I was tagged by my friend @ajcipher, the most coolest person ever.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Rules: Tag 10 followers you want to get to know better.
Name: Neba Macaroni
Birthday: September 28
Gender: Female
Fave color: Purple?? Lavender maybe
Time right now: 3:15
Lucky number: idk, 7??
Last thing I googled: why cant you see stars at night
Fave fictional character: If i had to choose, I’d choose Dipper Pines (Gravity Falls)
Relationship: Does pizza count....no? Ok, im single
Zodiac: Libra
Siblings: Two sisters, one brother
Pets: None omfg
Wake and Sleep time: I wake up at like 7:00 but i sleep at like 10:30-11
Dream Trip: idk, maybe Disney World. Or sleep.
Love or lust: love
Lemonade or tea: Lemonade
Cats or dogs: yes
Coke or pepsi: both, but really, Coke
Day or night: Psss, idk, night
Texts or calls: Texts.
Make up or natural: natural
Met a celebrity?: nope
Smile or eyes: both
Light or dark hair: yes
Shorter or taller: better if ur taller than me bc then i can complain. But u can be shorter and then i can boast. Both, really
Intelligence or attraction: Both. Ya’ll better be both
Lipbalm or Lipstick: Neither. But lipbalm
City or country: Country. Cities make me afraid tbh
Last song I listened to: Blow Us All Away-From the Hamilton soundtrack
First language: English
I tag: @moosepantsonfire, @karkat-protection-squad @jichaelmones @mysincave @crapinthehat @spac3k1d everyone’s mom: @ladyofthegeneral AND ALL MY FOLLOWERS BECAUSE I CANT THINK OF ANY RN
A/N: Also available @ AO3. Written as a gift for @moosepantsonfire for the SSParapines Holiday Exchange. I chose their first prompt, which was: “Dipper and Norman running into Rev!Dipper from the Reverse Falls AU.” I started writing this and it kind of got away with me (which is probably an understatement). Hope you enjoy it! And happy holidays to everyone in the fandom :3
Word Count: ~5,450
Characters/Relationships: Norman Babcock/Dipper Pines, Rev!Dipper
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Possession, emotional breakdown
Summary: Norman can wallow in regret all he wants, but that is not going to stop the other Dipper from coming into their world.
++
This will be the very first time he has heard from Dipper after both of them left Gravity Falls. The letter is sealed in a blue envelope. It has been sitting in his study for a week. Today, as the red and yellow leaves start falling from all the trees, Norman decides to open it and read while he sits on his balcony.
“Dear Norman,
I’ll have you know that this stationery is gaudy and yellow because I swiped it from my sister. I did not go all the way to the bookstore to buy this. But all of that is irrelevant.
A lot’s happened during these months that we haven’t seen each other. I’ve moved in with Mabel in a new apartment just a month ago. Plus, I just found out my parents sold our old house. They’re retiring, apparently. They dropped off boxes full of my things and Mabel’s just the other day, right before they dropped the bombshell. I still can’t believe it.
I’ve gotten a job at a high school, teaching advanced physics. My students give me headaches every day, but I still think it’s really fun? I’m not exactly sure if I’m very well liked or anything, but it’s fun knowing that I’m bringing some good into the world, if that makes any sense.
Mabel thinks I should quit the job. She thinks it isn’t good for my sanity. But I don’t really see any problem. Do you? I wanna know what you think.
I’ve started writing again, too. Though I already know what you think about that. I just can’t leave my research just because of what happened. It’s not an option for me.
But please feel free to tell me whatever objection you have to anything I do. Tell me anything. It doesn’t even have to be about my job, or the writing. It’s just been too long since I’ve heard from you. I know it’s something we both decided on, but it’s driving me nuts, right.
I bet you’re angry with me right now for breaking the deal. But I just couldn’t help myself.
Talk to me, please.
Sincerely,
Dipper”
++
The past will forever nag him.
Norman stands in the middle of the town, as everyone retreated to the safety of their homes. The sky is pitch black, and then it isn’t. It turns into an electric blue. Norman stands and glares at the Dipper in front of him, a man dressed in the same color as the sky. The eyes of the Dipper in blue are green and menacing.
The wind is in Norman’s eyes, but he is determined to focus. All around him, the ghosts start to appear and in front of him, the Dipper in blue glowers, fists clenched tight and glowing.
“You’re going to regret you ever came here,” Norman says. And the ghosts start making noise. The Dipper in blue is taken aback. Norman knows that he’s defeated him. Surely, he will fade.
++
The past, indeed, has a way of reaching into you and pulling out your heart, bloody and raw. Norman remembers: Dipper set a fire to the shack. Outside they both stand and Norman notices that Dipper has been staring at the fire in awe. Later, Norman cannot help his tears when he has to sit in the waiting room of a hospital, because Dipper lost consciousness as the house burned to its cinders. He waits and he waits, and when Dipper wakes up, there are only bits and pieces that have stayed in his memory.
They move into the shack when they are both twenty-three. Dipper wanted to finish a research on parallel worlds, which has been passed on to him by his Great Uncle Ford. Norman tags along in order to assist him.
“You really didn’t have to do this,” Dipper tells him once. They are at the basement of the shack. Norman reads through a number of Ford’s notebooks, trying to make sense of his ideas. Dipper is writing something down on a hardbound journal when he says this and he doesn’t meet Norman’s gaze. He continues to write as Norman brushes off the comment.
“C’mon, you’re my best friend,” Norman says, even though it’s more than just that.
When Dipper decides that he should rebuild the portal, Norman invokes the same thing.
