#candy chu

After the whole Preston-endorsed-Bill-and-lost-the-family-fortune thing, Pacifica’s social status plummets

Her old friendships were superficial at best and, when she tries to reconnect with her old friends after Weirdmageddon, they ice her out

Pacifica is on the receiving end of her group’s cruelty for the first time and realizes, hey, this is actually awful. She’s already realized that her family’s beliefs are messed up, but now the shame of what she personally has done catches up with her

So the day before the twins’ thirteenth birthday she visits the shack and pulls Mabel aside to apologize

She explains that her parents’ approval hinged on her being the best in everything, and she thought being the best meant putting everyone around her down. But, she says, Mabel has saved her life twice now without Pacifica doing anything to deserve it, and that probably makes Mabel the better person anyway

Mabel probably tears up a bit, equal parts moved and vindicated. She tells Pacifica it’s all water under the bridge

She pays closer attention to Pacifica after that and realizes she’s no longer hanging around her old friends. Or any friends, really (besides Mabel, who’s leaving for nine months the following day)

Well, Mabel won’t stand for that

At some point during her birthday party she asks Grenda and Candy if they’ll look out for Pacifica while she’s gone

Both of them are understandably reluctant, but they agree anyway because they love Mabel

So on the first day of school, when they enter the lunch room and find Pacifica sitting in a corner doing her very best to make it look like she’s there alone by choice and failing miserably, they go to sit by her without any further discussion

Admittedly, Pacifica’s first thought is that she can’t believe she’s sunk this low

But fortunately, her second thought is that this isn’t low— these people are kind, and if there’s one thing she learned during Weirdmageddon, it’s that kindness always overrules dignity when it counts

So when anyone makes a joke about Grenda’s voice or mocks Candy’s latest invention, she’s ready in a second with a retort that scalds their egos so badly they never so much as think about making another comment

All of Pacifica’s years of collecting social blackmail are finally being used for the greater good

And Candy and Grenda start to see a side of Pacifica they never got a chance to before: that she’s quick and clever, passionate, and fiercely loyal

And rather against their better judgement, they start to like her a lot

Pacifica, meanwhile, takes a little bit to get used to her new friend group. After a lifetime of backhanded insults mixed in with a thousand false compliments, after a lifetime of friendship being nothing more than a game of strategy and status, being around people with such unbridled sincerity is new

But slowly she realizes that Candy and Grenda mean it when they compliment her, that they never judge her or correct her unless she’s doing something worth correcting

She has friends that she can be entirely herself with for the first time in her life, and the relief is almost overwhelming

Candy and Grenda start going to the diner to talk with her on breaks. She takes them on shopping sprees and lets them meet her pony. They spend their lunches poring over magazines and laughing hard enough to deafen the other students

The first setback in their friendship comes when Pacifica invites them over for a sleepover in her house (no longer a huge mansion, but still pretty upscale) while her parents are out of town at a meeting

She begs them to leave no sign of their presence. Candy and Grenda assume it’s because she’s still a bit ashamed of them and, with discretion not being part of their vocabulary, absolutely trash the place

Preston and Priscilla are livid when they come home and it’s the first time Candy and Grenda really realize what Pacifica’s childhood was like

They apologize sincerely and spend months trying to make it up to her. In the end, they all trust each other more as a result of it

Pacifica and Mabel also keep in touch over the school year

It’s confirmed in Lost Legends that they swapped numbers (although Pacifica was under the impression she had Dipper’s number at first. My headcanon for that is that at the end of the party at Northwest Manor she asked Dipper for his number “in case there are any more hauntings” and Dipper, sweet, clueless thing that he is, just gave her Mabel’s, figuring that if she had a ghost-related emergency she could contact him through her)

Anyway, Mabel and Pacifica’s text thread starts out just being a steady stream of mini golf-related videos before slowly developing into actual conversation

Pacifica doesn’t talk to Dipper, although she finds that she gets a weird feeling in her stomach whenever Mabel brings him up

(She has herself convinced it’s just nerves from remembering their ghost-related adventures)

Still, they ask about each other often enough that Mabel starts getting a bit suspicious

When the twins finally return for the summer, Pacifica is overjoyed (though she’ll deny it to her grave)

Mabel settles right back into old rhythms with Candy and Grenda, and the four of them become inseparable almost immediately

After a few false starts, Dipper invites Pacifica over for a Ghost Harassers marathon. After a few hours of yelling advice and trying to categorize the ghosts as soon as they come onscreen, they’ve found their way back to friendship, too

Now, Dipper and Pacifica definitely developed huge crushes on each other after Northwest Mansion Mystery, but neither of them acknowledge it at all

