AN1: The title to this is only partially tongue-in-cheek. This is a T-rated story which takes place several years after the events of Weirdmaggedon, when both Dipper (and Mabel) and Wendy are young adults, where their age difference would be much less relevant and anything they would or would not get up to in-universe would be between consenting adults. I am treating these characters as adults, with the requisite age, maturity, history, growth, etc of Weirdmaggedon + several years after that to their characters (whcih means there will probably be some AU stuff that people may take issue with). I do not ever write smut, and I'm certainly not going to start now, but this is definitely on the borderline between a T and M rating, as the adult characters will act and speak like adults, including using profanity, references to sex and drug use, and sometimes outright making things such as sex, drugs, and alcohol as objects of direct conversation. The characters in this story are adults, and will act like it.
AN2: I'm not sure how frequently I will be publishing this story, as I have several others going at the same time (my Chuck fic is probably going to be my first priority, but i also have a Flash/Arrowverse one just about ready to publish the first chapter for as well, in addition to several other pieces I work on when inspiration strikes). That said, I do tend to write each of my chapters longer so that in each update more happens in the story/the readers get something worthwhile each update, etc. As of now, I envisage this story as being relatively short (for me, anyway), consisting of approximately 12 or so chapters. I envision this story to be quite fluffy and similar to the earlier part of the show where even though there was a single consistent plotline/story being driven forward, the "action" of each episode was very sort of serial/baddie-of-the-week. Which is sort of how I envision this story going, with each chapter featuring a "Weirdness of the week" or whatever, but all popping up within the larger context of the overall plot, which is going to be more slice of life, that is a year in the life of Dipper and Wendy taking them from proposal to marriage, in a way that will enable me to have as much of an ensemble, free-form, and fun story as possible.
AN3: English is not my first language, so please bear with me. I do not own Gravity Falls, or any of its characters, settings, etc. All of the intellectual property is owned by Alex Hirsch and the Walt Disney Corporation and its affiliates. I make no profit, bla bla bla.
The Grown-Up Adventures of Age-Appropriate Wendy and Dipper
Chapter 1: A Question
Portland, Oregon
August 31, 2019
Wendy Corduroy exited the fancy restaurant where she and her officially-21-today boyfriend, Dipper Pines, had just been enjoying a fancy, expensive birthday dinner with her belly full and her heart content. Say what you will about fancy restaurants and their hoity-toity attitudes, she thought to herself, but man could they grill up a steak and that sommelier knew his shit when it came to wine pairings, that was for sure. It was all she could do not to belch at the top of her lungs into the cool, damp, pacific northwest summer night air.
She and Dipper walked out of the restaurant with her arm and hand linked with his as they exited and walked down the street.
Rather than returning straight to the car which was parked in the free lot nearby, Dipper silently led her by the hand as they continued onwards. When she quirked her head slightly towards him, questioningly, he blushed lightly and sheepishly looked down at his shoes
God, she thought to herself. He wasn't a little kid anymore, not by a long shot, she smirked to herself as she surreptitiously admired his very not-a-kid-anymore body as she finished her thought. He wasn't a little kid anymore, not by any stretch of the imagination but goddamn, when he blushed and got embarassed like that, he was just as adorable.
"I thought maybe we could go for a little after-dinner walk," he said softly. Confidently.
"It's just tonight's such a nice night and I don't wanna head back up to the Falls just yet...and besides, with all the wine we had at dinner, I'm not sure either of us would pass a field sobriety test if we were pulled over"
"Yeah, that's probably a smart idea, Babe," she said in agreement. "And you're right, it is a pretty gorgeous night out...but what do you wanna do? I mean, you are still the birthday boy for oh…," she paused to check the slim silver watch resting on her wrist. "About an hour and a half...maybe we should find a bar and you can use your fancy new ID to buy a girl a drink?" she said, lacing her voice with heavy flirtation.
She was young, having a great time, and very much in love.
"I dunno," he said in that way he always did when he did, in fact, have an idea but didn't want to seem too intense. "We're not far from the pier, we could go walk along down there, maybe get some ice cream or something?"
"Whatever you want, Birthday Boy," she said, smiling at him. "Like I said, its still your day for another hour and a half...and for the first time ever, you don't have to share with Mabel"
She noticed an ever-so-slight smirk on his face out of the corner of her eye as they walked.
As they walked down the road, Wendy reflected on the long and winding road and many, many years that it took to get them to where they were today. In many respects, it was hardly believable that they had gotten to this place - this relationship that they had with each other - at all in the first place. Especially considering they had first met when she was fifteen and he was only twelve, and that for nearly the whole of their first summer he had had an absolutely adorable, albeit super creepy and entirely inappropriate, crush on her.
For a long time if you had told her she was going to wind up with Dipper Pines, she would have laughed at you. For what she considered to be blatantly obvious reasons - such as the fact that she wasn't a creepy pervy paedo who took advantage of little kids, and adults, or even near-adults like her at age fifteen-plus through seventeen, taking advantage of minors like that wasn't only illegal, to her it was pretty clearly immoral, as well - the relationship she had had with Dipper Pines for most of the time they had known each other was strictly platonic and neither of them had ever said, done, hinted, implied, or otherwise done anything to shift that towards anything untoward in any way. And, up until a few years ago, she had absolutely and completely believed that to be the case and remain the way it would be for the rest of their lives.
It wasn't that she didn't like him, she had liked him quite well since the day that she first met him. He was spunky, adventurous, friendly, kind, ridiculously nerdy and had a good head on his shoulders. Plus, he liked to goof off and go on adventures, and back in the day when she was working part time for his Grunkle, he had turned a blind eye when she and the twins skived off of work to go exploring, without so much as docking her pay, so it was definitely a win-win situation for her. They became fast friends, and by the end of the summer she was able to honestly tell him that he had become one of her favourite people.
Things had gone on more or less the same for the next several years: the Pines twins would come up for the summers, and occasionally, for winter holidays as well and they would spend the holidays splitting their time between working together at the Shack, getting into trouble, exploring, and just lazing around having fun. And when the twins went home again at the end of their holidays, she and Dipper (and Mabel, as well, cos she was also totally cool, just in different way) would write letters, text, talk on the phone, and videochat frequently. Of course, Gravity Falls being what it is, there was of course a lot of weirdness and saving the world - or at least the town - in the mix as well, but on the whole not much changed. The only real exception seeming to be that the cute little crush he had had on her that first year, and which they had had a very necessary heart to heart about, seemed to be completely gone. As far as he, she, or anyone else was able to tell, he was over her. Which was great, because it left them able to get even closer as friends. Some might even say 'Best Friends'. And for a while, it worked. Things carried on like this for quite some time as their friendship grew and became stronger and stronger.
Some people thought it was a little weird one of her closest friends was two-years-and-change her junior and lived most of the year in another state, but she didn't. Dipper had always been mature for his age where things like that were concerned, so she didn't see a problem or issue like some people did, but even more than that, she didn't care about that kind of stuff. To her, cool was cool, and Dipper cool as hell. So what if he was a few years younger than her, she thought. It wasn't like they were gonna start dating, after all, and a few years between friends wasn't uncommon in her high school, and she knew that it would be even less of an issue as they both got older, so she didn't let it phase her.
Of course, as her father was fond of saying, life had a habit of getting in the way of even the best laid plans.
After a few years, puberty wound up hitting the twins like a speeding train. Mabel was the first to get hit, first growing almost a foot between the summer that Wendy had seen her last, then getting her braces removed and growing her hair out, before finally around the time the twins turned fifteen coming into her curves almost overnight to nearly everyone's shock and chagrin turning her from a sweet and innocent young teen to a stunningly beautiful young woman with a beautiful, curvaceous, and womanly body nearly overnight. Wendy was embarrassed to admit that when it first happened she felt a little bit jealous over the apparent ease with which Mabel blossomed. Not that she was ashamed or embarrassed about how she looked: she was very comfortable with the balance between the tomboyish nature she'd had when she was younger with the much more feminine, even "girly" elements of wardrobe - and yes, the curves her own body possed, as well - she was just slightly jealous at how quickly and easily it seemed to come to Mabel when for her it took years of slow change and awkwardness.