“As your best friend, I’m reminding you yet again that this is a horrible idea,” Norman says. He holds on to the toolbox and pulls out a wagon of metal while Dipper works on the machine.
“Truly!” the ghost of a woodsman says, as he floats near Norman’s figure.
“Doesn’t he remember what happened the last time?” says another ghost, this time of a man in a lab coat.
“I know it is,” Dipper says, as he stands atop a ladder, putting together the upper half of the portal.
“Then why are you doing it?” Norman says.
“Indeed, why!” The man in the lab coat circles around Dipper and closely examines Dipper’s progress.
“Because I know now what went wrong before!” Dipper’s hands fly up to the air and the ladder shakes. He continues to speak as he handles a screw – “You know that Bill Cipher, Norman? Well, he won’t bother me anymore. I know that for a fact. This portal, Norman—This portal is going to lead to worlds very much like our own. Not like Bill’s. We won’t have another Armageddon.”
That is what Dipper says, but a month later, he burns down the house and Norman is sure that the portal has something to do with it.
+++
He only becomes sure, however, when he first meets the Dipper in blue.
One Sunday night, as Norman sits on a park bench outside the hospital to eat his sandwich in peace, he notices that the moon has turned bright blue. The ghost of the woodsman has followed Norman all the way here, so he’s the first one Norman gets to ask.
“What happened to the moon?” Norman’s eyebrows furrow and he puts down the sandwich.
“Something tells me this is the work of the beast of the woods!” the ghost exclaims.
Norman sighs. “I don’t know about that,” he says.
Dipper’s room is dark when Norman returns. It’s dark except for the blue light coursing through the window.
“Dipper?” Norman looks around the room and sees nothing.
“I’m right here,” a voice goes, and then suddenly, the light switch is turned up.
With the flash of light, Norman is confronted with the sudden appearance of Dipper a mere few inches away from him. The door slams to a close. Dipper smiles. The birthmark on his head is glowing bright blue. His clothes have also changed – no longer in the hospital clothes but in a blue coat and a white frilly shirt.
He cups Norman’s face. “Hm,” Dipper says. “What a nice face you have here. But I still don’t see what all the fuss is about.”
“W—What—?”
Dipper sighs. “It’s a shame I’ll have to kill you soon enough.”
Norman pushes him away.
“Who the fuck are you? And—what did you do to Dipper?”
The Dipper in blue tries to slick his hair back, but fails. He sits on the hospital bed. Norman starts to feel cold. The air around this person is sinister, almost like an evil spirit. The way this Dipper crosses his legs, the way he pulls on his coat and runs his hands on his shirt to flatten it – All of it is prim and proper. But Norman can see the darkness shrouding this person, who is not the Dipper he knows.
“I’m not yet ready to explain every single thing,” he says, with a smirk. “And I’m disappearing in a few moments, so I’m guessing I won’t have time to.”
“Disappearing? What? You’re not making any sense.”
“I’ll be taking permanent residence in this body pretty soon. You just have to wait. I have to thank you, you know, for your painstaking efforts to bring me into this world. Even though your shit portal didn’t work, it helped me pull a few strings. But, oh—“ Dipper extends his arm forward, and Norman sees tattoos, all of which seem to be fading. “It’s starting. You’ll see your little friend soon enough.”
The tattoos, the clothes, the blue glow on Dipper’s forehead, the blue glow from the moon: It all disappears. A Dipper in a hospital gown replaces it all. Norman rushes to him before he collapses forward. He embraces Dipper tightly.
“Norman?” Dipper goes, the sound of his voice barely audible.
“Shh, there’s no need to talk,” Norman says. He hugs Dipper and plants his nose in Dipper’s hair. Norman’s eyes stay wide open.
Dipper is shivering. Norman caresses his back and tries to calm him down.
“So cold,” Dipper says.
Norman holds him even closer. This is the Dipper he knows, not that man shrouded in darkness. Dipper continues to shake, and Norman knows he should call a doctor. But just for a moment, he wants to try and be the one to fix everything.
++
The morning after, Norman asks Dipper to explain. Though he doesn’t expect Dipper to provide much explanation, it seems that Dipper knows more than he’s let on.
“You what?”
Dipper lowers his head and tries to hide his face. He’d just told Norman that he knew of this other Dipper, who had come from a parallel world. It had been weeks since this Dipper started trying to take over his body. As Dipper tells Norman the story, he bends his knees against his chest and sags against the wall.
“You’re probably going to ask why I didn’t tell you, right? Well I’ve been thinking of telling you Norm, but it just never felt right. And I didn’t want you to get involved.”
“But I could’ve done something!”
“No, you couldn’t have. The door was opened. All he needed to do was push. You couldn’t have stopped him, not with all the ghost magic in the fucking world.”
“I could’ve at least tried.”
The room is silent after this. The days that follow remain this way, as Norman knows not what he should do to stop anything from happening. But he does stay by Dipper’s side and he helps him when he’s finally allowed to leave the hospital. Since Dipper refuses to contact Mabel or his parents so they can pick him up, Norman and Dipper stay at a cheap motel. They do not speak to each other, except for Good morning’s and Good night’s. Dipper watches TV, looks out the window, reads, sleeps, and does nothing else. It hurts Norman’s heart to wait.
Nothing has happened so far, but he thinks there might be something occurring in Dipper’s head. Never has Dipper stared so much into space for all the time that Norman has known him. Norman can only hope that Dipper is trying to fight and that he will prevail in the end.
“I’m cold,” Dipper finally says, one day. It startles Norman and makes him fear for the worst. The last time Dipper complained about the cold, he’d just fallen out of a dark trance.
