Back To Gravity Falls: Beware the Beast (Multiverse Crossover)

Where We Lay Our Scene

Full chapter title: In Fair California, Where We Lay Our Scene

Media: Original Cover Photo
---

Dipper sat at his computer desk with a pencil in his mouth, chewing on the eraser. He'd written the list for all he needed for summer vacation in Gravity Falls. In fact, he'd written the list a dozen times already. After each one, he felt dissatisfied and would throw it away. His trash bin was filled to the brim with a final paper ball when Mabel strode into the room, all smiles.

"Dipper! Stop writing the list and pack, already! We leave tomorrow!" She grinned, flopping stomach-first onto his bed. "I'm glad we finally get to go back. Between the whole coming back, Gruncle Ford reappearing, and summer homework thing, we haven't had any time to go back these past summers."

Dipper nodded absently, grunting to himself then wadding up the paper he was writing on and throwing it into the waste basket. The paper bounced off and landed halfway across the room. Dipper sighed.

He's stayed in fairly constant contact with his friends in Gravity Falls, but with the spotty internet there, skyping was far from an option on their end. He'd gotten pretty close (sort of?) with Robbie over the years, seeing as he now understood why he acted the way he did. Teen angst and all that. Wendy and Soos were still close with him too, but other than them and the occasional letter from his Gruncles, he didn't have any people close to him or that talked to him. Minus his twin sister, she doesn't count, he told himself.

Mabel frowned. She still was not entirely used to the feeling of her braces being off even though it had already been two weeks since their removal. She licked across her teeth, half-expecting metal brackets. "Why are you not excited right now, Dipper? We get to see Gruncle Stan and Gruncle Ford and our friends but you are so down in the dumpy-dumps."

Dipper exhaled sharply, "That's just it, Mabel. They are my friends, but they're my only friends."

"Dipper..."

"When we started high school, I thought things would be different. That we would be different, but here we are- exactly the same. I stay up all night studying for tests, you listen to music and don't even study. You get better grades than me. You make friends, and I stay the loner loser who doodles like an idiot in the front of my classes."

Mabel's tone turned sympathetic, "Dipper..." She stayed quiet for several seconds before leaning forward to him, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and setting her head on his shoulder. "I get that it's hard, believe me, but not everyone is like you, Dip. No one could really understand all we went through, that's why it's easier to avoid the topic. Plus," she smiled, trying to cheer him up. "If anyone here found out about us saving the universe, there would be so much paparazzi following us around that we'd have to spend all our fortune on disguises."

Dipper smiled a little, appreciatively. "We'd have to dress Waddles up too."

"You're right!" Mabel's eyes grew wide and excited, listing off possible disguises for Waddles, her pet pig.

Dipper started writing another list, a remark to his sister's antics here and there, but overall feeling a little better. Reaching the end of the list, he realized he had pretty much everything he needed for the trip except for a clean journal. Since his days in Gravity Falls, he documented his life thoroughly through journals on the off-chance they may be helpful someday. Especially if, in his aging years, he would begin to forget the life that meant so much to him. He doubted it, but he still liked the thought of writing it all down. Maybe he'd be famous, and the journals would become best-sellers, he reasoned.

"Hey, Mabel?" Dipper asked, his sister stopping her train of thought and focusing on Dipper.

"Yeah, Dippy Fresh?"