However, by the end of that summer when the twins turned fifteen, her focus had shifted from Mabel and had begun to fall almost exclusively her good friend, the not-so-little-anymore Dipper Pines. The puberty train that had steamrolled Mabel had finally caught up with him, and like his twin, he seemed to transition from a cute kid to an attractive young man almost over night. He had grown nearly a foot since the last time she had seen him in person, and a combination of better diet, getting regular exercise, and puberty had slimmed him down, getting rid of the last bits of baby fat that had clung to him previously; his shoulders broadened and chest grew, his arms were most assuredly no-longer "noodle arms", and he seemed to convert anything he consumed nearly instantly into more lean muscle. His face slimmed, his jawline became much more masculine and defined, and he started growing his first peach fuzz moustache. By the time the twins were sixteen, Dipper could grow an actual beard - even if a thin and patchy one compared to her Dad's - in addition to growing an additional few inches and his chest and arms filling out even further with lean muscle. His new look made her start feeling things. Weird things. About him. Things she didn't want to admit to, or think about, or discuss. At all. Ever.
It did her heart good to know that despite clearly hitting the genetic lottery when the puberty train came steaming into town and running them both over that neither of them let their new bodies change them too much. Mabel was still the very same excitable, positive, cheerful, silly, animal-and-sticker loving girl she had always been. Dipper was still the very same adventurous, funny, kind, and just-a-little-bit-shy dork he had always been. Sure, now Mabel was into phones and makeup and boys, too, but that wasn't that much of a change from before. And sure, now Dipper was into lifting weights, and girls, and was expanding his musical and artistic tastes as most teenage boys do, but so what? Wendy didn't mind that at all; if anything, she thought that it made her closer to both of the twins as their newfound interests only made them better able to bond and easier to find things to hang out and do together than it had been before.
But what really made her happy was when Dipper started dating. Noting how well puberty had treated both of them, and with some encouragement from herself, Grunkles Stan and Ford, Soos, and others, the Pines twins started dating with reckless abandon. And there had been many short-ish flings typical of dating at that age that they had had; granted, not quite as many as she had had when she was around that age, but neither of the Pines twins were anything to slouch at, either. There had been a few that had gotten relatively serious: there was a girl at his school back in California that he had dated for almost six months, and he and Pacifica actually tried to make a go of it for a while; they had dated for almost a year before it blew up in their faces in a very public and very final way.
Overall though, she was happy to see him dating. It did her heart good to know that he and she were on the same page: they were very good, but platonic, friends who wanted to see the other happy in their romantic relationships. She wasn't nearly as concerned as he seemed to be about his lack of his relationships working. He was still rather young, after all, and if she was being honest she would have been more surprised about them working long term than she was about his high school flings not lasting. She had, however, started to worry about her own dating life and the fact that no matter what, and no matter how much she seemed to like the guy - or, in the case of Maggie Ruiz and Jessica Birnbaum, girl - it never seemed to work out. In most cases, her "relationships" seemed to last on average less than a month. And unlike Dipper, she wasn't fifteen or sixteen anymore, and she was starting to worry something was wrong with her.
Of course, now with space and distance and understanding, she was able to reflect to herself the reason why all their earlier relationships with people not each other had failed. In Dipper's case, it wasn't fickle teenage emotions, he was still in love with her. For her, it was something equally simple, and equally something at the time she all but refused to even examine, let alone acknowledge to be true: all those other guys and girls weren't Dipper. And even though she hadn't known it at the time, she was already in love with him. But even if she had had the knowledge to recognise this fact at the time, she was far too stubborn, and scared, and several other things besides to have ever admitted it.
The Winter holidays of Dipper and Mabel's Junior year - they were still sixteen, as some of the youngest in their year, as they would be turning seventeen only a few weeks before their Senior year started - when they came up to spend their holidays at the Falls that things started, ever so slowly, to change. At first the changes were minor, miniscule, and so slow that the very real changes in how she felt about Dipper, how he felt about her, and the way they interacted with each other seemed - to them, at least - to be nearly imperceptible. Which, she guessed on reflection, is probably the way these things normally happen and how she didn't realise she was totally and completely smitten until it was too late. A tiny drop of water here or there is barely noticeable, but get enough drops of water together and you have a river that can carve a canyon out of a mountain. It wasn't ever any one thing, or small number of things. It was just a trickle of tiny, nearly imperceptible things on both her part and his, that changed the nature of their relationship in such a way that it was practically unnoticeable to them, until all of a sudden it very much wasn't.
Eventually, though, those great many imperceptible changes began to pile up, and she started to notice things. She started noticing things like the fact that when they would go longer than a day or two without texting or calling, it would start to negatively affect her mood, sometimes to the point where she would snap at him, or do something otherwise to get a rise out of him, just to break the silence. She noticed herself craving his attention - as well as craving him to desire her to reciprocate - more than she ever had before, and a myriad of other little things which she had never had before in any of her platonic friendships she'd had previously.
She had started noticing these things, and they started to bother her. She had thought that what she wanted from him was simple and straightforward: nothing more than a deep, close, platonic friendship. How could she want anything more from him? Especially given how they met? And especially so now, now that they were several years older, he had long-ago abandoned that silly crush of his he had had on her and moved on? Fate really was cruel, she thought, having her start develop feelings for him now that they were finally starting to approach a place where their age differences were starting to become essentially meaningless - and they'd be completely meaningless once he turned 18 - but where he, like a good friend, had abandoned his crush, gotten over her, and moved on.
Slowly, however, the slow trickle of imperceptible changes began to form up into a stream, then a river, and then, eventually, a flood. People were starting to notice some changes: for example, during their movie nights. For as long as they'd been friends, she and Dip had had movie nights. At first, when they were kids, he would come over to her house, and they'd lie on her bed, or she'd hang out with him at the Shack after hours, and they'd cuddle together, and watch terrible old horror flicks that were so bad and so under budget that they were more funny than scary. Then slowly, as time went by, they'd started instead to go to the cinema together and watch whichever comedies or thrillers or action flick was showing at the time, and they'd gorge themselves on popcorn and spend several hours discussing and dissecting the movie until long into the night. This continued even when the twins were back home in California: they'd call each other on the phone, and with the help of the video streaming service of their choice, they'd be able to sit and watch the movie 'together', both from the comfort of their own beds, all the while talking on the phone and making comments about the movie like they always did, long into the night. As time went on, however, their movie night traditions seemed to change again, and they started to once again retreat to the house part of the Mystery Shack, or to Wendy's bedroom, where they would once again cuddle together and watch movies. Except that now, the movies involved were less over-the-top B-list horror films, their films of choice were now usually proper horror - they were great for cuddling - and even RomComs which even the still-somewhat-tomboy-at-heart Wendy knew were the textbook definition of a "date movie". They were practically steps away from "Movie-Streaming-Service-of-your-choice and Chill", and still they both insisted until they were blue in the face that they were "just friends".
But still people started to notice things, and to talk. They noticed that neither Dipper nor Wendy spent much time or energy with other people their own age who were potential partners; they noticed that neither Dipper nor Wendy had been on a date in a long time, and just how "couply" they seemed to be and act, in general, despite how vociferously they both protested the idea that they were a couple.
"I dunno, Brobro," Mabel had said about it once.
She was the first person to say anything about it out loud, to their faces. And luckily for them, by the time she or anyone else had said anything about it, it was the beginning of their winter holidays in Gravity Falls during their senior year. They were 17 and would be 18 in August.
"For people who are apparently 'just good friends', you two are the most couply non-couple I've ever seen in my life"
Her statement was met with resounding agreement from everyone else in earshot, which happened to include not only Soos, but also both Grunkles.
