Description: Camping with the ideal of finding new attraction ideas and nature shots for the magazine agency. Nature shots aren't the only thing Dipper finds on his camera when he gets home.

Warning: This is a dark story as it goes on. It is a horror/thriller. Violence. Stalker tendencies. Sexual actions and situations. Dubious consent. And probably a lot of others as the story goes on that I'll be sure to tag, so if you are worried about a certain thing happening, message me, but if you don't think you can handle it, avoid it.

Shutter

Part One-Pictures

Glancing up from under the bill of his hat, Dipper could see the sun getting closer to its peak. It was nearly noon and Pacifica should be getting to the shack in about an hour. It should be enough time for Mabel to get back there to greet her. The forest was dense at the moment and the trail he had marked out earlier this week was harder to see, but it wasn't all bad. The weather was cool, with it being September still, but still warm enough that he had to roll up his dark flannel sleeves to feel comfortable.

"Dipper," Mabel whined. "Are we almost there? It's been over thirty minutes."

"Just a few more minutes," the young man in question replied, pushing up his glasses that had slid down his nose. He looked back to see Mabel's cheeks red with exertion. "You can't be tired already." He shifted his heavy hiking pack to slip under a few low hanging branches. "We haven't been out here that long."

"These bags are heavy!" she complained. Her bag was about half the size of his, filled with a small cooler, some food, and his clothes. Some odds and ends as well, but for the most part hers wasn't heavy.

"You got the lighter one!" he shot back. He was the one that will have to carry everything back by himself later.

Mabel huffed at him. "Well you're used to this, I'm not." He was. He went camping regularly every summer that he could, hiking even more than that. Though over the last several months, camping has dwindled down to nearly non-existent. They recently taken over the Mystery Shack after Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford decided to finally retire and take up sailing. Mabel and he were more than happy to take over the place, considering they have been helping run it for a few years anyways. More recently, they have help add on extensions to the building and making new attractions. Dipper was able to sell a lot of his photography at the shop, especially any that had supernaturals in the picture.

"Does this make me the alpha twin now?" he mused, laughing when Mabel pushed him playfully from behind.

"Watch it," she laughed. "I'm still the alpha." She raised her arms, flexing them at Dipper. "Look at these muscles. So powerful."

Grinning to himself, he hummed in agreement. "All right, alpha ," he surrendered. "We should be there soon." This was his first weekend off for a long time. He wasn't exactly work free, but it was pretty close. All he really had to do was dig up new attraction ideas for Mabel and collect a few nature shots for his commission with the magazine company that hired him. At least Mabel had Pacifica to help her out until she has to go back to class. Pacifica was pretty good at getting people to buy merch. This weekend was sadly the closest thing they've had to a vacation since taking over. And Dipper wasn't about to waste it.

As the trees started to thin out, Dipper knew they were close. Speeding up, he jogged through the tree line and into a familiar clearing. He was happy to see it looked exactly the same as how he left it a week ago. The fire pit he made looked intact and wood he gathered was still piled neatly beside it. Even the logs he set out around the fire looked unmoved. Dropping his bag by the pit, he stretched his back, instantly feeling relaxed from just being here. Kneeling down, he started unpacking.

Eventually, Mabel came up next to him, dropping her bag and stretching. "Finally," she groaned.

Dipper rolled his eyes and pulled his tent out of his pack. "It wasn't that bad."

Ignoring her brother, Mabel roamed the campsite, eyeing the stones that circled the area with some interest. "What's this?" she asked as she leaned down to get a better look at the carved stones. There were dozens of them, small and spherical and spaced out along the edge with about a foot in between them.

"I think they are some sort of ritual stones. I'm pretty sure this is a druid's circle or something," he answered.

"Is it safe to stay in one?" Mabel looked back at him worriedly, but Dipper waved off her concerns.

"Mabel, if this place was unsafe, then we'd feel it, but it doesn't. It feels amazing here." And it really did. Dipper swore he felt energized just being within the circle, safe even.

Mabel gave a half-hearted shrug and kept roaming the campsite. It wasn't that large. It was big enough for Dipper's things and probably another tent. She walked to the other side of the site where the tree's opened up to a steep hill. From there, they had a view just over the forest. Part of the town and the two falls could be spotted without much trouble. "I can see why you had to have this campsite now," she whispered in awe. It was a great view, even better at sunset. "I wonder if I can talk Pacifica into coming out here."

"You have a better chance at growing gills," Dipper snorted, sticking the rods through the tent.

