The Universal Spookiness of Gravity Falls

Chapter 27: Secrets and Distrust

A/N: Content warning, this chapter gets a bit intense. You have been warned.

- Dipper's P.O.V.

I have to make sure to keep an eye on Steven. I saw those horns come out again. You never know what could happen!

We finished with the gadget training a few hours ago and we had discussed where we would go next. Everyone had agreed that we go to Florida Island, Minnesota, Georgia, and New York. In that order. Probably for the best.

Apparently some of the states are maintaining stable levels of ghostly activity. I wonder why...

"Dipper!"

"Huh?"

"You're pacing around again." Mabel points out, "And you have that crazed look in your eye."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm perfectly sane." I state.

Huh?

Waddles puts his head on my leg. A small oink comes out of him.

"You've been acting like this since this morning, and even a little during training." Mabel states back.

I know for a fact that I haven't. I've been preparing for every possibility.

*Ding Ding*

What was that?

I turn to Mabel's direction to see that she's looking at her phone, smiling. What is she so happy about?

"Sorry, bro. I gotta go."

"What? Go where?"

"To see my lovely besties! See ya! Come on, Waddles!"

And with that, she runs out of our room and hurries downstairs with Waddles following behind her. There's something weird about this. I can't quite put my finger on it. I'll make sure to check up on her later. Right now, I have to focus on Steven and the ghost plants.

So far, Steven is acting normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. The only thing of note was him growing horns earlier. Which indicates stress. Why would he be stressed? We were only training. I'll have to write this down in my mini journal.

There must be something that might have caused it. But what? Was he triggered? I am genuinely curious. But I'm not going to trigger him. That would be a jerk move. And it would also be dangerous based on what we know already.

Steven has proven time and time again how strong he is. Despite that, I can tell he holds back his strength. Every single time. Does he know how strong he is? He has to know...right? I wonder if there's a way to check his strength level. I'll probably figure something out later.

"Uh, Dipper?"

"Aah!"

I turn to see Tucker at the door.

"You ok, buddy?" He asks.

"Perfectly ok." I state.

Tucker looks at me with a confused face.

"Ok then. I came here because your Grunkle Ford wanted to see you downstairs. He wants you to test out a gadget we created." He explains.

Sounds about right. I'm curious to see what was created. I might as well push this to the side for now. I'll get back to Steven soon.

- Tucker's P.O.V.

That look in his eye...he's going overboard with investigating something again. And something tells me he doesn't want anyone to know about it. Dipper is smart, but I can't help but feel like he gets into his own head. Or he's paranoid. I'm sure he'll sort it out.