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p-jiminaa · 4 years

Text

Play Date (Part 1)

Park Jimin and You.

Summary: It’s all started with a WhatsApp status.

Genre: Fluff, fluff, fluff, and little angst towards the end.

Gif is not mine, credit to the owner.

Masterlist

I am bored. Can someone come here and play with my heart.

Date me.

A text from your best friend, Park Jimin and yes, you know he has been crushing on you since you started being a friend and he never denied his feelings to you but it's just that he never initiates anything. Like well, he confesses his feelings to you but never asks you out so you were kind of confused whether his feelings to you are genuine or he's just playing with you.

Leaving his text with a blue tick you put down your phone. You know he'll call whenever you left him on a blue tick.

"Three... two... one..." and your phone rang. With a huge smile on your lips, you answer his call.

"Date me." He said bluntly.

“Why should I?” Jokingly, you replied to him.

“Because you need someone to play with your heart. I am here and I am ready for it.” He answered promptly.

You laugh at his direct reply. “Hmmm, what if I say no?”

“Well, give me a reason for your refusal.”

“Hmm let me think.” You paused for a few moments intentionally because you know he'll be annoy by this.

He let out a breathy chuckle. “You can’t even think of anything Y/n. So shall we go on?”

“Sure. So come and bring me food. I am starving.”

“Hah! so that why you want someone to come and play with you? So they could bring you food right?”

“Of course! But the real reason is that I know my you're viewing and will reply to it immediately. You're too whipped for me Jimin.”

“You witch!”

“So are you coming?”

“Never!”

“Fine by me because truthfully speaking you’re not the only offering themself to me.” Lied! Because you put your WhatsApp status on private that only he’ll be your only audience.

Letting out a groan, he replied to you. “Don’t you dare to reply to them. I am coming and delete that status now!”

“And if I don’t?” You answered gleefully to irritate him more.

“No chicken popcorn for you!” He said in a smug tone

“As I said earlier Jimin, you’re not the only one texting me. I can just ask others to bring it for me.” You can imagine his irritated expression right now.

“Fine then. I’ll tell your father what you did last weekend. I mean is it’ll not cause anything to you right?” Your eyes widened in surprise. No! He can’t do that or else you’ll be grounded for a month!

“I am deleting the status right now. So please come with my chicken popcorn.” You said, giving up and with a pleading voice. Chicken popcorn is more important than annoying him.

“Now that’s good Y/n. You should do that earlier you know.” He states and as you can imagine with a triumphant smile on his lips since he successfully frightened you.

It took him precisely twenty minutes to buy your food since you keep on texting him about the food you wanted to eat and another ten minutes for him to reach your home.

Hearing the bell and knowing that it was him behind the closed door you open it happily. “Where’s my food?” You say as you open the door for him without actually acknowledging his presence.

He lifted both his hand showing you all things that he bought for you with a wide smile. Gladly, you took it from him and walked merrily inside leaving him on the doorway.

“I am being used.” He says as he closed the door. You know he didn't mean that. He's not that pathetic to feel down just because you forgot to invite him in.

“No, you’re not. We’re dating now.” You answer him without actually looking at him since you’re busy munching on your oily chicken popcorn.

“Y/n... I thought you’re on diet.” He asks as he pulled the chair and sat opposite you.

“Maybe. But I am starving and been craving a lot of foods lately.”

“You know your father will be mad if he knows about this.” Sure he'll be angry. Like you have to lie to him about going to ballet practice instead you went out it with your group of friends including Jimin to eat.

You shrugged your shoulders. “Well, if you’re not telling anyone then he will forever not know about this.” You say, wiggling your eyebrows. He squinted his eyes at you. “Please... It’s not every day I'm eating this kind of food.” But you see him not buying it. “Fine!” You put down your chicken, hesitantly. “I am not your date anymore.” You say with a pout.

He flicks your forehead while shaking his head, a smile emerged on his lips. "I am just kidding.”

Your lips quirked into a smile instantly. You know he can’t resist seeing you angry. “Now you’re my playdate again.” You say while sending him a wink.

He snorted in response follows by a laugh. “What did I sign up for dating you.”

“Hmm... a charming lady.”

“More like a baby.”

“Well yeah, a baby is alright since I am your date.”

“Oh, God!” He says in disbelieve.

***

“Hey girlfriend, can I come over later?” Jimin asks. You both are walking towards your lecture room and no, you’re not in the same class but your class is next to each other.

“Sure. Father is not home and his concubine is accompanying him this time.”

“You really should not call her that.”

“Well, she’s not my father’s wife. She’s just his P.A whom he asked to babysit me whenever he’s away which is unnecessary by the way and yeah, he’s fu*king my Dad sometimes so I think the name suits her so much.”

“Okay TMI.”

“I know. By the way, come after my ballet class.”

“Sure.” He stops. Since he reached his class. “See you lunchtime?”

You nodded your head and step away before he called up your name. You whirl around. “What do yo...” you paused abruptly when you feel Jimin’s lips on your temples.

“Study hard girlfriend.” He says, eyes locking with you before he walks back to his class. You heard some student hooray-ing and whistling behind and you can feel your face about to blow up so you march towards your class, embarrassed with the unexpected event.

***

You’re sitting alone at the cafeteria when Jimin suddenly took the seat next to you. “Hello, Girlfriend.”

You turn to him, shooting your eyes at him. “Jimin, seriously...”

“We are dating so I can call you any name.” He responded to you pronto.

“Yeah but I prefer a romantic one, please. Not just ‘hey girlfriend’. What is that supposed to imply? A friend who is a girl?”

“It’s correct though. You’re my friend who is a girl. I mean you don’t want me to call you ‘hey date buddy’. That just so unromantic.”

Rolling your eyes you turn away from him continuing munching your so-called lunch which only consists of salad and water.

“Awww you’re pouting.”

“I am not.”

But then yes you are. Maybe because you’re too confident that he’s serious this time. Well since he’s been so transparent with his feelings all this time and that made your feelings bloom and truly speaking, you were waiting for him to say the word or simple words asking you to be his.

Maybe he’s not serious with all of this. But then if he’s not why would his other friend keeps on eyes on you for him. You remember how before he tells you that he likes you so much that he can’t wait to graduate so that he can date you properly and asked Jungkook to observe you all the time since you both have nearly all the same classes and this comes to your knowledge when you caught Jungkook following you when you’re about to enter the lavatory and you urged him to tell you about it and yeah, without actually being forced he tells you everything. Not only that, he asked Yoongi to keep an eye on you when you attended that birthday party since he’s unable to come due to family function. Then there’s this time when he suddenly appeared in front of your house to give you a ride to college because your car was sent to the workshop. It turns out that Taehyung’s father owned the workshop so he informed Jimin about it and many others that you can’t even recall anymore.

“One thing you need to know about me is that it turns me off when a girl is sulking.” He said proudly.

You turn your gaze to him “and?” You asked him to continue because knowing him, he’s not done yet. “Take note of that.” He says as he tucked a hair behind your ears.

“But then this turns you on instantly.” You speak proudly before you wink at him as you slowly gnawed your lower lips with your teeth.

His facial expression darkened and you saw how his adam apples bobbled with a hard swallow. “Oh, that turns me on for sure,” He answers as he licks his lips.

“Perv!” You push his shoulder playfully.

“This perv is dating you remember?” He says in a whisper while staying close at you.

"We're in public." You remind him.

“So any plan for later?” He asks. But you know the meaning behind his question.

“You’re coming to play admit it.”

“I mean yeah. But can do the adult version of ‘play date this time?”

“Yeah perv, whatever!” You get up from the bench and while walking away he called you again.

“Can’t wait for tonight Girlfriend.” He says before sending you a flying kiss which you respond by rolling your eyes.

***

Abort mission. Change the date. Concubine is home.