Mabel turned around with a grin. "So I have a chance then?" she snickered. She took a few of the pegs from the pile as she walked by and helped him finish pitching the tent. "You going to be okay out here?"

Dipper nodded, still unpacking his gear. "I'll be fine. I have a lot of places I want to check out while I'm here, though. It doesn't feel like three days will be enough."

"Tough shit. That's all you're getting. Pacifica's going back to campus Monday and I need you to help me out when we open back up Tuesday." They always closed on Mondays, at least. It was tradition set up by Grunkle Stan. He really hated Mondays. Dipper was starting to agree with the sentiment.

Mabel crouched next to him, poking his shoulder. "Sure you got everything?" she asked. She picked up his journal and flicked through the pages. She knew everything he packed, considering she helped him this morning.

"Yes, Mabel." If he didn't, he was pretty sure that he had everything. There's over two pages worth of stuff of anything he could think of bringing.

She tossed the journal back into his lap. "Make sure you call me if you need anything. Always have your talkie with you and when you head back Monday, call me." She reached out to snag the bag of marshmallows, but he grabbed them and tossed them into the tent before she could. "Also call me when you get back in the campsite for the night. I'll be calling you Monday morning too," she warned, looking forlornly at the marshmallows. .

Dipper groaned. There went sleeping in late. "Yes ma'am."

Standing up, she stretched again. "I'm going to go, but make sure you eat and stay warm. And I know it's hard to take a bath out here, but please try. You'll reek when we have to take Pacifica to the airport. Also, I'd like to avoid a repeat from when you were twelve. You can't get back into that habit of not bathing," she ranted, giggling when Dipper flipped her off. "Also watch out for strangers and strange creatures. Don't eat strange plants. Make sure to put on sun screen and bug spray. And always put out your fire. Smokey the Bear tells us that only we can prevent forest fires."

"Just go already," Dipper laughed, waving her off.

"If you see a bear that isn't supernatural or Smokey, just play dead."

"Mabel."

"Remember the difference between plants! Poison ivy is not your friend or toilet paper."

"Mable, go!" he laughed, throwing a roll of toilet paper at her.

Mabel smiled down at him, bending over to give him a tight hug. "Be safe," she whispered, knocking off his hat to ruffle his hair.

Knocking her hand away, Dipper smiled. "I will. Go have fun with Pacifica."

"Oh I will," Mabel purred, wiggling her eyebrows.

Dipper shivered in disgust. "Oh god…Just go already."

"His first night alone," she sniffled, showing no sign of leaving anytime soon. "My baby bro is growing up."

He was twenty-five and she was only a few minutes older than he was. "This is not my first night alone and you need to hurry up and go meet up with Pacifica. If you're late she's making you sleep on the couch again."

She perked up a bit at the name. "No she won't," she answered easily. They both knew Pacifica would. "But I'm worried. What if you need me here? You might get scared."

He raised a brow at her. "It's a good thing I don't need you," he muttered.

She clutched at her sweater, just over her heart. "You wound me!" she cried out dramatically. "Where has my cute little brother gone? Has it finally happened? Is he in his rebellious stage already?" She gasped. "Is he going to start wearing leather jackets?"

"I hate you," he mumbled, standing up. He grabbed her by her shoulders and started pushing her toward the tree line, only poking her in the sides when she tried to stop him. Mabel jumped with a squeal, laughing as she ran from him.

"Okay! I'm going already!"

"Thank god." He waved her off as he watched her leave through the trees until she was completely out of sight. Turning back to the campsite, he had just a bit more to set up before he can go do what he came here for. Mabel called about half an hour later to tell him she was back at the shack, safe and sound and didn't need him coming to find her like last time he went camping. That took a couple of hours since she went the opposite direction of where she should have gone.

Eventually the food was safely hung up in a tree while a lot of his other stuff was neatly arranged around or in his tent. When he was finally satisfied with how everything was set up, he grabbed a quick lunch before taking his satchel and heading out into the woods. The bag held his journal that Grunkle Ford gave him a few years ago, batteries, extra memory cards, pens, flashlight, small first aid kit, his walkie-talkie, a water bottle, protein bars, plastic bags for samples, and a few other things. His camera was safely hanging from his neck and he was set. One last look at the site, headed west.

The first few hours was mostly uneventful. He got a few photos, mostly of trees and other plants or the forest's canopy. He wouldn't know how good they were until he got back home and checked them on the computer, but he felt that they were pretty good. The lighting was nice in this direction.