That started the beginning of one of the longest, strangest, and for her and Dipper, most awkward winter holidays any of them had ever had. But, it turned out that in retrospect it was a good thing, as it forced them to confront their feelings and what they wanted.
Eventually, two days before Dipper and Mabel were set to return to California for their last semester ever as high school students, they took a drive out to a coffeeshop in a town on the other side of the valley where they were sure nobody from the Falls would randomly eavesdrop on them.
They had ordered their coffees and sat facing each other awkwardly for some time, trying to somehow postpone or delay what they both recognised to be inevitable.
Eventually, Wendy grew tired and frustrated of waiting and procrastinating. It was better to just bite the bullet and get it over with, she thought. So she started the conversation by jumping straight into the deep end:
"Dip," she asked softly, surreptitiously grabbing the tips of his fingers which were laying flat on the table across from her. "Do you think they're right? Are we...a couple and not even realise it?"
The conversation they had was...important. And long. And, in places, very difficult. But mostly, important. And the end result of it was that they came to an understanding about who they were, what they meant to each other, what they each wanted, and what it was they were doing together. They were, in fact, dating. In all fairness, they probably had been realistically dating since at least the beginning of that year, potentially as far back as the previous Christmas. They just hadn't realised it until that point. But now that they had talked about and come to terms with things, it was like a 900 pound gorilla in the room that everyone else seemed to notice but them.
But the kicker was that, despite all of that, they didn't want to come out into the open about it, just yet.
Not that they were ashamed of who they were or what they were doing, but there were some issues that had to be taken into consideration. The first of those was that no matter how supportive all their friends and family seemed to be, until he turned 18 in August, what they were doing was still illegal. To say nothing of the fact that, despite the fact that she finally understood, recognised, and accepted her feelings for him for what they were, it didn't make her feel any less like a creep or pervert about it. Additionally, they wanted some time to be able to keep their relationship to just themselves for a bit, especially considering over the past year which they had been "dating" they had little to no privacy or aspects of their relationship which was private and just between them, and now that they had finally had the conversation about it, they were very much of the same mind in that they wanted some time to create something strong with a firm foundation they could build a future on. And part of that meant ensuring some level of privacy within their wider circle about some level of the specifics of their relationship: some things, at the end of the day, should just be between themselves. And they wanted time to figure that out for themselves before "going public" and officially letting their friends and family know about their not-so-new relationship status.
From that point onward, things seemed to go by more or less normally until the very end of the summer, on the Pines Twins' 18th birthday. Much to Stan's chagrin, Ford and Soos closed the Shack down for the day so they could throw down an utterly epic 18th-birthday-party for the Twins where nearly the whole town was invited. At exactly 12:01, Dipper's phone buzzed in his pocket with a text from Wendy. By 12:07, they were officially - and publicly - dating.
And the rest, as they say, is history, she thought.
Sure, things may not always have been perfect. After all, no couple is. They fought, and argued, and had misunderstandings and miscommunications and all sorts of other issues, just like any other couple. And she was sure of the fact that these were not the only fights they'd ever have. She was positive that as they continued to live, and grow, and built a life together, she was positive they'd have more fights. Some of them might be important, over things like where to live and how to raise any potential hypothetical future children they might have. Others might be stupid, like a rehashing of their dumb "don't say 'I don't care where to eat' when you really do" argument the the umpteen-millionth time, or more than likely, something even stupider. Knowing both her own personality and his they way she did, Wendy assumed it was more or less a scientific eventuality. But she also wasn't worried about that. People in relationships and who love each other fight sometimes. But, with her and Dipper, they always worked through them, eventually. Their desire to come back to each other and work things out always overpowered whatever other emotions they were feeling at the time. And that, she knew, was the real important bit. That was the thing that would make sure they continued to work until they were old and grey. That was gave her the confidence in the relationship she had with him, and that they would 'go the distance'.
And the fact of the matter was, she thought ruefully to herself as she smiled broadly at the thought: they had been going strong ever since, which as of that moment was exactly three years. And in those three years, she had never felt more wanted, cared for, respected, or loved than she had with Mason.
He was the man of her dreams, and she knew he felt the same about her. It may have taken them a while to get here, but that was fine by her. She knew from experience that if they hadn't taken this long, winding, bumpy road to get to where they were now, they never would be able to last the way she was confident they would. Those years where they laid the groundwork just getting to know each other, being friends, building trust: laying the groundwork for the things that a good, solid, emotionally mature relationship, like the one they had, was built on. Even though it may have taken them a while to get where they were today, get there they had, and she was well and truly thankful.
She was young. She was in love. And she was happy.
"I dunno about that," he said, hesitantly. "It seems… a little...weird, almost, to go for birthday drinks without Mabel," he said, referring to his twin sister with whom he was practically inseparable.
"Well whose fault is that, Dude?" she said, falling into one the tried-and-true nicknames she'd used for Dipper since their very first summer all those years ago, and chuckling.
"I said to you 'Hey, why don't you, Mabel, and me do something special for your 21st' didn't I? And what did you say?"
"I said I thought it might be kind of romantic to do something just the two of us," he said. She could hear the smile in his voice.
"And my god, Dip, when you're right, you're right," she said. "Tonight was amazing. That restaurant, my god that steak was sooooo goooood," she said, using weird voices to emphasise her point, making Dipper chuckle to himself. She looked at her boyfriend, who had cleaned up especially well for tonight and she beamed. Today was a good day.
"You know, I know that today is your birthday and I'm supposed to be the one making your day special," she said
"Any time we spend together, you make special," Dipper replied before she could finish her thought. Smooth.
"Smooth, dude," she said, before continuing. "But I'm serious. I know I'm supposed to be making you feel special today," she continued, "but everything that's happened tonight so far...its like you're making me feel like its my special day and you're absolutely pulling out all the stops to make me feel special," she said. "Well, special-er than normal, maybe," she corrected. "You make me feel special every day, Mason"
She mostly called him names other than what his actual given name was - whether that was Dude, or Man, or Dipper or one of its many derivatives, or even something like Babe or Hun - but they were grown-up adults in a serious, grown-up, adult relationship and so over the past several years she'd started calling him by his actual name more. Not too much to make it weird, but ya know, enough.
"I just want you to feel as special as you are to me, as special as you make me feel, Wen," he said, quietly.
"But it's your special day," she said. "I've already turned 21. Several years ago. In fact, if I recall correctly, you were there"
"Fair point," Dipper replied, before continuing. "But consider: if its my special day, we should be able to do whatever I want, right?
"We're not doing that, Mason"
Dipper's face sill blushed as crimson as it did when he was a kid, and this was no exception. She thought that it was still as cute now as it was then, and even though the way she related to his cuteness was very different now than when they were children, it didn't mean that she still didn't love it and sometimes say things to him that she knew would make him blush just to see the red crawl over his skin like that.
"That...I didn't...that wasn't...joke...I mean…"
Flustered, he caught his breath, forced his blush away, and tried again.
"What I meant, Wendy, was that since its my birthday, what I really wanted to do was dress up in fancy clothes - me in this suit," he said and she caught herself quietly and subconsciously purring contentedly at the way her boyfriend cleaned up
" - and you in that amazing dress," he said, his eyes flicking up and down her entire body in appreciation. She really did glam up well, these days.
"The two of us alone, together, having a nice romantic dinner in a fancy restaurant, nothing weird, no other responsibilities: no school, no essays, no Shack, no Stan or Ford, no Soos, no Mabel...just us. Together. Alone," he said, softly.
Wendy arched her head slightly and caught her boyfriend's lips with hers, and they kissed softly and tenderly on the sidewalk for a moment.
"That was certainly a helluva idea, Mr. Pines," she said as she pulled away. "No wonder everyone calls you a genius"
"Nobody calls me that, Wen"
"Well, they should. Cos you are," she said, snuggling tighter into his embrace as they walked down towards the pier, which was getting closer and closer.
