A very Mendy Story

Some ask why.

To those lost souls, I pose but one query;

Why not?

**0**

Mabel hated nights like these.

She and her twin had spent the day trying to figure out if Soos' mailman was really a werewolf, and the day had dragged on to such a degree that she had taken four or five shots of Mabel-juice. Which was good to keep her sharp and energized, but meant that it would take forever to fall asleep. At least there would be some compensation if Dipper was awake, that way they could talk to one another, and both go to sleep faster.

But the boy was exhausted from all the work they did and was currently snoring (which did not make the embracement slumber a more surmountable task). Normally she would fall asleep before him, and she wouldn't have to worry about things like that. That was routine; that was the way things should be.

But now, she was wide awake. And her cheery demeanor faded with every passing minute, all the thoughts that she kept locked away for her diary, slipping forth, and overflowing. She thought about Bill and how much of a jerk he was, she thought about Gideon, who still sent creepy notes in the mail (ones which Dipper insisted they keep as "clues." Clues for what? When he escaped and she went missing?).

But above all, she thought of Wendy.

From the moment she had seen the ginger, Mabel had fallen for her. From the moment right after that she grew confused by having feelings for another girl for the first time in her life. So she kept these feelings as bundled up as best as mentally possible. Of course, Mabel had never been good at the "bundling up thing", so every now and then, a situation would arise which caused some of them to spill out.

For instance, part of the reason she had freaked out over losing Waddles was seeing Dipper spend the day with Wendy, something that was much more distressing in real life than in her head. And Mabel would be lying if part of the reason screamed at Wendy whilst running the Shack, was because she felt personally hurt by the teen taking advantage of her kind nature.

Mabel was not conservative in matters concerning the heart, but the redhead was the one infatuation she had sworn off pursuing, because of this. Not only did these feelings make her act worse than any boy ever had, but it was also apparent that confessing about this infatuation could seriously hurt her brother. And not just on an emotional level, as, early in the summer, at he had been a tad volatile in matters concerning Wendy.

She knew Dipper would never hurt her out of spite. But she also knew that, with access to the supernatural, he could inadvertently release something incredibly dangerous if he felt betrayed and defeated.

As he mellowed out in his methods, she had convinced herself that she was merely looking out for him. After all, he deserved to be happy; it wasn't every day that Dipper Pines tore himself away from a book or a TV show (let alone his hours of research and decoding), and gazed longingly at someone.

Meanwhile, Mabel met someone worth caring about every week. He had already given up so much for her, the least she could do was not screw up the relationships between everybody. That's what she did with every boy, and this would probably be ten times worse given how spiteful she got regarding Wendy.

So she ignored her impulses, shut out her hormones, and came up with a sacred rule. "If you ever start to think about kissing Wendy, just think of Zebra's in zeppelins."That didn't work nearly as well as expected because all she ended up thinking about was kissing Wendy while on a zeppelin, or while riding a zebra. Which, admittedly, would be pretty darn cool.

Of course, Mabel wanted to pretend that a little part of her hadn't jumped and high-fived the rest of her when the ginger had told Dipper he was too young. She found it cruel to enjoy a moment that clearly brought about much angst for her brother. And the small, logical part of her, insisted that this was just as much a message for her as it was for Dipper, Wendy was too old, and that was that.

But her crush persisted, so that when she and Wendy had been talking about boys at the Society of The Blind Eye's headquarters, a tiny hope had risen up inside her. A hope that maybe, Wendy was starting to not like boys as much. But she had passed that aside, and Mabel would have wiped her memory of the crush if she hadn't been there to bear witness to McGucket's insanity. And when she was grabbing the love potion, part of her had deeply wanted to use some on Wendy. Not to control her, but just enough to maybe push some feelings to the surface. She had decided against it of course but had been tempted a second time when stealing the anti-love.

These incidents had forced her to realize that in the end, she was still scared of rejection and lack of acceptance. After all, if it was for nothing? What if she poured her heart out, climbed out on that branch, only to find that feelings simply couldn't be reciprocated? It would be a long fall from that point.