Dipper is trembling on his bed. After Norman gives him a glass of water and something to dull the pain, they lie down together, Norman holding Dipper from behind. “Hey, hey,” Norman says. “I’ll warm you up. Don’t worry.”
“I feel him taking over.” Dipper continues to shake in Norman’s arms.
“No he is not. I won’t let him.” Norman hugs Dipper tight and brushes Dipper’s hair with his fingers.
Dipper breathes heavily. “He’s always speaking to me,” Dipper says.
“Just listen to my voice,” Norman says. “I’ll tell you things.”
This is exactly what Norman does: He tells Dipper about his childhood, back in Blithe Hollow. He had a dead grandmother who was also his best friend. He had many adventures, all of which involved poltergeist. He tells Dipper of the time when zombies swarmed the town and about the little girl Aggie, whom Norman was able to reunite with her mother. He tells Dipper about high school and how everyone seemed to forget about all that had happened. He tells Dipper about getting into university, seeing Dipper for the first time, thinking Dipper was one of the cutest people he’s ever seen.
Norman hopes he’s drowned out the voice once Dipper stops trembling and falls asleep.
Perhaps, Norman thinks, he can actually fix this. Throughout the night, Dipper sleeps peacefully. Norman falls asleep much later, though he first plants a kiss on Dipper’s cheek, something he has never done before. It doesn’t please his heart to see Dipper like this at all, and if staying by Dipper’s side will help him in any way, Norman will do it.
+++
The next day, Norman wakes up to Dipper shaking him awake. When he opens his eyes, he sees Dipper dressed to go to the woods – a cap, a windbreaker, jeans.
Norman raises his eyebrow, but who is he to disagree. He immediately washes up, takes his flannel button-up, a jacket, and jeans, before he goes off to wherever Dipper takes him.
Get a fairy to speak with them: That is the random mission for the day. Although, one must admit that fairies are difficult to come by, so getting one to speak might be extra challenging.
Norman has yet to figure out how exactly to trigger a fairy to make an appearance. Dipper says they are everywhere, just not visible to the naked human eye. Dipper has theories: That you had to have a certain level of concentration in order to see them; that there might be certain words that they enjoy hearing. Nothing is confirmed.
When Norman asks the ghosts in the woods about the fairies, they say that they see the little creatures every day, floating about in groups. Dipper surmises that fairy appearances may have something to do with death and decay, though he is very much stumped as to how that might be so.
They later decide to split up. It is four in the afternoon and the sun is faint, so Norman holds a flashlight in order to see. He is not exactly sure of what he’s supposed to look for, though Dipper did tell him, with much exclamation: “Keep an eye on the trees.”
So Norman moves around looking for any tree that might have anything odd. After some time, Norman runs into Elizabeth, the old ghost woman always lying on the forest ground, arms stretched, eyes forever transfixed. She tells him to scram and if he wants to see a fairy, he should look for the tree with the yellow flowers and the red trunk.
It is a good enough lead for him to try and look for Dipper again.
The sound of the woods in the afternoon is just as eerie as it would be at any time of day. The chirps of the birds are faint; Norman feels as if every crack of a twig means he’s actually being followed.
“Dipper!” Norman goes, hands in his jacket pockets as he maneuvers through the trees. “Dipper, hey! I think I’ve got something!”
“Over here!” Dipper says.
Norman shifts his head around until he sees a small, circular light, eastward. He follows it, and hears Dipper humming a tune that Norman cannot place.
From where Norman stands, Dipper’s figure appears to be all black, though Norman can tell that his head is down and his gaze is fixed on something in his hands – perhaps the notebook he’d brought to the woods.
Norman hears something, apart from the continuing hum. It’s a drumming noise. With every step he takes, each and every time his shoe lands on the ground, the beat reverberates in his ears. Norman stops in his tracks and grabs his chest. The noise, he realizes, is his heart.
“Norman! I think I’ve got something! There’s some writing on this tree!” someone goes, but Norman looks at the figure in the darkness and sees that it has not moved an inch.
When he turns, it is almost as if time has gone slower. Towards another direction, he sees another flickering light.
He turns again, back to the figure standing still.
The beating intensifies. The hum grows louder. Norman has to close his eyes and concentrate.
This is nothing. Just a ghost. Messing with you. You’ve dealt with worse, Norman Babcock. You’ve dealt with worse.
Once Norman opens his eyes, he is taken aback.
“Who—”
He asks who, but he does not actually mean it. It is obvious who it is. The Dipper in blue stands before him, face blank, only staring.
But from behind him, from afar, Norman still hears: “Dude, where have you gone?”
That is something he would like to know himself. Norman feels as if he’s floating, though at the same time, he cannot move.
The face of the Dipper in front of him contorts into a sinister smile.
“Hello,” Dipper goes, and yes, it’s Dipper’s voice, but Norman knows quite well that this is not Dipper at all.
Norman still cannot move, no matter how much he wants to. His heartbeat has only become louder and faster.
“I’m sorry for what I have to do now,” the Dipper in blue says, and lifts up his hand, grabs Norman’s face.
The hand shakes. It stings. It burns him. Norman is certain that this is how he dies: in the hands of a Dipper he does not know, one whose arms are inscribed with letters he cannot read, one whose grip is literal fire, glowing blue.
Norman is certain that this is how he dies, because as soon as the blue light shrouds him, everything disappears. Everything is darkness.
There is nothing but black. He is nothing but a soul, floating in the void. His own death has never been something he constantly feared, but as Norman floats, regret floats along with him, and so does sadness, along with images of Dipper with that gleam in his eye as he writes down something new on his journal; of his mother, his father, and sister back home, living their lives in constant normality; of Dipper again, with a faint smile, a light flush on his cheeks.