"My man's smart, and kind, and funny, and oh-so-sexy," she said as they walked, boosting him with both her words and the fact that as she listed off qualities of which she loved that Dipper possessed, she planted chaste kisses on exposed parts of his skin - mostly his hand, fingers, and neck - as she spoke.
She noted the blush and smile that, between them, threatened to break her boyfriend's face in half as they walked. As they walked, they finally approached the pier.
It was a nice-enough seeming place, and pretty lively for as late in the evening it was. It was nearly midnight and the area still seemed to be buzzing: little bars and cafes we scattered across several streets and alleyways which led directly to and from the pier. There was a boardwalk that seemed to act as a connector between this new pier entertainment district with the pier itself proper. It seemed to be quite new and was probably a huge investment on the part of the city; but she had a sneaking suspicion that this area was going to be the next up-and-coming place, and that it was probably already pretty cool during the day what with Portland's self-proclaimed weirdness (that to her and Dipper and crew wasn't actually all that weird at all) and whatnot.
"So, what're you thinking, Mr. Birthday Boy?" she asked, as they slowed to a stop in a safe spot to observe their new surroundings. "Wanna find a bar to grab a drink?"
"Maybe," Dipper said. "But I don't know where to go here, obviously," he told her, motioning all the different bars and restaurants and late-night cafes that had just opened since the last time they were able to get away to Portland, and they hadn't been able to read about on the internet.
"Why don't we maybe go walk around in a big circle, down this way over here, down to the water for a bit then back up around, and see where there might be a place that looks fun?" he said, pointing and tracing a big, semi-circular path down the main entertainment streets, down to the pier and waterfront, and back up via a similar entertainment-heavy street, in front of them in the air.
"That sounds like a great idea, Dip," she said, this time disentangling her arm from his and leading him enthusiastically by the hand down the street of this new entertainment area towards the boardwalk and the pier.
The Pier in Portland isn't anything particularly special, of course. One of the things Gravity Falls has going for it that they both agree on is the beauty of its scenery. And sure, the pier and waterfront of Portland may not be as breathtaking a view as those in Gravity Falls, and there was sure plenty of light pollution, but compared to California where Dipper had grown up, even Portland's waterfront was still pretty nice. He and Wendy were still able to look up into the sky - especially far out to sea - and see plenty of bright, twinkling stars.
"Look at all the stars, Dip," Wendy said, squeezing his hand as they reached the edge of the waterfront. "I didn't think we'd be able to see much with all the light pollution from the city, but look"
"Gravity Falls has more"
"Well, yeah, of course dude Gravity Falls is out in the middle of nowhere"
"True"
"They're still absolutely beautiful"
"Yes, yes they are." Dipper agreed. Wendy saw out of the corner of her eyes, however, that he wasn't looking at the stars at all. He was looking at her. And not in any kind of shy, attempted-subtle way that he had used to do when they were kids, either. No, his look was confident. Assured. Steady.
She smiled deeply, contentedly. Then out of the corner of her eye, she noticed him slowly grow nervous and start fidgeting like he used to do when he was younger. She surreptitiously rested one of her hands - which were, like his, both resting on the handrails of the pier as they stood there and watched the sky - on top of his. She hoped that this act, simple though it may be, would do as it intended and show Dipper nonverbally how much she loved him.
Out of the corner of her eye, should noticed Dipper take a deep, calming breath and steel himself as best he could. She had no possible idea what he could be so nervous about, after all, it was just her and they'd been through practically everything together at this point. What could possibly happen that would make him nervous was beyond her, but still found it endearing and ridiculously adorable.
Before she could say anything to comfort and encourage him, however, he reached his right hand into the small pocket on the inside of his suit jacket; as he pulled his hand out, he slowly knelt on the ground next to her.
"Wendy," he said, in as confident a voice as he could muster.
Wendy, for her sake, couldn't believe what was happening. She was excited, and happy, of course, and her hand immediately shot up to cover the expression of shock and joy that was surely covering her face.
"Wen," he said, more softly this time once he saw the realisation spread across her face. He continued, grabbing her hand softly in his free hand.
"Wendy Corduroy," he said, nervously - though he tried so hard to feign confidence, she could always tell when he was putting on a front - "Wendy," he continued, blowing air out of his mouth nervously, as if that would expel his nerves.
"Oh jeez, now that we're here and I'm doing this I wish I had written something down," he muttered, half to himself half to her. "All the websites and everyone I talked to said 'don't worry about what you're going to say: she loves you, all you need to do is speak from the heart and ask her' but now we're here and I'm so nervous I can barely see straight and…"
"Dip," she said softly, breaking him out of voicing his inner monologue out loud. "All the websites were right," she said, her eyes sparkling and dancing with unshed happy tears.
"She does love you, and all you have to do is ask," she said, encouraging him with her words and a smile.
"Wen," he started again, encouraged. "In all honesty, part of the reason this is so hard is because I don't know where to begin. You've been such an important part of my life for so long...and yeah, for a lot of it our relationship was very different, but we've grown and adapted and changed and now...here we are," he said in a way that he hoped didn't sound dumb.
"We've been through so much together...and it's not just that, obviously. Of course. You make me feel so….good, I guess. Does that sound dumb? I hope it doesn't sound dumb," he said, starting to ramble as he got going.
"But its not just that, you don't just make me feel 'good'. Mabel makes me feel good. Soos and Ford and Stan make me feel good. My mom's special taco surprise makes me feel good - well, unless the store had one of its 'special sales' on ground meat that week, which means in that case it usually makes me feel sick, buuuut you already knew that, haha," he said.
"I guess its like….you make me feel whole. I know that that's so cringey and cliche and whatever, but its true, Wen. I tried to get over you, I tried to date other people, I tried so hard to just be able to be your friend, Wendy. You know I did. But I couldn't, because I knew that what we had was different. What we have is different. And special. And I know that I'm normally the one good with words and all that but I'm honestly having such a hard time right now, Wen, you have no idea," he said, chuckling at himself as he poured everything out her there, on his one knee.
"You just...you make me feel things that I don't even have the words to describe. I feel so loved, and supported, and comforted, so wanted and desired and safe. Like I can do anything, as long as you're there beside me. You make me want to be the best version of myself I could possibly be, so that I can deserve the love you give me, so willingly, so unquestioningly, so generously, each and every day, even when I don't think I deserve it," he said, continuing,
"You just...you complete me, as cliche as that sounds, Wen. I can't anyone making me feel the way you do….I can't imagine even the idea of being with someone other than you, Wen. I love you, Wendy Corduroy, and I know that we're both still pretty young and all that but...I mean, maybe if we had just met three years ago, this might be too fast, but considering we've known each other for the better part of a decade, even if we weren't dating all that time," he said, starting to nervously ramble before he was able reign himself in and get back on track.
"I was hoping that well…" he paused briefly and took a deep breath to steady his nerves and look into her deep green eyes and the smile which was threatening to split her face in two before he continued,
"Wendy Corduroy...will you marry me?"
The dam broke. Her eyes which had been twinkling with unshed happy tears during this whole endeavour had released their payloads and happy tears were streaming down her face. The hands that she had moved in shock to cover her mouth came down of its own accord to rest in his hands and her face just-shy-of-literally split in two by how big the smile across her face was.
"Yes," she said, at first very quietly - her voice was soft and almost timid due to the emotions she was feeling at that moment, but she quickly found her voice again and repeated
"Yes! Oh my god, yes, Babe...I can't believe you thought I might not….Dip, I love you so much," she said, as she held the fingers of her out to him so he could slip the ring on her finger.
"I love you, Mason. And I have for years. So much more than I can say," she said, her voice finally finding its normal timbre.
"Yes. Yes, Dip, of course. Of course, yes, I will marry you," she said, her smile big and broad and covering her whole face, her eyes glistening with recently-shed happy tears and twinkling with happiness as she looked into Dipper's face adoringly as she spoke.
