Fireworks
"Aww nuts, I spilled booze all over my new sweater," Mabel said with just a hint of a slur in her voice.
She glared accusingly at the glass half-full of ruby red wine in her hand, the rim and sides of which were wet with spillover that dribbled over her fingers. She glanced speculatively at the rose colored blotch spreading over her sleeve and then brought it to her mouth, sucking at the cloth to try and drink up the stain before it set.
"I'd be more worried about the loss of the wine than the sweater since the bottle we're drinking from right now probably cost more than Dipper's junk-heap of a car," Pacifica replied in a teasing voice as she took a long slow sip from her own glass, loving the bittersweet flavor of it on her tongue.
She shot a sideways glance over at Dipper to see if her little barb had worked and was delighted by the small frown that had come over his face. She'd always thought he was cuter when he looked annoyed.
"Hey, leave the car out of this," Dipper protested, "It's not a junk-heap, it's more like an antique,"
"Honey, for something to be considered an antique that means that someone has to actually think it's valuable," Pacifica shot back with just a touch of fake pity.
"Daaaaaang! It's a new record- the fireworks haven't even started yet and Dipper's already managed to get burned," Mabel said with a loud laugh.
"Now why did I agree to come on this picnic again?" Dipper asked rhetorically as he took another pull of his own glass, shuddering slightly at the dry flavor.
"Pfft, well what red-blooded American college-boy could resist hanging out with two hot single young ladies and a cooler full of classy booze?" Mabel quipped.
"One of those ladies happens to be my sister," Dipper responded dryly.
"Well whatever, I'm still hot though," Mabel said with an airy wave of her hand, "Wouldn't you agree Paz?" she added, shooting Pacifica an exaggeratedly sultry look over her shoulder.
Despite the completely goofy way in which Mabel has asked, Pacifica still felt the color rise to her cheeks when her eyes met Mabel's and she quickly dropped her gaze to the wine glass in her hand.
"Yeah, you're um… yes," Pacifica said, taking a quick sip from her glass to try and steady herself.
"So eloquent!" Mabel responded – it wasn't often that she managed to catch Pacifica off balance and she was enjoying her flustered look.
"Oh shut up," Pacifica snapped back, feeling the red glow burn a little hotter in her cheeks.
She looked up from her drink and saw that Dipper was chuckling quietly to himself at the exchange and she felt a little flare of annoyance in her mind. There was no malice in his laughter though, and she began to calm down. This was just the way things tended to go when she spent time together with the Pines twins after all – they had a playful energy with each other that was almost infectious. Pacifica had always considered it to be one of their most attractive qualities.
Dangerous thought there, Pacifica warned herself. She paused to take another sip of her drink and was annoyed to find that she'd already drained the glass, her second of the night.
"Would you be a dear?" she asked, holding the empty glass out toward Dipper who was seated closest to the cooler.
Dipper reached into the ice filled container to fish out the bottle only to find that it was empty. He dug around for a new bottle and grabbed the corkscrew to open up the fresh one. Pacifica's gaze lingered a bit overlong on the way that the muscles in Dipper's arms flexed as he pulled the cork free of the bottle. She thought that he'd filled out quite nicely once the awkwardness of puberty had finally released its stranglehold on him and through the haze of wine she had a brief but vivid image of those toned arms wrapping around her waist to pull her body against his. The thought was enough to give her a pleasant little shudder and she quickly tried to hide it by taking another sip from her newly refilled glass.
"Paz? Earth to Paz?" Mabel called out in a lilting voice.
Pacifica snapped out of her reverie and glanced quickly between Dipper and Mabel.
"What?" she asked, trying to keep the slight note of guilt out of her voice.
"Nothing, just that the fireworks are actually gonna be starting soon and I didn't want us to miss any of the show," Mabel said.
"Oh, right – of course," Pacifica said, taking a small sip from her freshly filled glass and then setting it down beside her on the picnic blanket spread across the hilltop.
