Mabel sat at home watching tv, while laying on the couch upside down. She tried to drown out all the annoying thoughts running wild in her head.
'Nope just making me dizzy!' She thought as she adjusted herself on the couch, shaking her head to try to distract herself from the millions of worries in her mind.
'God what a valentine's day. Here you are all alone trying to stop yourself from having lovey-dovey thoughts about your bro-bro.' She whined to herself, a pout on her lips and her eyes staring blankly at the mindless television show playing.
God out of all the people she could fall for why did it have to be her brother?
Shortly after their first summer in Gravity Falls she started to get those special pings in her heart, the ones that led to her not so brotherly feelings toward Dipper.
When the summer was ending and any chances of having the summer romance she dreamed was flung out of the picture, she found the next best thing.
As the new school year started and she settled into her boring classes, she felt the need to kick her love life into overdrive!
She made herself a promise, she was going to have herself an awesome teen school romance just like in all those young adult films even if it killed her!
She had little trouble finding her first boyfriend using her irresistible charm and it seemed to work out well.
That is at for a while...
After months of dating with this man , she started to feel like it just wasn't right.
She quickly moved on, finding another. This next guy's name was Trevor and he was hot, into her and liked sports, prefect school boyfriend material right? and she was definitely attracted to Trevor but...
It still didn't feel right...
She was scared, but she knew she could make it work with him, she is Mabel the Master Matchmaker after all!
'Hey, love takes time right?' She thought at the time, it seemed to be the best solution for other people, so she did exactly that. Gave it time.
A lot of time.
She continued dating Trevor all the way up to her second year in highschool but the spark she wanted never happened between them. They were close and they liked each other but, Mabel didn't like like him.
Worse than that, she started noticing Dipper. He was definitely starting to grow out of his awkward stages and into his mature years as his baby fat melted away to reveal a surprisingly handsome young man.
Even she could not deny he looked hot! She was glad for him. 'I mean come on look how cute and attractive I am!' She thought, she knew it was only a matter of time before Dipper sprouted like she did, he was her twin after all!
She started having these moments though, where her heart would start beating really fast when she was around him or where she would find herself staring at him just a little too long. She became nervous and sweaty when she was around him, a new understanding for his awkward personality embedding itself in her mind.
She played it off as nothing though, some kind of fluke of the moment stirred by her desperate need for companionship and her budding sexual confusion.
Then however she started doing something that couldn't be ignored.
She started comparing Trevor to Dipper.
She didn't do it on purpose though, it just started to happen subconsciously. When she was with trevor she would find herself comparing his looks, personality, and actions to Dipper's. It wasn't often that this happened but she started to notice the stark differences in their behavior.
It was innocent enough at first, she wasn't hurting anyone with her private panel of judges.
Though, like most things in her life, it grew rapidly, the routine becoming more frequent, her eye getting more critical with each passing second.
She quickly came to realization that this thing she did was getting disruptive and destructive to her relationship with Trevor. She found herself becoming annoyed and even angry when his actions did not match Dipper's,his opinions and thoughts becoming less meaningful to her as her mind ran on a constant real of "Dipper wouldn't say that..."
That was the smack in the face that forced her to rethink her unidentified feelings for her dear bro-bro.
She couldn't stand it anymore, couldn't stand staying with someone who made her feel so confused, couldn't stand seeing how much she hurt him when she lashed out at him, out of a stupid game she started to play...
Trevor didn't deserve it, any of it. He was caught in the middle of a secret incestious love triangle with his girlfriend's brother.
Mabel knew it wasn't right to keep doing it, to keep pulling him into her family's drama, he deserved someone who could actually love him and devote themselves to him, instead of tethering the edge of commitment like she did.
The breakup was hard.
Even though the feeling of love was unrequited toward him, she still cared for him and and his feelings... She mourned their parting, Spending many dark nights crying on Dipper's shoulder.
She hoped it was just a crush that caused her to pit her brother and boyfriend against each other in an imaginary competition only she knew about.
It wasn't hard to see how this crush came about; they had been each other's shadows since they were born, he was her Sherlock she his Watson, inseparable and codependent.
With how much special twin time they spend together watching dodgy tv and eating themselves silly and how much they hang out and talked about even the most difficult subjects, it seemed no surprize something would develop.
'It's not weird to start feeling a little something right?' She would think, figuring that the best way to deal with these uncomfortable feelings for her brother was to get herself back on the market, find and move onto something better, something without complications.
No matter how many guys she dated it was always the same, it always came back to her coaxing her boyfriends to conflict with Dipper, giving her the perfect excuse to break up -"Dippy, if my boyfriends can't get along with my bro-friend then they can't have me!" she would always say.
Dipper was the common denominator in all her failed relationships.
She could see how many people she hurt by playing the same silly games every time, how many tears she's made others shed because of her, she watched as her history repeated again... And again... And again...
