Chapter Text
The day they had been anticipated by both of the twins equally. They'd lost sleep over it; they'd been waiting patiently, and it was finally here. Today was graduation day, and the twins finally finished this 'boring' part of their lives. At least, that was how Dipper had thought of the whole experience. He, for one, had enough of science or learning of it either way. He had been more or less pressured into it both by Ford and his parents due to his immense understanding of Ford's work. As a result, everyone involved pushed it significantly when Dipper later helped Ford with some projects he had even been stumped over.
From everything Ford told them, his parents knew he had a gift, and they 'encouraged' it as much as possible. The brunette wanted to start a supernatural TV show of his own, but it seemed everyone else had other plans. Mabel hadn't fared much better either. They hadn't entirely forced their ideals onto her, nor had she been pushed into something she wasn't genuinely interested in as a career, but as Dipper knew, the more you were pushed into doing something, the less likely you were to do it. At least, that's how he'd felt about everything he'd learnt. She'd been pushed into fashion design, which hadn't exactly been the end of the world for her.
This was primarily due to her immense love of knitting jumpers, but Dipper's stance and Mabel's still stood with them both, disliking their educational journey. Both twins had learnt that over the past three years, and now they were more than ready to be done with it. The two had plans made for them by their parents, too; Dipper could use his science degree to gain money by participating in projects, and Mabel would be making more designs and getting in contact with more companies to see if they'd take her. At least, that's all Dipper could understand.
The male needed help understanding fashion design or the business. Mabel had tried explaining it to him repeatedly, but he had yet to listen. Thankfully, she'd already been used to him doing that over the years over almost everything she was interested in, and she did the same when he spoke about something related to science. So, she didn't mind his lack of understanding as long as they stayed close to each other. That's what mattered. That's all that would ever matter… That's all that ever mattered to either of them.
When the ceremony had finished, the two twins came together and hugged. They had been together the entire time, but they had been polite and kept any affection between siblings to a minimum. They had needed to get through the ceremony first. "Congrats!" Dipper cheered, giving his sister a look of pure joy. Mabel beamed back. "You too, Dipping Sauce! I'm so proud of you!" She responded with the biggest smile on her face. The male could tell she was thrilled to have it all over and done with. She'd always hated education and its weird systems.
Dipper's smile almost broke as he heard her, but he decided not to say anything. He didn't want to get affectionate and wobbly here, not when they had time to celebrate later. Mabel wasn't aware of the fake smile, though, as she didn't look long enough to see it, as the Stans came bounding towards the twins. Finding them amongst the sea of students had been hard, but the other twins had found them with time. Stan came first and hugged Mabel, whilst Ford almost tackled Dipper. It was apparent they were proud.
"Oh, Dipper, I'm so proud of you! You're going to be better than me in no time!" Ford cheered as he broke the hug and smiled fondly at the male. Dipper knew he could get away with a fake smile with Ford and used it as such; it had practically been the only smile he'd seen other than their first meeting in the basement all those years ago. Not that he was ever going to admit that to the other.
"Oh, you've done so great, sweetie!" Stan said, cheering for Mabel. She gave him a pleased look and replied as much. Then, Dipper realised he should probably respond to Ford, who was still staring at him with a delighted look. It almost made Dipper shiver with the sheer pressure of Ford's expectations. "Ah, thank you, Great Uncle Ford, and thank you for coming," Dipper stumbled along his words but ensured he didn't say 'uh'. In all fairness to the Stan's, they'd put a lot more effort into coming here than their parents. Speaking of their parents...
They would call later to congratulate them and then give them both surprises, which kept Dipper on his toes. Their parents were great at finding things that would help them in the way their parents wished for them to excel in their careers, but that usually meant that it was always bad news for them in particular. The brunette hoped this was the last hat trick they could pull, though, especially with them becoming adults now, ones that could support themselves.
His parents hadn't been pushed, and through that, they'd not had a great start to adulthood. Learning from their mistakes, it seemed his mother and father would push them to good jobs and successful careers whether they liked it or not. It had already broken Mabel's heart, as she hadn't gotten the chance to grow any relationships, and it had partially broken Dipper's as well because they had done everything they could to stop him from doing the ghost-hunting show he had been striving to make for years. It wasn't as if the twins had tried to stop them. They'd tried before, but they'd been shut down very quickly. It was either cut them off or put up with it until they had no control. Both of them had picked the latter in that regard.
