- In a hindsight, this could have gone better... - Dipper Pines said, took a sip of soda, and passed a second can to Wendy.

With his left leg in plaster, this was somewhat difficult, so he stretched his arm as much as he could towards his girlfriend, and that fortunately was enough so she could drink, though with her whole face covered in boils, she had to use a straw.

- Fanks! - she mumbled, accepting the can from Dipper with her swollen hands.

- What's on the TV?

This time, Wendy leaped from her seat and grabbed the remote, though "touched it with parts of her hand that ached the least" was a better description. A moment later, the Mystery Shack was filled with lights and sounds of the evening game show, though not much of the entertainment has reach Dipper.

- I guess this still can count as a date, can it? - he spoke sheepishly to Wendy.

- It shure dhose! - she grinned, and almost at once touched the corners of her mouth that still gave her pain when she moved her lips too much.

Before she knew it, she felt warmth of Dipper's hand touching hers, and she sent him a smile, as beaming as she could given her circumstances. In the past four hours, they have exchanged enough apologies to fill a thesaurus; that Dipper shouldn't have bought her flowers that gave her allergic reaction, that Wendy should have done those tests earlier since in the seventeen years of frolicking through the forest and rolling through all sorts of plants she never felt ill once, that Dipper should've checked Wendy's room at the hospital if it is free of rabid hooligan badgers, that it was not his fault at all, and finally that they shouldn't have crossed that black cat's path earlier in the morning, mostly because it was leaking gasoline.

Despite all of that, Dipper still felt guilty, given how many people rushed to their help on their first date, though come to think of it, they probably shouldn't count it as such. He was about to ponder for a moment if a concept of fractional or even irrational dates is plausible, when the door to the Shack opened, and two other figures trudged in, equally tired after living through the very same day Wendy and Dipper had.

- Oh, they let you guys out already? - Mabel asked, taking off her sweater, or rather what was left of it onto a coat rack, as if it was a raincoat.

- Yeah, like an hour ago, we barely set up. - Dipper stretched himself again to pass his sister another can of their favourite drink. - How are you holding up?

- Well, most of the sap is gone. - she opened the can, though when she did that, the pull tab remained glued to the fingers of her left hand. - As I said, most of it. - and she continued nonchalantly drinking her portion.

- And Fashifica? - Wendy leaned to see if Mabel's girlfriend was going to join them anytime soon.

A moment later, from the hall emerged the utterly disgruntled Northwest heiress, each strand of her once straight hair standing out at a different angle. Without sharing a word with anyone else, she silently grabbed a chair and sat next to Mabel, staring absent-mindedly at the TV screen.

- Paz, relax, it's gonna be-

- No, it's not gonna be! - she screamed - Why does everything have to go berserk around these two? - she pointed out to Dipper and Wendy.

- Hey, don't blame them. - Mabel countered, before Dipper was about to do the same - We've had a few weird dates too, haven't we?

- Not like those... - she mumbled back.

Mabel put her arm around her neck, bringing their chairs closer. Dipper flinched when he felt Wendy's swollen arm close, or at least try to bend, around his, in a similar fashion.

- Come on, you know that me and Dipper are kinda magnets for the unexplained, don't you? - she cooed - Just look at us, I'm dating you, and Dipper has Wendy. How crazy is that?

Pacifica laid her head on her shoulder, and giggled softly under hear breath, feeling Mabel's presence.

- Yeah, you're right.

- And beshides - Wendy interrupted - We've been through a phreaking end of the whorld. I guess dating the Pines can't be worse.

- It can. - Pacifica sighed - Now I'm stuck with her.

At first, Mabel thought it was just a romantic metaphor, but then she tried to move her arm, and she realised that Pacifica has been keeping her head on her shoulder a tad too long for it to be comfortable.

- Oh, shucks. - she said - Uh, we gonna go downstairs to see if grunkle Ford has more of that anti-adhesive of his. Come on, Paz, like before, left, right, left, right...

And with that, the four-legged conjoined duo walked cautiously out of the room.

- If I lay my head on your shouldher, do I ghet to shtay like that too? - Wendy joked leaning even more towards her boyfriend.

- Uh, no, but it would probably hurt you...

- Oh, yeah. - Wendy frowned - The boilsh should be gone by thomorrow, though.

- Yeah, I hope so. - he added, gently took her hand and placed a soft kiss on a relatively unblemished part of her skin.

Despite his warning, Wendy Corduroy moved closer to her boyfriend, her and ruffled her fingers through his hair.

- Still think it was worth dating me?

- Well... it definitely wash the most unushual date I've had, so yeah, that's one way of shecuring a second one.

She gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek, and with that, the couple could finally focus on the brain-rotting TV show, and unhealthy snacks, as their first date was coming to a close.