Gideon arrived back at his dad's house shortly after walking Pacifica to her own house. After what they had faced that night, he wanted to make sure that she felt safe and secure.

Gideon stepped into the house, locking the door behind him before proceeding towards the kitchen to get a glass of water. His stomach growled, making him crave a simple microwaved macaroni dinner. The first thing he noticed when he took a glass from the cupboard was a bright yellow note taped to the window of the microwave. Gideon carefully set down the empty glass on the counter and took the note.

Sorry couldn't make it home
Working late tonight
-Dad

Gideon frowned down at his dad's writing. He had thought that his dad would've at least attempted to set aside time for some bonding time, but to no avail.

Now, while angrily crumpling up the note, Gideon knew the truth; Bud Gleeful was never going to change. He began to despise himself for imagining anything otherwise. He had strayed from his own motto that he had long ago burned into the back of his brain. . .

Keep your hopes low, and you'll never be too disappointed.

Gideon's mind was now too full of anger to think about food, though his stomach still rumbled as he tossed the balled-up note into the trash bin.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

"DIPPER! DOWN STAIRS! NOW!"

Dipper couldn't remember falling asleep, so waking up to the sound of Stan's yelling left him feeling confused while he struggled to fully wake up in his warm cocoon of blankets.

"DIPPER PINES!" Stan screamed from downstairs.

Dipper groaned slightly as he tore himself away from his mattress and climbed out of the pile of sheets. The bitter morning cold washed over him as he rubbed his eyes and and stretched out his long, bony arms. The little amount sunlight spilling into the room from the triangular window made him begin to question himself as to whether it was morning or late afternoon.

Just as he began to open the door, he realized he was still wearing his jeans and jacket from the night before. Dipper panicked and scanned the room for some sort of an idea. If Stan saw him dressed like this, he would know something was going on. Dipper obviously didn't have time to change into anything else. It took him a few seconds to spot his old bathrobe hanging from a hook on his bedroom door. It was just long enough to hide his jeans. Dipper quickly pulled it on and slipped out of the door.

He didn't have to walk too far. Stan was already standing at the bottom of the staircase, gripping the railing and glaring up at his nephew with a dangerous fury burning in his eyes. Mabel stood a few feet from him, staring up at her brother with a rather smug expression painted on her face.

"I'm going to ask you a question, and you will answer with the truth," Stan demanded. "Have you ever left this house unsupervised?"

Dipper swallowed hard before responding. "Yesterday was the first time-" Dipper flashed his sister a look of distrust "-for me."

Stan turned to Mabel. "And you?"

"I've lost count." She responded with such carelessness that Dipper felt the urge to strangle her.

Stan's face grew red. "I knew it. I knew that I shouldn't have trusted you two to be on your own. You know the rules, and its time you obeyed them. Starting today, you both have full-time caretakers."

"We're not children," Dipper said quietly. He instantly regretting saying this.

Stan's eyes narrowed.

"With the way you two have been behaving, you may as well be." He turned away from the twins and began to march back to his office. "Get dressed, they'll be here any minute."

Mabel carefully watched her uncle leave. She let out a soft laugh, as if finding Stan's outburst to be amusing.

"Aren't you upset about this?" Dipper whispered over the railing. "He's going to get in the way of your plans."

Mabels lips curved into a strange smile. "You mean our plans, and no, this only makes things more. . . interesting."

She turned to face her brother.

"If the old man wants to play this game, he'll regret it soon enough."

. . . . . . . .

There were lots of things Gideon didn't like about Gravity Falls. There was the terrible weather, lack of approachable people roaming the streets, and Dipper Pines. So far Gideon didn't really have any reason to really be upset with Dipper, he simply didn't like how he had barged in and ruined everything for him and Pacifica.

Anyways, back to the list.

The cherry on top of this horrible list, was waking up at five in the morning to his dad's overly-enthusiastic face.

"Get up! You're coming to work with me this morning!"

Gideon groaned and pulled his pillow over his eyes. "Do I really have to go, dad?" he mumbled through the cottony fabric.

"Perk up, kiddo! This could be fun! We're leaving in thirty minutes, feel free to invite Paz to come if she wants."

And with that his dad disappeared into the hallway, where he would proceed to prepare breakfast. After another minute or so he began blasting his 1970's-era music from his record player while he worked in the kitchen.

Gideon forced himself to roll over to his nightstand to grab his phone and text Pacifica. Of course it had to be no longer than a second before he received a reply, which was "YESSSSSS!!!!!!".