So she stayed in the perpetual friend zone, all her reasons disintegrating, leaving nothing much except a terror of loss and shame. Despite how much she had prodded Dipper towards revealing his feelings (part of her had expected that if Wendy and Dipper were together, it would be easier to bury her feelings) Mabel knew that she would most likely never get what she desired, with uncharacteristic anxiety standing in the way.

Still, a girl can pretend can't she? Mabel supposed, tired of sitting awake and thinking about these bad things.

She didn't like bad thoughts, and her imagination had always been a way to escape bad thoughts. She sat up, grabbed the largest and tallest stuffed animal she owned (a large, red monkey) and placed it in front of her body. Wrapping her arms around it, she began to whisper the desired cashier girl's name as her eyes closed. It felt a little weird to be doing this, but in the end, she fell asleep twice as fast, and her dreams were full of pleasant hugs and tender kisses with her freckled Juliet.

[0]

Mabel crawled out of bed like the Gill-man exiting the black lagoon.

She coughed up phlegm in the bathroom sink and forced her reflection to smile. The sleepy tween stumbled downstairs, rubbing her eyes and collapsing on a chair as soon as she reached the kitchen. She wanted nothing more than to stay in bed and reclaim some more dreams about Wendy. But it was already far too late, and she had to give Waddle's his breakfast soon.

Her stupor was only broken when the girl of her dreams strode in and raised an eyebrow. "What's up sleepyhead?"

The tween nearly spat out her cereal and milk.

Wendy looked her up and down. "Hey…why are you um…?"

Mabel blushed as the images which she had basked in throughout the night returned to mind, and she realized this was the first time that Wendy had seen her in her pajamas.

She looked up from her milk, focusing on the wall behind Wendy, instead of the teen herself. "Um, where's Stan?"

Usually, the cranky uncle would be out and about, convincing customers to buy dolled up trash. Why was the one time that he had something else to do, she had to be alone with Wendy after pretending to sleep the night with her?

Wendy sat and filled an abandoned glass with orange juice, "He had to visit Con Man Con. Soos went with him to help him scam the owners of the con, so I got hired to babysit you guys and run the shop while he's gone."

Mabel gulped down her cereal and nodded, "Okay…where uh, where's Dipper?"

Wendy rolled her eyes playfully and brushed orange juice off of her lips with the back of her hand. "He's trying to get some memories out of McGucket. He said that I should make sure you didn't burn down the house while he was gone."

Giggling, the brunette wiped some spilled milk from her chin with her sleeve, and a plan began to form in her rapidly recovering mind.

"So Wendy…" The ginger perked up, and Mabel tried to not look as nervous as she felt. "Since it's going to be me and you for most of the day…would you uh…would you wanna, I don't know…have a picnic?"

The redhead smiled, "Sure, I love eating outside. My dad says that's the way all things are supposed to be eaten but he…" She glanced around before growing a humorous smile and leaning down close, "His car is from 1966."

Mabel's eyes widened, and she snickered as Wendy stifled a rather addictive laugh. Dumping the rest of her bowl into the sink, Mabel dumped some food into Waddles' bowl and assured her teenage crush that she would return soon. She stopped midway up the stairs and poked her head around the corner.

"Could you pack up the food?" Wendy opened a drawer, revealing the sparse resources. "I don't think Stan would appreciate me taking his food."

Mabel's face fell, and Wendy stepped closer, ruffling her companion's hair. "Don't worry Mabes, we'll grab some stuff at the grocery store."

Her cheer returning, Mabel nodded enthusiastically, before rushing upstairs.

[0]

Mabel Pines spent twenty or so minutes checking between outfits, trying to figure out what would fit their outing best. Despite the questions she posed to her prize oinker ("Do you think she'll like this color?" "Is this one too pretentious?"), Waddles was unable to help her narrow it down. Finally, she had to go with the thing that she was wearing when Wendy called up to her.

"You know that the grocery stores close at nine right?" Mabel had smiled slightly, sticking her head out the doorway and giving the teen at the bottom of the staircase a raspberry, before bolting back inside. "Let me just find my purse okay!"

Grabbing the fake fur covered purse, Mabel whipped down the stairs and nearly crashed into her crush. Wendy told her that she had been planning on paying, but Mabel knew the first rule of romance. Always pay for any expenses! She also had a large amount of cash from the selling the Gideon-esque merchandise which the nine-year-old had sent to her during their "fling."