-you

Lied! I know you’re still at the studio.

-PJM

How can he know that? Then you remember something. You lifted your head and your eyes meet with his friend, Hobi who is also a part-time choreographer at the studio.

Did he report to you everything

-you

That you were asked to stay because of your weight gain? Yeah, he did report everything to me. FYI, I am the one sending him the list of food you ate last night.

-PJM

How could he! This guy will be the death of me someday.

Hate you.

-you

Love you Girlfriend! I know you intend to send me this. Be proud of me okay? I am telling Hoseok about this because you ate like a pig last night and I am concerned about your weight.

-PJM

Rolling your eyes reading his excuse as you know he deliberately did this. He knows that even a little raise to your weight you will be having an extra practice which is usually ended you being stuck for three hours at the studio.

And you never wrong with your intuition. You were always right with your feelings because your coach finally let you out after three hours of practice not forgetting to weigh you again before going out.

***

“Aww finally done?” Jimin says as you were walking towards the gate of your home. Rolling your eyes, you press the bell. “You’re tired! How can we ‘play-date’ tonight?” He asks with a smirk on his lips.

“What about ‘sleep date’?” You replied as you heard your gate sound indicating it’s open. You're dead tired and you honestly just wanted to sleep.

“I know you’re not that innocent.” He teased.

“Honey, innocent had long gone leaving me. Now you’re up for it or not?”

“I am in.” He says as you both step into your home.

Okay, the reason you have a gate is that you’re born rich? Well, you’re not sure about that but since you’re well provided since baby then you just assumed you’re rich since your dad owns a company though it’s still growing and yeah, you have a housemaid and everything at home you’re so bored staying at home alone so that why you’re always out either permitted by your father or you just went out by jumping from the concrete wall gate and that's easy for you since your father sent you to the ballet class since you were a kid and you don’t even know the reason why. It's not like you wanted this but since he's been sending you so you just continue doing it except that now you're an adult so you usually absent from practice when you wanted to go out or feel like 'ah today should be a lazy day'.

Arriving at your room, you thought he’ll be pushing you to the bed and him jumping above you since he looks so eager earlier but you got it wrong when he placed his bag on your desk and he drops to your mattress. You stare at him, puzzled by his act since this is not what you expect. Like he’s the one that recommended to you about the ‘adult version of play-date’.

Seeing you're standing observing him, he tapped the space next to him, asking you to join him.

“You said you want to sleep date earlier or do you wanted to do that so much?” He asks voice laced with a teasing tone.

Rolling your eyes, you lay down next to him. He moves his body closer to you while wrapping his arm around yours and you head nestling to his neck. Hmm, this feel ... intimate.

Silence engulfed both of you as you lied down on the bed that the only thing that you hear is your and his breath.

"Y/n..." he finally speaks, breaking the quietness. "I know this sounds personal but I am just curious. Are your parents divorced because I remember seeing your mother during our first day at university and now, I hardly see her nor hear you say anything about her? It's always your father or his concubine."

"She's still around and lives separately." You reply followed by a sigh. "Both of them are too lazy to apply for the petition of divorce plus it'll cost money too. So they agreed on living separately but not divorced and will appear together if any event wanted both their present." You state nonchalantly. You're just too lazy to think about your face confessing about your parent's toxic relationship that you just blurted out everything to him. "And Mother is having you know her beau."

"Oh..." you hear he replied. "This is the first time I hear you talking about your parents."

"Yeah. Because no one is asking, not that I have many friends plus they don't care about me. What they care about is the free meal or things that they get when we're out. But that change when you come to me that one day asking me to be your fake friend because girls had been chasing you nonstop and yeah, that fake friendship turns into a good one right now and I never regret helping you that time." You speak with a smile remembering that day.

You remember how Jimin suddenly sat next to you while placing his arm around your shoulder nervously and says "Sorry to keep you waiting! My class finishes late today." Confused by his words and action you're about to shove away his arm before he mouthed 'help me' and you saw how two girls standing behind him eyeing you two.

With an awkward smile, you say "It's fine. It's only been two minutes."

You remember how his hard demeanor turn soft when you utter that and when you see the girl walk away so told him "They had gone."

He removes his arm from your shoulder. "I am sorry and thank you so much!"

“Hey Y/n....” Jimin’s voice breaks your train of thought.

When you look up he watches you with concerned eyes. You smile reassuringly. “Let’s sleep. I am dead tired.” You tightened your arm around his body.

He let out an airy chuckle before his word broke the calm atmosphere. “Yeah, but have you shower 'mi Girlfriend'?”

“No. And it’s too late for you to push me away.” You said as you felt his arm about to let you go. “Because you’ve been tainted with my sweat.”

“Y/n...” he said, giving up but didn’t let you go nevertheless.

***

You don’t know if you should be sad or happy with this ‘play date’ but one thing for sure is that you and Jimin are more intimate than usual.

You both spend the most time together and when you’re out with his group, by a group you mean his close friend; Jin, the eldest but always acted like the maknae of the group, Yoongi, second eldest the quietest one with a scary demeanor but a sweetheart especially when you were out to visit the dog cafe, Namjoon and Hobi; the same age friend of the group. While Namjoon is the brain then Hobi is the sunshine of the group. Then there’s Jimin and Taehyung; another same-age friend. Taehyung is the definition of cuteness especially when he let out his rectangular smile and when he sees a dog! This man loves dogs so much that he wanted to adopt one but unable to do so since his parent banned him to do so and Jimin? Well everybody knows him. The college sweetheart and you may add sweet talker remembering the first day you met him that when you conclude that this is the reason girls always went after him. And there’s Jungkook, the youngest of all. Handsome + Abs + Good at everything = Hotness. You can’t explain more about this since this equation concludes all and you know most girls will agree with this too.

Despite this, Jimin will always find a time to be together with you alone, excluding his friends and this makes you feel like having a real relationship with him when you’re dubious about it. He never really asks you out. You know this sounds pitiful but you just need to hear it from him so that you can be certain about this.

“What are you thinking about?” Jimin’s voice disrupts your train of thought.

You both are actually at this cafe, far away from college because Jimin said he wanted time alone with you without any disturbance from his friends. You thought he was still at the counter, ordering food for both of you and you don’t even realize he had come back.

“Nothing.” You said calmly.

You feel his eyes studying your gaze, not convinced by your answer. “You can tell me Y/n.”

Exhaling a sigh before you said anything, you lifted your eyes to meet his. “Jimin...” You stop shortly, watching to his reaction, and when you see him waiting for you to proceed, you continue “We’ve been, I don’t know how to say this... but here it is, we've been dating for three months and...”

“And?”

This is so wrong. You should never say this in the first place but it’s too late now since he’s curiously waiting for you to continue. “Y/n...”

You smile awkwardly before you continue. “Well, I don’t know. You never properly ask me out.”

“Well, there’s literally no one to date right now and you know that.”

You face fall when he said that. It’s hard for you to formulate a reply but you did it anyway. “Ah... well, what about me?” You wanted to hide once you uttered this because... oh God! That just sounds so pathetic!

“What I mean with no one is excluding you Y/n.” Ah, so I am someone then. Good to know that.

“But you have Casie.” And there you go again. You super uncontrollable bubbly mouth.

“Casie is my presentation partner.” He says with a frown on his face.

“Casie can be your date.” You pointed out.

“I literally just said that there’s no one to date except you.”

“Yeah but I don’t know... it just makes me feel I am your last choice. Hearing you said that doesn’t make my heart at ease.” You admit.

“I am not ready to be tied down.” He answers in firm tones. “That why I never ask you out properly.”

“Okay. I... understand.” You say slowly. You don't understand actually!

“Listen Y/n...”

“Y/n.” Your head whips to the source of the voice. Your eyes widen in surprise and you got up abruptly.