. . . . . . . .

Gideon and Pacifica followed Bud through the rusty gates and into the Mystery Fair. Workers darted from booth to booth, setting up games, unpacking toys for prizes, and working on turning on the rides.

"This place cleans up pretty nice," Gideon said to Pacifica. "It's a lot less creepy than when I first visited."

Bud turned around a corner, which led to the theatre. New posters and flyers had been freshly stapled to the bulletin boards that said various phrases like "the Telepathy Twins!" "Out of this World!" and "You Have to See It to Believe It!"

Dipper and Mabel were standing on the stage while stretching. A girl wearing a leotard paired with a knit cardigan and leg warmers seemed to be teaching them some choreography for their act. Their uncle was sitting in the front row, watching them carefully.

"Good morning, Mr. Pines!" Bud greeted while he removed his hat and jacket to place them on the coat hanger by the sound booth. He began to enter inside when Stan replied to him.

"Who're these kids, Gleeful?"

"Oh, sorry. Where are my manners? This is my son, Gideon, and his friend, Pacifica."

Pacifica smiled brightly and waved at Stan and the twins. She seemed to be more interested in getting Dipper's attention, though he and Mabel had returned to practicing their routine.

"And what are they doing here?" Stan inquired.

Bud looked taken aback. "I was hoping that you'd be okay with them staying to watch rehearsal."

"Sounds to me that you were trying to give them a free sneak peak."

"No, sir! That's not what I meant! I mean, I could pay for their admission if that's what you want-"

"-no, dad," Gideon cut in. "It's okay, we can wait outside."

Pacifica forced herself to nod in agreement, even though it was obvious that she was desperate enough to do anything to watch a rehearsal.

Bud sighed, nodded and headed back to the sound booth. Stan didn't turn around until Gideon and Pacifica reached the doors.

Just before either had set a foot outside, Dipper's voice rang out through the room.

"Wait!"

Gideon and Pacifica turned back to look at the stage.

Now everyone was staring at Dipper.

"What?" Stan said hollowly.

"I want them to stay," Dipper said quietly. He sounded confused when he said it. He couldn't believe what he was doing, yet it felt like the right thing to do. Or maybe this was some sort of a way of his subconscious wanting to rebel against his uncle.

"Please," he repeated when Stan didn't answer.

Stan glared at the twins before muttering, "whatever." He clapped his hands twice and motioned for the rehearsal to continue.

Gideon and Pacifica exchanged an awkward glance before taking some empty seats in the back.

The rehearsal lasted much longer than either Gideon or Pacifica had anticipated, but it was still enjoyable enough to watch without getting bored too easily. After it had officially ended, Pacifica insisted on finding Dipper and Mabel's dressing room so they could thank Dipper for letting them stay.

"Are you sure about this, Paz?" Gideon asked as they crept around the back hallway of the stage. "I don't think we're supposed to be back here."

"Calm down," Pacifica whispered. "It'll be fine!"

"Then why are you whispering?"

"Shh! Look! That's it!" She pointed toward the faded white door at the end of the hallway with a blue star painted on the splintered wood. The door was already cracked open slightly. Pacifica hunched down and walked close enough to eavesdrop without being seen.
She signaled Gideon to copy her actions.

"Do you actually care about those two kids?" They heard Mabel ask her brother in the dressing room. Her voice had a strange lightness to it,  she sounded angry, but her voice made her come across as curious.

"No, of course not. I just didn't want Stan's rude behavior to tarnish our reputation with our audience. You wouldn't want them telling the other citizens about how we kicked them out of rehearsal, do you?"

Pacifica recoiled from the door. Her eyebrows slanted upward and her eyes stung from the tears that threatened to fall. She felt like her heart had been pricked and popped like a balloon. Up until that moment, she had led herself to believe that she might've had a chance with Dipper. . .

"What's wrong? What're they saying?" Gideon whispered.

Pacifica gasped when the twins' silhouettes began to move towards the doors, as well as their voices and their footsteps. She pulled Gideon to the opposite side of the door and the two were immediately camouflaged in the darkness of the hallway. When the twins opened the door, the door blocked the twins' view from being able to see Gideon and Pacifica.

Pacifica slipped into the dressing room just before the door could close, pulling Gideon inside behind her.
The door shut quietly, surprisingly. Pacifica breathed a sigh of relief. Her muscles finally relaxed from the tension of the previous moment.

She jumped a little when Gideon shouted in her face.

"ARE YOU INSANE?!"