"You are...I mean this just...I'm so happy, I can't…" she said, trying several times to get out a coherent statement without breaking down from joy again, but she was just so overwhelmed. Dipper had caught her by surprise, that much was for sure. She hadn't been expecting this at all, not that she thought it was 'too soon' by any stretch of the imagination or wasn't ecstatically happy about it. Nevertheless, she was a bit overwhelmed, and happy tears started falling from her eyes again as she tried to speak, and she used her hands - one of which now contained a beautiful, gold engagement ring - to fan her eyes accordingly.
"Dip, I want you to know how happy I am, how much I love you and how happy this makes me," she said, once her eyes had dried somewhat, and she was able to take his hands in hers.
"I love you so much, Mason "Dipper" Pines. More than you know and definitely more than I can tell you with words. But I do. And I am so excited to get to marry you, and I can't wait for us to go and build our life together"
The kiss they shared as he withdrew his hands from hers could only be described as electric, and borderline not-safe-for-work. But they didn't care, not one single iota. They were young, they were in love, they were together, and now, they were going to get married. Who cared what anyone else said or thought.
Eventually, they did make it to one of the cozy, hip little bars they had passed on their way down to the pier. They were both extremely happy, wired, and looking to celebrate - both Dipper's birthday, and their new relationship status - and Wendy absolutely refused to pass up the opportunity to have her boyfriend - scratch that, her fiance - the newly-minted 21 year old use his brand-new fancy ID to buy them some drinks.
Despite the small size of the port-side bar, it seemed to be really popular with nearly every surface both inside and outside occupied by patrons, including many holding their drinks and engaging in their various conversations crowded closely together and standing up entirely. Dipper and Wendy weren't in the mood to stand, however, and luckily they were able to squeeze into a small two-person-only table at the far corner of the bar. Which was just fine by them, as they had no intention of socialising with a large group of strangers, and such a small table in a somewhat more private and quiet part of the bar at that moment suited them perfectly fine.
Wendy sat at the table, guarding their possessions, that is, mostly Dipper's suit coat which he had taken off due to the heat once they were seated in the bar. He asked Wendy what she wanted to drink and with a quick peck on the cheek and a "be back soon" he sidled up to the bar.
When he finally returned, it was nearly 15 minutes later and he was carrying two beers: an IPA for Wendy and an Amber for himself, as well as four shots of whisky. When he finally was close enough to the table to put down the drinks and sit back down himself, Dipper noticed that she was admiring her engagement ring.
She sat there, like an image of beauty, admiring the ring he had just put there: it was a bit on the plainer side, since they were both still a bit young and didn't exactly have a tonne of money to splash out on engagement rings. Luckily they were both people of relatively simple tastes, so that was just fine with her. It was a simple twisted band of yellow gold, in the centre of which sat a beautiful, if small diamond, of about three-quarters of a carat. It was simple, but it was beautiful, just like the woman whose finger he put it on.
"I hope you like the ring, Wen, but if you don't, or you want to see if there's another style or something you'd like better, we can always go and do that, just say when"
"Don't be stupid, dork, I love it. It's perfect. Just like you"
"I mean, I dunno if I'm...I don't think…." Dipper said softly, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.
"One of these days, Dip, I'm gonna get you to acknowledge a compliment, Dude," she said, her eyes crinkling happily with her laughter.
"After all, I'm not sure if I'm down with how self-deprecating you are, man. After all, that's my future husband you're talking about"
"Yes, dear," Dipper replied, half-serious, half-joking.
"You're learning quickly, Dip," she said, meeting his half-joking tone. "This bodes really well for our married life, you know that, right? After all," she said, continuing to fully tease her fiance now, "what's the saying? 'Happy wife, happy life'?"
"I will spend the rest of our lives doing my best to make you as happy as I can, Wen," Dipper said, fully sincere.
"Of that, Mr. Pines," she said, drinking in his appearance, as well as all the excitement and changes that had happened thus far today, and smiling in appreciation before she continued, "I have absolutely no doubt"
She then leaned over the small circular table and kissed him. She had intended it as a short, quick, chaste affair but one thing led to another and before she knew it, she and Dip were engaged in a pretty intense public makeout session.
Eventually, several long minutes later after they both well and truly needed to stop and come up for breath, Wendy finally noticed what Dip had come back to their table with and curiously asked,
"What's with the whisky?"
"Oh, I guess we get them for free tonight," Dipper said, speaking loudly over the din of the live music that was being played in the far corner from them by a local band whose name they had already forgotten.
"What?"
"Yeah, I guess," Dipper said. "When I went up to the bar to order the bartender lady taking my order carded me and noticed that today was my birthday, and asked me if I was here celebrating with anyone"
Wendy didn't like the way this random bartender was asking her fiance questions like that, but it's not like she would blame him. He was, she was sure, his usual completely clueless self, blinded by happiness, it probably didn't even register to him that she had been flirting with him. But it didn't stop her from narrowing her eyes menacingly at the bartender for the briefest of seconds, regardless.
"Anyway, I told her. I said 'yeah, actually, I'm here celebrating with my girlfriend...my fiance, I mean, I just asked her to marry me and she said yes' and she gave these to us on the house. How cool is that?"
She did agree that it was, in fact, pretty cool.
Later in the evening, Wendy asked,
"So, I take it Mabel helped you pick this out," she said, waving the ring on her hand about just a bit to demonstrate what she was referencing. "She must be going out of her mind not being able to tell anyone"
Dipper burst out laughing, because Wendy's assessment was hilariously spot on.
"Actually, it was for just that reason…amongst others...that I've actually kept this secret from her"
"What? Dipper Pines keeping a secret from Mabel? Who are you and what have you done with my Dipper." she jokingly demanded.
Dipper laughed brightly in response.
"It was one of the hardest things I've had to do," he said. "Not just cos I don't like keeping things from her, but because as you know, she's just as nosy as she's always been, with added, uh…'benefit' that as she's gotten older, she's only gotten more sneaky and better at snooping where she doesn't belong"
"Oh man, Dude, you don't have to remind me," she said, laughing to herself at a memory as she continued. "Remember the time when she tried to spy on your Grunkle Ford to see if the Lilliputian repellant spray he makes was made out of real lilliputians? And she squeezed herself into that tiny standing crawl-space thing between Soos' old break room and the kitchen?"
"Oh yeah, man that was hilarious!" Dipper replied.
"And then what happens?" Wendy said, laughing so hard at the memory she was struggling to speak properly. "Then...then….she winds up getting more than an eyeful of Soos and Melody getting freaky and she couldn't do a damn thing about it!"
They both burst into almost manic laughter, to the point that after a few moments, they were both wiping laughter tears from their eyes and had to sit for a second and catch their breath because they had been laughing so hard.
After a few moments, Dipper caught his breath and continued with what his original thought had been.
"Anyway, like I was saying...do you remember that time I came up a month ago without Mabel? To help Ford with the re-shoeing of the Manotaurs?"
"I remember that you nearly broke your collarbone when Chutzpar chucked you across the river when you shoed him wrong" she said, giggling at the memory now that it was water under the bridge and he was safe and unharmed. But when it was in the process of still happening, she remembered that all she was able to feel at the time was fear for Dipper's health and safety and anger at the Manotaurs for hurting her guy. Even if it wasn't, entirely, on purpose.
"Oh thank you, how could I have forgotten about that," Dipper deadpanned. His pride was still a little bit bruised about the fact that the old Manotaur could still chuck him around through the air like a ragdoll.
"Anyway," he said in a voice that was clear he was trying to refocus the subject of conversation,
"That weekend when I came up, I really lucked out because the minute Mabel heard that I was going up to deal with the Manotaurs, she oh-so-suddenly had unbreakable plans with her boyfriend and/or friends of hers in Piedmont that oh no, I absolutely cannot break these plans, dear brother-mine," he said, replicating the faux-posh accent that Mabel had affected at part of her plan to avoid having to come up to Oregon to deal with her least favourite weird creatures, the Manotaurs.
"I took that as an opportunity and stopped to buy you your ring during my drive up. I've been waiting since then for the perfect time to ask you"
"And you were able to keep it a secret from her for this long? From your parents?"