“Father...” His hard gaze never left you before he scanned Jimin who is standing up too.

“Home.” He said fiercely.

You turn your head to Jimin while taking your bag with you. You let out a small smile before you walk to your father. He then turns and walks towards the exit while you followed him closely behind and before you realize that Jimin ran towards both of you and stopping you dad.

“I am sorry sir. It was my fault bringing Y/n out at this time.”

You could not see your father’s expression since you’re standing behind him. But you’re quite surprised with his reply although there’s a hint of anger in his tone. “Thank you for your honesty young man. But I need to speak to my daughter.” He said and walks away before Jimin could reply to anything.

You watched Jimin’s panicked expression but hold his hand to assure him. “It’s going to be fine.” You say before you followed your father’s back.

Arriving at his car you’re not surprised when the back seat is occupied by his concubine who is smiling devilishly at you. You rolled your eyes to her before you took the front seat while your father sits beside her.

“Home.” Your dad instructed his driver and he started to drive away once he heard your father’s order.

“See. I told you she’s been missing from her practice. You’re so delusional with your defense saying that your daughter will never lie to you.”

“Shut up will you.” Your dad spat out the word angrily at her.

You’re unable to hold your smile with your father reply at her so when you look at the side mirror, you see how she glare at you and so you lifted your middle finger at her. You saw her flustered expression but could not report it to your father because your father is not in a good mood at the moment. However, you keep on reminding yourself not to be too happy because you don’t know what kind of storm you’ll face later.

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codylabs · 6 years

Text

Chapter 12: Escape to the Hard Life

Links: P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Wendy awoke.

Just outside her open window, she heard her brother running the lawn mower. Doing it early in the morning was just his way of reminding her that she had promised to mow the lawn. But since she’d procrastinated for so long, he got a bigger allowance for doing it instead.

Ugh. I forgot again. Rub my face in it, why don’t ya?

She didn’t even bother opening the drawer of her dresser, because all her clothes were lying on the floor where she’d left them in the past week. She’d meant to get the laundry done yesterday. And the day before that. But she always just said ‘I’ll to it tomorrow’. But then the tomorrows came and went, and the laundry never got done, and her plans always bumped on back to ‘tomorrow’ once again.

Ugh. I’ll do it tomorrow.

So she crawled out of bed and into her cleanest dirty shirt, and began to prepare for the day.

When she came out of her room ten minutes later, with a backpack full of gear and an armful of armor, her dad was reclining on the couch watching TV.

He wasn’t looking so great. Juan’s mom had scratched him in the shoulder, sawed him in the leg, and threw him against the side of the house. He was still hurting pretty badly, and simply couldn’t find a way to sit that didn’t tweak something somewhere.

But Daniel Corduroy was a very manly man; such mortal pains were trivial to beings like him. He didn’t complain or whine. He threw no fuss whatsoever. He just kept the bandages where they were, kept the ice against it, and watched TV like normal. WHAT’S A LITTLE PAIN? He thought. I’VE HAD WORSE. WAIT, MAYBE I HAVEN’T… OH, SHUT UP ME!

Wendy aimed for house’s front door, which meant walking directly between him and the TV. She expected her dad to mutter some annoyed remark at the interruption, like usual. But instead, he broke his eyes entirely away from the screen, reached for the remote, and turned it off. “HEY.” He said, and gave her his full attention.

She stopped walking, and turned to face him. “Hey.”

“DIDN’T SEE YOU YESTERDAY.” He grunted. “WHERE WERE YA?”

“Oh, just…” She glanced around, trying to think how to put it. “Well… We were looking around, trying to figure out where the killer robots came from. And… Well… Yeah.”

“FIND ANY ANSWERS?”

“…Yeah.”

“WHERE?”

“It’s… Uh…” She hesitated to say it. “…Kind of a need-to-know basis…”

“…YOU… WAIT… HUH? YOU’RE GONNA KEEP A SECRET FROM YOUR OWN FATHER?!?”

She glanced about nervously. “Well… I kind of have to. Just… Trust me, it’s for the greater good that it stays between as few people as possible… It’s… We said to keep it a secret. We promised… I promised to take some very… Very amazing and scary things to my grave… And I wouldn’t betray that.”

This made a bit of sense to him, but it still annoyed him. He frowned up at the ceiling for a few seconds, and took a deep breath to calm his great annoyance. “SO.” With a mighty and obvious effort, he moved on. “WHO’S ‘WE’?”

“Huh?”

“WHO DO YOU TRUST THAT MUCH? MORE THAN ME?”

“Uh… I… I do trust you dad, it’s just… Okay, uh… The Pines men… Uh… Stanley and Stanford. Remember them? Used to own the Mystery Shack…”

“A’COURSE.”

“And Dipper, their great-nephew… I was with him all of yesterday.”

Dan nodded. “OH YEAH. THE LESS-GIRLY ONE. TELL ME ABOUT HIM.”

“Huh?”

“… YOU’VE BEEN SPENDING A LOT OF TIME WITH THE KID. TELL ME ABOUT HIM.”

“He’s… Uh… He’s a good man.” She stated simply.

Dan pondered this for a moment. “…MAN?”

“That’s right.”

“…HE’S BUILT LIKE A GIRL HALF HIS AGE.”

“Oh yeah?” Wendy fished her brain for some great comeback. “Well… Eh.”

Dan considered this. It seemed wrong to him that of a pair of mixed twins, the smaller one would be the boy. And it seemed further wrong to him that said boy would be given such a share of respect and trust. It seemed even further wrong to him that the boy’s obvious shortcomings would be so consistently and totally overlooked… Dan didn’t want to think too hard about all this though, because he knew he was probably wrong… But still.

He looked back up at the ceiling and took another deep breath, while he endeavored to drag his mind back on-topic. “HOW MUCH LONGER IS THIS THING GONNA TAKE?”

“Like… Solving the mysteries of these robot things?”

“MAKING SURE THEY DON’T DO THIS NO MORE.” He pointed to his bandages. “HOW LONG ‘TILL YA BEAT ‘EM?”

She shrugged helplessly. “Like, I don’t know! This isn’t a war, dad! We don’t have an enemy that we can stand up to, it’s just a bunch of… Wild animals, we don’t even know how many! And this isn’t a job, either! I don’t have a schedule to keep or a wage to earn… I’ve put maybe 40 hours into this mess just this week, not including the time I spent recording in my diary or with you at the hospital. And we have NO idea how close we are to solving the mystery, and even LESS idea WHAT to do once we solve it…”

“40 HOURS THIS WEEK?” Dan frowned.

“Yeah.” Wendy grunted.

Dan considered this, and decided to remind her of her second priority. “YOU KNOW, YOU STILL NEED TO GET A JOB THIS SUMMER.”

Wendy closed her eyes. She had been meaning to forget that part for a while now. Her hands balled into fists within her pockets. “Yeah.” She grunted again. “I know.”

“HAVE YOU BEEN LOOKING FOR A JOB?”

“No.” She admitted, as politely as she could manage.

“YOU KNOW YOU SAID YOU WANTED A ‘GOOD’ JOB… THAT MEANS YOU NEED TO SET YOUR SIGHTS HIGH. YOU NEED A RESUME… YOU FINISHED THAT YET?”

“No.” She admitted.

Her dad frowned. “HAVE YOU EVEN BEEN WORKING ON IT?”

She took her balled fists out of her pockets. “No.” She admitted.

“…HAVE YOU STARTED IT?”

“No!” She spat.

This annoyed Dan even more. He stared up at the ceiling for a few more seconds, and breathed deeply again. He looked back at her again. “THIS IS YOUR LIFE, WENDY. YOUR GAS MONEY, YOUR DRIVER’S INSURANCE, YOUR CAR SOMEDAY, YOUR COLLEGE IF YOU WANT…”

“I know, but… There’s always stuff that… Look, it’ll GET done, dad! I’ll get a job. I will! Just…” She gestured to the armor she had in her hands, then to the door. “There’s other stuff to do…!”