Suddenly, Norman feels like he can breathe again.
And suddenly, he does. He breathes as if he has just been electrified.
Norman is sitting on his bed in the shack, alone, the world around him quiet. He pants.
A dream?
I’m not—The house isn’t—
The attic has not been burned to its cinders. Norman’s parents smile at him through the picture on his bedside table. The bookshelf is there, and so are all his books and DVDs. His laptop is by his feet, and he remembers that is the last place he put it before the fire erupted.
Norman gets on his feet, trying to make sure that all his body parts do actually work. He stares at his feet, his fingers, his palms, his hands. “I’m not dead…”
“No, you are not. Unfortunately.”
The voice, undoubtedly, is Dipper’s, but when Norman sees whom the words actually come from, the fear that has built inside him starts to overflow. The Dipper in blue is in Norman’s room. He stands by the door, arms crossed, face in a dark expression.
“But you will be.” There’s a smile that comes to Dipper’s face when he says this. “I only have to work a little harder to get into your world and I’m sure I can arrange your death very, very quickly.”
“Who are you?” Norman says, and a gulp follows.
“You know exactly who I am. I’m Dipper. You know, the guy you dote on every single day. We make a very cute—uh—couple? Well I guess we’re not on that level yet, aren’t we?” He chuckles, draws himself nearer and nearer to Norman. “Time’s a-ticking Norman Babcock. I can give you a few days, you know, since our love story still hasn’t come to sweet, sweet fruition.”
“I—I won’t let you do this.” Norman takes a step back.
Again, he chuckles. He stands very close, and in a familiar gesture, he lifts up one hand.
“I’m giving you a few days, alright? Nothing more.”
Norman knows what’s coming: the burning on his skin, the hand that feels like a flame.
When Norman opens his eyes once again, he’s lying on the forest ground.
“Norman!” He hears the quick footsteps of Dipper coming to get him and it’s music to Norman’s ears.
He tries to sit up, but his muscles betray him. Dipper kneels down beside him.
“Can’t—stand—“ Norman’s voice has turned hoarse.
“Jesus—what happened to you?” Dipper puts a hand at the back of Norman’s head and places another on Norman’s arm. Norman looks up to see Dipper’s same old face and same old arms without the language of demons. He has never thought that Dipper’s brown curls and the curve of Dipper’s lips have ever looked as beautiful as they do now.
“Was it some sort of monster?” Dipper asks. “A fairy? Please tell me you didn’t faint at the sight of a fairy.”
Norman shakes his head, closes his eyes, and thinks of the appropriate thing to say.
“Had a nightmare,” Norman says, and breathes. “But it felt very, very real.”
+++
Nothing could have stopped what was about to come.
But Norman sees that Dipper is trying his best to do something about it.
When they go to the shack, they discover that things in the basement have been left unharmed, as Uncle Ford built it to be fireproof. The structure of the portal is still intact, until Dipper grabs a hammer and smashes dent after dent into the metal.
Dipper searches all his notes, hoping to find something on how to close rifts in time and space. He ends up ripping out page after page, not caring about the mess he is creating.
He searches through an old journal, where spells and incantations are written. Norman has never seen the book before and advises Dipper against it. Still, Dipper persists and screams out any lines that he deems useful.
Norman stands by him the whole time, feeling utterly useless.
Dipper ends up curling up in a corner, knees bent to his chest. He sobs, tears like waterfalls.
“C’mon, Dipper. We have to go.” Norman squats down and holds Dipper’s shoulder, calm. “Let’s not waste our time.”
+++
They are at the motel and Norman knows Dipper cannot be alone. “I’ll go to bed with you,” Norman says as he helps Dipper remove his windbreaker and shoes. At that moment, he is sure that Dipper wants the same thing, because he takes Norman’s hands and caresses them.
“I’m thinking you should,” Dipper says.
They walk to the bed and Dipper lies down first, pushing his back against the pillows. He stares at Norman with his tear-stricken eyes and nibbles his lip.
Norman leans down to kiss him, body hovering over Dipper’s. This very first kiss makes Norman feel stronger than he has very felt. The bed then creaks as Norman moves to kiss Dipper’s neck. Arms circle around Norman’s back; soft whimpers escape Dipper’s mouth. The light in the room is as good as gone because everything around Norman blurs and Dipper is the only one visible.
As Dipper slips off his wrinkled shirt, Norman starts to unbutton his own, eyes continuing to brood. Dipper is exposed and he starts to look flushed because of it. Norman sits upright and looks at him. He runs a hand against Dipper’s stomach.
“You’re amazing,” Norman says.
When his shirt is finally off, Norman leans back down to plant kisses on Dipper’s cheek, stormy kisses on Dipper’s lips.
They go through the night like this, with Norman willing himself to breathe as Dipper trembles underneath him, with Norman unrelenting as he hopes to make Dipper melt in his touch.
He wants to feel that Dipper will always be here. He will never let this go, he resolves, ultimately. No matter what forces are trying to break this apart, Norman is positive that he will be able to crush them all and beat them to dust.
++
Which is exactly what he does on the day that Dipper’s body is taken over.
It happens very suddenly, one morning. Dipper is nowhere to be seen in their room and Norman wakes up very, very cold.
Almost simultaneously, all of Norman’s friends appear in the bedroom.
“You guys are willing to help me right?” he asks all the ghosts floating around him, who are asking him what had happened, because they also feel unnerved, as if their souls are being torn apart.