There were a few things he noticed that were strange. There weren't many creatures around the area, he was actually pretty sure there were none, but he couldn't say for sure since he wasn't paying attention until now. He expected to at least see a gnome or two. He did find a few strange plants that he bagged and marked down to show Grunkle Ford when he got back. Though they looked similar to the ones in the other journals. He was probably a mile from the campsite before he really started to see animal life. He made a mental note to see if the same thing happened when he walked back to the shack Monday. Maybe it had something to do with the stones.

He was able to get a few shots of some of a few animals, supernatural and non, that he came across before he had to start heading back to the site. His flashlight came in handy for the last bit of the trudge up to the site. The sun set quicker than he anticipated. Now he had to build a fire in the dark. Nearly burning himself, Dipper was able to light a fire and had the site lit up nicely. He was a bit disappointed that he missed the sunset, but he had all weekend to get it on camera.

After he pulled the hotdogs out of the cooler and had them on a skewer over the fire, Dipper grabbed the walkie-talkie out of his satchel and turned it on. He flipped to their shared channel and called Mabel. "Come in Alpha, Beta is in position."

It was only a few moments before Mabel's voice came through the static. "DIPPER!" she screamed ecstatically.

"You're not dead?" came a teasing comment from Pacifica.

"We were worried when it got dark and you hadn't called yet. I was about to send Paci to go find you," Mabel told him.

"I wouldn't have come for you and Mabel, stop calling me that," was all Pacifica got out before their line closed.

Dipper laughed and opened the line. "I lost track of time. Had to build a fire before I could call you." Click.

"Idiot," Pacifica replied. "You need to be more careful."

"Why can't I call you Paci, Paci?" Mabel whined. Line closed with a click. She sounded drunk.

"Paci, I never knew you cared," Dipper teased.

"Shut up."

"Why does Dipper get to call you Paci and I can't?" Mabel complained over the line before it crackled off. The line stayed silent for a few minutes, long enough for Dipper to eat the hotdogs he had roasted.

"So, nerd, having fun?" interrupted the silence as Pacifica came back on line.

"Tons," Dipper answered, smiling at the talkie.

"Good, we're going to leave you to have your fun. Your sister's a bit busy, but she says she loves you and for you not to sleep the day away."

Dipper eyed the talkie warily at Pacifica's rushed tone. "Okay? Um, do I want to know what she's doing?"

"No you don't."

That's all he needed to know. "All right. Goodnight," he said quickly.

"Night dork."

Tossing the talkie back into his bag, Dipper stretched and relaxed against the log. Tomorrow he was hoping to head for the river and get a few scenery shots. Taking out his notebook, he spent the next few hours jotting down a few notes about what he saw and ideas for attractions to bring up to Mabel. He made a special note about the oddness of the area around the druid circle, suggesting that maybe it was made to repel supernatural beings. But that didn't explain the lack of normal animals. Actually, he was pretty sure he hasn't seen any bugs, but that could be due to it almost being winter. At least it was something research later.

The fire started to die by the time Dipper was tired enough to go to sleep. Dousing the fire, he went to bed, nearly falling asleep instantly the moment his head touched the pillow. By morning, somehow he had emptied his satchel all over the floor of his tent. Groaning, he quickly cleaned up the mess and got on with his morning. He slept a lot better than he thought he would, though next time with less clothes. He felt like he was going to melt when he woke up, which was strange considering how cold it was outside that morning.

The exploring went a lot like it had yesterday. He noted that there was about a mile worth of area that lacked any animals as well. At the falls, he got a few nice photos. He would have to use the ones that had merfolk swimming for the shop, but most of them would be good enough to send to the magazine. Even met with the manitors and infinite bear for lunch before taking his time to get back to camp. He got back to the campsite with ample time to start a fire before the sun started to set.

Taking his camera, he set it on its tripod and took a few shots of the burgundy sky over the town while dinner cooked. On tonight's dinner plan it was hotdogs. Again. He had to finish them tonight since the cooler won't keep the cold much longer. Good news was that he still had his marshmallows for later. He had a few MREs for tomorrow. There were still several cases of the stuff back at the shack. They taste pretty good a least.

He kept to his routine from last night, calling up Mabel and Pacifica before writing. It was kept short. Apparently Pacifica was taking Mabel out to dinner and they were about to head out.

Dousing the fire, he went to bed, this time making sure his satchel was on the far side of the tent in the corner so he doesn't end up with everything scattered around again. He stripped down and climbed into his sleeping bag and fell asleep as quickly as he did the night before.

