by Silver
(Edited by orangeinterlude)
This series was a result of collaboration involving allula, delltine, gpivy, katedakat, lordlyhour, orangeinterlude, silver and smolmuffin on the TAU slack chat.
Summary: A young Mizar questions Alcor about one of her past lives, little does she know the shenanigans her past life got into.
This was supposed to be a ficathon thing but nobody got it submitted so it’s late. Prompt is Mizar with a crush on Alcor. This has been in the works a while. I know somebody else got this prompt but we forgot to claim it to that’s our bad. Enjoy the shenanigans.
“Hey Dipper~!” Nadia’s drawn-out sing-song voice immediately caught Dipper’s attention. That was a strong indication that she was Up To No Good™. He paused in the middle of tucking in her sheets to lift his head, eyebrow raised. She smirked back at him.
“I gotta question!” Dipper was certain he could predict the topic. Nadia was only six, but she was extremely curious about her past lives. Due to this curiosity or a desire to annoy him (one of her favorite pastimes), Dipper was faced with a terrifying question:
“Has there ever been a me that had a crush on you?”
He’d opened his mouth to respond before he realized what she asked, and it clicked involuntarily shut as the question was processed. Nadia attempted to stifle a giggle.
He could recall that there had, in fact, been a Mizar who fit that description. He fumbled for a moment before finally electing to indulge Nadia’s curiosity.
“Her name was Peggy,” Alcor began, smiling down at the young Mizar. Her soul shining and bright and amazing like all those before her, “And her ‘crush’ is quite the story to tell.”
He went silent for a moment as he dug deep for his memories of one Margaret Tran. (She had abhorred that name: ’Peggy or nothing,’ as she’d always insisted. ‘Nice to meet you Nothing,’ he’d teased her back.)
He remembered…chocolate brown eyes and borderline infatuation with hats. A blush that almost reached carmine when she was feeling self-conscious, embarrassed, or particularly irate. How she always had given him candy and had almost always been glad to see him. And on one particular occasion, how she’d taken down a fully grown man with her bare hands, despite being only 5 foot 2.
Dipper also remembered how his reluctance to inform her about exactly who he was had backfired spectacularly, despite trying desperately to avoid everything he had done wrong with Bentley. He had missed that apparently a mysterious gentleman who could grant all your desires could be considered attractive qualities.
Frankly, his entire involvement with her incarnation had been an utter catastrophe.
But…there were some good parts there that would likely entertain a six-year old till she nodded off to sleep. Dipper got himself comfortable, reclining lazily in the air next to Nadia and considered where to start. Perhaps…. at the beginning….
‘
‘Honestly,’ Dipper grumbled as he waded through the crowd, ‘kids these days.’ The concert was packed to the brim, and it made finding Mizar all the more difficult. It was fortunate he had his connection to her to rely on. Using his link to her soul as his guide he pushed his way through the crowd of teenagers.
And then suddenly, there she was. Right in the center of everything, dancing in the mosh pit. Or, trying to dance, anyway. She was having a bit of trouble getting in. Dipper saw his chance and went for it.
He tapped her on the shoulder. Mizar jumped about half an inch in the air, before whipping around to confront the offender.
Dipper gave his best embarassed, non-threatening smile. It suited on the pre-teen form he’d donned for this event.
“Did you sneak out too?” He asked, shifting awkwardly. He sighed inwardly. ‘So much for suave, Pines.’
Luckily, Mizar’s latest incarnation didn’t seem to mind. “Yep!” She boasted proudly, “You too?”
Dipper hesitated a little, before playing along, “Uh, yeah. My parents would, uh, totally ground me if they knew.”
Internally, he winced at his response. He hated lying to Mizar, not to mention how transparent his lie was.
"What? I can’t hear you over the music!” Yelled Peggy, trying again for the mosh pit.
“I said, YES- ̡MY ͠PA̸RE̛N̵T̀S͢ ͜W̡OU͟L͠D GROU̸ND͝ ̨M͟E҉ I̸F TH͏EY̨ ͜KNEW I͞ W͡AS ̨HER͢E!҉”
Cringing, Dipper really hoped Peggy hadn’t noticed the echo. Hopefully the music had covered most of it.
