When You're a Mystery Kid

Secret

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters featured here.

Raz loved the thrill of the hunt. There's really nothing else in the world quite like it. However, with almost four years of experience as an active Psychonaut agent under his belt, he'd really come to appreciate the quiet moments as well. Those moments where you could just sit back on a cushy couch, tune in to whatever's on TV, and cuddle up with the best girlfriend in the whole wide world.

This, right here and now, was one such moment. More or less.

Yes, he's currently sitting back on a somewhat cushy couch, tuning in to a rerun of some melodramatic soap opera, and kind of cuddling it up with Lili, but usually there was no Dipper, or Wybie, or Coraline anywhere around the two. Still, he'll take what he could get. After all, it wasn't like he owns the Shack. Just like the others, he's only staying here until the end of the summer.

Until the end of summer...

His heart ached at the thought.

He shifted his attention from the television to his three friends. Precious, treasured friends. Dipper and Wybie sat against the foot of the couch with a laptop open on Wybie's lap, looking up new gear that could be useful for their hunts. Coraline sat on a chair nearby, also watching the TV like Raz, but mostly she's just doing her best to stay awake. Both she and Wybie stumbled out of their room this morning looking pretty sleep-deprived for some reason. Downing an ungodly amount of coffee granted them a good few hours of wakefulness, but Raz was pretty sure that's all gone by now. Coraline seemed to be dealing with it by trying to stay awake through sheer force of will, while Wybie chose the easy route and pumped himself with a few cans of energy drinks. He's visibly a little jittery now, but it definitely worked.

Lili shifted next to him, derailing Raz's train of thoughts. "You wanna get up?" he asked, looking over to her.

"Just getting comfortable," Lili mumbled. She settled into a position that lets her lean back against Raz more, and Raz felt her exhaling, a small satisfied smile appearing on her lips. He found himself mesmerized, a smile breaking out on his features as well.

"Yo, Dipper, check this out!" Raz heard Wybie say, probably a lot louder than he'd intended. "Look at this thing!"

There was a beat of silence, before Dipper said, "Huh. That's... interesting."

"Just interesting? Come on, look at all these features! And the price!"

"Yeah, they're great. Too great." Dipper hummed. "They kinda look fake, Wybie."

"What? No! Come on!"

Raz's curiosity got the better of him, and he found himself tearing his gaze away from lovely Lili to look over at the laptop screen on Wybie's lap. It showed a store page selling an 'ultrasonic ectoplasmid echo detector', whatever that was. He skimmed through most of the details of the item displayed, but one particular detail stuck out like a red flag to him. One detail that put a scowl on his face.

"We are not buying that," Raz firmly stated.

"Thank you, Raz."

"Oh, Raz, come on! This could be-!"

"No," Raz cut in. "I'm not asking here, I'm forbidding. We are not buying it."

Both Wybie and Dipper looked pretty surprised by Raz's reaction. "That's... strong." Dipper raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

Raz pointed at the laptop screen. "See the manufacturer?"

Wybie turned his gaze at the screen and leaned closer. "StrexCorp? What about 'em?"