A/N: Set when the twins are fifteen
CONSOLATION
Dipper lay back with a relaxed sigh, leaning against his pillows as he took up a book from the pile of reading material he had amassed at the side of his bed. It was a sci-fi book about the future collapse of society at the hands of a mass infestation of brain parasites.
Dipper had come across real brain parasites once or twice in the last few years, but the book held his interest nonetheless, and he rapidly left reality behind, becoming absorbed in his reading as he always did.
He had the house to himself tonight, as his parents were away on a weekend trip together, and Mabel was having a sleepover with her boyfriend Jonas and a few of their friends. He liked the occasions like this, when he was left to his own devices.
He loved spending time with his sister more than anything, but he still enjoyed his alone time every now and again, especially when he could read in silence, relishing the quiet and the warm light of his bedside lamp.
Despite being deeply wrapped up in his reading, now at the point where the protagonist Kirk was trying to figure out if Martha had been infected or not, he still couldn't shake the excitement building in him. It was only two weeks until summer, which meant that in only fourteen days, he and Mabel would be on their way for their fourth summer in Gravity Falls.
No matter how many summers they spent there, they always found new mysteries and adventures, the town simply held so many secrets. And of course, it would mean getting to see everyone once again.
It was as these thoughts washed over him for about the thousandth time that Dipper heard the front door open and subsequently slam loudly. Dipper jumped, snapping to attention in an instant.
"Mabel?" he called.
Receiving no answer, he cast his book aside and left his room behind, walking along the hallway and heading down the stairs.
"Mabel?" he called again. Still no answer. "Everything alright?"
Something bad must have happened for her to return home before the morning, and especially in what seemed to be a foul mood. Dipper made his way through the house until he arrived in the kitchen, and there, sure enough, was Mabel, her back turned to him, currently assembling a large sandwich at record speed, slapping mustard on the bread before piling up salami and cheese. This too was a bad sign. An upset Mabel could eat her way through the entire kitchen, as she sought food as a source of comfort.
"Mabes, what's wrong?" Dipper said concernedly.
"Nothing", she said quickly.
"Mabel, I can tell when you're upset", Dipper said. "I mean come on, you're back from your sleepover early, that never happens".
"Leave me alone Dipper", she snapped as she went to sit at the kitchen table.
Dipper was taken aback. They got on each other's nerves every now and again, but it was rare to hear such hostility. Dipper sighed, and took a seat opposite her.
"Did you have a fight with Jonas?" he inquired.
Mabel, her eyes blinking rapidly, nodded forlornly as she took a monstrous bite from her sandwich.
"Alright, what did he do?" Dipper said.
He was already feeling his brotherly instincts kicking in. He liked Jonas, he seemed like a nice guy, but nobody messed with his sister.
Mabel shook her head, beating back tears as she took another bite of the sandwich.
"Just talk when you're ready", Dipper said.
He waited patiently as Mabel demolished her sandwich, until, as she finally finished it, she sat with her arms crossed and her head drooping.
"You ready?" Dipper said.
Mabel nodded.
"It's… I just… it's nothing", she said in a watery voice.
Dipper left his seat and crossed the kitchen to Mabel's side of the table. He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Come on Mabel, you can tell me", he said reassuringly.
Mabel seemed to hesitate for a few moments, then practically pounced from her seat and pulled Dipper into a hug so tight that the breath was forced out of him and his ribs seemed to merge with his internal organs.
"THE STUPID JERKFACE WAS CHEATING ON ME", she yelled, before she burst into tears, sobbing into Dipper's shoulder.
After taking a moment to recover, Dipper breathed in a deep gasp of a breath, and wrapped his arms around Mabel. Despite the rage that was now filling him, his image of Jonas as a "nice guy" shattering, Dipper maintained his composure for Mabel's sake. She needed comfort, not anger right now.