The only one who notices it is Mabel

She tells Candy and Grenda, and together the three of them begin a summerlong campaign of trying to get them together

The grand finale of this comes at the annual Northwest family gathering, which Preston manipulates McGucket into holding at the manor. The trio’s efforts to engineer a romantic evening are not subtle, and all they really result in is dire humiliation, three small fires, and half a dozen very angry quails

Mabel ends up apologizing to Pacifica for the whole fiasco, explaining that since she thought that even if she never ended up finding love, she could at least find it for her brother and her best friend

Pacifica forgives her on the condition that she never tries to meddle in her love life ever again. Mabel agrees

And just as she’s walking away, Pacifica calls, “And Mabel? Thanks for trying”

So in the end she did accomplish one thing: Pacifica and Dipper, while not a couple, have finally realized the nature of their feelings

Dipper and Mabel get new phones for their fourteenth birthdays from Stan and Ford, souped up with all sorts of paranormal investigative apps and ways of connecting with them when they’re off monster hunting. Dipper and Pacifica exchange numbers, and it’s equal parts a relief and a torture over the next year

By the time the twins return the following summer, Dipper has resolved that he’s going to tell Pacifica by the end of the summer

(He’s strongly encouraged by Mabel, who has spent an alarming amount of her free time finding loopholes in her and Pacifica’s no-meddling agreement)

Two months of awkward mishaps and near-misses later, he makes a pact with Mabel that he’ll at least ask her to slow dance at the Northwest party, no matter what happens

That “no matter what” bit turns out to be kind of important when a monster attacks the party halfway through

At some point, when it has both of them trapped and is off in search of more victims, Dipper decides it’s probably now or never

“Hey Pacifica?”

“Yeah?”

“This is kind of a stupid question, given the circumstances, but I was wondering if you wanted to dance with me? If we survive?”

There’s a pause long enough to make Dipper have about six separate heart attacks

And then Pacifica gives an elated laugh and calls back, “only if you agree to take me out sometime next week”

They manage to defeat the monster, obviously, and even though it wrecked all the instruments, Mabel is not about to let that stop her. She marches into the woods and blackmails the gnomes into being the new band before catching Dipper’s eye and wildly giving him a thumbs up

So Dipper smiles, turns to Pacifica, and extends his hand. “I guess you owe me a dance. Since we survived, and all”

“I guess I do.” And as she pulls him into position, she adds, “and as for your end of the bargain, there’s a new Ghost Harassers movie coming out on Friday. You can pick me up at six”

They date for the rest of the summer, both of them ecstatic, and video call every weekend when the twins return home. Despite how much they like each other, long distance does a number on them, and they’re equally relieved when Dipper returns that summer

It gets worse in junior year, though, and that summer they finally decide that with the distance between them, maybe they’re better off as friends

They both try to see other people during their last year of high school, but after a few breakups, they simultaneously realize that they’re not really interested in anyone but each other

As prom approaches, Candy and Grenda both secure dates, but Pacifica’s on the heels of a fairly public and humiliating breakup and commits to going alone

Mabel tells Dipper as much, and that’s when he gets the idea

“Mabel? Are you up for a road trip?”

Long story short, they drive all the way to Oregon with about an hour to spare before the start of prom. Mabel goes to surprise Candy and Grenda while Dipper performs the truly classic move of tossing rocks at Pacifica’s window until she opens it

She’s pretty sure she’s seeing things

Especially when Dipper calls up, “hey! I know it’s short notice, but do you want to go to the dance with me? If we survive, I mean”

Pacifica just stands there, working out whether or not she can believe her eyes

And then she lets out a squeal that could rival Mabel’s in pitch and runs to get ready

No one minds the twins crashing the Gravity Falls prom, and really, there’s nowhere else they’d rather spend it

Evelyn and Albert : Good day, everyone!

Evelyn : We're sorry for disappearing for so long, but something's came up and we lost the touch with this blog.

Albert : But we're here today with a special occasion, as today you'll see what would happen if our children- (whispers) say hello, kids

Albert turns camera to the quadruplets, who all smile and wave into the camera.

Quads : Hello!

Albert : -Brought home a date! This will be interesting for sure.

Evelyn : Happy Valentine's day, everyone!

Ford's boyfriend

Ford : Family, this is Fiddleford H. McGucket-

His siblings scream and cheer

Dipper : Woo! You go, Ford!

Stan : Darn it, FINALLY! I thought its never get anyone, Sixer!

Mabel : I'M CALLING THE BRIDESMAIDS! Or is it groomsmaids..?

Evelyn : I'M NOT GONNA BE A YOUNG GRANDMA! (Also, good for you, honey, I love you no matter what)

Albert, laughing : Hon, we have three other kids to get through. (I like you, kid. Don't make me regret that decision.)

