They start walking back to the Shack after 15 more minutes of finding nothing but pine cones. On the way back, they see the normal line of people for the Tent of Telepathy.

"Should we go say hi?" Paz wonders aloud.

Gideon shakes his head. "I'll say hi for both of us later tonight."

When they walk inside the Shack, Bud is unpacking more boxes of merchandise. He looks up and waves. "Hey kids!" he says. "Have fun out there?"

"Sure," Gideon says. "You know what you two should try?" he says, going back to putting blue and white hats on a shelf. "Take a walk around town, go into some of the shops. We have a bowling alley I think you'd like."

"Thanks dad," Gideon says. "But me and Mabel are hanging out later. Maybe she can show me around a little."

"You and Mabel?" he sounds surprised. "That's a great idea, Gideon! Have a local show you around. Have fun."

"We will. Thanks dad."

They spend the rest of the day helping Bud and Robbie around the shop and flipping through channels on the TV.

"Why are all these movies so weird?" Gideon asks, remote in hand. "I mean, look at this. "Cow Court"? Who makes this stuff?"

Robbie chuckles from his seat on the floor. "Gravity Falls TV is definitely an acquired taste."

"I'll say." Gideon mutters, dropping the remote in the chair next to him.

"What time were you supposed to meet Mabel?" Robbie asks.

"Like six. Why?" He glances at the clock. It's still only four.

"Just wondering." A moment of quiet passes by, interrupted only by the mooing on TV. Robbie turns back to him. "You know, it's a little odd that she asked you out."

Gideon raises a brow. "Why?"

"Well, she's got a... Reputation for being very picky when it comes to, well, everything. But especially boys," Robbie explains.

"Should I be worried?"

He shakes his head. "No. Most guys in town would feel honored." Robbie says.

"Well I'm not from here," Gideon says. "Do you... Have any, I don't know, pointers or something?" He asks, suddenly more nervous.

"What, for the date?" He nods. Robbie shrugs. "I'm not the best person to ask about this, but I say, just be yourself. She seems to like you plenty just the way you are," he says. "Oh, and flowers. She'll love flowers."

That, at least, gets a smile out of Gideon. "Thanks Robbie,"

"Don't mention it."

Mabel sits at her vanity in her bedroom, carefully applying mascara. Dipper leans against the doorway, watching her, disgust written clearly across his features. Mabel puts the mascara wand down and turns in her seat to face him. "Can I help you?" she asks.

"Why are doing this?" he asks, standing up straighter and walking fully into the room.

"Uncle Ford says we need to watch them," Mabel turns back to her vanity and switches to her other eye. "Just think of this as one candlelit stakeout."

"Mabel, take this seriously," Dipper says, coming to stand behind her. "Those aren't just any kids. Those are Bud Pines' kids. That boy could cause just as much trouble for us as his father did for Uncle Ford." Dipper insists.

"He won't," Mabel tells him. "You're so worried about Gideon but what about that little girl?"

"Pacifica?" Dipper asks with a brow raised.

"Yeah. She could be even worse." Mabel argues.

Her brother rolls his eyes. "You're only saying that because you're jealous," he says.

"And what, exactly, would I be jealous about? What could she possibly have that I don't?" Mabel puts the mascara away and inspects her makeup for any flaws.

"How about Gideon?" Dipper says with a smirk.

"Shut up," Mabel says, standing and smoothing out her skirt. "He'll be mine soon enough." With that, she walks out of her room, completely ready for her date.

"Stakeout... Right." Dipper mumbles.

Mabel already had a restaurant picked out, like Gideon expected. He also expected it to be the type of upscale place that she seemed to favor. He just wished she'd picked somewhere a little less expensive for a first date. All the men are wearing tuxedos and ties and the women are wearing dresses and skirts. Needless to say, he feels very out of place.

It takes them all of three seconds to be seated with menus. The whole place is lit by chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and candles on the tables. Mabel puts down her menu when she sees him staring. "Well?" she asks. "What do you think so far?"

He clears his throat nervously. "It's definitely something I'm not used to," he offers.

"You will be soon enough," she says. "This is how I treat my dates."

He's saved from saying anything else by the waitress coming to take their orders. Mabel orders for both of them. After the waitress leaves, she says, "I'm sorry, I know that's probably not what you wanted but you have to try it! It's so good. It was the first thing I tried when I first came here with my uncle and my brother."