Apparently when you go to jail, and your business is foreclosed, anything resembling you is worth a fortune. Not to mention, just by paying for this stuff herself, she was convincing Wendy that she was more of an adult than her size and mannerisms indicated.

"It was my idea, so I insist!"

Wendy smiled, "Okay…well, I'm not gonna turn down a free meal!"

Mabel giggled and checked to make sure that Waddles had enough food and water, before asking the pig to wish her luck and joining Wendy at the front door.

[0]

It was a sunny day outside, with great glistening clouds rolling across the sky like albino buffalo. Mabel couldn't believe her luck, not only did she have almost the whole day alone with Wendy, but the weather was perfect for a picnic. It was like everything was lining up, and she was determined not to screw it up.

So when she spotted Pacifica Northwest hiding beneath a cart of cantaloupes, she made sure that Wendy wasn't watching, and ran over. "Uh, Pacifica?"

The blonde looked up from the tic-tac-toe game she had scratched onto the floor and smiled slightly. "Oh hey, Mabel!"

Glancing back at the still distracted Wendy, Mabel raised an eyebrow. "Usually, I'm the one doing weird stuff like this. Not you."

The blonde rolled her eyes, "I'm hiding from my mom."

Mabel frowned, her mouth become a small circle as she uttered a simple "Oh." Her eyes narrowed. "Wait, you guys shop at this place?"

"NO!" Pacifica replied with how he folded his arms.

Mabel grew a skeptical look and the blonde tried to filter out some of her haughtiness. "We were nearby, and she was trying to use me butter up one of her friends. So I bolted." She explained, loosening up.

Mabel nodded slowly, "But why under the cantaloupes? Do you not like cantaloupes?"

Pacifica sighed and elaborated, "I am apathetic to cantaloupes, and she hates them. Do you really think she knows enough about me to determine which fruit I would be hiding near?"

Mabel found that question quite depressing, and turned away after bidding the crouching blonde a "Good luck." but was called back almost immediately after.

"Wait, take me with you." Pacifica half-whispered.

Mabel's heart sunk. It wasn't that she didn't think Wendy and Pacifica could get along (although considering how different they were it was not going to be easy), but this was supposed to be her day with the redhead. Everything had aligned perfectly, and Mabel doubted that an instance similar to this would come around for the rest of summer, let alone the rest of her life. Sure, she could try to plan something, but her plans rarely ended well.

She took a quick glance at Wendy, who was now almost done deciding which of the thirty million cheeses was best. Returning her gaze to Pacifica, she spoke upon seeing the realization in the blonde's crystal blue eyes.

"Maybe you can spend part of the day with us. We were having a picnic and I don't know if we have enough ketchu-"

Pacifica crawled forward, raising a hand to stop the brunette. "You want to be alone, I get it, and I'll just find something else to do."

Mabel tried to protest, but the richer tween looked her in the eye. "It's okay. You go have fun alright?"

After giving the other girl a brace-filled smile and thanking her, Mabel started skipping back to Wendy. She stopped midway and scrambled back to the stand. "By the way, Dipper should be at the scrap yard, in case you get bored."

Smiling, the blonde gave her a small nod, before climbing out and giving her a half hug from the side. "Go get her tiger,"

Mabel smiled, blushing as she watched Pacifica rush off, before strolling back over to Wendy and her quirked eyebrow. "So…who was that?" The besweatered girl shrugged casually, "She was just a friend."

The quirked eyebrow grew in quirkiness. "A friend who hides under cantaloupe wagons and hugs you? Do I have some competition Pines?"

Wendy leaned down and peered into the younger girl's eyes with a smile. This extorted a nervous laugh out of her companion, and Mabel spoke with a slightly red face.

"No worries there…I'm all yours for today!" Mabel said, regretting the words from the moment that they slipped out, but Wendy's smile just broadened.

Oh god, why am I so nervous around her. I can act myself around boys, but she makes my mind go blank. This was proven as Wendy wrapped an arm around her secret admirer, and gave her a hearty squeeze as she spoke in an almost flirtatious tone. "Good to know."