“THERE ALWAYS IS! BUT IF YOU REALLY WANTED THAT JOB, YOU WOULDN’T JUST COME HOME AND WATCH TV LIKE YOU DO! YOU WOULD WORK FOR IT!”

“Yeah. Thanks. I will.” Wendy turned and made for the door.

“LOOK, I KNOW YOU DON’T WANT ME REMINDING YOU, AND I KNOW IT’S YOUR LIFE, BUT I CAN’T JUST SIT BY WHILE YOU BLOW IT!” He bellowed. “YOU’RE RUNNING AROUND CHASING GHOSTS, AND YOU THINK THAT LETS YOU GET OFF RESPONSIBILITIES! I CARE ABOUT YOU, WENDY! SOMETIMES IT SEEMS I CARE MORE THAN YOU!”

“Sure…” Wendy grunted, stepped out the front door, and slammed it shut behind her.

Ugh.

The job… Her dad expected her to have a job… It wasn’t a huge expectation, really. It was perfectly reasonable… It just happened to be the straw that broke the camel’s cool. She didn’t want to deal with this. She didn’t want to think about it. She wanted nothing more than to forget all about it. She was so… Very… Done.

She eased herself down onto the front step, pulled out her phone, and began to check through her recent messages.

-Nate found a way to make paint cans explode! Come to the football game tonight so we can totally terrorize it! -Lee

-Why aren’t you texting me? I thought you wanted to go out again! -Joe

-Free subscription to our weekly newsletter! Simply call 8005554592 with credit card information -$$Win Win Baby$$

-Robbie says he can give us a ride to the forest today. Ready to roll out at 10:00. -Dipper

-I still love you, btw. >3. -Joe

-Oops, I mean <3. -Joe

-Credit Union Fraud Center: Fuel tax $38.83 on card 6800 of your account. If valid reply YES, if fraud reply NO. To opt out reply STOP. -Credit Union Fraud Center

-3 people liked your status update.

-I understand the urgency of the matter. I’ll be at 412 Gopher Avenue on the 10th. -B.Blandin.

-I’M MOWNG THE LAN AND GETING YOUR ALLOWANS! NYEH! -Bro

-Your library book ‘Cryptids: Pseudo-Science or Reality?’ has been overdue as of 05/14/2012. Return by yesterday or pay the full buyout price. -Gravity Falls Library

-Did I mention I found a way to make paint cans explode? Instant graffiti! -Nate

She scrolled through the messages. The words entered through her eyes and into her subconscious, but they didn’t get much further than that, because she didn’t care what they said; not even a little.

This wasn’t important. This wasn’t relevant. This was just her friends, her family, and the whole of the rest of society, trying to get in at her. Trying to get a piece of her. Vying for her attention, her time, even her money… Everybody wanted a piece of Wendy, everybody was saying something different and confusing, and the only method she had to survive was to retreat: shut it out and ignore it.

She began to delete texts.

Only one really stuck out to her, and she kept it.

-Robbie says he can give us a ride to the forest today. Ready to roll out at 10:00. -Dipper

There it is.

The mission. The plan. The duty. The purpose. There was one thing at least which was tangible and real.

Here in this normal life, where everything was ordinary and routine, here was where reality was at its most confusing, most burdensome, most troubling and depressing. But in that other life, where everything was crazy and hectic, where so much good and evil hung in balance, that was where things started to fall into place. That was where she stopped being confused, and could finally stand tall enough to stop being lazy. She could forget her family, her ex-boyfriends, her responsibilities, her laundry… It freed her. This crazy life was the one place where she knew how to live.

That was the life she loved.

-Ready for pickup now. She texted Dipper back. -I’ve got my armor if you’ve got yours. See you in a bit.

Dipper tossed his backpack and armor into the back of Robbie’s van, where they clattered to a stop on top of Wendy’s. Dipper slammed the doors back shut, and made his way toward the front of the vehicle.

“So… Like, where is this place again?” Robbie was saying, as he pulled out his phone and opened the ‘maps’ program.

“Oh, you know, just… Back in the woods.” Wendy shrugged. “Uh… Head South on Befufftlefumpter Avenue, and I’ll let you know from there.”

“Oh… Okay.” Robbie put away his phone. When he noticed Dipper standing at the door, he gestured toward the back seat. “Hey, you can sit in the back, little man.”

The back seat was stuffed chock-full of edgy, gothic clothes, edgy, gothic skateboards, edgy gothic musical instruments, candy wrappers, and edgy, gothic candy wrappers. “Great.” Dipper grunted, and began shoveling the junk aside, just to make room to sit down. Robbie started the engine before he’d finished, and lurched down the road toward the forest.

From there, the trip passed in a boring sort of way. Up in the front seats, Wendy and Robbie chatted about the most recent death metal albums, arguing about whether the songs had lyrics or were just screaming, theorizing as to what those lyrics might be, gossiping about the personal lives of the band members, etcetera. Dipper tuned out after a few minutes of this, then opened his journal and looking back over the notes from their first visit.

The first time, they’d only made it into the metal forest about half a mile. Then the underbrush and accumulated malice of the sharp leaves got so painful that they couldn’t continue. This time however, Wendy’s improvised suits of armor should be able to get them as far as the needed; far enough to reach the alien coordinates.

‘Betty and Barney’ said they’d set up ‘fortifications’ there. With any luck at all, the place would hold some answers.

The pavement ended after about ten minutes of driving. The gravel ended about ten minutes after that, and then the van was bouncing and rocking its way along narrow, overgrown dirt roads, up into the hills and deeper into the unknown.

The road took one final bend toward the old logging areas, and here they instructed Robbie to stop. This was the closest such roads reached, so they’d have to continue on foot from here.

Dipper and Wendy hopped out of the van and circled around to the back, where they began to unpack their equipment, and suit up.

“Hey…” Wendy remarked. “Why’s there a third backpack in here?”

“Huh?” Dipper looked down at it. “I don’t know. I thought you put that here.”

“Nope.” Wendy reached over and picked it up. “Well, there’s nothing even in it except some old glitter…”

“Oh, okay… Wait, what?”

They were interrupted from their discussion by Robbie, who had followed them around to the back of them van. “Woah.” He blinked, as he regarded their armor. “Is all that really necessary?”

“Oh yeah.” Dipper told him.

“Eh.” Wendy shrugged as she pulled the leather gloves and composite gauntlets over her arms. “We’ll see. But it can’t hurt, right?”

“Uh… So… Look…” Robbie shrugged, and shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. “Like… You know that I wasn’t a chicken the last time you guys went out there. I actually did want to come.”

“I know.” Wendy hiked up her leggings, and tightened the belt. “But you were wearing flip-flops.”

“Well… Look. I’m wearing boots this time. And I’m still not chicken.” Robbie gestured down to his boots. “I, like… I heard what happened to your dad. I heard that this thing really hurt him. So… Like, that sucks. And I want to help. I want to do this. I do.”

Oh… Dipper realized. That third backpack must be his. He was planning to come along the whole time… What did Wendy have to say about this? He looked over at her.

Wendy lowered the shoulder pads into place, and cinched the straps up around her waist. She glanced sideways at Robbie. “You really want to risk life, limb, and skin out in a deep, dark forest where the leaves are literally thousands of knives?”

“Is that what this is?” One of Robbie’s eyes was completely obscured by his hair, but the other one got really wide. “Like, what kind of knives? Do they slash or just stab?”

“Umm… Yes.”

“Woah…” Robbie blinked. “That’s… Like… Hardcore.”

