It didn't take Danny long to find the small diner in the town. It seemed to be pretty quiet. But then again this is a pretty small town with not many people. It was shaped like a large wooden log and had a large sign on the roof that read 'Greasy's Diner. We have food.' Danny smiled slightly as he walked over to the steps that lead up to the door. Once he opened it he heard a small bell ring that was situated at the top of the doorframe.
Some people in the diner looked over at him and stared for a second. Danny was the new guy that no one knew, it was to be expected. Danny shifted a little awkwardly under their gazes before they turned back to their meals. He walked slowly over to the barstool that was right in front of the wooden counter.
Just past the counter, on the back wall, was a chalkboard that had a bunch of different food items and prices written down on it. Ninety percent of the options were pancakes. One of the items was underlined and bolded, it was labeled coffee pancakes. Danny raised an eyebrow. Coffee pancakes? He had never heard —
"Hello there." Danny looked away from the chalkboard and over to the woman who addressed him, her voice was quite loud. He smiled politely and glanced over her appearance. The first thing he noticed was that her left eye was completely shut, showing off with some bright blue eyeshadow. She also had an apron on, so he assumed she either was the cook or a waiter. "Welcome to Greasy's diner, my name is Lazy Suzan."
Like those things that spin around in display cabinets? "Danny." He nodded. "I was wondering if I could grab some breakfast?" He looked up to the clock and saw it read 10:30, man he slept in late. "Or brunch I guess." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Of course, what would you like? I would recommend the pancakes." She gestured her hand towards the chalkboard again.
"The normal Pancakes sound fine, thank you." Danny nodded.
She simply turned around and walked into the open-plan kitchen that was behind a second counter. Danny decided to sit on one of the barstools at the counter. He didn't want to take up a whole booth by himself in a small diner like this.
As he was waiting, he heard the bell of the dinner ring just like it did when he walked in, but he decided not to look over. So, he just sat there tracing his finger across the wood grain of the counter. "Hope you're happy, I don't like being out here," Danny grumbled within his own mind. Bill didn't respond and Danny rolled his eyes.
Suddenly, a voice came out from next to him calling out over the counter. "Hey Lazy Suzan, my usual, please. Also looking fine as ever today might I add." The voice was gruff and Danny felt like he recognized it but wasn't sure.
"Oh, Stanford." The woman laughed.
Danny glanced up over towards the man who was speaking and his core dropped out of his chest. Panic filled his system and it took everything he had not to bolt out of the diner right at that moment. It was the hunter, not the kid but the hunter. He tried to turn his head away hoping that the man wouldn't see him.
"Ancients, Ancients, Ancients, Ancients!" He cursed in his mind. "What am I going to do! I have to get out of here." His eyes once again flicked towards the nearest exit, and just like when he checked the first time it was the only door at the end of the Diner where he came in.
"Ha ha ha ha HA!" Bills laughed echoed through Danny's brain causing the halfa to growl at him within his mind.
"What?"
"You should hear yourself panicking! It's delightful." Danny could hear the demon still chuckling.
Danny drilled his vision into the counter in front of him. "That's the hunter, Bill! You don't know how bad this is for me."
"Don't get your tail in a twist DP, that's not the hunter."
"I-its not?" Danny's eyes flicked over to the man who was now sitting down on the barstool next to him.
More laughter came from Bill. "Try not to sound too scared DP, it makes you seem weak."
"Well, I'm sorry for not wanting to be DISSECTED, Bill!" He glared at nothing. "And what do you mean it's not the hunter?"
"That's not Sixer, that right next to you is his twin brother. Heh, I guess twins run in the family." Danny breathed a sigh of relief. "He's not really into the whole hunting thing as much as his brother and Pinetree are."
"...You sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. What, do you doubt me?" Danny didn't answer, he was only thinking about how scared he was moments ago and how lucky he was that he wasn't the real hunter that he came across the other night. What if he recognized him? He wouldn't be able to deal with that.
"I doubt anyone would recognize you, DP. Most of the meat sacks of this dimension are terrible at putting two and two together. I mean most humans can't even put together whether or not someone likes them, let alone recognize someone who looks the exact opposite of what they appear like normally." Bill responded, obviously listening to Danny's thoughts. Danny needed to be more careful about how openly he was thinking. He guessed the panic was making him put down some walls. "Guess it is, huh, not as sharp as you used to be hmm?"
"Shut up."
Danny could feel Bill's smirk in his head. Danny was snapped out of it when he looked up to see that the pancakes he ordered were sitting on the counter in front of him. He took a big sigh and pulled them closer to him. Nodding to the waitress. He noted that they looked remarkably similar to the ones he saw the gnomes running away with yesterday.
He looked at them for a few moments before his stomach growled slightly. He quickly started eating, trying to stay unnoticed. The man, who Danny still hadn't gotten the name of, was served. But Danny didn't look over to see what he got.
"The pancakes are always a good choice." The man's voice said. Danny looked over at him and the man was looking directly at him.
Danny chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I thought they would be."
"You new around here, kid?" The man raised an eyebrow as he held up a pink can of soda. Danny didn't quite catch the name of it.
