Chapter Text
Gravity Falls, 2012
The bus stopped and opened its doors.
Dipper and Mabel Pines disembarked. Dipper frowned and looked around, while Mabel skipped along.
‘Oh, there you are.’
They both turned to see an old man in a dark suit and with a red fez on his head. He smelt of sweat and like he smoked. His voice was rough.
‘Are you one of our Great Uncles?’ Mabel asked eagerly.
She’d been excited ever since she heard the great uncles they would be going to stay with were also twins. Dipper had been surprised but, after reading a bit, realised it was sensible. It turned out that single families tended to produce twins. So it wasn’t a shock that the great uncles of twins were twins themselves.
‘Ooh,’ he said. ‘Cut that down to Grunkle Stan, kid. Save some time, and time is money.’
Dipper already didn’t like him.
Grunkle Stan looked thoughtful. ‘Although, I imagine Ford will keep the full “Great Uncle” thing. He’s such a nerd.’
Mabel laughed and elbowed Dipper. ‘Looks like you and Great Uncle Ford have something in common, Dipper!’
Grunkle Stan just chuckled. ‘All right. Let’s get moving.’
The Mystery Shack was only just through a line of trees from the road and Grunkle Stan walked them through and then took them up to the attic. It was a large room with two beds and a large circular window that hung overhead. Dipper immediately noticed the wood around the window-frame seemed different from the wood in the rest of the wall.
‘Ford’s out in the woods,’ Grunkle Stan told them. ‘But he’ll be back later in the day. Once you unpack, come down and I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew.’ That said, he left the room.
Mabel eagerly began setting up, starting with her posters. ‘This attic is amazing!’ She held up her hands. ‘Check out all my splinters!’
Dipper, for his part, looked around. A bleat made him turn around. ‘And there’s a goat on my bed.’
Mabel eagerly came over. ‘Hey, friend.’ The goat immediately clamped onto her sleeve. ‘Oh!’ She chuckled. ‘Yes, you can keep chewing on my sweater.’
After they got the goat moved, though, they headed downstairs and into the shop.
‘All set up then?’ Grunkle Stan asked.
‘Yeah,’ Dipper said. ‘Why was there a goat up there?’
‘Oh, is that where the blasted thing is?’ Grunkle Stan muttered. ‘It just traipsed onto the property one day and now it freely wanders around. Ford hates it even more than I do.’
The girl at the cash register chuckled. When he looked at her, Dipper froze. His heart beat a little faster.
Mabel, though, hooked an arm around his neck. ‘So that’s a problem everyone has?’
‘Afraid so, kid.’ Grunkle Stan turned. ‘Right. So, girl over there is Wendy.’
The girl lifted her head from the magazine she was reading. ‘Hey.’
Grunkle Stan then nodded to the big guy on the ladder. ‘And that’s Soos. He’s the handyman. Anything needs fixing or cleaning, and he does it.’
‘Hey, dudes.’ The guy grinned and waved.
At that moment, the front door opened and another man walked in. He looked a lot like Grunkle Stan, except for a few differences. He not only wore a different style of glasses but while Stan’s hair had gone completely white, this one was mostly grey, except for a band of white that stretched from one ear, around the back of his head, and to the other. He wore black jeans and hiking books and had a red sweater on under a tan trench coat. And a satchel was strung across his body.
‘Hey, Pointdexter,’ Grunkle Stan said. ‘Rough day?’
‘Gnomes are in mating season,’ the other man grumbled. Then he saw them. ‘Aw, cripes. Was that today?’
Grunkle Stan just laughed.
‘You’re our Great Uncle Ford?’ Dipper asked.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘You must be Dipper and Mabel.’
‘Yup!’ Mabel said.
‘What did you mean when you said the Gnomes were in mating season?’ Dipper asked.
Great Uncle Ford looked over at Grunkle Stan. Stan’s face did a weird little twist before he waved a hand in a weird way. Only then did Ford answer. ‘Tale for another time, I’m afraid. I’ve got to get back to work.’
That said, he headed through the shop and to a door that was marked “Do Not Enter; Authorised Access Only”. As he walked through, Mabel asked, ‘Is he always like that?’
‘Yeah,’ Grunkle Stan said. ‘Ford’s very gung-ho about his research. A lot of the time, he forgets the world exists outside when he’s working. I’ll probably have to go down there when it’s time for supper.’
Dipper ignored the smirk Mabel was directing at him. ‘What’s down there?’
‘His lab,’ Grunkle Stan said. ‘And I prefer you kids not to go there; lot of sensitive stuff he’s got. Ford’s been trained on how to handle it and I only go down to drag him up.’
‘Yeah,’ Soos said. ‘Even Wendy and me don’t go down there.’
‘Well, there’s a reason all labs are restricted access,’ Wendy remarked. ‘And I wouldn’t be surprised if Ford has radioactive stuff down there, so best not to touch anything.’
‘Fair enough,’ Mabel said.
***
Sure enough, Stan had to go down to drag Ford up for supper.
After, Stan let the kids go into the living room and watch the TV, mostly so he and Ford could talk.
‘Do you get the impression they don’t know about their powers?’ Ford asked, almost immediately.
‘Yeah, well,’ Stan said. ‘Ma knew about it in us since we was in diapers.’
‘That’s true,’ Ford agreed. ‘She told us from a very young age that we could do it, and had us practicing whenever our father was out. If Dipper and Mabel had no one like ma around, it stands to reason they’re completely oblivious to it.’
‘So, what would we have to do then?’ Stan asked. ‘Can’t just tell them about it at this age.’
‘Not until they discover the nature of the town, no,’ Ford said. ‘I think knowing of the anomalies of Gravity Falls will open them up to it. Also, we’ve no idea what their powers are. You’ve spent more time with them, Stan. What do you think?’
‘I think they’re similar to us,’ Stan said, ‘but not exactly the same. Of course, different upbringing and all. I don’t reckon their dad is anything like pop, and I reckon their mom’s straight as an arrow.’
‘Add in the fact that they’re here because their parents are getting divorced,’ Ford added. ‘From what I understand, that affects children as well.’
‘So I guess we’ll just have to keep an eye on them and see what they have,’ Stan said.
‘Can they use their powers if they don’t know they have them?’ Ford asked.
‘I guess we’ll find out.’
Ford nodded. ‘I suppose we must.’