Norman knows now that this is the reason he had to be killed. No one else would be able to match the Dipper in blue. No one else would be able to tear apart a soul in this world and hurl them into another.
“This is dangerous, don’t you think?” the ghost of the man in a lab coat says.
“I don’t really know what is happening, but all I know is that I am up for it,” says another ghost, Elizabeth from the woods. “But I do hope you know what you’re doing, my dear.”
“You’re helping me get a guy to burn in hell. I’m sure you’ll all be able to manage.”
Norman sees the blue fireworks above. From where he stands, he can tell that it is coming from the house of the Gleefuls.
“Gravity Falls!”
The voice resounds throughout the town. People who still remain in the streets look around to check where the voice comes from, but they are unable to locate it.
“The Dipper Gleeful magic show is about to begin! Everyone grab on to their seats!”
Everyone murmurs, “What seats? What seats is he talking about?”
Norman cocks up an eyebrow, “Dipper Gleeful?”
“I need everyone to look west! Yes, there! All of you look! Do you see it? Yes, it is the office of Mayor Northwest!”
The townspeople, gullible as they are, all turn to look at the direction pointed out to them.
In one fell swoop, the black metal fences to city hall levitate; the leaves from the trees swerve around the building; fire engulfs the structure. In one fell swoop, it all disappears.
This is only the beginning, as Dipper Gleeful’s magic ransacks the town: breaks the glasses of shop windows, pulls roofs off into the sky, and sends people into screams and mania. Norman shouts and tells everyone to go into their houses, leave, or just flat out run, because no one is safe.
The sky has turned pitch black. Norman shouts and calls for him. The ghosts are still, for now.
“I’m going to end you!” Norman screams, beckoning.
Norman stands in the middle of the town, as everyone retreated to the safety of their homes. The sky is pitch black, and then it isn’t. It turns into an electric blue. Norman stands and glares at the Dipper in front of him, a man dressed in the same color as the sky. The eyes of the Dipper in blue are green and menacing.
At that moment, Norman is more than ready to tear a soul apart.
It is all a blur in his memory. Norman remembers being overcome with power. His eyes burn and his blood boils. Dipper Gleeful is grabbed by the neck as the ghosts circle around him in a tornado of green. He puts up a fight by hurling thunder down from the sky, but Norman has ensured his failure. Gleeful’s eyes have turned blue and Norman’s have turned green. Looking back, Norman thinks he’s probably been wasting a bit of Dipper’s time, because Norman recognizes now that he has held a key to parallel worlds all this time. It’s all been in his eyes. He just never wanted to acknowledge it.
“I have to put in all this work just for you,” Norman says, when it all ends. He is down on his knees, dizzy, as he looks at Dipper Gleeful’s body, barely breathing but still alive.
“Oh, Dipper,” goes the voice of a woman. Norman cannot tell if the person who utters the words is near or far, because his senses have gone weak.
There are footsteps. Someone walks past him. He sees a woman with the same brown hair as Dipper’s, but longer. She also wears a blue coat, a frilly white shirt, along with a skirt that swings as she takes each step. When she draws near enough to the unconscious body, she kneels down and holds Dipper’s face by the cheeks. Norman’s body starts to feel colder than it already does.
“…Mabel?” Norman goes, when it finally clicks. He hears a chuckle from the woman.
“Sorry for the mess,” she says, without meeting Norman’s gaze, before she disappears, along with Dipper Gleeful.
This is when everything turns dark and Norman’s body gives in.
When he does wake up, it is still dark, but he no longer feels cold. He notices that the ghosts are all around him, walking along to the steps of a man who carries Norman through the empty road. The smell of his hair isn’t ideal at all, but at least, Norman thinks, his back is warmer than anything he has ever felt.
Dipper is back in this world, but Norman sees this only for a moment. No matter how much Norman wants to speak, he cannot. Norman falls out of consciousness yet again.
++
Days go by before Norman finds the heart to reply to the letter. At first he starts with Dipper and places a colon at the end of the word, but Norman feels that it is too impersonal. To whom this may concern? But that ends up sounding all the more impersonal. Dear Dipper doesn’t seem right at all. Hey Dipper? Yo Dipper? Norman finds himself sitting in his study, thinking about this more than he should be. He only settles for something after more than two hours of thinking.
++
Norman writes the letter and feels his blood pumping by the end of it.
“Dearest:
I used to think we’d both be happier if we never heard from each other ever again. But here I am, writing this, because I want to and you asked me to.
I remember what I told you the last day we saw each other. I told you that it’s dangerous for you and I to be together, given the things that might happen, given that I’m pretty much a key to a door we never want to open again. I told you we’re better off as far away from each other as possible. You looked very sad when I said this. Please know that I took no pleasure in seeing you sad. I like you too much to want that.
I’ve thought of emailing you or giving you a call, from time to time, but I know it would breach the deal I made myself. Though now it looks like I’m talking to you through a handwritten letter, and really, dude, what got into you? You know handwritten letters are things of the past, right? Sorry. But it’s true!
The reason I’m writing this letter, other than as a reply, is to explain the decision I’ve recently made.
I’ll be ironing out a few things at work. It might take a few weeks, but I think it’ll be fine. Then, as soon as possible, I’ll be buying tickets for a plane to California.
If you think you’re the only who’s been driven nuts by this whole thing, you are very wrong. And if you think I have any objections to the things you are doing, well, yeah, that is totally true, but keep on doing them, so we’ll have something to talk about when we see each other.
I really can’t wait to see you, Dipper. Please wait for me. I’ll be there soon!
