Life In Gravity Falls

The Hand That Rocks - Part Three

You whip around to see none other than Lil Gideon himself standing in the doorway.
"You're not supposed to be in here." he says angrily. "Get out!"
You and Dipper look at each other, then blot out of the room.
"We're going to wait in the car!" Dipper says as you jog through the living room. Bud and Grunkle Stan only look up from whatever they're doing for a second, then Stan nods and they look back down. You only stop running when you're right outside of Stan's car. You stand there for a couple of minutes, catching your breath, until Stan comes strutting out of the house.
"Alright kids, let's go." he says, unlocking the door for you. You and Dipper jump into the back seat.
"Gideon must have been hiding something pretty important in that room if he was so protective of it." Dipper whispers.
"Yeah." you agree. "But what?"
Once you arrive back at the Mystery Shack, you get out of the car and walk inside. Mabel's flopped down on the living room couch, her face stuffed into a pillow.
"The date was that bad, huh?" you ask, sitting down next to her.
"At least it's over." Dipper sits down on Mabel's other side. She sits up and gives the two of you a nervous smile.
"It is over, right?" you ask, staring at her pointedly.
"I didn't know what was happening!" Mabel bursts out. "First we were just eating lobster, then suddenly there was a talking parrot and everybody was waiting for my answer, and I didn't want to make them sad so I said yes to a second date!" Mabel takes a deep breath. "Wow. It feels good to get that off my chest. Also, we have a lobster now." she points over to the previously empty fish tank, which is now occupied by a small red lobster.
"Mabel! How did you let that happen?" Dipper exclaims, jumping up and starting to pace back and forth.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know how to say no!" Mabel leans back and stares at the ceiling.
"Like this." you point to your mouth. "No."
"He wants to take me to some fancy restaurant tonight, but I really don't want to go." Mabel groans, burying her head in her hands.
"Mabel, it's okay." Dipper stops pacing.
"What if we broke up with him for you?" you suggest.
Mabel looks up. "Really? You'd do that for me?"
"Of course!" you put your hand on her shoulder.
"We can do it tonight, at that restaurant he wanted to take you to." Dipper tells her.
"Thank you so much! You guys are the best!" Mabel pulls you both into a tight hug.
"No problem." you wheeze as the air is pushed from your lungs.
"Ooh, sorry." Mabel laughs nervously, letting go.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later that night, you, Dipper, and Mabel are waiting outside of The Club, a fancy steak house that's all about decks of cards, for some reason.
"Okay, there he is." you say, pointing. "Four tables to the right."
"I see him." Dipper nods.
"Guys, don't be too hard on Gideon." Mabel says.
"Yeah yeah, we won't. Mabel, stay out here. This should only take a minute or two." you tell her.
Dipper walks into the restaurant, and you follow right behind. When you arrive at the table, Gideon puts down his menu to look at you.
"Why hello, Dipper and y/n. What brings you here?" he asks. He seems to have forgotten your encounter that morning.
"Mabel can't make it tonight." you say, glancing at Dipper. "Or, uh, any other night."
Gideon narrows his eyes. "I don't understand."
"Look man, i'm sorry, but Mabel doesn't like you like that." Dipper states. "She was too nervous to tell you, so we came to do it for her."
Gideon looks over at you, and you nod. "So what you're trying to say," he stares at the table, his words cutting into you like steel. "Is that  you've turned her against me."
"What? No, that's - that's not what we're saying at all!" you protest. "She just doesn't like you in that way, I'm sure you can still be friends."
Gideon frowns, his gaze never leaving the table.
"I think we should leave." Dipper says quietly. The two of you slowly turn around, and walk back out of the restaurant.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, you and Dipper are watching Ducktective in the living room while Mabel is out with Candy and Grenda.
"This duck is a genius!" you enthuse.
"I know, right!" Dipper laughs. Just then, the phone rings.
"I'll get it." you say, standing up and walking into the kitchen. You pick up the phone and hold it to your ear. "Hello?"
"Hi there. This is Toby Determined, editor of the Gravity Falls newspaper. We'd like to interview you and one friend of your choice about any interesting or strange things you've seen since you've arrived in Gravity Falls."
"Oh my gosh, yes!" you squeal. "Me and my friend Dipper have so many conspiracies and note-"
"Yes, that's wonderful. We'd like to interview you at 8:30 tonight, at 314 Gopher Drive. Okay?"
"Hold on, let me write this down." you say, scrambling to find a pen and paper while balancing the phone on your shoulder. "314. Gopher Drive. 8:30. Got it!" you say happily. "Thank you so much!" you hang up the phone, and run into the living room.
"Who was it?" Dipper asks.
"Oh my gosh, Dipper, this is what we've been waiting for! The newspaper wants to interview us about our conspiracies!"
Dipper jumps up off the couch, spilling his popcorn all over the floor. Neither of you care. "Really?! Yes yes yes yes yes!" he starts jumping up and down excitedly.
"This is incredible!" you breathe. "They want to meet us tonight at 8:30."
Dipper looks down at his watch, and his smile fades. "Oh jeez, y/n, its 8:16! We have less than 15 minutes!"
The two of you stand there staring at each other for about three seconds, before dashing upstairs to the mystery room. You each trip and fall several times, but you get up and keep going, not even caring about being organized. Dipper starts stuffing notes into a backpack, while you grab the journal.
"Where are we meeting them?" Dipper asks frantically.
"314 Gopher Drive." you answer.
Dipper stands up and hoists a backpack up onto his back. "That's not far. If we run, we can make it in time." he says, jogging out of the room.
You sling your own backpack around your shoulders, stuffing the journal inside. You both run down the stairs and out of the shack, sprinting along the street and hoping you don't get hit by a car. Dipper leads you left, then right, then down a narrow side road that seems to be overgrown with grass. You run up a long driveway until a large warehouse comes into view.
"Are you sure...that this is...the right place?" you pant, bending over. Your legs feel like they're going to give out, but you know that it'll be worth it to have one of your theories in the newspaper.
"Yeah....this is Gopher Drive." Dipper wheezes, leaning against a tree. He looks down at his watch. "It's 8:28...we made it."
You walk over to one of the big barn doors and push it open. Dipper walks inside and you follow, letting the door slam shut behind you. The sound of it echos around the large, box filled space. The only thing in the entire warehouse other than stacks of cardboard boxes is an old, dusty office chair placed in the direct center of the room, it's back facing you. Suddenly the chair spins around, making you and Dipper jump a foot backwards. Gideon sits in it, creepily combing the hair of a stuffed doll that looks exactly like him.
"Hello, Dipper. Hello, y/n. It's nice to see you again." his tone is cold, not a single bit of 'nice' in it.
"Where's Toby?" you ask slowly. "He's supposed to interview us for the newspaper."
Gideon laughs, an annoying, high-pitched chuckle. "Oh my sweet, sweet girl. You haven't figured it out already? There is no interview."
You stand there, shocked, but your surprise soon turns to anger as you remember how excited you and Dipper were. You take a step towards Gideon, but he grabs his tie and says, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Dipper walks up next to you. "What are you going to do?" he laughs. "Try and guess what number we're thinking of?"
"We know that you're not really a psychic." you tell him.
"Is that so?" Gideon asks, obviously amused. "Then how do you explain...this."
An unseen force slams into you, throwing you backward and into a wall of boxes. You don't even have time to cry out before you hit your head, and everything goes black.