It wasn't until her very last year of high school when she decided what she was doing wasn't working, for her or for anyone. She knew that she'd have to come to accept that she was a weirdo who got all hot and bothered by her bro...
After she allowed her feelings to be safe in the place of acceptance within herself, even with how weird they were, she felt happier. She didn't have to lie to herself anymore! Didn't have to stay up at night fighting herself about what she did or did not feel for him.
It was like a dark and thick fog had been lifted from her heart, finally she was able to see the beautiful light again, shining down upon her.
She found herself enjoying their twin time more, not burdened by her unending guilt anymore. Just being around him made her so happy!
So what if she had weird feelings? She had seen much weirder things in Gravity falls, heck they'd probably fit in there with all the other freaks.
Things got better for a while, that is until Dipper found Megan.
Now Dipper had not shown much interest in the girls at their school. That's not to say he did not have interest in girls; she had made the mistake of going on his computer a couple times without his permission and... Well let's just say he had plenty interest.
He had dated a couple times but they didn't last too long, he didn't seem to have the same insatiable need for partnership as Mabel did.
When she would ask why he didn't date as much or try to find out what types of girls he likes, he would shut down the conversation or be incredibly evasive, a stark difference to how Mabel would go on for hours about her fraternizing and what kind of guy she wanted.
That all changed six months ago when he started seeing Megan.
Megan was a very cheerful, hyper, and positive person, she even reminded Mabel of herself in a few too many uncanny ways.
Had they met under different circumstances she is sure they would have been the best of friends. If she's being honest though, she hated Megan and the way she seemed to replace her in her brothers eyes.
Mabel hated anyone who tried to take her brother away, and Megan seemed dead set on making sure that happened.
Since Dipper and Megan started dating, Mabel saw less and less of her brother... It started out slow, twin times being missed often, leaving her to her popcorn in dark room watching old reruns by herself, just like tonight. She saw less of him around the house, him opting to stay in his room or go out instead of hanging out with Mabel.
As time drawled on it got worse and worse, to the point where they stopped doing twin time altogether. He stopped sitting with her at lunch or in the halls and he was home so little it sometimes felt like he didn't even live there anymore.
The hours upon hours of being alone felt like an eternity as she waited for him to come home, each day later and later...
Heck just this week was the most she had seen him in a month and that's only because he was planning some big super duper big Valentine's date for Megan for the last two weeks.
He even took out like half of the money he been saving from his part time job for like the last two years, he was planning some really special.
It should be her on that big romantic date with Dipper tonight not Megan...
She scowled at the antenna of the tv, her jealousy bubbled quickly to the surface before she slipped into to full day dream mode to distract herself from those feelings...
She saw Herself in a beautiful red silk dress with a small and Intricate frill around the collar. The fabric clung to her body in all the right ways and pushed her breasts up to make it look like she had a little more up top then she really did.
She saw herself there, sitting at a table with a beautiful candle light dinner set before her, the gorgeous restaurant around her being home to the most delicious food in all of California!
Right across from her sat Dipper. He wore an exquisite black dress suit with a white undershirt, the whole outfit fitting his slim but tall body perfectly.
Just then she felt his stare, her eyes met his after what felt like a year of just getting lost without each other.
He started to lean forward and she found herself doing the same. Their faces came closer and closer, she could feel his breath on her lips as his mouth hovers less than an inch away.
Just before she dives in to ravish his lips she hears a loud click.
She was instantly ripped out of her daydream as she recognizes the sound as the door opening.
She let out a "Eeep!" and nearly jumped out of her skin as she fell off the couch and landed on her back on the floor with a loud thud.
As the door shuts she hears a voice.
"Mabs? What are you doing on the floor?" Her brother called. She looked at the doorway, the landscape upside down now.
"You know just aah- looking for my contacts." She said clumsily, a half convincing smile on her lips as she pretended to pat the ground in a serious manor.
"But you don't wear contacts..."
"Well that is probably why I can't find them!" She said her smile becoming more genuine as she started to joke about the situation, slipping into her most comfortable form of speech: comedy!
She heard him laugh and her heart skipped a beat at the mesmerizing sound.
"Thanks, I could really use some of your classic goofiness right now." He said, his gaze fixed on the ground. She jumped to her feet, only then noticing that his eyes are puffy and red.
He's been crying...
Mabel rushed over to him and lead him to the couch, sitting him down and snuggling in beside him, settling in for what she hoped to be a deep and meaningful conversation.
"What happened Dipper?" She asked her heart sinking at the sight of Dipper being this sad.
"It's been a rough night, can we leave it at that?" She lifted his head with a finger under his chin and looked into his eyes. She's not going to tolerate his caginess anymore, not now...
"Please Dip tell me what's wrong." she said quietly, tears started to well up in his eyes as he looked away from her gaze.
"Mabel I just can't do this anymore..." He started as tears started rolling down his cheeks. Instantly the most terrifying ideas of what he meant came into Mabel's mind.