Stan and Ford swapped positions, congratulated them and brought them in for hugs. Dipper felt a little happier to be hugging Stan for once, mainly because it had been a little awkward with Ford, and Stan hugged a lot more than Ford did. Mabel had also seemed a little uncomfortable with Ford, but they didn't have as great of a relationship. Ford had never been great with children or teenagers. Once all the pleasantries were dealt with, though, they had other people coming up to them and congratulating them.
The majority of the people who did were other students who were Mabel's friends and a few of Dipper's. As expected, the male twin had yet to grow his friend group throughout their years in college, and he found things easier that way, mainly because he'd had more cramming sessions than he could count. It hadn't been easy to pursue friendships with the course he'd taken. Not that anyone else had accounted for that little detail, but it's not like he could complain now.
After that hour had been done and dusted, and people began to leave the premises, the Stan's brought them out as well. "So, what are you kiddos thinkin' of doing now?" Stan asked, observing the two. The Grunkles were fully aware of their parents and their behaviour, but due to the twins seeming happy with their subjects, they had written off anything else about it. Still, though, Stan had a particular look on his face that made Dipper almost suspicious. As if he already knew what was going to happen. Still, it was more pleasant to hear what they had planned and not what their parents had planned for them, if that was even their surprise, although Dipper had no doubts regarding that little detail.
"Well, we both have plans for what we want to do, but with our parents…" She drifted off and glanced at Dipper, who only shrugged at her. "...We don't know what they have in store for us," she finished and chuckled nervously. She thought the same as Dipper with their little surprise. He was glad they were on the same thinking pattern, even if they hadn't spoken about it in front of one another. Ford looked a little sceptical but didn't question anything about it. "Ah yeah! Why don't you two call them up now? They mentioned they had a surprise for you two, right?" Stan said, glancing at the two twins as they stopped at Stan's car. Grunkle Stan looked nervous but didn't say anything further.
Dipper frowned a little but nodded. The brunette got his phone out of his pocket, dialled his house phone number, put it on speaker, and waited for a reply. It didn't take long for the call to be picked up and for them to hear their mother on the other side of the call. "Kids?" She asked hopefully. Mabel giggled. "It's us!" She exclaimed, although it wasn't nearly as happy as it had been when the ceremony occurred. There was more of a self-conscious part of herself now, especially with their mother on call.
"Heyaa! Is Dipper there too?" she asked sceptically. Dipper laughed lightly, although no one could hear it other than himself. "I'm here; we've graduated, Mom," he responded and awaited her reply. The word 'Mom' felt alien on his tongue, but it kept up appearances with their uncles. He knew that his mother would've preferred that by miles regardless. She made an excited noise and called for their father. It sounded as though he was across the room, which the twins found odd because he knew that they were calling. At least their mum had been waiting on the phone for him to call., even if it felt like she was worse sometimes.
"Congratulations, you guys! You've both done an amazing job and put so much hard work into this! You deserve a week off," they both complimented. It was hard to hear who was talking, as the communication got choppy. It sounded as though both of them were talking, but Dipper decided to ignore it and just take in their sentence. It was interesting... Especially as they never truly gave them a break. Dipper held his tongue, waiting to hear what they'd say next.
He relaxed a little, knowing he'd have time to put his plan into action correctly, but the panic of not knowing where he would live dug into him. "So, about our surprise," Their mother began, and they all leaned closer to the phone. Even the Grunkles edged closer. "Mabel…." Their mother began, drawing out the suspense.
"...We found a job for you! It's here in California with us, so you can live here a little until you have enough money to support buying a house in California! It's a perfect job that will put the degree you got into good use, and you'll be designing clothes! I'll send the rest of the information over Messages, but congrats!" Their mother explained. They all turned to look at Mabel, observing her. Dipper did so especially, as he knew she wanted to move across different jobs, ignoring her degree for the most part until she found something she wanted to settle on. But it seemed like something other than that dream was achievable. This was probably the better move financially, but Dipper knew his sister wouldn't see it that way.
As predicted, the look on Mabel's face was a mix of confusion, appreciation, and horror. Dipper's heart beat faster as he stared at his phone, awaiting his fate. "Oh! Thank you so much, Mom and Dad too! I had no idea there was a job offer over there," She said, glancing around at the small group they had made. Keeping the slight hurt in her voice was challenging, but she cleared her throat to cover it the best she could. Stan patted Mabel on the back as a 'well done', but they verbally said nothing to one another.