His sleep was mostly undisturbed. He only woke up once when he thought something was crawling across his face. By the time he woke up, it was past ten and his things were again scattered across the floor of the tent. That was the perfect start to his last day out here. Sleeping later than he wanted and having to clean up because he couldn't stop moving in his sleep. He dressed quickly and snagged something to eat before heading into the woods.

Besides lucking with the gnomes, whom stole pie from Lazy Susan again, his day went pretty much the same as yesterday. The pie was better than the roasted meat the manitors had. He wasn't sure what kind of meat it was, actually. He probably wouldn't want to know anyways. That night, Mabel called him before he had a chance to call her. She started ranting about a customer that apparently dragged Pacifica off for over an hour (Pacifica said it wasn't nearly that long). She complained about the flirting from this woman, which Pacifica agreed that there might have been a bit of that. The only thing about the incident that made Mabel happy was that she charged the lady three times what she owed and they used that money to order in pizza. Mabel also ordered him a pizza for when he got back. When they cut the call for the night, Dipper laid out next to the fire. Grabbing out his camera. He took a few shots of his campsite and the night sky before deciding to call it a night. With a quick scribbling in his journal, he packed up his things and doused the fire. Once in the tent, he set his satchel above his bedroll. He took out the talkie, setting it next to his pillow, and turned it on so Mabel will be able to give him his wakeup call. With the soft sound of the static, Dipper stripped down and crawled into his sleeping bag. Yawning, he drifted off into sleep.

Arms wrapped around Dipper from behind him, pulling him closer to a furnace like heat. Grumbling in discomfort, he tried to move away, but the arms tightened nearly painfully to keep him still.

"Shh," whispered from behind him, the person's breath tickling the back of his ear. It was almost instant when he relaxed against them. He could feel lips brushing against his shoulder, kissing the bare skin. The hold on Dipper relaxed as a hand trailed down his chest, the sharp points of their nails dragging against his skin until they graced the edge of his underwear. Fingers danced playfully across the waistband, flicking at the elastic.

Dipper stared out at the tent, dazed as he clutched his pillow tightly in his fists, waiting for those hands to do something. He was already getting hard from the anticipation of being touched. The warm mouth continued moved over his shoulder. Angling his neck more open, the person took that as a hint to take their attentions to his neck. A hot tongue trailed up from where they stopped to the juncture of his neck before biting lightly at the skin. Dipper whimpered at the sharp pricking of the teeth, only to be distracted as the hand at his underwear cup him. He bucked against the hand, moaning as they gripped him. "F-fuck," he stuttered out.

They nuzzled his throat, dragging the tip of their nose up the skin of his neck to the back of his ear, pulling his ear lobe into their mouth. They sucked gently, moving their tongue over the skin and biting down hard enough to leave an imprint. The lobe slipped out of their mouth with a pop before they dragged their tongue across the back of the shell of Dipper's ear. He shivered as they blew across the wet skin.

"Tell me your name," they rasped.

Dipper's mouth moved silently as they pumped him through his boxers. He couldn't speak with the hand on him, brushing their thumb of the tip of his penis with slow circles. He whined loudly when the hand left him and gripped his hip, holding him still against the open sleeping bag.

"Your name," they demanded.

"D-dipper," he gasped out quickly, trying shrug off the hand by wiggling his hips. He wanted that touch back on him.

"Dipper," they whispered as if it meant something. Dipper didn't think on it since their hand slipped under the band, grasping him firmly in a hot hand.

His mouth fell open as a loud moan pulled from him. "Fuck yes," he groaned, thrusting up into the fist. They let him as he kissed his neck. Their hand moving the bare minimum to get Dipper off. Dipper's breathing shuttered to a moaning gasp when the person started to move their hand with his thrust.

They chuckled, using the arm still under Dipper to pull him back, flush against them. Part of him suspected what held him, but any confusion he had was gone as he felt an erection press firmly between his cheeks. "God, yes," he grunt, grinding back against the man. He grinned at the startled gasp by his ear. He let out a laugh that quickly turned into a moan as the man rolled his hips up. The thought of being filled sent a shiver of thrill through him.

They didn't give any warning before the man started fisting him rough and quickly. Dipper's hand shot down to the man's arms, clutching tightly at his forearms. He wasn't sure if it was to stop him or to have something to steady him as he curled in on himself, teeth digging into his back. His mouth gaped open, whimpering at the pace. A string of cruses left him, his toes curling at the intensity of the hand around him. "Please," he begged, chanting even for release. The man smiled against his neck when he felt it all suddenly stop.