With love,
Norman
P.S. I tried my best to find the very same stationery you used at Barnes and Noble. I kind of like it. I don’t know why you wouldn’t admit to buying it. You’re nothing but a dork, Dipper Pines. Please do not change.”
|
for me love’s like the wind unseen, unknown
I see the trees are bending where it’s been
I know that it leaves wreckage where it’s blown
I really don’t know what I love you means
I think it means don’t leave me here alone
Summary: “In retrospect, Ray thought as he hit the deck, he should have seen this coming. The assassin – Ryan – may have been amiable, even friendly, whenever he appears but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s got a job to do”.
In which Ray’s a private detective making a living in sleazy Los Santos and Ryan is the mercenary he keeps running into.
Warnings: Violence
Word Count: 2891
The paint is still drying, the lettering bold and blocky and stark against the frosted glass.
"Ray Narvaez Jr.
Private Detective"
It's a good day, for Ray. The office smelt vaguely of mould and had one window (grimy) facing towards the street and one window (cracked) facing the alleyway between this block and the next. The dumpster for the building never gets emptied, even though he’s called the city municipality multiple times, and the area is sordid enough that nobody bats an eyelash at the dumpster being out front instead of in the alleyway. But his name is on the door after six months of tacking paper cut-outs to the frame, and that means his business isn't failing as bad as his friends thought. That would show them.
It's not easy to make a living as a private detective in a city this grimy, Ray will admit, but the money comes easy enough. He’s not great at this job (some particularly angry clients would use the word “terrible”, but that was just unfair in his opinion). The business never works perfectly but he's usually willing to take the cash and pretend it does, at least until the cops come for whoever is Ray's client.
Or the mob. Ray's easy.
The thing is, nobody wants to be associated with a private detective but nobody really wants to mess with them at the same time.
Even knowing this, when a man wearing a skull mask shoulders through his doorway one rainy summer's morning, Ray really considers bailing out and starting a new life down south. He hears Austin's great this time of year.
***
“Can I help you?”
“I’ve got a problem,” the visitor says, reaching under his leather jacket and resting a heavy gun onto the desk. The business end is not pointed towards Ray, but the message is clear. Ray eyes it uncertainly. He’s not certain he’s disliked by anyone enough for them to try to assassinate him, but he’s been wrong before.
He decides to play along, for now; “What’s your problem?”
“I’m experiencing a bit of a change in my line of work,” the man says with an almost upbeat tone. “Apparently assassins are so common in this city I’ve been delegated as a messenger for now.”
“Have you tried changing your employer? Job satisfaction is a must,” Ray is shaking as he makes the joke, just a little. This doesn’t seem to be going down the not-getting-shot road, especially since the guy still has his hand on his gun. He was reasonably sure that wasn’t where he wanted this to end. If you moved past the occasional target on his back, and then accepted the city's piss-poor weather and pissier, poorer attitude to life, Ray felt he had a good thing going here.
The man lets out a quiet chuckle behind the mask.
“Do you find humour gets you out of trouble, or just into more of it?” He questions easily, before reaching into his pocket and throwing an enveloped letter onto the table. “Somebody wants you dead, and I’ve been put in charge of handling that issue.”
Ray is definitely sure this is the end for him. He’s surprised when, in the middle of him sneakily edging his hand toward his hidden gun, the masked man reaches up and pulls his mask off. The face behind it is handsome, with light blue eyes and some blond scruff on his jaw.
“That letter is a statement of intent. Luckily for you it seems like you’re not first on the hit list.”
He stands and starts for the door and Ray is blindsided suddenly by not being shot.
“I’m just here to deliver the message.”
The door closes behind him and the shadow he casts on the window moves off out of Ray’s view. He takes a shuddering breath.
Then he goes to find Geoff.
***
Ray wasn’t always a private investigator, of course. In fact, he’d never held any high regard for law enforcement. He ran with Geoff’s crew for two years, heisting across almost all of the 50 contiguous states.
Ray may not be working with Geoff any more, but he knew that Geoff’s tight hug and his murmured “if you’re in trouble, I’ll help” when he said goodbye for the last time was more than just a meaningless gesture. Geoff was fiercely protective of whoever he thought of as “his boys”. Even Jack, who was much more capable in a fight than Geoff, had to deal with his coddling occasionally. Ray’s banking on Geoff being both open to helping him and able to scare off his masked assassin.
The club is as busy as ever, the cheap drink and easy atmosphere bringing in people from all over the city. Some people recognise him, giving him dirty looks; his job is not popular here. Lounging in the centre of the joint, as always, is Geoff. He’s surveying his domain, keeping an eye on the patrons, as Ray enters the door, sleepy eyed but still sharply aware of his surroundings. When he spots Ray he perks up, raising his drink with an inviting tip of his head.
“Come for your old job back?”
“You wish, old man,” Ray jokes. “Actually I’m here on business.”
Geoff, to his credit, doesn’t freak out immediately. He does lose his smile a little, posture a bit stiffer. “Ray, I respect your new… Profession,” He starts delicately. “But if you’re asking me to work with you I-“
“Someone’s put a hit out on me,” Ray interrupts, not waiting for the lecture he’s heard many times. “I need you to find out who.”
Geoff blinks. “Is that it?”
“I think my life hanging in the balance is worth a bit more than that.”
“Sure,” Geoff waves his hand as if calling someone over. “I’ll put the new guy on it. Have you met him? Creepy dude, but good at his job.”
Ray is conscious of the other patrons’ eyes on him growing more aggressive with every passing minute, and stands instead. He’s close to overstaying his welcome, and he’s not certain he wants to meet the guy who replaced him. “I’ve got to go, Geoff. Chasing or running from an assassin is not a sit-down job.”