Dropping the tomato faced Mabel back onto the ground, she grabbed the first wheel cheese she spotted and tossed it into the grocery cart. Glancing over at the silent Mabel, she extended a hand. "Do you want to play chariot with the grocery cart?"

A smile crossed Mabel's face, and she answered the query by climbing onboard and ordering her teenage friend to "MUSH!" Wendy giggled, before taking a few steps back and slamming into the handle with a "Yes ma'am!"

[0]

The old woman who was unpacking her groceries glowered at the delinquents when they almost rear ended her. Her glare was met with a fit of giggles from both parties, and a half-hearted apology from the driver. When she turned away, the secret admirer spotted the guilty grin on Wendy's face and burst into a new round of high-pitched giggles. Wendy tried to shush her as the cashier boy and elder both turned their attention to the misfits.

Mabel managed to stifle her laughter upon spotting the look of amusement and disapproval and was forced to wrap her sweater around her mouth, creating a string of hysterical and muffled squeaks. Wendy rolled her eyes and rolled the cart into place, ignoring the spiteful whispers produced by the grouchy senior. "Kids right?"

The cashier boy glanced up from his work, a look of utter surprise on his face. "She-she-she's your daughter?" He looked between them with considerable confusion, and Mabel decided to play along. "Nah."

She winked at Wendy and received a shy smile. The minimum wage worker exhaled in relief but shot up like a bolt when he heard what the tiny brunette had to say. "She's my grandmother."

They probably could have escaped with the cart right then and there, but instead, they waited for the young man to stop stuttering, realize he was being had, finish his work, and receive a wad of bills.

"KEEP THE CASH JEEVES!" Mabel yelled as Wendy pushed her out of the store and into the tiny parking lot.

Wendy leaned down, "What say we take this cart to our destination, and ride it down the hill?" Mabel sat up, resisting the powerful urge to agree with the ginger's every word. "But…but they probably need this cart…" She had already accepted that lying was okay in certain circumstances, but stealing?

Wendy shrugged, "We can always drive it back."

Mabel bit her lip, before giving her consent. "Okay then, LET'S GO!"

[0]

Lunch had been incredible. They had swapped stories about their eccentric siblings, telling jokes and anecdotes until Mabel's stomach ached from laughter. The cheese that Wendy had randomly selected was delicious, as was the mix of pastrami and salami, and the Thousand Islands dressing was perfect, slathered across the White Mountain bread.

When they were out of stories they began inspecting the clouds above, transforming the vapor into creatures, beings, and objects in their mind's eye. When the sky became overcast, they started racing the grocery cart through the forest and down hillsides. When the teen became too tired, Mabel got out and began pushing her.

They were singing "Break my stride" when it began drizzling. Extending a hand into the air, Wendy felt a water droplet hit the middle of her palm and turned back to her peddler.

"Hey Babel, you think you can make it to the shack?"

The tween grew a look of determination, before nodding, and spitting on her hands. "You got it!"

Zipping through the dense forest, she followed the convoluted pathways, arriving at her great-uncle's residence joyous but soaked.

The downstairs bathroom was dirty and cramped, with editions of Gold Chains for Old Men scattered about. So they climbed the stairs, Mabel noting that somehow Wendy's hair actually looked even prettier disheveled and wet. They found Dipper sitting in his room reading, and he gave them a smile asking how their day had been.

They glanced at each other, before replying simultaneously. "It's was awesome."

Glancing at one another, they giggled and Wendy entered the bathroom as Mabel chatted with her brother.

"Sooo…" Mabel stepped closer to the bed, growing a coy look. "…how did everything go?" Dipper grew a look of confusion, then shook himself. "Fine…I guess."

He smiled as though he had just thought of something, "Oh and Pacifica showed up. We hung out at Greasy's after McGucket had to go meet his son."

He sat up with the quirk of a smile appearing on the edge of his mouth. "I thought she might be really insulting to McGucket, you know since he's so dirty and poor. But umm, she wasn't. She was actually really nice to him."

Mabel smiled. He likes her, I KNEW IT.

Mental cartwheels were the best. Suddenly a hand shot out from the bathroom and grabbed Mabel's shoulder, dragging the surprised brunette inside as Dipper's eyes widened. Mabel found herself standing in the dimly lit room, the girl of her dreams in nothing but her underwear (her wet underwear) standing a few inches away.