He let her cry it out, rubbing her back as her entire body shuddered violently with each heaving sob. Finally, after several minutes, it came to a stop, Mabel relinquishing her grip on Dipper and sinking miserably back into her seat again. Dipper took the seat beside her.
"I'm so sorry Mabel", he said, still trying very hard to supress his rage at Jonas. "I can't believe… why would he even…?"
"I don't know", Mabel said, her voice barely above a whisper, a few tears still spilling from her eyes. "It… It was awful, bro-bro. He's been seeing like, three other girls behind my back".
Dipper clenched his fists. Noodle arms be damned, he was going to punch that bastard harder than he had ever been punched before.
"Summer invited one of her friends, Amy, to the sleepover, and when she arrived, it turned out she was one of the g-girls Jonas had been s-s-seeing".
"What happened next?" Dipper said, gripping her shoulder.
"Well, you can probably g-guess that Jonas was scared out of his butt by this, and I got m-mad at him, and Amy got mad at him, and it pretty quickly became a huge fight. Jonas ended up saying the only r-reason he was a big, stupid cheater was because I wasn't good enough for him".
"He said WHAT!?" Dipper yelled, his anger spilling out despite his attempts to control it.
"He said that he was doing me a f-favour by b-bothering with me at all", Mabel said, the tears coming a little harder again, her throat painful. "That I was ugly and weird, and nobody else would ever even look at me twice".
By now, the red mist was descending. Dipper was tempted to go over there right now to punch the douchebag, even harder than he had originally planned, but he resisted the urge. Mabel needed him right now.
"I… I can't even begin to…" Dipper said. "What in the name of hell made him think he had any right to say any of that?"
"I don't know", Mabel said. "But it was so horrible, Dipper. He said all of this stuff in front of my friends, it was embarrassing".
"They did defend you, right?" Dipper said.
"Well, yeah, they were all super angry with him too", Mabel said, "but it was still sucky. I can't believe he would say any of that stuff. I… I thought he was right, bro. I… I really thought I'd found someone awesome in him, but… he was just… just a…"
"Total asswipe?" Dipper said.
"Yeah, he was", Mabel said, now starting to sound more and more indignant. "Nothing but a lying butthead. How could I not see that from the start? I can always tell what people are like, that's like my thing, broface. But with him, I really thought he was a good guy".
"So did I", Dipper said. "I actually liked him", he added with disgust.
"But what if he was right, Dipper?" Mabel said, her indignation vanishing to be replaced once again by misery.
"What?" Dipper said. "Mabes, how can you even think that?"
"Well, what if… what if I really am ugly? And what if I really am too weird? Maybe… Maybe he was right, maybe nobody else will ever think I'm even worth their time".
"Mabel, don't ever say that again", Dipper said angrily.
Mabel looked up, staring at him through watery eyes.
"Mabel, your personality is what makes you such a great person", Dipper said. "You just find so much joy in everything. You try so hard to make everyone happy. Everyone should see how much better life is with you around, how much happier you make everyone around you. You're my twin sister and my best friend, and if I didn't have you and your awesomeness in my life, I don't even know what I would do with myself, life would just totally suck without you around. Any guy would be lucky to have you sis, don't let any jackass ever tell you otherwise. And don't ever even think that you're ugly. You're beautiful Mabel, and I won't stand for jerks like Jonas saying otherwise, so don't you ever even think of listening to people like him".
Mabel cracked her iconic broad grin.
"You big sap", she said affectionately as she pulled him into another hug.
"You feeling any better?" Dipper said as they pulled away.
"Yeah", Mabel said. "Still kinda crummy, but better at least. Thanks, bro-bro", she said, beaming at him.
"Well, that's what I'm here for", Dipper said, smiling back at her.
"I'm glad I found out who he really was though", Mabel said.
"Yeah", Dipper said. "It's better than ending up staying with him without ever knowing what he was doing".
"Uh-huh", Mabel said cheerfully. "Now I can focus on finding somebody worth my time".