"You know, just cos I don't like secrecy and shadows and all that stuff doesn't mean I'm incapable of it, ya know," he said, affecting a slight pout
"Well, duh, Dude, you can do anything you set your mind to. I know that," Wendy told him encouragingly. "I just meant that it must have been hard for you"
"It was brutal, Wen," he said. "There were so many times that I thought for sure I'd slipped up and either Mabel, or Mom and Dad, would have found it, or have been on to me, or something," he said, continuing, "but as far as I know, I think I managed to keep it a surprise for everyone. Which was my intention. Because I felt it was important that the first person to see it and all that was, well, you. The person I gave it to," he said, kind of trailing off at the end sort of dumbly.
Not that it affected the way Wendy felt about him, or what had transpired, negatively in any way. If anything, she loved him just a little bit more, which always surprised her since every day she believed that she couldn't possibly love the man she had just agreed to marry any more than she already did. He had a knack for proving her wrong.
"Well, you certainly do have a knack for timing, Dude, always have," she said honestly. He couldn't have planned this better, and Mabel was going to be so angry for the fact that she wasn't involved and it went off perfectly anyway.
"Not to mention not a small amount of the Pines flair for the dramatic," she added, winking as she held his left hand softly in hers, softly contemplating the new, gold adornment that sat on her finger there. Wordlessly she lifted their intertwined hand up to her lips and kissed his hand tenderly, without saying a word. All she needed to say was in that kiss. They both smiled indulgently at the other for a few long minutes before either spoke again.
"We should probably call her," Wendy said, happily.
As much as she wanted to just spend some time with her fiance, just Dip and her, she also was finding it hard to keep her joy to herself at the moment, and Mabel had over the years become one of her very best friends. She figured it was partly due to Mabel's own personality which was still as spunky, rambunctious, fearless, and obsessed with cute things as it had always been; but also, she figured, it was probably partly due to amount of time she'd spent with Dipper over the years, and how close he and his twin were. It was pretty much inevitable.
Plus, she thought to herself, knowing Mabel, the longer they waited to tell her after they officially got engaged, the longer she would be angry-at-them-but-still-happy-for-them for.
"Yeah, we probably should," he agreed. "But not now. Maybe later - or even tomorrow morning, maybe - from the hotel"
"The hotel? What hotel?"
"I booked us a room at a hotel near the restaurant," Dipper said. "Just now, when I was waiting at the bar," he said, waving his phone at her which was open to the confirmation page of a booking of a local hotel.
"I figured, we've both had too much to drink in order to drive home any time soon, and frankly I don't really want to go back up to the Falls tonight, anyway," he said truthfully. "It's a pretty long drive, and it's already late, and…"
"And you and I both deserve some quality alone time as a newly-engaged couple," Wendy said, her voice serious but her eyes twinkling with mischief as she smirked and made her eyebrows dance suggestively
"Well, yeah, that too," Dipper said. "So I figure we stay in the hotel overnight, call them around mid-morning then grab some lunch in the city before heading back up to the Falls…"
"Yeah, that sounds like a plan...wait, what do you mean 'them', Dip?" she said, her gaze penetrating.
"Well, you know," he said. "Mabel, Ford and Stan, Soos and Melody...everyone. They're all in the Falls and the Shack this summer," he said smoothly.
"Smooth, Pines. Smooth. Good save."
"...And you should call your dad"
"Dip, we've talked about this! Did you really go to my Dad and talk to him about this? We've had this discussion several times before...I don't care how traditional and respectful you think it is, I didn't want you to ask my father his permission," she said, pinching her nose between her fingers.
"I'm a person who can make my own decisions as you know very well by now, you don't need to ask my dad's permission to marry me, I'm not a prize cow you're trying to buy, Dip, I'm your future wife and more than capable of making my own decisions…"
Dipper couldn't help but let out a small giggle at her response before quickly shutting that down before the sharp look in her eyes was directed at him more permanently.
"Sorry, my love," Dipper said, holding both her hands in his. "I know. We've had this conversation before and I've heard you and I respect what you've said, and…"
"Then why the hell did you go to my father first?! You don't need to...I don't want…."
"I didn't go to your Dad to ask his permission to ask you to marry me, Wen," he said matter-of-factly. "I know how you feel about that, and to be completely honest, I absolutely agree"
"Then why were you…"
"You're Dad's a nice guy, Wen. I like him, and to my great surprise, he seems to really like me," he said, causing her to snort and laugh.
"I know my Dad likes you, Dip. Because he knows that i love you and you make me happy"
"Exactly," he replied. "And well, he's also just a sweet guy. Really a 'gentle giant' type, and I had no idea until he started wanting me to come, I guess…'hang out' with him would be the best term, though it's not really completely accurate..." Dipper said.
"Look, over the last year or so, about every time, or every other time, I'm up in the Falls, your Dad asks me to come over and we have a drink and talk about life and stuff. You know, he's had quite the life, ya know? He's definitely wiser than he lets on, for sure. So we get a drink or two - usually at your house or the shack because obviously until today I haven't been able to order one at a bar - talk about life, you know that kind of shit," he said.
"At first I did it because I knew it was important to you for me to have a good relationship with your Dad, but after the first few times, I just started to like it for myself, ya know? I think your Dad is a great guy, and he gives good advice"
"Good advice, you say?"
"He told me the name of a really good jeweller with prices I could afford here in Portland, for one thing," Dipper said.
"So you did ask him for permission, Dip! What the hell, Mason!"
"What? No. Wen, I didn't, I promise," he said.
He had never, ever broken a promise to her. She knew that his word was his bond and it was something he'd never break, especially not to her.
Still, she wasn't completely convinced.
"Ok, so...what did you do then?"
"I asked him for his blessing"
"And how the hell is that any different, Dip?" she said, slightly annoyed.
"Well, I can tell you exactly what I told him, and then you can tell me if it's something that you would have rather I didn't do, and if so I'll apologise? I'm sorry I can't do much more than that at this point, but…" he said, sort of trailing off.
"Alright then, Dude, what did you tell my Dad?"
"Alright, well, it wasn't like an immediate thing, of course, we'd been talking for awhile you know? But then eventually I was like 'ok, Sir…' and he was like 'the hell you calling me 'sir' for, Dipper? My name's Dan, you know that…' and I was really nervous, ya know? I thought, ya know, given the conversation, I should be calling him 'Sir' but he really, really insisted, you know how it is," he said, continuing as he saw Wendy nod in understanding.
"Anyway, so, I was like 'alright then. Dan. You know that Wendy and I have been together for a while now, and well, I was thinking…'," he said, beginning to tell her the story of what happened.
"Then your Dad was like 'ah, so you've come to ask for my permission to ask Wendy to marry you, then?' and at first I was going to, ya know, cos despite everything he's still 'Manly Dan' and huge and can be kinda scary when you're having that kind of an important conversation, ya know?"
He noticed Wendy smiling slightly and nodding for him to continue.
"But then I remembered the conversations we've had about this, and I knew it was important for you that I didn't. So I didn't. I said 'Actually, Manly Dan, no I'm not. Wendy and I have talked about this a lot, and whilst I and I'm sure she as well would love to have your blessing or support, we don't need your permission. She's an independent woman who can think for herself and make her own decisions about what she wants. And whilst I hope that we can have your blessing for our marriage and future life together, should that be what she wants, I am not here looking to buy a pig or a tree or a house. I'm here to tell you how much I love your daughter and that I intend to ask her to marry me in the near future. Sir.'," he said, noticing the smile on Wendy's face no longer had any of the trace of frustration or anger it had a few moments ago.
"And you know what happened next?" he asked, leaning in to her in a pseudo-conspiratorial way.
"No, what?"
