wanna help me make 'em?" She asked, beaming as if she had just been given a puppy... Or a pig. "We only need chocolate milk, coffee, pink food coloring, and Pot-O-Gold-O's to make this breakfast dream a breakfast reality!"

"As... Delicious as that sounds," Alice started, trying not to let the hesitation in her voice slip out. "I'm wondering what coffee has to do with pancakes."

As Mabel began to explain (obviously the coffee gives you enough energy for the day, per her explanation), Alice noticed how quiet it was in the house. It was almost suspicious, the place seemed to always be bustling with energy and people, be it the family or customers.

"Mabel," Alice asked, glancing around the room. "Where is everyone?"

"Oh! Grunkle Stan needed stuff for your car," Mabel answered, grabbing a bowl from one of the cabinets and setting it on the counter. "So he went to go get tech-y mech-y stuff for that. I think Grunkle Ford's... Somewhere."

"He heard the Abominable Bro-Man was trying to steal soda from campers," Dipper said, walking into the kitchen with a yawn. "So he went to go help them out."

"Yep, That's where he went-" Mabel commented, still beaming as her brother took a seat at the kitchen table. "Totally knew that."

Alice had gotten used to the strangeness of Gravity Falls, catching the Mothman with Ford had only been the start. He had taken her into the mountains to show her a flock of giant birds with multicolored feathers that mimicked birds of paradise, and Alice had almost lost her mind. Not only that, but he had to physically stop her from running toward a colony of gnomes to get a closer look. Alice had spent hours with Ford, quizzing him on every creature they came across, her zoologist mind kicking in as soon as it realized how much there was to learn.

The grin crossing his face at every marvel he showed her had sent a shiver up Alice's spine.

"So they left you two to make breakfast on your own?" She asked. She didn't know the family well enough to know if this was commonplace, but the idea of leaving two teenagers alone to fend for themselves seemed fine- If one of them wasn't Mabel.

Alice couldn't say how coffee fit into her "Mabelcakes", but if she was being honest, she didn't want to know. Neither did Dipper, who was attempting to hide the pancake mix from his twin sister as she grabbed a gallon of chocolate milk from the fridge.

"Mabel, um-" Alice started, hesitating as Dipper widened his eyes at her and shook his head. "While Mabelcakes sound absolutely fantastic, why don't we..."

She didn't want to hurt the girl's feelings.

"Go out for breakfast today?" She offered with a smile giving Dipper a look that she hoped said 'Please help me and I'll buy you breakfast'. "We should save Mabelcakes 'til your great-uncles get back. I know they wouldn't want to miss them."

Dipper seemed to understand because he was quick to chime in, either that or he didn't want to deal with whatever came with Mabelcakes.

"Uh, yeah, Mabel! I know you wanna cook more since your-" Dipper hesitated, why did he hesitate??

"Becoming an adult," Mabel said with a suddenly serious look that took Alice aback.

"... Sure but didn't you think Grunkle Stan and Ford should be here to try them too?" Dipper continued, muttering under his breath. "And not just me... Again."

Alice tried not to smile as Mabel hopped off the stepladder and pondered her brother's question, her hand on her chin and her lips pursed. She agreed with Dipper's reasoning, nodding and beaming between the two.

"You're right, Dipper," She said with a wink. "I can't deny them that experience."

Alice gave Dipper and thankful smile over Mabel's head as she began to replace the ingredients. He grinned back, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand- Something he defiantly got from one of his 'Grunkles'. It was clever, now that Alice took a second to think about it. 'Great' and 'Uncle' combined to make 'Grunkle', saved time on syllables.

"We should go to Greasy's!" Mabel said as she replaced the chocolate milk in the fridge. "They have some of the best pancakes there, with like, three different kinds of syrup if you ask Lazy Susan nicely."

"Yeah!" Dipper chimed in, suddenly alight with excitement. "It's not super far! Let's go!"

Alice chuckled, watching as the two kids started marching around the kitchen, chanting 'pancakes, pancakes, pancakes', about to head out of the door before she stopped them.

"Wait-" She called out, nearly tripping over her feet to follow them. "Aren't you going to leave a note for your Grukles? About where we're going?"

"Oh! Right!" Dipper groaned, lightly smacking himself on the forehead. "Good call."

Alice watched, almost amazed, as Dipper pulled a piece of paper and a pen from his vest, and quickly wrote out a note. Mabel grabbed the paper from her brother, read it, as he tried to fight her for it, and dashed to the fridge. After smacking the note and a sticker on the door, she turned, brushing off her hands.

"There we go!" She grinned up at Alice, settling her hands on her hips, they sunk into her sweater as if it were a pocket dimension.

"Alright-" Alice smiled, turning out of the kitchen. "Lead the way."

The chanting started up again, Alice shaking her head, and they were on their way to get pancakes.