His old boss looks disappointed, and admittedly Ray feels like he’s not spent enough time here, but wishes him luck. Ray’s barely halfway to the door when he sees him again. The masked man is stood in a corner, casting a watchful eye over the crowd as if looking for someone. Looking for Ray.
Ray freezes, just for a moment, before instinct kicks in and he’s off through the crowd towards the door. He ducks and weaves, banking on his smaller frame to hide him among the bulkier dancers.
There’s a commotion around him as a man holding a knife steps in front of him, eyes on Ray and mouth open as if to speak before he looks past him and his eyes widen. He risks a glance behind and flinches when he finds that mask guy has almost caught up, the crowd parting much easier than they had for Ray. Somebody that Ray knocks into shoves him sideways and he’s disoriented for a moment. Before he can panic he stumbles out into the clear area close to the wall and finally, finally, he spots the door.
Looking behind, he can see that the assassin is exchanging blows with the man who had been in Ray’s way. The crowd is drawing closer like grimy vultures, ready to finish off whichever fell first, and Ray takes the distraction and leaves.
***
After that, he seems to see the assassin everywhere. No matter how much he reassures himself that it’s paranoia, that Geoff would have caught him in the club or that the mysterious new hire would take him down, the skull mask keeps reappearing in the corner of his vision. Two days after meeting Geoff, he runs into his assassin again. It somehow doesn’t feel dramatic enough, especially since it’s at his local grocery store.
He’s maskless, this time, wearing a leather jacket and carrying a tin of dog food. When he spots Ray his eyes widen in surprise and he wanders over. Ray does his best to not react, but it’s jarring to see a guy that was very close to cornering him in a bar and offing him in such a calm setting.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” the man starts, and Ray knows that he was indeed spotted at the club.
He hopes the guy won’t try anything here (there’s a security guard at the end of the aisle, and cameras everywhere). He might as well make the guy uncomfortable with a bit of detective questioning. “I don’t even know your name.”
“It’s Ryan,” he answers easily. “I’m sorry, I thought I introduced myself when I first met you.”
“You didn’t.” Ray answers shortly, taken-aback by the quick response.
“Strange. Maybe I was starstruck by such a handsome detective.” Ryan’s expression is playful, and his words are teasing, but Ray still flushes. It’s not every day a good looking hitman flirts with him, and he’s really not sure if he’s more scared or intrigued at this point.
He gestures at the tin, trying to deflect. “You have a dog?”
“Sure do. Would you like to meet him?” Ryan offers to Ray’s surprise. “You could come back to mine. I’ve been wanting to know you better since I was put in charge of your… situation.”
“Only if you promise not to murder me,” Ray counters, and is surprised when Ryan laughs amiably.
“I make no promises I can’t keep.”
Ray’s mind stutters to a stop as he’s abruptly reminded of Ryan’s job. He steps back nervously, and Ryan’s face changes as he realizes what he’s said. That’s when he blurts out an excuse about being needed somewhere and evacuates himself from the situation before any more can be said, before Ryan can remember he’s not meant to be friends with Ray.
***
He spends a few days sleeping little, wishing he had a vice like drinking to calm his nerves. He has a gun within reach at all times, getting more and more nervous as the days go by. He knew it was only a matter of time until the masked man came back to finish the job for real. Late at night, he was still sitting at his desk in the office when he heard a car pull up outside.
A car's lights flashed through the blinds for a moment as it turned, and then the bullets started to hit the wall. They smashed the window, and then his door (freshly painted, the bastards), and then the impacts began to trace a jagged line towards his desk in the corner of the room as if scrawled by a toddler's hand.
In retrospect, Ray thought as he hit the deck, he should have seen this coming.
The assassin – Ryan – may have been amiable, even friendly, whenever he appears but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s got a job to do. He hopefully didn't expect Ray to be armed, though.
He rolled forward and grabbed for the gun on his desk (stupid, stupid of him to put it down), trying to keep below the window line. The bullets were coming through some of the wall, it wasn’t that thick, but so far nothing was hitting too close to him.
After what seems like an age, but is probably only a few seconds, the assassin runs out of bullets and a screech of tyres follows. Ray takes only a moment to launch himself at the window to see his assailant. He catches sight of a black squared car, very old fashioned, with a green star emblazoned on the hood. A second car with the same symbol is disappearing around the corner.
"Geoff", Ray thinks. "That bastard sold me out".
A man with a gun is still by the car, facing down the street and desperately trying to reload. Bringing his gun to bear, Ray lines up and pops a few shots off at the guy. He may be Geoff's friend, and this assassin may be Geoff's guy, but anyone that tried to kill Ray was not on his Christmas card list any more. He misses terribly; the wind is picking up, he’s out of practice, and he's shaking from adrenaline and cold. It's not his finest hour.
He gets close enough that the man rockets back from his hiding spot in alarm, clearly trying to avoid any shrapnel. His hat falls off and Ray has time to memorise his features – curly hair, dark but impossible to tell the true colour in the gloom, with a mouth turned down in irritation – and realise that this wasn't a stranger from Geoff's crew. This was Michael.
Michael and him were friends, Ray had thought. They went to bars together, they got lunch together every now and then, and once (before Ray had finished with that career) they had worked together. No two were more feared in their business at the height of their partnered career.
Michael screams out an expletive that Ray can hear from his window before he obviously decides that it's not worth his time and he jumps to get back in his car.
The tyres squeal in protest as he accelerates hard, head down to minimise the target. The car lurches forward, skids, and then picks up traction on the wet road and disappears off around the corner.
