Never Trust Your Demons

26

I come home that evening after a long afternoon of arcade games to find no one there. Graph paper litters the TV room floor, probably from Dipper and Ford's game. The chair's missing, too.
That's...odd, even for Gravity Falls. I don't even hear sciency sounds from downstairs.
Concerned-and curious as to what Ford's been doing-I enter the code in the vending machine and start my way down.
"Ford?" I call, entering the elevator. "Dipper?" I step out. Nothing. Well, not nothing, there's still plenty of knick knacks everywhere in the little office area. There's a curtain covering the window and door connecting the room to the room with the portal.
Glancing over everything, I notice something. A transparent sphere sits on the table, a space-like blob floating around in it.
"It's beautiful," I breathe out, reaching for it.
I hear voices and stop. I quickly behind a convenient curtain on the wall.
Wait, why am I hiding? I have a reason to be down here. It's not like Ford will be mad if I'm down here looking for him.
Well, maybe. I don't know. I peek out from behind the curtain.
"This'll be here if you ever need it," Ford walks in, followed by Dipper, carrying a black box. He places it into a clear locker.
"Really?" Dipper asks. "Even though I got us into the whole game-playing mess?"
"Eh, we both got carried away. I guess we'd both gone for awhile without a friend," Ford chuckles. "Dipper, can I tell you something?"
Dipper nods eagerly in response.
"You asked me earlier what I was working on. Well..." He goes up to the window, pulling the curtain away from it. I can just barely see the busted up portal. "I dismantled the portal. An interdimensional gateway is too dangerous for the world it feeds into. That's why I was mad at Stan for using it. He saved me but, as I feared, the instability of the machine created this," He holds up the transparent sphere. "An interdimensional rift. I've contained it for now, but it's incredibly dangerous. Dipper, I don't want you to tell anyone about this. Not Stan, not your sister, and especially not Conifer," Hey, why not me? Why especially not me? Now I'm really curious. "You understand?"
"Oh... uh, of course," Dipper nods
"In my time I've made many powerful enemies," Ford tells him. "But I trust you with this secret. Now get yourself to bed. I have much research to do," He pats him on the back
"Goodnight, Great uncle Ford," Dipper heads back to the elevator.
"Goodnight, Dipper," Ford puts the rift into a case, then goes into the room with the portal.
A couple minutes after both leave, I come out from hiding. Why I started hiding at all is still a mystery to me.
But it turns out, there was a good reason.
It appears Ford doesn't trust me.
I make my way back upstairs, hoping no one's in the front of the shack. It might be awkward if everyone suddenly realized I was home, but didn't come through the front door. Thankfully, everyone was in the TV room.
I join them, "watching" the last couple minutes of Ducktective.
Why doesn't Ford trust me? What's up with the rift that I shouldn't know about it?
I bite back a groan of frustration. I don't know, and I can't ask Bill, and I doubt he'll tell me on his own.

The next day, we meet behind the Mystery Shack, Lee and Nate with the disco ball, and me with illegal fireworks in tow. I purposely avoid making eye contact with Cy.
"So where's Wendy?" I ask, setting the box of fireworks down.
"She's coming," Tambry says, pointing to her phone. "She just texted me saying she and her cousin are here."
"Great, let's get-" I stop as my foot kicks over the box, spilling out the fireworks. I sigh, crouching down to put them back as Wendy comes around, followed by someone.
"Hey guys!" She calls. "This is K.C. K.C., Thompson, Lee, Nate, Robbie, Tambry, Cy, and Connie."
I can see her gesture to each of us in turn, but I can only just see her cousin out of the corner of my eye as everyone greets him. I pull a "cop caller" out from under the porch and toss it back into the box as I stand up.
"He-" I turn and start to greet him but then I actually see his face and stop abruptly. My smile shrinks as my fists clench.
"Coni-?" Before he can even say my name, a six-fingered fist flies towards him.
Glad his nose healed already. That just made punching Kevin Corduroy again that much more satisfying.

"Wow, Connie!" Wendy stares at me as I smirk victoriously, arms crossed, at the boy looking to me with extreme contempt. "I didn't think you'd take what I said seriously!"
Everyone else is staring at K.C. and I as we glare each other down, and Cy looks like he's be fine with a full on fight.
"That had nothing to do with that conversation in the arcade," I grumble, turning away as K.C. mutters something unpleasant under his breath.
"What are you doing here?!" He demands, a hand cupped around his nose.
I ignore him, turning to the box. "Now that that's out of the way, let's get started on that exploding disco ball."
"No, I'm dead serious, what are you doing here, you six-fingered freak?" K.C. repeats and I stop.
"...Six fingers?" Lee asks and I can feel everyone staring at me.
Great. I knew letting K.C. know about my being different was a bad idea.
I turn back to him, my fist clenching. "Are you asking for missing teeth and a black eye?" He got taller over the summer so far, so I'm not exactly eye-level, making threats a little less intimidating. "Because I'd be glad to help improve your looks."
"Ohh, SNAP!" Nate laughs.
"I'm sorry, but six fingers? What are you talking about?" Thompson looks to K.C., then back to me.
"Oh yeah?" K.C. crosses his arms. "I think you've got yours to worry about first. You need a lot more done than I do."
"If this is another feeble attempt to apologize for being an absolute jerk boyfriend, I still have no regrets for both breaking up with and punching you," I ignore the eyeballs glued to me.
"There was no call to punch me th-"
"I think I'd made it very clear I was dumping you! I don't think anything you could've done or said then would've changed any small part of my mind," I grab the collar of his shirt and yanking him down to my eye level. "Not even a kiss I told you I'd hate."
I notice Wendy gesturing to Cy. Glancing over, a look of realization crosses his face, followed by a suppressed look of annoyance.
"Wait just a second," Wendy steps between us, pushing K.C. away from me. "You two dated..." Then turns, pointing to me. "And you have six fingers?"