"Your Dad literally picked me up, gave me a bear hug, and said that he was glad to hear what I had told him. He said 'I knew my little girl had a good head on her shoulders, but this is better than I might have hoped for. I'm just so glad that she's been able to find someone as good for her, and who makes her feel the way you do, Dipper. You have my blessing and support, you always have. You make my daughter happy, and she clearly makes you happy as well, and that's really all I care about. You've made me a really happy man, today, Pines," Dipper continued.
"Aww, Dad," Wendy replied softly, her eyes ever-so-slightly moist.
"Then he crushed my spine just a little bit and told me to promise that you'd call him as soon as possible after I asked you," he said, sheepishly. "So, uh, yeah. That's why I said you need to call your Dad. I hope that, uh, I didn't misstep or anything, Wen. You know I'd never…"
His unnecessary apology was cut off mid-sentence by her lips slamming against his in a passionate, barely-safe-for-the-public, kiss that told him everything he needed to know.
"Let's get out of here," she said as they pulled away. "This band sucks and there's too many people here...let's head to the hotel and order some room service," she said, winking suggestively at him as he hastily dug into his wallet to fish out enough notes to cover their tab.
Dipper woke first the next morning; he didn't want to, as he was exhausted from the celebrations and emotional night they had had the night before. But they had forgotten to close their hotel room window the night before and he was roused by a combination of light streaming into their room and a soft, cool breeze blowing something long and soft - which, after a few moments to compose himself, he realised was Wendy's hair - tickling his face and brushing up against his nose and lips.
The tableau that greeted him as his brain caught up with his body in wakefulness was one that he didn't think he'd ever quite get used to or tired of. He lay, naked and flat on his back in the middle of a big king-sized hotel bed with an also-naked Wendy laying half-on-top-of and half-next-to him; her head was nuzzled in between the his head and shoulder, where his neck met his collarbone, and she had one arm draped across his chest with her hand resting off of his body and laying under the pillow that lay on the other side of his head. Her mess of long, beautiful red hair was splayed out in all directions: most of it draped across her shoulder, but the rest was splayed out behind her like a halo covering both the pillows they were sleeping on, as well as covering parts of his face, and in particular tickling his nose and somehow finding its way randomly into his mouth. Her chest and the rest of her upper body was draped across his - one thing he discovered he loved about sleeping in the same bed as her once their relationship had taken on this sexual aspect, was that she always seemed to wind up snuggling close and embracing him deeply over the course of the night, almost without fail - with the rest of her body twisted into what he thought was a very strange position which couldn't possibly be comfortable: her lower body, hips, and legs were laying to the side of him so that her body formed some kind of weird approximation of the double-helixed shape of a DNA molecule. Her leg which lay closer to his body had her knee draped over him just above his groin, with the rest of the leg draping casually over the other side of him, much like her arm. The sheets and blankets which they had started the night fully covered by were now laying in a scrunched up pile towards the foot of the bed, barely covering his feet and shins.
He lay like that for several minutes, simply drinking in the scene that greeted him. He studied the scene before him as if it was the most beautiful and priceless piece of artwork he had ever seen, taking in every centimetre of her: the way her hair splayed out like that made it look in the early morning sun like her hair was a halo made of fire, the way her freckles spread across her shoulders, back, and chest in such a way that perfectly enhanced the milky pale colour of her skin; the star-shaped birthmark on her left butt-cheek, the way the curves of her body seemed to fit so perfectly to his own body, as if they were two complementary jigsaw pieces. The way her body softly rose and fell with her breath in her sleep, the way that even then, early in the morning after a night of celebration and amorous activities and long after her perfume had worn off, she still smelled faintly of honey and flowers. It was, in a word, perfection, and he was content.
She was very clearly still soundly asleep and he tried his best to simply lay as still and as quietly as he could - and maybe even fall back asleep for a few more hours himself - as she slept. He very carefully, quietly, and slowly drew his free hand - that is, the hand which was not pinned to his side by his fiancee's sleeping position - to draw her hair out of his mouth and eyes and away from his nostrils, so that he would avoid sneezing or otherwise disturbing her so she could continue to sleep for as long as she wanted.
Unfortunately for them both, his traitorous body decided that was not to be, for as soon as he had finished moving her hair out of his face his body let him know in no uncertain terms that the food and drinks from the previous night had made their way through his system and demanded he relieve himself of the waste remaining in his bladder. As quickly and quietly as he could so as not to wake her, he extricated himself from Wendy's sleepy embrace and made his way to the toilet. When he left the bed, he heard her sleepily mumble something about doughnuts and saw her adjust her sleeping position to cuddle the pillow he had been using moments before as if it was his body.
He was quick in the toilet and within a matter of moments he found himself approaching the bed again, fully intending to see his still-sleeping fiancee in the position he had left her, and to carefully and quietly climb back into bed with her and hopefully catch another hour or two of sleep. To his surprise, however, when he returned not only was Wendy no longer asleep, but she was now clearly fully awake and laying on her side, with one arm draped over her torso and chest as it had been in her sleep, but the other arm being used to prop up her head and upper body into a position which was almost perpendicular to the pillow. She was smiling languidly like a cheshire cat.
"Well good morning to me," she said seductively, her eyes taking in every inch of his currently-very-naked body as he approached the bed. "I don't remember ordering room service"
He approached the bed more quickly now that he saw she was awake. He crossed the remaining distance between the room's toilet and the bed in a matter of a few steps, but instead of getting straight back into bed with her, he stood at the edge of the bed, placed an arm on each side of her and gave her a lingering, but chaste, kiss.
"Really?" he asked, playing along with her banter. "Because I have the order right here and it's quite clear," he added, continuing "one serving of fiance, to be served hot, first thing in the morning," he said, winking at her flirtatiously as he kissed her again.
"Oh yes, so silly of me, how could I have forgotten?" she asked, in a matching teasing tone, as they separated. "Enough games, lover boy," she continued. "Come back to bed and warm me up, handsome"
After two rounds between the sheets and another hour so of sleep afterwards, by mid-morning they were both finally properly waking up and getting ready to start their day. They decided that the first order of business was to call Mabel and give her the good news, not least of which was because Wendy was so eager to share the happy news with someone she was about ready to burst.
So they sat together in bed - this time making sure they were covered enough by the sheet and duvet to appear decent - and Dipper reached over to the bedside table where his phone was charging so they could videochat with the other Pines twin.
After a few moments of ringing, Mabel's sunny smiling face appeared on the other end of the chat client. She seemed to be impossibly and ridiculously chipper for someone who just turned 21 the night before and had almost assuredly spent the previous night drinking Gravity Falls dry.
"Morning, BroBro," she said happily. "We missed you last night"
"Yeah, well," he said rubbing the back of his neck out of a combination of nerves and habit. "Had a bit of a previous engagement," he said, chuckling at his own double-entendre.
"That you did, Dipper, that you did I hope you kids had fun," Mabel replied. "Are you as hungover as I am right now?"
"That depends on how hungover you are"
"Extremely," Mabel deadpanned.
"Coulda fooled me, Sis," he replied. "You look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, as Grunkle Stan would say...and you're way too chipper to be hungover"
"Bro, I feel like my head's been run over by a mack truck and then shoved in a woodchipper...don't confuse my sunny disposition for an ability to consume alcohol without a hangover," she said, and Dipper and Wendy both chuckled.
"Well, considering I didn't drink all the booze in Gravity Falls, no I can't say my hangover is as bad as yours, Mabel," Dipper replied.
"I didn't drink all the booze in Gravity Falls," Mabel replied. "Grunkle Stan and Soos and Gretta drank some too"
"Oh well, that makes so much of a difference"
"It does!"
"If you say so," he replied.
"I do," Mabel countered. "Hey, where's Wendy?"
He had been holding the phone vertically so that the picture was focused on him for the moment, meaning that Wendy was until that point out of the frame. At her question, Dipper flipped the phone to horizontal, so that Wendy would be in the frame and she could join in the conversation.
"I'm right here, Mabes," she said as she came into focus in the frame of the videochat client.
"Hey girl"
"You have sex hair, Wendy," Mabel said, without preamble.
