"Hey buddy," Mabel said quietly, pushing open the trapdoor to the attic. "Howya feelin'?" Dipper gave her a quick glare and coughed.
"How do you think?" he said hoarsely. He blew his nose and tossed the tissue across the room. Mabel grimaced and forced a smile.
"Well, you look good!" she tried. He gave her another glare.
"Don't lie to me, Mabel. You have no talent for it." She smiled weakly and walked over to sit on her brother's bed.
"Sorry bro, I hate that you're sick."
"So do I. I'm pretty sure that I feel worse than you, though." He tried to give her a smile, but it was interrupted quickly with a sneeze. Mabel pulled another tissue from the box and held it up to her brother's nose. "Thankth Mahbel."
She rubbed his forehead. "Don't worry Dipstick, I promise that I'll take care of you while Stan's gone for the day!" Dipper looked at her.
"Mabel, are you sure about that?" She smiled and waved dismissively.
"Oh please Dipper, how hard can it be?! All you have is a cold; it's not like I'll get sick." Dipper rolled his eyes.
"Ah yes, the girl with the psycho immune system." Mabel smiled proudly.
"Yep, that's me! The only girl in Gravity Falls who can never get sick!"
"Mabel, everyone gets-"
"Never." He laughed lightly and flopped back onto his pillows. He reached out blindly for something on the nightstand. Something that wasn't there.
"Ugh!" he groaned, leaning up slightly and noticing the empty stand. "Mabel, can you please get me some orange juice?" Mabel gave him a cheeky smile and rushed down to the kitchen.
A few moments later, she returned with a glass filled to the brim with the orange liquid.
"Here you go!" she said, thrusting it at him. He smiled weakly and took the glass, drinking deeply.
After a moment, he set the now-empty glass on the nightstand and tried to sit up. Mabel rushed to his side and held a pillow behind his back.
"Dip, stay down, okay? I'll get you anything you need." Dipper tried to respond, but coughed and pulled the blanket over his shoulders.
"Okay…" he moaned. Mabel waited for a few seconds. His breathing leveled out, and soon her twin brother was asleep.
Tiptoeing down the stairs, she walked into the living room. Looking on the table, she saw a note.
"Hmm," she said, her pet piglet Waddles bounding to her side. "What's this, Waddles?" He gave a little squeal, almost as if he were saying, You tell me.
Mabel picked up the small piece of paper.
Dear Mabel, it read.
I won't be home for a few hours, so take care of your brother. And as if that isn't enough, I'm giving you a list of chores I want done by the time I get back. Yes, I know: I'm a horrible uncle and the rebellious teenager in you wants to say, "Screw this, I'm not doing this," but I'm giving you a choice: you either finish the chores and sleep easy because everything's done, or you "forget" to do them and I ban you from your knitting supplies. It's your choice. Grunkle Stan.
Waddles squealed and sort of shook his head. Mabel sighed. "You're right, I can't let my knitting supplies be taken away. Everything is at stake here!"
"Mabel?" She blinked. She'd forgotten that Dipper was asleep.
"Yeah Dipper?!" she yelled up towards the trapdoor.
"Can I have something to eat?"
"What's the magic word?" Magic…wait a second!
"Um, 'do it please because I'm sick and can't do it on my own?'"
"THAT'S PERFECT!" Upstairs, Dipper jumped. What is with her? Meanwhile, Mabel dashed into the kitchen, popped open a can of soup, and dumped it into a bowl. Shoving it into the microwave, she rushed off to her next task.
Running up to her bedroom, she pulled a shoebox out from under her bed. Dipper watched her carefully.
"Mabel, what happened to the food?" She gasped and ran back downstairs, emerging a few seconds later with a steaming bowl of soup. She slid it onto Dipper's lap and went back to the shoebox. Meanwhile, Dipper was gripping the edges of his headboard and gritting his teeth.
"Dipper, what's wrong with you?" He squeezed his eyes shut, his fingers digging into the wooden headboard.
"Hot…bowl…" he choked out, "On…my torso…" Mabel's eyes widened as she ran to the edge of her brother's bed and lifted the bowl off of him, setting it onto the nightstand.
"Oh my gosh, Dipper! I'm sorry!"
"So am I," he said weakly, picking up the spoon and taking a scalding sip. He grimaced as it burned his tongue, but gave his sister a smile anyway. "Thanks Mabel." She ignored him and continued to rift through the box.
"GOT IT!" she screamed suddenly. Dipper jumped and gripped his mattress.
"Got WHAT?! What are you- oh no."
"Oh yes!" Mabel held up their magic wand; the one she'd used after they'd had an unfortunate run-in with a giant snake. She'd used the wand's power to crumble one wall of the cave and use the boulder's to crush it's head.
"Mabel, what are you going to do with that thing?" Dipper asked, picking up the bowl of soup. Mabel smiled and rolled the wand around in her hand.
"Nothing to be worried about bro," she said softly as Dipper raised the bowl and gulped down a few swallows of soup. "All I need is your permission." He sighed and laid back on his bed, rubbing his stomach.
"Whatever Mabel," he said with a wave of his hand. "Just keep it down." She was about to reply, but as soon as he rolled over, he was immediately asleep.
Mabel shrugged and smiled down at the wand in her hand, as it began to buzz and glow golden in her hand.
-
Back downstairs, Mabel stood at the bottom of the steps. "Okay Waddles, are you ready to get our chores done?" Waddles snorted. She smiled down at him and raised the wand. "Me neither!"
With a flick of her hand, everything in the living room began to glow. She picked up the list.
"First item of business: VACUUMING!"
"MABEL! SHUT. UP!" Mabel blushed and smiled apologetically.
"Sorry," she whispered. "Vacuuming!" A vacuum swept into the room as Mabel levitated all the furniture. In moments, the vacuum had smoothed out the carpet in everywhere but where Mabel was standing.
She laughed and levitated herself, along with Waddles, above the carpet. When she was done, everything floated back down to their place, and the vacuum was hidden away in the closet once again.
She looked at Waddles. "That was fun!"
-
"What's next?" she said aloud, reading the note. "Hmm, 'scrub the dirty dishes', 'dust off the gift shop', and 'clean up our room'." Mabel sighed. "Aw Waddles, this is way too much for me!" Waddles snorted and nudged the wand.
"Okay, okay. Dipper did say that I had permission, so it's not technically going against our pact…"
-
It went crazy from there. The entire house was bustling; golden-hued vacuums chased the brooms around the kitchen, glowing dusters worked away furiously in the gift shop, and rags polished anything with a dirty surface until it shined like new pennies in a well.
While the supplies worked, Mabel sat upstairs in the attic, ignoring the possessions floating over her head. She swung her feet idly and lightly pressed her palm to her sleeping brother's forehead. Unfortunately, it was still pretty warm.
Dipper moaned and opened his eyes lazily. "Mabel? Whuz goin' on?" She held out a tissue for him, and he took it gratefully.
"Oh nothing," she said, watching one of her magazines float by and land neatly in the corner. "Just doing Stan's chores." Dipper sat up straight and looked around at the room cleaning itself.
"MABEL! WHAT THE CRYPTID ARE YOU DOING?!" Mabel blushed and hid the wand behind her back.
"Nothing…" Dipper glared at her. "Okay, I'm doing my chores."
"With the wand?" She looked at the floor and nodded. Dipper reached out and tilted her chin up to meet his eyes.
"You're a genius."