Ray’s gun clicks empty.
He takes a moment for himself, trying to catch his breath and adjust to the sudden increase in his likelihood of dying of fear. Geoff may have put a hit out on him, but it was unlikely. They were... Well, Ray would consider them friends.
As he’s trying to figure out how he managed to piss off his old employer enough for this kind of retribution, there’s a sound from the doorway. He turns and freezes at the sight of the masked man, gun in hand, pushing the door open and stepping in over the glass shards.
It’s stupid, Ray knows it’s stupid, but he doesn’t have any more bullets and he’s pretty certain his opponent wouldn’t be so considerate. He throws his empty gun at the door, knocks a glass shard loose from the ruined window frame, and jumps out.
He lands in the dumpster that is there, still unemptied as it had stood for weeks. He blacks out momentarily as he hits the back of his head on
When he comes to, he takes a second to assess the situation and his shitty (or great, depending on the perspective) luck before rolling over the garbage bags to the edge of the metal box. He’s disoriented and slow and dizzy, his ears ringing, so when his arm is grabbed and he’s hauled over the side he barely reacts.
When the skull mask swims into view, he closes his eyes and waits for the end.
***
When a minute passes and he’s not dead, he opens one eye. The assassin is stood with his back to Ray, waving down Michael who was driving back down the street towards them.
“I’m not dead,” he wonders out loud.
“Well, you did give it your best shot. Jumping out the window was not a great idea,” Ryan glances back over his shoulder at Ray, mask reflecting light dully in the street lamp’s glow and eyes glinting in the sockets of the mask. “It’s a good thing we got here in time to chase the guy off.”
Ray begins to feel like he’s missing something. “Chase who?”
“The guy? The assassin? I told you they were coming after you!” Ryan sounds exasperated more than angry, turning to face Ray with arms waving.
Ray clicks, finally. “I thought that was you, I thought you were threatening me.”
Ryan stops mid rant, staring at Ray for a moment before closing his eyes in despair. He holds his hands out toward Ray expectantly and Ray steps forward into their reach, more trusting now he figures Ryan wasn’t here to kill him. Ryan closes his hands over the top of his shoulders and shakes him once, twice, while gently repeating, "Idiot. Why?"
Ray is about to complain about the chiding (how was he meant to know, really), when Ryan stops shaking him and instead uses his grip to pull Ray forward, just enough to wrap him in his arms briefly before releasing him. “Maybe I should have been clearer.”
“You think?” Ray splutters indignantly. “All this time I’ve been conflicted over you being both hot and out to kill me, and now I find you’ve been trying to save me this whole time?”
Ryan blinks at him, pulling his mask off. “You think I’m hot? I thought you weren’t interested.”
He covers his face in embarrassment. “You came to me saying someone wanted me dead and you’d been put in charge of it. What was I meant to think?”
They stare at each other for a moment, both with red rising in their cheeks, before they both laugh helplessly.
“Can we start over?” Ryan offers with a grin, and Ray feels warm all over despite the cool night air.
1. my tumblr url is moosepantsonfire, but you can call me Ally if you’d like! I am a multi-fandom blog and I do post art to this blog.
2. Any of these preferred ships can be paired with any of the following prompts: mabifica (Mabel/Pacifica), billdip (Bill/Dipper), pinescone (Wirt - Over the Garden Wall/Dipper), parapines (Norman - Paranorman/Dipper), dipifica (Dipper/Pacifica)
Fanart:
- Person A and Person B cuddling by a fire and drinking hot coco
- Person A and Person B meet their alternatives in the Reverse Falls!AU
Fanfiction:
- Body swap!AU. Person A and Person B are stuck being the other for a day (pls I will love you forever if you do this for any of the above ships!!)
- Person A and Person B decorating for the Christmas season! Unfortunately, something goes wrong and Person B ends up tangled in Christmas lights
8tracks Playlist/Ship Fanmix:
- Upbeat playlist centered around any of the above ships please! No specifications for what genre of music, anything is fine with me :)
Don’t feel comfortable with making something ship-related/don’t like the above prompts? No problem! Here are some prompts unrelated to shipping:
- (Video/AMV/MEP) I’d like a video using the song The Kids Aren’t Alright by Fall Out Boy, using clips from the actual show. Just something concerning the relationship of the characters (as in, Dipper and Mabel’s sibling bonds or Wendy and Dipper’s friendship) I don’t know, weird prompt, but I really want to see a Gravity Falls AMV to this song -_-
- (8tracks Playlist/Fanmix) Any Gravity Falls AU themed fanmix (for example, a Monster Falls themed fanmix)
- (Fanart) The Pines Family playing a board game in ugly Christmas sweaters (probably knit by Mabel haha). Bonus points if they’re playing monopoly or some other popular family board game and Dipper and/or Ford is taking the game way too seriously :)
I’m sorry, but I don’t want to receive a plushy or anything like that this year!
3. I am willing to do more than one, however I am doing another secret santa for different fandom so I will probably only be able to do one extra
4. Other:
- If you do end up doing billdip for any of the above prompts, I would prefer human!Bill, as in he is a mortal human and doesn’t have anything to do with being a demon (thank you! I know it’s very ooc, but I don’t really want to receive that within any of the prompts I listed)
- I’d prefer that the characters are aged up, regardless of ship (and aged up to around the same age) unless it’s a high school AU or something, then yeah it’s cool if they’re a bit younger
- No nsfw (rape, non-con, underage, that kind of stuff) or gore please!
- BROTP Mabel and Dipper
That’s all! Thanks! (and a special thank you to the great people organizing this event!)