"Uh, just passing through really. I won't be here for long." Danny shrugged. Now that he knew this wasn't the hunter, he wasn't as scared to talk to him. The man did seem okay.
"Well in that case you should come to visit the Mystery Shack!" The man clapped the back of Danny's back. "It's the eighth wonder of the world you know."
Danny laughed and leaned back. "Eighth wonder, I guess now I have to see it."
"You'll love it, kid. Honestly. And if you bring your parent's credit card or something you'll be all set." He paused. "You do have money, right?"
Danny looked up at the man with a raised eyebrow. "I brought my own."
"Ahh, smart boy." He laughed. "Anyway, my name is Stan. Mr. Mystery himself." He stuck his hand out and shook the halfa's firmly.
"Danny." He nodded.
X
Danny's conversation with Stan was... interesting. Danny could tell this man was a con artist, but he was still a pretty stand-up guy. And he was interesting to talk to. Even if deep down Danny knew it would be a bad idea to be this close to all of the hunters. But Danny was sure he could handle it at least for now.
After Danny had finished his pancakes and paid with some of the money Jazz had given him. He glanced at the old wall clock above one of the booths. He had just over an hour until he was going to meet Wendy and her friends at the Mystery Shack so he figured he should get going.
"I should go, but I'll stop by the eighth wonder of the world later today. I'm going to meet some friends there."
"If you want, kid, I can give you a ride straight there. No problem to me. I was heading there anyway." Stan stood up and dusted off his cheap suit.
"I'm good, thanks." Danny of course had multiple reasons as to why he didn't want a ride, but the main one was. "I would rather walk, anyway." He shrugged.
Stan put his hand to his chin. "Man, teenagers wanting to walk outdoors! What has the world come to?"
Danny chuckled as he waved and walked out, quickly thanking the waitress for the food on his way.
It was a pretty nice day outside. Perfect day for a walk. Danny just hoped he didn't run into any magical creatures on his way, which in this town, seemed like a really high possibility. Danny could also easily fly to the shack, but he figured he needed a calm, relaxing time just walking like a normal person. "-Whatcha thinkin' about?" Danny rolled his eyes, and there goes that plan.
X
Dipper was sitting at the kitchen table nibbling on the end of his pen. This time he was looking at a few of Ford's extra notes on demons and ghosts. He felt that if he stared at that journal any longer, his eyes would fall out. Grunkle Stan had gone out and Mabel was hanging out upstairs making some sort of black and green sweater. Dipper didn't know who for, probably some random guy she met. He sighed and looked back down at the paper.
He only had an hour before he and Mabel will be going out with Wendy and her gang, and Danny. So he guessed he might as well keep trying to figure this whole thing out. Just then the back door opened and Ford walked in looking exhausted. He looked like he had been out all night. Which he probably had been.
"Grunkle Ford?" Dipper stood up from the table, pushing back his chair. "Did you find anything?"
Ford sighed. "It's definitely still in Gravity Falls. And it's close. I found multiple places around the shack that had it's ecto-signature all over them." He looked down at his broken reader. "This thing is powerful and something even more powerful has been around it recently, which is bad news for us."
"Ecto-signature... So you think it really is a ghost?" Dipper asked, looking back to the papers on the table.
"Regrettably, yes. That just means that it is more likely to be as vengeful. But now that we know what it is, we can start putting up some more wards against it. I already put a few deep in the forest that would trap it there if it came across them. But I'm going to need your help setting up some more tomorrow night. We also might be able to track it... once I fix my scanner again that is."
"Right." Dipper nodded. "Tomorrow." Ford pulled himself forward to go towards the lab. Dipper wanted to ask him to have some sleep but he knew the man wouldn't listen. Dipper certainly wouldn't have. He sighed and turned back towards the papers on the desk. Debating whether or not to read through them again.
"You good dude?" Dipper turned his head to look at the door and he saw Soos standing there. He was wearing Stan's Mr. Mystery hat that Stan let him use whenever he went out and there was someone was needed to run the shop. Soos was always ecstatic when it was given to him. A Mr. Mystery in training!
"I'm just a bit tired." Dipper waved him off.
Soos tilted his head. "You sure Dude? You've been looking at those papers for hours now."
"It's just some creature stuff me and Ford are working on. Just be careful around the shack, okay?"
Soos nodded. "Okay whatever you say, dude. But you should really take a break. Aren't you going out with Wendy and her friends later today? Maybe you should grab Mabel." He put his hand on his chin.
Dipper sighed and looked at the papers at the table. "You're right Soos. Thanks." He quickly walked up the stairs to see if he could find his sister and they could talk before they left.
---
Notes
Beta read by gamma_radio.
Here we got some more Danny and Bill conversation! And Danny got to meet Stan for the first time. How does he always get himself in these situations? Lol. Hopefully, this chapter wasn't too fast. I was a little worried about it at first but I think it is okay. Next chapter we will be seeing the rest of the gang and some stuff will happen. I am really excited about it. Any predictions? :3
Please tell me what you thought of this chapter! I love to hear what you guys think. :D
Also if anyone wants to do any fan art for this I would love to see it! <3