The night air was coming down crisp from the mountains surrounding the town, and it brought a prickle of gooseflesh across Pacifica's bare arms when the breeze blew across the trio. She rubbed her hands quickly over the chilled skin to warm herself back up when a shrill scream sounded in the distance and distracted her from the cold. A golden streak shot up from far off in the town below, rising up into the sky to explode into a flower of burning color.
"The pretty is starting!" Mabel exclaimed, pointing excitedly toward the falling sparks and shaking Dipper by the shoulder.
Almost unconsciously the three all turned toward the town, scooting closer to the edge of their makeshift picnic site to get a better view of the sky out from under the spreading branches of the trees which blanketed the top of the hill. Streaks of violet and emerald crisscrossed the star-dotted sky and added their own flashes of color to the heavens, miniature constellations that flared to life and then winked out in the space of a few heartbeats.
Pacifica was so absorbed by the show that she almost jumped with surprise when she felt a small, warm hand settle down over hers. She turned and saw that Mabel had scooted in close to her on the blanket, leaning herself up gently against Pacifica. The blonde felt her heart start to speed up in her chest and she gave Mabel's hand a tentative squeeze with her own, fingers stroking softly against her knuckles. Mabel turned toward her, her face thrown into sharp relief by a sudden burst of cobalt blue light from the fireworks exploding above. The brunette's expression was hard to read – a blend of hesitation mixed with the playfully flirtatious manner that Mabel usually got after she had been drinking. She tilted her head slightly to the side in an unspoken question and her small pink tongue darted out to nervously moisten her lips. Pacifica felt her face flush hot, the sudden burst of a crimson firework above seeming to give her a full body blush. Her own lips parted slightly and she gave the smallest of nods at Mabel, leaning herself in to meet Mabel halfway in the kiss. Pacifica's heart was thudding like a jackhammer in her chest as she took Mabel's plump lower lip between her teeth and sucked it gently, tasting the sweet stain of the wine on her skin. Mabel gave a noise halfway between a moan and a sigh and leaned herself in further, wrapping her arms around Pacifica's shoulders and pulling her in close to crush their mouths together. After a few heated moments the kiss broke and the two were left leaning in close, foreheads pressed together and just slightly out of breath.
"Hi," Mabel said, her eyes twinkling with amusement and shot through with rainbow highlights from the explosions blooming across the sky.
"Hello," Pacifica replied. Her voice was slightly shaky from the unexpected, but not unwelcome, kiss.
"Well… um… this looks like my cue to leave," Dipper said with a fake cough of embarrassment.
Pacifica shot a glance over to him and felt a slight pang in her chest at the expression on his face… his eyes were wide under clouded brows and his mouth twitched slightly as if he had something to say, but no words came.
Pacifica's eyes darted back to Mabel and once again to Dipper, indecision plain on her face, but when Dipper started to get up to leave she sprang to her feet and grabbed him by the wrist to stop him. He glanced down at her in surprise at the touch.
"What are you do-" he began to ask before Pacifica's arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled his face to hers for a kiss that left his eyes wide, eyebrows shooting up so high on his face that they almost merged with his hairline.
Pacifica felt a panicky energy start to rise up in her chest as she was hit by the reality of what she had just done, but after the initial shock dissipated Dipper began to kiss her back and her anxiety was temporarily banished by the pleasure of feeling his mouth moving against hers. She ran her hands up along his sides and across his back, loving the texture of the compact but firm muscles under her fingertips, and his own larger hands had moved to stroke down her hair and along her neck. When their lips parted Dipper had a slightly stunned expression on his face and his eyebrows began to draw together in confusion.
"So did I misread some signals here or something?" Mabel asked in a curious tone from off to the side, taking a sip from her glass. There was no heat of accusation in her voice, though there was a hint of intrigue at the sudden turn of events.
"No – I mean… I like… um…" Pacifica said, looking back and forth between the twins, "I like both of you guys,"
Her heart practically felt like it was about ready to explode in her chest at the impromptu confession.
"What, really?" Dipper asked, full confusion evident in his face.
"Oh – well now that makes sense," Mabel said, snapping her fingers.