"DIPPER!"

Dipper jolted? "Wha…?"

"Wakey wakey! Eggs and bakey!"

Blinking awake, Dipper flinched back at the light that filled the tent and instantly felt the lack of warm arms around him. It was just a dream. That was enough to leave a sinking feeling in Dipper as he rubbed at his eyes. Looking down, he could see his dick straining against the fabric of his boxers. A wet stop staining at the tip.

"The sun is shining and so shall you!" his sister's voice cackled through the talkie in from of him. "Come on lazy daisy! Face the sun!"

Growling, he grabbed the talkie and opened his side of the channel. "Shut up," he hissed.

"Oh good!" Mabel's reply was almost instant. "You're awake! I've been trying to get ahold of you for like five minutes now!"

Dipper just groaned back into the receiver.

"Stop whining. You need to get up to help me take Pacifica to the airport."

Dipper cursed everything he could think of. "Yeah, turning off the radio," he replied.

"You better n-"

He clicked it off. A bit smugly. That didn't last when he moved to sit up. He gasped at the movement of his boxers rubbing against his erection. He couldn't believe the sensitivity it had at the moment. Laying back against the sleeping bag, Dipper's hand slipped under the waist band as he started thinking back on the dream. Moaning as he tried to reimagine those hands on him, he quickly finished the job.

The walk back to the shack took longer than it did to get up there, but this time around he was able to notice that there was about a mile worth of distance from the campsite that didn't have any animals. Pushing open the front door, he was instantly greeted.

"Hey Dipper!" Mabel yelled, assumingly from the kitchen.

"Welcome back, dork!" Pacifica yelled after her, probably in the kitchen with Mabel.

Dipper set his things down in the living room and walked into the kitchen where Mabel was doing dishes while Pacifica playing with her phone. "Good to see you," Dipper greeted Pacifica, messing up her hair on his way to the fridge.

Huffing, she quickly fixed her hair. "Feelings not so mutual," she retorted, giving him a heatless glare before gracing him with a small smile.

"So, when are we leaving?" he asked, taking out a pit soda from the fridge.

"Now," Mabel answered as she started drying off her hands. She gave him a wide smile and wrapped him up in a hug. "Glad you're home." Hugging her back, Dipper hummed in agreement. As she pulled back, her nose crinkled up. "You didn't bathe at all did you?" Dipper smirked.

"I thought you said not to," he said, feigning innocence. "Since it would be really hard to do that out there. Anyone could be watching. Not to mention how cold it is out there."

Mabel glared up at him. "If you think just because you smell that it will mean you're staying home, you're wrong."

Dipper slumped. He kind of hoped for that.

"I'm not staying locked up in a car for over an hour with stinkerson," Pacifica interrupted. "I'll call a cab if you even think about it."

"You're staying home and showering, mister," Mabel quickly changed her tone, poking Dipper in the chest.

Smiling, Dipper mouthed 'thanks' to Pacifica who nodded back.

After waving them off, Dipper put his pizza in the oven to warm up and took a much deserved shower.

The shower was nice.

The cold drink and hot pizza in his hands was extra nice.

And the best thing was that his photos were completely downloaded for him to be able to scroll through now.

Many of his shots were good. He'd have more than enough to send to the agency. The shack pictures he planned to sell were even better than he expected. Separating agency pictures and shack pictures, he moved through the first day of pictures. At the end of the first day's pictures, he was a bit miffed at how so many of them were blackened out, but that was what he got for taking pictures at night, he guessed. Though his camera should have been just fine adjusting.

Shrugging, he went through the next day's pictures and was promptly happy again. The pictures were even better. Especially the few he had with the merfolk. He thought the batch was completely good, except after the sunset pictures, there were a steady row of twenty or so blackened out pictures. What was he taking then? Did something hit his camera after he put it away? Eyeing the camera on his desk, he decided it would probably be a good idea to take in to get looked at.

Grumbling, he scrolled through the last of the pictures. His mood picked up when he got to the night photo graphs he took. They came out really well. Part of him hoped it was just a fluke with his camera with all the blackout pictures so he wouldn't have to waste money on getting it fixed. Once he got to the last bit, he noticed something strange with the thumbnail photos.

Double clicking on them, they enlarged. "What the hell…" he muttered. His heart thundered in his chest as he clicked through the pictures. Each were relatively the same, with the same object of focus, but all from a different angle. There were at least thirty of them and they were all of him as he slept.