It is now a proven fact that under times of high stress, I develop unhealthy obsessions with new TV shows to the point of developing AUs of their AUs. Someone stop me.

(Rambling under the cut.)

So there’s, like, fifty million awesome AUs for this show, but my brain really wanted to get this out of my head. Now, I love the idea of Mabel traveling back to Mullet Stan’s time and going on adventures with a younger version of her grunkle, but with the last few episodes, I feel like the relationships between Dipper and Stan, Dipper and Mabel, and Ford and Stan are becoming more and more strained. Now imagine a scenario where, after a fight between Mabel and Dipper, Dipper is the one that gets sent back, stranded in the late 70s/early 80s with nothing but a broken time machine and the clothes on his back.

Then he runs into his grunkle, only said grunkle doesn’t know he’s his grunkle, and Dipper probably shouldn’t tell him because of weird time stuff. At least, that’s what he’s assuming at the beginning. Eventually Stan takes him under his wing, but things are pretty awkward between them for a while. Dipper reminds Stan so much of a brother he hasn’t talked to in years, from his mannerisms to his personality. It probably brings up a lot of uncomfortable memories and feelings that he’d rather ignore.

As for Dipper, he sees a side of his grunkle that he hadn’t known existed before—or maybe he did but didn’t want to acknowledge it. After NWHS and AToTS, Dipper’s relationship with Stan (and Mabel) changes, partly due to him and Ford immediately taking to each other, but also due to the breach of trust. Now he’s stuck in a situation where he’s forced to face Stan’s past and understand where Stan was coming from when he pleaded with them not to press that button. And there are probably parts of Stan that remind him of Mabel and the fight they had. Where Mabel would wish Dipper were there so he could use his brains to think of a way out, Dipper wishes Mabel were there so she could talk to Stan without being super awkward about it. She was always better with people, especially Stan. Everyone always seemed to like her so much.

Then these two knuckleheads bond over their mutual shortcomings and whatnot and eventually get to Oregon, where they run into Ford and Fiddleford in the process of building the portal.

Well, Stan thinks it’s just those two, but Dipper knows better. If Fiddleford’s still around, that means Bill’s still around. But how far will knowledge get him this time?