A/N:

This is my first story for Gravity Falls or Over the Garden Wall! Comments are always welcome, feel free to tell me any mistakes I've made. Thanks for reading!

Five. Five had always been the perfect number. Dipper, Mabel, Stan, Wendy, and Soos. They had their perfect dynamic. Mystery twins, cool teenage girl, parent figure, and friendly handyman. Five. Three summers past and that dynamic had never changed. Mabel and Wendy went through boyfriends, Soos kept it steady with Melody, and Stan and Dipper remained, as everyone expected, less-than-desirable bachelors, what with Dipper remaining an awkward, lanky teenager and Stan remaining… an old man.

However, with teary eyes- mostly Dipper's- and heartfelt goodbyes- also mostly Dipper's- four of the five had to let Wendy go from their dynamic… quintet? Yes, quintet. Wendy had been accepted into West Oregon University, and so last summer was the last in which their quintet was still a… quintet. What an awkward word to use in this case, seriously.

Needless to say, Dipper wasn't quite as enthusiastic to return to Gravity Falls as he usually was. The sixteen year-old, who now had enough hair growing on his face to make a proper patch that looked somewhat like a beard, now had three journals to explore instead of just the one after the, well, unexpected departure of Stanford. But he didn't like thinking about that. He had spent three years carefully reading each one, discovering every little hidden secret in the very limited amount of time he had in Gravity falls. He still had so much yet to discover for himself that, despite the absence of Wendy, he was looking forward to his summer.

Four. He would have to get used to four. Well, at least four would be better than two. Not that he didn't love his sister, but the more the merrier, right? At the moment it was just the two of them on the bus to Gravity Falls. It wasn't really odd. They usually took the trip to and from Gravity Falls alone. Both because people didn't often come, and people didn't often leave. Save for the tourists, but there was a thankful absence of them at the moment.

"I can see the tree!" Came his sister's voice from beside him. Her nose was pressed to the bus window that was already mostly translucent with the facial grease of every other kid who had stuck their noses on that window. Dipper tried to tell her that that was where her "beginning of summer zit" came from, but she didn't listen.

"Mabel, there are lots of trees," he muttered, his nose in journal #2.

"I know that, grumpy pants, but this is the tree!"

"What makes that one special? Is there a spray-painted muffin on it or something?" Dipper acted all aloof and intelligent, as usual, but Mabel knew that he was just as excited for the summer. Well, almost as excited.

"The hole,"

"You mean the knot?"

"Fine, knot, whatever," Mabel rolled her eyes at her brother. "It's the tree with the knot that we pass every time we come here! That means we're only twenty minutes away!"

Twenty minutes? Only twenty minutes until summer could officially begin! He shut the journal, not needing to mark the page considering he knew exactly what every page number was, and looked out of the window as well, finding a spot that wasn't too covered in gross face-grease to see through. They were mostly surrounded by trees, since Gravity falls was in the middle of nowhere. Dipper wasn't quite sure why he was already looking for anything, since, if they were twenty minutes away from the Mystery Shack, there would be a good five minutes before there was any sight of civilization. Maybe it was just the pure excitement of being where he actually felt like he belonged. In weird, strange, and mysterious Gravity Falls.

"So what are your plans for the summer, dip'n'dots?" Mabel inquired with a small laugh. She hadn't done much changing in four years. She never grew out of sweaters, or glitter, but she did get her braces removed, so there was that. She was also now officially shorter than Dipper by a whopping three centimeters.

"What are yours? And don't call me dip'n'dots!" The boy pretended to be annoyed.

"Boys. Adventure. The usual. I'll bet yours are about the same, huh?"

"Just because I like boys doesn't mean that's part of my plans, Mabel," that was absolutely part of his plans. Now that he was certain to be a bisexual, his love life would hold so many more options! Maybe he would do better with boys that he did with girls. Not that girls were totally behind him, of course. Girls were always a good option.

"Oh, come on. We both know along with some good old Gravity Falls adventure, boys are on your to-do list," Mabel insisted. She had always been heavily invested in his love life, but now that he knew that boys were an option for possible future relationships, she was twice as invested.

"That sounds so dirty,"

"Ew! Not like that! I don't want to think about all of that," She shivered.

"What? If you want to be my matchmaker, you've got to think about every possible outcome of my relationships, including s-" Dipper was cut off by his sister covering her ears and loudly humming to block out the noise.

"You're not even legal, la la la la…" Mabel sung with her hands still over her ears.

"I'm legal in England," Dipper could barely hold back his laughter. He knew that talking about sex in regards to himself was one of Mabel's least favorite things to do. Relationships, she could handle. What could become of them? Not so much.

"We're in Oregon!"

"Close enough." At this point Mabel had uncovered her ears and stopped singing, thankfully, but her cheeks were bright red and she looked anywhere but her brother. He was such a boy sometimes! Didn't he know that sex was… gross? And in his case, illegal. She knew that he was joking about everything, but still, she didn't like to think of Dipper in that sort of circumstance.

The both of them were silent until they finally saw it. Above the trees, the first glimpse of Gravity Falls! None other than the water tower with the big muffin artfully spray-painted upon it. They were finally here. Finally home.

"Gravity Falls!" Mabel exclaimed, just like she did every year.

"Gravity Falls," Dipper repeated.