“And it’s what we’re dealing with.” Dipper told him. “Hence the utterly necessary armor.”

“Yeah.” Wendy threw the chainsaw chaps across her back, and buckled the legs around her wrists. “I mean… You can come if you want, but…”

“UH…?” Dipper looked up at her, wondering if she really meant that. Robbie was useless, right?

“Oh yeah? Hey, look!” Robbie slipped back toward the front of the van, and came back in a minute covered head-to-toe in ultra-edgy, ultra-gothic black leather. He was also holding his mom’s sawed-off shotgun. “I got this!” He told them.

Dipper snorted. “You look like a… Like… I don’t know, like Catwoman or something.”

“HEY!” Robbie snarled. “At least I don’t look like some junior-high flag-football-dropout superhero-wannabe!”

“Is that what this is?” Wendy tied her hair back to make way for the helmet. “I always fancied we were more of… Post-apocalyptic rhino-hunters.”

“Well… I mean… You look fine, Wendy, but this guy’s helmet is bigger than his torso!”

“You know what?” Dipper snapped. “Fine! I look ridiculous! I’ll admit it! But at least I AM going out there prepared. You just got all your stuff just now, and shotguns don’t even work on these things!”

Robbie turned toward him, and frowned. “You’ve got some MOUTH, don’t ya, ya snobby little pipsqueak?”

“Woah, dude.” Wendy was about to put on her helmet, but instead she set it down and put up her hands to ward off a potential fight. “Back off…”

“You know what? You think you’re so much better than me!” Robbie stepped past Wendy and shoved a finger in Dipper’s face. “You always have, and now it looks like you always will! Dipper’s the smartest! Dipper’s the bravest! Dipper’s the hero! Dipper’s the manliest little snot-nosed 12-year-old brat on the face of this whole stupid Earth! You think you’ve got it all together huh?”

“I’ve never said that or thought that!” Dipper took a step forward, and didn’t flinch even a little. “All I’m saying is that we can’t use you if you’re not prepared! You didn’t even pack anything in your backpack!”

“Dudes!” Wendy repeated. “Chill!”

“You just want to kiss me off again? Treat me like pointless trash, just like you always do?” Robbie said.

“Wouldn’t you, in my place? What AM I supposed to do with you?!?” Dipper lost his temper. “Robbie, the ONLY halfway-competent thing I’ve EVER seen you do is hypnotize Wendy!”

There was silence for a good minute.

Dipper thought through what he’d just said. He wished he hadn’t said it, but too late now. He closed his eyes, bit his lower lip, and balled his fists. Why can’t I ever just shut up?

Robbie took a step back, and his eyes fell to the ground.

Wendy didn’t say a word. She just donned her helmet, and turned away.

Robbie and Dipper looked at each other.

“Well.” Robbie finally grumbled. “I guess the winners write the history books, huh?” And then he turned away, went back around to the front of his van, and climbed in. The engine sputtered a few times before rolling over, and then the vehicle lurched to life, turned around on the narrow road, and started back down the hill.

Dipper and Wendy hiked in silence.

“Sorry.” Dipper finally said.

The word wasn’t half out of his mouth before Wendy interrupted him. “Dude. That’s what you say every single time that whole hypnosis thing comes up. You always just start apologizing! Well look, I forgave you! See? I’ll do it again: I forgive you. Just like the last, like, four times. So ease up already, okay?”

“Oh… Okay…”

“Only one thing: I forgave Robbie too. So don’t go dragging him back into this. We’ve all moved on. We’re all sorry. And nobody’s more sorry than him. Nobody wants to move on more than him.”

“Yeah… I guess… Sorry.”

“Yeah, I heard you the fifth time.”

“Sorry.”

“Sixth.”

“Yeah, yeah. Okay. I get it, I just… Yeah.”

“And look.” Wendy said. “Don’t get hung up on this sort of stuff, man. You’re sweating bullets over the distant past, when all you really need to do is chill out, calm down, and stick to what’s important.”

“But… Aren’t my friends… My relationships… You? Important too? Like, I mean… I’m just… I don’t know, I was a jerk to Robbie wasn’t I? I should apologize to him, huh?”

“Look dude, that’s none of my business. But you know what is my business?”

“What?”

“The one thing we’re both good at, dude. The mission. Tell me: how close are we to the metal forest?”

Dipper nodded. “Yeah.” He reached up underneath the armor’s chestpiece, where he’d put his map before setting out today.

It wasn’t there.

“Uh…” He checked his back pocket, his front pocket, and all the other little chinks in the armor. He could’ve sworn he left it in here somewhere… “Uh…” He repeated. “We should be pretty close… I guess… I mean, I must’ve forgot my map but we should know when we get there, right?”

“It’s kind of hard to tell, but if you pick individual trees and look real close…” Wendy picked up a rock, and pitched it at the trunk of a tree up ahead. The impact made a loud metallic ‘BONG’ sound. “You can tell them apart.”

“Huh.” Dipper squinted around at some of the other trees, and saw that they were standing right at the end of the organic forest. Past here, there was a few hundred feet of mingled growth, and then the full-metal started in quickly. “We should, like… Paint a line or something.” He suggested.

“Yeah…” Wendy pulled out a rattle can of paint, and drew a long red stripe on the side of the nearest tree. Then she dabbed her finger in some of the excess paint, and wrote the words ‘DANGER, KILLER ROBOTS BEYOND THIS POINT’ above the line. “There we go… Ooh, wait. In case anybody’s coming the other direction…” She swung around to the other side of the tree, and wrote ‘YOU MADE IT OUT ALIVE. YOU DA BOSS’.

“Great.” Dipper nodded. “Now… Ugh, oh man… I forgot my map. How we gonna find the coordinates?”

“We’ll just find it with our razor-sharp senses, willy intellects, and cunning instincts.” Wendy promised, with utter confidence.

“Uh… Does that work?” Dipper frowned.

“HECK no.” Wendy pulled out her own map. “We’ll just use mine. Where’d you say it was?” She pointed to a point on the map. “Here?”

“Yep… So… That way.” He pointed to the South-East.

“That way.” She confirmed, and started into the trees.

And so they continued. They passed through the forest’s outer regions, where the trees were further apart and the air was clear. They reached a small creek; the same on from their first visit. But this time they didn’t follow it; they crossed straight through, and continued on without stopping. Their destination lay beyond.

A few minutes later, the forest grew thicker and became immersive; the air smelled like iron filings and odd chemicals, normal moss and grass had disappeared entirely, and the clicking and buzzing of wildlife replaced the ordinary birds. Indeed, the whole world seemed ever-so-slightly colder and greyer. This place was alien in every way.

Their armor really started to prove itself. Their ears began to fill with clattering, scraping and tapping, as the razor-sharp branches and leaves assailed them and bounced off. Blow after blow was warded off by the armor plates, and more and more nicks and dings and scratches and abrasions appeared in the surface. But each mar was only surface deep; none of the blades were getting more than a few millimeters into the plastic, as their branches simply weren’t stiff enough to push them deeper.

Working wonderfully.

But this constant barrage wasn’t the hardest part of the journey. The ground beneath their feet was becoming… Strange. It wasn’t a flat surface anymore, or even what passed for ‘flat’ in normal forests. This was uneven; rough; chaotic. Every available surface was either a root, a branch, or some ancient deadfall. The heaping masses of living and dead metal rose and fell in miniature hills and valleys below them, entwining with itself, and hiding all else, even the dirt and the rocks. The ecosystem had consumed the very landscape.

There came to a point where a thicket of trees and bushes formed a sort of short cliff, and the only way to walk through was to climb a few feet up a tree, do some tricky footwork across the bows, and descend the other side. Wendy climbed up ahead of Dipper, wrapped an arm around a higher branch, and extended her other down to him. They gripped each other’s wrists, and she hauled him up beside her.