"As for Dipper…" Their father suddenly cut in. The brunette's heart skipped a beat; hearing it from his father worsened the situation. He knew his mother better and trusted his mother more. His father had been the one to insist on nearly anything Dipper had objected to in his life, even if he knew it'd hurt the brunette. Dipper gulped in fear.
"We managed to find him a good job in Gravity Falls. There's a scientific lab, which I'm sure Stanford knows about. It experiments with samples from the forest and also generic things. I'm sure you'll love it there, Dipper!" he said, almost immediately applauding. Ford was quick to praise his father and mutter quietly to himself. He presumed he was trying to confirm he did indeed know, but he was so quiet that it was useless. Mabel and Stan scrambled to clap as well, but they weren't nearly as excited as Ford had been.
Dipper's heart rose to his throat and simultaneously plummeted far into his stomach. It made the brunette feel sick. The twins were going to be torn apart, and it wasn't just temporary. So much for it being so important… Mabel glanced over to her twin with a look of loss. They both felt it. They'd spent so long being close to each other, helping one another out, being there for each other, just to be ripped away at one of the most crucial parts of their lives. They may be adults, but deep inside, they still wanted to be children, sticking together by their sides like glue until the very last moment. Well, this was their last moment.
"Th-thank you! That sounds like an amazing opportunity!" Dipper said, after realising he'd spent too long trying not to throw up. There was a mutter from his father along the lines of 'I knew he'd like it', and the phone was returned to their mother. "I'm so happy that you two are happy with your surprises! I hope you two have a great rest of the day! We love you!" She said. It was as if you could hear the grin in her voice, and it only made the brunette's stomach churn even further. Of course, they'd take their shaky replies and think it was a positive reaction. They'd fool even crying as a positive response if it meant ignoring how they treated the twins.
"We'll talk later! Bye!" Their mother finished. The two twins muttered a polite goodbye before Dipper turned the call off, and they all stared at each other for a good minute or two. There was silence and then cheer. The Stans cheered for them but also knew the reality of the situation. Stan gave a small smile. Dipper's stomach still hadn't stopped flipping, and it was apparent that if Mabel wasn't comforted soon, she'd burst into tears.
"Shall we go get some pancakes?" Stan asked, putting an arm behind Mabel, who looked closer and closer to having a breakdown in front of the three of them. Neither wanted to separate, which was the biggest blow they could've heard from their parents. They had gotten these jobs knowing what they were doing. Dipper even had the sneaky feeling that they'd chosen to have him in Gravity Falls to separate them or to have him near Ford. It hadn't been necessary and gave Dipper the impression that they'd never take either of them seriously if they stuck together.
Mabel awkwardly got into the car, with Stan not far behind her. His six-fingered uncle put a hand on his shoulder, which caused the brunette to jump, not expecting the sudden physical touch and then to look up at his elder. "I'm sorry, Dipper, but this will be the best for the both of you… You've grown together, and you two can become truly independent people! And besides, this doesn't mean you can't stop talking!" Ford told the brunette. It sounded like he'd been in on it. He'd probably known to some extent, but not entirely. Still, Dipper couldn't help but feel slightly resentful towards the other.
Dipper didn't feel better and mumbled something incoherent whilst he shrugged the other's hand off. Ford sighed and got into the car, and Dipper quietly followed suit. As Stan got out of the car park to go to a good restaurant or cafe, the car felt tenser than ever. Their parents forcefully gave them a one-way ticket to independence, and neither was pleased.
Except they weren't being independent. They'd been given a job practically against their will. They hadn't consented, done the interview or asked for the job. It had been given to them, and the brunette doubted he could get out of it. He'd have to ask for the contract he'd 'signed' on his first day so he'd read it through later. As the tense atmosphere slowly morphed into a general silence, Dipper turned to look at Mabel, who was crying. She was doing her best to be silent about it, and neither of her uncles acknowledged it. He put his hand out for her, and she held it tightly, trying to calm herself down.
Dipper didn't cry, not like Mabel, at least now. He knew he'd cry later in his bedroom. It would be the last night in his dormitory. He wasn't sure what his living conditions would be or if he'd be able to live alone for the first month of his work, either. They needed to be more transparent on that, too.
Dipper sighed as he waited for Stan to eventually stop the car. Their paths had been painted for them, and they would never intertwine again. A great, relieving day had suddenly turned into the worst day of the twins' lives, and Dipper's path had been turned concrete. There was no turning back. All he could do now was face their destinies separately and get around in whatever way it would bring them.