Stan's girlfriend/boyfriend

Stan : Guys, this is-

Ford : NO!

Stan's partner : Wow. That was fast.

Dipper : I thought it'd be longer. He's worse than Mabel!

Mabel and Stan : HEY!

Albert : Well... can't say I approve... but let's see, where it takes us.

Evelyn, nodding : Yes. Let's see.

Mabel's girlfriend

Mabel : Pines, meet my second half, Pacifica Northwest.

Pacifica, smiles, waving to the family : Hello, everyone.

Ford : NO. Mabel. No.

Dipper : A girl? Now that's new...

Stan : I thought you hated each other?

Albert : Is that girl from the stuck-up family?

Evelyn, holding hands together : Oh my gosh... they're like Lady and the tramp... so cute..!

Dipper's girlfriend

Dipper : Candy, you already know my siblings, and this is my parents.

Ford : N-... ugh... fine. (But don't you dare break my baby brother's heart. I won't care you're Mabel's best friend.)

Stan : Finally... you two together too.

Mabel, squealing : My best friend... and my brother... together... THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!

Evelyn : So... you're Candy, Mabel keeps talking about huh? It's nice to finally meet you.

https://youtu.be/PI4Mv8R0mE0

So I was thinking about this scene from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, where Will’s Dad leaves again. I was randomly thinking what if Soos’ father returned in that same way? Not in the exact same way but... just hear me out.

Jonas Ramirez had it all. A beautiful wife (Maria), his mom (Abuelta), and a wonderful son (Soos). The problem was, he always had a drinking and a gambling problem. Even before Soos was born. That’s why Maria left him, she had a broken heart.

Which is why he couldn’t come for Soos’ birthday (Blendin’s Game). He was too busy getting drunk. To make a long story short, Jonas never returns to Gravity Falls until very recently. He had to get away from some loan sharks after him. So he decided to look up his mother and Soos.

He struggles to find them (since they had moved into the Mystery Shack). He runs into Dipper and Mabel. (They are back in town for another summer).

“Um... do you kids know where Soos lives?” He asks them.

“At the Mystery Shack, random stranger!” Mabel gushes, a bit too cheerfully.

“Mabel!” Dipper lectured.

Before long, Jonas finds the Mystery Shack. Wendy is helping customers at the register, Melody is cleaning the floor from a spill, and Abuelta’s sharp gasp captures their attention. She starts to speak in Spanish, awed and confused as to why her son has come back.

Long story short, Jonas winds up staying at the Shack for a few weeks. During this, Soos and Jonas wind up bonding. Stan is worried about Soos (so is everyone else).

Eventually, Jonas decides to start heading back. The loan sharks had gotten arrested while they were looking for him. No one is surprised by this. (Soos hasn’t arrived at the Shack yet.)

Melody warns, “You walk out of my husband’s life again, don’t you ever come back.”

She walks away from Jonas, leaving just Stan and Jonas.

Stan shook his head and muttered, “And here I thought Pa was bad...” He turned to Jonas as he added, “Ya know, Soos was doin’ just fine without ya. He was learnin’ to heal. But now you’re back... ya still have responsibilities to him.”

Jonas started to say, “Now hold on...”

Stan interrupted, “No. Soos is no jacket that ya put in the closet and then take it out whenever ya need to where it. His life went on and its still going on without ya.”

Jonas hissed, “You get off my back! You are not his father!”

Stan made a fist as he stated, “I’m more of a father to him than you will ever be!”

“Dad...? Mr. Pines...?”

Both men turned and saw Soos standing there. Stan wasn’t sure how long he was there for but it was apparent in his eyes that he was there long enough.

Jonas breathed, “Soos...”

Soos turned his head away from Jonas and looked at Stan. He placed his hand on Stan’s shoulder softly. Stan calmed down and allowed Soos to look at his father.

Soos told him, “Dad... Jonas... j - just leave.”

Jonas hesitated at first but did as Soos wished and left the Shack for good. Stan and Soos were quiet for a moment. It didn’t take Stan long to say something.

“I’m so sorry Soos. I know how long ya waited for this...”

Soos was trying to hold back the tears and admitted, “I waited a very long time, Mr. Pines. I uh... even survived Weirdmaggedon without that jerk...”

Stan put on a small proud smile. “Yeah... ya did.”

“Even fought possessed animantronics... Married a beautiful woman...”

“Ya did good Soos...”

Soos looked at Stan, the tears of anger and sadness rolling down. He hugged Stan, crying his eyes out. Stan returned the hug, holding his - son close.

...