Peggy gave no indication that she’s heard anything amiss in his response, merely tossing grin back at him. "Same here! But who cares, right?“ she laughed. “I’m Peggy by the way. You?”
"Tyrone,” Dipper replied automatically. Having used that alias many times, it had become almost a reflex to introduce himself as such.
“Nice to meet ya Tyrone. Wanna go get some food?” Peggy asked, finally giving up on the mosh pit.
Dipper nodded, secretly glad she stopped trying. This Mizar…Peggy… really was being kind of reckless.
“Sure.” he replied, attempting to appear nonchalant, “Lead the way.”
Unfortunately, as it turned out the concert food was overpriced, and Peggy didn’t have much cash on hand.
“Why does the food always have to be so damn expensive!” Peggy complained.
Dipper didn’t even hesitate. “I’ve got cash.”
She began to politely refuse, but he insisted. In the end, he bought a hot dog for each of them. Sadly, the food was just as low quality as it was pricey.
“What a rip-off!” Peggy complained.
“Total waste of money.” Agreed Dipper, despite his mouthful of hot dog.
They both were about halfway through the snack when a loud burst of feedback screamed over the speakers. An obviously inebriated manotaur had hopped up on the stage and thrown one of the speakers at security. Suffice to say that was the end of the ‘official’ concert.
As the crowd began to get rowdy, the security staff began to process through the crowd to confront the trouble makers.
It was at this point that Peggy and Dipper agreed that it was probably best to leave before the cops showed up. Shorty thereafter a small fire broke out as the drunken brawl continued. Luckily the pre-teen and pre-teen-appearing-demon made it outside the stadium unchecked and untrampled.
Looking back from a distance at the chaos, Peggy felt relived. “Good thing we got out of there when we had the chance…Although, I wonder if I’ll be able to get a refund. They didn’t even get to play Star Duo!”
The concert venue was bathed in blue and red flashing lights, and surrounded from all sides by emergency response personnel. ‘Tyrone’ stared numbly. He had a sinking feeling that this Mizar was going to be the metaphorical death of him.
The said Mizar turned to him brightly. “Hey, what’s your number man? I’ve gotta buy you lunch sometime to make up for tonight!”
Dipper hesitated before deciding to tell her the truth. “I, uh, I don’t really have a phone, but maybe we’ll see each other around town?”
“Oh,” Peggy looked a bit put out, but she bounced back quickly. She gave him a short smile. “Fine. See you around then.” She spun on her heel, running off to sneak back into her room before anyone could notice. Dipper stood, watching her to make sure she was safe, long after she was out of a normal human’s range of eyesight.
She reminded him of Acacia, Dipper decided. Smiling at the memory of his niece, he blipped back into the dreamscape as the firemen showed up.
Nadia was laughing maniacally at the story. An echo of footsteps approaching came from the outside hall. The door opened as Nadia’s mother entered the room to tuck her giggling daughter into bed. From where he hovered, Dipper could sense the tired exasperation radiating from the overworked woman.
“Dipper’s telling me a funny story! It’s about the time him and past-me-who-wasn’t-me went to a concert and everything went crazy!”
The exhausted woman just rubbed her eyes. “That’s nice, dear. Now please go to sleep or stay quiet so your dad and I can sleep.”
“Okay. Sorry Mom.” Nadia nodded solemnly, though a giggle still managed to bubble up.
She made a show of snuggling into her sheets, as her mother turned out the lights. Nadia feigned sleep for about ten seconds before rolling over to face the demon hovering in the corner.
“What happens next, Dipper?” She whispered excitedly, “Does she ever find out you’re a… whatever-you-called-it? When did she get a crush on you?”
Dipper paused a moment, then sighed. Clearly, this story was not doing much to help her sleep, but obviously she was not going to let this go.
“We saw each other a few times after that, but it wasn’t until she was 14 did she figure out what I was….” He paused as an idea struck him. “Tell you what, I’ll tell you that bit of the story, but you have to go to sleep right afterward and you have to be quiet. Deal?”
Dipper extended his hand, alight in blue fire. Nadia shook it unflinchingly. “Deal.”
She made herself comfortable, snuggling into the covers. Dipper waited until she had closed her eyes, and continued telling the tale.
backup 
