Good news! My charger is back! So that means I can type up the little flash ficlets I wrote. Most of them are in the same AU universe, and none of them have betas. Let me know what you think!



Title: Welcome to Gravity Falls

Fandom: Gravity Falls

Rating: G

Characters: Stanford Pines, Dipper Pines, and Mabel Pines.

Description: Mabel might have gone overboard. (AU.)

Word Count: 1131

When their parents told them they were going to spend the summer with their Great Uncle Stanford, Mabel and Dipper were excited. Dipper was excited because he was going to be spending so much time with a man he low-key used as a constant role model, and Mabel was excited because she was Mabel and she immediately thought up all the ways this could mean she’d get to have a whirlwind summer romance.

Great Uncle Ford was not a cheerful man by any stretch of the imagination. He was always frowning, tired, and distracted, drawing up new designs for inventions on his napkins at family holiday dinners, but the distractions usually went away when Mabel or Dipper wanted to spend time with him. He’d play Dipper’s nerdy games with him. He’d make shadow puppets with Mabel. He’d walk with them outside and show them all the little insects and animals that lurked in their Piedmont neighborhood, creatures so small that only he could spot them. He wasn’t cheerful, but he was fun, and he cared about the family.

So going to Gravity Falls to live with their great uncle? Not the worst prospect ever. Sure, Gravity Falls was a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, and Great Uncle Ford spent most of his time working on secret inventions for the government or super important companies, but they went into the summer with optimism.

Their parents told them to be good for Ford. He’d been in an accident thirty years ago, he was getting older, and Dipper and Mabel had better not cause him too much stress. Both Mabel and Dipper thought whatever brain injury he got, he was still way smarter than anyone else they knew, so he was probably going to be just fine with them. (Mabel theorized that maybe that was why he was always so distracted. Grandpa Shermy assured them that, no, he’d actually gotten better since the accident. He used to read his science textbooks at the dinner table.)

Gravity Falls turned out to be just how they imagined: a small boring town. Though luckily, Ford had two assistants to help him in his lab—Soos, his mechanic-cum-apprentice, and Wendy, a teenager in charge of keeping his notes organized for him, screening calls, and managing his schedule. They were fun to talk to, and Mabel assured Dipper that they would soon be rolling in friends.

But for now, there were some basic housekeeping things to do, like making the home more homey. Great Uncle Ford’s house, nestled on the outskirts of the town near the diner, was functional, but sterile.

The kitchen stayed mostly clean. Most of the inventions Ford worked on were kept in his workshop, which was usually locked when he wasn’t inside. There were four different locks on the front and back doors, and a lock on each window. There were some cool artifacts here and there. Yet there weren’t any posters or bold colors or family pictures or cool furniture or anything that would say much at all about the man who lived there.

So Mabel decided to add some character to the house (and somehow roped Dipper into helping).

“Are you sure he’s not going to be mad?” Dipper asked as he taped macaroni art above the front door (with the help of a table he teetered over the edge of).

“Pfff, why would he be mad? We’re making his house beautiful!” Mabel threw a bucket of glitter on the floor and allowed the breeze from the open window carry it through the room.

“Yeah, but do you think he’ll really like having six different boy band posters on his wall?” Dipper asked as he slid off the table, banging his knee on the door with an ‘ow!’

“He can replace those with boring old man bands if he wants. This is just a start.”

Mabel backed up to survey her work. The whole living room was covered in glitter, posters, and art she and Dipper made. “What do you think, Dipper?”

Dipper rubbed his knee as he backed up to look around the room with her. “I think that we should hope he doesn’t get mad.”

The locks in the front door clicked. Dipper winced, but Mabel bounced on the balls of her feet and barely kept herself from clapping her hands.

Ford stepped inside, laden with groceries, just as Mabel and Dipper burst out with, “Ta dah!” “It was Mabel’s idea!”

Ford stopped dead in the doorway. He surveyed the sparkling room with wide eyes. Dipper shifted nervously from foot to foot.

“What happened here?” Ford asked slowly, like a teacher who just happened upon a fight.

“We were decorating for you!” Mabel faltered. “Do you like it?”

“I…” Ford looked down at their faces. Mabel’s shoulders slowly drooped. “I… appreciate the help. I should have redecorated a long time ago. But maybe we can redo it while I can consult?”

It wasn’t the resounding approval Mabel had hoped for, but it also wasn’t the rage Dipper had feared, so they both relaxed, though Mabel couldn’t hide her disappointment as she smiled and said, “Okay.”

Ford looked at her for a half second longer, his customary frown unwavering on his face, before he gave the room another once-over.

“First things first.”

He adjusted the groceries to one hand before picking one particular picture—a family portrait by Mabel, with all three of them holding hands under a happy sun—and un-taping it from the wall.

Mabel winced, her face falling as Ford walked to the kitchen with the picture, where the big trash can was. She hadn’t expected him to just throw the pictures away. Did he really hate them that much? Dipper’s mouth twisted, but he shot her a concerned look.

“Kids, come help me put the groceries away.”

Dipper took Mabel’s hand, squeezing it as they walked to the kitchen.

Food—mostly instant meals, but some fruits and vegetables—spilled onto the table, which kept most of Ford’s attention. On the fridge door was Mabel’s picture, carefully stuck there with a magnet.

Mabel perked. The twist left Dipper’s mouth. “I thought you were throwing that away!” she said.

“Are you kidding?” Ford seemed genuinely confused at the thought. “Of course not. It deserved a place of honor.” He gestured vaguely at the food until they started putting it away. “Dipper, we should pick one of yours to hang up, too.”

As Mabel’s face broke into a grim, so did Dipper’s. “Yeah! Yeah, that’d be fun,” he said.

“Good. We can redecorate afterwards.”

Mabel hummed to herself as she stuffed cereal boxes into cupboards. Pictures on the fridge and redecorating with Ford. What more could they want?

Mabel should dump buckets of glitter on Ford’s floor more often.