"I-I'm sorry Mabel, I just can't do it. I know you will probably hate me forever but I just can't do it anymore." He whispered, his hair obscuring his eyes. "And in a few months we will both be done with school and getting ready for college and-and we won't be able to see each other at all! I just can't do it..." He cried, as tears are streaming down his face.
"Dipper what are you talking ab-"
Before she can finish her sentence his lips are pressed against hers, kissing her deeply.
Her mind going completely blank, she couldn't even string enough thoughts together to comprehend what's happening! all she knew is she didn't want this to stop. She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him close returning his enthusiasm.
They sat there kissing gently as their arms embraced each other for what felt like forever, losing themselves in the bliss of the repressed feelings they have had for each other.
After what felt like decades they slowly pulled her lips apart from each other.
Mabel came down from cloud nine and quickly looked away, her face bright red. She felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest!
The room went quiet, seconds stretched into days in her mind and when she could no longer handle it she looked up at him.
He looked dumbfounded, as if the world itself just turned upside down, and to her it could very well just have. She could also see the fear and anxiety written on his face as clear as day, his eyes searching for reassurance.
"So umm, bro-bro you got something you need to say?" She said awkwardly, fallen back on the comedic approach to life she relied on.
"I umm... I-I ah, the thing is..." She heard his voice crack as he spoke, something it has not done since he was thirteen.
She ran her hands up his arms to rest them on his shoulders, a reassuring glint in her eyes.
"Dipper calm down its ok. Just tell me what's going on." She said gently, using her voice to coax him out of his revere. With this he took a deep breath and started again.
"So I broke up with Megan last night." he uttered. Mabel halted in her thoughts 'he did WHAT?'.
"I just couldn't do it anymore. Mabel I Have been in love with you for as long I can remember, even before Gravity falls and that whole mess..." Mabel swore she was dreaming! Did he really mean that?
"I-it all just got so much harder to deal with when we got back. Just as I got to the point where I didnt think I would be able to take it anymore I found Megan." He said, the name put a bad taste in Mabel's mouth.
"She was so much like you, you know? Crazy, funny, smart and fun to be around. I thought if I started dating her I could maybe move on past my weirdness and ill feelings. I thought I could learn to love her by having her replace you in my heart."
A pain broke out in Mabel heart and tears started to well up in her eyes, his words confirmed a thought she hoped wasn't true...
"It was never the same though. She is all those things and more but she Is not you. She doesn't get me like do." He said gently, looking into her eyes. The glow of the tv shined off the trails of tears that ran down his cheeks.
"Mabel you know how I feel, what I am thinking and what to say all the time." He uttered. "She is not the person I love."
Mabel couldn't help it nor did she remember when the tears started but there was no chance of her stopping them.
"Dipper I love you, so much more than you know. Trust me when I say that you are not the only one that has been fighting those weirdo feelings." She said, her words breathy and erratic.
" I'm sorry I never saw it... Oh Dipper, so many times I wanted to tell you but I thought you would hate me or think I am a freak." She finished as his hand gently grab the back of her head and he pulls her in for a soft kiss, a small surprised squeal coming from Mabel.
"Mabel I could never hate you..." She let out a little giggle, her cheeks flushed and her eyes alight
"So, um, what happens now?" She asked, glancing around the room.
"Wait right here." She tilted her head, thoroughly confused by what had just happened. Her mind ticked over everything that just happened while he was gone, still excited and flustered three minutes later when he entered the room again with his hand behind his back.
"So when I was out tonight I was kinda trying to get my head together but when I saw those college pathlets in the glove box I kinda had a bit of a melt down." He placed a small stack of brightly coloured papers onto the armrest of the couch, Mabel recognized them instantly.
"I was just looking around, nothing is set in stone yet Dippy..." Mabel said, trying her best to be reassuring.
"Yeah well, I'm kinda glad everything happened the way it did." He said with a smile, She could have sworn his face was glowing.
"Anyway so before all that I was kinda walking around the mall a bit and I... Well I kinda saw something that reminded me of you and..." Mabel smiled as he talked, loving his awkward sweetness.
"Ok I am sorry, I know this is going to sound super cheesy but..." He pulled his hands out from behind his back, showing her what he was holding; a little white box.
He carefully took the lid off to reveal what was inside, a small pin of cupid holding a bow with an arrow notched with a little heart at the end. The heart at the end of the arrow was a small ruby.
"Would you be my Valentine?"
The tears started to flow again. "That's not fair, Dipper you're not allowed to be that sweet!" Mabel exclaimed, blushing with happiness. "I don't know how much more I can take!"
"So, umm..." Dipper started, glancing away from her for a moment.
"Of course I will you dork, I love you." and with that she gave him another deep kiss, something she'd always dreamt about.
They soon found themselves snuggled up on the couch as they held each other's hands tenderly. Their heart losing themselves in the joy of each other's presence, the tv glowing over them softly.