TİCK

ENTRY 04: SHAM SUMMER

Ah.
Summer break.
A time for relaxation; a time for leisure, recreation, and taking 'er easy... unless you were them.
His name was William Cipher.
And yes, he was about to blow chunks.
Thanks for asking.
The girl driving like a maniac was his twin sister, Wilimina.
You probably had chills down your spine from their last name (or their matching first names) or just wondering what they were doing in a rickety golf cart near the middle of the woods fleeing  a creature of unimaginative terror.
Well, rest assured.
Both of these things have a perfectly rational - and underused - explanation.
Way back before the Dream Dorito had decided to go to Gravity Falls and wreck havoc on many, many lives, the Ciphers had been a carny family.
They lived in a circus.
He couldn't say that introducing himself as the lion tamer/acrobat/assistant ringleader didn't have its perks but it definitely set him apart from the normal everyday kids.
Will reveled in her own oddity as he struggled with his, brandishing her titles - daredevil, magician, fire swallower, whatever she was that week - until the day of the accident.
They had been visiting one of the many family friends when it happened.
According to the official police report, there had been a freak accident with their refrigerator and when they got home, there had been ice everywhere.
But Will wasn't as dumb as they thought she was and they both knew fact deep in their bones.
That whatever had happened to their parents hadn't been an accident.
And it hadn't been the fridge.
That was what led them to their father's reclusive older brother,
Jack Madigan.
A self-proclaimed weirdo, monster-hunter and town-known conman, he explained what he could about their family history.
Which wasn't much.
Before mysteriously losing much of his memory and leaving them to record what they could discover about themselves... And Gravity Falls.
It was this amazing, amazing gift discovering that Will didn't need to struggle with her words, she could record her thoughts as fast as she thought them and sketch - though she preferred the old-fashioned way - without lifting a hand.
He could manipulate people - it wasn't like he liked it - merely ask a question and they'd answer it honestly and they'd give him whatever he wanted and sometimes he needed Will to stop him the way he stops her fires and sometimes he can break people.
Hurt them - make them pay - sometimes the only thing stopping him from doing stupid things like punching Manny Mannington over there in the face was Will.
Paying Susan for the Unicorn Will special, he makes his way back to the table, avoiding the hazards of the environment like dumb jocks 1-5, math turds and the new machine that he swore up and down was broken until he reached his twin.
She was sleeping; her blue black hair happily having collected the plethora of most likely forgotten pens and pencils twisted round her neck as her arms overtake the table.
"Will."
Poking her deftly on the cheek, he springs back as she launches her fist upward in a reflex that he knew Jack still nursed bruises over.
And he also knew that Jack had encouraged it.
Even though the guy forgot his name every once in a while and stole his wallet every now and then, at his core, he was a good guy.
Ignoring his sister's groans as she detached yet another sleep portrait from her face, he firmly hands her the mug and takes the drawing from her.
Even asleep, she was an amazing artist.
This time, the mousy boy was staring straight at the viewer - his eyes fierce and protective under the pine tree trucker hat as he shielded someone else from view.
"Who do you think it is?"
Tugging one of the many pens from its place in her hair, she absently clicks it before shrugging.
"I wish I knew."
Clicking on the top one last time to stick the nub out, she signs her name at the bottom lovingly.
"Gah!"
Mimicking each other's expressions of disgust, they quickly exchanged drinks.
He enjoyed his coffee black with two sugars while the Unicorn Will was one-part jasmine tea, several parts sugar, milk and food coloring topped off with whipped cream and strawberries.
It literally tasted like a unicorn.
"How're y'all kids enjoying your food?"
His mouth was stuffed with syrup and pancakes so he offered a thumbs up while Will,  despite her knowledge of it no longer being the 50s, grins at Susan and hums out a quick,
"We're just peachy! Thanks, Lazwell."
"Wink! Just for that Will, I'mma go grab the apple pie!"
"Wicked!"
Susan over the years had developed a habit of announcing her left eye's action as she did it.
He didn't know what he meant by that observation but he noticed it and he couldn't stop.
"Bill, think we're going to have a case today?"
Now she was placing the pen back in the blue-black curls - the sunset pink offsetting her cognac eyes and the black heart stamp-marks she had happily placed in the corners.
He couldn't be happier they didn't have to go to the high school than right then.
His sweet little sister would be torn apart.
Even if she looked like a delinquent with their father's bomber jacket over her sunset orange dress and mismatched kneesocks and combat boots covered with metallic Sharpie when she couldn't find paper...
She put her heart too much in things that didn't deserve it.
And case in point, her face was slowly turning a pink that definitely clashed with her outfit so he must be near - Wren Corduroy.
He didn't know what she saw in the older Corduroy sibling but he was happy that for the moment, Wren didn't reciprocate.
He could deal with the sadness of a failed plan but he did not have a clue of how to deal with her heartbreak.
And, he had no doubt, Wren would break her heart.
Nabbing the bacon off her plate teasingly, he wins back her attention with a loud cry of his name and playful whack.
"Eh. I think today'll be pretty boring."
He was wrong.
°
The fighting off vampires part of their day was actually pretty short for them.
It still took hours and he had gotten scratched by yet another crazy fan girl who had willingly flung herself into the arms of the undead poseurs but for once, they could just be.
Don't misunderstand him - he actually enjoys the rush of saving their town and he knows for certain that Will feels the same.
But they couldn't even go to a normal high school because of their abilities and if he had to deal with another fake smile from yet another yahoo calling them freaks of nature or  monsters or whatever those ridiculous easy bake ovens decided to label them, he might just be what the town runs from next time.
And he sort of wanted Will to move on to whatever was supposed to be normal for girls her age.
Weren't girls supposed to have like seventy different crushes?
Will just had Wren and even then, she wasn't ridiculously girly about it.
She was more happy with him acknowledging her existence.
Which was just sad.
But it wasn't her fault that Wren was an idiot and probably went for girls - too nice a word for her - like Megan Pacifica.
"Ew, look its the freaks."
Speak of the devil and she shall appear wearing false Prada and blonde hair extensions.
"I'm so glad that your brain cells finally developed enough to process sight, little fishy."
There's practically enough condescension in Will's voice to coat his pancakes thicker than Megan's eyes but the girl still blinks stupidly and when they get up to leave, she's still blinking and it's actually kinda creepy.
"Did I break Megan?"
He's actually about to answer her when the door flies open and into her face with this gawd awful crunching noise.
"OH MY GOD."
"I thbink you broke by nose."
He's helping Will up and about to help the guy when suddenly this blur of pink straight up tackles him into the floor.
"DIPPER, ARE YOU OK?!"
".. oh my God, Mabel."
Thankfully she gets off him and he's able to finally groan out his dying words.
"... My spleen."