“Ugh.” Dipper said. “Why’s everything getting so… Like… I mean, where’s the ground?”

“If I had to guess…” Wendy looked around. “I’d say the actual ground is about 5 or 10 feet below the roots and logs we’re walking on. But just, like… When the old trees topple over, new trees use their remains for food, and grow right in the same place. And then those new trees-on-trees fall over too, and more grow on top of them, yadda yadda, right? …So over the years…” She steadied herself against the trunk, and jumped across a short gap. “It just stacks on top of itself.”

“Uh… That makes sense…” Dipper made the same jump right behind her, and would have lost his balance if she hadn’t caught him. “Why don’t normal forests do that, then?”

Wendy shrugged. “Normal forests do that too. Especially the old-growth forests, where my dad takes us hiking… That’s how I know.”

“Yeah, but… So why is this place such a tangled, deep mess? Normal forests are usually pretty flat.”

“I dunno… It’s probably because there’s no forest fires around here. In normal forests, a big ‘ol fire washes through about every 50 years, and cleans up all the deadfalls.”

“Huh… Yeah… And it might be because rain and water doesn’t dissolve or wash the rotten chemicals away.” Dipper theorized. “Everything is… Everything’s all solid. Normal life is based on liquid water, so things kind of… Rot away easier. But here, it’s all frozen in place. Static.”

“Ooh, that’s a good theory.”

Wendy reached a place where they could descend out of the tree, and back down to the ‘ground’. So she took a jump, aiming for a patch of grass. But when she landed on it, it gave way beneath her with a loud snap and creak. She lost control of her descent, and began falling further than intended.

“Wendy!” Dipper yelped.

But she didn’t fall far; only up to her armpits.

“Agh! DANG it!” She winced, as she tried to get her elbows under her. “Ow.”

Dipper descended more carefully, ran up to her, and offered his hand. “Are you okay?!? Did… Like… Did anything stab… Uh…”

“Ugh…” She took his hand, and pulled herself out of the hole. “Oh, ow, that’s gonna leave a bruise. Take note: this is all very hard. It hurts to land on.”

“Yeah… Are you okay though?”

“Uh… Yeah. I’m fine… I’m not skewered like a pig, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Err… Yeah… Okay.”

Wendy looked back down at the hole. The grassy landing pad had been growing in a gap between two fallen logs. When she’d hit it, the impact had knocked the smaller vegetation loose, leaving a sort of tunnel. Down in the gap, they heard something alive move about, then clatter away from them, off through the ground.

“So…” Dipper frowned. “If the forest is made of a whole bunch of stacked logs, are there tunnels and gaps all through it then? Like, I’m sure this isn’t the only place where the grass is loose.”

“Yeah… It’s like… Like a ‘Super Plumber Bros.’ game.” Wendy said. “We have to hop and jump between platforms, because there’s pits and spikes and crumbly parts everywhere below you.”

“It’s kind of scarier when it’s not in a video game.” Dipper noted.

They stood staring for a minute.

“So…” Wendy said. “Are we gonna go down there, or what?”

“Uh… Well, did you see anything cool down there?”

“Uh…” She reached back into the hole, and came up holding some fat, round plants. “Nothing but some… What are these? Fruit? Mushrooms? I don’t know. But they were down there.”

“Heh. Okay.”

She shoved them in her backpack, and they continued onwards above ground. High in the treetops above them, a small herd of five-armed ‘monkeys’ glance down with curiosity. Dipper waved up in a friendly way, but the harmless little animals didn’t respond. Instead, they just went back to cutting up and eating little bits off the tree branches.

After a while, they sat down beside a log to rest for a minute. Dipper reached into his backpack and pulled out his walkie-talkie. Ford had been kind of nervous about them going in alone, so it would be good to let him know everything’s all right. Hoping the signal would reach, he pushed the radio’s button and began to speak. “Hey Ford, just calling to let you know we’re all—”

As soon as the radio signal left the device, the forest leapt to life around them, and the teens realized that they’d accidentally wandered directly into the center of a large herd of pony-sized robot creatures.

Dipper hadn’t even noticed them ahead of time. Their spiny backs and long heads were colored and textured in an identical brown/grey to the rest of the trees, and the solar panel arrays on their tails looked a lot like those of the living bushes.

Nearly perfect camouflage. Perfect for sneaking up on people and attacking.

But they didn’t attack. If anything, they seemed as confused and startled as Dipper and Wendy were. Most of them stood in place with their antennae out, scanning side to side. The others watched the scanning ones, unsure if they should be panicked or not.

Dipper could see that no attack was forthcoming, but he didn’t want to provoke them anyway, so he turned his walkie-talkie off entirely, and returned it to his backpack.

One nearby creature seemed to notice them visually. It turned toward them, and approached until it was about 10 feet away. The teens stood up slowly, ready to fight or run if it did anything aggressive. Dipper wasn’t sure if they were in danger, however. Unlike the robot lion, which was sharp and hooked all over, this creature appeared entirely unarmed. It had no saws in its mouth, just a set of clamp-like jaws. Even its feet lacked claws; the fingers were short and stubby, almost like hooves.

Dipper supposed it could try to ram them with its gigantic, long head, but other than that it appeared perfectly harmless.

“So…” Wendy said. “It’s a herbivore, or what?”

“Well, it doesn’t have saws… Yeah, I think it’s harmless.” Dipper took out a disposable camera, covered up the light to prevent startling it with a flash, and began snapping pictures.

Wendy remembered the ‘fruit’ in her backpack. “Uh… Hey big guy… You want this?” She pulled out the food, and held it out to the creature. It shied away at first, then its antennae perked up, and it took a few steps closer. “Okay.” Wendy said. “Yeah. Herbivore.”

“It’s just, like, a robot deer or something.” Dipper said, and took another picture as it got close.

Then the creature opened its mouth. There was another mouth inside its mouth, and this second system shot outward about two feet and snagged the food out of Wendy’s hand.

“AGH!” Dipper yelped.

“Woah!” Wendy jerked her hand back.

The robot held the fruit in its first set of jaws, and began to grind at it with a drill bit in its second. When it was through, it took another step toward them, as if asking for more.

“Okay…” Wendy said. “Yeah. Still a robot deer… It just…”

“It has a head that looks like a Xenomorph.” Dipper observed, and took another picture.

“Yeah.”

“Nothing wrong with that.”

“No.”

“Just kind of weird.”

“Yeah.”

“Kind of freaky.”

“Yeah.”

It took another step towards them. “No.” Wendy said, as the deer/xenomorph thing got closer. “NO. Nothing more. No more fruit or stuff. Go away.”

It extended its second mouth again, and turned to Dipper. Okay. He thought, suddenly nervous. Its head is 4 feet long. That means its mouth can pop out 4 feet. Which means it can probably reach me from here… And it can definitely reach my…

The mouth shot out again, aiming for Dipper’s camera. He jerked it out of the way as fast as he could, and the deer’s drills did nothing but nick the chest of his armor.

“Hey.” Wendy stepped forward. “Shoo. Come on dude, shoo. Shoo. No more food. Take your weird long drill head, and take it way out of here. Go on, git.” She put a hand on top of its head, and pushed it away. It shook her hand off, and took another step inward.

“HEY!” Wendy yelled at it. “SHOO!”

It didn’t have ears, so the yelling was slightly less than effective.

“Yo.” Dipper brought his gauntlet down on top of its head. Not quite a punch, but almost. “Shoo!”

Its body was very hard and tough, so a measly half-punch wasn’t all that effective either. It turned toward him.

“Okay, look stupid thing.” Wendy said. “I’m like, up to here with your crap right now. Why don’t you…”

Just then, her words were cut off by a sudden noise, coming from the North; a clattering, and banging. The robot deer froze, extended its antennae all the way, and looked off in that same direction. All the other deer in the forest did similar.