The two of them spent the rest of the bus ride pointing out familiar sights and faces, waving to those who recognized them, which were quite a few. The return of Dipper and Mabel every summer was always at the same time, on the same day, so everyone expected it. Eventually they were engulfed in woods once again, but that just got them more excited. Woods meant Mystery Shack.

And speak of the devil, in just five too-long minutes, the bus was grinding to a halt just a bit away from the shack. It looked the exact same as usual. The grass was overgrown and weedy, the "Mystery Shack" sign was missing the S. Just more work for Dipper to do on the place .The two hurriedly grabbed their bags, giving the driver a few thank-you's before they practically jumped off of the bus. That was ultimately a mistake, since jumping whilst carrying a summer's worth of clothes and such wasn't the safest task. Mabel laughed as she and her bags fell to the ground, but Dipper quickly hopped up, dusting himself off and picking his bags back up. He let Mabel have her laugh while he headed up to the shack, breathing in the familiar scent of forest and pigs. One pig, to be specific. Upon entering the shack, expecting to be greeted by Stan or Soos, he was instead warmly greeted by a child punching his leg.

"We're gonna burgle you!" the child said with a bright smile.

"Greg! Don't do that!" Exclaimed another unfamiliar voice from behind the counter. "Sorry, um, sir, he's not supposed to say that." he clearly directed that last part to "Greg". "How can I help you?"

Dipper looked up from the small boy to see… another boy. A much taller boy. A much prettier boy. He looked older, with dark sienna hair that he and the other boy seemed to share. Were they related? He honestly didn't care. All he cared about was looking at this other boy.

"I… live here?" Wow, Dipper. Wow. Way to be cool and suave.

"Oh! You're… Mr. Pine's kid, right?"

"Great-nephew," Dipper corrected.

"Great-nephew, okay. I'm Wirt. Mr. Pines hired me to work in the shack for the summer. Yesterday was my first day," he sounded a bit awkward. Perfect. This boy being the total package would be more than inconvenient. A bit of shyness would even out their dynamic and put them on the same level. "It's a… weird place, but in a good way. Sort of. Even if it is in the woods."

"What's wrong with the woods?" Finally, a topic of conversation.

"I almost got turned into a tree!" Greg interrupted without knowing that it wasn't his turn to talk. "There was a lantern, and a turtle, and Jason Funderburker was there-"

"Greg! He doesn't want to hear about that. You know, kids and their… stories," Wirt laughed awkwardly with absolutely no real humor in his voice. "The woods and I don't really get along. But I like the shack. By the way, do you need any help with those bags?"

"I do!" exclaimed a girl's voice from behind him. Mabel. Damn her timing. "I need so much help with all of my bags." She gave her signature sweet smile.

"Wirt, this is my sister. Mabel," Dipper sighed, picking up his bags because he would be damned if he left this boy and his sister alone together.

"Hi, Mabel. I've been told a lot about you from Mr. Pines," Wirt smiled and Dipper could feel his stomach become lighter.

"Am I as wonderful as you were told?" Mabel was clearly trying her best to drop a charm-bomb on this poor, unsuspecting boy. His poor soul. Wirt was clearly the first thing on Mabel's to-do list. It seemed that both of the twin's lists were much more similar than expected. But the last thing he wanted was to fight his sister over a boy.

The problem was that the first thing he wanted was Wirt.

"Did somebody say Mr. Pines?" Called the too-late voice of none other than Grunkle Stan. A cloud of smoke that had all of the children coughing appeared, and as did the old man himself.

"Y-Yes, Mr. Pines," stammered Wirt as he choked on smoke. It dissipated when Greg opened the door. "Twice now. And you came in late."

"I let out the smoke," Greg said with his normal resting face. That happened to be a smile.

"Do I pay you to tell me what I do wrong?" Stan asked the boy sarcastically. Wirt's muttering of "do you even pay me?" was ignored as the man approached his great-niece and nephew. "You're taller now. Why do you have facial hair? And who told you that you could be taller than me? I didn't!" That was his way of saying "hello".

"I'm sixteen, Grunkle Stan. We get taller," Dipper chuckled. In just a year he had had a serious growth spurt, and grew one foot in three months. The stretch marks really looked odd. "Are we still in the attic?"

"What do you want, the penthouse suite? Yes, you're in the attic," Stan said, looking the children up and down. Wirt and Greg just sort of stood awkwardly behind them. Well, Greg was playing with the merchandise. Wirt was the only one standing awkwardly. After a moment's hesitation, Stan placed an arm around each child's shoulder, both to show affection and to make the kids shorter than him. "It's good to see you knuckleheads. Fourth summer in Gravity Falls. Try to make less trouble. Don't do what I wouldn't do." Everyone present, save for Greg, recognized how contradictory that sentence was. "Never mind. Make as much trouble as you want. Just stay away from journal stuff. And keep the trouble away from the shack. And the police." With that, he released the children, before giving the both of them a good noogie to start off the summer.

"We love you too, Grunkle Stan," Mabel pressed a kiss to his cheek now that she could finally reach it without a stepping stool. "Don't worry about journal stuff. I glued all three shut."

"You what?" both men practically shouted.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Mabel laughed, speaking as quickly as she could so that neither men would literally attack her. They probably wouldn't, though. Probably. "I mean, I might be." She grinned, laughing as her brother and Great Uncle both looked as if they were about to have heart attacks.

"Is this was Pines family time is like?" Wirt asked, the question mostly directed at Dipper.

"Yes,"

"Yeah,"

"Mostly."