This helps him relax a little; helps him remember she's just a girl. She's still human. "When did you first come here?" he asks.

"It was way before this," she gestures to herself. "Before me and my brother were good at magic." She says the last part quietly, like she doesn't quite want to admit it. "Uncle Ford thought bringing us out to dinner would cheer us up after a bad show." She smiles a little remembering it. A genuine smile. "We were miserable. But he took us here and ordered us the same thing. It was so good," she says. "And it did help cheer us up."

Gideon smiles for the first time that night. "That's really nice. Your uncle really cares about you and your brother, huh?"

She nods. "He does. He's the best uncle too. He always knows what to say."

"My cousin is like that too," Gideon says. "She's always helped me when I start to panic over something."

"That's very nice of her," Mabel says, brushing past it impatiently.

Their food arrives and Mabel insists on watching Gideon take his first bite. "You're going to love it!" she promises. He can't help the huge grin on his face while he does. But she was right: it's delicious.

"Well?" she asks, smiling.

"You were so right," Gideon tells her as he takes another bite. "See? I know what I'm talking about."

They finish their food and Mabel refuses to let Gideon pay for anything. She takes care of the bill and they decide to call it a night. On the way back home, Mabel brings up the subject of a second date. "Do you think this one went well?" she asks. "I had fun."

"I had fun too," he says.

"Honestly?" She sends him a look.

He nods. "Honestly. But I didn't expect to."

"Why not?" Mabel asks.

He quickly realizes his mistake. "No offense! I just meant that I'm not used to going to these big fancy places," he explains.

Mabel grins. "Well, get used to it. I don't usually treat my boyfriends. You should feel lucky."

His cheeks immediately go pink.

They get to the Mystery Shack far too soon. Mabel comes in at Gideon's insistence. "Just to get away from the bugs," he says.

They walk in through the door to the gift shop. It's empty at this time of night. Robbie went home and his dad and Paz are somewhere else in the house. It's just them.

"Thank you for letting me in," she says as she sits down behind the cash register.

"Well, I didn't think you'd wanna stay out there with the bugs. I didn't see nearly as many back in California."

"I can assure you, things are very different here than in California." She looks around the gift shop, inspecting the snow globes, T-shirts, and toys. "So do you and your cousin work here with your dad?" she asks, focusing on a spider in its web.

"Sometimes," Gideon says, sitting in the chair next to her. "But sometimes, like earlier today, he lets us walk around and see more of the town."

"And what did you see today?" she asks. "We didn't go into town, we just took a hike in the woods," he says nonchalantly.

"See anything interesting?"

He pauses for a moment, thinking. Then he says, "You're gonna think this is crazy or stupid or both, but me and my cousin found this old book with all this weird stuff in it. And we - I - wanted to see if any of it was real. So we went into the woods and looked for... Fairies."

Mabel freezes in her inspection of the room and turns rigidly to look at Gideon. "Fairies?" He nods. She thaws out. "Gideon, are you sure you didn't pick up a book of fairy tales?" She laughs.

He smiles nervously. He knew he shouldn't have told her. But it does sound ridiculous. "I know how this sounds but I'm serious," he says.

"What did this book look like?" Mabel asks, her suspicions hidden behind a wide grin.

"It's really old. Like, really old. It's dark blue with the number three written inside a hand," he explains.

Mabel's grin doesn't falter. "Really? What'd you do with it? I would've thrown something like that away," she says.

"We decided to keep it for now," he answers honestly. "But I'll probably throw it out tomorrow. Obviously none of it is real."

"How do you know?" she asks. "When we went looking for the fairies, we didn't find any. Of course we didn't," he says with a small smile.

"What made you want to go looking? You told me you don't believe in magic," Mabel reminds him.

"I don't," he says. "But the way those things were written, it sounded like whoever wrote it knew what they were talking about."

Mabel nods. He almost sounds ashamed. "I get it. Well, that's okay. Sometimes you have to question the things you know," she says.

"Thanks Mabel," he says.

She smiles and stands up, strolls over to a shelf of hats. She picks one up, inspects it, and strolls back over to Gideon. She sets it on top of his head and smiles. "It looks good on you," she compliments.

"Thanks," he says, cheeks going pink again. She takes out a $10 bill and sets it on the counter. "I'll see you later, Gideon," she says, letting herself out. "Bye." he waves weakly after her.

"Bye."

A/N I was going to have this chapter out earlier, honest, but I got stuck halfway through. And sorry for it being ridiculously long.