"Well, there is a reason for that…," Wendy began, her voice inflecting upwards at the end of the sentence in the hope that her meaning was, well, quite clear. It didn't hurt that Dipper was discretely holding up four fingers on his free hand - but keeping it low and only within Wendy's peripheral vision - and mouthed to his twin 'four times'.
Wendy of course wasn't clueless and saw exactly what he was doing and turned beet red. And because they were both naked under the duvet, it wasn't just her face that was flushed.
"Four times? Look at you go, BroBro!"
"Mason!" she play-shrieked at him, and slapping him not-so-softly on the chest as she pretended to be more offended than she actually was - though that isn't to say she was particularly pleased about it - "why would you tell her that!"
"To get exactly that response from you," he replied, his voice full of teasing and laughter, and not even pretending to be ashamed, not even a little bit, as he stuck his tongue out at her and blew a raspberry.
"Ugh, sometimes you can be so immature," she said, playing along, her embarrassment having already passed.
"But you love me"
"God help me, I do," Wendy replied tenderly, giving him a soft - and chaste - kiss.
"So Mabes, how was your 21st?" Wendy asked, running her left hand through her hair, completely oblivious to the fact that the sun was streaming in at the absolute perfect angle to reflect and twinkle off the diamond she now wore on that hand.
"Oh, you know pretty standard Wendy….wait, hold on just one fucking second," Mabel said, her eyes immediately latching on to the shiny rock that rested on Wendy's left hand.
"What the fuck. What the fuck. What the actual fuck is that on your hand, Wendy Corduroy?!"
Wendy and Dipper were both momentarily taken aback by the emphasis and passion behind the other Pines twin's words. So much so in fact that it took Wendy a few seconds to recover and get her bearings again before speaking.
"What? Huh...oh, right. Yeah," she said, looking down at her hand momentarily and smiling shyly.
"So, uh...surprise," she said, lifting her left hand to give a much closer and more direct view of the ring.
"We're engaged!" Wendy and Dipper happily cried out in unison.
For a split second, you could hear a pin drop. Mabel was silent, almost as if their news had shocked her silent. This was then followed by the most high-pitch, earth-shattering shriek of joy either of them had ever heard, accompanied by a quite dizzying series of visuals as Mabel forgot all about the chat client open on her phone and shrieked and screeched and cheered happily running around in ever expanding concentric circles around her room, jumped on the bed, danced in place despite their being no music, and otherwise just generally celebrated the news, all with her phone still clutched in her hand and the videochat client still open.
Then came the anger they knew would be an eventuality, once she realised that she had been excluded from all the planning and consultation of her brother's proposal. Of course, it wasn't real anger - she was of course still over the moon about the news - but she was still also furious about not being able to be involved, and when that sort of frustration is being directed at you, it does get difficult to tell the difference between the two.
"MASON! ALEXANDER! PINES! I AM SO ANGRY AT YOU! I AM SEEING RED! I COULD SPIT A HORSE!"
Even now at 21 her use of mixed metaphors and colourful language as was now on display was absolutely one-of-a-kind.
"I AM SO ANGRY AT YOU, DIPPER! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME OUT OF THE LOOP LIKE THIS! THIS IS SUCH A HUGE DECISION AND THERE WAS SO MUCH TO DO, I COULD HAVE HELPED, I COULD HAVE…" she continued ranting for several minutes, explaining in explicit detail why he was wrong to exclude her and not consult her for her "wisdom". After all, she *was* older by five whole minutes, a fact that even now, long after such things mattered, she never let him forget.
"I AM YOUR TWIN SISTER MASON, AND IN CASE YOU FORGOT OR HAVEN'T NOTICED, I'M ALSO A GIRL! DIDN'T IT MAYBE OCCUR TO YOU THAT I MIGHT HAVE SOME INSIGHT ABOUT HOW TO CHOOSE A RING OR PLAN A PROPOSAL OR…"
She continued on like that for several more minutes until she finally appeared to lose a bit of steam. She paused in her ranting to take a few deep breaths. Breaths which, Dipper and Wendy hoped, would mean she was calming down and the yelling would stop soon.
They couldn't have been more wrong. The yelling didn't stop, it merely changed targets.
"AND YOU!" She said, turning her focus to Wendy. "HOW COULD YOU HAVE GONE A WHOLE DAY WITHOUT TELLING ME THAT MY BROTHER PROPOSED TO YOU! WHAT THE HELL!? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE MY FRIEND, WENDY, HOW THE HELL COULD YOU NOT CALL ME LIKE, IMMEDIATELY, RIGHT AFTER IT HAPPENED?! I NEED DETAILS GIRL, UGH I AM SO ANGRY AT YOU RIGHT NOW! I'M ALSO SO HAPPY I COULD LITERALLY BURST INTO TWO, OF COURSE, I LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH BUT OH MY GOD LITERALLY CANNOT BELIEVE THE TWO OF YOU! SO RUDE! I AM SO ANGRY I CANNOT FUCKING SEE STRAIGHT! AHHHHHHHH!"
She continued on like that for several more minutes before she had finally said her piece and began to calm down enough to talk to them like a normal, civilised, adult.
"Right, well, let's see it then," she said after a few moments. "Give us a proper look at the ring my idiot brother gave you," she said, smiling awkwardly over her outburst. "Please"
Wendy happily obliged, bringing the ring as close to the camera as she possibly could without making the image blurry, and showing Mabel every possible angle she could without taking the ring off.
"Oh my god, Wendy, its beautiful," the now calm Mabel was gushing. "What about the proposal itself? Tell me everything," she asked, and which Wendy was more than happy to oblige her, retelling the events of the previous detail in almost excruciating detail - up until the point Dipper put the ring on her finger, of course. Everything that happened after that, well, that was private.
"Damn, well look at you, BroBro," she said after several minutes, her voice begrudgingly respectful of the choices Dipper had made regarding the ring and way he had proposed to Wendy.
"Looks like you didn't need my help after all - not that I'm not still furious that you didn't even talk to me about this, like not even once," she added, continuing. "I mean we're twins for christ sake, it's not like we have a special twin bond or anything," she continued, putting a slight sarcastic twang to her voice as she continued.
"But it looks like you found the perfect ring and popped the question in just the right way even without my help. I'm proud of you, Dipstick."
Dipper chuckled at her antics before replying.
"Thanks, Mabes," he said simply. That was all he needed to say, she understood what he meant. After all, they were twins and did share a special connection, just like she said.
After a few moments, the conversation turned to other, more mundane, things and Dipper, who very much needed a shower, took that as his cue to make a graceful exist.
"Alright guys, I'm gonna grab a shower," he said, planting a kiss on Wendy's cheek before extricating himself from the bed in such a way that he hoped hid the majority of his nakedness from his sister. Sure, it wasn't anything she hadn't seen before, but that was a long time ago and neither of them needed that embarrassment.
What he didn't account for was that the angle he used to get out of bed just happened to leave his butt exposed to his still-very-frisky fiancee, who seized the opportunity to happily and comedically smack his ass, which would have been fine with him had she been following behind to join him. But the fact that she was staying in bed to chat with Mabel, coupled with the very clear "Woo! Get it girl!" coming from said sister at her act of smacking his ass made him blush a deep crimson and make his way to the bathroom as quickly as he could without appearing to lose his cool.
An hour later and Dipper and Wendy had both showered and cleaned up as best they could, before putting on the clothes they had worn the night before and both cursing the fact even though they both knew they were going to be spending the evening in Portland and that alcohol would most likely be involved, neither had thought enough ahead of time to plan to bring changes of clothes or anything else - or even booked a hotel room in advance, it was all very last minute - and so they had to deal with wearing not-quite-clean clothes even after they'd just showered. Despite that, they both felt refreshed, energetic, and happy. After Wendy ended her phone call with Manly Dan, they checked out of their room, collected the car from where they had left it in the free lot near the restaurant from last night, and left Portland, bound first for Waffle House, and then Gravity Falls, and the future.