Wendy gave her a smile, and Mabel tried to keep her vision on the redhead's face, and not the organs directly below. Her heart was pounding so hard that she found it a miracle that she could even hear Wendy's request.

"I don't have any ticks do I?" The teen turned and Mabel gulped as she realized that the cheap mirror that Stan bought was far too small for proper inspection.

Stepping closer, the soggy sweater-maker looked Wendy's back up and down.

Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod. Mabel tried to bleach her memory of the split second look at Wendy's butt (and her thong) and raised her vision to above waist level. Her back is so pale, so smooth and perfectly perfect.

The blemishing freckles at shoulder height somehow made it even more flawless, and Mabel had to restrain herself from reaching out and touching the slightly wet skin.

"Well? I'm not standing here for my health Mabes…"

The pre-teen choked, before mumbling a "No, everything's perfect."

She caught one last look at Wendy's backside before the redhead turned back to her. "Thanks a lot, it's good to know I can always rely on you for stuff like this."

Mabel blushed slightly, avoiding eye contact as she responded in a small voice, "Well that's what they call me, Mabel Reliable Pine-" Wendy leaned down and shut her companion up by pressing her mouth against Mabel's.

All her stress, her worries, the emotions she had kept locked up for so long, it all flowed free. And she found herself caught in that flow, drowning in it in fact. Wendy's lips felt perfect against hers, and Mabel found herself entranced by the smell of her kisser.

She never wanted this moment to end.

[0]

^Oh man! You are a riot!^

Mabel's eyes fluttered open, and she found the triangle she loathed staring at her intently. He was shaking with laughter, and he hovered around her in a circle, wiping a tear from his eye before continuing.

^I mean, I know you're pretty gullible. But did you honestly think Red could stand your presence to THAT long?^ He burst out laughing and Mabel glanced around her room, the sunlight which filtered through the window lacking color due to the dimension she was currently in.

"What-who-" She bit her lip, staring at Bill with pleading eyes. "Where's Wendy?"

The dream demon laughed harder, with twice the cruelty, and a holograph extended out of his eye, showing the redhead. ^Sorry "Babel" YOUR PRINCESS IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE!^

The holograph flickered and Mabel saw the picture of Wendy give her a desperate look, before disappearing. Bill clutched his sides, his ear bleeding laughter filling the air and echoing awfully throughout her room.

Mabel sat up, throwing the covers off. "What…what did you do?" Her throat was becoming clogged.

His eye flickered with color, and if he could smile, she was sure that he would be giving her an incredibly creepy grin. The crack in her voice amused him all the more if he could make her cry he would. Like a playground bully, but with dream powers and no parents to call.

^You still don't get it do you? Tell me, ShootingStar, is the ridiculous twist, which you humans so frequently refer to in your?^ Understanding dawned on the poor soul, and she felt her eyes swell with tears. Bill zipped up close to her and shouted in her face as his eye burned blue. ^IT WAS ALL A DREAM DUM-DUMS! HAHAHAHA! Yeesh, no wonder you can't get a date, your noggin is like a coconut!^ He wrapped his intangible fist on his skull.

Now the tears were spilling, denial filling her fevered mind. "H-h-how?"

^How do you think moron? I'm a DREAM DEMON. Why do you think that all the transitions in your little day with Red were blurry? You didn't ACTUALLY experience anything. It was fun messing with your head and nervous system, though. See life doesn't line up perfectly, just like how Red will never reciprocate you itty bitty widdle cwush.^

Mabel clutched her head, gut wrenching pain ripping through her. It was the emotional kind of pain. "No, no, you…you're lying…"

He cackled, ^I don't lie, I twist the truth for fun. And boy was it fun watching you get your hopes up. Maybe after this experience you'll learn to be as cynical as your brother, and quit acting like a pixie.^

"No, no, no…" She sniffled, hands clenching. "…no, NO!" Mabel wanted to punch him, to kick him, to squeeze him. To see how he liked being broken over someone's knee emotionally. But she couldn't, like Wendy, she couldn't even touch him.