"It does?" Pacifica and Dipper said at almost exactly the same time, shooting each other a quick embarrassed glance.
"Sure it does, you're talking to a self-certified expert on romance after all. I mean, I'm obviously adorable and Dipper doesn't clean up too bad in a generous light, so who wouldn't like us?" Mabel said, finishing up the last sip of her glass and then rising unsteadily to her feet to move in closer to Pacifica.
Pacifica felt a nervous energy thrill through her nerves as Mabel came toward her, not sure of what was coming next. Mabel's hand reached out to tuck a stray lock of blonde hair back behind Pacifica's ear, her fingertips tracing a line down over her cheek and jaw while her thumb stroked gently against her lips.
"You're really cute when you get all shy like that," Mabel said in a teasing tone of voice, leaning down to brush her lips against Pacifica's in a soft kiss that left the blonde sighing happily into Mabel's mouth.
Dipper watched the unfolding scene with nervousness dawning on his face, but when Pacifica and Mabel's lips parted and the blonde shot him a direct look in the eye he felt his heart start to speed up with excitement.
"You aren't mad at me that I… um… like you both?" Pacifica asked hesitantly, glancing back and forth between Mabel and Dipper. The reality of the moment was so much scarier than anything she may have pictured to herself during her quiet nights alone, and she had never been so unsure of what was going to happen next in her entire life.
"Paz, c'mon – you do remember who taught you about sharing in the first place, right?" Mabel said with a twinkle in her eye.
"Mabel, what exactly are you thinking here?" Dipper asked, feeling completely at a loss for what to do.
"What's the matter Dip? It's not like it's the first time that we've kissed the same person – I mean, you even made out with my first real boyfriend before I did." Mabel joked.
"That was just reverse-CPR! Also, I thought we agreed never to speak of that again!" Dipper said, his ears going red with embarrassment as he looked quickly at Pacifica to see how she'd reacted to hearing it.
"I lied," Mabel said breezily.
"What's reverse CPR?" Pacifica asked Dipper, confused by the sudden turn the conversation had taken.
"Why don't you have lover-boy over there show you?" Mabel said with a tipsy slur in her voice, placing her hand on the small of Pacifica's back and gently shoving her over toward Dipper.
Pacifica stumbled slightly before catching her hands onto Dippers shoulders to steady herself, and then glanced up at his face.
"Are you… I mean… we don't have to. If you don't want to I mean," Pacifica said, stumbling to find the right words.
Dipper looked down at Pacifica, heart speeding up in his chest at her expression – a look plain on her face that she wanted him. He looked past her shoulder at Mabel and rather than finding any sort of jealousy or anger in her face she was giving him a wide grin and a thumbs-up gesture.
You know, Dipper thought to himself, this isn't even close to the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me before… and none of those other things involved anything as nice as kissing an attractive woman.
"Oh what the hell," Dipper said with a bemused shrug and then leaned into pull Pacifica against him for a kiss, loving the feel of her soft curves pressing up against the length of his body.
Pacifica melted into the kiss, kneading her fingers into Dipper's shoulders as she felt an excited heat start to thrum through her veins. She sensed Mabel coming up behind her almost before she felt the brunettes slim arms wind themselves around her waist and trace their way up her torso. Pacifica's legs almost gave out from under her when she felt Mabel's soft lips plant themselves against her neck and latch onto the sensitive skin in a suckling bite. The blonde's mind was in a whirl from the slight dizziness of the drinks, the scent of Mabel's jasmine perfumed curls brushing against her face, the feel of Dipper's lips moving against hers and the combined pressure of their hands roaming over her body – it was almost a sensory overload. The contrasts between the soft curves of Mabel pressing against her back and Dipper's sturdy frame against her chest was driving her wild and she broke the kiss with Dipper to wrap her fingers into Mabel's curls and pull her in for a hungry kiss.
The nights final burst of rockets and mortars exploded overhead in a blaze of noise and color that seemed to shake the air, but it was all but unnoticed by the three who tumbled down onto the spread out blanket together, lost in the moment and intent on making a few fireworks of their own.