Hi, everybody. I was really hesitant to write and post a fic about Dipper and Mabel growing up while the series was still running, but I couldn't help myself. If anything big happens in the coming seasons that renders this future inaccurate, consider it an AU. As of right now, I think it fits with canon.

This will follow Dipper and Mabel from the beginning of ninth grade to their high school graduation. It will cover the events they think are noteworthy and skip the boring stuff in between. It may skip months at random. It may be the product of a sleep-deprived college freshman's mind. I just really wanted to realistically explore their twin bond as they get older and that includes observing *cough cough* the Westermarck effect. Sorry-not-sorry, that side of the fandom. Enjoy :)

The one thing that Dipper knows is that he will not survive the eighth grade.

It's not the cliques or the social anxiety or the locker combination that had worried him before the start of seventh grade- after all, when you've spent the past two summers battling gnomes and dream demons and Gideon, the spawn of nightmares, none of that normal stuff is really so mysterious or terrifying anymore.

His only problem is that none of that normal stuff is mysterious or terrifying anymore. Dipper picks at the food on his plate, stares out the window, and thumbs through the journal absently. Normal life must march on, come the end of August.

Mr. and Mrs. Pines exchange a lot of worried glances, followed by a lot of worried phone calls to the school district. After dinner, they "just need to talk to Dipper for a minute". Mabel lies on the living room carpet and pokes Waddles in his jiggling blubber. She watches the closed door and hums to herself for half an hour.

Dipper comes out eventually and sits on the couch, leg jittering at a million miles an hour. "So…" he begins.

"A needle pulling thread," Mabel says.

"They want me to take an entrance exam. To ninth grade." He kicks the couch faster. "And I'm not sure about it, but I said I would try… just for grins."

"Skipping to high school?! Way to go, broseph! You'll get it. You're like, one-hundred percent genius or something!" Mabel throws her arms around his neck.

Dipper smiles sheepishly. "It'd be cool… but really weird… I mean…"

Mabel clears her throat and lets go of her brother. "Yeah. Um, a little weird. Different, like, schools..."

Waddles snorts. Mabel goes back to poking him. Dipper's leg bounces.

"Hey, if you don't mind, I think I'll ask Mom and Dad if I can take a shot at the test, too," Mabel says after a long time. "You know… just for grins. I'm sure I won't be able to-"

"No! Go for it! You definitely should!" Dipper bites his lip immediately. Mabel has friends going into the eighth grade. Dipper mostly has Mabel.

Mabel boops his nose and skips back in search of their parents.

That night, the Pines parents spend a lot of time arguing with each other and themselves.

Mom never wanted to separate them. In the nursery, preschool, summer camp, ever. If Mabel could move up, too, that would be wonderful.

Dad insists that his baby girl better could not spend one less second in big baggy sweaters and Mary Janes than she wanted. She had better not grow up in high school. If that meant splitting them up so that she didn't hold Dipper back academically, so be it.

Mrs. Pines bites her fingernails, because they just might fall over dead without each other.

They finally agree to just wait and see how the test goes, and go to bed praying for opposites.

When Dipper walks to the bathroom at one AM the night before the test, a light is glowing under Mabel's door. He turns the knob silently and sees her face planted on her desk, drool running onto the open biology textbook he's checked out from the library for recreational reading. Dipper tucks a pillow under her cheek to protect the page and turns off the light. His feet feel heavy as he slips out again.

"BOOM, BABY! I passed the eighth grade in a single day!" Mabel screams, grabbing Dipper by the elbow and spinning around in some deranged polka. "High school, get ready for the Mystery Twins! Oh yeah! We are the smartest people in the entire universe!"

Dipper has placed into the eleventh grade. But there are bags under Mabel's eyes for the first time he can remember.

"Freshman year, here we come!" he replies.

Their parents breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Thanks for reading! This first chapter's mostly setting up for the rest of the story, but I have big plans... *evil laugh* Big plans...