^What's the matter, Romeo? I gave you a beautiful dream. I showed you what you can never accomplish. FOR FREE. If anything, you should be on your hands and knees thanking me and begging for another go around with the slut.^

"SHUT UP! Don't you ever call her that! Don't you ever!" Mabel threw her pillow at him, and she clutched her head as the pillow passed through him and his laughter merely intensified.

^Alright, I know when I'm not wanted. I'm warning you, though, next time Bill Cipher's fantasies are gonna cost ya-^

Raising her head, she gave him a look of fury. Her vision may have been blurred by tears, but her eyes were still filled with slightly murderous rage. "GO! NOW! LEAVE AND DON'T COME BACK!" She pointed towards the wall opposite her bed, her teeth gritting against one another like colliding continents.

Bill seemed slightly surprised by her ire, but chuckled and raised his hands. ^Alright, alright, I'm going. But just remember ShootingStar…no matter how many monsters you defeat, no matter how many times you save this crummy town and this crummy world…^

"GO TO HELL!" Her eyes were hot, and the cheeks felt hot with the tears which trailed down them.

It was the first time she had said "hell", as she had only ever heard it a couple times and was a firm believer that cursing was "wrong and definitely not good at all."

It was the first time she said it, and it was the last time she would genuinely mean it.

He found her sobbing even more hilarious, continuing with his sentence. ^…even if you achieve all your dreams, solve world hunger, make world peace. No matter what you do or who you become…^ He began to fade away as he finished his sadistic message. ^…you'll never be able to make her love you.^

[0]

Tears from her encounter with Bill spilled out as her eyelids opened and Mabel found herself in the waking world.

Grabbing the stuffed monkey that slightly resembled her crush, she stuffed her face into it. The tears continued to roll, as the more she thought and the more she tried not to be sad, the greater her misery grew.

Her anguish stood had an ally in making her feel awful; anger. She felt angry at Bill for tormenting her, it would bad enough if he was doing it for revenge, but it seemed like he didn't care about their past encounters, and just got a kick out of making her feel useless. She felt angry at all the boyfriends that Wendy had, how they hadn't treated Wendy the way that Mabel would have, how they had enjoyed all the things SHE should have. She felt angry at Dipper, even though it wasn't his fault that he had put her in this situation, and he didn't how much it twisted her up inside every time he had ranted about his crush. She felt angry at Wendy for not loving her.

Deep down she knew that none of them deserved it (with the exception of Bill, he was an ass). But she felt angry at everyone because there was no one truly responsible for her feelings. The universe had screwed her over, and she had to live with the resulting heartache.

The door creaked open, and an unbearably familiar voice entered the room, explaining its presence. "Hey Mabel, Stan says you've been sleeping way too long, so he sent me up here to wake you up-"

Mabel raised her tear streaked face and her humiliation grew as the Wendy stared at her in shock. Oh god, what is wrong with me? Now she's gonna treat me like a little kid and give me the "what's wrong?" speech.

But Wendy didn't do that, she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around her tormented friend. She rubbed Mabel's back soothingly, letting Mabel's tears dry on her shoulder. She whispered reassurances, and Mabel clung to her perfect hair. And when her eyes were dry, Wendy instructed her to have breakfast and get dressed.

"Come by the counter in when your calmed down and tell me what the problem is, okay?"

Mabel nodded dolefully and thanked the teen for her compassion.

"No problem Mabes. You're always there for me, the least I can do is be there for you."

The imaginative youth smiled slightly and watched the Wendy leave fleetingly. Determined to reveal her true feelings, she cleaned herself up (the last thing she needed right now was Dipper or Stan asking what was wrong), and through on the first thing that she found. As she descended the staircase, her mind was focused solely on how good that embrace had felt.

She would give up a thousand beautiful dreams for just one of those hugs.

Clearly I am an awful person, I apologize. Leave me a review if I succeeded in making you like the pairing, and then crushed your hopes like a watermelon beneath a charging rhinoceros. I noticed the criminal lack of this pairing and took it upon myself to rectify the situation. Hopefully, this inspires others to write some Mendy (or Wabel). They don't even have to be that good as long as there is more of them. If you like this, then follow me, I intend to write more Mendy fairly soon.