The noise changed to a grinding, abrasive noise; the sound of saws.

All the deer tucked their long heads down close to their bodies, fanned out their solar panels like warning flags, and sprinted off through the trees to the south. In a matter of seconds, they were gone, and all that remained was some flattened grass, and some pictures on the camera.

Dipper and Wendy turned toward the sound of the noise, and crouched down behind a tree trunk. “You think that’s…?”

Wendy nodded. “Dude, I bet it IS! Let’s go see!”

They carefully began to crawl their way through the trees, staying behind logs and bushes whenever possible.

The finally stopped about 30 feet from the sound, and made themselves as hidden as possible.

“Magnet guns.” Wendy told him.

They both drew their weapons. (Not to use, just to have.) Dipper drew his camera as well.

And then they peaked over.

A deer robot lay on the forest floor, mangled and broken. Two full-grown lion-bots stood over it, digging into its torso with their massive saws. Sparks, debris, metal shavings, and bits of oil flew all over the place, as the deer’s motors, batteries, and functional parts slowly but surely disappeared into its killers.

The lions were pleasantly ignoring the humans for the moment, so they got comfortable and kept watching. Dipper lined up his camera, and began snapping pictures, while Wendy took a good look at the creatures themselves.

One was Juan’s mom. It had the damage that her dad had given it in the fight, as well as the ‘mom parts’ that Mabel had first pointed out.

The other was ‘male’, judging by the lack of these same parts. The male was slightly bigger, with a slightly shorter torso, longer antennae, and lighter coloring.

But curiously, although they’d never even seen this male before, it still had some damage; damage they didn’t give it. The plating on its right side was dented and twisted by a big, burned crater, partially exposing the hydraulics beneath. As if somebody had hit him with a grenade or a flamethrower or a… Laser blaster or something.

“Hey.” Wendy whispered.

“What?” Dipper looked over at her.

Wendy pointed to the blast mark, and shrugged. “Eh?”

“Uh…” Dipper frowned at it, and then shrugged. “Maybe there’s creatures out here with built-in ray guns?”

“…We should look out for that.”

“Yeah.”

And then Dipper’s phone rang.

Ford nervously drummed the six fingers of his hand against the table, while he waited for his great-nephew to pick up. What’s taking so long? Dipper’s usually pretty punctual about answering…

“Hey!” Stan called from the next room. “Did you ask Dipper yet?”

“Trying now!” Ford covered up the speaker and hollered back. “Just calm down Stan; it’s probably no big deal…”

“But it could be a big deal!” Stan reminded him. “You need to get a hold of him!”

“But he’s not picking up! He’s—”

Ford suddenly remembered just where Dipper was: an alien forest where the dangerous creatures heard and smelled through radio and electrical signals. Wait a minute, why is his phone even on at all? Ford wondered. If Dipper had any sense at all, he would have shut it off entirely. If anybody called him, the signals it shared with the cell tower could give away his position… Oh well. He must have just forgotten.

WAIT A MINUTE! Ford frowned as a new thought entered his mind. I just called him! Oh dear… I might have actually have put him danger, just by doing that… Oh my…

Ford was about to hang up, when suddenly Dipper’s voice sounded over the speaker. “HEYGREATUNCLEFORD THISREALLYISNTHEBESTTIME COULDICALLYOUBACK?”

“Dipper! I’m glad you’re all right! Listen, this is fairly imp—”

“NOTTHEBESTTIME!” Dipper repeated. “WENDY! HIDE DOWN THERE! I’LL FOLLOW YOU! GO GO GO!”

He heard the sound of a magnet gun discharge over the line. And in the background, was that the sound of saws?

“I’ll make it fast!” Ford promised. “Dipper, have you—”

Dipper hung up.

“Have you seen…” Ford looked at the phone for a second. He really had just hung up. He must actually have been in trouble… Ford closed the phone and slipped it back into his pocket. In the parlor’s new silence, he finished his sentence quietly to himself. “…Have you seen Mabel…”

A few hours earlier, Robbie’s head bounced side to side as his van rolled its bumpy way back down the roads, leaving Dipper and Wendy at the end of the trail at the top.

As he drove, a great many dark and edgy thoughts were going through his mind. Dipper is such a jerk… I could beat him in a fight… I wish I had… He just cheated… Wendy and I could have made it work… I didn’t mean to hypnotize her… Well, kind of… Well I only half meant to… Has Wendy ever forgiven me…? And what’s with those two now? They’re doing all this stuff together alone, and Dipper got rid of me today just because I’m intruding on their ‘alone time’... If they didn’t mean for me to come along, why would they throw in a 3rd empty backpack?

Wait a minute, they said it wasn’t theirs… Who packed it then? And why would they pack nothing but some glitter?

“Hold on.” Robbie mumbled, as he glanced over his shoulder.

To his surprise, he didn’t see the back of his van. He saw a young girl’s face, about 2 inches from his.

“HELLO!” She announced, more than loud enough.

“Ah geez there’s a kid in here!!” The van almost crashed into a tree as he stomped into the brake pedal. When the vehicle was safely back under control and stationary, he turned back to address his stowaway. “What the heck? Why are you here?!?” He asked. His brain worked through this new development. “You stowed yourself away in a backpack…? Wait, that doesn’t even make any sense! How did you load it into the van while you were still inside it?” He demanded.

What’s her name again? He racked his brain. I don’t quite remember, she’s just kind of the ‘Girly Dipper’ that set me up for a date one time… Well, I hate Dipper but I like girls, so… I don’t know…

“Oh, pshaw! You crack me up sometimes!” Girly Dipper rolled her eyes upwards as she leaned one cheek into her elbow with a mysterious grin. “Sneaking myself past the closed and locked doors from inside a backpack… That was the easy part! The hard part was fitting a pig in there too!” She produced a full-grown pig, which promptly emitted a loud snort.

“AGH! PIG IN MY VAN!” Robbie tried to stand up, and bumped his hair on the ceiling.

“And if you’re wondering how I did that… Well.” Girl Dipper smiled again. “You should really check out my YouTube video: ‘Mabel’s Guide to Showing Up in unexpected times and Places’.”

“Uh…”

“Yeah! It’s super informative! And a masterpiece, if I do say so myself. A true classic.”

“Okay…” Robbie sat back down hesitantly.

“So… Riddle me this, my gnarly old friend.” She abruptly changed the subject. “I guess Dipper and Wendy don’t want you going on their thing, huh?”

“Uhh…” Robbie squirmed rebelliously. “I didn’t even… Like… Wanna go on their stupid thing anyway. If I wanted to roll around in knives all day I would’ve just ransacked my dad’s morgue…”

“Well… If you don’t want to do that, how would you feel about helping me collect stuff?” She reached into her sweater and pulled out a map, scrawled all over Dipper’s handwriting. “Not as much danger, but the work is more important. And we’ll make lots of new robot friends!”

“Huh?”

“See, sometimes I don’t think Dipper trusts me.” The girl admitted with a shrug. “Maybe he’s right not to… Sometimes. ‘Cause we all do silly stuff that’s not very smart… But… But this time, I think he’s wrong. ‘Cause see, he wants to, like, kill the robot creatures and stuff like that… And I don’t think that’s really all super ethical or whatever. So I… I have another mission. A happier, funner mission… So what do you say, Mr. Buddy-Pal-Chum-Friend-Pal?” She gave him a gentle little punch on the shoulder. “Would you consider being my dark, edgy chauffeur/bodyguard for a day?”

“Uh…” Robbie frowned. “Uh… I guess…?”

“Awesome!” She squealed.

“SQUEE!” The pig squealed.

The girl then reached over Robbie’s shoulder, and put the van in ‘park’. “Let’s go do this thing!!”

