Chapter Text
The funeral for Stanley Pines took place near the end of the summer, as the first chilly winds of autumn were beginning to blow. He was laid to rest in the Gravity Falls cemetery, below a large and beautiful headstone that had been paid for by the Northwest family. It was engraved with a portrait of the man, and the writing of his name, birthday, and death-day were beautiful and elegant. Stan would probably be both touched and amused if he saw how much detail had gone into it.
The funeral had taken a while, as many different residents of the town had things they wanted to say to him and about him. Dipper and Mabel spoke about him longer than anyone else, even the reverend. Finally, they stepped aside and took places nearby as they watched the casket be slowly and carefully lowered into the ground. They didn't stop watching as the reverend said some final words, only moving when the hole was filled in with dirt.
The next several minutes was spent speaking to the other citizens, who all seemed to have encouraging and sympathetic words for them. But Dipper had Bill to rely on for support, and Mabel had Pacifica. At some point, they had become official. Dipper wasn't sure when, but he was happy that his sister had someone to look out for her.
Once most of the people had left, Dipper went to comfort Soos, who was kneeling next to the mound of fresh dirt. His hand was gently placed on it, and he was staring down.
“Are you gonna be okay, man?” Dipper asked him quietly.
“Y-yeah, dude... I'll be fine. He... he lived a good life.” Soos's voice betrayed that he had been crying. “Just... I'm gonna miss him. He... he was like my dad, you know?”
“I know.” Dipper rubbed his back soothingly. “He loved you like a son, even if he didn't really say it. And hey... now you get a chance to be a dad. You can take what he taught you and use it.”
“Yeah. I guess I can.” Soos slowly got back up, wiping his face off and fiddling with his hair; he wasn't wearing a hat today. It didn't go with his suit, but he felt naked without it.
Wanting to cheer him up, Dipper said, “Hey, once the Mystery Shack is ready to be reopened, you and Melody are gonna be the first people I hire.”
He smiled and ruffled Dipper's hair. “Heh, thanks, hambone. I can't wait.”
Dipper gave him a final pat to the back before returning to his sister. She and Pacifica were sitting on the few chairs that hadn't already been packed up and taken from the area, talking quietly to each other. Mabel perked up when her brother came closer. “Hey, Dipper! Paz has good news!”
“Oh, it's nothing really,” Pacifica laughed. Mabel prodded her, and she said, “Okay, so I'm gonna be going to Mabel's university this year.”
“Wow, really? That's awesome.” Dipper sat down next to Mabel, who smiled at him.
“Yeah, she's gonna get some kind of business-y major and take a few art-related classes on the side! Dipper, we're gonna be in college together!”
“Cool!” Dipper felt Bill sit next to him, and a moment later, the demon's arms were around him. “I'm really happy for you.”
“You ready to go, Pine Tree?” Bill asked him.
“In a minute, Bill.”
“All right.” Bill nuzzled against him, and he chuckled. “I suppose I'll be okay with sitting here and admiring how good you look in a suit. Mm... You look really good.” He kissed Dipper's neck, and tugged on his tie with his teeth.
The girls giggled, too used to Bill's antics now to be bothered by them.
Mabel was still wary around the demon, and likely will be for a long time. On her second day in Gravity Falls, she had jumped him the moment she saw him back in his human body, and had proceeded to beat him senseless while yelling at him about what he had done, and while he had struggled at first, he had realized that this would be the quickest way to just let her get her anger out, and had simply shielded his face the best he could and let her have at it. He's had worse beatings, but hers was pretty impressive. Finally she had collapsed onto his chest and cried, and Dipper had gently pulled her away. After that, she didn't touch Bill again, satisfied with the beating she had delivered, and now tolerated him as long as he was with Dipper. Bill personally had found the entire experience to be entertaining. Pain was hilarious, after all.
“We should probably leave so they can finish cleaning up,” Mabel said, gesturing to the contractors that were taking down the canopy and otherwise clearing things from the area.
“Yeah, good idea.” Pacifica stood, and they headed back to their vehicles.
They said goodbye to each other, and went their separate ways. Mabel returned to Pacifica's mansion, where she has been staying since arriving. Dipper and Bill, meanwhile, returned to the Mystery Shack. It was almost done being rebuilt. They had managed to make plans for it that looked almost the same as the old one, and they were pleased with how it was turning out so far. Really, all that was left was plumbing and wiring in some areas.
Once everything was complete, Dipper planned on gathering all the strange (and fake, he had learned long ago they needed to be fake) things he could, setting them up for display so he could resume taking people on tours. He found that he missed it. Ownership of the land had been given to him, as well as everything from Stan's bank account. It had been left to him in his will, so there had been no arguing. The least Dipper could do was continue the man's work.
It was unfortunate that the collapse of the Shack had also caused Dipper's protective enchantment to shatter, but neither he nor Bill have bothered to put it back up. The only reason Dipper had created it in the first place was just to give Stan some security about his magic use. But Stan was gone and Dipper and Bill could both take care of any intruders with little effort, so they saw no reason to waste energy sustaining a new shield.
“Kinda a bummer that this all ruined your nineteenth birthday a few days ago,” Bill commented during the drive.
Dipper chuckled. “Yeah, I wasn't even thinking about that with all this... I barely remembered to call Mabel to tell her happy birthday, and then I remembered it was mine too.”
“We should make cake later.”
“We should.”
“But you know what we should do when we get back?” Bill's hand crept up Dipper's arm. “Change into our work clothes, and go collect some payment. You promised you would after the funeral, and I can tell you've been just itching to use your magic again. What do you say?”
Dipper's irises briefly flashed blue. “I'm in.”