Dipper was glad to hear that her usual gleeful nature was steadily coming back to her. It was hard to see his twin so upset. Suddenly, Mabel's stomach rumbled loudly.
"Hey, you hungry?" Mabel said.
"Are you?" Dipper said. "We already ate dinner before you left, and that sandwich you just had was huge".
"Come on bro, you know food makes Mabel happy", she said, giving him the puppy eyes.
"Alright", Dipper said, rolling his eyes. "Mom and dad did leave us some extra food money. You wanna order Chinese?"
"Sounds perfect", Mabel said.
About forty minutes later, the two of them were settled in the living room, casually watching TV as they ate their way through mounds of food, including their favourite item from the local takeout, the sticky BBQ ribs.
"I just don't get it sometimes, Dip", Mabel said over a mouthful of eggroll.
"Get what?" Dipper said as he tore away a strip of rib.
"Why I always seem to be unlucky in love", she said. "If it's not Gnomes in disguise, it's big jerks instead. It's like I can never find the right guy".
"Hey, what can I say?" Dipper said. "Sometimes it just takes a long time to find the right person. I mean it's not like I do any better. Remember when that girl Jessica acted like she was into me? And I bought it and started to get a crush on her, then when I worked up the courage to ask her out it just turned out to be a big joke between her and her friends?"
"Yeah, I remember", Mabel said, laughing as she fondly remembered punching Jessica in the face.
"So neither of us have had great luck so far", Dipper said. "But so what? We'll both find someone some day. We may have been taken in by a few jerks over the years, but that won't always be the case".
"You're right", Mabel said. "There's always the future".
"Yep", Dipper said. "And in the meantime, we should just be happy and enjoy our lives. I mean come on sis, in just two weeks we're going back to Gravity Falls".
"Hey, you're right", Mabel said, her eyes lighting up with excitement. "I can't wait to see everyone again. Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford".
"Wendy and Soos", Dipper said.
"Candy and Grenda too", Mabel said.
"Yep, and you can tell all of them about how much of a jerk Jonas is", Dipper said.
Both of them laughed.
"And the adventures", Mabel said joyously. "There'll be so many".
"There sure will be", Dipper said. "The mystery twins are back in business".
"And we turn sixteen this summer too", Mabel said excitedly. "We're gonna have to plan that one months in advance".
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Mabes", Dipper said, chuckling.
"Thanks for cheering me up, Dip", Mabel said.
"Hey, what are brothers for?" Dipper said. "And don't think I won't be having words with Jonas. I intend to have a little chat with him before too long".
"You really don't have to…"
"Nope, it's happening", Dipper said, cutting her off. "Nobody hurts my sister and gets away with it".
Mabel didn't reply, but smiled at him instead. She couldn't have asked for a better brother than Dipper.
The two of them stayed up well into the night, watching whatever took their fancy on TV. Later in the night, they found themselves watching an episode of Cash Wheel, sat comfortably in their pyjama pants, a blanket across their legs, Mabel leaning against Dipper as she ate her way through a tub of ice cream, Dipper's head resting on top of hers.
"You remember when Grunkle Stan was on this?" Mabel said.
"Yep", Dipper said. "Lost everything too. I'm glad he did, to be honest. Otherwise we would never have got him to sing the Stan Wrong song".
They both snorted with laughter.
"Oh, that never stops being funny", Mabel said.
"I doubt it ever will", Dipper said.
For a while they sat in silence, Mabel finishing her tub of ice cream.
"Dipper", Mabel said.
"Yeah?" Dipper said.
"You're my favourite brother".
"I'm your only brother", he reminded her amusedly.
"The point still stands, dumdum" Mabel said affectionately. "I really mean it. Thank you".
"S'no problem, Mabel", he said sleepily. She didn't see it, but a big grin formed on his face.
The peaceful silence resumed, Dipper drifting further into a pleasant drowsiness as he thought of what they might get up to in their next summer in Gravity Falls.