#The Forest Of Daggers #Gravity Falls #wendy corduroy #dipper pines #shapeshifter #see you next summer #wendip #wendipweek #wendy x dipper #fanfiction #fanart #scifi #alien #robot #ghost

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calwitch1969 · 6 years

Text

Masquerade Part 3

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*fingers crossed* (pleasebegood,pleasebegood...)

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A week later Brigid closed her little shop for the day. Feeling drained she made her way around the back to her house while trying not to think about Tommy/Aleister and how she almost fell for his charms yet still unable to shake him from her thoughts. Or how good he smelled... She gave herself a mental shake.

*Get a grip woman! You were just a new flavor he wanted to try!*

As she stepped onto the porch the hairs on her neck stood up as she heard whispering.

Spinning around she quickly encased herself in a shield.

The whispering stopped as someone spoke.

"That's not very nice Brigid. We just want to play."

She pinched the bridge of her nose before pulling out her phone.

"Matt, I've already told you I'm not interested nor will I be."

She hit speed dial as she kept talking.

"So why do you keep persisting?"

"You belong in a Coven and our door is open for you. You just Have to walk through."

"Yeah. I don't see that happening. I. Don't. Want. Or need. To. Join you and your misfits of fucked up toys."

Matt gave his weird unusual laugh.

"But, you belong here! You just have to be deleted!"

"I don't belong anywhere Matt! I like being solitary practitioner. And even if I did wish to join then that's my choice. Not yours. There is no way in Hades I'd join you!"

She took a deep breath.

"Now if you don't mind, I've had a long week and would love to unwind."

"You have much potential Brigid! You just need to be deleted to embrace it!"

"What part of no don't you understand Matt?"

She could make out his form as well as Nero, his brother.

"Please leave Matt. You also Nero."

In a blink Nero was in front of her but didn't try to reach out for her because of her shield. His milky eye's stared at her a moment as he cocked his head.

"Not leaving without you this time Brigid."

She felt a shiver go down her spine at his soft spoken words.

A gust of focused wind sent him flying off the porch to land by his brother. Matt whipped his head side to side.

"Who's there? Who dares try to stop her deletion?"

"I dare."

A muscled man stepped out of the shadows into view. His long black hair was pulled into a ponytail. His clothes consisted of track pants, runners and muscle shirt.

Matt was momentarily stunned before glaring at him.

"Roman of the Reigns family! You should have been deleted ages ago!"

The big man scoffed.

" 'Cmon Matt. You are no where near strong enough to 'delete' my family."

Roman took a step towards them, his gaze hardening as Nero stood on slightly shaky legs beside his brother.

"Brigid is under the protection of myself and my family. You know this. What you're doing could be seen as an act of war."

He rolls his shoulders.

"Are you sure that's what you want?"

Matt started swiping his arm through the air.

"Delete! Delete! You have to be deleted Roman of the Reigns family!"

Matt and Nero glare at her.

"You will be deleted Brigid. One way or another."

He broke into his maniacal laugh while Nero opened a portal to take them away.

Once gone she looked at Roman relieved.

"Thanks you for showing up big guy."

He joins her on the porch grinning.

"No problem Brigid. Your considered family."

As she lowered her shield she looked past him wide eyed.

"Down!"

Roman automatically dropped without question as a portal opened up right behind him as Nero lunged through it holding a dagger.

Nero stumbled over Roman's body.

Brigid gasped in surprise, her gaze widening. Roman was up in an instant as he quickly took Nero's head between his hands and wrenched killing Nero instantly.

The portal shut as Nero and her shield dropped. Roman's eye's widen in horror at seeing the dagger protruding from her stomach.

"Roman...?"

Her legs gave out but he caught her before she fell.

Swooping her into his arms. he looked at her.

"Brigid!"

For the first time in a long time he felt frozen in fear.

"We need to to get the dagger out of you! We don't know what he could have dipped it in!"

His mind raced before stopping on one person. He looked at her worried.

"I know someone who can help."

She struggled to keep her eye's open as she started to feel coldness spread through her. In moments her teeth were chattering as Roman stepped into her back yard while summoning a portal.

He looked down at her concerned.

"Stay with me Brigid. I'm taking you to someone who'll help."

With that he stepped through and wound up on the front steps of a mansion.

Quickly he strode up and kicked the door while yelling. Apologizing to her as she moaned in pain.

"Aleister! I need your help! I know your home!"

Roman muttered under his breath as he leaned on the door bell while being mindful of Brigid. He looked down at her panicked as she started to shiver violently. Her eye's fluttered as they started to glaze over.

The front door swung open revealing Aleister wearing nothing but shorts, his chest heaving, hair slick with sweat. He looked at Roman surprised.

"Reigns?"

His gaze dropped to the figure in his arms and stiffened.

"Kleintje..."

He automatically ushered them inside and to his den. Roman very gently placed her on the desk that Aleister swept off and stood back as Aleister went beside her while placing his hands on her to surround the knife were it went in. His voice shook with emotion.

"Who did this to her?"

"Nero."

"Is he dead?"

"He is."

"Pity."

He glanced over his shoulder to Roman. His eye’s were flat and cold.

"I wanted him."

He went turned back to fully concentrate on her while softly chanting. A moment later her shivering eased as Aleister stood.

"I need to get A few things before I remove the dagger. He dipped it in a strong paralyzing potion intended for someone of your size. The solution would have stopped you for a couple of days but for her..."

Roman finished the sentence.

"It could kill her."

Aleister nods as he straightened.

"Stay with her. I need some things. The dagger has to stay in as it's acting in our favor."

"She can't bleed out as it's acting like a stopper."

"Exactly. I'll be back in a moment."

With that he was gone startling Roman slightly as he knelt on one knee beside her and took her hand in between his.

"Stay with us Brigid. Aleister is the best at these kind of things."

Not even ten minutes later Aleister reappeared with a satchel full of items. Roman got out of the way knowing he needs room to work.

Sitting himself in a nearby chair to silently wait while he watched him work.

____________________________________

A couple of hours later Aleister was done as he straightened cracking his back and rolling his neck as he packed up the soiled bandages.

Roman was at his side while he helped him tidy up.

"Aleister?"

"She'll live. she's going to be in and out of unconsciousness for a few days. I wouldn't recommend moving her for a couple of weeks as she heals."

Roman ran a hand over his face while looked at her. A mix of emotions swirled through him before settling on one.

Rage.

Rolling his shoulders he looks at Aleister.

"I trust she'll be safe here."

Aleister raised an eyebrow at the statement rather than question.

"I will protect her with my life plus I have safeguards all over the house. No one comes in unless I say."

Roman smirks slightly.

"Good. I'll be back in a couple of days."

He looked at Brigid smiling softly.

"She means a lot to me and my family."

With a nod to Aleister he quietly left.

Aleister looked at the door a moment before focusing on her still form. His wolf whined.

*Keep mate safe.*

"Yes, we will. With every fiber in our being."

Ever so gently, as if she was made of the finest china, he picked her up and carried her upstairs to a guest room right beside the master bedroom.

Sighing he managed to pull the blankets back and lay her down before quickly checking the bandages making sure she wasn't bleeding through. Satisfied that the stitches were holding he looked at her blood stained clothes she still wore.

Running a hand over his face he knew he had to get them off of her.

A muscle worked in his jaw knowing what he had to do. He just wished it was under different circumstances and she possibly didn't hate him.

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*Kleintje* means little one in Dutch. (That’s what the translator told me anyways...) I hope everyone enjoys!

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I hope this is alright... @noscetiipsum @hanaslay @thirstiswet @xfirespritex @meremaidqueen @andie01 @irefusetoacceptreallife @ellothelongwaydown @imaginexwwe @theprestigious0ne @glowrioustrash

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